31. Special

When I told Tom about my  current situation with Billy, he didn't reply with anything, just  looked at me with a hint of anger in his eyes. He didn't directly voice  it that he did not like this, but his silent treatment was showing it.

"Are you mad?" I asked, knowing the answer to the question, whether he'd reply with a 'yes' or a 'no'.

"No," he lied, "I just don't like the idea of Billy being around you. You know how shitty he can be."

"Hey," I snapped back a little bit, "Don't talk about my friend like that. Weren't you best buddies until like a few days ago?"

"Okay,  okay. I'm sorry. You're free to do whatever you want. I shouldn't have  bad-mouthed your friend like that," he emphasized the word 'friend'.  What did he mean by that?

"Why did you say 'friend' like that?" I asked.

"Like what?" he can play good at dumbfounded, that's for sure.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about."

He  sighed, "Look, I'm scared, okay. I think Billy might try to get close  to you so that he can either take you away from me or get revenge on us  both."

"Why both?" I asked, quite perplexed. I didn't know what I'd done.

"For dating me, silly," oh, right. I'm that backstabbing friend. I'm still dating Tom too.

"Oh.  That. Right..." I didn't even know what to reply to that at this point.  He was right. While the possibility might be small, it still exists in  the realms of maths.

"...Did he by chance tell you some bad stuff about me?" there was fear in his eyes.

"...Maybe," I replied. "He said that you're a cheater. Is that... true?" I felt really awkward asking him a question like that.

"...In  the past, yeah. While I was dating girls, there was something always  missing. Then I explored the option of dating guys... exploring the  option of liking you and... it's different. What we have... it's not  empty, you know?"

"...I guess I get it, but cheating is still wrong, you know?"

"...Yeah.  I've broken so many hearts before. But the past is in the past. There's  nothing I can do about it to change it, can I?"

"...What  if you do the same thing to me the moment you get bored?" I hated  having to ask him that. I really did. But I need some sort of warranty  that he's not going to dump me like he has his past girlfriends, even if  that warranty is just his word.

"...I  swear it. Nate, meeting you is... meeting you has been one of the best  things that's happened to me, you know? I know we didn't get off on the  right foot, and that because of that...," he stopped himself  mid-sentence. I guess he was about to say a bad word. "That Billy...  but... I've changed, you know? I like you. I really do. And I wouldn't  want to lose you, no matter what. Okay?"

Damn. That was a rather long and emotional speech; I guess he really does like me.

"Okay. I like you too."