Piano Man (Tradley au)

Chapter 8- Brad's POV

I didn't sleep very well last night. I was so worried about Tristan that I just couldn't force myself to, just in case he needed me. I don't think he did, as he was sound asleep when I went to check on him, but I was still worried. He had a horrible day yesterday, and I want to take care of him. I honesty don't even know him that well, but I can't bear the idea of leaving him with Corey.

I'm currently chugging coffee due to my lack of sleep, and wondering when Tristan will emerge. I want to see him, just to see if he's ok. Then again, he completely wore himself out crying, so it wouldn't be that much of a surprise if he was still asleep. Another cup of coffee and some cereal later, my question is answered when he walks in with his hair all over his face and his eyes red from crying. I feel so bad for him, but I don't comment on it. "Morning." I say, smiling at him. "Did you sleep well?"

"As much as I could." he says quietly. "I, uh, had a lot on my mind."

"That's understandable." I say. "Do you want some breakfast?"

He bites his lip. "Can I have some coffee?"

"Sure." I say, getting up. "Anything else?"

He shakes his head. "No thank you. I don't really eat much in the mornings." He seems a bit awkward and I get the impression that he doesn't want to talk about it, so I change the subject.

"What do you want to do today?" I ask as I hand him his coffee.

Tristan smiles gratefully, but he still looks a bit sad. "I don't know. I think I need to get my head together a bit, it's kind of been a shock."

"Ok." I say. "Do you want some space or what?"

He shakes his head. "No. I don't want to be alone." He pauses, then says "If that's ok."

"Of course it is." I smile. "I want to help you."

"You are helping." he says quietly. "I'm sorry about piling all my problems on you, I'm still like a stranger-"

I cut him off. "You're not a stranger. We're friends now, and friends help each other out."

"That's so cheesy." he says, smiling properly for the first time in ages. It makes me happy to see him happy.

"I know it's cheesy." I say, laughing. "But it happens to be true."

Tristan's face falls. "I'm kind of afraid of asking for help." he tells me, looking slightly ashamed. "Corey says I'm too needy."

"Yeah, well, Corey isn't here." I say. "Who cares what he thinks? He's out of your life now, sort of."

"Emphasis on the sort of." says Tristan, though he does smile again, and that's the expression that I want him to always have. Over the next few hours, we make easy conversation. I make him laugh a few times, and once he's started to come out of his shell, I find that's he's actually quite funny. He's right when he said that we don't know each other all that well, so I try to fix that. But I try not to press the difficult topics too much- I want him to trust me and know that I won't upset him.

He's still a bit twitchy, but that's understandable. I would be too if I was treated like he was. "So what books did you bring with you?" I ask him.

He smiles. "My favourites. I brought On the Road, you might like that."

"Maybe I can borrow it." I say. "What's it about?"

Tristan is clearly keen to tell me. "It's about this guy who's a writer and he makes friends with this other guy who's really cool and they go on an alcohol fuelled road trip."

"That sounds fun." I say. "We should do that."

"We're not in 1950s America." Tristan points out. "I don't think it would work."

"We could do our own version." I suggest jokingly. "Piano Man and Uh Tristan on tour, it'd be awesome." Tristan laughs, and a strange warm feeling spreads through me. Suddenly, mid conversation, his phone lights up and he reads the message. "Who's that from?" I ask curiously. 

Tristan looks up. "Oh, uh, no one."

I can tell he's lying. "It's from Corey, isn't it?"

Tristan doesn't respond, but he stands up, and I go to follow him. "I, uh, need to go." he says by way of explanation. 

"What? Why?" I ask, genuinely worried for him- what if he's going back to Corey's? He doesn't reply, just turns and runs out of my house. Great. He left all his stuff here, he must be in a hurry. Normally I'd be annoyed if someone just ran out on me, but I can't shake the feeling of worry. I just hope he's ok.

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So now tradley are not together (sorry). But I hope you still liked this chapter!

I'm making a playlist for this story but it only has like 4 songs, any suggestions?