'Til There Was You - Jerry Cole Page 0,1

Austin hoped it would never end.

But then Freddy had “the conversation.”

“We need to talk.” Freddy had come over that night as he always did, at the exact same time, just as Austin was getting ready to order dinner. The only real difference was that he wasn’t dressed to spend the night.

“Oh...” Austin had started. He was busy scrolling through a takeout app, so it had taken a few minutes for him to realize what was going on. When he had glanced up and seen the way Freddy was looking at him, he’d known something was wrong.

“Austin,” Freddy had said with a steely gaze fixed on him. “We need to talk.”

That was when Austin sat up. That was when Austin stopped scrolling. That was when Austin realized that something truly terrible was going to go down.

Even now, two weeks later as Austin sat in that theater watching Freddy canoodle with another man, memories of that night sent sharp stabbing pains through his entire body. Everything had been going so well! Two months of pure bliss! No fights. No arguments. No indications that anything was wrong... and then it was over. Freddy ended it, gave him a hug as a thank you, and walked out the front door like it was nothing.

But it wasn’t nothing! It was everything! And Austin needed to let Freddy know that. He’d spent the rest of that night and the next day trying to get in contact with Freddy. When that didn’t work, he staged a ‘bump in’ which went terribly. He then tried to find him on Datematch again, then tried to bait him with sexy photos on Instagram, or photos of him with other men – photoshopped – like that might be enough to remind Freddy what he was missing. But none of it worked.

It was two weeks of sadness the likes of which Austin had never known before he finally started to get over Freddy. Truly, he had! But then he made the mistake of opening Freddy’s story on Instagram. There, Freddy had tagged himself at dinner, along with the elbow of another man in the top corner. He was on date! He was on a date and bragging about it! Austin had to see who with.

He hadn’t meant to stalk him all the way to the movie theater either. Honestly, he hadn’t! The intent had been to go to the restaurant, catch a glimpse of the guy that had replaced him, confirm that he was a hideous beastly mess, and then bail. Obviously, that hadn’t happened.

Austin hated to admit it, it fucking killed him, but the guy that Freddy was on a date with was hot... like really, really fucking hot. Firstly, he was built like a damn cover model. Secondly, he was dressed like a movie star. And thirdly, Austin had followed him into the bathroom and snuck a peek at what he was working with. The result was more than Austin could bare. The only reprieve that Austin could glean was that maybe his personality was a dud. That was why he had stuck around for so long.

Freddy wasn’t even into those kinds of guys either! So, what the heck was he doing with this one? Usually, Freddy liked twinks, just like Austin. Austin was the perfect twink too! He was tall and skinny, with little actual muscle on him. His skin was bone white and soft as a baby’s bottom, while his face was angular, with blue eyes that popped, angelic blond hair, and a look that was often described as “pretty” rather than masculine. And sure, in his current shabby, dirty, having not bathed for a week straight state, Austin was a little down on his usual charm. But ordinarily he was Freddy’s dream boy... until he wasn’t.

The next two hours were spent in perpetual misery as Austin remained at the back of that theater, watching his beloved ex-Freddy and his troglodytic slam-piece fawn over one another. Time and time again he told himself to stand and walk away... but he just couldn’t do it.

Despite what Austin was witnessing before his very eyes, he was still convinced that he stood a chance with Freddy. Honestly, he could barely even remember the reason that Freddy had ended it. He tried to piece that conversation back together, but it was all a blur. Realistically, it was just some silly nonsense that Freddy would get over soon. Austin would just have to wait.

And wait he did. When the movie ended, Austin remained