Bad Romance - 17. Chapter 16

“Hey Matt, help me man!” His co-worker yelled for his attention. Matt was pulled out of his trance when he heard his voice. He apologized and went over to help Jeff to get the orders to their respective tables.

His gaze once again averted to watch a stressed Candes sitting by the window. She was looking outside, totally lost in thought. He wondered what the problem was. While deep in his thoughts, he almost spilled the coffee when Jeff brought his attention to it, “Whoa watch it man! What’s gotten into you today?”

Matt once again mumbled his apology, and ran his hand down his face in constant worry for Candes. He stared over at Candes and that’s when Jeff understood. He had sensed the tension between the two of them for a week now. Candes was kind of giving him the cold shoulder, even when Matt would try to be cheerful around her. And that made him mull over what had changed...

“Dude, go talk to her, you won’t know what’s troubling her unless you approach her.” Jeff suggested.

“I don’t know, Jeff. It’s clear she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“I am sure it’s some misunderstanding. You should sort it out with her.” Jeff assured him. “I can handle it here for awhile. You should really go.”

Matt nodded while looking at Candes and sauntered over in her direction. While he moved, the only thing that caught his eyes was her face – a beautiful face that was starting to grow in his heart. The translucent window invited a few rays of the morning sun which directly fell on her face. Her emerald eyes would blink several times naturally, intimidated by the brightness of the light. Her chiselled features were highlighted half-way making it look more appealing to the one staring directly at her.

Suddenly, Matt realized what he was thinking and shook his head to get rid of those forbidden thoughts. No way was he going to lose himself over his brother’s girlfriend. She belonged to Gust, and so did the baby that was growing inside her. There was no meaning of falling in an already lost love.

Keeping his thoughts straight, he reached Candes’ table. For a minute he just stood there thinking of what exactly to say to her, and he decided he would just start off by saying a ‘hi’ at least.

But before he could say anything, Candes looked up at him bewildered, as she sensed someone’s presence. As soon as Candes’ eyes met his, Matt couldn’t find his voice to speak. He kept looking at her with his mouth agape, taken by the depth of her greens.

Candes recovered from her astonishment very quickly, and blushed at the way Matt stared at her. It was wrong but it also felt good to her; sort of caressed her ego that she hadn’t lost her beauty even after getting pregnant. “Hey.” She greeted, not feeling comfortable enough to say anything else.

Matt blinked and managed to get a “Hey” out of his mouth. He didn’t know what to say either and silence prevailed between them for some time. They were both wondering what the other was thinking. Finally, in utter discomfort, Matt stammered out asking, “Mind if I join you?”

Candes’ face automatically expressed nervousness, and she squirmed in her seat which got Matt to further blabber, “No, it’s okay if you don’t want me to join you. I will leave you alone. I just thought we could catch up because it’s been a week since we talked... I mean really talk, not the usual ‘hi’ or ‘wassup’ we would say whenever you would come here ... but like ...”

“Matt!” Candes cut him off, “You are rambling.” She pointed out making Matt all the more embarrassed.

“Oh sorry!”

Candes sighed when he started to leave and called to him, “Matt, I would like to talk to you.” A triumphant grin showed up on Matt’s face but went away as quickly as it came when she further added, “I have been meaning to tell you that I am not very happy with what we did to Gust ... and Joe.”

Matt quickly went to sit across her and furrowed his brows. “What do you mean you are not happy? We did this all for you and Gust to get back together again. We separated Gust and Joe for good, and now you can find your way back to your boyfriend. How can you not be happy with that?”

“Because Gust is not happy... he was so happy with Joe. I have seen it and I have felt it.” Candes replied.

Matt frowned resting back by the chair, “Don’t do this, Candes. You have almost won the battle, there’s no sense in giving up like that at this point of time when you are almost there.”

“And what’s the prize that I’d get? A heartbroken Gust?” Candes asked, “No, thank you. I would rather be alone than have a boyfriend blabbering over his lost love.”

“He doesn’t love Joe!” Matt forcefully said.

Candes snorted, “I wish that were true ... but he does. And I have finally come to accept the fact that he’s gay.”

Matt couldn’t believe she was the one saying that. “You don’t know shit. He’s my brother, I have seen him grow; I have known him better than you and I know he is not a frigging homosexual. Why don’t you get it? That sissy Joe has messed with his mind.”

Candes finished her coffee and took her bag from the table. “Keep explaining that to yourself.” She said as she rose from her seat. “But the truth won’t change for you. I have already accepted the fact that Gust is gay and he will always be. It’s better if you soon accept it too.”

Matt watched over his shoulders as she went away. He felt angrier now, not because she had switched sides, but because his mind was starting to have second thoughts as well. He sat there for quite a long time thinking it over, and slammed his hand on the table, “Damn it!” he swore, and went back over to the counter. Jeff noticed his bad mood but dared not ask him about it. He guessed it must have been a helluva arguement between him and his new ‘girlfriend’.

