Straight Boys - Chapter 28: Chapter 28
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After the incident at Zachary's house left me in a bad mood, I had walked to my car with a bout of shame trailing behind me like an oder. The rain was so heavy that it had instantly made my clothes sodden and cling to my skin the minute I stepped off the boy's porch.
At the hospital, my dad and I celebrated Lola's birthday party with a surprise setup enclosed in the curtains surrounding her bed. My mom wasn't included. My dad thought that it was better that way. He didn't want my sister to get upset on her special day. So we celebrated it cramped together at her bedside, with Lola laying under he sheets, me trying not to get anything wet and my dad sitting at the foot of her bed. She was happy nonetheless, and loved the whole Frozen decor. We had set up streamers of snowflakes hanging down from the curtain, a banner with Anna and Elsa on either end of it and a huge Happy Birthday in light blue letters in the middle just above our heads, and party hats in the shape of Olaf's head happily situated on our own heads. She was happy. She deserved it.
Then, when we all had some of her chocolate cake, dad had put her down to rest. She really was all tuckered out from a small party, and it made my frown. She was still so weak and fragile even after being awake for a while. It hurt thinking about it, so I went home to cool down my depressing thoughts.
The weekend came later, and it was boring as Hell. I tried not to think about Zachary because, you know, that always led me down the road to my sexuality, and I did not need that in my life right now; and it mostly worked, but I would somehow find myself thinking about how his body would feel pressed up against mine, and not from being tackled. It was weird. I've only ever known myself to hate the dickhead, but then he forced himself into my life with a few speeches, unnecessary encounters and a plate of breakfast I never ate; and I suddenly liked him. I think it was a gradual liking that led to this newfound interest in kissing his lips because I knew, a few weeks ago, I never would have thought about his abs while staring up at the glow in the dark stars in my room after waking up pretty early in the morning come Monday. I most likely would have death stared him down if anything.
So then I got to thinking, with my eyes searching the ceiling for answers I knew would never be there. Maybe I've always liked guys? I liked girls, too, but there was always something missing! Don't get me wrong. Sleeping with a girl was something I always used to think about, but they weren't enough I guess. There was something that never quite fit together when I was with girls. Not always anyway. Sometimes there was. Sometimes there wasn't.
The thought of a boy kissing me wasn't all that horrifying. The concept was still pretty new, though. Me? Liking the same sex? That seemed pretty far fetched.
"Well. . ." I mumbled to myself. "There was that time in sixth grade. . ." I bit my lip at the suppressed memory resurfacing after a couple of years. I was at the public pool with my parents. Lola was little back then, so my parents were too busy eith her to pay attention to what I was doing, and you know, being the loner I still am, I was sat at the bottom of the deep end in the pool. The legs of other swimmers were far above my head, swishing the water around in a sort of peaceful array of bubbles that calmed my slowly beating heart.
It was when I was nearly out of breath, the pressure of the water getting to my lungs, that I needed to go back up. I was a stupid kid, doing stupid shit, and I never paid much attention.
Not until I was almost at the top did I remember the people above. It was too late, of course, and I had rammed into someone with my head. Not into just any part of their body, either. Specifically their ass. It was so fucking embarrassing, and I distinctly remember not leaving my room for a straight four days after the entire incident. This was because I had run into the ass of a boy in eleventh grade. He was far older than me, far into the stage of puberty. I was scared for my life when we both had gotten out and he was holding his dick between his legs and I my head.
"What the fu -"
"Andrew!" I glanced behind me at my parents holding a toddler Lola. It was my chance to run away then, so I took it, but it was my only and last chance.
It was a few hours later in the changing rooms that I had run into the boy again. He was tall, well built, and had a weird beauty mark just above his lip. He was under the shower next to me. "You're that kid that ran into me, aren't you?" I wearily looked over at him, finding him towering over my twelve year old self. This was all before my first growth spur, so I was much shorter, much more intimidated.
I had shakily nodded at the teenager, spewing out apology after apology. He grinned. "Ah, no worries. This chick named Melissa was up my ass about ditching her at a party. You got me outta a sticky situation." He lightly patted my shoulder, but had a look of mischief behind his eyes.
"But if you ever do it again," he brought his hand down and roughly slapped at my crotch, "I won't go too easy on you." I keeled over in shock as an aching pain shot up my spine. He was gone before I could see the look of total nightmare on his face. It was safe to say I never went swimming again after that, nor did I even look at the high school every time we drove passed it. I was too chicken, too embarrassed because after he had threatened me in the worst way possible, after he had touched my junk, I had painfully had a boner. I couldn't leave the ground of the showers as I had clutched my tight swimshorts, groaning in confusion.
A boy had touched my dick, in a not so nice way, threatening, yet I had gotten off on it. I liked his touch. It should have disgusted me, but instead it made me lock myself away in my room for four days as I constantly woke up sweaty and confused.
Sighing, I rolled out of bed and got ready for school, forgetting the memory once more.
As I pulled into the school parking lot after the drive, I instantly set my sights on a boy dressed in sweats and a ratty, blue jacket. I unbuckled from and slid out of my seat to start towards the one person I could actually stand anymore. He was with his usual friend group - Walker, Ashton, who had a... tiara on, Rodriguez and most of the beefy football players and rich snobs. His back was facing me, so he didn't notice me. Most of the boys he stood with didn't either, droning on and on about bullshit I couldn't care about even if I tried hard enough. I wanted to call out to him, but I hesitated.
