Saved.

"Y'know what? This is better than the arcade, anyway."
"You say that now," I laughed. "But once I cut your time in half on this last lap, you'll change your tune."

"That's a lot of confidence for the guy who doesn't have any power ups." Eric pressed a button, and his car in the racing game we were playing accelerated past mine. It was a beautifully mindless activity for us to share for the night- or, it would be mindless,  if we weren't both so competitive.

"What made you want to set up a date night?" I asked him without looking away from the screen as we both continued mashing buttons.

"I told you, you seem distracted. I've never heard you miss some of those chords before. I know you've got it, but I thought maybe you could use some time to think about something other than the band." Actually, thinking about the band more and my family less might have done me some good at the moment. "Anyway, now that you've gotten to ask me a question, it's my turn."

"Okay."
"What's distracting you?"
"My dad's out of prison," I blurted out, before even realizing the words had left my mouth. Even I was wondering what had made me answer him so casually. Trying to hide the shocked expression on his face, Eric hit the pause button on the game.

"What?"
"He's out, and he's living with my brother."
"How did you even find out?" We were both rapidly understanding just how much I was lying about.

"Marco, he texted me."
"Okay, so," he took a deep breath, struggling to hide his frustration. "Your dad, who nearly killed you, is a free man, you're in contact with your brother who you told me you haven't called or texted in ten years, and you've been hiding all of this for how long, exactly?" I stared down at the floor.

"Since the first movie night."
"The one that was almost a month ago?" I nodded. "Okay," he said. His tone had shifted. He seemed to be hiding sadness- or maybe it was just disappointment in me.

"If we weren't together, would you have told me?" I studied his face carefully for a moment. And he was right- if he was still just my best friend, if we weren't dating, if we weren't sleeping together- I probably would have told him right away. I answered in the form of an ashamed nod, avoiding eye contact.

"Then you need to trust me now, Leo. I know it's harder, but it's important to share what's going on in your life. Especially things like this."

"I don't want it to push you away."
"It never could." he took the side of my face gently in his hand, stroking my cheek with his thumb. "Nothing is going to push me away."

Following a moment of silence, we turned the game back on, laughing through the sound effects as his car crossed the finish line first. He snuck a quick kiss on my cheek, making me blush.

I leaned gently onto his shoulder, and my fingers dragged across the long sleeve of his flannel. He pulled his arm back suddenly, sucking in air through his teeth.

"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good," he nodded. "Sorry. Just, uh... static shock."

"Right..."

"Hang on a second, Tyler's calling me." he said as he answered the phone. "Hey! What's up? Oh, that's awesome. No, I'm sure it sounds great. You sent the file over? Okay, let me just turn my computer on real quick."

I flashed him a confused glance. "Tyler finished the feature," he whispered. Awesome. Back to the music. I got up and made some food for myself as their conversation continued.