Chapter 3
Bobby is diabetic. It’s something that all the members of Sunset Curve pay attention to, just as they do with Alex’s anxiety and Reggie’s flares or ADHD. So when they finished recording their demo, Reggie baked to celebrate, and he made sure to bake a sugar free cake just for Bobby. They invited their friends to a make shift album release party in their studio, Flynn serves up the cake and after a while Carrie and Flynn were egging them on to play something.
Reggie noticed it first, the way Bobby swayed on his feet halfway through Now or Never. Without thinking, Reggie swung his bass off his shoulders, edging closer to Bobby. The guitarist’s eyes looked a little glazed over, and Reggie could feel Alex watching them curiously. As soon as Reggie was within a couple steps of Bobby, the other boy started to fall over. The bassist rushed the rest of the way and caught him before he fell. The first thing he did was lay him down, looking up at the table he had set the dessert on. “Alex! Kit!” Alex was already moving, grabbing the insulin kit they kept in the studio at all times. Reggie took the kit quickly, getting out the reader and pricking Bobby’s finger. When the display lit up, Reggie wasted no time getting the insulin shot ready, their friends watching in concern. Reggie heard Carrie saying something to Flynn about which cake she gave her brother, but Reggie focused on the guitarist.
After what felt like forever, Bobby was sitting up with his back against the couch, and his blood sugar was dropping to a more normal level. The bassist hadn’t left his side, but Luke had gotten a bottle of water for him. Bobby’s head hurt, and without saying anything, Reggie shifted before pulling Bobby down so his head was in the black haired boy’s lap, and Reggie was carding his fingers through his hair. “Thank you.” Bobby mumbled.
“Anything for you.” Reggie didn’t say anything else as Bobby fell asleep on his lap, the words bouncing in his brain and making Bobby think that maybe Reggie would be willing to accept the part of him that he didn’t know yet. But did he want to risk it?
Bobby had decided not to think about his feelings for Reggie anymore. So, he was flirting with a group of girls after their next show. He heard Reggie say something to Alex, and when he glanced back, he saw Reggie leaving and Alex was giving him a hard look. “What?”
“You’re an idiot.” Alex answered, shaking his head and following Reggie out. Bobby was confused. He was doing the same thing he always did, they regularly joked about him being a flirt. So what did he do wrong?
Reggie stopped coming by to crash in Bobby’s room like he used to after that night. Bobby pretended it was because he didn’t need to get out of the house as much living with Flynn and her family, but he knew it was because of whatever happened to make Alex mad at him that night.
It was two weeks after the gig that Bobby was laying on the couch in the studio, just strumming absentmindedly on his guitar. Luke dropped onto his legs out of nowhere. “Ow man, what the hell?” Luke just gave him an unimpressed face.
“You’re a fucking moron.” The shaggy haired boy snapped. “You are in love with Reggie, yes or no?”
“Luke-“
“Yes or no.”
“Yes.” Bobby answered quietly.
“He feels safer with you than with literally anyone in the world. Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
“But you still chose to hit on even more girls in front of him, even after you found out he wasn’t straight like you thought. Yes or no?”
“Yes.” Bobby’s voice cracked.
“Are you blind?” Luke asked loudly.
“No.” Bobby snapped back.
“So you just chose to ignore that you were hurting him?”
“How was I hurting him?” Bobby argued, “I didn’t do anything to him. I didn’t want to ask him out so he wouldn’t feel like he had to say yes because he likes to make people happy.”
“Make people happy?” Another voice snapped, Bobby turned his head to see Flynn standing over the couch. “He doesn’t want to make people happy. He wants you to be happy. Which is why Luke and I decided to smack some sense into you.” Flynn reached down a second later and smacked the side of Bobby’s head.
“Ow! You guys don’t need to beat me up, just get to the point.”
Carrie appeared beside Flynn, pressing a kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek, “The point, dear brother, is that Reggie likes you. And after you cuddled with him knowing he wasn’t straight, he thought you might’ve liked him, too. But then you were flirting with groupies right in front of him.” Bobby’s face paled. Luke climbed off him, grabbing his suspenders and pulling him to his feet.
“Fix it.” The singer told him, pushing him toward the garage door. Bobby didn’t need told twice.