Comfy Closets

49|| Beginnings and Endings

“You can be such an ass.”

“What? Oh, come on.”

“I’m serious, dude. When are you going to let me forget it?”

I tried to stifle a laugh. “Not ever.”

“Exactly! An ass.” The sandy-blonde boy huffed, walking faster in his attempt to get away from me.

“You might’ve pushed him a bit too much this time,” Gia commented, her light blue orbs glinting with amusement.

“I can’t help it,” I chuckled, speeding up my pace. “He’s such a simp for Dante. Cute, yes. But the way he was whining and pouting while on the phone yesterday was the simp-iest thing I’ve ever seen. Is that a word?”

Leah playfully nudged me from the side. “No, you made it up. But you can’t deny that you’re a simp too, Lys. Did you already forget what you did two days ago?”

I tried to ignore the heat rising in my cheeks, looking the other way. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Letting go of Leah’s hand, I sped up my pace even further to draw away from the two girls laughing, finally catching up to Zach’s side in the hallway.

Since meeting his boyfriend, we’ve gotten to know Dante more and turns out, he’s great. He goes to another school thirty minutes away but met Zach at a basketball game when they played against our school. They lost, but he somehow charmed his way into getting Zach’s number and a date right after. The two actually looked great together, and they were honestly as cute as marshmallows when in each other’s presence. So sweet that it was sickening, and even Leah and I could agree on that.

He looked over to me and rolled his eyes, though I could tell he had calmed down. “What now?”

“Nothing, nothing.” A teasing smile curled a corner of my lips. “I just wanted to ask about Ash.” At that, his expression turned sombre.

To my knowledge, since last Friday, Ashton hasn’t been talking to Zach despite all the latter’s best efforts, and it was already Thursday. I personally thought Ashton was being an idiot and I’ve even tried talking to him about it, but he’d just brush it off every time or walk away. It was getting really frustrating to see the two of them like this – in a dance filled with steps of pursuit and escape.

The sandy-blonde sighed and ran a hand roughly through his hair. “Still nothing to say about it.” I could tell all this was hurting him a great deal. I mean, this was his best friend who refused to stop and talk to him. Ashton could be dramatic sometimes, and maybe even a little unreasonable, but the way this was affecting Zach was unfair. It was his truth to tell, and one where only he had the right to choose when.

When the rest of the school had found out, it was like every single one of them had hit over the head by brick so strong that it made them all go crazy. Crazy with gossip, questions, and some with the worst one – hate.

Although a lot of people were filled with surprise the first few days - the news had travelled fast through online means after the party - some others, namely Zach’s basketball squad, reacted poorly. It was really only these three guys who hated the notion, and the rest either stood by or uncomfortably followed their lead. Honestly, it pissed me off every time I thought about the way they were now treating my friend, especially because this hit so close to home when this happened with me and my own teammates. I was lucky that I had friends on the team that were brave enough to back me up. Zach, however – not so much.

Which was why I thought, again, that Ashton was being an idiot.

Zach has said he’s been doing fine, but I could tell by the look of hurt in his eyes – despite his best efforts to desperately hide it – that he was not.