Lush Life (Tradley au)

Chapter 18- Tristan's POV

I haven't talked to Brad for a few days, and I miss him so much. I've mostly been moping around the house feeling sorry for myself. Until now, when my mum told me to go outside for some fresh air and to make the most of the little daylight that's left. I'm about to wander into town for a change of scenery, but I don't think anything will cheer me up. I'm just feeling numb, as I've cried so much in the last few days it sort of feels like I have no emotions left. I'm quite an emotional person anyway, but crying that much is over the top even for me.

Suddenly, I hear the click of a lock and I turn around to see my ex best friend walking out of his house. I cough in an attempt to subtlely get his attention, but unfortunately this doesn't work as he just gives me a sad look before walking away. 

"Brad, wait!" I call after him.

He turns around and gives me an angry stare. "What do you want, Tristan?"

I don't really know what to say, so I'm babbling. "I'm sorry." I say, staring down at my shoes. "I miss you."

Brad scoffs. "Because it's all about what you want, isn't it? It's not like my feelings matter."

"I never said that!" I protest. "Please just listen to me."

"Why?" Brad asks, sounding frustrated. "I'm fine."

"No you're not." I say firmly. "Your mum told mine how miserable you were. Don't lie to me." By this point, we're at the end of the road, as I was following him. I'm just hoping that this isn't going to turn into another fight. Tears are burning my eyes, due to a mix of guilt and sadness. Brad's eyes are watery too, but I can tell that he's fighting to hold them back. 

He suddenly shouts "Tristan, why won't you just leave me alone?" I tend to use quite a lot of hand gestures when I'm talking, but especially so when I'm angry as I seem to have no control over myself. 

As I have no answer to Brad's question, I just shout "You don't understand!" and fling my arms out dramatically. Brad ducks away from me, looking terrified. It takes me a second to realise why he's so shaky, and my heart breaks as I realise that I scared him. "Brad, babe..." I whisper. "I'm sorry."

Brad shakes his head, his hand covering his mouth. "No, no, it's ok." he stammers, clearly holding back the tears. He's shaking so much that he doesn't even try to move when I go to wrap my arms around him. Instead, he gives up trying not to cry and starts to bawl into my chest. 

I stand rocking him slowly and stroking his hair, which I know calms him, but I'm trying to hold my own tears back. "Shhh, it's ok." I whisper, and right now I'm incredibly grateful that there's no one around at this time in the evening.

"I thought you were going to hit me." Brad chokes out through his tears, which are soaking through my shirt. What's left of my heart shatters at that, and I feel my own tears start to fall. 

I squeeze Brad in my arms just a little bit tighter. "You know I'd never hurt you, right?" I whisper to him. 

He nods against me. "It's just instinctive," he says, whilst still crying. "I'm so used to Josh hitting me, I just forget that normal people don't..." he trails off.

"It's ok." I say, and after that we just stand and hug. We cry together for what feels like ages, my face buried in my neck and him crying into my chest. 

After a while, Brad stops crying and lets go of me. "I forgive you." he says, taking my hand and squeezes it softly. I just smile, giving his hand a gentle squeeze back. Eventually he says "Can you take me home?" I nod, and we start to walk up the street together.

As we walk, I realise that we're still holding hands. It's feels so right, his hand fits perfectly in mine and he fits in my arms when I hug him. In Brad's house, we collapse onto the sofa and end up watching whatever crap film is on tv. Brad crawls into my lap, and I smile as I remember the last time we sat like this. As much as I want to, I don't think we need to take our relationship any further right now. At the moment, I'm just glad to have my best friend back.

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So, all is well in tradley land 😀 This story hit 1k the other day, thank you so much for that!

I haven't done a disclaimer for this yet, so here goes- as much as I wish I did, I don't own Brad, Tristan, Connor or James. The other characters (as they exist in this story) and storyline were created by me though. 

Also, happy late birthday Tristan 🎂 🎉, not that he reads this (I don't think).