A/N: So here's Chapter 3! A bit more Niff thoughts from Jeff in this chapter and a bit of emotional hurt towards the end. Enjoy, and please review..
The two remaining lessons went by pretty quickly for Jeff, considering all they did in English was discuss poetry notes and since their art teacher had called in sick, a sub had taken over and had decided that she didn't have the patience to be dealing with teenage boys and paint in one room, so she had allowed them to have a free period. Which was a relief for most of the boys who had just suffered through a depressing prolonged day and really didn't have the motivation to paint the remaining unequivocal features on to their pieces.
Jeff had taken advantage of this free time to head back up to his dorm in an attempt to straighten up the room, in his mad rush to find his shoes this morning he had left the dorm in a right state so he knew at some point he would have had had to come up and sort it before he and Nick would be lectured about their messiness by the dorm inspectors. He had turned down the offer to join Flint and Cameron who had decided they were going to use the time to get some extra lacrosse practise in, Jeff didn't even play the sport so he saw no point in spending an hour watching the two run up and down the field with a stick. Even though his father had pushed him into joining sports in his hope that one day Jeff would become captain of a Dalton sports team, Jeff just didn't have much luck with sports, he was more of a creative person – his time spent well singing or dancing or painting, not getting down and dirty on a field. He had given up trying to play lacrosse at the start of freshmen year when he had accidentally launched the ball at Miss. Carlson's face and shattered her glasses. That didn't mean he didn't go to support his friends during matches, he still stood in the stands cheering them on like a true supporter, even though half the time he had no idea why this person couldn't move there, or this person couldn't have possession of the ball here and so on.
The corridors of Dalton were deserted, everyone would still be in class working away at this time, with the exception of the seniors who would either be lounging around in the common room or taking a stroll around the grounds, but judging by the weather outside, Jeff thought the common room seemed like a more realistic choice for the students.
He quickly made his way up the staircase and along the corridor to the dorms, stopping outside his and Nick's room to fiddle around inside his blazer for the key. After retrieving the little silver object, he turned the lock and entered the room, quickly dumping his bag on the bed and walking over to the small cabinet that sat sandwiched between the twin beds on one side of the room. He began to take off his watch and set it down on the wooden surface, it had been a gift from his grandfather a few years ago who had unfortunately passed away not that long ago, so Jeff treasured the item a lot, it really had sentimental value as it had been passed through generations of the Sterling family, he had been given a duty to take care of it, which meant keeping it safely tucked away when it was not being worn and out of the reach of his best friend, who had a particular bad habit of misplacing things.
Jeff then made a start on clearing up the room, he began to pick up the many sheets of paper that lined the floor around the desk, and began to sort out the pile of clothes that lay untouched in the corner, most of whom were Nick's. Jeff had to admit, he did have a touch of OCD, for he even sorted out the piles of dirty and clean socks into order of colour and placed them neatly back into their places before making a start on the wardrobe.
It had taken Jeff over half an hour to fully clean out and organise the shared wardrobe, which in that time he had managed to neaten up both his and Nick's side, separating their uniform from their casual weekend clothes and gathering up the many empty packets of Red Vines and Twizzlers that lay scattered at the back of the wardrobe, he didn't even have to think twice about which one of the warblers had decided to stuff all of their rubbish away into the back, for he knew that holding the two boys responsible for owning an insane amount of sweets would be an easy way for the sassy warbler to get a Wes Montgomery off of his back about having a sugar addiction.
By the time Jeff had finished disposing of the empty packets and giving the room one more thorough clean, he was exhausted. He looked at the clock, realising he still had roughly 25 minutes left before last period finished and the dorm rooms would once again become occupied. This gave Jeff enough time to have a quick nap before Nick got back to rant on about how boring his lessons had been, he thought he better appreciate the quietness while it lasted.
Slipping off his shoes and blazer, Jeff began to feel his eyes become heavy as he made his way over to the beds loosening his tie as he did so. He quickly flopped onto the nearest bed, which in this case had been Nick's, and began to relax against the pillows.
