First of all: I want to thank Xpud so much for helping me out fixing some errors of my story and furthering my thoughts! Please go and check out his stories: Stories of an old boy and Lucky Chances.
Disclaimer: This story depicts sexual acts between minors. Please be aware of that.
Author's Note: This will be my first published series ever, if you have some good criticism please send me an email. As my story takes place in Germany, you might come across some proverbs that don't make much sense. If that's the case don't hesitate to ask or yell at me. And never forget to support Nifty! If we don't chip in we wouldn't have this site.
Fireworks - Chapter 3
Without saying anything the two of us entered the building. Lukas couldn't even look me in the eye. He kept looking everywhere else but at me. Seeing this made me smile really big time. Let's just say that it made me a lot more confident. To think that Lukas was somehow scared of being with me made me even feel special. Mia handled our dates, in retrospect, like she was doing me a favour. As if it was a privilege for me to hang around and breathe the same air as she did.
After standing in the entrance for a minute being silent I just had to take the reins. "Just handle it like another friend that you get to know", I thought to myself.
"Soooo...Do you want to go see any shop first?"
Being in a spot to decide something for the two of us Lukas was really uncomfortable. Slowly but surely I began questioning whether or not this was the same boy that came up to me at a funfair.
"We're here anyway...I could make good use of some new shoes, if you don't mind."
It was almost adorable to see him squirm in anticipation of my answer. Not wanting to be cruel I immediately nodded my approval. His face lit up a bit.
"Great!" For a second I saw his hand twitch towards my direction.
This would've been a bit too far for me so to avoid even more awkwardness I began walking towards the nearest Footlocker. Lukas was strolling next to me smiling. "Do you live nearby?" I suddenly heard him ask me. It was about time to get to the interrogation phase of this little date.
"Naw, I live in a smaller town 30 minutes away from here. My friend and I came for the funfair yesterday. We don't even go to school here."
"Ahhh! That's why I've never seen you in school before."
Again I nodded yes while stepping on the escalator to the second floor. "News of someone being openly gay at my school would spread like a wildfire."
Lukas's cheeks turned a bright red. "I'm not that openly about it...I was pressured into it."
The surprise showed on my face, so much that Lukas had to grab my shirt sleeve preventing me tripping at the end of the escalator. A group of nearby girls began giggling seeing me almost trip over my own two feet.
"Who could pressure you into randomly talking to people?"
Giggling a bit Lukas kept on walking avoiding me gaze. "My best friend I guess. He saw me looking at you the whole time instead of watching the fireworks." Being the nervous wreck he was Lukas began to pick at his nails achieving a small red spot. Beginning to get fond of his little knacks I put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay, I'm really flattered." To hammer my point home I smiled a genuine smile at him. Instead of helping with the situation the physical contact made Lukas blush even more.
At the Footlocker we looked at a lot of different shoes. From time to time Lukas asked for my opinion on some pairs and I have to say I had a lot more fun than shopping clothes with Jess. Together we frowned upon a purely red pair of Nike shoes, shared some hearty laughs and were talking a lot more relaxed about everything under the sun. In the end we spent about an hour and 60 Euros at the shop. Lukas found a pair that we both thought looked really neat.
"Are you sure that you aren't gay?" I was surprised to see Lukas with a big shit-eating grin looking at me teasing me for the first time in our interactions.
It made me laugh, leaning on the rail outside. "Yes, pretty sure. Jess always dragged me with her so I'm pretty good at shopping."
"Hm..." feigning a thoughtful look the boy put his index finger on the chin. "That sounds pretty gay to me."
Just to get him to shut up I nudged him in the shoulder. "Shut up! I swear I never thought about naked dudes."
A lot more at ease and enjoying himself Lukas crossed his arms behind his head. "Still not convinced." His grin kept getting bigger and bigger.
"I don't have to prove anything to you" was the most eloquent response I could think of.
Shrugging his shoulders my newfound friend just began walking. "You're not proving a point to me...It's yourself, right?"
Was it this obvious that I had some kind of inner conflict? I thought Lukas was cute, yeah, I admit that but it didn't mean that I wanted to jump his bones and roll around naked on a mattress with him. Thinking about being naked with him made me feel warm inside. Wanting to get rid of such thoughts I started to close the distance between us. "Could we – could we please not talk about that?" It was a usually timid response from me. Everything seemed so confusing to me. I had hoped that I would never be one of those boys that gets confused during these years. Even a few years ago I didn't think that girls were noisy or gross. Liking girls just seemed right to me. Now I began to like Lukas just like I had liked Mia in the beginning of year five. Back then I thought she was cute and funny and nice to get along with.
