Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 21:50:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Jake Austin Subject: Life As I Knew It chapter 4 Disclaimers: Yeah, these aren't fun, but I guess they're necessary. If you're under 18, or if gay love offends you, or if it's illegal to be reading this where you are, you probably shouldn't be reading this. I guess. Or you can, you know, you don't have to listen to me, lol. This is fiction, so yeah, people and the events that occur are all fake. I may use the names of real places, but other than that, this story is completely made up. And also, I'd appreciate it of you DIDN'T take this story and post it somewhere else without my permission. That's called stealing, and it's not cool. Note to readers: Uh, hey guys. Late chapter.... again. Lol, uh yeah, sorry. I'm actually on legit summer vacation now, so, yeah, back to writing (kind-of) consistently! Anyways, comments or questions are welcomed at crazyturtule90@yahoo.com I love hearing from you guys. Your e-mails definitely keep me going! ---------------------------------------------------- Life As I Knew It Chapter 4: Home ---------------------------------------------------- "Seduce my mind and you can have my body, find my soul and I'm yours forever." ---------------------------------------------------- I don't know how long I cried for. It's kind of hard to tell when your eyes are closed and all you can hear are the sounds of your sniffling being echoed off the bathroom walls. But it must not've been for long because already there was an urgent knocking on the door. "Riley?" I heard Aaron's voice call out. "Hey, you okay?" I tried to tell him to go away and that I was too embarrassed after what happened to even think about facing him right now, but all I could let out were a few hiccups and some more choked sobs. He knocked again. "Please don't cry. It's okay. It's not a big deal, so please open the door." "N-no." I was shocked that my voice decided to start working again. "Why not?" he asked softly. "T-too embarrassed." "About what?" I did my best to suppress the hiccups when I spoke, but it didn't work. At all. "B-because you saw m-me fall, b-but even worse you s-saw my... my..." And I couldn't continue because just remembering made me want to sob all over again, so I just shut my mouth and willed myself not to cry. God, I was such a mess. "Can you open the door, please? I just want to talk without, you know, a big slab of wood in front of my face." He tried chuckling, probably to ease the tension, but I still refused to get up. "Please?" He asked again. "No, go away." "PRETTY please?" "No." "Hmm," he said aloud, "Well, you do know that your wet underwear is still lying on the ground in your bedroom. If there was no one to stop me, I guess I wouldn't mind taking a closer look at it--" In a flash, I'd jumped up from the toilet seat, sprinted the two steps it took to reach the bathroom door, and yanked it open. Before I could blink, and before I realized I was standing in just my tighty-whities, he'd slipped inside the bathroom and locked it behind him. I tried pushing past him to reach the door, but he placed himself right in front of it. "Gotcha," he grinned. I faced the ground and used my hands to cover my front side. Aaron stood there leaning against the door with a playful smirk on his face which quickly changed into a look of concern when he saw the state I was in. "Fine, are you happy now?" I asked, tears threatening to fall to the ground. "Of course I'm not happy!" Aaron said, "I just-- I don't want you feeling so sad over something so stupid!" I turned my head up to look at him. "What do you mean by 'stupid'?" He sighed and scratched the back of his head, a blush clearly beginning to form on his tanned cheeks. "I mean, if anything, I should be the one crying! You know, from happiness. Because, uh, you look good. Really good. And I'm lucky to have gotten to see you... like that." I felt my cheeks beginning to burn. "Oh, well... Um, I guess that's nice to hear." I really had no idea how to respond to what he just said. Here I was worrying about what he would think about seeing me naked, when in reality he actually kind of... enjoyed it. "Yes, so please, stop worrying about it. I liked what I saw, okay?" He gave me a bashful smile and then reached over to comfortingly rub my shoulder. His touch immediately relieved the tension in my muscles that I didn't even know I had. I felt myself relax, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. "Okay. I'm sorry, I was just worried that you would be, you know, turned off at seeing my skinny body since you have all that muscle." To emphasize my point, I reached over and poked his bicep with