He had always liked Nick's bed better than his own, it was next to the window meaning it was cool and the mattress was slightly softer than his, not to mention the fact it held the scent of the boy he was in love with which made it easier to relax in. Jeff turned his back to the wall and caught sight of the framed photograph that sat on the cabinet between the beds, he made a reach for it, pulling it closer into the view of his tired eyes and studied it carefully, he smiled as he felt the memories of that day flooding back to him. It was a photo of all of the warblers (including Blaine and Kurt) after they had tied with McKinley at the 2010 Western Ohio Sectionals, everyone looked so happy, even Kurt who had obviously felt a bit uncomfortable performing with the rival team to his old glee club, but the face that caught Jeff's eyes was no one other than Nick's, the boy looked both a mixture of surprised and happy, he had a big grin plastered on his face and a glimmer of joy reflected in his eyes, it was the happiest Jeff had ever seen him since after the break-up with Helen, it was nice to see him genuinely smile again, it made Jeff's heart swell realising that he was getting his chirpy and charming Nick back.
He set the frame back down and pulled Nick's pillow tighter into his chest, inhaling the scent of it that smelt so much like his best friend. If only it could be Nick, if only he could imagine that he was lying here with his friend wrapped in his arms, almost like that night when he had comforted Nick and let him sleep in his bed with him. It had only happened the one time, Nick had been so distraught he just needed someone to hold him and Jeff had been that very person. He knew it would probably never happen again though, Nick was single and looked to be staying that way for the moment, at least until he could build up the courage to ask another girl out. Jeff's mind however wandered to the thoughts about Nick during warbler practise, and the way in which he just let that slut Sebastian touch him, it made Jeff's blood boil the way Sebastian had just slithered his way in and began eyeing up his best friend, but what if Nick had just let him do because, he liked it? He liked him? He liked Sebastian!
Jeff could feel the tears brimming in his eyes now, no, that couldn't be possible, Sebastian was horrible to everyone, okay so he may have been a bit civil with Nick, but there was no way Nick could find him nice. Sure he was attractive Jeff had to admit, but his appalling personality outweighed his looks, which is mainly the reason why everybody disliked him. Well, nearly everyone, Jeff had noticed Nick's lack of input to conversations that involved bitching about 'Slutty Smythe', whilst all of the other warblers would be making funny remarks about the meerkat faced boy, Nick would just sit there, silent, looking at everyone with eyes of remorse as he listened to the others continue with their backstabbing of the other boy, it was almost as if Nick was defending him deep down. This had really gotten to Jeff, who could defend Sebastian? He was not worthy of being defended by the way he treat his teammates, surely Nick could see that. There was only one other explanation for it, Nick liked him. It had to be, but Nick wasn't even gay, was he? Unless Sebastian had flirted with him to the point where the brunette had given up and went to play for the other team, but Nick would have told Jeff, he was his best friend after all, there were barely any secrets between the two.
Jeff could feel the tears slowly starting to stream down his face now, he couldn't believe it, he just couldn't believe it. If this kept going on, he was going to lose Nick. His Nick. He couldn't let that happen, no, he was going to confront Sebastian next practise, tell him to lay off of his best friend, but in the meantime all Jeff could do was wait for Nick to come back, come back to their room, come back to him. He slowly allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep and into a dream where Sebastian Smythe did not exist and Jeff could have Nick in his arms all the time.
Jeff awoke to the sound of rustling coming from the other side of the room. He slowly began to open his eyes taking in his surroundings, it was then he realised he was lying on Nick's bed, in their room, and that he had actually been in a deep sleep and hadn't realised the bell had rung signalling the end of classes for the day. He took in the image of a figure dressed in uniform sat crossed legged on his bed.
"Nick?" Jeff spoke up, squinting as the light shined brightly into his sleep filled eyes.
"Not quite Jeffrey" came a voice that Jeff recognised instantly as Trent's.
Jeff sat up, flattening out his shirt that had became slightly creased and smoothing down his bed hair. Trent was sitting on Jeff's bed, happily munching away on a pack of Twizzlers, looking at his friend in a gratifying way.
"How'd you get in here?" Jeff asked watching Trent successfully shove a whole strand of the red licorice into his mouth in one go "And where's Nick?"
"You left the door open man, I thought I'd come and take a visit to my favourite two warbler's room" Trent smiled eagerly at Jeff "So did you find your Nicky then?"