I hadn't talked to most of those guys, well hardly ever, or very little since the accident, and I really wasn't planning on it either. What really made me not go directly towards him, though, was Taylor Hanyes and her fucking party of newcomer cheerleaders. That got me spinning on my heels so fast, I almost ran into a person walking next to me.
"Sorry." I mumbled my apology to be nice because the person was a girl and significantly smaller than I was. I glanced at her, to see who she was, when I caught onto her blonde hair and electric eyes. "It's okay, Andrew!" It was Mandy.
She was wearing long, flowy, navy blue pants, a yellow knitted sweater and red jacket to combat the cooling temperatures. Her shoes were a mix of all three colors, and I wondered where she had gotten such a taste for her type of clothes. She pulled them off really well because she looked pretty cute standing in front of me with a sheepish smile coating her lips. "Hey, Mandy." I smiled slightly down at her, shoving my hands into my jean pockets. Her smile widened at my greeting and a look of confidence seemed to have washed over her.
"Hey, so, um, this Friday I'm hosting a Halloween party at my aunt's house. The whole school is invited, if you want to maybe come?" The wind seemed to have picked up its speed. It thrashed her blonde hair over her face, so being the gentleman I was, I swiped my hand over her locks and behind her ears. She blushed under my touch, and it made me smile.
I probably shouldn't have done that.
"I. . ." I was replying, but she interrupted me before I could really say something.
"You don't have to come, though. I heard from Taylor that your sister was awake. You can spend Holloween with her. Of course." I nodded, chuckling under my breath. She sure did like to talk. But, as she told me about Taylor, I soon realized that the whole school probably knew by now. Taylor most likely told some gossip hungry cheerleaders she called friends, who then spread it like wild fire around the school.
I rolled my eyes as discreetly as possible.
"Yeah, she's awake. But I'll think about the party." She gave me a bright smile then said, "Cool! It's a costume party, obviously. So hopefully I'll see you there, then!" And then she was heading to her first class. Truthfully, I didn't really want to go to the party. After the last one I went to ended with me puking all the over the place and waking up with a massive hangover, I wasn't really up for that kind of spiel.
Anyway, the rest of the day was spent all by myself. I sat at my usual table at lunch by myself with no one bothering me, not even Corbett Connors. Hell, that's how the whole fucking week was spent. Each day, I tried, I really did, to get ahold of Zachary in school, but he was avoiding me. He was fucking around with other people, trying really hard not to run into me. Every time I saw him, he was either locking lips with his red headed devil of a girlfriend, or messing around with his other friends.
He was definitely avoiding me, and I couldn't ignore it. That was one thing I finally couldn't ignore. I wanted to know why the fuck he was keeping his distance when he said we were friends. I thought we were friends. I believed it, and I always would. I had to fix the problem that had somehow risen between us like the sun rises between two mountains.
Oh God, I was becoming attached.
I knew too much about him. I was in deep.
So, with this constant feeling of coldness surrounding my limbs from the lack of contact he had made with me the entire week, I made my mind up about the party. I knew he would be there because his pretty little girlfriend was one of Mandy's friends and would most obviously be there too. Therefore, I was going to be there. Being so used to his touch, almost needy for the familiarity and comfort was kind of pitiful in a way, it made me do stupid shit. It made me do shit I probably shouldn't have.
With little time to come up with a costume, I just pulled together a vampire costume since it was easy. Then I was on my way, passing houses with jack-o-lanterns lining their yards and over the top Holloween decorations in trees and staked into the ground. Little kids in all types of costumes, from princesses to transformers, even one kid I saw was dressed as a giant pickle, were tottering their way to houses for trick-or-treats. I saw a little girl dressed up as Elsa, and it reminded me of Lola telling me she wanted to be Elsa this year for Holloween too. It made a sad smile stick to my features even after I'd made it inside the party.
This party wasn't like the one I went to last time. The music wasn't as loud, for one, and instead of cups and snack trash littering the yard, the house, the whole house, was blanketed in toilet paper. I'm pretty sure it was intentional, too.
"Andrew! Yo, man, I never thought you were coming to another party since Rodriguez's!"
"Oh my god, he looks so yummy."
"I'd let him suck me dry any day with those teeth of his."
"Isn't that Andrew Parsley over there? Didn't he puke in a plant the last party he went to?"
As soon as I was inside where the actual party was, the comments started to flow. A group of girls were eyeing me like a bunch of starved tigers, one was even dressed scantily as a tiger. Ashton had clapped me on the back when he noticed me. He was wearing a pink dress to match the tiara he had worn all week and a pair of white go-go boots. It actually got me to laugh. But I wasn't here to mingle with the curious cats. No. I was looking for Zachary Rogers, the Bastard. We needed to talk.
Ignoring the constant flow of drinks trying to be passed towards me, and the pull of one girl on my arm to get me to dance with her, I kept a search going. I was persistent. I really did not want to be there. It was definitely crazier than Rodriguez's party.
I looked in the living room, but saw only masked bodies gyrating against each other, none seeming to even resemble the dark headed boy. My next stop was the kitchen, only to see a game of Beer Pong being hashed out. I then traveled upstairs, in to random bathrooms and bedrooms. The house was huge.
When I stumbled into a bedroom with white carpet and walls, that's when I found him. He was with a large group of people, all in a circle. Oh jesus christ.
