ALPHABET SEX *CHARDRE* **Discontinued**

9: Boyfriends, Cousins & New Boy

"Nate?" I look up at Nate from the dining table the next day after finishing eating my lunch with him. 

"Oh, I almost forgot, Aaron's on his way today, he'd really like to meet you," his face lights up. Too bad I can't give Aaron a chance. "He's heard a lot about you."

"Oh, really? I wonder why," I smirk. Nate's been talking about me and showing me off to Aaron. "Actually, Nate-"

"Leo, you will love him, he's just your type," Nate grins, finishing the last bite of his cheese toastie.

"Nate!" I shout for him to stop. "It's not going to happen, sorry."

"Wait, what?" Nate furrows his eyebrows. "Him and I have been looking forward to this day for ages and now you're turning around and saying that you won't date him? That was the whole purpose of this trip."

"Nate, you're getting way too ahead of yourself," I shake my head, putting my plate in the dishwasher that's almost full. "I never said that I would date him, I simply said that I'd hang out with him and see how it goes."

"So why won't you date him?" Nate asks, waiting for my response. I stare out of the window in the kitchen. Nate stands behind me, crossing his arms and I can see his reflection in the window as the sun shines in. "Leo, for fucks sake, answer me! Why won't you give Aaron a chance? He hasn't done anything wrong."

I turn around. "No, he hasn't done anything wrong. But I'm with Charlie and I'm happy. If you think there's something wrong with that, the door's there!" I point towards the door. 

Nate's hand comes in contact with my face. "You son of a bitch. You picked Charlie over Aaron? I can't believe you."

"You know what?" My body starts to shake. "You can stay here but I'm going. Aaron can have my room." I rush all the way upstairs and chuck all of my clothes into my suitcase. 

"Leo!" Nate runs after me, chucking all the clothes I pack onto the floor, stopping me. "Why the fuck are you doing this?"

"Nate, seriously, fuck off!" I continue to shake, tears falling and sweat dripping. "Stay away from me."

"Leo, you're panicking!" Nate shouts. I forget my suitcase and leave it behind. My feet pound on the stairs as I run down, Nate following closely behind. "Leo, what are you doing?"

"I'm leaving, Nate, leave me alone!" I open and slam the door shut behind me as I rush out into the fresh air, running all the way to Charlie's on the opposite street. When I get there, I'm shaking violently, sweat still dripping and I can barely stand as my eyes fill with tears and breath quivers, hyperventilating and unable to catch my breath. I knock on Charlie's door and he answers pretty much straight away.

"Oh my God, Leo!" Charlie guides me into the house and lies me on the sofa, quickly grabbing a bowl and a wet flannel. I'm still panicking. As I begin to calm down, I start to wheeze. Charlie places the wet flannel on my forehead and the bowl beside the sofa, ready for when I need it if I need it. "Everything will be okay. You're safe here, you'll be okay." He strokes my hair, calming me down until I eventually become dazed and tired. "Leo, come here." He carefully sits me up and cuddles me. "What happened, baby?"

"I told Nate about us and he freaked," I reply, weakly. "Apparently, I was supposed to date someone that he set me up with but I told him that it wouldn't be happening."

"Well, you did the right thing, baby," Charlie comforts me, pulling out of the hug. "Wait. Nate? As in Nate Praedens?"

"Yeah, he's a friend of mine from school," I reply. "Why?"

"Oh, no, he is not getting away with this," Charlie stands, furious.

"Charlie, please don't," I beg. "He's already angry with me." I'm too late. Charlie is headed out of the door and towards my house. I follow him. He can't do this. "Charlie, please don't do this."

"Shut up, Leo!" Charlie shouts. "This isn't up to you. Just trust me, yeah?"

"Why should I?" I ask, annoyed. "You're the one going after my friend."

"Yeah, your friend that also just happens to be my cousin!" He shouts back. "Does that put this situation in perspective for you now?"

"Charlie, I had no clue," I reply, honestly. "I didn't even know you were related to him. But, please, don't do this. Please don't do this, Charlie. Please, don't do this."

He sighs. "Leo, it's okay. But trust me, okay? I'm not going to hurt him. I'm not going to hurt anyone unless they deserve it. He didn't hit you, did he?"

"No, he just upset me," I reply. 

"Good, then there's no reason for me to hurt him, okay?"

"Okay."

I follow Charlie inside and into the living room where Nate is watching TV with who I'm guessing is Aaron. Charlie turns the TV off and stands in front of it. "Hey, we were watching that," Nate moans before taking a closer look at him. "Charlie? What are you doing here? I thought you hated me."

"I do hate you. I hate you even more that you've hurt Leo. Why? What was the point in that, Nate?" Charlie asks, crossing his arms sternly. 

"What's going on?" Aaron asks, confused.

"Don't worry, Aaron, it's fine, I can deal with this," Nate tells him. "Leo needs to learn that consequences come with dating fags like you. You're disgusting, Charlie."

"Oh, and what did I do?" Charlie retorts.

"You hurt me," Nate stands, defending himself. "You hurt my family."

"Nate, I didn't," Charlie replies, calmly. "I think you'll find that you hurt them and you can't keep blaming me for everything that you mess up. That family outing disaster was your fault, not mine. You knew you would kill Bailee. so stop lying to yourself and go to that fucking support group the doctor recommended. You just make things worse for yourself. I know you're upset and I know you didn't mean to kill Bailee but you need to come clean and get some fucking counselling, okay?"

Nate falls onto the sofa, speechless, tears threatening his eyes. Mum arrives home with the shopping and passes us in the living room to get to the dining room and kitchen. "Good afternoon, boys, care to help me unload and unpack the shopping?"

"Yes, mum," I follow her into the kitchen, quickly grabbing a bag out of the car boot beforehand. Charlie, Nate and Aaron grab the rest of the bags between them and bring them through to the kitchen. It's time to tell my Mum about Charlie and I. She already knows that I'm gay, she's known for a while. "Mum, meet Charlie, my boyfriend."

"Oh, I see," she smiles. "Nice to finally meet you, Charlie. I'm guessing Leo's been at yours when he's not been home, then? Tearing my boy away from me, are you, Charlie?" Mum jokes around.

"Mum," I say, embarrassed.

"Umm... No, miss, I've been looking after him and he's been looking after me as well," Charlie grins. "I actually came out recently to everyone so it's been a bit tough. And then I had to look after Leo because Nate, actually, upset him."

Mum raises her eyebrows, looking over at Nate who slumps his head over in guilt. "Care to explain, Nate?"

"I'm sorry, Vicky, I overreacted," he apologises. "I was just jealous of him and Charlie, it made me mad."

"Well, let's not let our emotions get in the way, then, okay?" Vicky asks.

"Yes, Vicky," Nate replies, guilt eating away at him as he tramples his way up the stairs, Aaron following him to his room. 

"Well, then, boys, are you going to help me unpack?" Mum smiles brightly. 

Charlie helps my mum unpack and I stand back, making myself a cup of tea and drinking it. While they unpack, they talk about me and all the events that happened today. I'm sipping my tea when I feel my body numben from earlier's panic attack and I drop the mug, smashing to pieces on the kitchen tiles as I collapse to the floor as well.

Author's Note: It's a been a while since I've updated regularly, so I thought I'd start again. I can't promise that there will be more than one update a week but that's what I'll aim for. I'm basically at home 4 days a week so I definitely have enough time to get at least one update done. But here's the second update this week, I hope you enjoyed it! - Chloe xx