Torn // In Stereo (Jakob Delgado, Ethan Karpathy & Chris Lanzon)

86. |

// Ethan's point of view //

I'm on the phone to mum and she says she has exciting news, but she wants me to guess what it is.

"You got a pet llama?" I ask, wishing she'd just tell me.

"Do you give up?" Mum laughs.

"Yes, I do." I hide my frustrations and hope my laugh doesn't sound too sarcastic.

"Kaleb is home for a month! He's coming with me to see you in two weeks!"

My jaw drops and I feel a sharp pain in my chest. I want to cry and I know I can't talk because the lump in my throat is too big. I have to sit down and compose myself, taking a few seconds before gaining control again.

"Wow! That's amazing!" I say excitedly, blocking out all of emotions like my acting classes taught me to do. I just have to get through another minute and I'll be okay.

"I know! He says he can't wait to see you." She continues, my heartbeat racing. What is he going to do to me? I'm so scared.

"I can't wait to see him either. Look, Chris is calling me. I'll talk to you later." I rush, eager to get off the phone before she makes me talk to Kaleb.

"Oh, okay, sweetie. I love you, bye!"

I hang up and drop my phone on the bed next to me, holding my head in my hands. What if he tells mum? He said he wouldn't but what if he changes his mind? Whatever happens, I'm set on one thing; I want to be the one to tell my parents. Thats when the tears come. A hot, salty waterfall streams down my cheeks and I don't know how to stop it. I stand up and blindly walk my across the hallway and into Jakob's room, shutting and locking the door behind me. He's sitting at his desk but when he turns around and sees me in the mess I'm in, he instantly stands up and runs to me. I throw my arms around his neck and sob into his shoulder, past feeling embarrassed.

"What's going on?" He asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Kaleb's home. He's coming here with mum in two weeks." I explain, still sobbing just as hard.

"Oh my god." Is all Jakob replies with, just holding my head close to him and stroking my hair. His grip never tightens but then I realise I need to go tell Chris. I want to do that before I stop crying. He'll see right through me.

"I'm just going to be alone for a minute. Can I meet you at the pool?" I ask, pulling away. Jakob just nods and I leave the room.

I walk into my room until I hear Jakob leave, then I go to Chris'. I knock on the door and am still crying when he opens it, letting me in straight away. He pulls me in for a hug quicker than Jakob did, but pulls away much faster.

"Kaleb came home and he's coming here with mum next fortnight." I manage, the words getting easier to say each time I say them.

"Ethan, I promise everything is going to be okay. You have me and you have Jakob. I'm not going to let him hurt you." Chris tells me, sitting down on his bed. I sit next to him and fiddle with my fingers as I think of a reply.

"What if he tells my mum? What if he does hurt me?" I ask, more tears streaming down my face. It's harder to cry in front of Chris than it is in front of Jakob. I don't love Chris, though.

"Everything is going to be fine. I can make sure you're needed away from them as much as possible if you want. Anything can be arranged. You can trust me with anything, Etho. Literally anything. If you've found a hot guy to hook up with, you can tell me. If you have any sort of boy troubles at all, just tell me. The fact that I'm straight doesn't change the fact that we're friends. You can trust me." He says, instantly making me more paranoid. He's catching on. He might know about Jakob and I. If I could, I would tell him right now, but I can't. Jakob wants to tell our parents first and I respect that. I've promised I wouldn't tell Chris.

"I promise I will. I think I'm going to go to the gym or something." I lie, standing up and walking towards the door. I leave before Chris has the opportunity to offer to come with me. My towel is over my arm and I'm in my board shorts after a minute. I grab my phone and leave, taking the shortcut to the pool.

When I get there, I'm surprised to see Jakob's the only one in the water, let alone the entire pool area. It is sort of late night and there aren't many people staying in the hotel.  He sees me and swims over, watching as I take off my shirt and walk over to the water. That's when I start to feel insecure, and jump into the water so he can no longer see me. I stay under for as long as I can, ignoring the pain in my lungs for not taking a breath before. The pain helps me bring myself back to my senses. Eventually I come back up and push the hair out of my face. Jakob wades slowly over to me, saying nothing but staring at me. It looks like he's waiting for me to say something.

"I think Chris knows." I probably say the one thing he didn't want to hear. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion and his eyes turn scared. He doesn't know how to reply.

"I'm sure he doesn't." Jakob shakes his head, looking down to the water. It's like he doesn't believe his own words, though. Did something else happen?

"He keeps dropping hints about me being able to tell him stuff." I shrug, looking through the big glass windows and out into the city.

"Let's not worry about that now. Just look at me," He tells me, placing a finger under my chin and tilting it up so I'm forced to look at him. "If Kaleb wants to hurt you, he will have to go through me first."

"I love you. No matter what happens, you have to remember that." I have to say. I'm going to slip up and he's going to find out I told Chris about me before we came out together. I'm so scared of how he's going to react.

"I know. I love you too and everything is going to be okay." He replies, pulling me closer to him by my chin. I let him guide me until I feel his lips on mine and I kiss back, savouring every second. After a few seconds, I pull away because I know anyone could walk around that corner at any second.

We splash around in the pool for about half an hour until we decide to head back to bed. I must admit I'm feeling better and I have enough reassurance from the people that matter that everything is going to be okay. And for at least the next two weeks, everything is.