Unbeautiful (2/?)
Chapter 2
It had been almost two hours. The door to the bathroom had opened and slammed shut a half hour after Darren had climbed into the empty shower. Darren wanted to be able to unfold from his hiding place and find Chris, but he didn’t know if Bryan was still in the house at all. Just then, the door to the bathroom opened, and shut with a soft click, and Darren listened carefully. “Darren?” Darren pulled back the shower curtain a little, and saw Chris standing there, dressed in sweats and a U of M hoodie that Darren was positive was his.
“Is he gone?”
“Yeah. He left an hour ago.” Darren took a shaky step from the shower into the bathroom, and despite his urge to pull Chris into a hug, he knew it would only hurt Chris more, so he absently fiddled with a loose thread on his jeans. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“You’re staying with me.”
“But Darren-”
“No buts. Pack a suitcase.” Once they were at Darren’s apartment, Chris noticed that there were several movie cases scattered across the coffee table in front of the TV. He went over to sit down on the couch, relaxing into the cushions, and his back protested at the movements. Darren looked up to ask Chris what he wanted for dinner, and saw that Chris was asleep. Chris had left his phone on the kitchen counter, and it went off. Darren contemplated answering it, and when he saw the name ‘Bryan’ flash across the screen, he knew what to do. The second he answered the call, he heard Bryan say,
“Hey, baby, I got reservations at that Italian place you like.”
“Listen, you douchebag, you’re never coming near Chris again.”
“Who’s this?”
“Darren. And unlike you, I actually care about Chris.”
“You’re not his boyfriend.”
“His boyfriend shouldn’t be abusing him.”
“You don’t understand. I love Chris.”
“You don’t love him. If you loved him, you wouldn’t be doing this. So listen to me. You’re never coming near Chris again.” Darren ended the call with shaking fingers, and he leaned up against the counter. He was startled out of his thoughts with a whispered,
“Darren?” Darren jumped, turned, and saw Chris standing there.
“Bryan called you.”
“I heard.” Darren looked over towards his own phone, and asked,
“What do you want to eat? I was thinking pizza.”
“Pepperoni pizza.” As Darren picked up his phone, he saw Chris looking at the iPhone that was sitting on the counter. Once the order was placed, Darren hung up, turned to Chris, and reached out to gingerly wrap his arms around Chris’s waist. Darren pushed the thought of how right it felt to just hold Chris to the back of his mind, and he smiled a little. “What?”
“You’re beautiful.”
Chapter 3