Heart and Soul - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

"Hey."
Johnny's chest fluttered at the sight of Carter Parrish standing at his doorstep, in all his bright-eyed stunning-grin glory. Electricity flowed through his blood stream weakening his knees.
Jesus. It had been a little over two weeks since he'd last laid eyes on Carter, almost six weeks since they'd last talked. He should not still have this effect on Johnny's system with a single word and a simple smile.
"Hi." Johnny returned the grin.
"May I come in?"
Johnny stepped aside, biting his lip. "Yeah, sorry."
Carter walked in, allowing Johnny to shut the front door.
"Where are your parents?"
"They went to see my aunt. Took Lydia with them," Johnny said, looking over his shoulder to make sure Carter was following him up the stairs. He saw the other boy's eyebrows furrow in slight confusion.
"You mean the one who lives in Pensacola? That's a long drive."
"I think they met halfway, in Orlando. They should be gone the whole day, though."
"Why didn't you go with them?" Carter asked as he walked into Johnny's room.
He shrugged. "Not much of a fan of Orlando," he answered stepping in after Carter and turning to close the door behind them.
When he turned back around, his breath caught in his throat. Carter was right there. His chest was barely an inch from Johnny's, his lips so close Johnny could feel his breath on his cheek. The fluttering in his chest aggravated as he opened his mouth to say something.
Before he could utter a word, Carter caught his lips in an urgent kiss. Johnny's hands moved up to the back of his head in instinct, as though that's where they had belonged all along. He dug his fingers into Carter's hair, drawing out a content hum.
Carter's hands rested on Johnny's narrow hips and he smiled against the other boy's lips. Stepping forward, Johnny forced him to walk backwards until they reached the bed. When the back of Carter's knees hit the edge of the mattress, he turned them around and propped one knee on the bed to push Johnny down over his own comforter.
Johnny scooted farther up the bed, watching in fascination as Carter chased after him with lust-flooded eyes and swollen parted lips. He hovered over Johnny, supported on his hands and knees.
"I missed you," he whispered candidly, darkened gray-blue eyes boring into Johnny's.
Johnny's heart did that mean trick again inside his chest, and his words were caught in his throat for a second. He hooked a finger on the collar of Carter's shirt. "I missed you too," he muttered, pulling him down.
They met again for a breathless kiss. Johnny raked his hands up Carter's back—his muscular, broad, athletic back—and pulled him down onto him, to feel the warmth of Carter's body against his own.
Carter's lips yielded to Johnny's eager assault as teeth scrapped over his bottom lip hungrily.
Johnny smiled and Carter's mouth kissed a trail down his jaw to his neck. His hand slid down from Johnny's cheek to his hip. Johnny sighed delightedly, his head void of all thoughts that weren't Carter. His touch, his taste, his warmth, his breath, his sounds. It should be illegal to fill somebody's head so completely like this.
When Carter slipped his hand beneath Johnny's t-shirt, he lost it. Carter's hand felt warm and somewhat rugged against his bare skin, which contrasted with the gentleness of his touch. It shot waves of delicious heat from Johnny's stomach downward.
On Carter's back, Johnny filled his fist with the other boy's t-shirt and let the other hand move down of its own accord to feel Carter's groin. Carter moaned against Johnny's neck, stopping the motion of his lips and digging his forehead into the curve of the other boy's shoulder.
Johnny couldn't help the silly, lust-drunk smile. Carter was hard. Because of Johnny. Every time he came to the conclusion that he was able to put Carter in that state, he couldn't help that spark of elation, that smug shiver of satisfaction.
Carter moaned into the crook of Johnny's neck when Johnny opened his fly, gasping when Johnny's hand dove in.
"God," Carter breathed against Johnny's ear. "I really missed you."
Johnny laughed. It was almost like a giggle but he didn't care.
He knew Carter had missed him in other ways too—he hoped, more than anything—but it still made him happy to hear Carter admit he missed his touch. So helplessly too.
It meant Johnny wasn't the only one missing the fire of Carter's body against his, each time he laid in bed alone at night.
