Riley gave it a couple of hours before he tried talking to Jessie again. Cameron had told Riley that he was going to try and talk Jessie around, after Riley explained again that he didn't tell anyone about Jessie being arrested.

But during those several hours, Riley hadn't heard anything from either one of them. Several people that he walked past kept whispering about how he threw Jessie under the bus, even some of their teammates believed that Riley snitched on Jessie.

Riley even heard a rumour that he was the one that drove down to fetch Jessie's mother, so that he could watch her reaction with his own eyes.

Riley stopped thinking about everything while he was laying in bed, and walked out the door so that he eventually stood outside Jessie's door.

Knocking on it, Riley waited a while for Jessie to open it. But he was disappointed that it was actually Luke instead. "Oh, hey."

Luke invited Riley in as he closed the door behind him. "What's up?"

Riley looked around the room and was disheartened that he couldn't find him anywhere. "Is Jessie not here?"

"Not since I saw him leaving with Cameron a few hours ago."

Riley sat down on Jessie's bed and began to shake his legs nervously. "How did he seem?"

Luke cocked his head as he became a little sad when he shared the news. "Not great. I was standing outside the door when I heard his mom screaming at him from over the phone."

Riley recalled how Jessie told him that this was one of the reasons why he didn't want them finding out about him being arrested. Not with so many words, but he had made it clear that the reaction would be bad.

"They've taken away his car, forced him to hand over his laptop, and he's being financially cut off - all for 2 weeks." Luke had further explained.

"All of that - just for getting arrested? They didn't even press charges." Riley expressed with bewilderment. "He told you all of this?"

Luke shook his head as he repeated how he overheard it all, without Jessie even realising he was eavesdropping the entire time.

Riley felt compassion for his old non-friend, and he felt sympathetic at how harshly his own mother was treating her son. Jessie wasn't it any legal trouble, and the news would surely be buried under the sand any day now. So why she was continuing to lash out on him was beyond Riley's imagination.

"I need to see him." Riley whispered as he got off the bed.

Luke stopped Riley from leaving as he held his arm to prevent him from moving away. "Jessie just needs some space right now, Riley."

Riley removed Luke's hand away from him and turned to look at his best friend. "Don't tell me you believe him - like everyone else when they say I ratted him out."

Luke was immediate with his response. "Of course I believe you Riley. Those people are just bored, and they're making something crappy up. But the fact is that Jessie doesn't believe you. And I think he just needs some space to come up with the right conclusion himself."

Luke rested his hand on Riley's shoulder as some sort of comfort. He saw that his best friend was taking in all of the news in an unusual manner, and he didn't understand why.

"I don't want this to come off the wrong way, by why are you caring so much all of the sudden?" Luke wondered. "I know you have this rivalry going on and everything, but it just seems out of character when you're constantly fighting him."

Riley understood that this all looked weird, everyone knew that they didn't get along. People saw them constantly bickering and constantly fighting each over, because of the biggest, smallest, and non-existent things.

But that was just the surface, because Riley did still care for his once best friend - the same guy who was such a prominent figure in his younger life.

"We fight all the time, but this one feels different. He thinks this is all my fault, and I don't want him to constantly think that I hate him - because I don't."

Riley didn't wait for Luke to let him go, because he had left without saying anything else. He eventually went back to his room, and thought about what Luke said.

'I just want things to go back to how they were..."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Jessie was sitting at one of the many empty tables at the local coffee shop, waiting for his brother as he paid for their drinks.

"How much do I owe you?"

Cameron patted Jessie's hand that reached for his own wallet, "Don't be silly, it's on me."

"I guess I have to watch what I spend my money on now for a few weeks." Jessie weakly laughed as he looked at the ground solemnly.

"Hey," Cameron waited for Jessie to look back at him and smiled softly at him. "If you need anything, money wise or a pair of ears to listen to, then just let me know - okay?"

Jessie nodded his head as he was deeply thankful for his twin brother and everything he was doing. "I'm guess I'm the screw up in the family now."

"Are you saying that I was the screw up?" Cameron joked. He felt a little happy to hear Jessie laugh again, even if he was poking fun at him. "You were only arrested, and then you were immediately let go, baby brother. This is all going to blow over Jessie, don't worry too much."

Jessie listened to his brother's words, but they hadn't sunk in yet. Jessie thought that every action he did was scratching away the little relationship he had with his parents - a relationship he was so desperate to have with them.

A couple of students they both recognised looked at Jessie, and the brothers overheard the pair whispering about Riley snitching on Jessie being arrested.

Jessie wanted to sink into his seat and be buried inside it, while Cameron was ready to throw them out on the curb. Thankfully, the look in his eyes scared them away as they scurried away from them.

"You know, Riley seemed very hurt that you think he snitched on you." Cameron mentioned.