Not paying attention to the others in the room, I gave my death stare at the boy in mind. He looked over at me when I had burst in and widened his eyes. I ignored the way the brown irises traveled down the length of my body slower than a snail's pace, and the goosebumps that followed after them. He was just surprised I was wearing such a costume.
"Rogers." I quietly spat his name between my teeth, trying to sedate the anger in my voice. Oh yeah, I was angry, but not enough to scream and shout and get the attention of the others in the room.
Too late, though. "Andrew! You came! Come join us!" I dragged my eyes away from the intense staring contest I was having with Zachary to look at Mandy. She was beckoning me over to their little game of spin the bottle. Fucking Hell. "I can't. Zachary and I," I glanced at him in distaste, continuing, "need to talk. In private." My comment earned a childish chorus of 'Oohs' from around the makeshift circle of bodies. It made me see who all was actually there. Practically everybody I paid attention to, from Gretchen to Joslin, Mandy Grace to Taylor, Walker and few members of the football team. Even a few of the nerds were intermingled in the group.
"C'mon! It'll be fun!" This time, it was Gretchen who had spoken up. She was giving me a slutty smile hidden behind her friendly invitation. I hesitantly looked back at Zachary, feeling my resolve melting away. He wasn't looking at me anymore, but he looked uncomfortable sitting cross legged between Taylor and Walker. He looked a little too uncomfortable with a slight rose coloring forming around his ears and cheeks.
This is the only way you'll get him to talk to you. Do it!
I sighed, accepting the offer to join their stupid game. A few girls giggled as I made my way over to the group, wedging myself between Gretchen and Mandy Hartfield. This was going to be so much fun!
"Okay. Remember. The rules are, you have to kiss whoever the bottle lands on, on the lips, or you both take a shot from this here bottle of whiskey." My eyes widened at the atrocious rules of the game. Then the game actually began.
First it was Mandy Hartfield who spun the bottle. It landed on a girl dressed as some fictional character. The two girls stared, then they decided to take a swig from the bottle. Next was a boy in my English class. He spun the bottle, and it landed on Taylor. He glanced at Zachary, thought better of it, and drank the nasty substance along with the red head. And the game went on, with people either taking a sip, or copping a bit of tongue from their poor victim. A few times the bottle landed on me, and I kissed most of the girls. The boys drank before they even let the bottle fully stop and I was thankful for that. I didn't even want to play, but I had to if I wanted to talk to Zachary.
There wasn't much talking, though, only me trying to make eye contact or getting alerted that I could potentially kiss someone.
When it came down to one girl's turn, Allison's, she spun the bottle and it landed on me. I actually seemed to be really popular because I was feeling a bit tipsy halfway through now.
She looked up, smirked, and crawled her way to me. I tensed at her actions, finding them very weird, or maybe I was more drunk than I had thought. When she was closer to me, she whispered something in my ear, but I couldn't hear it over the hoops and hollers of the guys around cheering on the act she was putting forth. But I didn't have time to think about that as her warm lips were on mine. They tasted heavily of the whiskey, even though she hadn't once taken a shot from it.
It made my want to pull away. So I did, opening my eyes just as Zachary seemed to be looking away from me.
He was swaying in place, more drunk than any of us here. He had to drink every single time the bottle landed on him. They knew how Taylor was super possessive of her dearest boyfriend, so they drank the bitter liquor to not fall to her fury. Although, Taylor had kissed one girl, so I didn't think that was fair. It was only a girly peck bestfriends do, but still.
By the time the bottle finally landed on him, he was smashed. I didn't feel so angry anymore looking at him clumsily trying to spin the bottle. He was a total fool.
But the smile I was wearing when I looked over at him completely vanished from my face when the bottle stopped dead pointed at me. I looked around the group to see the many drunken faces spluttering at him, at me.
What the fuck.
They wanted us to kiss! They were practically yelling at us to kiss!
Sure, they wanted many of the same gender pairs to kiss, but not this much. I was back to being angry. I didn't want to kiss him!
Yes you did.
My thoughts were traitorous anyway.
"Alright guys, very funny. We're not kis -" I was too busy yelling at the others to perceive the body coming towards me until it was too late. Unexpectedly, I felt hands on my cheeks, turning my head to meet his brown eyes. He winked mysteriously, almost like he was telling me a joke with his eyes, then pressed his lips to mine.
The kiss was short. It barely lasted a half a second before Zachary was pulling away and sitting back next to his laughing girlfriend. But he wasn't laughing with her. I wasn't laughing! I was going insane inside of myself, inwardly pulling at my hair and screaming for this party to be over. Zachary kissed me. He kissed me! It felt... new. It felt good. His lips, from the small amount of time I had with them were chapped slightly, and felt warmer than any lips I could have ever have kissed. I wanted to taste more.
I needed more because that wasn't enough.
I felt a groan at the back of my throat, but kept it down with as much strength as I could. I was tongue-tied as is, so I kept quiet. I said nothing, until it was my turn to spin the bottle. By this time, we had made a full circle with my turn being next. "Shit." I gripped the glass between my finger and flicked it as hard as I could. It spun for a while, before stopping on the last person I expected it to.
Mandy Hartfield giggled drunkenly when she saw it was her kissing me. I wanted to take a drink, but I needed to stop if I wanted to get home safely. I was my designated driver, so I sucked it up and leaned in quickly to kiss the sophomore.
