"Hey Tris, you awake?"

Tristan cracked open his eyes, rolling over to see the phone lying on his pillow. He smiled and picked it up.

"Hey."

"You sound cute."

"Ha ha. I can't believe we fell asleep on the phone."

"Yeah well," Tristan could hear Miles smiling.

"So uh, what're you doing today?"

"Miss me already?" Tristan taunted.

"Maybe…"

"Well I don't really feel like being at home so I was going to go the park today."

"The park?"

"There's this abandoned park near my house, its quiet," Tristan defended himself.

"Ok, I guess I'll meet you there in an hour."

Tristan tried to ignore the gnawing self-doubt that was beginning to threaten his momentary happiness, which was shattered a few minutes later when he heard his parents' voices rising from the kitchen as he got out of bed, averting his eyes from the mirror hanging on his closet door as he grabbed his clothes and headed to the bathroom. Tristan took his time, dreading having to go downstairs.

He walked slowly down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible, not wanting his parents to notice him, but as he reached for the handle he heard a voice bark at him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Out." Tristan muttered, fixing his eyes on the wall behind his dad as he turned around.

"You know the school called us. Skipping, really? Do you want to end up like your brother, repeating a year?"

Tristan stayed silent.

"Don't be so hard on him, you know he's been having a rough time after his break up."

Tristan appreciated his mom defending him, but wished that she hadn't, because he knew all too well what was coming next.

"This is your fault you know, you baby him too much!"

His eyes trained on the wall, he stood fixed in place as another fight erupted.

"Screw this!" Tristan's dad spat as he stormed out of the house, the door closing with such a force that the house shook.

"Mom, are you ok?" Tristan stepped forward, placing a hand on his mom's shoulder.

"I'm fine, honey," her voice trembled as she walked quickly into the kitchen, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"How about some breakfast?"

"I'm not really hungry."

"Please, we haven't had breakfast together in so long."

Tristan sighed, not wanting to upset his mom any further, as he nervously sat down at the kitchen table.

He watched his mom as she piled eggs and bacon on his plate. He shifted in his seat, wanting more than anything to bolt.

His mom placed the threatening plate in front of him. Tristan watched her as she sat down and began to eat. Chewing, swallowing, she made it look so easy, why couldn't he just be like that, why couldn't he just not care? But he did, so he just pushed around the food on his plate, cutting the eggs and bacon into small pieces with his fork. Thankfully, a few agonizing minutes later, her boss called, calling her into work.

Tristan waited until the door closed behind her to take his plate into the kitchen, watching the food as it went down the garbage disposal. But as he began walking out of his house towards the park, they began.

Can't even eat breakfast with your mom?

You can't do anything right.

Uselessweakpatheticfatweakuglystupidpatheticfatuseless

Tristan tried to ignore the voices but they were unrelenting, torturing him the whole way.

"Hey!" Miles called out to Tristan, motioning for him to join.

"Hi," Tristan smiled weakly as he sat down in the swing next to him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Tristan looked down, digging the toe of his shoe into the dirt.

Miles raised his eyebrows, "Come on Tris, I know you better than that."

"It's nothing… my, uh, my parents were just fighting."

Miles started to protest but Tristan cut him off.

"Can we just please not talk about this right now?"

Reluctantly, Miles nodded, he knew what it was like not wanting to talk about your home life.

A mischievous smile appeared on Miles' face.

"So, uh, what do you want to do then?"

Tristan caught onto Miles' tone and got up, glad for the distraction. He walked over to Miles, grabbing onto the chains of the swing, pushing him back until they were face to face.

"Oh I don't know," Tristan teased, his face getting closer to Miles' with every word.

Miles leaned forward, closing the space between them. Tristan wrapped an arm around Miles' waist, pulling him forward off the swing in an effort to get even closer as his other hand tangled in Miles' hair, tugging on it. Miles let out a soft moan as he began kissing Tristan with more force. Their tongues battled for dominance as they entangled themselves in each other, trying to get as close as possible. When they broke apart, both boys were breathing heavily.

"Well that's a lot better than talking," Miles panted, his face flushed.

Tristan smirked and brushed a few strands of hair out of Miles' eyes, "Told you."

"Want to go somewhere else?" Miles asked as he detangled himself from Tristan.

"Sure, where?"

"Um, how about the Dot?"

Tristan immediately tensed up.

"Why don't we just go back to your house?"

"Because Winston and Frankie are there and I really don't feel like watching them make out. Besides, I thought you loved lattes?"

"Right, yeah I do," Tristan agreed, not wanting Miles to get suspicious.

Tristan smiled at Miles as they walked to his car, but inside he was unraveling.