Chapter 4

       Since Mae was in Miami for two weeks, Tulip wanted to spend as much time with her as she could, so we ended up getting invited to their house for dinner the next day. This time, however, Ryder was going to be out so he wouldn't be able to give me dirty looks or complain that his ex-girlfriend was over.

       He was still so jealous, so I didn't understand why he broke up with Mae in the first place. Something happened that I didn't know about, and I should try finding out about it soon.

       "So, I have a confession," Mae said while she was driving us to the Princes' house. "Tulip wants me to help her get you and Nolan together. Apparently, she started shipping you two when we were at the beach, so that was even before Nolan came out."

       Wow, Tulip really was a quick one to ship people.

       Though I wasn't complaining.

       "Well, I wouldn't object to it," I said.

       Mae raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You do know he's three years younger than you, right?"

       "Who cares about age?" I asked. "He's sweet, adorable, funny when he can be, caring, and have you seen his eyes. They're so blue."

       Mae slightly smiled. "Tulip will be happy to hear that. Now she won't accuse you of ruining her new ship. That's also a reason she wanted us to come over today. She wants you and Nolan to spend time together."

       "She is always so determined," I said. 

       "Yeah, I know," Mae said. "That's what makes her so adorable."

       Mae pulled into the driveway of the Princes' house, and we didn't even get out of the car before the door opened to reveal Tulip standing there. "Hi!" she said happily. "I was looking out the window to wait for you two!"

       "You seem very happy," Mae said.

       "Uh, I'm always happy when my future sister-in-law comes over," Tulip said. "I still have to find a way to get rid of April. Ryder still isn't breaking up with her, but it's clear that he still likes you."

       "Yeah, he can be very stubborn when he wants to," Mae said as we walked into the house. "Don't tell him I said that."

        "It's okay, I tell him that all the time," Tulip said. "Like last night when I was trying to convince him to break up with April. He ignored me. So disrespectful."

       I was honestly surprised Tulip hadn't done anything crazy yet to Ryder for ruining her ship. She was not one to mess with.

       Then again, Ryder and Tulip always had a special sibling bond since he always put her first and would do anything to make her happy.

       Well, apparently not everything considering he was ruining her ship.

       Poppy was sitting down on the couch and gave us a smile when she saw us, and we smiled back. "Thank you for letting us have another meal with you guys," Mae said.

       "No problem," Poppy said. "You're only here for two weeks, and we all missed having you over, even Ryder. He just won't admit it."

       "Mom, they broke up for a reason," Alan said, his eyes glued onto his phone. "He obviously don't miss her." Wow, this was not the Alan I knew. He seemed like a douche bag.

       "You know I can hear you, right?" Mae asked.

       "Uh, obviously, since you're standing there," Alan said.

       "Be nice, Alan," Poppy said.

       "Mommy, wears Nolan?" Tulip asked.

       "Probably up in his room," Poppy said.

       Tulip went closer to the stairs before yelling, quite loudly, "NOLAN! YOU HAVE TO GET DOWN HERE!"

       It didn't take long for Nolan to get down the stairs. "What is it?"

       "Jerome and Mae are here," Tulip said. "And since I want to talk with Mae about certain things, you need to hang out with Jerome. And I won't take no for an answer."

       "Uh, okay," Nolan said before looking at me. "I can show you the gaming room. I don't play video games much, but I do from time to time."

       "Sure," I said, so he led me to their gaming room.

       As soon as we got there, I saw a keyboard. "Ooh, a piano," I said before sitting down at it, my hands hovering over the keys.

       "You play?" Nolan asked as he sat down beside me.

       "A bit, yeah," I said. "Mind if I play a song?"

       "Not at all," Nolan said.

       I started playing my favourite song that I played on the piano, and I even sang to the song. Rarely anybody had actually heard me sing before, but future Nolan had. I even think it was only Mae and Nolan that had actually heard me sing before.

       When I finished, I lowered my hands from the keys. "Wow," Nolan said softly. "That was....that was amazing. You're a really good singer."

       I smiled softly. "Thanks. I rarely sing in front of people, to be honest. It's sort of my secret talent, I guess."

       "Well, it's an amazing talent you have," Nolan said. "I'm just a talentless person."

       "Oh, come on, I'm positive you have some talent," I said. Like writing. He was an amazing writer and had such a way with words.

       "Well....I do write a bit," Nolan said. "But no one has really seen anything I wrote, so I can't say if I'm talented or not."

       "I'm pretty sure you are," I said. 

       "I don't know...."

       "Just say you are before I make you show me some of your writings."

       "Okay, okay, I am."

       "Good."

       Nolan smiled slightly. "It's nice to have someone to talk to. I used to tell Alan and Orchid everything, but I stopped once Orchid started dating Felix, and Alan started showing how much of a homophobe he was."

       "What about Ryder?" I asked. 

       "Kind of hard to talk to him ever since he turned....cold," Nolan said.

       "Cold?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

       "He just started acting the complete opposite of himself," Nolan said. "He became such a jerk."

       "When did it start happening?" I asked.

       "I think....It was when Mae told him she was moving back to Quebec," Nolan said.

       That made me understand everything. In this timeline, Ryder didn't want to get hurt at all, so he broke up with me to avoid going long distance. That was probably why he turned cold, too. So he wouldn't have to worry about anyone hurting him.

