Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2018 22:38:12 +0000
From: Matty N <niftymatty@hotmail.com>
Subject: On the Stage - Chapter 7

Hi guys,

This is only my second time writing anything for someone else to read so
I'd really like to hear any feedback that you have. You can email me at
niftymatty@hotmail.com. Apologies for any errors.

This story will be more romantic in nature and focus on a developing
relationship between two teenagers. There will eventually be sex but you
will have to wait for it. If you are looking for something more sexual, try
my other story or my tumblr: www.niftymatty.tumblr.com

Whilst some of the writing is based on my own experience growing up, parts
of it are entirely imagined and anything with any similarity to events in
your own lives is coincidental. All copyrights are mine. If you aren't of
legal age then it's your decision to continue reading and take the
consequences.

-------------------
Previously:

In our last chapter, Patrick had his audition for the school projection. It
was a confusing day with the various boys: Harry behaved very strangely on
the train in the morning; Patrick spent a decent amount of time staring at
the unknown boy as he waited for his audition and, in the afternoon, he
invited Finn around to his house after school.

-------------------
On the Stage - Chapter Seven

After our Computing lesson finished, Finn said he needed to go and get his
things from his locker and would meet me at the gates to the school. I
already had all of my stuff as I was going to try and rush for the first
train home so I just headed straight down to the gates and waited against
the railings. Outwoodly, I'm sure I looked calm but, internally, I was
freaking out. I'd just realised that I did actually have a crush on Finn
(thank you Ellen for putting that in my head!) and I'd invited him to my
house where we would be alone! Plus, this was the first friend that I'd had
round to my house.

I'm not going to lie to you: there was a small part of me that actually
wanted to just leave and go for that train. I know that it would have
caused a massive issue the next day but, honestly, that part of me just
thought that it would be worth it. Then, I remembered how sad he had looked
today when he came into Computing and I just couldn't do it to him. The
image of him coming to the gates and finding me missing was too much and I
just needed to push myself through this.

Finn was walking over and I tried to quieten my mind and plaster a smile on
my face but I wasn't fooling anyone.

"What's up?" he said as he reached me.

Shit. Well I can't tell him that I'm worried because I fancy him and am
unsure about being alone with him.

"I..." my gosh Patrick think of something! "I..." at this point, just say
anything - anything at all! "I'm fine, I just... I've not had anyone back
to Dave and Susan's house yet."

He looked confused for a second. "My house, I mean," I corrected myself. It
is slightly odd that, when panicked, I immediately went back to refering to
the house as Dave and Susan's instead of my own though and I think that's
something that I need to think about later.

"Oh ok. I can go home if you want," he said, his smile disappearing as he
spoke.

"No!" I said, a little too keenly, "It'll be fine! They won't mind or
anything. I'm just being silly."

He furrowed his brow for a moment and then laughed and said: "Come on then,
let's go."

By the time we got to the train station, the first train was just about to
leave and we had to run in order to just make it on. The coach was packed
and there was barely standing room let alone any seats for us. Finn and I
had to stand really close together and there was definitely more physical
contact than I think either of us intended. Don't misunderstand me; I'm not
complaining about feeling a warm, toned body pressed against me but it
really wasn't helping with the ridiculously high degree of nerves that I
was already feeling.

The train jolted on the tracks and, being the clumsy boy that I am, I lost
my balance. Unfortunately, the only thing I had to steady myself on was
Finn himself. My hand flew out and ended up on his stomach. Oh wow, even
through his uniform, I could still feel his body underneath. I left my hand
there too long; my fingers enjoying their unexpected contact with Finn's
abs.

"Hey, you ok?" Finn asked me.

"Yeah I'm alright, sorry." I pulled my hand away, a little too quickly and
nearly ended up hitting the stranger stood next to me, "Just lost my
balance."

He smiled down at me, "No problem. You can lean on me anytime."

I blushed and, with my pale Irish skin, it always shines brightly on my
face when I'm embarassed. I don't know if Finn noticed but he didn't say
much else.

Looking down the train, I could see Harry at the other end of the carriage
with a couple of his friends. He spotted me and I could tell that he said
something to his friends. Then, he started heading up and squeezing passed
the various different people stood clogging up the passageway down the
middle of the carriage. His face was lit up with a huge smile and he looked
good; his uniform fit him well and I could see how he had such good luck
with the various girls around school. Suddenly, he stopped, the smile
disappeared and was replaced with a frown. His mouth opened as if he was
going to say something but thought better of it because he remained
silent. Turning around, he began to move back down the carriage. Clearly,
he had been coming to speak to me so why did he move away? I was almost
tempted to call out after him but I thought that might Finn as being quite
odd so I held my tongue and made a note to talk to him about it tomorrow if
I saw him on the train.

The train pulled in to my station and, as soon as the doors opened, the
students flooded out. Luckily, Finn and I were at the front of the wave
given that we had been some of the last people on the train. This meant
that we were able to rush out and away from the station before we got
caught up; at times, it can be quite painful just to get off the train with
all of the older lads barging past, particularly when you're on the shorter
side like me.

I started getting more and more nervous as we approached my house. I don't
know why I felt like this and I really needed to get a handle on myself
before Finn noticed that there was something wrong with me. Opening the
door, I invited Finn inside.

"Wow, nice house mate," he said as he stepped inside.

"Thanks," I replied. I'm not sure why that made me feel a little bit
better; it's not like the house was mine. I hadn't bought it or chosen the
design. That was all Dave and Susan but it did make me feel a little more
secure when he complimented what they had done with it and I needed to take
every win I could when it came to my confidence at the moment.