The conflict with myself seemed to be showing. My face was a bit scrunched up so Lukas nudged me with his elbow. "It's okay. I feel ya."
Being fifteen I had the mind-set that nobody could really understand my problems and that everything happening to me was unique in some way. "Do you really?" Maybe I sounded a bit more pissed than I wanted to be.
"Ethan, calm down. If you don't want to talk about it I'm fine. Do you want to go grab something to drink?"
After an hour of giggling and laughing together my throat indeed was dry. Without waiting for my answer Lukas went to the nearest vending machine getting two bottles out of it.
"Thanks" I muttered when I took the bottle.
Twisting the cap the typical sizzle could be heard and my thirst then doubled. I took a really big sip out of my bottle feeling the cold liquid run down into my belly. Totally involuntary I downed half of the drink.
"Wow, you're a thirsty one." Lukas was still smiling at me. I started to feel really bad for just snapping at him.
"Sorry Lukas...I didn't mean to be a dick again."
"Come on! Don't sweat it, I was angry at everyone too. Not saying that you have anything to be angry about." He immediately back paddled when he saw my face.
This boy was just so adorable. Even though I just randomly lashed out at him. It made me feel ashamed of myself. Just because I think a boy is cute and easy to hang out with I'm getting mad at him.
My ears picked up the sound of a fountain in the very center of the mall which gave me an idea. In any case we could come back into the mall but right now I was more than happy to be away from people.
"Do you mind if we go outside? I'd like to sit by the river next to the mall."
It's not that I didn't want to be seen with Lucas. It was more of a privacy thing. People did their own thing in the mall so almost nobody paid us any attention but I was still more comfortable being alone with him.
"Yeah, why not?"
So we made our way out the back entrance because it saved us a significant amount of time. Out back was a small river flowing past the mall. They even kept the riverbank pretty neat, sometimes with small patches of flowers up top. Even though we had some people walking or jogging at the path nearby it was a lot more private than sitting at the food court. I sat down, closing my eyes and began running my fingers through the blades of grass. The grass was warm beneath my hands. For a second I almost forgot that I was sitting with the first person to ever show me any attention in a romantic sense.
"Your best friend? For how long do you guys know each other?"
Lukas glanced over trying to catch my implications.
"Sandbox. Figuratively. Our parents are best friends so we grew up like brothers. But..."
Now I was intrigued. "But...? What's the but about?"
"I-I had a crush on him a year back."
Lukas's face got beet red in a matter of seconds. He could consider himself lucky that Jess wasn't with us, I don't know how she would've reacted. Sometimes even she could be a bit girly.
"Oh wow...That seems really awkward to me. Does he know?"
Self conscious he nodded. "Yep. Wasn't really easy to tell him but Chris didn't make fun of me. At least not in a bad way you know? Did you have a crush on your best friend?"
If only I had some cereal in my mouth. "Ewww no, I'd never think about Jess in that way. She is waaaaaay too scary to be somewhat likable." The question made me laugh really hard. "God no. I guess you we're like siblings too, my mom already adopted her into our family."
"Huh, that's what my parents would say about Chris too."
We both shared another laugh.
"So I take it that you've got both parents at home?"
The look on Lukas's face was priceless. Almost like a dear in the headlights. It took him a few seconds to realize that my question wasn't as stupid as he thought.
"Ohhhh, yes. Yes, of course. Dad's a regional manager for a bank and my mom works for a bigger Internet Service Provider in the marketing."
I was amazed how down to earth Lukas was in comparison to how much money his made.
"Wow, imagine having personnel in your castle so you don't have to make bed every morning."
Our conversation felt like we were old friends that just had some catching up to do as if we separated in elementary school but were best friends back then. My comment earned me another nudge in the shoulder.
"Poke fun at me, it's okay. I'll just tell the guards at the entrance they mustn't let you in. As if my parents would allow me to bring peasants with me."
Even though Lukas was pouting I could hear in his voice he wasn't really mad. His pouty lips went right back into a smile. Why was I mesmerized by his smile? I had to snap myself out of my own thoughts.
"Do your parents know...?"
