Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 01:54:47 +0800
From: kkrimson
Subject: Singing Hearts chapter 3

Disclaimer: This work is of pure fiction and any resemblance of the
characters and settings to real life persons, events, circumstances, etc. is
purely coincidental. This work involves the youthful discovery and pursuit
of love between two teenage boys in contemporary time. If you are not a fan
of this kind of literature, please proceed somewhere else. This is not a
quick jack off story.

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Copyright kkrimson 2013


--- November Rain

	The school week was rather boring except for Thursday. I was
playing with some of my friends outside when I heard someone call my
name. It was five minutes past recess. It was a very familiar voice. One I
could blindly associate with...

	"Andre! What're you doing here?," I asked when I saw him standing
on the opposite side of our wire-fenced school yard.  I was about three
feet away from him while all my other friends were darting around at a
distance, oblivious to what was going on with me.

	"I came to see you, of course. So, what's for recess?" He seemed
awfully relaxed and not as concerned as I was.

	"Are you nuts? You left school just to see me?" Well, how sweet of
him, I thought.  "And how the heck did you sneak out of there?" I was now
inches away from him, separated only by this damn fence.

	"Relax. I slipped out when no one was looking. Besides, aren't you
happy to see me?" He was practically over his head with this.

	"Happy? What if your teacher found out? You'll get into trouble!
And just because you wanted to see me!" Oh tragic desire, this boy longed
for me. Wait, what the hell was I thinking?

	"You worry too much," his tone was becoming serious. He sighed. "I
could just go back if..."

	"No!" I didn't think before shouting out. "Well, you're here
now. There's nothing we can do about that. Oh, and want some PB&J
sandwich?"

	"Sure. And maybe some orange juice?" He was smiling now and I
smiled back.

	I went off to get my lunchbox from a neat pile on someone's bag on
the ground not far from where we were. My friends and I usually pool our
sandwiches and shared them with each other. We chose to eat five minutes
before recess was over so we set our lunchboxes aside on our acclaimed turf
until then. We played the whole duration before that. But now, as urgent as
it seemed to me, Andre needs something to eat. I got back to where he was
and found him seating on the pavement. We had a fairly hidden spot under
some big tree so the other students didn't see us. And I'm quite surprised
that my friends didn't call out to me or was even looking for me. Anyway, I
offered Andre my sandwich and orange juice.

	"I can't take all of it. It's yours after all," he objected.

	"You obviously walked or ran from your school to here. Look how
thin that made you!" I remarked sarcastically.

	"Yeah, yeah," he rolled his eyes. "But I'm still not eating that
alone. How about we both eat half of it?"

	"Fine. But you're taking the orange juice," I demanded.

	"No objections with that," he said. "I ran to here so I'm a bit
dehydrated."

	"You just want my OJ," I jokingly accused him.

	We spent the rest of recess talking and laughing. He was on the
other side of the fence while I was comfortably seated on some dusty dirt
mound – yes, comfortable. It didn't bother us, though. I passed him half
the sandwich through the gap between the wired fences and heartily gave him
my OJ. We ate and had a good time until he decided to leave. It was five
minutes before the bell so he still had some sprinting to do. I got back to
my friends and saw them pooling their sandwiches. They saw me approaching.

	"Peter! Where have you been, man?" Luke asked as he was removing
the plastic that contained his chocolate-spread sandwich.

	"Nowhere. I got hungry and decided to eat ahead. Sorry." I moved to
sit down with them which they gladly allowed.

	"That's cool. But you could have had a share of my sandwich. It's
nutella. Since you've already eaten yours, you can't have some of mine." He
was now dividing the sandwich among the rest of our group. There was
Dillan, Evan, Patrick and Casey. Including the two of us, there were six
members of our tight group. And I say tight because we've pretty much stuck
as a group since preschool. We really were the best of friends. But it made
me wonder if they would still be my best friends if they found out that I
fawned over three of them - Patrick, Evan and Luke. We were all the same
age.

	"Hey Peter, how's your voice coming along?" Evan asked with his
mouth full. That's right. They knew I took voice lessons and they knew I
played the piano and guitar quite well. They've been to my house several
times and they even asked me to teach them. I tried once, but gave up
seeing that I was probably a bad teacher and they were worse as
students. In the end, we stuck to our own things. Dillan and Luke played
baseball. Evan and Casey enrolled for art classes outside of school and
Patrick was our own computer nerd.