Jeff looked up at the other boy, confusion in his eyes.
"What do you mean?" Jeff asked, reaching out to grab a Twizzler from half empty packet.
Trent grinned like a child, stopping to munch on the sweet before saying
"You in your sleep, every few seconds it was 'Oh Nicky, where's Nicky? I have to find my Nicky? Nicky this, Nicky that', jesus Jeff you would think he was like attached to you, I wish I'd had gotten it on video, it was quite funny"
Jeff could feel his face turning a similar colour to the sweet that was in his hand, was he really talking in his sleep? And about Nick? He couldn't even remember what he had dreamt about, and if he had had been talking in his sleep and Trent had been sitting listening, this was not a good thing, for soon the rest of the Warblers would know, including Nick, this was definitely not a good thing.
Then again, Trent may have just been winding him up, the round faced boy liked to do that a lot, he once convinced Wes that his gavel had been taken away by the FBI for suspicious usage, Wes was not happy when he found out that it had just been another one of Trent's wind-ups.
Jeff quickly turned his attention back to the other boy in the room.
"I was probably just having a random dream, nothing weird or anything, I can't even remember what it was about" Jeff said letting the heat fade from his face back to it's usual tanned complexion.
"well it was obviously about Nick" Trent smirked raising an eyebrow at the other boy
Oh no, Jeff knew that face, Trent was getting suspicious, what if he knew? What if he knew that Jeff had a crush on Nick, well, more than a crush? Jeff quickly tried to change the subject to something other than his attractive best friend.
"So how was math then, fun?" Jeff asked
"Of course" Trent said sarcastically, eyeing Jeff at his sudden change in subject "if you would call sitting watching slutface giggle and play with your roommate whilst trying to do algebra fun"
Jeff's head quickly snapped back up. Had he heard right? Sebastian 'playing' with Nick, that brought out some pretty disturbing thoughts in Jeff's mind, but if it had taken place in a maths classroom with a teacher present it couldn't have been as bad as he thought. But still, this was getting a bit too much for Jeff to take in, he already had to witness Sebastian 'playing' with Nick during warbler practise, but now it was happening during class too, classes which Sebastian and Nick had together, classes Jeff didn't take, classes where the two could flirt happily without Jeff sitting there watching like a third-wheel.
He could feel his heart slowly starting to break and became completely oblivious to the other boys presence in the room, he slowly got up and began to pull on his shoes.
"Hey where are you going?" Trent asked looking up at the blonde with a hint of concern in his eyes
"For a walk" Jeff said, pulling on his blazer and eyeing Trent who was still staring at him with regard "If you see Nick, tell him, that I'll be back later and not to wait up for me"
Trent nodded, half-smiling at the boy and muttering a quick "bye" to him before returning to finish off his pack of Twizzlers. Why had Jeff been so bothered? Trent thought thinking back to Jeff's actions less than a minute ago, it was only Sebastian being Sebastian, he was just playing around like a sleaze. Unless Jeff was jealous, maybe he was jealous that Nick had befriended Sebastian and forgotten about Jeff, but he knew that wasn't true, the two were inseparable, come on, even Jeff should know that Nick would never leave Jeff to go and play best buds with Sebastian. Unless, Jeff liked Nick? It had kind of being obvious to him and the warblers that Jeff had some sort of connection to the brunette, they actually considered the idea of the two being like long lost brothers, but now it was starting to make sense, maybe Jeff did like Nick. But wait, hold up! Since when did Jeff become gay? This was starting to become pretty juicy, Trent thought, maybe he should ask Nick about it. No, what if he didn't know, and that would be pretty sly on Jeff. No, for once, Trent Nixon was going to keep quiet,and was going to stand back and let things unfold for themselves, he may pitch in with a bit of help later on but his main concern for the moment was for Nick to find Jeff to make sure he was okay.
With that, Trent got up and exited the dorm, closing the door carefully behind him and making his way back to his room in which he shared with Andrew. Taking the empty pack of Twizzlers with him this time.
Ooh poor Jeff, i'm so cruel. I just hope Nick comes and finds him and makes it all better, seriously I love Niff, they're like my OTP other than Klaine :)
