Chapter 19

Andrew

O ur friends packed Brandon’s living room. I liked how we could all still get together like this, that we hadn’t let graduation and life get in the way of our friendship.

“Can you two put, like, ten feet between you or something?” Nathan dropped onto the couch between Aiden and Joe and glared at Joe. Aiden stood, rolling his eyes, and went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.

“What’s the matter, Nate?” Shawn asked as he popped a cap on a bottle of beer and sat on the floor next to Daniel. Daniel looked over at him with a glare and scooted away, muttering something to himself about not understanding why Shawn had to get so close.

There wasn’t anything in particular that brought us all together for the evening, except just to hang out. Brandon came in a few minutes later, bags of food dangling from his fingers. I rushed over to help him set them down, and he gave me a confused look, as though I’d done something wrong by doing it.

There was hiding things, sure, but he was taking it a little too far. I wasn’t acting any differently than before we’d agreed to change our relationship. Brandon was being paranoid, and I was trying my hardest not to be irritated with him, but his behavior was grating on my nerves.

“What’d you get to eat?” I asked as I set out Styrofoam containers on the counter. It all smelled amazing, but he said that he wanted the food to be a surprise. We’d all learned early on that it usually wasn’t a great idea to trust Brandon with surprise dinners. I was used to his quirks, but not everyone was into trying the vegan place from down the street.

He laughed, like he was remembering the time he put us all through that as well, before flipping open a lid. Joe had ventured over and visibly relaxed at the sight of Chinese food. There was chow mein, broccoli beef, general tso chicken, sweet and sour pork, fried rice, egg rolls, pot stickers, and a big bowl of egg drop soup. It was a lot of food and While Brandon did better than most of us financially, I still felt bad if he had paid for all of this.

“Can I give you any money toward this?” I whispered, leaning in close.

Brandon shook his head, continuing to set out the food and pull out plates and utensils so everyone could eat.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. This is my treat tonight.”

Things had felt a little more strained since he visited me at the pharmacy two days ago, but I tried not to dwell on it. Maybe he figured out that Rebecca knew about us, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Someone was bound to find out, especially with him acting cagey all the time .

Once everyone had gathered around the island and started dishing up their food, Brandon disappeared. I followed him and found him sitting on the edge of his bed. When I closed the door behind me, he looked up and chewed his lip nervously.

“Are you doing okay?”

His laugh was awkward. He couldn’t lie to me and tell me he was fine because I knew he was anything but. “I’m just anxious. It’s fine. Can you—can you stay tonight? After everyone leaves?”

We hadn’t stayed together since the night we got our test results. Maybe that was why he seemed stressed out. We never spent that much time apart. It hit me then just how tired he looked. There were dark circles under his eyes, which were hard to see, thanks to his glasses.

I walked over to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him up from the bed. His arms wrapped around my waist and his head rested against my chest. I kissed the top of his head. “You don’t even have to ask me that.”

There was a soft knock on the door before it creaked open. For the first time in a while, Brandon didn’t jump back from me, which made me feel better about the entire situation.

“What’s going on? Everything okay?” Chase just stood there, still holding the doorknob. Brandon nodded against my chest before letting go and heading back out to the front of his apartment. It took me a couple of minutes to gather myself .

When I went back out to the living room, I got my own plate of food, even though I wasn’t all that hungry anymore. I was more worried about Brandon and what had made him want to take a break from things. He was one of the most outgoing people I’d ever met.

I sat on one end of the couch, placing my plate on the coffee table in front of me, and then suddenly I had a lap full of Brandon. He threw an arm around my shoulder as he continued to talk to Chase about whatever they’d been talking about before I sat down. It threw me off balance because, for the last few weeks, he’d been shying away from any contact like this. Not that I was about to complain. Having him there felt right. Made me feel complete.

“So then this guy is going on and on about how his girlfriend is reading porn and he’s upset that we sold it to her. I really hope that she finds someone better because she should be allowed to read whatever she wants and not have to worry about an insecure dickweed like that.” Brandon swung his free arm around while he continued his story. Chase seemed like he was interested, leaning in close and nodding at all the appropriate times.

“I never understood that. Why would you limit what your partner was into unless it was causing actual harm?” Chase sat back, resting against Nathan, who wrapped an arm around him. Nathan was lost in his own conversation with Joe while Aiden found himself wedged between Daniel and Shawn on the floor, keeping the two of them from killing each other .

“What do you think?”

Brandon’s question snapped me back to the present.

“I have no problem with it. I think it’s cute that you like those stories.”

