Chapter Eleven

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Lawson was expecting to spend the entire rest of his day studying with Sean to make up for not showing up earlier, but it became clear that this would be difficult when they encountered their first interruption ten minutes after taking a seat.

They were on the second math problem when the chair next to Lawson was pulled out, and Nathan was suddenly occupying it. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere," Nathan said, and Lawson's eyebrows raised, because he had spent the morning in the two places on campus he was most likely to be found: the courts and his room. Nate must not have been looking hard.

"Uh... hi," Lawson greeted, and the he brought his attention to Sean, who was sitting across from him, watching with raised eyebrows. When their eyes met, Sean smiled a little, and Lawson returned it before looking back at Nathan.

"Hi," Nathan responded, and Lawson noted that his friend looked absolutely exhausted, most likely due to the night before.

"How are you feeling?"

"I threw up this morning," was Nathan's immediate response, which made Lawson's lips twitch in amusement. He had been expecting it, honestly, since Nathan's alcohol tolerance had drastically decreased since high school, and he consumed mostly sugary drinks the night before. "It was awful".

"I'm sure," Lawson sympathized, but he was unable to his the fact that he thought it was funny, and Nathan's blue eyes narrowed in response. "Look, I'm guessing you weren't looking everywhere for me to make small talk, right?"

"Correct. Have you checked social media this morning?" Nathan inquired. Lawson hadn't, but he had the night before, so he assumed he knew what Nate was referring to.

"If you're asking if I saw the video of you and Reese, I saw it last night. Jean texted me about it so you might need to answer some questions if you haven't already explained the whole situation to him," Lawson responded, and Nathan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a second before his expression neutralized and he leaned back to take his phone from the pocket of his jeans.

"I already talked to Jean. Besides, that's not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about Glenn". Lawson's eyebrows raised at the vagueness of that statement, but he had to wait for an explanation as Nathan unlocked his phone and began searching for something. Lawson's eyes locked with Sean's across the table and he hoped his gaze held how sorry he was for the interruption. In response, Sean's teeth tugged at his lower lip, and his head shook a little bit: no problem. Lawson's attention was pulled away when Nathan thrust his phone in front not if him obnoxiously, and he took it from the other boy's hand to hold it at a further distance from his face. As he looked at the post, Nathan addressed Sean with a, "Hey man, how's it going?"

Tuning out the response, Lawson narrowed his eyes at the picture Glenn had posted that morning. It was a photo of him with some abnormally tall guy- or Lawson was guessing based on how far the kids legs were stretched out in front of him- sitting on a beat up couch together, drinking from solo cups. Both of their faces were stretched into grins, but Lawson knew Glenn well enough to tell that only one of them in the photo was truly happy.

Glenn looked tired, and sad. There were circles under his eyes, which were red, and his smile wasn't what it usually was. Typically, when Glenn smiled, he glowed, and it made him look even more beautiful, but that quality was lacking in this picture, and to Lawson, knowing the truth, he found the expression totally unpleasant. That's not Glenn.

Upon further examination, he noticed that the picture was accompanied with a caption. Friday nights with the best <3. It had over three hundred likes.

Silently, Lawson passed the phone back to Nathan, who took it, immediately cutting off his casual conversation with Sean to ask, "well?"

"Yeah man, he looks like shit," Lawson answered, assuming that's what they were going to address until the second he said it, because suddenly, Nathan looked downright offended, his mouth dropping open as he glared at Lawson.

"He looks gorgeous," Natha corrected angrily, looking back down at his phone as if to confirm, and then waving it in Lawson's face.

Lawson shrugged and grasped Nathan's wrist so he would stop. "Yeah, well, that's just his face. I mean, beneath all of that, he looks awful".

"What are you talking about?" Nathan hissed, clearly blinded by the situation. "He's smiling. He's happy. Without me. With this...  fucker".

With a frown, Lawson regarded his friend, wondering how someone so attractive could be so insecure. "No he isn't, Nathan. He looks like he hasn't slept in weeks, and his smile is fake-" Lawson cut off. "Nathan, you dumped him, so you can't be upset about him being happy without you".

