Left Alone Ch. 08

"What's never gonna go away?"

Liam lowered his arms, wrapping them around the boy's body before resting his closed hands at Caleb's back. "How happy you make me feel."

Caleb smiled wide as he nuzzled into Liam's exposed neck. He kissed it, sending a wave of thanks through the boy's skin before resting his head against it. "Can I ask you something?"

Liam nodded, not daring to let the boy go. "Anything."

"That first weekend- when you came over with that cake and dinner. Why'd you do it?" Caleb looked up, catching the boy's eyes. "Normal people don't just go that out of their way for someone they just reconnected with."

Liam shrugged, pressing his nose against the boy's. "When I come over that one afternoon, I overheard you on the phone with your mom. It's like I could hear the disappointment in your voice when she said she wasn't gonna be back soon." He stopped, "Mostly because I used to catch myself with the same tone." He hugged onto the boy tight, "And so I knew right then and there, that I'd do whatever I could so that you wouldn't be alone that day."

Caleb looked up, mixing those bright greens with his warm browns. "I haven't felt alone in a long time now."

Liam only smiled, telling all the unnecessary words fall off his shoulders to the floor. He tugged on Caleb's hips, moving their bodies to the sounds of another one of Mrs. Caswell's students playing the piano out of her apartment downstairs. They moved together, swaying as the song reverberated through the hallway. Liam swore that he'd heard it once before, but he couldn't remember the name. As he held Caleb in his arms, knowing full well that they'd be late for their dinner reservation, he knew that someday the song would come back to him.