Tyler Moss

I was extremely confused. Where the fuck was Levi? He said he'd come over and we'd do stuff, but he didn't show up. He didn't call either.

"Tyler calm down." Jay patted my back trying hard again, unsuccessfully, to calm me down. I haven't been myself all day. "Did Liam try George again?"

"He's not answering, I asked the teacher and she tried calling his house. No luck there either because they just ended up calling my dad." I groaned. "Liam's messed up cuz he and George just reconnected. But I don't care about them! Did you-"

"In case your wondering, I still haven't been able to reach Levi either," Jay sighed. "He'll be mad you gave me his number to call. You miss him right?"

"Why are they both absent, Jay? Am I going crazy?"

"Maybe they ran off together," Jay joked.

"Shut up! I'm super worried!" I was almost pulling my own hair out. I could barely eat, I could barely sleep, I was totally scared. George seemed to be approaching Levi more than usual and Levi hasn't responded peacefully. But...."what if they did?! Those bastards!!"

Levi running off with George?! Levi talking to George like he did with me? Being gentle and warm to only him and always knowing what to say? Cooking whatever George likes and giving George those loving looks. Levi and George having sex...

I slammed my hand down on the desk. There was no way that could ever happen! Levi loves me and only me! He said it and he proved it! He went to extreme lengths to make sure I knew that!

A day without Levi sucked. Two days was torture.

"3....2....1!" The bell rang right on time, as usual. "It's raining pretty hard."

"It is, isn't it," Jay crossed his arms. "Do you mind sharing your umbrella with me? Just to the store? My umbrella disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"I think someone stole it. Can you help get me to the store?" Jay asked again. Why couldn't he just call a car for himself? He's done it before right in front of me so what was the problem now?

Was something wrong at Jays house? How annoying, I had other things to worry about right now! Like if Levi was ok!

"Yeah, no problem, let's go."

"Hey, Tyler?" Liam rolled up to me in a deeply concerned state. "Are you going to come with me to George's house today? I want to try again to talk to him."

"Don't you have physical therapy today? We can just go together another day. I gotta get back to studying or I won't pass-"

"What about Levi? Have you tried calling him?" Liam asked. I couldn't help but pout and sulk. Where was Levi and why hasn't he contacted me at all? Did I do something wrong? Is he mad at me for something?

Is he leaving me because I'm 'safe' now? What was the danger? How dare that asshole leave me like that? Without a fucking word? I'm going crazy!

This wasn't like Levi at all.

"Yeah, his phones off though. His house is empty too according to Coach Nichols." I felt my eyes burn. "I don't even know where he lives to go check if he's ok! I have no idea what to do anymore! I'm such a lousy boyfriend!"

"Can you believe this lousy school?! George goes missing for two days and they don't even give a fuck!" Liam fretted. "We even started to plan a trip for after we graduate."

"They only care about the kids with the best grades," I agreed. I started to wheel Liam out of the school with Jay in tow. "You two got that serious so quickly."

"So did you and Levi. You guys just hid it."

"You and George are more hidden than us."

"That's the thing, we were going to be out and happy, and not care anymore. But now he's just disappeared." Liam shook his head. "He couldn't have changed his mind! He's wanted this for so long! I was the one who said no!"

"Look over there," Jay pointed over to the left. George's dad stood at the school gates looking visibly worried. "That's George's dad!"

"Hey!" Liam motioned for George's dads attention as we started over to him. "Chief, we were planning on visiting you today, but why-"

"Liam! Have you seen George?" His dad cut us off. "He hasn't come home, is he skipping school too?!"

Liam froze at this information. "He hasn't been coming to school either, Chief." Jay said. "Liam's been calling him but no answer."

"Oh god! I shouldn't have listened to my girlfriend and called for help sooner! Oh god what do I do?!" George's dad let some sloppy tears fall as he openly expressed his grief for his missing son. "If only I had just been there more!"

"All we can do is wait and see what happened," I whispered hopelessly. "Levi is...." Did Levi have something to do with George going missing? Is that why he was missing? Did they really run away together?