She clamped one of her hands on the back of my neck, her fingers slightly rustling my hair, and the other on my cheek to keep me from pulling away as soon as our lips grazed. Unlike Zachary's, Mandy's lips were small, soft and much more colder. Maybe it was because she was a girl.
The kiss lasted at least ten seconds, and it honestly wasn't that bad. She tasted like sugar and whiskey, an odd couple, but good. It wasn't a heated kiss, though, only a curious, exploratory, gentle kiss that seemed to make Mandy breathless when we pulled apart. By this time, the group had dwindled down from over fifteen people, to about eight. Mandy was staring intensely at me, but I ignored her. The person that I really wanted to talk to was not in the eight still left. He was gone.
I jumped up, ready to go look for that douchebag. I was mad at him. I had to remember that.
"Where are you going?!" Mandy stood up too, seeming unaffected by the alcohol she consumed. She never ceases to surprise me.
"I'm gonna go talk to Zachary. I'll be back." I probably wasn't going to be back, so I didn't let her protest as I walked out of that very big bedroom. This house was truly ginormous.
I walked down the stairs, looking every which way for that boy, and when I found him, he was walking - more like stumbling - out of the house. Alone. Now was my chance, so I took it between my fingers tighter than what my heart felt like in my chest.
When I ran out of the house, towards Zachary, I found him curled up against the side of the house. His hands were braced against the wall as he was steadying his deep and erratic breaths. "Rogers!" I called out to him. He flung his body around at the sound of my harsh voice, wincing in pain when his shoulder hit the wall with a smack.
"Andy." I was close enough to smell his heavy breath. It wreaked of the whiskey we had drank, but it was strong. He'd been drinking before the game too.
I glared at him nonetheless, stepping closer so that I was now right in front of him. He didn't dress up, so the only thing I studied was his dilated pupils and healing bruise around the side of his face. "Don't 'Andy' me, asshole. Where've you been this past week, Rogers? Why were you avoiding me?" Even though I was angry, my voice was low and calm. It was accepting because all friends leave. All friends come and go, more go than come in my life, but I didn't want Zachary to be one of them. I wanted him to stay. I was only preparing myself for the inevitable fall of our friendship.
"I wasn't," he hiccupped between his sentence, "I wasn't avoiding you. I'm busy."
I shook my head. "No you're not. You've been fucking around this past week, literally so you didn't have to hang out with me. I thought we were friends. Zach," the nickname I always held between my teeth left my lips without my permission, but I kept going. "Lola missed you at her birthday party. I was all alone at Lunch the whole week. For fucks sake, I have no other friends but you in this god damn town and you left me! You left me." I pointed an accusing finger right at his chest, causing him to tip back against the wall.
"Why didn't you get Mandy to sit with you? Or Gretchen? Or literally any other girl. You can obviously get any girl you want that gladly would have kept you company." Zachary's voice was bitter as he slurred his words together, so much so I hardly could understand him. "But I didn't leave you. I'd never leave you."
I shook my head again. "What the hell are you going on about?"
"I'm saying," Zachary closed his eyes for a second to compose himself, looking dizzy from his wastedness. "I'm saying... you obviously don't always need me around. I can't be around you all the time. It's too much."
I scrunched my eyebrows together, throwing my shoulders up with my hands in confusion. "What the Hell are you saying? That you can't handle me? Am I not good enough to be your friend? Was I ever good enough?" My face slackened as I realized, "I was just some charity case all along, wasn't I? I knew it! We were never friends, were we? You only hung out with me because you felt sorry. Well, newsflash, Rogers, I don't need your fucking pi -" my rant was stopped short by the crashing of our lips together.
◇
Whoops. I've made another trash aesthetic for Andrew for inspiration.
It worked! Early Update! Only for you guys. Plus it was Forth of July a few hours ago and I've been writing all day.
**Pictures used are not owned my me.
Anyway... heh. Heh. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
THE KISS HAS HAPPENED. I REPEAT. IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!!!!
*In old man news reporter voice* and after many unsuccessful attempts, the author has finally written a kissing scene between her two characters in the most cliche possible way she could have. What a day. What. A. Day.
Smh. I had to guys. That was the only way those two would have even had their first kiss cuz... you know, one has a girlfriend and the other is oppressing their feelings. Hell they're both suppressing their feelings like the pieces of scared shits they are. But sorry their first kiss was so uneventful.
Luckily I left you guys on a good cliffhanger >:)))
Anyway lol I need to stop talking.
VOTE and COMMENT please! I aim to have a lot of votes on this chapter because of the kiss. Plus it was super long, so you're welcome. It's the longest chapter yet. I hope it was good enough. I'm starting to get back on Andrew's groove, so it's better.
And as always, here's a quick question: Do you guys want me to write the next chapter in Zach's POV about the kiss and stuff, or keep going with Andrew? By that, I mean Zachary's POV leading up to where we've just left off of. So the avoiding and party and his thoughts. If you vote Andrew, you'll get the rest of the second kiss.
If you want Zach, comment here.
If you want Andrew, comment here.
And actual questions:
What are your thoughts about the kiss?
What about the second kiss?? Are you ready?
Do you think Mandy has had innocent intentions with Andrew this whole time?
How do you think Taylor will react?
And finally, Andrew's costume? I mean, c'mon?
I hoped you lovelies enjoyed, and stay till next time. I promise you theres going to be way more stuff happening now, but there will most likely be less and 6o chapters. After 60 or so seems excessive to me tbh.