Again it took him a second to answer. "I was scared shitless when I decided to tell them. Just a week after I told Christian that I had a huge crush on him I came clean with my parents. My dad's reaction though pulled the rug from my feet. You know what he said?"
Not knowing how his parents reacted, my own heart pounding in my chest, I shook my head no. "Tell me" I half whispered.
"So what. That was all he said. I started bawling like a baby. Of course my parents still loved me they don't care at all as long as I'm happy."
The thought of seeing Lukas cry made me feel really bad. All of this messed up my mind. I definitely couldn't stand seeing Lukas cry. On cue some tears began crawling down his cheeks. This boy was really something else. We weren't sitting far apart so I just threw my arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.
"It's great to hear that your parents are so accepting."
My sudden boldness took Lukas aback. I couldn't hear him breathing for a while before inhaling deeply. Afterwards he melted into me draping his arms around my chest. Compared to the sun the warmth of his body made me feel like I had a thousand butterflies in my stomach swirling around. Maybe I was just desperate for any hug but this moment felt right. When I dared to look down I only saw the back of his head. All of it was so exciting. Best of it? His hair smelled like caramel chocolate. It was an enticing smell reminding me of Sunday morning cartoons with a bowl of cereals. I don't know for how long we were sitting there, me occasionally trying to smell his hair and Lukas listening to my raging heartbeat but the bliss was disrupted by my stupid stomach growling like an African lion that defended his lunch. It made us both cackle.
Peeling himself away from me Lukas smiled. "You wanna grab something to eat?"
His smile once more swept me away causing me to grin like a stupid idiot.
"Yes! I'd love to."
It was refreshing to be around someone that really wanted to. The two of us got up again, Lukas grabbed his bag with the new shoes and we went back into the mall heading straight for the food court. Given the size of the mall the court was still not big enough even though it was supposed the biggest in Europe. Whenever I entered my mind couldn't even comprehend the sheer amount of choice I had. Lukas grabbed my hand.
"What do you want? My treat!"
I didn't even mind him holding my hand. What bothered me a bit was his offer to pay.
"It's okay Lukas I can pay for myself."
"Nonsense! If you really want to pay you can do so on our next date."
There was nothing I could do apart from smiling and nodding. Without a thought I agreed to a second date.
"Then I'd like to eat Subway" I said dragging the boy along to the green storefront. We shared the same taste in our Subs. Both of us being growing boys we each chose a foot long Chicken Teriyaki on cheese oregano bread. Where we differed were the toppings and sauce. Lukas had his sandwich a bit more conservative. Mine on the other hand had a bit of everything except tomatoes, a hand full of jalapeños and even more chipotle sauce. Laughing at the ridiculous of hot sauce on top Lukas grabbed three straws from the dispenser waving two in my direction.
"One for your iced tea and one for the sauce."
How did this magnificent boy manage to stay single for so long? I smiled again, chose my cookie and took the tray from Lukas's hands. After he paid and I said a million 'thank you's we sat down at an empty table.
Apparently Lukas knew what I liked drinking. He got us both of us Lipton Ice Tea peach, my favourite drink when I was out and about. "Oh wait, did you want something else to drink?" Far too late Lukas realized he got both of us the same drink. Wholeheartedly I rammed my straw into the lid of my cup and began drinking. "No, this is perfect."
It was amazing how easy Lukas was brought to a smile by my smallest actions.
"What about you?" he asked before taking the first bite of his sub. "Your parents?"
"Oh! Eh...Only my mom. She takes good care of me. My dad couldn't handle a child so he left her before I was even born. I couldn't care less for that guy. Wouldn't even call him Dad if he came back" I began eating too. Only after a minute I saw his face. It looked like Lukas was almost ready to cry. "Whoa Lukas! Hey, I really don't care, calm down." Lukas was adorable. A very prone to tears boy which made me want to hug him again. I put down my lunch to wave at him. "Come on, stop it. You're way too cute when you pout." This in fact made him giggle.
"You're lying. You wouldn't think I'm cute."
In fact I was totally honest, not only with him but also with myself. . "No, my mom didn't raise a liar. When I say I think you're cute I mean it." Again my insides started feeling all jiggly. Saying such things took me a fair amount of willpower but in the end it felt right. The two of us were blushing furiously. I was the first to resume eating with Lukas following short. For the remaining lunch we just enjoyed each other's company with occasional glances. The first few bites of my sandwich were enjoyable but after I finished my first half the chipotle began burning my mouth. When I eventually finished a solid ten minutes after Lukas was done he took a look at my face.