a finger. "Jeez, you make me feel like the Hulk. I'm not even that built. But anyways," He leaned in so close that I could feel his warm breath against my ear, "Your butt isn't so skinny, you know." I could literally feel the heat rushing to my cheeks all at once. I countered his sly grin with a firm shove. "Pervert," I said. He chuckled, "Only for you. Now let's get out of here, I feel weird talking to you in the bathroom." I nodded and grabbed his wrist, leading us both quickly and quietly back to my room (since I was, in fact, still in just my underwear). When we got to my room, the first thing I did was jump into my clothes. Aaron just stood there with a cheeky grin on his face, which I tried my best to ignore. Afterward, we both went into the laundry room and tossed our wet clothes in the drier. As we were just settling into the couch to watch some TV next to a very grumpy Carter, I heard the front door open. "Riley? Carter? Can you boys help with the groceries?" Mom called out to us. "Sure thing, Mom," we both shouted back. Aaron was quick to get up to help as well. When we all met Mom at the doorway and took the plastic bags off her hands, Mom gave Aaron a slightly confused look at first and then smiled warmly at him. "Hello there, you must be a friend of Carter's!" Mom reached a hand out and they shook hands. I saw Carter gagging in the background. "Actually, I'm a friend of Riley's, ma'am. He and Carter graciously offered me a ride, but I was locked out of the house and my parents always work late, so Riley invited me to stay at your beautiful home until they get back. I hope it's okay with you." Aaron spoke with such politeness and a warm smile on his face which I could tell hooked Mom in right away. She jokingly fanned her face with a hand. "Whew, Riley, your friend sure has a way with his words. And of course it's okay with me, and I'm sure my husband won't mind as well. I trust you'll be staying for dinner?" He gave her a bashful smile. "If you wouldn't mind having me, ma'am." "Of course I don't mind. You just make yourself at home." She looked at me. "Riley, you and your friend just drop those off in the kitchen and I'll take care of the rest. You guys can just hang out in your room; I'll call you guys down when dinner's ready!" As we turned to leave, I heard my mom yell, "Carter, not you! You're helping. No, no buts, chop chop! Your father's gonna be here any minute now!" We went to the kitchen to drop off the groceries. While we were on the staircase, Aaron made sure to wave back at my mom. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Monroe!" he called out cheerfully. She waved in return, smiling. He obviously made a big impression, to me as well. When we arrived at my room and plopped down on my bed, I turned to face him. "Wow. Who was that downstairs?" I asked. He gave me a questioning look. "What do you mean?" "That extremely polite mama's boy," I said teasingly. He blushed and then bumped my shoulder softly with his. "I wasn't trying to suck up on purpose, you know--" I scoffed at him. "Okay, maybe I was, but only because it was your mom. I wanted to, like, make a good first impression on her...." He glanced down and fiddled with his thumbs, obviously embarrassed. I, however, was completely enamored with how adorable he was being. And the fact that he went out of his way just to impress my mom because of me made my heart beat unbelievably fast. Overcome with emotion, I quickly leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He gave me a startled look and his face heated up even more. He brought a hand up to feel the spot I just kissed. "What was that for?" he asked. I smiled at him. "For being so sweet. And I'm sorry for making fun of you. I thought you were actually very charming back there." He grinned, "You think so?" "I was enthralled completely." "Does that mean I get another kiss?" he asked with a playful smile on his face. I laughed, thinking he was joking, but I was surprised when I was met with a very hopeful expression. "Um, well, I guess..." I said, already feeling nervous even though I'd kissed him just seconds ago. "We don't have to if you don't want to...." he trailed off. "No, no!" I quickly interjected, "I'm sorry, I'm... still a little nervous about all of this. I know how I feel about you, it's just that it's still a little hard for me to believe that I get to be here... with you... like this... you know?" He nodded, "Of course. Don't feel like I'm trying to rush you into anything. I love you and I want you to be completely comfortable with whatever we do, okay?" I smiled at him, but beneath the surface, my mind was racing with thoughts. Love love love love love. Aaron said he loved me. But... we'd just met