I almost laughed at the thought. There was no way, I just think that because I'm sexually frustrated. And jealous.

Now that I think about it, both Levi and George were acting a bit strange that day, and they've been absent ever since. What the fuck were they talking about?

"Have you heard about Levi Winchester?" I asked.

"I haven't heard of him before, Tyler. I'm sorry."

"Fuck my life, maybe they did run away together!" I felt my eyes start to sting. "Jay, what if you're right? What if Levi and George ran off together?"

"Why would you say that?" Liam snapped at Jay. "I swear if that punk ran off with George I'll kill him!"

"I was only joking!" Jay defended. "Calm down, they definitely didn't do that!"

"How do you know?!" I screeched.

"I don't Tyler! I'm sorry!" Jay apologized.

"Let me give you kids a ride," chief cried a bit more. "It's the least I can do for holding you up."

"It's ok," I declined. "My mom wouldn't allow it. I'll see you tomorrow Liam, Chief."

I opened my umbrella and stepped into the rain with Jay closely following. In silence, we got to the store where Jay bought his umbrella.

"Why didn't you accept the ride from that guy?" Jay asked me suddenly.

"I don't really trust any police that isn't my dad or uncle," I admitted. It was a stupid thing to do, but the police out here were incompetent.

"Oh."

I couldn't get jays joke out of my head. The possibility of it being real scared me.

"Thanks again, Tyler. Thanks to you, I didn't have to run thru the rain," Jay smiled. "I can tell you're still worried. Levi would never run off with George. I'm sorry i made that joke."

"I know...but I don't know! It's not your fault, don't apologize."

"He doesn't seem to lie to you," Jay tried. Little did he know Levi's lied to me on many occasions. "You know all about each other." He only knows about me really. I don't know him as well as I thought. "Do you really have any reason to doubt your love together?"

All I wanted to do was cry right now. Jay was awesome for trying but, if I needed to feel worse, I would just despair over my loneliness on my own. Or the realization that I was codependent with Levi.

All Jay was doing was making me realize that Levi isn't all that perfect. He lied to me with a straight face, he never told me a thing about him and I have my doubts about him for sure. The fact that I didn't even know where he lived was upsetting.

Jay stared at me waiting for me to answer. I'm not telling him that I truly didn't trust Levi sometimes, despite my blind faith in him. Because no matter what Levi always comes back to me. Levi always keeps his word.

Something must've happened to him then. Yet here I am, unable to do a thing for him. It was so unfair that we were this way. He knew everything about me and I knew nothing about him.

I sighed. Am I a bad boyfriend for not knowing, or is he a bad boyfriend for never telling me these things?

"I'm just going to go home now. You sure you can't come over? I do need a study buddy." Or someone to distract me from my internal despair. "Or we can go to the arcade."

"I have some important things to take care of. And my preparation has to start today." Jay explained suddenly Looking determined.

"What is this mysterious project that you've been preparing for?" I asked. The past few days Jay had been preparing for something he said was huge for him. Possibly life changing.

"It's a game. I've been planning it for months."

"What game takes months to prepare?"

"The more prepared I am, the more likely it is that I'll win. I've never won against my opponent, so It'll be sweet when I win this time."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself. How do you know you're going to win?"

"I have a good feeling about it this time."

"What's your strategy?"

"Using their emotions against them. The person I'm playing against is emotional immature, so it weakens him significantly." Jay explained. "Right now, he should be at his weakest point."

"What game is it?"

"Chess, but We're using nonconventional pieces. Living subs."

"You're so weird, Jay. Living subs?"

"It's much more fun when the pieces interact with you."

"How so?"

"I'll tell you after I win. I'll make sure to share my victory with you."

"Well, then I'm going this way, so I'll see you tomorrow. I hope you win, Jay." I sighed. "Actually, you better win, maybe it'll help me stop being so sad."

"Thanks, I'm pretty sure I'll win this next round. Bye Tyler!" I watched Jay run off excitedly in the opposite direction at almost full speed. He wasn't even using his new umbrella.

Stupid, you're going to get sick.

Who gets so excited about a chess game? I wish I could just enjoy the simple things like Jay.