Public Displays of Affection (boyxboy)

Parties - Chapter Ten

AN: Only a few chapters left! Please don't hate me too much for this one... or the next one.... 

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It was easy to fall back into the old pattern. They still studied together but all Travis had to do was make other plans for the evenings. Easy as that, they could meet up for an hour at lunch but after school he'd promise Brad that he'd go to the gym with him or he'd end up at Cal's playing video games.

Nearly a week in and Jared insisted that they study together. His hands were down Travis' pants the second they were alone in his room, lips locked onto his neck and Travis couldn't bring himself to stop it, even though that was the rule.

He ended up at school the next day with hickeys all over his neck and the fierce desire to bury his face in the sand every time his eyes met Jared's.

After that, avoidance came a bit easier.

The problem of course was that Travis wanted to be around Jared. They were friend's, after all. He just didn't know how to call their little arrangement quits. He was just hoping that somehow Jared would get the idea.

Jared was leaving anyway, better to get use to his absence now.

"Hey." Jared nudged Travis, surprising him as he walked through the school doors in an attempt to get home as quick as possible and hide in his room until the year was over. 

"You wanna come over?" Jared asked. 

Jared was always the smart one. Where his moody silences did nothing but confuse Travis on more than one occasion, there was something in Jared's eyes that made Travis believe that Jared already knew exactly what Travis was doing and why.

He searched for an excuse, unable to say yes, watching as Jared's eyes clouded over more and more as the seconds passed.

A small hand wrapped around Travis' arm then, drawing his attention.

It was with an overwhelming rush of relief that he saw Lana staring up at him with a playful smile. The rest of his friends were behind her.

"We're going to Jeff's again," she said. "You can't say no this time."

Cal and Brad were grinning at him, using Lana as their dirty trick to get him to come. Obviously he wasn't going to say no to her again. Not today anyway.

"Yeah, okay," he said. Just like always, he could feel Jared's gaze on him like the sun through a magnifying glass. He managed not to look at him. Not even when Lana leaned around Travis and asked Jared if he wanted to join.

"No thanks," Jared said quietly and just like that, Travis was being pulled away.

Lana clung to his arm, happily. Everyone was talking and laughing. Travis joined in when he could but his thoughts kept pulling him back. Over and over he heard Jared's soft voice, what could only be described as hurt tainting it. Travis' eyes kept darting back toward the school.

Jared was nowhere in sight. 

Travis could catch up to him. Make some sort of excuse and then run after his friend, pretend he hadn't walked away. But this was what he wanted, he reminded himself. It was like pulling off a band-aid. It was better to stop being so reliant on each other now before Jared had to leave. Especially when there were other people who could step up to the plate. People like Lana.

Jeff's place was nice. The sort of place that people in movies trashed with massive parties. Travis was surprised that Jeff had never thrown one but guessed that his parents were probably strict. Either way, he pulled a few bottles of beer out of a fully stocked drink fridge and passed them around when they got down to the basement.