after years of not seeing each other, and even our meeting itself was a brief encounter. And yet, despite how unlikely the whole thing seemed, he really did seem to have genuine feelings for me, and it wouldn't be a lie to say that I was slowly falling deeper and deeper in love with him myself. That realization was what pushed me to do what I did next. "Hold on," I told him. I jumped up from the bed, dodged the stacks of books scattered throughout the room (which I definitely still needed to relocate), and then finally reached the door. "Wait, where are you going?" he asked me, sounding worried that maybe I was leaving. Quite the opposite, really. I locked the door, turned around, and gave him a smile. "Nowhere," I said. He looked up at me open-mouthed as I walked back towards him. As I sat next to him on my bed, although I knew it was way too soon to even consider doing any of 'that' stuff, I did want to express what I really felt for him. And for the first time in my life, I truly believed that this was not the time for words, but for action. I leaned in slowly, looking back and forth between his eyes wide open in shock and his lips that were just barely parted. I stopped once my lips were just millimeters apart from his, and I whispered, "I love you, too." I went the rest of the way and soon my lips were pressed up against his. It wasn't necessarily the same kiss that we'd shared in the rain just a few hours ago. It was actually kind of awkward, mostly on my part. Both of our lips were pretty dry so when my lips touched his, all I felt was this warm, flaky feeling. I quickly licked my lips with my tongue and tried again. This time, I felt that soft, luscious exchange that I'd been looking for. My moist lips pushed against his, bringing out a soft groan from Aaron's throat. I moved up closer until our thighs were touching. My hands seemed to have a life of their own as they slowly wrapped around his back. In return, he brought his hands to the back of my head where he softly gripped my brown locks. His groan got a little louder when I started to shower his face with little kisses: his eyes, cheeks, ears (he especially liked that), chin, and finally his forehead. As I pulled back, I was met with the lovely shade of brown that only he seemed to possess. "I've always liked your eyes," I said quietly. "I've always liked yours, too. They're so green they seem to shine. It's a shame about those glasses though," he said, bringing his hand to the side of my face and removing my thick-rimmed glasses. "Much better." I blushed from his compliment and hid my face in the palm of his hand. I was surprised with how soft his hand felt on my face. "Your hands are very soft." I nuzzled my cheek closer against his palm. As I moved to get more comfortable, my hand slipped and accidentally fell on his lap, where I felt a very hard and very throbbing bulge in his pants. He groaned a soft "Oh," and then immediately turned a light shade of red. "I'm sorry, that just felt... really good." "It's okay," I said, blushing immensely over what I felt. I tried staying strong in my resolve to not do any of 'that' so early on, but my walls were breaking down more and more. I mean, what constitutes as 'that' if it's with two guys? Because contrary to the popular (and seriously misguided) trend among the rest of my peers, I wanted to try and keep myself from doing 'that' as long as I can manage; at least until I found someone I could trust giving myself to completely. Not that I didn't trust Aaron or anything, but I just wanted to wait and see how this goes first before-- And suddenly, I couldn't think anymore because Aaron slowly pushed me onto my back until I was staring straight up into those eyes of his, and then his lips as they came straight toward mine. His lips opened and I could feel his tongue worm its way through my own lips until finally both of our tongues were struggling against each other. I felt his hand travel up my thigh and then stopped when they reached the button of my jeans, in which I immediately broke from the kiss and scooted backwards. "Wait, wait! I-- Just, I think it's a little too early on to be doing... you know." I said, looking down at my hands which were folded on top of my lap. I was afraid to look up at him, afraid that maybe he thought I didn't trust him, or worse, that I didn't even want to: because I did, of course I did, I just wanted it to feel perfect when that time came. "I'm sorry," I squeaked out, my voice was starting to shut down on me again. I instantly felt his hands on my shoulders, and suddenly he was pulling me up into a hug. "No no no no no no no," he kept repeating into my ear while gently caressing the back of my head. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking, dude. I just got carried away, that's all. I'm sorry, of course we can wait! Okay?" He rotated between rubbing my head reassuringly and squeezing my shoulders. I pulled away a little to look at him. "So it doesn't bother you that I'm... you know, a little hesitant to perform any coital activity for the time being?" He laughed at me. "What the fu-- fudge does 'coital' mean?" I giggled back at him. "It's any form of sexual union or copulation between a man and a woman, well, maybe not in this case, but still. And you don't need to censor yourself in front of me, you know. I'm not a little kid." He sighed with this soft, reminiscent smile on his face. "I know, I know. Hey, remember when we met in the locker room for the first time? I was running late and I was afraid Coach Short-And-Stout (I couldn't help chuckling at the nickname) was going to make me run laps. So there I am running into the locker room saying 'oh, shit' over and over again, when all of a sudden I see the cutest boy I've ever seen in my LIFE just staring at me. And you were looking at me with the most adorable 'I can't believe he just said that' look. So yeah, I just... want to keep that memory alive in some way." I couldn't stop myself from grinning because I actually did remember that time as well, but I never thought Aaron would remember it, too. I rushed forward and planted a loving kiss on his cheek. "Cussing isn't that bad to me, you know. I just reserve it for the times I really need it. You can say whatever you want to around me. And wow, I honestly can't believe you still remember that." "How could I possibly forget it?" He was looking down at me with such a loving gaze. He then leaned into me and kissed the tip of my nose. I scrunched it up in response. We both chuckled softly under our breaths, not wanting to ruin the moment with words. I was just about to give him another kiss when I heard the door handle turn. "Lee? Hey, Lee, dinner's ready! Dude, why's the door locked?" He tried opening the door, which was locked, so he kept shaking it more and more violently. I sighed, "Crap." I got up, straightened out my hair and clothing, and put my glasses back on my face. Aaron looked a little disappointed as well but he got up anyways. He had a bit of dried saliva (probably mine) on the side of his face, so I reached over and gently rubbed it away. He smirked at me. "All done, mommy?" I laughed, "Shut up. Just getting rid of the evidence, that's all. C'mon, let's go eat." I pulled him by the arm, once again dodging the piles of books, and ran to the door. I opened it and was surprised to see Carter still standing there. I immediately let go of Aaron's hand. He was looking at Aaron with a suspicious gaze. He turned to me. "So, what were you guys doing in there?" I had a mild panic attack, but after closer inspection at his face, I realized that he really didn't know what really happened inside. His eyebrows were furrowed in a mildly irritated fashion but his lips weren't tightly pursed, which was a huge indication that he either knew something was up or that he was really mad about something. I let out an internal sigh of relief and then put on a happy smile on my face. "Oh, nothing," I said cheerfully, "I was just showing Aaron my books." He nodded, seeming to accept that excuse. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed in on Aaron. "Wait a minute. Are those... are those MY clothes?" He looked a little closer and shouted, "It is! Why is he wearing my clothes?" I looked up at Carter angrily. "Well, what else was he supposed to wear? All of his clothes are soaking wet! Besides, you never even wear them anymore, so I figured it would be alright." He still looked mad. "You should've asked my permission first." I sighed. I was really tired with how immature Carter was being lately. This wasn't like him at all. "I'm sorry, okay? Jeez. C'mon Aaron." I grabbed his wrist and led him down the stairs and into the dining room, Carter's angry footsteps right behind us. To my surprise, Dad was already sitting there, a slightly impatient look on his face. His eyebrows went up a little when he saw Aaron. "Hello there. Are you a friend of Carter's?" he asked. I was a little peeved that both of them didn't even consider that he was a friend of MINE. I mean, I had friends, right? Okay, nevermind. Aaron chuckled, "Oh, no sir. I'm a friend of Riley's, actually." His face looked both astonished at me having another friend besides Isabella and Ethan-- well, maybe not Ethan anymore, and he also seemed enthralled with Aaron saying 'sir' to him. He turned to look at me. "Well, finally, someone with some manners around here. You know, Riley, your little