Chapter 19

Liam had stayed at Chas' that night, yet again like he did in the hospital he stayed with Aaron. The morning light seeped in through the curtains, waking Liam. He opened his eyes, noticing Aaron was already awake.

"Hey you." Liam smiled "Why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful. I didn't wanna disturb you."

Liam smiled and stood up, walking to the chair on the other side of the room where he left his shirt. That's when Aaron noticed the tattoo on Liam's back. It was a heart with a scroll going through it, inside the scroll it read "Tyler Dawson". Unable to keep his insecurities hidden from Liam anymore, he took the bull by the horns and decided he wanted answers.

"Liam, You know you mentioned someone called Tyler in the hospital..."

Liam had froze at that point, his back still to Aaron "Yeah..."

"Who is he?"

"No-one."

"Then why do you have his name on your back? I assume thats him right? Tyler Dawson?"

Liam sighed and turned round to face Aaron, his sapphire blue eyes shimmering with tears.

"There's something you need to know."

Aaron nodded and patted the space next to him on the bed "Something to do with your past, right?" Aaron asked as Liam sat beside him.

"Yeah." Liam took a shaky breath and faced Aaron.

"Tyler..he's my ex boyfriend. I was 17 when I met him. My 17th birthday party, actually. I went bowling with a couple of guys from my dorm at college. He was there, bowling with his friends. We started chatting, realised we both attend the same college. I didn't know at that point he was gay. He just became a friend, we'd go out a few times, have little study nights and stuff like that. Well, one night, we decided to move things along, revision wise, we'd get a few beers. That's when one thing led to another and we'd kissed. I was convinced because Tyler was drunk, he didn't know what he was doing. But he leaned in and kissed me again."

Aaron nodded and handed Liam a box of tissues, they were now flowing down his face at a fast pace.

"We made a pact, that nobody could find out, not my friends or his. We were friends with the wrong people, if you know what I mean. We'd been together a year, He was my rock. The love of my life. After my Mum and my best friend died, he was all i had. Everything I wanted."

Liam relaxed slightly as he felt Aaron's hand running up and down his back.

"Well, It came to the point where I had to meet his parents. His Dad was a proper hard nut, he liked me, and he was ok with Ty being gay, but he said I was too scrawny and needed bulking up. For Christmas that year, his Dad gave me this appointment card thing, to go to self-defence classes. Tyler was never interested in that kind of stuff, so he decided that I had to be, to protect Tyler. Fat lot of good that did."

"Babes, it's ok if you want to stop, you know."

"No., I need to tell you, other wise I never will."

Aaron nodded and Liam continued

"Anyway, this class that I was supposed to do, It was the same day as my 18th birthday, the same day as mine and Tyler's anniversary. So I sacked them off and spent the day with him. Went surfing and stuff, went for meal, you know all the romantic stuff. He gave me this." Liam smiled, holding out his hand so Aaron could see the ring. "He'd asked me to marry him, and said that he didn't care how long he had to wait for the Gay Marriage Law to be passed in Adelaide. He wanted to be with me. I thought everything was going to be ok, after the year from hell that i had I thought things were finally looking up for me. I was so wrong. Aaron."

Aaron didn't know what to do or say, he sat there speechless, gripping onto Liam's hand.

"A few days after my birthday, we were going to a friends house. They knew about us, they weren't ecstatic, I knew thier feelings on people being gay, but they accepted it because they had no other choice, really. Anyway, on the way there, we were holding hands. Then we heard people yelling things at us...a bit like..."

"What was said to us?"

"Yeah. They chased us too. They'd caught Tyler, and were hurting him, really hurting him, beating him up and spitting on him. I tried to get them away from him but I couldn't. Ty was defenceless, curled up into a ball on the ground. Anytime I tried to get near one of them would knock me to the floor again. No-one came, No-one helped. They finally had enough, and just casually walked away, pretending they hadn't done anything. I didn't even recognise Ty lying on the floor, they'd really really hurt him. I tried to help him, I rang an ambulance and I held him in my arms. He...He died...He died in my arms while the ambulance was just minutes away. And all I could think about as I was holding him, was what a shit boyfriend I had been. He needed me and I couldn't do anything. If I'd taken those self defence classes...It was my fault he died. It was my faulty i'd sacked off those classes, It was my fault that I didn't do more to save him." Liam had completley broken at that point, and fell into Aaron's open arms, sobbing hard.

"And..I was so...Scared when it happened to you...I couldnt let it happen again! I didn't wanna lose you...and...and I thought I was going to!"

Aaron said nothing, he just cradled Liam in his arms, waiting untl the last two years of torture and pain flooded out of him.

"They wouldn't even let me go to the funeral. They said some horrible things to me, but it wasn't as bad as the things I'd said to myself. It didn't feel right, being in Adelaide anymore. I don't even know how I ended up here. I'd slept rough for months. I'd literally spent every penny I had getting out of Adelaide. I had nowhere to go, so I slept in shop doorways, parks, anywhere I could. It was then that I saw the sign, for an audition for a lead singer of a rock band. Ty always told me he could imagine me a few years down the line, singing, playing uitar, being on stage infront of thousands of people, so i went for it. I'd saved what I got from passers-by in the streets, managed to get into a hostel. I went for the audition, and it changed my life, they'd told me there and then they wanted me in the band. None of the guys I'm in the band with are Australian, and That's why I wouldn't let you meet them straight away. I was scared you'd find out and start asking questons and it was something I wasn't ready to tell you about."

"Do you regret telling me?"

Liam shook his head "Never, Infact, i feel better, it's like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders. There's always gonna be a part of me that loves him Aaron, just like you said to me that you'll always love Jackson. I got that tattoo because i was scared that if I didn't, I'd forget him."

Aaron nodded understandably "You wouldn't have forgotten him, Li. You never forget the people who mean something to you."

"You never thought about getting a tattoo for Jackson?"

"No. I don't want to. He's still out there, somewhere, i know he's alive. With you and Tyler...well, that's different isn't it?"

Liam nodded and wiped his eyes. "Thanks Aaron."

"For what?"

"Everything, for just being you." Liam smiled, shuffling towards Aaron and snaking an arm around his waist.

Aaron dropped a kiss onto Liam's forehead, and both boys lay there, happy and content in each other's company, drifting off into a deep sleep once again.