       And dating April was the icing on the cake.

      Maybe knowing that could help me get Ryder and Mae back together.

      "That's another reason I don't want to come out to the rest of my family," Nolan said. "Alan is homophobic, Orchid is dating a homophobe, and Ryder has become really cold. I'm worried even he might bash on me."

       "He won't," I said. "Not when you'll need him the most."

       "I don't know about that," Nolan said. "At least my parents are accepting of it. How did your parents take it?"

       "I....actually haven't come out to them yet," I said.

       "Really?" Nolan asked. "But....You seem so confident with your sexuality. You didn't have a problem letting my family know."

       "That's because I'm in a whole other country," I said. "It's not going to matter what some people think of me, but....My parents? They won't accept me."

       "They might," Nolan offered.

       "Trust me, they won't," I said. "They're too traditional and they're always talking about my future wedding and their future daughter-in-law, wondering what she'll look like. Oh, and then there's them constantly bashing gay people whenever they see it on TV or in real life."

       "Oh," Nolan said. "I'm sorry."

       "Don't be," I said. "That's life. We're living in a time where people like us still aren't accepted by everyone and might get rejected from our family."

       "Yeah, you're right there," Nolan said.

       "Hey, at least we have each other," I said.

       "Yeah," Nolan agreed. "It's weird. It kind of feels like I've known you for a long time. You're even the first person I came out to, literally the day we met. I feel like I can trust you with anything."

       Hearing those words was really making me miss my life before this stupid universe crap thing happened. I missed being married to him. I missed living with him and falling asleep next to him every night. I missed waking up next to him and usually bugging him in the morning.

       I missed us.

      "I feel like I can trust you with anything, too," I said softly, and I fully meant that. He was the first person I turned to without the fear of judgment.

       I soon found myself staring into his beautiful blue eyes and before I knew it, we were both leaning it, though we stopped right before our lips touched.

       Nolan was the one who closed the remaining gap and pressed his lips on mine.

       When we pulled away, Nolan smiled slightly and said, "Yep, I am definitely gay."

       I laughed slightly before pressing my lips on his again.

       However, we had to pull away from each other when Ryder called his name. And we pulled away just in time because a few minutes later, Ryder was standing by the door. "Dad needs your help," he said.

       "Okay," Nolan said. "But what are you doing here? I thought we were going out for dinner."

       "Yeah, but then April cancelled on me," Ryder said. Or he cancelled on her when he found out Mae was coming over again.

       "Really?" Nolan asked. "Because she---"

       "Just go help Dad," Ryder said, so Nolan sighed and got up before leaving the room.

       "Sup, Ryder?" I said. "How's life?" Ryder just glared at me. "No? Okay, well, can we at least talk?"

       "I have nothing to talk to you about," Ryder said and turned to walk away, but he stopped at what he said next.

       "Not even about Mae?" I asked. Ryder just stood there, not saying anything. "I know you still like her, and why you broke up with her, and why you're dating April."

       "You don't know anything," Ryder said.

       "Okay, so I didn't see you get all jealous when I said I would bang Mae if I was straight?" I asked. "You know, I only said that to see if you would get jealous, which you did. Mae is like a sister to me. I don't think of her that way."

        Ryder sighed before turning around to look at me. "I can't handle long distance."

        "You can't, or you won't try?" I asked. "Wasn't Mae planning on moving back here for college? Even if you couldn't handle long distance, you didn't have to start dating another girl and act like a complete jerk to your family."

       "I haven't," Ryder asked.

       "Right, which is why Nolan is too afraid to tell you something very important," I said. "Because he's afraid you'll hate him and bash him."

       Ryder furrowed his eyebrows. "I would never hate Nolan."

       "He doesn't see it that way because of the way you've been acting," I said.

       "Okay, then what is he too afraid to tell me?" Ryder asked.

       "I can't say," I said. "I've gained his trust and I'm not losing it. You're going to have to ask him about that."

       "He won't tell me because, like you said, he's too afraid to," Ryder said.

       "Then change the way you've been acting," I said. "Dump April, get back together with Mae, don't be ice cold. And you can at least try going long distance because it does work for some people. Like a certain couple I know. They dated for about four months before she had to move back home, had a long distance relationship for about five months, then she moved back and he proposed to her two months later. They're still happily married, and are even expecting their first two children."

       "Okay, but just because it worked for them, it doesn't mean it will work for everyone else," Ryder said.

       "Oh, trust me, if it worked for them, I'm pretty sure it will work for you and Mae," I said. "It can't hurt to try."

       Ryder hesitated for a bit before pulling his cell phone out of his pocket to call someone.

       "What are you doing?" I asked.

       "Breaking up with April."

       "Over the phone? Dude, that's cold."

       Ryder ignored me as he walked away. Well, that took care of one thing. I didn't know how much more I had to take care of before getting back to my regular timeline.

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It's 2 in the morning help me lol.

So, I'm going to keep this author's note short so I can go to bed BUT I JUST REALIZED NOW THAT IT'S THE 7TH, I GET TO SEE SHAWN MENDES TOMORROW. :D So there most likely won't be any updates on Saturday BUT OH WELL BECAUSE SHAWN.

Okey good night.