Carter's hand caressed Johnny's side, beneath his t-shirt, sending tremors through his stomach. Then, without warning, his lips trailed back up Johnny's neck, aiming for a kiss.
Johnny felt a hand approach the top of his jeans, fingers teasing the button. His breath hitched and Carter pulled back a little.
"Is this okay?" Carter asked quietly.
Johnny took in his glistening red lips, his charcoal gray eyes burning with desire, and the excitement pulsing in his own body, especially where Carter's hand threatened to go. He nodded eagerly.
Carter smiled softly and Johnny's heart melted. His eyes fluttered closed as Carter's lips kissed just bellow the place where his jaw connected to his ear.
"I need you to say it," Carter whispered into his skin, sending a shiver down his spine.
"Yes. It's okay," Johnny breathed, tightening the grip his hand had on Carter.
The other boy groaned, but his hand worked to open Johnny's jeans. Their lips caught each other in a kiss again, but Johnny's mind was in an explosion of glaring light. He couldn't believe what Carter was going to do. He couldn't believe what Carter was doing. He couldn't believe.
Carter's touch was soft and tentative at first, until Johnny got his own thoughts in check for long enough to regain control of his hand movements. He moaned in excitement when Carter started mimicking the pace he was setting.
Johnny rolled onto his side, taking Carter with him, and they were facing each other. Carter smiled, leaning in to kiss Johnny. It was hot, and urgent, and sloppy, and it quickly melted into panting, erratic moaning from both parts.
Carter was the first to let go, but only a few seconds before Johnny.
They fell back onto their backs afterwards, trying to even out their breaths, away from the mess they'd made in the middle.
Johnny heard Carter doing his jeans back up and turned his head to the side to find the other boy smiling at him.
"How was your break?" Carter asked innocently.
Johnny snorted. "Good," he mused. "Yours?"
Carter's cute smile grew into a fully blown grin. And Johnny's heart, which had just underwent a great deal of exertion, threatened to explode.
"It was weird. And kinda great," Carter said. "It would've been better with you."
Johnny laughed through a scoff, shaking his head. "You're such a shameless sweet-talker."
"I mean it," Carter promised. "I finally started to spend more time with my stepfather's family, I kinda told Seth about us, and the only thing I wanted and didn't have was you."
Johnny's eyebrows drew in. "Wait, wait. You—what?"
"I wanted to be with you?"
Johnny smiled. "That's sweet and all, but what you said right before that."
"I talked to Seth..."
"What exactly did you tell him?" Johnny asked.
Carter bit down on his lip. "I should've probably talked to you first," he said, as though that thought had only just came up to him. "But I felt like I was lying to him," he tried to explain. "And we were sort of... making amends. All I told him is that I'm into you."
Johnny's lips parted. "You did?"
"Yeah."
Johnny smiled, despite himself. "You are?" He asked, a little quieter, feeling a bit like a kid sending a note reading 'Do you like me — sign yes or no'.
Carter laughed. "Isn't it obvious?"
Johnny bit back his smile, turning his head to face the ceiling. "Maybe," he mused. "I just..."
Never thought I'd hear you say it, let alone learn you told someone else, he finished only in his head, after trailing off.
"What did he say?" Johnny asked, looking back at Carter.
"Not much."
Johnny propped up onto his elbow to look down at Carter, nodding slowly. 'Not much' was probably good. If Seth had had a bad reaction, Carter would've probably had more to say about it.
"Are you... mad?"
Johnny frowned in confusion, before smiling. "No, champ," he said, enjoying the smile that nickname pulled out of Carter. He shook his head. "I can't be mad at you."
Carter licked his lips hesitantly, propping up onto his elbow to mimic Johnny's position.
"Not even for not checking on you for weeks?"
Johnny's smile fell a little, but it didn't disappear altogether. "Not even for that," he said.
"How are you, though?"
"I'm fine," Johnny answered immediately. "I don't want to talk about that."
"Okay, we don't have to talk."
Johnny smirked. The mess they'd made before still laid between them, like a reminder of how much they hadn't talked so far.
Carter laughed. "We don't have to do that either," he chided playfully. "Does your mind ever go anywhere else?"
