Re-Edited - Draft One

 

The regular warnings apply as always. Consider charity for nifty's awesome service. Please don't alter or reproduce my work without first contacting me.

 

Feedback would be appreciated, if you would like to send me an email. Please do.

 

A SIDE NOTE; this is just an updated version of EIWT Draft 1. A full book, with new characters, scenes and plot is coming soon as an Ebook.

 

Contact and find me on these sites. I’ll be posting daily updates on Tumblr.

Email - danny2017writing@outlook.com

Twitter - @author_daniels

Tumblr - dannywriting2017

 

For anyone who is interested, I have other stories on nifty. I will list them at the end of the story.

 

************************************************************

Many thanks;

 

To my friend and editor Leo, who has spent a great number of hours revamping the face of EIWT.

 

To my friend and fellow writer Hunter, for all the support he has shown during the course of my writing. Check out his story Open Hearts.

 

************************************************************

 

Songs in this chapter;

 

 

1.    Perfect by Ed Sheeran

2.    Tell Me by Johnny Jewel, Ft. Saoirse Ronan

3.    Deborah's Theme by Ennio Morricone

4.    Perfect by One Direction

5.    Little Things by One Direction

 

In The Last Chapter: Sam tried to enjoy himself for the most part of it at his party. His mom had put so much work and effort into hosting the party for Sam.

Yet the current events with Nash placed a wedge between all the people he knows in his life. Ethan is apparently distant, but still hanging in for Sam’s sake.

But when Austin shows up at Sam’s party, things escalate to worse in Sam’s world. He feels guilty with the turnout of events at his party and arranges to meet Austin on the sly.

Will this be a night that could guide Sam for the good, and help him understand what he needs to do?

 

Even If We Tried

by d.k. dANIELS

 

Part 7

 

Cycling at full speed, I felt myself drifting in and out of this alternate reality.

It was rather dreamy and it blurred time, making it appear relatively slow as I made my way to the school.

 

My heart was pounding in my chest for a couple of reasons; one was the thought of getting caught by the neighbourhood watch ninjas;

they were always stealthy and a scary bunch of people. I remember I heard one of my friends was followed home one time by someone in a car.

He had walked the small distance from a friend’s house and the car joined his journey home about halfway through his walk.

I’d have to admit that if some car was following me, I would run, not walk, at a panicked pace.

But anyway, as I pulled up at the abandoned school, I dismounted my bike and leaned it toward the high school plaque and sat down on the curb.

I hoped that no police cruisers would go by in the time I was waiting for Austin.

I could feel the cold beneath my layers of clothes; even my parka was gathering the billions of tiny particles of water that floated in the air from condensation.

It felt misty out and it appeared that it was threatening to rain. But I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. I didn’t want to think about rain.

I secretly hoped, though, that the rain would hold off until me and Austin had had a chance to meet.

At times like this I wished I had brought a beanie and gloves, because the temperature was around 5 degrees (41 deg. F).

 

It wasn’t freezing out but the cold was definitely felt.

I guess some time had passed because I checked my phone about four times, and in that space the time had come to 1:23 am.

I started to feel a little disheartened that he said he would meet me and then ditched me.

I was trying to apologize. Looking up and down the street for any sign of life,

I was scared and also relieved at the sight of a silhouette that approached me fast and seemed to be hovering a couple of centimetres from the ground,

as the street light only offered so much coverage to this mysterious identity.

 

Before I knew what was what, I heard the shuffling of gravel under feet when it came to an abrupt stop beside the school plague where my bike was.

I felt vulnerable; even if I wanted to escape, I wouldn’t have been able to get very far without my bike.

The mysterious figure appeared to be out of breath and was wearing all black.

A black leather jacket which was zipped up as far as it could go and a hood was propped up to conceal the person’s face.

Wandering downwards, I came to notice the black skinny jeans the slim figure was wearing.

The holes in the knees reminded me of something from earlier, likewise the jacket.

I can tell you now that I was relieved when the figure dropped his hood down and turned to smile at me.

 

“Austin! I thought you were someone else,” I blurted out with a sigh of relief.

 

“Sorry…”, he breathed slightly out of breath; “My mom was drinking wine. She stays up late when she drinks wine,” he chortled.

 

I waited for him to get off his bike and then rushed toward him, we both closed the distance between us.

I was about to kiss him, but I held back. I don’t know why I held back, I just did.

 

“I’m so sorry for what happened,” I offered sadly and nervously.