	Despite being overly attached to the computer screen and mostly
game consoles, Patrick was admiringly fit and absurdly cute. His curly
brown hair was cut just enough to go halfway down his neck and cover his
ears. Some of the curls managed to cover his eyes often times and he would
just flick his head to whichever side he felt like which made him more
cute. His deep brown eyes were very intriguing as they seem to know a lot
about the person he was staring at. His gaze never wavered, but one could
see the infrequent sparks of interest in them. He had an almost pale skin
which contrasted his lovingly pink lips and defined his upturned nose. What
struck me most about him were his dimples on either side of his cheek, just
deep enough to form minute crescents on his porcelain features.

	Evan was strikingly mysterious. His ebony hair was nowhere near his
even darker eyes. We rarely saw him laughing his ass off as he mostly held
down even the slightest of giggles. When he did laugh, he laughed like a
girl which we teased him with. Maybe that's why he held down his laughter
most of the time. But I liked that about him. One could never have guessed
he laughed like that since he had very boyish features. His skin was even
paler than Patrick's which made him look ghostly, but not sickly. Even when
he talked, he seemed so cryptic which made me look dumb in front of him
while trying to get his message. Seeing my strained facial expression, he
would just smile at me and say 'nevermind'.

	Luke was lithe and lean and so was Dillan. I could tell that they
would become very good baseball players in the coming years as they worked
their asses off at every practice and never missed to give it their best
during their games. Interestingly, they looked almost alike although they
said that they're not related in any way. Both have golden red hair and a
fair amount of freckles on their face. Both of their noses looked similar
and their lips were very much the same. But the similarity ended with their
eyes. Luke had soft green eyes while Dillan had almost grey eyes. Luke was
slightly tanned while Dillan was not. Both were good looking, but Luke
caught more of my attention with his killer smile.

	And Casey was pretty much the quiet one in our group. He had blonde
hair that was almost like mine and deep cerulean eyes. He was more tanned
than Luke. He had pouty lips that almost begged to be kissed. He was not as
mysterious as Evan and he did laugh more often than him, but he rarely ever
spoke. He would just nod or offer bits of comment every now and then. He
was not one to speak if not spoken to first. But once you got him talking,
you'd find him very sweet and sincere.

	Every single one of them was good looking in their own way. But I
had my eyes only on those three. Then, I remembered that I was asked a
question.

	"Uh, good. My mom actually said I improved a lot since last three
months. But I still think I sound a bit croaky. I don't know."

	"Well, you're good at music so you'll get the hang of it," Dillan
said, taking a sip from his OJ afterwards. My throat suddenly felt dry. And
looking at Dillan drinking his OJ only made me thirstier.

	"I'll go inside now guys. I have to go number one." With that said,
I left them to their own business.

	I went to our room and placed my lunchbox inside my locker. Then, I
went to the boy's room. Looking at the mirror, I remembered the 'peck'
Andre gave me last Sunday. I forgot to ask him about that. And he seemed to
be well over it. Still, I thought of asking him the next time we meet. I
got out of boys' room and searched for a water fountain. I knew where to
find one so it didn't took me much time. Just as I was drinking the first
few bursts of water, the bell sounded, signaling the end of recess.

	The rest of Thursday flew by without much concern. My mom picked me
up after school and I waved goodbye to my friends as our car drove
off. During our drive home, I asked my mom to buy some OJ at a nearby 7/11
store. She raised an eyebrow at this and I just told her I was thirsty. She
reminded me not to drink too much juice so as not to 'damage' my vocal
chords, but as long as it was natural, it was okay.

	By Friday I reminded myself to ask for Andre's phone number and
email, if he actually had one. My brother made my email for me although I
never actually used it extensively.

	After school, I had Luke come over my house. His mom was to come
later that night after a meeting and since his dad was in New York for some
business appointment, he asked me if he could wait for his mom at my
house. I agreed, obviously, being the good friend I was.

	We played some Call of Duty on my Xbox, with me on the controls
most of the time, earning a lot of furious comments from Luke. In the end,
he sat behind me and placed his face above my shoulder, but not on top of
it. He was pointing out directions to where my enemies were and shouting at
my ears to shoot the fuckers. I could not concentrate much with his cheek
ghosting my own. I could feel his warmth almost embracing my back and
radiating from his face. Once, I moved my eyes to look at him and caught
him doing the same. We held gazes for a moment and I could feel my heart
racing. As I looked closer, I could see a tiny blush forming on his
cheeks. And I could feel his face moving closer to mine.

	"Throw it," he said softly.

	"Wha..?"