Johnny scoffed in fake offense, outwardly. Inside his own head though, he couldn't lie. The truth was, lately, not really. His mind was all Carter. And even after learning that Carter had told someone about them, he wasn't too sure if he was was ready to deal with that, out loud.
"Wanna watch Netflix?" Johnny asked lightly.
Carter shrugged one shoulder. "What do you usually watch?"
Johnny sat up in his bed. "I just started watching House of Cards, per Lydia's demand, after I binged the whole fourth season of Peaky Blinders in one night over the break and was stuck with nothing left to watch."
"I don't know either of those shows, but I trust your taste."
Johnny's jaw slacked. "You never watched Peaky Blinders?"
Carter shook his head, and Johnny mimicked the motion incredulously.
"Your life is incomplete," he declared. Carter laughed.
"We're watching the first episode," Johnny decided. "I'd feel guilty if I didn't make you do it. Prepare to be addicted."
"But you already watched it," Carter argued, sitting up as Johnny got off the bed to get his laptop from the desk.
"I'll make the sacrifice and watch it again," Johnny said, walking to his desk. "Your ex-girlfriend might have failed, but I will bring you to the dark side of binge-watching."
"It's gonna be hard," Carter mused while Johnny unplugged the laptop charger. "I don't even have Netflix."
Johnny smiled over at Carter slyly. "You'll just have to come to me to get your fix. Another sacrifice I'm willing to make."
Carter laughed. "So selfless," he teased.
Turning around, Johnny assessed the state of his bed for a second before pulling at the bottom edge of the comforter.
"Get up for a second. I need to take this off."
Carter sprung off Johnny's bed and watched him remove the first layer of bedding to discard it onto a pile on the floor.
"What are you going to tell your parents about it?"
"I'll just tell them I was too hot at night or something."
Carter laughed. "You? Too hot?" He joked. "They're going to know something happened, for sure."
Johnny rolled his eyes. "No, they won't. They might just think it's weird," he said, crawling back onto his bed, over the two layers of sheets he had underneath. Carter climbed in after him.
"Lydia, on the other hand," Johnny added as an after-thought.
Carter's eyes widened and Johnny laughed.
"Relax. I'm kidding," he said. He wasn't, though.
Lydia always knew.
But Carter did relax, sitting back against the headboard of the bed, and Johnny didn't have the heart to destroy that.
He opened his laptop and logged into his Netflix account. As he was scooting back, Carter lifted his arm absent-mindedly and Johnny smiled to himself as he snuggled to his side, setting the laptop on their legs. Carter squeezed him closer and Johnny rested his head on his chest, with a warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach that he definitely wasn't ready to address.
He laced his arm tentatively over Carter's waist, and they stayed like that for nearly an hour. As the final scene of the episode rolled in, Johnny tilted his head up expectantly to see Carter's reaction. The other boy kept his eyes trained on the screen, but his lips curled into a little smile as he felt Johnny's scrutiny.
"So?" Johnny asked, when the final credits started playing.
Carter looked at him. "It was good."
Johnny scoffed. "Just good?" He asked, lifting his head a little.
Carter grinned and Johnny just had to kiss him for that. Meanwhile, the five seconds on the screen passed and the next episode rolled in. Carter hummed into the kiss, trying to reach the laptop. Johnny pulled away.
"What?"
"Pause it."
Johnny smiled knowingly and Carter rolled his eyes through a hopeless grin. "You wanted me to get addicted. Now, I don't wanna miss it."
Johnny hummed agreeably, but he didn't pause the show before going back in for a kiss. And he was pleased to find Carter didn't fight him in any way.
His free hand cupped Johnny's cheek as they shared a languid kiss. As the second episode played in the background, Johnny's hand traveled up Carter's chest to feel his shoulder. Johnny would never be able to explain his fixation with Carter's shoulders.
They were halfway through the episode when they finally parted and decided to calm down. Johnny rewinded to the beginning and settled back against Carter's side, where he felt warm and comfortable beyond what words could describe.
When the final credits rolled in and the five-second countdown started back up, Johnny felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He reached for it, to see a couple of texts from Lydia.