"Because he did." Jessie suggested as he continued with the narrative he had settled on.

Cameron was shaking his head as he tried to stop his brother from being so stubborn about something so wrong. "Riley's been our friends for so many years, Jessie. There's no way he would throw you under the bus like that, especially after you begged him not to."

"We were the only ones who knew about it. If  neither of us told anyone, then who did?" Jessie questioned.

Cameron shrugged his shoulders because he didn't have the answers. "I don't know. But Riley is a man of his word, you asked him to do something, and so he listened. You're meant to be the smarter twin Jessie, just think more rationally about this."

Jessie took a sip from his coffee, and his usual order was tasting too bitter all of the sudden.

Shortly afterwards, Olivia came into the coffee shop and saw the twins once she ordered her drink.

"Hey Jessie, just wanted to check on you." Olivia mentioned as she walked up to them.

Cameron gave them both a polite nod as he gave them some space alone, taking his drink to the other side of the shop with him. "I'll give you both some privacy."

Olivia sat down on the empty warm seat. She thanked the barista after handing her drink, holding it in her hands as she then sipped it.

"My privileges have been taken away for a few weeks, and everyone is whispering rumours about me being a criminal. Even the people behind us are whispering about Riley snitching on me to my mom." Jessie elaborated as he pointed to the couple who was still looking warily at Jessie.

Olivia looked around the room nervously as she also wanted to ask about the rumours. "Is what everyone saying about Riley true?"

Jessie wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Cameron made a very compelling case about Riley's innocence in all of this, and Jessie wanted to believe it. With all the smack talk, all the playing around, and all the fooling around, Jessie didn't know if Riley was being genuine by declaring his innocence.

"I don't know anymore."

"Honestly? I always thought your relationship with him was kind of weird," Olivia expressed. "You guys act like you despise each other, but you're constantly seen together. Maybe he wants to get closer so he could stab you deeper in the back."

Jessie nodded his head as he thought about the same conclusion before. But with how sincere Riley looked liked when he tried to apologise, and with how Cameron was persistent with Riley's honest character, Jessie had doubts whether Riley was Judas or just simply misunderstood.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Jessie was facing his punishment when the janitor let him into the school late at night. Trusting the school president, and the son of an important figure to the school, Jessie was alone in the entire school.

He was given a deadline because the security systems would automatically lock the doors, and they wouldn't open until the morning.

Jessie was pushing the field paint sprayer out of the dusted shed, and went back to carry several buckets of white paint so he could do fulfil his punishment.

The night was cold, and the stars twinkled brightly in the clear sky. The peaceful atmosphere allowed Jessie to work through his own problems, and the physical labour gave him the opportunity to let out his frustration in a non-violent and healthy manner.

Jessie finished painting the outskirts of the football pitch after a while, and decided he earned a short break before he carried on with his work. He decided to lie down on the bleachers, closing his eyes and resting his back against the cold benches as he began to stargaze - making wishes whenever shooting stars flew by.

Jessie felt something cold resting on his torso, he opened his eyes to see a water bottle in front of him, and Riley standing next to him as he held it out for him.

"Hi." Jessie autonomously whispered, reacting to Riley's presence with other words failing to come out properly.

Riley offered a small smile as he began to sit next to Jessie. "Hey."

Jessie sat up from his seat as he accepted the drink. He briefly looked at Riley and saw the different colours of his cheeks, and looked away as he stared at the pitch. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought you could do with some help," Riley said as he shrugged his shoulders. "There's lots to cover, and I thought I should keep you company."

"You don't hav-"