"Are you feeling fine?"
Even my voice got a bit coarse. "All good. I like it hot. Just have to eat my cookie." So I fished out my white macadamia cookie out of the bag and dug into it.
Now completely sated I leaned back rubbing my belly a bit. "Thank you so much for that meal. Maybe I should hang around you more to get some food out of you." Way too many people were hitting me in all kinds of different places at that time. "Stop kicking me!" A little boy of around 10 a few tables over saw Lukas kicking me under the table. He found it so funny that his older sister was mimicking my words.
"Stop kicking me you little grunt or I'll drown in you in a fountain."
Immediately both Lukas and the little boy stopped kicking. Pointing towards the girl I put on my most serious face. "I'll do what she said. And I won't get you out of the wet clothes."
With a new rush of blood to his cheeks Lukas kicked me one last time. "You couldn't even stand the sight of my exposed ankle."
He was right. Up until now I didn't think about where this banter might end up. Given the fact that Mia and I didn't even reach second base, maybe she was just so repulsed by me, I popped one of those annoying random boners making me shiver for a second. My feelings were underlined when I thought about just lying in bed together watching Netflix on a rainy day. Sticking out my tongue I quipped back. "As if I wanted to see that."
In my right pocket my phone started ringing. Smiling at each other giddy I didn't even look who was calling. The phone had this really cool feature that you just have to put in to your ear to accept a call. More than annoyed I thought it was Jess calling me. "What do you want?" Unfortunately my mother was on the other end.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh shit, sorry mom! I thought you're Jess."
A moment of silence later her voice changed into an inquisitory tone.
"Didn't you go together to the mall?"
"Yes? Ehhh...she...went off to look at shoes."
My excuses always were the most pathetic ones.
"I see..." Naturally my mother didn't believe a word. "I want you to help me go groceries shopping, can you catch the next bus?"
My voice dropped making it even more evident that I wasn't just with Jessica. "Yeah...I'll hop onto the next bus." I repeated it on purpose to let Lukas know what was up. His face also dropped. "Love you mom, see ya."
"You really have to go?" Fumbling with his plastic bag Lukas looked at me. In a minute the bus home would arrive.
"Oh Lukas. Cutte little ignorant Lukas. I hope that you don't ever have to defy a single mother...If you ever want to see me again before I turn 30 I should go. B-but...you want to come over tomorrow? Mom always makes too much for lunch so I end up eating in the evening again...maybe you could fill a seat?"
His face was adorable. Just like the day before he was beaming with joy. Just this time he jumped into my arms. "OF COURSE! Oh please ask your mom if it's okay! I'd love to visit you at home." Seeing the bus arrive behind me Lukas let me go. "Send me a message when you get home, please."
>>Hopped of the bus, almost home. Text you later about tomorrow.<<
Back at home my Mom was already waiting with her car keys in hand. She didn't really looked amused. "Hey mom..." I knew that look on her face. She demanded an answer to an unasked question. "Jess wasn't with me...I was..." I took a dramatic sigh. "I was with another friend we both met at the funfair yesterday. But I was at the mall! In my defense...I'm sorry for lying to you. Won't happen again."
Pleased with my lengthy apology she put a hand on my shoulder. "Ethan, I just want to know where you are and who is with you. Not to control you but to know that you're safe. Never lie to me again or you're grounded till you graduate from school." After all she was smiling at me.
"I know mom...but-but can I ask something?" I knew how presumptuous it was to already ask for a favour. "Can this friend come over for lunch tomorrow? You always make so much good food that I just had to invite him!" Nope, not yet of the hook according to her face. "I'll even help you prepare it AND I'll do the dishes afterwards. Pleeeease mom..."
Sighing she moved past me and opened the door. "Only if you help me tomorrow. This deal seems to be pretty important to you to go to such lengths."
"Thanks mom!" For the first time in a long time I jumped her to deliver a hug. "Pinky promise I'm gonna be a good son!" As soon as I got on the passenger seat I sent a text to Lukas.
>>Mom says yes! Tell me what your parents said?<<
It didn't take him long to get back to me.
>>My mom is overprotective again, she wants to call your mom and talk to her, can you manage that?<<
I giggled like a little schoolgirl.