But enjoy~
At the hospital, my dad and I celebrated Lola's birthday party with a surprise setup enclosed in the curtains surrounding her bed. My mom wasn't included. My dad thought that it was better that way. He didn't want my sister to get upset on her special day. So we celebrated it cramped together at her bedside, with Lola laying under he sheets, me trying not to get anything wet and my dad sitting at the foot of her bed. She was happy nonetheless, and loved the whole Frozen decor. We had set up streamers of snowflakes hanging down from the curtain, a banner with Anna and Elsa on either end of it and a huge Happy Birthday in light blue letters in the middle just above our heads, and party hats in the shape of Olaf's head happily situated on our own heads. She was happy. She deserved it.
Then, when we all had some of her chocolate cake, dad had put her down to rest. She really was all tuckered out from a small party, and it made my frown. She was still so weak and fragile even after being awake for a while. It hurt thinking about it, so I went home to cool down my depressing thoughts.
The weekend came later, and it was boring as Hell. I tried not to think about Zachary because, you know, that always led me down the road to my sexuality, and I did not need that in my life right now; and it mostly worked, but I would somehow find myself thinking about how his body would feel pressed up against mine, and not from being tackled. It was weird. I've only ever known myself to hate the dickhead, but then he forced himself into my life with a few speeches, unnecessary encounters and a plate of breakfast I never ate; and I suddenly liked him. I think it was a gradual liking that led to this newfound interest in kissing his lips because I knew, a few weeks ago, I never would have thought about his abs while staring up at the glow in the dark stars in my room after waking up pretty early in the morning come Monday. I most likely would have death stared him down if anything.
So then I got to thinking, with my eyes searching the ceiling for answers I knew would never be there. Maybe I've always liked guys? I liked girls, too, but there was always something missing! Don't get me wrong. Sleeping with a girl was something I always used to think about, but they weren't enough I guess. There was something that never quite fit together when I was with girls. Not always anyway. Sometimes there was. Sometimes there wasn't.
The thought of a boy kissing me wasn't all that horrifying. The concept was still pretty new, though. Me? Liking the same sex? That seemed pretty far fetched.
"Well. . ." I mumbled to myself. "There was that time in sixth grade. . ." I bit my lip at the suppressed memory resurfacing after a couple of years. I was at the public pool with my parents. Lola was little back then, so my parents were too busy eith her to pay attention to what I was doing, and you know, being the loner I still am, I was sat at the bottom of the deep end in the pool. The legs of other swimmers were far above my head, swishing the water around in a sort of peaceful array of bubbles that calmed my slowly beating heart.
It was when I was nearly out of breath, the pressure of the water getting to my lungs, that I needed to go back up. I was a stupid kid, doing stupid shit, and I never paid much attention.
Not until I was almost at the top did I remember the people above. It was too late, of course, and I had rammed into someone with my head. Not into just any part of their body, either. Specifically their ass. It was so fucking embarrassing, and I distinctly remember not leaving my room for a straight four days after the entire incident. This was because I had run into the ass of a boy in eleventh grade. He was far older than me, far into the stage of puberty. I was scared for my life when we both had gotten out and he was holding his dick between his legs and I my head.
"What the fu -"
"Andrew!" I glanced behind me at my parents holding a toddler Lola. It was my chance to run away then, so I took it, but it was my only and last chance.
It was a few hours later in the changing rooms that I had run into the boy again. He was tall, well built, and had a weird beauty mark just above his lip. He was under the shower next to me. "You're that kid that ran into me, aren't you?" I wearily looked over at him, finding him towering over my twelve year old self. This was all before my first growth spur, so I was much shorter, much more intimidated.
I had shakily nodded at the teenager, spewing out apology after apology. He grinned. "Ah, no worries. This chick named Melissa was up my ass about ditching her at a party. You got me outta a sticky situation." He lightly patted my shoulder, but had a look of mischief behind his eyes.
"But if you ever do it again," he brought his hand down and roughly slapped at my crotch, "I won't go too easy on you." I keeled over in shock as an aching pain shot up my spine. He was gone before I could see the look of total nightmare on his face. It was safe to say I never went swimming again after that, nor did I even look at the high school every time we drove passed it. I was too chicken, too embarrassed because after he had threatened me in the worst way possible, after he had touched my junk, I had painfully had a boner. I couldn't leave the ground of the showers as I had clutched my tight swimshorts, groaning in confusion.
A boy had touched my dick, in a not so nice way, threatening, yet I had gotten off on it. I liked his touch. It should have disgusted me, but instead it made me lock myself away in my room for four days as I constantly woke up sweaty and confused.
Sighing, I rolled out of bed and got ready for school, forgetting the memory once more.
As I pulled into the school parking lot after the drive, I instantly set my sights on a boy dressed in sweats and a ratty, blue jacket. I unbuckled from and slid out of my seat to start towards the one person I could actually stand anymore. He was with his usual friend group - Walker, Ashton, who had a... tiara on, Rodriguez and most of the beefy football players and rich snobs. His back was facing me, so he didn't notice me. Most of the boys he stood with didn't either, droning on and on about bullshit I couldn't care about even if I tried hard enough. I wanted to call out to him, but I hesitated.