	Just then he pressed some button on my controller and launched my
throwing knife at a charging enemy, practically wanting to stab me as
well. I looked at my screen and as soon as I looked back to him, he moved
away. He stood up without saying a word and we stopped playing after that.

	Luke watched me do some vocal exercises afterwards. He had dinner
with us and his mom came to pick him up by 9:00 pm.

	In the bathroom, while brushing my teeth, I noticed something
peculiar. It was a small, clear bottle with a pink cap that was sealed. As
it had its back label face me, I picked it up to read the front label. The
first thing I saw were strawberries. I pouted at the bottle and felt a
slight blush on my face. I removed the seal and opened the cap. It actually
had a spray mechanism and I sprayed two times based on the bottle's
instructions - yes, I actually read instructions. It didn't smell girly at
all. It had that mild scent that hinted of strawberries but not too much as
to end up smelling like a strawberry field. I liked it. And in the back of
my mind, I hoped Andre liked it as well.

	Luke lingered on my mind for a while, but I could not really
understand what occured between us earlier. I knew ever since I met him
that he was damn straight and there was no chance of that ever
changing. However, I felt like he wanted to kiss me a while back. Or maybe
I was just way over my head with things. After some more thinking and
getting nowhere, I went to bed that night smelling delicious - well,
anyway.

	Saturday came, stirring me awake with an unusual thunderstorm. It
was a pretty gray morning with dark clouds hovering above. I hoped it would
rain so I had reason not to go to my voice lessons. But I quickly took it
back, thinking of Andre. It was almost 8:00 am when I took a shower. I made
sure to spray my new cologne generously - two sprays. I went downstairs for
ham and eggs. My dad offered to drop me off at the studio while my mom went
to the theatre for a meeting or something. My brother had band practice. He
didn't go without commenting on my new strawberry scent, however. As far as
brothers go, he teasingly said I smelled nice. I thanked him,
sarcastically.

	I arrived at the studio 10 minutes before nine. Erika, John and
Michael were already setting up inside their room, as I saw them through
the slightly open door. I headed upstairs and was reminded of the terrible
weather again when a loud thunder boomed. I couldn't tell how many seconds
it came after the lightning from the lack of windows in the hallway leading
to our room. I stopped immediately by the door when I heard Andre's faint
voice from inside. He was singing November Rain by Guns N' Roses. He
sounded very good. His soprano voice skillfully played with the rock ballad
lyrics.

	"You could join me, Peter, " his voice sounded much nearer now and
I almost jumped back when the door opened fully. He was standing there in
front of me, smiling. He added, "Did I startle you?"

	"Uh, no. I was actually just going inside," I smiled back, masking
the slight surprise I felt.

	"I almost thought you were standing here for quite some time
now. Maybe I was just caught up in singing."

	"Yeah, you were," I slipped. "Not that I was here long enough to
hear you get...caught...up." I was a really terrible liar. "Can we just, go
in?"

	Andre stepped aside, smiling goofily. I set my backpack on the
table and went towards the piano. Andre followed me, commenting on the
coming storm. We talked for a while before Ms. Jane interrupted us. Not
long after we began, her phone rang in her purse. She was on the phone for
six minutes saying things like 'oh my god' and 'that's horrible'. We found
out later that one of her co-tutors met an accident on the way here. She
excused herself, ending our session for today. She told us to stay inside
until our parents picked us up and if we'd like, we could continue
practicing on our own. She commented on how terrible the storm has gotten.
Ms. Jane left with Mr. Seville, leaving Ms. Hefner to look after us. The
other kids moved into our room and anxious chatter filled the place. We
couldn't practice in this loud atmosphere. Instead, almost everyone
gathered around Andre and me seating by the piano.

	"Hey, uhm.."

	"Andre," he instantly cut off. "And Peter."

	"Yeah, we know him," Erika giggled, pointing to me. "I'm Erika, by
the way. And this is John, Michael, Franz, Carly and Jodi" she added. The
whole guitar group gathered around us, saying 'hi' to Andre. Michael was
the youngest at only five years old. He looked really cute in his pale blue
hoodie. Jodi was 13, but Erika seemed to lead their little group with her
friendly and outgoing aura.

	The piano group of kids introduced themselves next. There was
Simon, Lorrie, Hayden and Bella. 'His' and 'hellos' were exchanged but
mostly kept brief. And just like that, all of us gathered in several
circles, engaged in joyful conversation. Ms. Hefner was in the far corner,
talking on the phone. I excused myself to go to the bathroom. As I stood to
leave, Andre stood as well.

	"I have to pee, too." Everyone else went back to talking and didn't
mind us leaving.