"Let's get back to work." Riley announced as he took the lead, making his way to the machine as Jessie followed him shortly.

~~~~~~~~~~

The entire field was repainted in no time, with the extra man power cutting down the time by a massive margin. With the bleachers too far away, Riley sat down on the grass while Jessie remained on his feet.

"Sit with me, please? I really need to talk about today."

Jessie felt that the least he could do was hear the guy out, so he sat down with him and lifted his knees under his chin.

"I know you hate me right now, and you have every right to. But you have to believe me, I didn't tell anyone about last week."

Jessie had a lot of time to process it all, and his conversation with Cameron helped him come to the conclusion that it wasn't Riley's fault - maybe.

"Why should I trust you?"

It was a dumb question, since there was a bigger secret between them that nobody knew about. So if Riley never blabbed about how they have been having sex with each other, then he surely wouldn't have bothered to tell everyone he was arrested. Because that was a bigger secret that was destined to lead to a bigger explosion.

"Because I promised you that I wouldn't tell anyone, and I meant it." Jessie saw Riley look at him with the same sincere expression as earlier. "You're one of my oldest friends Jessie, even if I'm not yours."

Jessie let out a loud groan as his mind was overlapping with different opinions. On one hand Riley really was one of his older friends, and his seemingly hatred for the guy didn't change how Riley was still intwined in his life - in a very messy way. 

But on the other hand he had seen the way Riley had also treated him in the past years. Although Jessie knew he had to blame himself as well, Riley created too many scenarios that antagonised him, frustrated him, irritated him to the point where he was ready to cut all contacts from Riley.

"I really want to believe you Riley," Jessie saw a brief sparkle in Riley's eyes before he had to let him down again. "But I know you..."

"You really don't Jessie, not the way you think you do."

Jessie had to laugh, because he had experienced it so many times. "You like your mind games though. Remember after the first few times we had sex, and you kept dropping innuendos in front of everyone. Things like 'Don't choke on that banana Jessie, you know you shouldn't so be courageous when swallowing stuff,' as well as 'You're really good with your hands, straight boy'."

The immature part of Riley wanted to chuckle, but the serious part of him wanted to get through to Jessie's stubborn mind. "This entire conversation, everything leading up to it and everything I say afterwards, is me being 100% truthful - no more games until this sinks into your head."

Riley forced Jessie to look at him, as his voice was as stable as it could be. "I swear on my sister's life, I would never intentionally hurt you like that, Jessie. You made me promise, and I swear that I kept it."

Jessie knew that Riley cherished his little sister with all of his heart, so Jessie knew that Riley was pulling out the big guns. "Prove it."

"How?" Riley immediately asked. He thought that there was a glimmer of hope that he got through to Jessie, and now he just had to cement it. "I'll do anything."

Jessie looked around the field to double check nobody else was with them. It was still dark outside, and it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to see them. "Streak naked around the field."

Riley laughed as he didn't think it would be something so random and so easy. "That's it?"

Jessie nodded his head as he showed he was serious. "Do something extremely embarrassing in front of me, something that might hurt your pride, and then maybe I'll believe you."

"I'm confident with my body and everything, and being naked is no problem. But if this is what you want..."

Riley immediately jumped onto his feet and stripped himself off his clothes. He even took his shoes and socks off, dropping them all by his foot as he waited for Jessie to give him the signal.

When he did, Riley immediately covered his private area with his hands, shutting his legs together so that he had to awkwardly shuffle his way around the 105x68 metres of land.

Riley made it halfway across the field before he turned back to where he last saw Jessie. Riley was shivering as he was covered with goosebumps, and the cold air wasn't helping Riley sprint around the field any quicker.

'What the hell?'

From a distance, Riley saw Jessie disappear from the field. He managed to spot Jessie running into the building, as he was carrying all of his clothes with him.

Riley was left with nothing as he was stranded naked on the football pitch, and Riley twitched with different emotions.

'Son of a bitch...'

~~~~~~~~~~

Riley was a man of his words as he gave up his dignity and fully sprinted around the field - as if his life depended on it. When he reached the end, Riley began to chase Jessie as he tried find him inside the empty school building.

"Jessie!?" Riley shouted as he heard the echoes of this own voice. "Jessie!?"

The vinyl floor felt different to the grass against Riley's feet, as his pit-a-pat steps could be heard slapping against the floor, as he searched through every room for the jackass that stole his clothes.

Riley popped his head inside one of the opened classrooms, and called for him again. "Jessie?!"

A door creaking alerted Riley to where Jessie might be. He followed the sound of the noise, and crept into the locker room.

Riley peeked inside and saw Jessie standing there. He was jumping up and down, as Riley watched the guy attempt to throw his clothes on top of the water pipes that were too high for either of them to reach without any help.

Jessie was successful in throwing almost all of Riley's clothes out of their reach, and was about to toss Riley's underwear up there when Riley slammed the door shut and grabbed him from behind.

Jessie's reaction was too simply laugh it off, as he then had his back pressed against the locker by Riley's forceful hold. The rattling inside the locker filled the silent room, as all they did was look at each other with an amused look.

"Finish your lap around the field?" Jessie chuckled.

"Yep, and I was hoping I would be able to get my clothes back too. But some jerk decided to run off with them." Riley teased.

Jessie shrugged his shoulders as he coolly told Riley, "Time to play again." His demeanour was nonchalant as he barely reacted to being caught whilst carrying out his prank.

Riley quirked his eyebrows as he didn't understand where Jessie was going with this. "What?"

"You said no more games until we finished our conversation. Now that it is all sorted, I think we can go back to our old ways." Jessie admitted, as the smug smile returned to his face after what felt like such a long time.

Riley's mild frustration with his clothes being stolen was immediately let go once he wholeheartedly laughed off the prank. They were back to their normal selves now, and Riley couldn't be more more relieved as he was standing naked in the locker room.

==========

Author's Note: Part 2 will be in the next update tomorrow. I had to split them up because they were too long, so I hope you guys understand the abrupt ending.

===========