I hadn't talked to most of those guys, well hardly ever, or very little since the accident, and I really wasn't planning on it either. What really made me not go directly towards him, though, was Taylor Hanyes and her fucking party of newcomer cheerleaders. That got me spinning on my heels so fast, I almost ran into a person walking next to me.
"Sorry." I mumbled my apology to be nice because the person was a girl and significantly smaller than I was. I glanced at her, to see who she was, when I caught onto her blonde hair and electric eyes. "It's okay, Andrew!" It was Mandy.
She was wearing long, flowy, navy blue pants, a yellow knitted sweater and red jacket to combat the cooling temperatures. Her shoes were a mix of all three colors, and I wondered where she had gotten such a taste for her type of clothes. She pulled them off really well because she looked pretty cute standing in front of me with a sheepish smile coating her lips. "Hey, Mandy." I smiled slightly down at her, shoving my hands into my jean pockets. Her smile widened at my greeting and a look of confidence seemed to have washed over her.
"Hey, so, um, this Friday I'm hosting a Halloween party at my aunt's house. The whole school is invited, if you want to maybe come?" The wind seemed to have picked up its speed. It thrashed her blonde hair over her face, so being the gentleman I was, I swiped my hand over her locks and behind her ears. She blushed under my touch, and it made me smile.
I probably shouldn't have done that.
"I. . ." I was replying, but she interrupted me before I could really say something.
"You don't have to come, though. I heard from Taylor that your sister was awake. You can spend Holloween with her. Of course." I nodded, chuckling under my breath. She sure did like to talk. But, as she told me about Taylor, I soon realized that the whole school probably knew by now. Taylor most likely told some gossip hungry cheerleaders she called friends, who then spread it like wild fire around the school.
I rolled my eyes as discreetly as possible.
"Yeah, she's awake. But I'll think about the party." She gave me a bright smile then said, "Cool! It's a costume party, obviously. So hopefully I'll see you there, then!" And then she was heading to her first class. Truthfully, I didn't really want to go to the party. After the last one I went to ended with me puking all the over the place and waking up with a massive hangover, I wasn't really up for that kind of spiel.
Anyway, the rest of the day was spent all by myself. I sat at my usual table at lunch by myself with no one bothering me, not even Corbett Connors. Hell, that's how the whole fucking week was spent. Each day, I tried, I really did, to get ahold of Zachary in school, but he was avoiding me. He was fucking around with other people, trying really hard not to run into me. Every time I saw him, he was either locking lips with his red headed devil of a girlfriend, or messing around with his other friends.
He was definitely avoiding me, and I couldn't ignore it. That was one thing I finally couldn't ignore. I wanted to know why the fuck he was keeping his distance when he said we were friends. I thought we were friends. I believed it, and I always would. I had to fix the problem that had somehow risen between us like the sun rises between two mountains.
Oh God, I was becoming attached.
I knew too much about him. I was in deep.
So, with this constant feeling of coldness surrounding my limbs from the lack of contact he had made with me the entire week, I made my mind up about the party. I knew he would be there because his pretty little girlfriend was one of Mandy's friends and would most obviously be there too. Therefore, I was going to be there. Being so used to his touch, almost needy for the familiarity and comfort was kind of pitiful in a way, it made me do stupid shit. It made me do shit I probably shouldn't have.
With little time to come up with a costume, I just pulled together a vampire costume since it was easy. Then I was on my way, passing houses with jack-o-lanterns lining their yards and over the top Holloween decorations in trees and staked into the ground. Little kids in all types of costumes, from princesses to transformers, even one kid I saw was dressed as a giant pickle, were tottering their way to houses for trick-or-treats. I saw a little girl dressed up as Elsa, and it reminded me of Lola telling me she wanted to be Elsa this year for Holloween too. It made a sad smile stick to my features even after I'd made it inside the party.
This party wasn't like the one I went to last time. The music wasn't as loud, for one, and instead of cups and snack trash littering the yard, the house, the whole house, was blanketed in toilet paper. I'm pretty sure it was intentional, too.
"Andrew! Yo, man, I never thought you were coming to another party since Rodriguez's!"
"Oh my god, he looks so yummy."
"I'd let him suck me dry any day with those teeth of his."
"Isn't that Andrew Parsley over there? Didn't he puke in a plant the last party he went to?"
As soon as I was inside where the actual party was, the comments started to flow. A group of girls were eyeing me like a bunch of starved tigers, one was even dressed scantily as a tiger. Ashton had clapped me on the back when he noticed me. He was wearing a pink dress to match the tiara he had worn all week and a pair of white go-go boots. It actually got me to laugh. But I wasn't here to mingle with the curious cats. No. I was looking for Zachary Rogers, the Bastard. We needed to talk.
Ignoring the constant flow of drinks trying to be passed towards me, and the pull of one girl on my arm to get me to dance with her, I kept a search going. I was persistent. I really did not want to be there. It was definitely crazier than Rodriguez's party.
I looked in the living room, but saw only masked bodies gyrating against each other, none seeming to even resemble the dark headed boy. My next stop was the kitchen, only to see a game of Beer Pong being hashed out. I then traveled upstairs, in to random bathrooms and bedrooms. The house was huge.
When I stumbled into a bedroom with white carpet and walls, that's when I found him. He was with a large group of people, all in a circle. Oh jesus christ.
Not paying attention to the others in the room, I gave my death stare at the boy in mind. He looked over at me when I had burst in and widened his eyes. I ignored the way the brown irises traveled down the length of my body slower than a snail's pace, and the goosebumps that followed after them. He was just surprised I was wearing such a costume.
