Jared Abitol is ugly, past his prime, and desperate for love.
Years of being hyper-aware of his own looks have made Jared develop social anxiety. When you look like Jared, love isn't easy to find. Jared might not have the looks or confidence, but h...
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Darnell hadn't called or messaged Jared yet. The incident that had happened at the bar had been on Saturday, and now it was Wednesday. Something had happened, and all Darnell knew was that Nyx had something to do with it because he was dead set on touching Darnell and making rude comments about Jared when the older man left in a hurry.
"Fuck," Darnell cursed, throwing his phone aside. The thing tumbled, somehow managing not to fly off the couch as Darnell hugged his knees and made himself into a curled ball. Nathalie was walking around in the background with a night robe and a face mask on. She was munching on popcorn as she watched the mess of a shell Darnell had become. It was around eight at night, and Darnell had been at the couch since he got back from lectures by five, unlocking his phone every five or so minutes to see if Jared called, or maybe answered any of the texts he had sent him on Saturday night.
"He still hasn't replied to you?" Nathalie asked, taking a sit on the sofa next to the couch Darnell was curled up in. Darnell shook his head at Nathalie's question, checking his phone once again before sighing and confirming that Jared has still not replied.
"Okay, so maybe call him first. I don't know," Nathalie said, eating from the bowl of popcorn she had on her lap. "Maybe he's trying not to look needy. Nyx said something to him, right?" Nathalie muttered between crunches as she looked at Darnell. He looked horrible. His lips were quivering, and his eyes were red. She was starting to feel how Darnell felt about Jared was beyond a simple man crush.
"Uh-uh." Nathalie frowned at Darnell's rejection of her advice.
"What do you mean uh-uh? If you want him to call you, you might as well call him. If you both wait this out like idiots, a month will pass by and you won't talk to each other," Nathalie said as Darnell started to sob again. Usually, she didn't yell at him, but the boy could be dense and a bit of an airhead.
Maybe that was what made the situation a little sad. Nathalie saw how Jared looked at Darnell that night, but she guessed the man was too afraid of rejection to say anything. Darnell would make the first move if he knew, but Nathalie had a feeling he was clueless at the moment.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," she groaned, rolling her eye before getting off her sit. She placed the bowl of popcorn that she was carrying around on the center table before walking over to Darnell and taking a seat beside him on the couch. "Give me your phone," she said, putting her hand in front of Darnell's face. "Come one."
"If he picks the call up, I'll tell him I was the one that called because I was getting worried and wanted to know if he didn't want the contract anymore," Nathalie said and Darnell broke down into sobs again at the mere mention of the contract being annulled. Nathalie sighed, reaching out before grabbing Darnell's phone. He let her have hit, not even looking up as he continued to sob.
Nathalie scrolled through Darnell's contacts, not finding one named Jared, but guessing the number that just had a bunch of hearts as its contact name belonged to him. She dialed the number, putting it on speaker as she waited for Jared to pick up. It rang a few times, then the phone beeped, showing that Jared had not picked up. While Nathalie had dialed Jared Darnell had gone quiet on his end of the couch, and now that he didn't pick the nineteen-year-old was sniffling again.