friend, uh, what's her name... the weird white-haired girl, she could learn a thing or two from this fine young man." I just kept my mouth shut and nodded, despite how badly I wanted to tell him to stay out of my business. He was obviously expecting a response but I wasn't planning on giving him one any time soon. Thankfully, Aaron decided to jump in and save me. "Oh, well, um, Mrs. Monroe, the meal smells amazing." She smiled, obviously pleased with the praise. "Well, thank you. Have a seat!" Mom and Dad were sitting on opposite ends of the table and Carter was in his usual spot. He was probably expecting me to sit right next to him like I always did, because he looked a little disappointed when I chose to sit on the other side of the table next to Aaron. I mean, it wasn't like I was going to leave Aaron to sit by himself. The whole dinner was actually kind of awkward at first, with Carter discreetly giving Aaron dirty looks, my mom trying to start up polite dinner conversation, and my dad trying to learn more about Aaron. "So, Aaron," Dad said, his tone alone already made me nervous. "Do you play any football?" And, once again, the talk of football begins. "Um, no sir, I don't. But I do like to watch games on TV with my dad sometimes." "Have you ever considered playing?" He placed his hands underneath his chin and gave Aaron a completely serious look, as if they were talking about the war on Iraq. "No sir, I don't think it's really my thing. But I am part of the community boxing team." And the moment those words came out of his mouth, Dad's eyes lit up like a firecracker. He asked question upon question about how boxing worked, what it was like, etc. I looked at Mom and rolled my eyes and she gave me an empathetic look. I tried making eye contact with Carter but he was too busy listening in on Dad and Aaron's conversation. My ears immediately perked up when I heard my name. "You see, Riley? A sport of any kind makes for a fine young man. You could learn something from your friend over here." Dad switched between giving Aaron a pleased look, and me a disappointed one. Mom, once again, swooped in to defend me. "Richard, it's not your place to tell Riley whether or not to play sports. If he doesn't want to, then for god's sake, he doesn't want to! We've been through this." Dad scoffed, " Look, Irene. I'm his father, I'm just doing my job. And look at him! All he does is stay holed up in his room with those books. He needs to man up and do something besides filling his head with that, that nonsense!" Mom's eyes let me know that she was about to blow up on Dad again. But suddenly Aaron interjected before things got too messy. "Actually, Mr. Monroe, Riley's books kind of do come in handy. Today in English, he was the only one in the class who knew and could use the world 'ubiquitous' correctly in a sentence. Plus, his take on George Orwell's "1984" almost left Ms. Higgins in tears of joy, and let me tell you, she's one hard lady to please." Mom was chuckling lightly, and Dad actually seemed to look at me in a different light for a second. But his facial expression eventually reverted back to his seemingly always disappointed one. "Hmph," was all Dad had to say, and we continued back to our meal in silence. After making sure no one was looking, I reached out and squeezed Aaron's thigh and whispered a quiet "thank you" under my breath. He placed his hand over mine and rubbed it reassuringly. I don't think I'll ever be able to be touched by him without sweating and having my heart race a million miles a second. Dinner carried on as usual. Mom and Dad started talking about their day. I don't know what Carter was doing; I was too busy having a foot war with Aaron underneath the table while trying to retain a straight face. Just as we were finishing our meal, Aaron's phone started to ring. I gave him a questioning look when I heard Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" play as his ringtone. Aaron turned a light shade of red and gave me an embarrassed smile. "What? It's a good song!" I just laughed and shook my head. He answered it and he immediately looked crestfallen. He kept saying 'mhm' and he ended with an 'Okay. Love you, too. Bye.' "Parents?" I asked. He rolled his eyes, which I took to be a 'yes'. He got up from the table and turned to my parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Monroe, thank you very much for letting me stay here and for letting me join your family for the delicious meal. It was a pleasure to meet you both." He reached out and shook both of their hands. They both looked as sad to see him go as I did. "It was a pleasure meeting you, young man." Dad said. Aaron definitely made a big impression on him. Aaron smiled and