	"A fun group back there, huh?" Andre said to me as we were walking
down the hallway.

	"Yep. We rarely get together like that. Most of our times together
were simply for collaborative practice." I lead the way to the
toilet. "Should I go first?"

	Andre looked at me questioningly so I added, "There's only one
toilet here on this floor for the students. The teachers have their own in
their lounge."

	"Well, is there a separate urinal?" He asked almost immediately.

	"Yeah, but..."

	"I'll take the toilet, you take the urinal. That way we could save
time," he said as he was shoving me in.

	Inside, I took my own time with the urinal and Andre with the
toilet. The urinal was placed on the right side of the wall from the
toilet's point of view so that we were neither facing nor standing shoulder
to shoulder with each other. Not that I minded. Andre finished first and
washed his hands. I followed after and went outside.

	"I hear this storm's pretty bad," Andre started walking down the
opposite direction from our room.

	"I guess so." I just followed him, wondering what was on his mind.

	We stopped outside a closed room. Andre peeked in and turned on the
lights. We entered and I saw a window on the far side. Without saying
anything, I approached it and peered outside. It was complete darkness with
flashes of lightning in the distance. It wasn't raining hard but the strong
wind outside made the drizzle worse than it actually was.

	"It did rain, huh," I felt Andre close in behind me as I whispered.

	"Yeah." There was a pregnant pause after that. "Peter, I've to tell
you something."

	I felt the urgency and hesitation at the same time in his barely
audible voice. I turned to look at him, hoping to meet his gaze but he was
looking down. He seemed contemplative as his eyes were a bit foggy. I
didn't say anything, waiting for him to go on.

	"What I did," he paused. "That Sunday...I'm sorry." He looked at
me, worry filled his beautiful eyes.

	The lyrics to the song he sang earlier played in my head with
Andre's seemingly distant voice.

	I wanted to comfort him. I wanted to tell him it was okay. But, I,
myself, couldn't muster up the strength to believe it was okay. Sure, what
he did surprised me. I didn't quite expect it and I still couldn't
comprehend why he did that. Why the hell did he kiss me on the cheek?

	"Peter, if you hate me, I ...."

	`But darling when I hold you'

	`Don't you know I feel the same...'

	The voice faded and my mind clouded.

	On impulse or because of some force in the universe which was
clearly more powerful than reason, I kissed him. It wasn't the same `peck'
he gave me. It wasn't the same gentle kiss; no, it wasn't like
that. Instead, I had my hands on either side of his face, my eyes closed
and my lips firmly pressed on his surprised and trembling one. Damn, he
tasted good. There was a hint of Lucky Charms and OJ on his lips. Despite
the urge to never let go, I did, after receiving no response from him.

	I must have mistaken his apology for some hesitation in his
confession of love for me. If so, I made the case a lot worse. If, in fact,
he was apologizing for teasing me and was keeping me from dwelling on the
wrong conclusion, he just failed. I was dreadfully on the wrong
conclusion. I mistakenly thought he liked me back.

	I looked at him, worried. His eyes were a lot less foggy. It was
now clear as the bluest sky. It was like a storm passed by, leaving no
visible trail of destruction. The whole room was quiet - the kind that
gnawed on my nerves.

	"I...think I need to go," I hurriedly said and left the room. I
didn't hear Andre call out so I didn't bother to look back.

	I was an emotional wreck. For a twelve year old, this was just too
much. I didn't know how to sort out my feelings. I can't even separate what
my heart and mind were telling me. I was afraid and relieved – afraid to
lose a friend and relieved that I got this over with. Sitting on one of the
steps on the stairs, I felt the beginning of a storm stir within my heart.

	"Hey." It was Andre. I could tell by his very distinct voice.

	"Hey," I said, very lowly.

	"Can I sit with you?" He sat, without waiting for my response.

	"You already have." I still had my head in between my knees.

	"So..." He was trailing off. "Do you like me?" He just asked me the
million dollar question. Damn it.

	"I don't see any point in you liking me back! So, please, just let
it go. If you think I'm a freaking fag, go ahead. Just, please," I felt
tears starting to cloud my eyes. "Let it go," I whispered.

	"Don't you tell me how I feel and what to think." His tone was
half-serious. "You have no idea how I feel."

	"I know! Okay?" I looked miserably at him. "I'm sorry. I just,
don't know anymore."

	"Let's do this again." He sighed and added, "So, do you like me?"

	I took a shallow breath in and answered, "Yes." I looked back down
and hugged my knees.