The expression that came of Nathan's face could only be described as distraught. "I dumped him because he didn't have time for me anymore with school, and I wanted him to be able to adjust to everything without me bugging him all the damn time". Nate looked at the picture again. "Apparently now he has enough time to go out and get drunk with this guy," Nate groaned, shaking his phone again as if Lawson didn't understand who he was talking about. "Who the fuck even is that? Why is his arm around my boyfriend? Lawson, find out who this is for me, yeah?" Without speaking, Lawson reached forward and tapped Nathan's screen, right over the picture, which pulled up the tags. He then clicked on the name next to the boy in question, pulling up a new profile, the one of Brandon Davis.

The first picture on the profile was similar to the one on Glenn's, only in this one, the two of them were standing, and they were accompanied by another boy, who seemed to be laughing hysterically. Nathan was silent as he took this in and Lawson brought his gaze to Sean and made a face. Sean almost smiled, but then Nathan said, "I'm literally going to fucking kill someone," as he dropped his phone to the table, and Sean's eyes got very wide.

Lawson sighed. "Nathan, don't be a psychopath. Glenn clearly posted that picture because he knew you would see it. That's what people do when they're hurting- they try to make it seem like they're not". Nate looked at him, bright eyes incredibly large. "Just... don't reach out to him. You're taking a break for a reason, remember? And I know it's hard, but you need to remember why you're doing this. Give it a month, and then reach out to him and see how things are going, and go from there," Lawson advised, and Nathan's teeth dug into his lower lip. He seemed to be thinking about what to say, but didn't get the chance, because his phone began to vibrate on the table between them.

They both looked down, and then scrambled for the phone at the same time at the sight of Jean's name.

Lawson was faster. "Hey," he answered. "Don't tell him to call Glenn".

It was silent, and then he heard, "Lawson? How are you doing, sunshine? We haven't spoken in forever-"

"Don't call me that," Lawson demanded, flustered, and Jean hummed thoughtfully. "I didn't pick up so I could talk to you, I want to make sure you're not going to tell him to do something stupid".

"Yeah, Lawson, I'm not a fucking idiot. I was going to ask him if he wants me to come down over the weekend fuck him".

"Don't do that," Lawson stresed, and then Jean laughed in a way that told Lawson he was joking. "God, you're such a dick-"

"I was actually going to tell him to try and fuck you". Lawson scoffed and held the phone out to Nathan, who looked at it, and then Lawson's flushed cheeks, before taking it.

As he left, Lawson heard him say, "I know what Lawson said but do you really think I shouldn't call him?"

Immediately, Lawson turned to Sean and apologized for Nathan, and for allowing himself to get so distracted. "It's alright, Lawson. I can't blame you for being a good friend. He's clearly going through something".

"Yeah, he is," Lawson confirmed, eyes flicking over Sean's face, wondering why Sean was still looking at him like that after he had spent the day being a total douche. Sean looked interested.

Interested in him.

For the first time, literally the first time, it occurred to him that Nathan was probably right. Sean liked him.

"Can I possibly make it up to you?" Lawson asked, and Sean's eyes got wide. "I... I have a favorite bakery in the area. Unless you've already eaten-"

"I haven't," Sean was quick to interlude. "I was too busy trying to track down some douchebag who forgot about me". Surprised, Lawson threw back his head and laughed. On any other day, he would have immediately been shhhed, but on Saturdays, attendance to the library was sparse. "That'd be great. I... I actually haven't gotten off campus since school started, with the exception of the diner, of course, but that's literally less than a hundred feet from my appartment, and I only fill in every other week or so".

"Really?" Lawson asked, reaching forward to gather his notebook and textbook, both of which he had barely used. "So you don't know the area well then?"

"Not at all," Sean admitted. "My roommate and I were going to go explore, and then he realized that college was too hard for him and dropped out, so I never got the chance".

Lawson looked down at the Calc book he had just tucked in his backpack- they had used his own this time since Sean hadn't brought his backpack- and then up at Sean through his eyelashes. "Instead of reviewing, would you like to spend the day touring the area? I mean, I live like fifteen minutes away, so I grew up in the around here".