"Rogers." I quietly spat his name between my teeth, trying to sedate the anger in my voice. Oh yeah, I was angry, but not enough to scream and shout and get the attention of the others in the room.
Too late, though. "Andrew! You came! Come join us!" I dragged my eyes away from the intense staring contest I was having with Zachary to look at Mandy. She was beckoning me over to their little game of spin the bottle. Fucking Hell. "I can't. Zachary and I," I glanced at him in distaste, continuing, "need to talk. In private." My comment earned a childish chorus of 'Oohs' from around the makeshift circle of bodies. It made me see who all was actually there. Practically everybody I paid attention to, from Gretchen to Joslin, Mandy Grace to Taylor, Walker and few members of the football team. Even a few of the nerds were intermingled in the group.
"C'mon! It'll be fun!" This time, it was Gretchen who had spoken up. She was giving me a slutty smile hidden behind her friendly invitation. I hesitantly looked back at Zachary, feeling my resolve melting away. He wasn't looking at me anymore, but he looked uncomfortable sitting cross legged between Taylor and Walker. He looked a little too uncomfortable with a slight rose coloring forming around his ears and cheeks.
This is the only way you'll get him to talk to you. Do it!
I sighed, accepting the offer to join their stupid game. A few girls giggled as I made my way over to the group, wedging myself between Gretchen and Mandy Hartfield. This was going to be so much fun!
"Okay. Remember. The rules are, you have to kiss whoever the bottle lands on, on the lips, or you both take a shot from this here bottle of whiskey." My eyes widened at the atrocious rules of the game. Then the game actually began.
First it was Mandy Hartfield who spun the bottle. It landed on a girl dressed as some fictional character. The two girls stared, then they decided to take a swig from the bottle. Next was a boy in my English class. He spun the bottle, and it landed on Taylor. He glanced at Zachary, thought better of it, and drank the nasty substance along with the red head. And the game went on, with people either taking a sip, or copping a bit of tongue from their poor victim. A few times the bottle landed on me, and I kissed most of the girls. The boys drank before they even let the bottle fully stop and I was thankful for that. I didn't even want to play, but I had to if I wanted to talk to Zachary.
There wasn't much talking, though, only me trying to make eye contact or getting alerted that I could potentially kiss someone.
When it came down to one girl's turn, Allison's, she spun the bottle and it landed on me. I actually seemed to be really popular because I was feeling a bit tipsy halfway through now.
She looked up, smirked, and crawled her way to me. I tensed at her actions, finding them very weird, or maybe I was more drunk than I had thought. When she was closer to me, she whispered something in my ear, but I couldn't hear it over the hoops and hollers of the guys around cheering on the act she was putting forth. But I didn't have time to think about that as her warm lips were on mine. They tasted heavily of the whiskey, even though she hadn't once taken a shot from it.
It made my want to pull away. So I did, opening my eyes just as Zachary seemed to be looking away from me.
He was swaying in place, more drunk than any of us here. He had to drink every single time the bottle landed on him. They knew how Taylor was super possessive of her dearest boyfriend, so they drank the bitter liquor to not fall to her fury. Although, Taylor had kissed one girl, so I didn't think that was fair. It was only a girly peck bestfriends do, but still.
By the time the bottle finally landed on him, he was smashed. I didn't feel so angry anymore looking at him clumsily trying to spin the bottle. He was a total fool.
But the smile I was wearing when I looked over at him completely vanished from my face when the bottle stopped dead pointed at me. I looked around the group to see the many drunken faces spluttering at him, at me.
What the fuck.
They wanted us to kiss! They were practically yelling at us to kiss!
Sure, they wanted many of the same gender pairs to kiss, but not this much. I was back to being angry. I didn't want to kiss him!
Yes you did.
My thoughts were traitorous anyway.
"Alright guys, very funny. We're not kis -" I was too busy yelling at the others to perceive the body coming towards me until it was too late. Unexpectedly, I felt hands on my cheeks, turning my head to meet his brown eyes. He winked mysteriously, almost like he was telling me a joke with his eyes, then pressed his lips to mine.
The kiss was short. It barely lasted a half a second before Zachary was pulling away and sitting back next to his laughing girlfriend. But he wasn't laughing with her. I wasn't laughing! I was going insane inside of myself, inwardly pulling at my hair and screaming for this party to be over. Zachary kissed me. He kissed me! It felt... new. It felt good. His lips, from the small amount of time I had with them were chapped slightly, and felt warmer than any lips I could have ever have kissed. I wanted to taste more.
I needed more because that wasn't enough.
I felt a groan at the back of my throat, but kept it down with as much strength as I could. I was tongue-tied as is, so I kept quiet. I said nothing, until it was my turn to spin the bottle. By this time, we had made a full circle with my turn being next. "Shit." I gripped the glass between my finger and flicked it as hard as I could. It spun for a while, before stopping on the last person I expected it to.
Mandy Hartfield giggled drunkenly when she saw it was her kissing me. I wanted to take a drink, but I needed to stop if I wanted to get home safely. I was my designated driver, so I sucked it up and leaned in quickly to kiss the sophomore.
She clamped one of her hands on the back of my neck, her fingers slightly rustling my hair, and the other on my cheek to keep me from pulling away as soon as our lips grazed. Unlike Zachary's, Mandy's lips were small, soft and much more colder. Maybe it was because she was a girl.
