Right - (boyxboy)

Chapter 13 - Dale

"Living in LA has been great," Will started, twiddling the now empty coffee cup around the plastic table top. "For the first couple years I was there, it was like a dream come true, y'know, getting to know a new place, new people, new country, all that jazz. I honestly had an amazing time, especially when Kimi and Henry moved over. It was like having a slumber party every night when you live with some of your best friends. It honestly feels like it's all a dream sometimes, and I'm so happy with my decision to move, but...

"But sometimes I wish I hadn't, y'know, 'cause while things changed for the better, others sorta went to shit when I moved over there as well," Will explained, clearing his throat as his eyebrows furrowed, mentally planning what he was about to say. "See, uh, I moved over to help Dale out with his new business over there, and I was happy to do that for him, but working for Dale, it was, it was really different than just being his friend. Like, back here at home, Dale was like a big brother to me, y'know, he'd look after me and whatever, but we had that separation, that time apart. And so, having to spend time with him everyday for work, and at home, it changed things, especially how he treated me.

"About two years after we moved to LA, I was dating this guy from our work, Manny, he was doing the accounting. It wasn't anything serious to begin with, but soon we were thinking of moving in together - well, Manny moving in with me and Dale at our place - and I was excited, like, this was the first serious relationship I'd had since, well, us," he laughed nervously, starting to feel more and more tense. "But Dale, he wasn't excited about it, he- Dale told me that Manny couldn't move in and if I really wanted to be with Manny, then I had to move out.

"That hurt to hear, y'know, to have the person you thought you trusted to turn on you like that. And we fought so much, for weeks, at work and at home, just on and on 'cause I didn't want to take no for an answer and he wouldn't tell me why he was acting the way he was," Will continued on, tearing the uneaten ham sandwich into small bits just so his hands had something to do. He didn't think he could stomach anything right then anyway. "I finally broke down, had enough of his shit and just started to pack my things. Didn't even have a plan of where to go, it was just me and Dale over there, but I just wanted to get out. That's when Dale told me that he was in love with me, as in, more than a friend. He had been for a few months by then, but he couldn't tell me since I'd just started dating Manny at the time. He said he was waiting for it to end in a few weeks just like all my other relationships had, but hearing that we wanted to live together broke him.

"I didn't know what to say to that, y'know, what was I supposed to say?" he asked, not really wanting an answer. "I came back here for a few weeks to get away, clear my head and work out what I wanted to do. I spent a lot of time thinking about if my move had been the right one, like, all these problems had messed up the great future I'd had in my head. And, it didn't help that Ryan and I got together for a little bit, made me think that I could just stay here and be with Ry forever instead, y'know. But I, uh, realised that I had to go back and deal with it. I couldn't leave them both hanging.

"So, I went back to LA and broke up with Manny. I'd realised that Dale was someone I wouldn't let go and I there was no way I could choose Manny over him," Will gulped, thirsty all of a sudden. "Dale and I started seeing each other a few weeks after that. We were making dinner together after a long day at work and it just felt so easy, as if it all just clicked and was...right, y'know? And that's when I saw that I'd been feeling more for him too, more than I'd ever realised before then.

"We dated for 4 years after that, pretty happily too if I'm being honest. I thought my life was perfect, and that was my future for the rest of my life, and I was happy with that. We were even discussing getting married and adopting, y'know, having the whole traditional family thing. Or as traditional as you can get with a gay couple, I guess. We even babysat the neighbours' kids when they went out on date nights and pretended like we were practising for the real thing. He'd even proposed on our fourth anniversary, took me out on this huge, long adventure around LA before getting down on one knee in front of our first apartment where it'd all began, and just popped the question. It was... it was really sweet," Will continued to recount, a sad smile on his face as he thought fondly of all those happy memories. He'd spent the last few years wishing that he could go back to those days. "But it all started to fall apart when I found out a month or so later that he'd cheated on me, some guy he'd met at a bar while he was on a business trip. I cracked the shits when I found out. It was, uh... it was the only time I was ever physically violent during a fight. I tried to punch and kick him, threw whatever I could at him, screamed bloody murder about how much I hated him. I-- sometimes I hate myself for reacting as violently as I had, I thought I was better than that, but I don't know...