Sean gave him a wider smile than Lawson ever remembered seeing before, and he was reminded of Glenn's smile, the one that made him more beautiful. That was Sean's smile, but there was something completely different about it too. "I'd love that," the other boy admitted. "Pastries and a tour sound wonderful".

***

"Oh my god," Sean said, slowing to a stop in the parking lot, a few feet from Lawson's navy truck. "You drive this?"

Lawson was standing at the drivers door, his hand on the door handle, and he turned to look at Sean at his surprise. "Not you too," he whined, and Sean's eyebrows shot up. "I love this car, and everyone is so mean to me about it-"

"Lawson, no," Sean cut in, resuming his steps and rounding the front of the vehicle. He stopped next to the passenger door and smiled at Lawson over the top of his car. "It's awesome".

Sean tried the passenger side door, and his eyebrows shot up. "Oh, shit. It, uh, only unlocks from the inside". A smile formed on Sean's face for some reason, but Lawson didn't have time to appreciate it as he climbed in the driver's side and leaned over to unlock it for the other boy. Once Sean slid in and shut the door, Lawson asked, "do you really like my car?" Sean looked momentarily surprised.

"Yeah. It's... very you, if that makes sense. I'm not sure what I was expecting you to drive, but now that I know I can't imagine you with anything else," Sean admitted, looking around the trucks interior as Lawson stared at the side of his face, slightly awed. "What?"

"What do you drive?" Lawson asked as he brought the key to the ignition. Sean averted his eyes, and his cheeks reddened. "What?"

"Um... well, when my brother and I got our licenses, my mom gave us her old car to share, and then she got a new car, so..."

"So... you drive a mom car?" Lawson teased, glancing over his shoulder as he backed out of the parking spot.

"Uh... a minivan," Sean revealed, and Lawson's eyes flicked over to the other boys face. He laughed at the expression he saw. "I know, it's terrible. I've saved up a lot of money, and I'm planning on getting a car over the summer so I don't have to fly anymore. It'll take forever, but I'd rather be tired and pay for gas than drop a couple hundred dollars on a one way plane ticket right before christmas".

"Oh fuck," Lawson swore, his eyes shooting down to the fuel gage on his car. Sean's words had reminded him of his current dilemma.  "I gotta stop to get gas before I show you around. We can eat first though, since I'm literally starving".

The bakery was only a few minutes drive away, and the closest gas station was past that by another couple minutes, so it made sense to stop to eat first. Besides, Lawson was most definitely going to insist that he pay for Sean's food, even though his bank account was a big question mark, and then he could just limit his gas based on how much money he had left in his account after eating.

Five minutes later, when they had finally ordered at the counter, Sean protested when Lawson removed his card from his wallet and insisted on paying for the both of them. "Sean, the whole point of us being here is for me to make up for being an idiot," Lawson reminded, watching as the cashier swiped his card and then held it out towards him. "Thanks". She handed the box of pastries to Sean, who was still pouting, and they went out to eat in the car.

"Thank you," Sean grumbled, and Lawson laughed at his tone.

"Don't say it like I kicked your puppy," he demanded, reaching over and taking a glazed doughnut from the box on Sean's lap. Sean chucked, and removed a croissant. Lawson watched him take a bite. "You know, I'm glad I owed you, because I was planning on harassing you into coming here with me anyway".

"Hmmm?" Sean hummed, mouth full and eyes wide. Hastily, he swallowed. "Why? Not that I'm complaining. This is wonderful".

"I don't know". Lawson shrugged. "I think one of the first things you said to me was I really like food, so I figured I'd take you to get the best food in the area".

"Lunch," Sean corrected. "I really like lunch".

With a frown, Lawson looked down at the box of pastries, and then up at Sean, who was looking back at him as he took another bite of his croissant. "Is this not a proper lunch?" Lawson questioned, fighting to keep his expression innocent.

Sean choked on his croissant when he laughed.

A/N I like couples who aren't really that funny, but find one another funny. It's cute

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