Unraveling [BXB]

Chapter 22

Chase spent the next day mostly just stressing about the conversation with Trey. Thankfully, because he woke up at Wren's house and didn't have any classes with Trey, he didn't see him very much. It was a bit awkward when everyone noticed him sitting with Taylor instead of Hayden at lunch, but he figured Hayden would handle it and just say they'd had a mutual breakup. He was at least relieved to no longer have an extra pile of homework to do every night.

Taylor drove him home and he spent a few hours studying until Trey got home from practice. It took him another twenty minutes or so to work up the courage, but eventually he pulled himself up from his desk and walked over to Trey's door, giving it two soft knocks. He almost hoped his brother wouldn't hear it so he could just walk away and pretend it hadn't happened, but no such luck.

"Hey, what's up?" Trey asked, so Chase hesitantly opened the door and walked in.

"Hey, I just wanted to um...talk to you about something," he said, tugging at his fingers.

"Is this about Hayden? I heard from Kai that you guys might've broken up."

"Yeah, well, the thing is...I was um...never actually dating...Hayden," Chase said, his face burning as he stared down at his hands. When he looked up, Trey just looked completely confused.

"What?"

"I was...I was seeing someone else, and I panicked and told you it was Hayden w-when you asked, and I'm so sorry I lied to you, or...have been f-for a while."

Trey ran his fingers through his hair, trying to comprehend what he was being told. "So, why didn't you just tell me who you're dating in the first place? Do I know him? Also, how did you get Hayden to even agree to that? I kind of thought he was homophobic before you guys started...not dating."

Chase took a breath, pushing back tears. At least Trey wasn't yelling at him...yet. "I kind of hooked up with him on an impulse decision and thought I would regret it, but then I didn't, and I got anxious about how you'd react, so I lied about it, and then kept lying because it felt...easier, I guess," Chase said, sitting down on Trey's bed. "And I've been doing Hayden's homework for like a month."

"Well, what changed? Why are you telling me this now?" Trey asked, surprisingly not sounding angry.

"I uh...I told him I loved him last night," Chase said, smiling a bit at the memory and Trey still seemed like he was trying to figure out how to feel about the whole thing.

"Am I allowed to ask who it is then?"

Chase hesitated. It had been a bit easier telling him about an anonymous mysterious figure than telling him that he'd been talking about his best friend, but however he reacted, he deserved to know.

"It's...It's Wren," Chase said, almost whispering.

He was expecting something along the lines of 'what the actual fuck, Chase?' but instead, Trey just let out a breath of relief and ran his hands over his face.

"Thank fucking god," he said with a quiet chuckle. "I thought you were about to tell me you're in love with some thirty year old guy you met on Grindr and I was going to have to figure out the nice way of saying I have to call the cops on your boyfriend."

Chase just stared at him for a moment, thinking through everything he'd said since he'd walked into Trey's room and then realized his conclusion was entirely viable considering Chase had kind of made it sound like he was about to say he'd been fucking someone so terrible that he'd rather say he was dating Hayden and was willing to do his homework for a month.

"So you're not mad?"

Trey looked at him again, his eyes softening. "No, I'd trust Wren with my life and a part of me has wanted to set you guys up since he came out to me, but then I thought about it and realized it would probably be way overstepping and a little ignorant to do something like that especially considering it seemed like you mostly disliked each other, but besides that, it shouldn't be any of my business who you're going out with and I'm sorry if I was being overbearing."