The kiss lasted at least ten seconds, and it honestly wasn't that bad. She tasted like sugar and whiskey, an odd couple, but good. It wasn't a heated kiss, though, only a curious, exploratory, gentle kiss that seemed to make Mandy breathless when we pulled apart. By this time, the group had dwindled down from over fifteen people, to about eight. Mandy was staring intensely at me, but I ignored her. The person that I really wanted to talk to was not in the eight still left. He was gone.
I jumped up, ready to go look for that douchebag. I was mad at him. I had to remember that.
"Where are you going?!" Mandy stood up too, seeming unaffected by the alcohol she consumed. She never ceases to surprise me.
"I'm gonna go talk to Zachary. I'll be back." I probably wasn't going to be back, so I didn't let her protest as I walked out of that very big bedroom. This house was truly ginormous.
I walked down the stairs, looking every which way for that boy, and when I found him, he was walking - more like stumbling - out of the house. Alone. Now was my chance, so I took it between my fingers tighter than what my heart felt like in my chest.
When I ran out of the house, towards Zachary, I found him curled up against the side of the house. His hands were braced against the wall as he was steadying his deep and erratic breaths. "Rogers!" I called out to him. He flung his body around at the sound of my harsh voice, wincing in pain when his shoulder hit the wall with a smack.
"Andy." I was close enough to smell his heavy breath. It wreaked of the whiskey we had drank, but it was strong. He'd been drinking before the game too.
I glared at him nonetheless, stepping closer so that I was now right in front of him. He didn't dress up, so the only thing I studied was his dilated pupils and healing bruise around the side of his face. "Don't 'Andy' me, asshole. Where've you been this past week, Rogers? Why were you avoiding me?" Even though I was angry, my voice was low and calm. It was accepting because all friends leave. All friends come and go, more go than come in my life, but I didn't want Zachary to be one of them. I wanted him to stay. I was only preparing myself for the inevitable fall of our friendship.
"I wasn't," he hiccupped between his sentence, "I wasn't avoiding you. I'm busy."
I shook my head. "No you're not. You've been fucking around this past week, literally so you didn't have to hang out with me. I thought we were friends. Zach," the nickname I always held between my teeth left my lips without my permission, but I kept going. "Lola missed you at her birthday party. I was all alone at Lunch the whole week. For fucks sake, I have no other friends but you in this god damn town and you left me! You left me." I pointed an accusing finger right at his chest, causing him to tip back against the wall.
"Why didn't you get Mandy to sit with you? Or Gretchen? Or literally any other girl. You can obviously get any girl you want that gladly would have kept you company." Zachary's voice was bitter as he slurred his words together, so much so I hardly could understand him. "But I didn't leave you. I'd never leave you."
I shook my head again. "What the hell are you going on about?"
"I'm saying," Zachary closed his eyes for a second to compose himself, looking dizzy from his wastedness. "I'm saying... you obviously don't always need me around. I can't be around you all the time. It's too much."
I scrunched my eyebrows together, throwing my shoulders up with my hands in confusion. "What the Hell are you saying? That you can't handle me? Am I not good enough to be your friend? Was I ever good enough?" My face slackened as I realized, "I was just some charity case all along, wasn't I? I knew it! We were never friends, were we? You only hung out with me because you felt sorry. Well, newsflash, Rogers, I don't need your fucking pi -" my rant was stopped short by the crashing of our lips together.
◇
Whoops. I've made another trash aesthetic for Andrew for inspiration.
It worked! Early Update! Only for you guys. Plus it was Forth of July a few hours ago and I've been writing all day.
**Pictures used are not owned my me.
Anyway... heh. Heh. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
THE KISS HAS HAPPENED. I REPEAT. IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!!!!
*In old man news reporter voice* and after many unsuccessful attempts, the author has finally written a kissing scene between her two characters in the most cliche possible way she could have. What a day. What. A. Day.
Smh. I had to guys. That was the only way those two would have even had their first kiss cuz... you know, one has a girlfriend and the other is oppressing their feelings. Hell they're both suppressing their feelings like the pieces of scared shits they are. But sorry their first kiss was so uneventful.
Luckily I left you guys on a good cliffhanger >:)))
Anyway lol I need to stop talking.
VOTE and COMMENT please! I aim to have a lot of votes on this chapter because of the kiss. Plus it was super long, so you're welcome. It's the longest chapter yet. I hope it was good enough. I'm starting to get back on Andrew's groove, so it's better.
And as always, here's a quick question: Do you guys want me to write the next chapter in Zach's POV about the kiss and stuff, or keep going with Andrew? By that, I mean Zachary's POV leading up to where we've just left off of. So the avoiding and party and his thoughts. If you vote Andrew, you'll get the rest of the second kiss.
If you want Zach, comment here.
If you want Andrew, comment here.
And actual questions:
What are your thoughts about the kiss?
What about the second kiss?? Are you ready?
Do you think Mandy has had innocent intentions with Andrew this whole time?
How do you think Taylor will react?
And finally, Andrew's costume? I mean, c'mon?
I hoped you lovelies enjoyed, and stay till next time. I promise you theres going to be way more stuff happening now, but there will most likely be less and 6o chapters. After 60 or so seems excessive to me tbh.
But enjoy~
End of Straight Boys Chapter 28. Continue reading Chapter 29 or return to Straight Boys book page.