A Cliché Love

10

"What?" Tom searched for more words but struggled. "I-"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just said it like that, but I wasn't sure how to transition."

"How?" Tom was honestly dumbfounded.

"My best friend, Labib, is one of Eric's friends. He also happened to work at the carnival the other night."

"Oh, he was the one who gave us tickets, right?" Tom thought back to Friday night, which seemed further away than it really was.

"That would be him!" Mikaela smiled at the thought of her friend. "I don't want you to think he was gossiping about you or spreading anything around. I hung out with Eric on Saturday and he couldn't stop smiling. Labib put two and two together, and guessed it had something to do with that, and I quote, "puppy cute boy from West Studio High Eric was with". Labib tells me everything, and figured I would know who he was talking about since you go to my school."

"I thought Eric wasn't out to his friends?" Tom wasn't sure how he was feeling. The constant feel of nausea mixed with slight excitement confused him.

"Oh, he's not! Well, not officially that is. He's never been the type of person to call himself a label, at least not to us. He's kissed boys before but also dated girls, we just figured as much but have never asked because it's not our business!" Mikaela grabbed Tom's trembling hands. "The bigger issue is that I didn't mean to make you feel weird. I didn't feel comfortable knowing this without you knowing I knew."

"It's not that I feel weird, I just wasn't expecting this. I haven't really talked about this with anybody, except Tori and-"

"Wait. Tori knows about you and Eric?" Mikaela interrupted Tom, eyes widening for a split second.

"Yes... why?"

"How did she react to that news?" She leaned forward slightly, clearly intrigued.

"Not well! I didn't know the rivalry between our schools was that harsh!"

"Yeah... it's pretty serious." Mikaela got silent for a second before getting herself back into her usual self. Tom noted that in his head as a weird reaction.

"Anyway, I appreciate you telling me you know. I guess it feels pretty good having somebody else know I'm gay other than just Tori and well, Eric." Tom smiled at Mikaela, reacting better to his outing than he expected.

"Oh, I wasn't aware of that until right now! Thank you for sharing that with me! I obviously won't tell anybody until you're ready to share!"

"What did you think was going on between me and Eric?" Tom's heart felt warm.

"I wasn't sure but I wasn't going to assume! I totally support this, just so you know!" Mikaela picked up her phone to check the time. "Oh jeez! Terrible timing but it's getting late, I'm going to have to go home! Would you like me to drop you off?"

"I would appreciate that thank you!" Tom looked at his own phone before sending a text to Eric.

"I'm heading home now if you still wanted to come over! You can stay for dinner -T"

"Of course I'm still coming! Leaving now, see you soon :-) -E"

"Would you mind waiting for me to get Eric a coffee to go? He's coming over and I figured I would bring him a treat." Mikaela quickly agreed with a smile. Tom went through the checkout again, settling on an iced coffee and of course a cake pop. After getting the order, the two of them headed towards Mikaela's car.

"Let me see that drink." Mikaela took it from Tom, pulling out a sharpie. She drew hearts around Eric's name before handing it back to him. They talked and laughed together on their way to Tom's house. When she pulled in the driveway, they both instantly noticed Eric sitting on the hood of his car. He squinted slightly to see who just pulled in before jumping off with a smile on his face.

"Tom! Mikaela! Hi!" He greeted Tom first by opening the car door for him before going to the driver side to say hello to his friend. She got out of the car to give Eric an excited hug. "I didn't know the two of you were friends!?"

"It's the first time we've hung out but you should know Mikaela is friends with everybody!" They all laughed in agreement.

"I wish I could stay and chat longer but I really have to get going! The three of us and Labib should get together soon!" Tom and Eric agreed before waving goodbye to Mikaela as she got in the car to drive off.

"Oh wait!" Tom reached back in the car. "I brought you this, I'm not really sure what type of coffee you like, if you even like coffee, but I figured iced coffee would be the safest option." Eric smiled while taking the coffee from him.

"Thank you!" He took a look at the coffee, his smile growing as he noticed the hearts all around the cup. "You even drew hearts!!! You are the cutest thing." He gave Tom a quick kiss on the cheek before waving bye to Mikaela who had finally made it out of the driveway. The boys turned to head into Tom's house, which was empty due to the weekly Phelan parent date night.

"So what did you want to watch?" Tom asked while pulling up Netflix, which got Eric giggling. "What?"

"Are we about to Netflix and Chill right now?" Eric giggled as Tom gently slapped him.

"What are you, 12? We're just going to Netflix, not chill."

"That's what you think." Eric said with a wink. The two of them talked about what to watch, trying to decide if they should just watch a movie or start a series. "If we start a series, that means you're at least stuck with me until that over so hmm what's the longest series on Netflix?" Tom giggled before grabbing Eric's hand and turning on Parks and Recreation. Both of them had seen the series before so they automatically skipped to the second season. They talked and laughed through the first episode, tuning in and out. They originally sat a normal distance apart, but with every lean-in laugh they seemed to scoot closer together, hands still entwined. They switched it from Parks to a random movie. They watched in a comfortable silence for a little bit, trying to understand the plot of the movie.

"Are you cold? I think I'm cold." Eric blurted out, making Tom jump slightly from the sudden interruption of silence.

"I'm a little chilly! I can grab a blanket!" Tom let go of Eric's hand, making him pout slightly. Tom rolled his eyes at Eric's dramatic reaction. He grabbed a blanket before making his way over the couch. He was making an attempt to sit back down when he was pulled in close by Eric. Unfortunately for both the boys, Tom's balance betrayed him, making him fall completely into Eric's lap. Eric groaned in pain as Tom giggled. "You did that to yourself Eric.""Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just trying to be cute!" The boys rearranged so Tom's entire body weight wasn't on Eric. They settled on Tom laying across the couch with his upper half leaning on Eric. The two of them continued to talk, losing interest in the movie. At some point, Eric started playing with Tom's hair as he was talking to him. Tom felt his eyes getting heavier and heavier before the exhaustion finally took over. Tom gently fell asleep as Eric continued to play with his hair. A soft smile spread across Eric's face as he stared down at the man asleep in his arms.

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Pls never expect two chapters in a row again but I had a moment of inspiration so yeehaw and giddy up