>>I know how you feel, my mom wouldn't be any different.<<
"Ehm...mom..." "Yes honey?" "Could you call my friends mom later?" "Of course, let's finish shopping first."
Smiling again I began typing.
>>Mom will call later, shopping comes first. Excited to see you tomorrow<<
About an hour later we were back home and I got anxious. I got so full of energy that I brought all of the groceries inside on my own. When I had the final bag on the kitchen counter my mother held open her hand. "Dial the number and I'm gonna make a call while you put away our shoppings, okay?"
My heart began pounding. The seconds before Lukas picked up his phone were agonizing. "Come on..." I thought to myself.
"Hey Ethan!" His voice even sounded great over the phone.
"Hey Lukas, my mom would like to talk to your mom now, is it good?"
"Give me a second, okay?" On the other end I could hear some mumbled sounds. "Hand her the phone, talk to you later."
Silence. I didn't really want to give the phone away. I'd rather wanted to talk some more to him. Was this really how love is supposed to feel? "Here Mom, she should be on in a sec." To entertain my thoughts with something else I began storing all of our groceries and tried my hardest not to listen to anything coming from the living room.
Over half an hour later my mom returned with my phone in hand back to the kitchen. "Your friend's mom is lovely, we arranged to meet for some coffee sometime." She intentionally messed with my expectations. "But first Lukas will be here tomorrow by 12, be sure to have your room tidy. Oh, your phone rang three times maybe take a look at your notifications."
I grabbed my phone and ran upstairs into my bedroom almost jumping onto my bed to check what he wrote. Two messages were indeed from Lukas but the third was from Jessica.
>>How was your date?<<
Of course this was her question.
>>Was okay, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We had some laughs, nothing major.<<
Next I checked the messages from Lukas. They were full excitement.
>>Guess I won't sleep, too excited for tomorrow!<<
The second message read as follows:
>>I had a lot of fun today, thanks for hanging out xoxo<<
His hugs and kisses made me cringe just a little bit but I was fine to roll with it.
>>Happy tomorrow works out, had a lot of fun too. I have to thank you for taking me outside.<<
Right after I sent my last message to Lukas Jess began calling my phone.
"Yes? What do you want? I wrote you it wasn't something special."
"That's why I'm calling. I had some high hopes for you and your loverboy! How did you mess it up this time?"
"I didn't mess up jackshit! God damn it Jess. You want to hear the truth? He's coming over tomorrow for lunch and then we'll hang. Satisfied?"
Luckily for my ear drums my brain registered her squealing fast enough so I could move the phone a few inches away from my head.
"Stop doing that every time I tell you something! You're going to blow out my speaker and rupture my ear drums."
"Sorry sorry, I'm just so happy that you're having fun with somebody that might be special for you. Let me be happy for you!"
"But please for the love of god be quiet about your happiness."
I still had to smile. "I had a lot of fun with Lukas today aaaand maybe I held him in my arms on the side of the river. Definitely better than any date with Mia."
"Oooouh Ethan that's so cute! You need to introduce us. I want to meet your potential boyfriend."
"Jess no. If I already introduce him to your weirdness he'll bail immediately and never talk to me. Can't have that happen!"
All these weird feelings came crashing down on me. Thinking about the day with Lukas made me butterflies all over again. The whole situation was confusing to say the least.
"I'm gonna lay in bed for a while, if that's fine with you?"
"Yeah. Ethan? Glad that you had some fun."
I was surprised by this genuine display of emotion in her voice.
"Me too, let's see where this goes."
After I hung up I went back to look at stuff on my phone. I wanted to know if other guys maybe had some problems like these. For me it didn't seem normal to suddenly fall in love with another boy but I was proven wrong. Many people wrote that their first crush on a guy was really sudden. Maybe just maybe I wasn't so different from everybody else.
Around 9p.m I got another message from Lukas. >>Sleep well, really excited to see you tomorrow again<<
How could I not fall in love with this piece of sugar?
>>You too buddy, see you tomorrow!<<
With that I finally managed to put away my phone, turn off the TV I had on as background noise and got out of my clothes. Naturally my thoughts drifted back to the day in the mall and some comments made. The thought of lying in bed with Lukas seemed really appealing. Just having someone to pull close and cuddle with. Thinking about something wholesome like that helped me fall asleep really quickly.
End of Chapter 3
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