Brandon blushed before sliding off my lap and going back to get more food. I still hadn’t eaten yet, so I grabbed my plate while my lap was empty. It didn’t last long before Brandon came back. It was tricky trying to navigate around him while he kept up his conversation with Nathan and Chase, including me in the conversation every so often.

I was distracted. The man I’d been craving was squirming around on my lap and I’d been dying of anticipation for almost an entire week. We still had a couple of more days until we had the all clear, but if he kept this up, I was about to propose something to give us both some relief. There were things we could do that didn’t require penetration or the use of our mouths. Brandon seemed intent on going to the next step, but it needed to wait and we were both too on edge.

When Brandon shifted again, I nearly dropped my plate. He was making it difficult for me to behave in front of our friends. My dick twitched and thickened every time he squirmed. He suddenly froze when he realized what was happening.

“Andrew?” His question was so quiet that I almost didn’t hear it.

“Yeah?”

“Can you help me with something for a minute?”

“Sure.”

We both stood, and Brandon pulled me toward the bathroom. It was something we’d done before and not that unusual, but it never stopped the catcalls and wolf whistles that always followed us. Brandon tossed a middle finger over his shoulder as he closed the door and locked it behind us.

He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. Neither of us said anything as we stood and stared at each other. The air crackled and fizzled; the tension seeping out between us.

“Are you—”

Before I could finish my question, Brandon launched himself at me and sealed his mouth over mine. I stumbled backward, catching myself on the sink and knocking something to the floor. Our friends were definitely going to think we were up to something now, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care as long as Brandon kept up with his little mewls and whimpers as he ground against me.

My hands scrambled to grab his hips as they bucked and rolled, providing the perfect friction. Brandon’s hands slid under the front of my shirt, blunt nails dragging down my stomach, causing the muscles to contract and quake. His fingers found the fly of my jeans, working it open and pushing the denim over my hips. He shoved the front of his sweats out of the way so that all that was between us was our underwear, and it turned out that Brandon had the same idea I had .

“I need... something. Shit. Andrew. I swear I’m not like this. What have you done to me?”

I wanted to laugh, but his mouth was back over mine. There was no faulting him. I felt the same with him. I wanted more than ever. Although I enjoyed sex, there was an inexplicable longing for it with Brandon that surpassed any previous desires.

His hands slid down the back of my underwear, grasping the globes of my ass as he continued to grind. It wasn’t enough. I wanted more skin, to feel his heat against me again, but this would have to do.

Copying Brandon, my hands were under the barrier of his briefs as well, massaging his cheeks and spreading them. He whimpered against me as my fingers slid into his crease to play with his hole. It was all torture. A tease of what we really wanted and had to wait to have.

Brandon sobbed, his whole body shuddering as his dick pulsed against me. His release was warm and wet and soaked through his underwear to mine. It was enough to throw me over the edge with him.

It took us a few moments to catch our breath when a knock sounded from the bathroom door.

“Is everything okay in there?” Chase sounded amused. Like he was trying not to laugh. There was no way they didn’t know what we’d been doing .

Brandon stood up, kicked out of his sweats, and pulled off his briefs. He used them to wipe the rest of the cum from his softening cock. My eyes couldn’t peel themselves away.

“Everything’s fine. Just checking out a leak in the sink.” Brandon called.

I fought the laugh because it was such a shitty excuse, and no one would believe it.

“A leak? Want me to look at it? Drew used to have me do some minor plumbing...” The door handle jiggled and Brandon’s eyes widened as he quickly pulled back on his sweats. He waved his hands at my front, which was still damp. My jeans were still around my thighs, and I was a mess.

“We’re just about done.” Brandon sounded borderline hysterical when I didn’t move fast enough to clean myself up. He took my boxers from me the second I had them off and he shoved them into the bottom of the hamper he always kept in the corner.

I had just finished buttoning my jeans when Brandon unlocked the door. Chase stood on the other side, arms crossed over his chest. He looked between us several times. Yeah, we definitely weren’t fooling anyone. Brandon’s lips were still puffy and our hair was a wreck.

“The sink?” Chase asked.

Brandon shrugged, shoving past Chase and into the living room. “It turned into a bigger thing than I thought. No big deal. We got it figured out. ”

My feet remained glued in the bathroom. We were still playing the game of not telling anyone about what was happening. Chase looked at me, holding his arms out like he was expecting me to have an answer for him. The rest of our friends were silent as Brandon sat on the couch. It had been stupid to do that while they were all here, but we were desperate. I should have told him we needed to wait until tonight.

Instead, I was hit with the bitter taste of resentment that he didn’t even want to acknowledge things with our closest friends.

Something was going to have to change. And it was going to have to change soon.