Liam was supposed to be having a good time at this party, but he wasn’t for one simple reason: Brett. Ever since their last party together, they’ve been inseparable. Brett was always over at Liam’s, sometimes he’d go over to Brett’s as well. He spent so much time with his boyfriend lately, he forgot nobody knew about them and they couldn’t act like they had been doing behind closed doors.
He knew Brett was coming to the party from the beginning, that’s why Liam came in the first place. He at least thought Brett and him could socialize even a little, but Brett didn’t even seem to acknowledge Liam’s presence across the room. As he leaned against the wall and Mason talked to some of their friends, Liam tried to focus his hearing on Brett and his conversations.
His conversation with people didn’t seem very important, but then he didn’t hear any talking from Brett at all. Curiosity forced him to turn his head, but Liam instantly regretted it. There Brett was, kissing another guy. He might as well just punched Liam in the gut because this feeling was the same. In the back of his mind, a voice was telling him he should have seen this coming. It’s Brett. The same Brett that always teased him at Devenford. Maybe their whole relationship had been just a cruel joke. After a good minute of watching in horror, Liam couldn’t take it any longer. He tore his eyes away from Brett and shoved through the crowds of people, heading towards the exit of the house.
Perhaps it was an inevitable part of the adolescent soul to destroy all the good things in their hands. Or it might be the insecurity in him that was messing with his head. He wasn't sure. The weight on his chest wasn't supposed to be there. He wasn't supposed to be suffocating. He was in love. He shouldn't feel like this.
He didn't expect himself to be jealous, but then he was. He was jealous of all the friends that Liam could hang out with openly. Everyone else was a bigger part of Liam's life than him. It was stupid, he knew it was plain stupid. He was the older one in the relationship and he shouldn't be the one creating drama. They were at the party together, but none of them talked to each other. It stepped on him and it hurt.
He quickly employed his mostly used tactic. One of his biggest flaws, the way he would choose not to talk about it rather than to confront it. The party was cool. The music was the kind he liked, and the people were the sort that didn't matter enough to upset him. Everything was good, as long as he would ignore Liam who was over at the other corner, talking to other people. He almost forgot, they weren't supposed to be boyfriends in this party.
So it was okay to kiss the guy who flirted quietly with all the staring, right? Of course it was not, but still, he kissed him back when those foreign lips offered. It wasn't that bad. It wasn't that good. The opponent was undeterred by Brett's distracted and half-hearted kissing, and he pressed on, throwing his arms around Brett's neck -- and that was when Brett sensed the change in the house, the shutting of the door, the remainder of the people in the house staring.
When he pushed the guy away, Liam was nowhere to be seen. He understood immediately what had happened. The weight on his chest was still there. Nothing helped. His sudden change in mood confused his friends. He couldn't tell them why. He simply left the party and got into his car, driving mindlessly on the road.
It wasn't a question. It wasn't a conversation. It wasn't anything.