Just a table away from where Candes and Matt sat a few moments before, was a table that was occupied by Luke. He had his back towards them so they didn’t notice him. But he picked up on most of their conversation and was shocked. He was now worried about what had happened between Joe and Gust. Had they broken up? What did Candes and Matt do to them?

Luke had been already too preoccupied with his own problems to even care about what’s going on with his friends, and now he felt really bad for that. He quickly got his cell phone out and punched in the numbers.

“Gust?”

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Noah slid his cock deeper in and out until Chris was taking it easily up to the hilt, panting and grunting. Then Noah started faster and harder, long deep strokes, his balls pressing hard against Chris’ ass, his legs pressed against the warm bed.

"Oh Noah ... please ...," Chris groaned, begging. "Give me all the pleasure you’ve got there.... yeaaah.. right.

"Noah felt like puking the way Chris said it in a girlish way. Luke was never so feminine in bed he remembered. He would moan, he would grunt, but his manliness would surmount his tender age.

Noah leaned forward over Chris, tucking his hand around and grasped his dick that was throbbing so hard that he could feel its pulse. Noah fucked him hard over the bed, gauging his reactions, slowing down when he winced in pain and speeding up when he groaned for more. Gripping Chris firmly, he gave him that final slide with his powerful hand, pushing him over the edge. He screamed as he came, splattering his load across the black, glossy paintwork.

That was not too bad but it fucking felt like a nightmare. Noah would keep comparing his every move with what he had felt during his first time with Luke, and this way he would be reminded of Luke every time. He would try pushing him to the back of his mind, but something would come up and Luke’s innocent face would pop back up in front of his eyes.

Grabbing Chris’ hips with both his hands, Noah pounded in him harder, hearing a loud groan of ecstasy. He plunged in and came in an explosion, crying out, spurting warm cum inside Chris, pulling out for a moment, then plunging in again.

Noah collapsed onto Chris, panting hard. Both of them were pretty worn out, breathing hard as they lay there for a second.

Finally Noah turned over when he felt Chris struggling to move. Chris rolled over lying on his back and twisted his head to look at Noah. He caressed his cheek. "I knew you needed a man like me to make you wild like that. That was A-fucking-mazing!" Chris licked the corners of his lip, still feeling the zest of Noah’s cum that he had tasted just an hour ago when he gave him an arousing blowjob. He knew he had driven Noah wild with it because he had cum so hard at that time. Had he known better, the only thing Noah was thinking during that blowjob, was how Luke’s mouth had felt around his dick when they had done it in school the other day. The idea of how they could have gotten caught and that it was really forbidden for a teacher and a student to connect like that, was much alluring on its own.

Noah managed to give him a slight smile. He glanced up at the clock and saw it was nearly 11 PM. It was too late, and he was damn tired to go home. The warmth of the bed made him lazy and drowsy. He needed some sleep.

As if he had read his mind, Chris said out of the blue, “You can stay here tonight, dear. I would love to snuggle up with you.” He felt shy and drew nearer to him.

Noah didn’t feel right when Chris’ naked body met his skin. He felt like he was cheating on Luke. ‘But I am not.’ He contradicted he own thoughts trying to make himself understand that, ‘We never shared any steady relationship. It was just an attraction between us, and what we shared was a means to our needs. We had sex because we wanted to. There was no love or anything involved between us.’

But the harsh thoughts didn’t wash over the guilt he felt coming from his heart. Chris felt Noah’s body tense when he cuddled up to him in the bed and grimaced. Embarrassed and offended that Noah didn’t cuddle him back, he pulled his body away and looked into Noah’s eyes.

“Noah? You didn’t feel pressured to do this because I blackmailed you ... did you? You had sex with me because you wanted me, right?” His face showed fear. He did have a slight hint what the answer was going to be, but he hoped he was wrong.

However Noah confirmed his fears when he said, “I can’t lie, sorry.”

“But ...” Chris was hurt.

Noah didn’t want to talk right now so he just turned facing away from Chris. “Turn off the lights, Chris. I want to sleep.”

Chris eyed his back for some time, feeling rejected. He twisted over and switched off the lights. As the dark prevailed in the room, Noah remained wide awake, left alone with his feelings and thoughts playing a battle inside him.

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Matt returned home very late after attending a late night party at his friend’s place. He needed to chill out after a busy week at work and throw all his stress out of his head, and this party helped a lot.

He used the spare keys with him to unlock the door and quietly walked into their apartment. He hoped his parents weren’t awake. So he was relieved when he saw it was dark inside, signifying that everyone must be sleeping peacefully in their rooms. And anyway, he did inform his mother that he was going to attend a party.

When he was about to take the steps up to his room, the room went all bright with the lights turned on. Matt almost freaked out thinking it was his mom or dad, ready to give him the third degree, but when he turned he saw it was just Gust.

“Shit you scared me!” Matt said blowing out air from his mouth in relief. “Hey bro, what are you doing up so late?”

“I was waiting for you. We need to talk.” Gust gritted his teeth together. From the time he got the call from Luke, he was fuming, wanting to blow off all his anger at his brother for ruining things between him and Joe.

“About what?” Matt asked quizzically, as he descended the few steps that he climbed before and strolled towards his brother.

