Never Gonna Be Alone

Chapter 30---Young Passion

Later that night, Laten climbed out of his window to meet Tankie at the pool. 

When he got there, a concerned Tankie was already waiting for him on the other side of the fence. Despite himself, Laten smiled. There was a small part of him that actually was happy that he saw Tankie. Even if it was just a few milliseconds, Laten was happy. 

Laten climbed the fence, and when he got to the top, Tankie called out. "Want me to catch you?"

Laten chuckled. "Why not?" He jumped over, and Tankie caught him, but barley. Tankie let go of Laten. "What's up?"

Laten took off his shirt and jumped in with shorts on. When he came back up for air, he answered Tankie. "I think I know the reason why I've been having such bad feelings about Andrew."

"Do you want me to swim with you, while we talk, or do you wanna have the pool to yourself tonight?" Tankie asked. He knew Laten might want to swim out all of the excitement, or anger, but he didn't know if he would be interrupting that if he were to join Laten.

Laten just shrugged. "It's up to you."

Tankie sighed and took off his shirt, and jumped in. The water was a bit colder tonight. "What were you saying?"

Laten took a minute to swim a bit and gather up the words. "Andrew has been.....a bit touchy. For lack of better word."

Tankie gave him a confused look and started to swim over to Laten. 

Laten sighed. "He always wants to be very very close to me, and he  put his hand on my knee, and he rubbed it..."

Tankie's eyes grew wide. "Are you sure it wasn't...like...intentional?"

Laten rolled his eyes. "I'm really sure about this." Laten started to swim strokes, with Tankie causually following ever so often.

"Laten..um..you need to tel chuck about this."

Laten made a huge splash with his arm. "And what will he do?" He yelled. "I still have a good week with this guy. I can handle a week."

Tankie was alrezady shaking his head before laten could finish. "It might get worse, and that's what he wants. Andrew wants you to keep this quiet. That's letting him win."

Laten stopped swimming. "It...will destory him if I told him. Then it would be my fault again because I put more stress on him."

Tankie sighed. This had to be really hard on Laten. He swam over to his boyfriend. "Laten, you really need to start speaking up. Either you tell him or I will."

Laten shook his head. "No you won't. I know you. If I don't want someone knowing something, then you will respect that."

Tankie sighed. "I...It's killing me, seeing you go through this.."

"Then go! Nobody's keeping you here!" Laten yelled.

"No. We're gonna be in this together. I'm not letting you go through this alone. Now you need to tell him."

Laten knew he was right. But his father was already going through enough stress as it was. Then again, it was  his father's fault, because he was the one who assigned Andrew of all people to Laten, and told him that he just needed to get used to it. "I know your right, but... I don't know. I'll tell him soon. Just need to figure out when."

It was Tankie's turn to sigh. That was the only best answer that he was going to get. 'Better then nothing I suppose.'   "I'm sorry about everything that you're going through."

Laten smiled. "It's alright."

Tankie shook his head. "No it isn't. I know it isn't my fault, but...it's just to let you know that I care."