Lush Life (Tradley au)

Chapter 10- Brad's POV

I'm sitting in the kitchen when I hear my mum's voice from behind me. "Bradley, I'm going to stay at my friend's house tonight as her husband is ill and she could do with a hand." 

"Ok." I say, as to be honest I really don't care. What I do care about is the prospect of being home alone for the night. "Can I have Tristan over?"

My mum laughs. "I was just going to suggest that. What about James, or Connor as well. They're nice boys." I have to bite back laughter, as my mum still doesn't know about what happened last time I invited them over when I was alone. It feels like I haven't seen James or Connor for a while, but secretly I just want Tristan so we can cuddle without being judged. 

"I think it's a bit short notice for them to get all their stuff sorted out, but Tristan's just next door." I say helpfully.

My mum rolls her eyes. "Why am I not surprised by that? It seems that you just want Tristan to yourself, but I suppose it's good that the two of you get along so well."

"Why?" I ask, slightly amused.

"Fran was a bit worried about how he'd settle in." my mum replies. "He's been though quite a tough time, and 16 isn't really a good time to be uprooted, especially if you have to go so far away." With that, she looks at the time and says "Goodness, I'm running late. I told Louise that I'd be there at 6, it's now 5.30 and she lives about an hour away." She bends down to kiss my forehead before saying "Have fun, but be sensible. I love you."

I have no idea who her friend Louise even is, but then again I am bad at remembering names. Jess wanders in and I smile as I remember her sitting on Tristan whilst we were walking her yesterday. I decide to go into the garden to see if he's there, and as luck has it, he is. 

"Hi Tris!" I call.

He looks up from his phone and smiles as he sees me waving like an idiot. "Hi Brad. What're you doing?"

"Looking for you." I reply. "My mum had to go and stay with one of her friends last minute, it was kind of an emergency, so I'm home alone for the night. She said I could invite you over if I wanted."

"Ok." says Tristan, looking excited. "Let me go and run it by my mum." He goes into the house then comes rushing back about a minute later. "She said that's fine, but I have to let her know if the plan changes." 

I smile happily. "Great. I told my mum that I wouldn't invite James or Connor, but I think I will because Max can get us booze and parties aren't the same without Con. But it'll be just us, not like the last party."

"Who's Max?" Tristan asks. "Do I have competition?" Suddenly, he blushes furiously, and I have to laugh at how awkward he looks, even though I quite liked the hint  of jealousy in his voice.

"Max is James' older brother." I explain. "He's over 18, so he can get drinks. He provided the alcohol for James' last party."

Tristan blushes again. "But that one didn't end well. Your garden was chaos, and the morning after was weird."

I smile to myself, remembering how I'd shared my bed with Tristan that night, and how I'd rubbed his back when he was throwing up due to his hangover. "Yeah," I say, "But there'll only be 4 people, so it'll be way less chaotic."

"True." Tristan agrees. "Ok, let me get my stuff together and I'll come over to yours in about half an hour." 

"No problem." I say. "I'll see you in a bit then. I need to actually call Con and James, that might be useful." Tristan laughs lightly, and I turn to go inside with Jess following me. She curls up on the floor next to me, and I stroke her fur as I call my other friends. As it turns out, Con is more than happy to come, which is good because he's always fun at parties, especially when he's drunk. James is only too happy to organise some booze for us, and he teases me about Tristan. I decide not to tell him about Tristan seeming jealous earlier. I thought it was cute, but maybe he was just joking. I haven't got time to worry about it anyway- I have a party to organise.

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Sorry about this filler chapter, it'll get more exciting in the next one. But 10 chapters, yay!

My grandma was visiting for the past couple of days, and she is very hard work- she once called me fat (but denies it) and she keeps making general rude comments. I mean, I like her, but I'm lowkey quite glad that she's gone home now 😂