Blaine looked startled at Trey's statement. He gulped quietly and responded, "I'm sorry. I'm just real nervous about meeting someone who's so important to you."
As Blaine finished stating that, they came up to where Gage was still watching cars come in. As they approached Gage's eyes started to sparkle and he got a big grin on his face. "He's here."
Trey grinned as he watched Gage stride to a car that pulled up to the curb. A tall, thin young man with long blonde hair got out of the passenger seat carrying a backpack. Gage grabbed the backpack and pulled the man close, wrapping his arm around the man's waist. They walked to Gage's truck, and after putting the backpack in the bed of the truck, Gage stroked the man's cheek with his thumb and gently kissed him. The two men stood by the truck talking quietly. A few times the thin man glanced at Trey and Blaine, but for the most part his eyes never left Gage's face.
Trey looked on with approval while Blaine, obviously missing something, gaped at the scene. "Um, Trey?" Blaine questioned, not quite sure where to start.
Trey grinned, "You thought I got back together with Gage, didn't you? Actually, we talked and agreed that we have different expectations for our relationships. There's no way we would work as a couple. Gage was coming up this way to pick up his friend, Bill. They go to the same school, and Gage offered him a ride. Bill's expectations for a relationship are similar to Gage's. I assume Gage just told him "yes" to the question Bill asked him before the holiday. Bill had asked him out, but Gage felt he had to finalize things with me before he answered."
"I see... So why did Gage seem so angry at the airport?"
"He was afraid we would be late meeting Bill and he'd take that as a rejection." Trey replied quickly, seeing Gage and Bill walking toward them.
Dinner went much better than Blaine expected. Gage was friendly and outgoing, engaging Blaine in the conversation as much as possible. The four enjoyed their meal. After, as Gage and Bill were getting ready to leave in the truck, Gage pulled Blaine aside and quietly thanked him for encouraging Trey to speak to him. He'd had some unresolved issues from their past relationship and had been frustrated that Trey wouldn't take his calls. Blaine just blushed and looked at the ground, as he tried to explain that he really didn't do that much. Gage put his finger under Blaine's chin and raised his face until Blaine was looking at him. "You did something none of his friends could do, you convinced him to talk to me even when I didn't deserve it. Thanks for that."
As Gage turned toward the truck he quickly hugged Trey and whispered to him "you keep Blaine around, he's good for you." Trey glanced at Blaine. "Yeah, I know." Trey grabbed Blaine's bag out of the back and leaned in thru the driver's door to say goodbye to Bill.
The restaurant was just down the street from the college, so Trey and Blaine turned to walk home. Trey glanced at Blaine as they walked quietly toward the campus, "how was your weekend at home?"
Blaine grinned "It was great! I really enjoyed being home with mom and dad. How was yours? It seems to have been very eventful!"
Trey sighed, "Yeah, it was definitely an emotional weekend. I'm glad Gage and I settled things. I'm also glad he found someone."
After a few hours at the library working on the project, the men called it quits and each went to their own home to get ready for another week of classes. They texted each other often, but didn't get together again until Business Logistics class on Thursday.