	"Good." I lifted my head and looked at him, puzzled.  The song
played in my head once again.

	`Nothing lasts forever'

	`And we both know hearts can change'

	Before I could throw a response, he attacked my trembling lips. I
was in shock for the first few seconds until I realized I was the one being
kissed. It must have meant that he liked me back. Without much hesitation,
I kissed back with equal hunger as that of Andre's.

	Probably on instinct, we learned to explore each other's mouth. He
still tasted like Lucky Charms and OJ. Our tongues danced in as much as we
could maneuver. I studied the roof of his mouth, the insides of his cheek
and everything else. He did the same to my mouth. He invaded me, but was
very gentle with me. Soon, the need for air separated us; a string of
saliva hung between our lips which were still inches apart. It was
gross. Beautifully gross.

	"See?" He was panting a little. "You assume too much," he said,
smiling.

	I found comfort as he held my gaze. The storm that threatened
destruction in my heart subsided. I smiled back at him, gently.

	"So," it was my turn to ask. "Do you like me?"

	"Want another kiss, don't you? And damn, you smell so delicious."
And just like that, we kissed for the third time that day.

	`And it's hard to hold a candle'

	`In the cold November rain...'

	Soon, the clock signaled the end of today's lessons. I didn't hear
any more thunder from outside. The other students could be seen starting to
crowd the hallway. We stood up as fast as we could like nothing ever
happened. We went to the building's entrance and saw it was no longer hell
with the weather. The storm has lifted, but the sky remained dark. The cool
breeze hit us. We decided to go back to our room to get our things. On the
way back, some of the other students asked where we had gone to. I told
them that I was just showing Andre around rooms he never got to see last
week. They must have bought it since they asked no further.

	After grabbing our backpacks, we waited by the building's entrance
for each of our parents. By chance, his dad and my mom arrived almost at
the same time. As I already knew Charlie, I introduced Andre to my mom
instead. The adults had their own introductions. It was a brief, friendly
exchange.

	"Dad, can Peter sleep over tonight? We have the same lessons
tomorrow so it's okay, right?" Andre interrupted, tugging at his dad's
suit.

	"Please, mom. I'll be good. I promise," I pleaded as I tugged at my
mom's blouse or whatever casual wear she had on.

	"Well, they seem pretty close," my mom said off-topic.

	"Close? That might actually be an understatement," Charlie laughed
for a bit.

	"Dad!" Andre stopped tugging. "So can he stay over?"

	"If it's okay with his mom, I see no problem with that," he was
giving my mom a questioning look.

	"I suppose Andre could spend the night." That earned a quick and
loud yes from both of us. "But only if he promises to practice his vocal
exercises while there."

	"I promise."

	"I'll make sure he does," again with the rather quick responses.

	"So, what time will we be expecting you Peter?" Charlie turned to
me.

	"At 3:00 pm, if it's not too inconvenient," my mom spoke. "Is that
ok, hun?" She asked me. "I promised your dad we'd have lunch with
him. Kyle's coming, too. I could drop you off at Andre's after we get some
of your overnight clothes at home."

	"Great!" I turned to Andre and said, "I'll see you at three, okay?"

	"Don't be a minute, no, even a second late. Or else," he mockingly
warned me.

	"Yeah, yeah. And thanks Charlie and mom."

	"I guess we better be off now, Gil," Charlie said to my mother,
Gillian, offering his hand.

	"It's good finally meeting you and Andre," she said as she shook
hands with him. "Make sure Peter does his exercises, okay Andre?"

	"Yes, Mrs. Oates. I can punish him for you if he skips even a
single note," he said with a wry grin.

	"You cheeky bastard," I sneered at him.

	"Language, young man," my mom reminded. "Come on, your father's
waiting. See you around Charlie."

	"Bye," Andre and I said in unison.

	I got in the car after my mom and so did Andre and his dad aboard
their SUV. They drove off in the direction opposite where we were heading.
Like my mom said, our family had lunch together at some restaurant in
downtown Dallas. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't KFC, but the food
wasn't really bad. It was almost as good as Kentucky so it was okay with
me.

	Soon after, we went home and I ran to my room. I picked out some
night clothes and a change of underwear, my toothbrush and my strawberry
cologne. Looking at the clock in my room, it was still 2:15 pm. I sat on my
bed, waiting for my mom to call me down. I just sat there and thought. My
week started with a peck on the cheek from Andre and went well into three
deep kisses shortly before the end. And it hasn't ended, yet. There was
still the rest of Saturday afternoon and tonight. We kissed, I thought,
smiling.