Lush Life (Tradley au)

Chapter 22- Tristan's POV

I think I'm going to count this as my first proper kiss. The first actual one was when Brad kissed me as a dare, but this is the first one to really make me feel fireworks, as cliche as that is. As I've never kissed someone properly before, I have no idea what I'm doing. Luckily, Brad seems to, given how much I'm enjoying this. His lips are moving against mine, and I'm loving the feeling I've got right now. 

We finally break apart after what feels like not enough time. I'm slightly breathless and all I can say is "Wow."

Brad smirks. "You enjoyed that, then?"

I blush. "I've never kissed someone like that before, I'm sorry if it was awful."

Brad puts a hand on his heart, feigning surprise. "Well, you're a natural." I smile, and before I even know what I'm doing, I'm pulling him into a hug. We just sit there, wrapped in each other's arms and making the most of the moment. Brad eventually says "As much as I enjoyed that, we need to talk. But I don't think here's the best place to do it." 

I nod in agreement, so we head downstairs to go over to Brad's house to get Jess. We let my mum know the plan, which she's fine with as long as we keep in touch. Brad quickly clips Jess' lead on, and we start to head down to the woods. "What are we, then?" I ask as we walk. 

Brad bites his lip. "I don't know. We were best friends, but I don't think it's normal for best friends to kiss, so..."

"True." I say. "But I don't think we're boyfriends either."

"Maybe we don't need to be either of those things." Brad says thoughtfully. "We could just be somewhere in between."

"We could just be us." I put in.

Brad smiles, taking my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'd like that." He lets Jess off her lead and we sit down at our usual spot.

"Remember last time we were here?" I ask, reaching down to brush Brad's hair out of his face.

Brad giggles. "What, when we bumped into Josh and he thought we were together?"

"Yep." I say, laughing. "Though I guess he was sort of right."

Brad doesn't reply for a while, until he says "How long have you been feeling like this? Because I have for a while, but I had no idea how to handle it."

"Same here." I confess. "I didn't even figure out that I was gay for a while, and I never really had a proper crush, so I was totally confused about my feelings."

Brad laughs, looking down at our entwined hands. "We're weird, aren't we? We sort of just fell together."

I squeeze his hand. "Maybe it was meant to be."

He puts his head on my shoulder and we sit in a comfortable silence, until Brad says "If we're just going to be us, what are we going to call ourselves? I think Bristan sounds good."

"No it doesn't." I say, wrinkling my nose to emphasise my feelings. "It sounds like something you put on your garden. You know, put Bristan on your grass and all weeds will be gone."

Brad snorts with laughter. "Ok then, what do you suggest?"

I think for a second before I say "Tradley."

"That's much more like it." says Brad approvingly. After a while, he calls Jess back and we head home as it's starting to get dark. Somehow, I feel much more comfortable holding Brad's hand in public now. We get a few odd looks, but we manage to ignore them. As we get to our houses, Brad says "Thank you Trissy. Today's been good."

I nod in agreement- my day started off pretty badly , and I cried into my pillow this morning. But now I feel much happier. I lean over the fence to kiss him goodbye properly, and I can't stop myself from smiling. My mum comments on it as I come in. "You look happy."

I grin at her. "Me and Brad sorted ourselves out." My mum knows me inside out, so she instantly gets what I mean. 

She kisses my forehead before saying "I'm very happy for you sweetheart. I love you." I head upstairs, and the exhaustion of the day hits me all at once. I get into bed still thinking about Brad and the kiss, and I drift off to sleep with a smile on my face. 

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Exciting times in tradley land 😀  also I apologise for use of Bristan, it's wrong on so many levels 😂

I'm starting my new sixth form on Friday, and I'm so nervous, I want to die just thinking about it.  And it's a catholic school, so a completely different environment to what I'm used to 😭