As we walked past the hallway cupboard, I took off my school shoes and put
them away in the cupboard. Finn did likewise, sliding off his black shoes
and putting them neatly away. I don't know why but I found this really cute
- that he would be polite and mimic what I was doing as good manners was
just really sweet to me. I took him into the kitchen and asked him if he
wanted anything. To be honest, I was just trying to delay going up into my
bedroom as much as possible.

"Yeah, could I have a drink please Paddy?"

A drink, right, I could do that: "We've got water, Pepsi, cordial juice,
fresh juice..."

He interrupted: "Some fresh juice would be nice, if that's ok?"

"Sure. Do you want orange, apple, pineapple..." I was beginning to fluster.

"Patrick," he said in a soft voice, "Calm down. Some orange juice would be
lovely."

Oh gosh, I was so embarrassed. Here I was, with the first friend I'd
brought back, and I was just making a fool of myself over what to serve him
to drink. I think he could tell because he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You don't need to worry mate. I know you felt funny about bringing a
friend home but I'm glad that you did. I can go at anytime if it's
stressing you out though."

I sighed and smiled up at him. He's such a lovely boy. I'd known that just
based on how he had been in Computing class but to see him like that
outside of school was really lovely.

After getting him his juice, we headed upstairs to my room - I couldn't put
it off any longer. His eyes were scanning around as soon as we entered. I
guess I should have expected that; he doesn't know much about me afterall
and he was probably just trying to find out whatever he could about me. I
was glad that I didn't have anything suspect out and had hidden my little
cumrag far under the bed so he wasn't just going to see that laying on the
floor. That would have been an absolute disaster!

He was just stood there. The longer it went on, the more awkward I was
beginning to feel. What was wrong? Did he want to leave? Had he seen
something that worried him?

"Erm..." he began, "Can I... can I sit down?"

Oh crap! Patrick, what are you thinking?! Of course, you should have told
him to take a seat!

"Sure," I said, kicking myself, "Make yourself at home,"

He moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge. I did the same and then
the awkward feeling returned; neither of us were talking and I honestly
didn't know what to do.

"So, are you getting changed before we have a look at this laptop?"

"Erm... yeah... ok," I said.

Ok, I was going to have to be really careful here. I had to get changed,
given that he had suggested it, but I really didn't want to change in front
of him. That being said, if I left the room to go and change in the
bathroom or something then it would look really strange and definitely send
the message to Finn that I felt uncomfortable changing with him
around. That definitely wasn't the message that I wanted to send.

The decision was made: I'd have to change in the room but I made sure to
move over to where my waredrobe was while I did it. That way, I was out of
his natural line of sight so, unless he was going to turn around
specifically to look at me, he shouldn't see me in any state of undress. I
picked out a nice pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt with a collar
on. It was quite dressy just to wear hanging around the house but I wanted
Finn to get a good impression of me and he had only seen me in a school
uniform up until then.

Turning away from the beautiful boy sitting on my bed, I unbuttoned my
shirt as quickly as possible and slipped it over my head. I have no idea
whether he was looking at me or not and, to be honest, I didn't want to
know: would I be disappointed if he wasn't? Would I feel more exposed if he
was? This boy was confusing me completely and I don't think I'd had a clear
thought since realising that I fancied him. I remained turned away from him
as I dropped my trousers and changed into the jeans. If he was looking at
me then at least I'd worn a good pair of underwear! They were my blue and
white patterned ones which were my favourite pair because the did hug my
little twink bum quite nicely.

I spun around and there was movement on the bed; I don't know if he had
just been moving around or whether he had been looking but I wasn't about
to ask him. Moving over to the cupboard, I pulled out the laptop and joined
him on the bed. Given my complete lack of knowledge of all things
technical, I handed the device straight over to Finn as if it was a
bomb. Finn touched the power button and everything sprang to life.

"Oh wow," he said, "You haven't even turned his on have you?"

I blushed and laughed a little, "No. I've just been too scared of breaking
it; it cost Dave and Susan loads and I just don't want their money to be
wasted. I've cost them enough already."

His face dropped and a frown appeared across his forehead: "You don't
really think that, do you?"

I was caught completely off-guard by his question and had to think for a
moment before I replied: "I... yeah, I guess I do."

"Aww Patrick. They are lucky to have you so you shouldn't feel bad about
being adopted by them."

"I know that in my head," I said, "But, at the same time, I can't help
feeling like that. It might change, I hope it does, but I think I'm stuck
with that at the moment."

I think this was the most honest I'd been with someone else, and with
myself, about this whole adoption thing for quite a while and I did end up
becoming upset. I tried not to but it all just felt a little bit too much
and I started to cry; not sobbing or anything but just a few tears leaking
out of my eyes.

Finn was lovely, he didn't say anything but he immediately stood up and
headed over to the box of tissues on my desk. He brought one back and I
reached my hand out to take it from him but he didn't give it to
me. Instead, he leaned forward and used the tissue himself to wipe the
tears from my cheeks. As he moved his hand away, I realised that our faces
were extremely close together. My eyes darted between his and his were
doing to the same. I was frozen still but, luckily, he wasn't and he
started to lean in. As he did, he tilted his head and I saw him close his
eyes. Our lips were now mere millimetres apart.

"Patrick!" a loud and echoing call came from downstairs - Susan was home.

-------------------

Thank you for reading the seventh chapter of this new series. I hope you
liked it. Please send any feedback, comments or ideas to me at
niftymatty@hotmail.com. If you are so inclined, please visit my tumblr:
www.niftymatty.tumblr.com