Painful Love

twenty - two

"I hate parties." Ethan whispers to Grayson while they made their way to the door.

"Why?" Grayson asks turning to smile at him.

"Because," Ethan says sighing. "We have to hide us and pretend we want to hook up with some random chick." He finishes fixing his hair.

"Right." Grayson replies raising his eyebrows.

Both of them stood in front of Alec house waiting for him to open the door. Since school was almost done and pretty soon they are becoming senior, what better way to celebrate?

"You guys made it!" Screamed all of the boys from the other side of the door holding cups of beers in their hands.

"Of course we did!" Grayson screams grabbing the cup from Mike's hand and drinking half of it.

Ethan smiled but quickly made his way through the house leaving his brother behind. Is not that he hates his brother's friends but sometimes he just couldn't be near them. After a few minutes of searching, he found Kimberly and Melissa by the pool, talking to some guys.

"Hey." Ethan says approaching them.

"You came." Kimberly replies smiling.

She still had feelings for Ethan but after weeks of rejection, she realized that him and her was something that wouldn't happen, so she just stopped trying.

"This is Justin by the way." Kimberly quickly adds pointing at his friend. "And Oliver."

Ethan nods politely and grabs a cup from the table next to him. If he was going to be here all night a little bit of alcohol will be useful.

On the other hand Grayson was already almost drunk, hanging out with his friends. Everything was perfect and the only thing he needed was someone to dance with or at least flirt with but he couldn't do that with Ethan in front of everyone, especially not his friends.

And that's when he saw her, dancing on the other side of the room. Strangely she was alone, but looked as perfect as always with her blue dress. It made Grayson mad the fact that her dress was a little too short but then he mentally laughed remembering that was a turn on for him. But then he came and gave her a glass of wine. Grayson frowns confused but when the boy kissed her, he realized what was happening.

His heart shattered into million of pieces after witnessing that scene. Is this what Ethan feels every time I break his heart? He thought tasting the bitter feeling in his mouth. Did he felt this way when I pushed him away that day? Or everyday I made him suffer for that matter.

Grayson blinks the tears away and smiles. "Guys, I'll be right back." He says going away.

He found Ethan by the pool laughing at some stupid joke one of the guys said. For Grayson it wasn't funny, as a matter of fact it was so stupid he felt like punching the guy, but be didn't. He smiled and grabbed Ethan's arm instead.

"Can we talk?" He whispers to him.

"Yeah." Ethan answers confuse.

Both of them made their way through the house until they reach the entrance. Ethan didn't know where they were going but he didn't say a word until he realized Grayson was making his way towards their car.

"Where are we going?" Ethan asks catching up next to him. "I thought you said you wanted to talk?" He asks confuse.

"We're leaving." He murmurs looking for the keys.

"What's wrong? I thought you loved parties." Ethan continues stubbornly. "You never leave before midnight and especially not when there's free beer and alcohol and probably drugs too."

"I said we're leaving Ethan!" He screams accidentally dropping his keys.

"Fine!" He screams back picking the keys from the floor and going to the drivers seat.

The silence was so big that you could hear a pin fall to the ground, but none said a word. Ethan wasn't going to break the silence when Grayson was the reason they started fighting in the beginning.

"I'm sorry." Grayson finally says after a few minutes of awkwardness.

But Ethan kept quiet. Is not that he wanted to stay at the party, because he was actually glad they left, but like always Grayson was the reason why.

"Ethan." Grayson says once again exasperated. "I'm fucking sorry okay? Say something."

"Okay."

"Great." Grayson murmurs sarcastically.

"What?" Ethan shouts angry. "You were the one that screamed at me."

"I know."

And the silence consumed them again. Both had a lot to say but being stubborn was something they both shared.

"Let's run away." Grayson suddenly blurted out.

"Of course Gray." Ethan replies ignoring him.

"I'm being serious Ethan." He continues staring at his brother.

"What?" He says turning to look at him and stopping the car in front of their house.

"I mean," He says and for some reason he was nervous. "Let's be real E, if we stay here we will never be happy."

"That doesn't mean we have to leave." He says frowning.

"Do you love me?" Grayson asks and Ethan could see the sadness in his eyes.

"Of course I do." He replies with a smile.

Grayson leans in and kisses him, forgetting for a moment they were in front of their house and anyone could see them.

"So let's leave this place." He says resting his forehead against his. "We could never be together here, people wouldn't understand this."

"Gray-

"No!" He continues cutting him off. "I'm being serious Ethan I want to. I will, wether you come with me or not."

Saying that last sentence was harder than the time he told him they couldn't be together. Grayson opens the car door and goes inside the house, leaving Ethan confuse and bewildered.

Was that really what Grayson wanted? He thoughts sighing. But why? Was he that unhappy here? So many questions but Ethan didn't knew the answer to half of them. But maybe he was right, what was the worse thing that could happen? Maybe that's what they need, a fresh start.