Unraveling [BXB]

Chapter 17

Chase had never actually been to homecoming before, so he didn't entirely know what to expect when Hayden pulled up to his house in a white limousine. Chase was dressed in the white button up and black bowtie he wore to important recitals. Hayden was wearing a dark purple tuxedo when Chase opened to door, and honestly, it was kind of ugly in the way that overpriced things only bought by a certain breed of rich people often were. 

"Oh, I also picked this up," Hayden said, handing Chase a flower collar pin that matched that purple of his suit. "I figured if we're going to homecoming together, we should probably match." 

"Uh...thanks," Chase said, walking out to the car with him as he attached the pin to his suit. "So...what do people do at homecoming?"

"Dance?" Hayden said. "And drink, and get knocked up." 

"Isn't it weird to dress up just to do what you'd do at every other party?" 

Hayden shrugged, pulling a flask out of a pocket in his suit jacket and taking a sip. "Have you really never been to homecoming? You're a junior."

"I always had other plans," Chase said, tugging at his knuckles. Most of the time, those plans just included buying a carton of ice cream and watching movies with Taylor all night, but even if he wanted to do that, Taylor was going with Kai.

"Sure you did," Hayden said, and something about the way he said it made Chase really wonder why Hayden Caddel had been his first choice of fake boyfriend.

Chase took a breath and looked down at his phone, checking his messages quickly. There were no new ones.

"So, is your crush going?" Hayden asked, glancing at him.

"He's not my crush," Chase murmured, not looking up from his phone. "He's just a fuck buddy."

"You know, out of all of the people in our school, I think you're the last one I'd expect to have a fuck buddy," Hayden said with a quiet snicker.

If Wren had said it, Chase would probably punch him in the shoulder and insult him back, but that was because Wren didn't actually think he was a loser. Hayden did, and Chase could feel it.

"You don't know me very well."

- - -

The dance was held in the school's auditorium. The room was decorated in blue and yellow to match the school colors with streamers and balloons decorating the room. The room was emptied out to make room for dancing, but there were tables set up with drinks and food. 

When Chase walked in next to Hayden, a few people turned to look at them, but it felt like the entire room was staring at him. He spotted Wren across the room dressed in a casual black suit with a blonde girl dressed in a shimmery blue dress at his side as he talked to Trey. Chase caught his brother's eye after a moment and Trey smiled when he saw Hayden with him, giving him two thumbs up in what was possibly the most wholesome show of support Chase had ever seen. It made him feel absolutely awful.

Soon, he was following Hayden over to a group of other people Chase had never met. He assumed they were Hayden's friends by the way he immediately started talking to them. 

"Hey guys, this is my...boyfriend, Chase," Hayden said with all of the hesitancy of a man who was faking being bisexual for a better grade in Biology. 

"Wait, so are you like, gay now?" a dark-haired boy asked before taking a sip of whatever was in red plastic cup.

"I'm bi," Hayden said with a shrug, and surprisingly, that was the end of it. Nobody really seemed to care that Hayden had brought a boy with him to a school dance, they just went right back to talking about the new movies coming out and some sort of petty drama with another one of their friends. Chase wasn't totally sure, he wasn't paying attention for most of it.