nodded. "Oh, hey, Riley" Aaron added, "I think I forgot where the laundry room is. You know, for my clothes. Can you come with me to get them for a second?" "Sure thing." I got up and thanked mom for dinner before following Aaron down the stairs. We went into the laundry room and gave him his now-dry clothes. "Actually, I think I forgot something else, too." "What?" "This," he said. I turned around and suddenly our lips were together once again. I didn't realize it till now, but my lips actually felt a little empty without his pressed against them. I let my mouth fall open and he took it as a chance to slip his warm tongue inside. He slid his hands down my back as he kissed me. His tongue slid against the insides of my cheeks, against my teeth, and the roof of my mouth. As our tongues wrestled against each other, I felt his hands dip lower and lower until his hands were gripping my butt. I didn't protest because I knew he'd been resisting to touch it for a while. Besides, it was actually starting to feel pretty good. I didn't know where to place my hands, so I just wrapped them around his neck as he continued to kiss and feel me up. I could tell Aaron was getting more and more into it. He started trailing his kisses down my face until he reached my neck. I couldn't hold in a moan as I felt the strange new feeling of someone kissing and licking my exposed neck. His hands spread my butt cheeks around as well, and all of the new sensations were making it harder and harder to keep quiet. The moans coming from both of our mouths were starting to get too loud, and I had no choice but to pull back. I leaned against the drier to catch my breath while Aaron did the same. It was a while before either of us could speak. "I'm sorry," I panted, "We were getting... a little too loud." His face was really red, I don't know if it was from the make-out session or if he was blushing. "You are so hot. Sorry if I got a little rough, it just felt too good." I laughed, "No, it was... it felt really good-- great. Seriously. Thank you." He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "I am quite skilled, aren't I?" He slowly took his clothes off, performing a mock strip show. I rolled my eyes and told him to get dressed. We both shared a laugh; he finally got his clothes back on and tossed me back Carter's old ones. He smiled and was about to speak when his phone started ringing again. He sighed, "Yeah, Mom? Yes, I know, I'll be right out. Yes, I'll make sure to thank them. Yeah. Yes. Mhm. Okay. See you soon." "Leaving already?" I smirked. He let out a long breath. "I wish I didn't have to. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. I'll be thinking about you all night. ALL night." The image of Aaron lying in bed looking up at the ceiling and thinking of me was enough to turn my cheeks red. I waved him off, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Casanova. You should go now, mommy's waiting!" He laughed and then nodded his head. He headed for the door until I remembered that I didn't even have his phone number yet. "Oh, wait! Hey, can you, um, give me your number?" He brightened up at the request and we ended up exchanging numbers. "I'll text you tonight," he promised. I nodded and waved him off. "Okay, okay, you should go now before your parents storm the house," I chuckled. He nodded, "Alright. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Riley." He made no move to leave. "Alriiiight, bye!" "I'll miss you." "Yeah, yeah, whatever..." I said, trying to conceal my blush. He pouted and looked at me with those large brown eyes. "Will you miss me?" I sighed, "Yes, yes, now hurry. I don't want you to get in trouble by your parents!" He still didn't make any move to leave. I rolled my eyes, walked up to him, and kissed him on the lips. He made a show of almost fainting, which I couldn't help but giggle at. "That's what I was looking for!" he yelled and pumped a fist in the air. He spun around once more to wave at me and then finally walked through the door, an obvious jump in his step. Even after minutes of him being gone, I was still rooted in the same spot, a huge smile plastered on my face that just wouldn't go away. Even when I finally realized that I had homework to do, I was still thinking of him. Brushing my teeth: thinking of him. Getting ready for bed: thinking of him. Reading my book: thinking of him. Lying in bed: thinking of him. I checked my phone and was elated to find a text from him. I opened it up and grinned as I read these three words: I love you. ---------------------------------------------------- Again, so sorry for the (very) late chapter. I appreciate every one of you who still keep up with this story (and who still put up with me).