Lush Life (Tradley au)

Chapter 21- Brad's POV

I can't stop thinking about what Tristan said to me. He was telling me about the guy he likes, and I was dying to ask if it was me. However, I didn't as that would have understandably freaked him out. Eventually, I decide to ask someone fairly neutral for advice, so I phone James. "I need your help." I announce almost as soon as he picks up. 

I can hear him laugh. "What for?" he asks.

"How do I know if a guy likes me?" I say quickly. 

"He treats you like Tristan does." James replies without missing a beat.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

James laughs. "Can you really not see it? Love makes you blind, I suppose."

"It's not love." I huff. "Anyway, what do you mean?"

I can imagine James rolling his eyes at me exasperatedly as he says "Have you not seen the way Tristan looks at you? Believe me, that's love." 

I'm slightly annoyed now. "I already said it wasn't love." 

"Not necessarily from you." James says airily. "But Tristan looks at you like you're the only person in the room. He smiles when you smile. I mean, I could go on, but..."

"No, I get the idea." I say. "You're sure he likes me back then?"

"He likes you the exact same way that you like him." James says confidently. "Ooh, this is so exciting."

I roll my eyes. "You're very over invested in this." I tell him. 

"No," James says, "I'm just supportive."

"Alright." I say. "When I've sorted me and Tris out I'll set you up with someone. I know lots of nice guys."

"I don't need a guy!" James protests. "But I do need to go. Love you, bye." I smile as he ends the call. Honestly, he can claim that he isn't gay all he wants, but he's about as straight as a rainbow. 

I try to shake off my feelings about James' love life to focus on my own. I think that the best solution is to be honest with Tristan about my feelings for him, because I've learned the hard way that lying gets you nowhere. I make the decision to go and talk to him about it. As this is important, I decide to use the front door to get to his house like a normal human being, as opposed to climbing over the fence like normal. 

I head over and knock on the door, but I'm slightly surprised when Tristan's mum opens the door. "Hello Bradley." she smiles. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you." I say, trying to hide my disappointment at the lack of Tristan.

"That's good to hear." Fran says. "Tristan's upstairs if you're wondering. I don't think he's in a good mood, but you're more than welcome to go and talk to him."

"Ok, thanks." I smile as I head upstairs. 

I knock on Tristan's door and get a reply of "Go away, mum."

"It's not your mum." I reply. "It's me."

Tristan audibly sighs but I get a response of "Ok.", which I take as an invitation to go into the room. 

As I do so, I see him lying face down on his bed. I go over to sit next to him and put a hand on his back. "You ok?" I ask, although I can see that the answer is no. Tristan just shrugs. "What's doing on?" I ask again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Tristan doesn't reply at first, but he sits up. I see his red, puffy eyes, and my heart breaks at the realisation that he's been crying. His voice is slightly scratchy when he says "I guess I'm just confused."

"About what?" I ask gently. 

"My feelings." he answers sadly. 

"Why are you confused?" I say, running a hand through his blonde hair.

Tristan is clearly struggling to get the words out. "It's just... I don't know if it's normal to feel like this about a friend. I mean, I've never had a friend who cares about me like you do, and I don't want to ruin things between us." Suddenly, he claps a hand over his mouth at what he just said. I'm sorry." he stammers. "I didn't mean that, ignore me."

I smile, putting a finger to his lips. "Yes you did. But it's ok, I know how you feel." He shifts so he's looking at me properly, then his eyes trail down to my lips. I put a hand under his chin and lift it so we have eye contact, then we're both leaning in. Then, before I know it, I'm kissing my best friend for the second time ever.

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A cliffhanger.... of sorts. Let me know what you think will happen next, or if this was good.

To anyone who wondered about my GCSE results... meh. I'm lowkey gutted, they weren't awful by any means (I got 4 a's and the rest b's apart from one c), but they were lower than what I was expecting. That's partly due to me, but mostly down to high grade boundaries and the fact that my year group was kind of sacrificed by the school 🙄 I got what I needed for the a level courses I want, but I'm not happy 😔