“... about the truth.” Gust wasn’t interested in beating around the bush, so he asked him straight out, “Was it YOUR plan to break Joe and I apart?”

Matt was flabbergasted at first when Gust threw that question at him, but then recovered putting on a serious face as well, “Joe was never good for you.”

“Don’t give me that shit alright?” Gust tried to keep his voice low and not wake up his parents. “You are not to decide what’s good for me or what’s bad. Leave it up to me. It’s MY life, and it’s none of your fucking business who I go out with.”

Matt countered, “It becomes my business when you go on a wrong path. I had to protect you and show you what you were doing was wrong. That’s not who you are.”

“And you think you know that better than me?” Gust scowled. “You are not living my life, Matt. If you were, you’d know how hard it was to live a life full of lies and hiding. And now when I am finally coming to terms to what I really want, you are forcing me back into the closet.”

“God! Gust, why can’t you see it? That prick has your mind corrupted with all this gay stuff. This is so not the brother I have known all these years.”

“That hurt, Matt!” Gust felt really distant from his brother right now. “I am tired. I am fucking tired of acting like I am the perfect son, the perfect brother, the perfect boyfriend ... but the thing is I am not perfect. No one is... you might not like me for what I am, but I really can’t help it. You always thought Joe was the one who ‘turned’ me gay, but the fact is I always was ... even before I met him.” Gust snorted a sarcastic laugh. “I actually used him to make Luke jealous, but then I was destined to be with him.” He said remembering their sweet memories together.

“Luke?” Now Matt was shocked.

Gust sighed. “Yes, I had a crush on Luke, even though the feelings were never returned, I kept trying to get him. Now don’t go on blaming Luke for all this shit. You very well know how it was for him when he came out. And I can’t understand ... you helped Luke all through that rough time. You were so thoughtful, telling him that it is okay for him to be gay, then why the indifferent behaviour towards me? Don’t you love me anymore?”

Matt caught him by his arms, “Don’t say that. I love you, bro. You do know I did this all out of love.”

“It would have been better if you hadn’t done anything.” Gust shrugged both his hands off him. “I love Joe, and if you think you are successful enough to break us up, then you are wrong big brother. Every relationship has its ups and downs, and I am sure Joe and I will soon overcome this ‘down’ in our relationship. But you dare not come between us ever again.” He warned and sprinted to go upstairs.

When he reached his room, he banged the door shut behind him and threw himself on the bed. He wondered about what he had said few minutes ago to his brother – about Joe and him getting back together.

He looked at his cell phone – no calls from Joe yet. He hadn’t returned any of the million calls he had made to him. Now it was starting to worry him, also making him doubt whether he would ever get his love back. Anyhow, he was determined to try until he took his last breath.

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Noah couldn’t sleep for a long time. All the thoughts jammed in his mind were troubling him.

He should have been sleeping. Why the hell couldn't he? It's not like he wasn't tired. He was just... thinking too much. He was terrible at telling people how he felt; so when Chris had asked him how he felt about the sex, he didn’t talk about his feelings. Ever since he had moved into Oakdale, he had only one person he had shared his feelings with, to some extent – Luke. But he couldn’t bring himself to open the book of his life fully for him.

Destiny brought him and Luke together for some time, and it can only be assumed that his heart had seen heaven being with him. Although he liked to think he was just attracted to Luke sexually, it was more to it than his brain thought it was. And his heart had a hint of it.

That’s why whenever Luke would come anywhere near him, his heart would just start working overtime. Whenever he kissed or even touched him, his heart would just do a flip inside his chest. Moreover, the two times they had sex, when his mind would just liked to think it was a weak moment and he slipped, his heart would thump harder knowing it was more than that.

Noah tossed and turned becoming uncomfortable with all these thoughts, like he had an inkling of where they were headed for and he didn’t want that. The spongy bed pricked him right now and being not able to take it anymore, he sat up and walked away towards the door that opened to an open balcony.

He leaned against the railings keeping his arms crossed as he sighed and closed his eyes. Noah felt a cold breeze pass across him, tickling his face and he shivered.

There was no doubt that Luke loved him. Otherwise he wouldn’t put up with all the hurt Noah gave him. Noah knew he had been a first class asshole to Luke, but he felt it was good that way.

He rubbed his face and bit his lower lip. Noah had made up his mind of getting away from Luke. He thought that the kid could get better than him ... someone who was his age, someone more attractive than him, that would turn Luke’s world beautiful in their love. As much as it hurt to think that, he was considerate that it was what Luke really deserved.

Noah’s blue eyes travelled up at the sky and he stared at the moon. The beauty of this night, reminded him of the most perfect guy he had ever met. He was sure there had been no one, or would there ever be anyone like Luke in his life.

He eyed the moon seeing Luke’s virtue in it and mumbled, “I may regret the way we ended, but I will never regret what we had.”

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---TBC---

Your opinion counts:

Noah doesn’t want to admit it’s more than attraction that he feels for Luke, but his heart counters all his denials, in that case, do you think Luke still has a chance?