He snorted and Carter looked down at him inquisitively. Johnny paused just as the third episode started to play.
"It was just Lydia, to say they're coming back home."
Carter nodded silently. Johnny could read the hesitant look in his eyes though, so he raised his eyebrows in question.
"Does your sister... know?"
Johnny bit his lip thoughtfully. "She doesn't know know," he answered slowly. "But she knows I'm into you," he added, echoing Carter's own words from earlier.
Carter smiled. "You are?"
Johnny rolled his eyes. "Like it's such a shock," he said, sitting up. "Are you hungry?"
"Always."
Johnny rolled his eyes. He led Carter to his kitchen and checked the fridge. There was food in the house, but almost all required cooking. Johnny wasn't the cooking type. He opened the pantry.
"Are you okay with cereal?" He asked over his shoulder, to see Carter was right behind him.
The other boy placed his hand on Johnny's hip and nodded, resting his chin on Johnny's shoulder. He closed his eyes, leaning into the contact. Carter was going to be his undoing, at this rate.
"Are you more of a Froot Loops or Cheerios guy?" He asked, with a sultriness to his voice that indicated another kind of non-cereal-themed conversation.
"Cheerios," Carter answered behind him, before mouthing at the shell of Johnny's ear.
Johnny sighed, biting his lip.
He begrudgingly released himself from Carter's embrace and prepared two bowls. As he took his, Carter dropped a chaste kiss on Johnny's lips. Johnny's heart threatened to cave in his chest, so he masked it with an eye roll.
Upstairs in the comfort of Johnny's bed, they pressed play on the show again and ate. They discarded their emptied bowls on Johnny's nightstand after and fell back into each other's arms. Carter rubbed a pattern up and down Johnny's arm, eliciting goosebumps and they got tangled up in another make-out session as soon as the episode ended.
When the mood started to heat up again, they pulled apart and watched episode four. This time, they didn't make it to the end before they were back at it.
It was Carter who pulled away, so they could finish the episode. Just as they did, Johnny, who really hadn't been paying attention to those last thirty minutes, climbed onto Carter's lap to straddle him and they kissed again.
When Carter's hand started to draw lower and lower on Johnny's back, they heard a car pull up outside. They pulled apart.
"Is that your parents?"
Johnny huffed, unwillingly leaving Carter's lap to peak through the curtains of his bedroom window. Sure enough, his dad's car was parked on their driveway.
Carter stood, running a hand through his hair and straightening his clothes. He still looked like someone who had spent a leisurely day in bed though.
"I should go," he said.
Johnny wanted to say no and find an excuse to keep him in his room forever. He nodded instead.
They walked downstairs together, reaching the bottom just as Johnny's parents and Lydia were entering. Lydia was the only one who didn't seem surprised to see Carter. She shot Johnny a knowing smile, behind their parents' back.
"Hello," Johnny's mom greeted kindly. "Are you leaving already?"
"Yes, ma'am," Carter answered politely. "Just on my way out."
"Just stopped by while no one was in?" Johnny's dad asked, with his Coach voice.
Johnny rolled his eyes. "Dad. I invited him."
His father didn't say anything else, but his posture was still stiff. And Carter's had become tense.
"So, uhm... Bye."
Johnny smiled at him. "Bye."
Carter shot Johnny's family a second-long glance, then leaned forward and dropped a short peck on Johnny's forehead. Johnny's lips parted in genuine surprise as he watched the other boy leave with a final quiet goodbye.
When he looked around at his family, he found his mother trying to conceal a grin as she went into the kitchen. His dad didn't try to hide his surprise. Lydia was practically gushing.
"Oh, my God," she whisper-yelled at him. "That was cuter than those videos of baby animals meeting babies from another species."
Johnny rolled his eyes, flustered. "Shut up," he mumbled.
Lydia giggled hysterically and Johnny avoided eye contact with his dad, who was still standing there. Without a word, David Mason patted his son's shoulder and disappeared into the kitchen after his wife. Johnny escaped up the stairs, away from his sister.
Inside the safety of his room, Johnny took out his phone to read a text from Carter that made him smile.