 

“It’s okay,” he said contentedly as he looked directly at me with assurance.

It was so liberating that he was so accepting and so calm about the turn of events.

 

“Sooo… What now?, he asked.

 

‘He turned up’ was all I could think. He kept his word. I didn’t keep mine.

I made him a promise that day I visited his house. I said I would have his back. But I’m just too scared.

I guess I can’t be scared anymore, if I want to be true to him and also to myself.

As I was thinking of a place to go, he stood silently and let me think.

 

“Do you wanna go to the playground and hang out for a bit?”, I offered, hoping he would say yes.

 

“The playground?”, he asked with a coy smile and suggestive manner to his voice.

 

“The playground”, I coyly replied.

 

With a nod from Austin I felt as if nothing else mattered. I didn’t care if I was to be grounded for sneaking out.

I didn’t care if I was caught by the police. I just wanted to be with him, I really did.

Grabbing my bike from the school plaque, I threw my leg over the crossbar and waited for Austin to get on his bike.

He was being mischievous; well, we both were at that moment.

He was the person I could see myself travelling the world with, or defying curfew with, or even breaking all the rules with.

He looked down to make sure he had his foot properly on the pedal and then looked up at me and flashed a white toothy smile.

 

“Lead on,” he said happily.

 

Standing up on my bike I pedalled off the sidewalk and onto the street and lead the way, away from both our houses.

I was heading south, you know, where the industrial parts of town start to ease into the suburbs.

Swerving in and out of the double lines on the vacant road, I ended up initiating a game with Austin.

Every time I crossed the double line on the road, he would shoot out into the lane beside me on his bike and overtake me.

We both took turns in doing that as we made our way down the steep incline of a hill and came to the gate of the park that was still open.

Stopping at the gate we took a breath and laughed it off.

I could swear the crinkles by his eyes or the dimples in his cheeks when he smiled would make you want to just melt away into a gooey dip.

Just like the chocolate they make cookies from, with a soft middle.

 

He was too perfect, too perfect for a boy like me.

Over the course of a couple of minutes we sat on our bikes to regain our stamina and catch our breath.

He started to look back at me and laughed nervously, since I had not broken my line of sight with him.

 

“Are you okay?”, he inquired with a chuckle.

 

“I’m… awesome,” I cooed.

 

“I know!”, he added with a mocking tone and stood up on his bike and pedalled up onto the path with a giggle and raced through the open gate of the park.

 

I couldn’t believe our luck. I knew that sometimes the caretaker or the maintenance crew would forget to lock the gates of the park.

It was definitely the best place to escape to.

 

Standing up also, I pushed down as a hard as I could to keep up with him. Everything just seemed to be flowing.

Everything was quiet except for the laughter from Austin. I admired that. I was having a great time.

 If the worst were to come, I would definitely accept my fate of getting busted by the police or taking the rap for sneaking into a park that was supposed to be closed.

I felt that it had so much more meaning to be here with him.

I would have gladly taken the blame, but the gate was still open, so realistically, we were not trespassing.

I shouted the directions with an electricity inside me that I never felt before.

I followed him trailing behind on my bike with my front wheel just inches from his back tire and leaned to the right as we approached a bend on the footpath.

 

There it was: the playground, at end of this long footpath.

I could see the light, I could feel the wind blow my hair back off my face.

The adrenaline was real, my feelings were definitely real.

Coming to a hard stop outside the playground, Austin looked around at me on his bike, and smiled.

 

“You ready, adventure boy?”, he said as he dropped his bike with a loud chink and walked toward the gate of the playground.

 

I got off my bike without saying anything and slowly lowered it to the ground.

Come to think of it, I never really ever lowered my bike to the ground on any occasion.

This must have been the first time I had ever done so. Was he changing me, and if so in what way?

I stood back up and ran over toward him not questioning my feelings at that moment.

It was all too nice to ruin it, by thinking of things that were really going on.

Reaching the gate, he turned to me with a disappointed look on his face.

Those puppy eyes... I wanted to kiss him. I felt myself chicken out again though.

What was wrong with me, I scolded myself; just frickin' kiss him, I tortured myself about it for a couple of seconds.

 

“The gate’s locked,” he stated, while his buzz seemed to have dwindled a little.

 

I turned back to the gate to confirm his remark. I scoped around and walked around the perimeter a tiny bit away from the gate.

There was a bin that stood against the fence. You know, one of those grey steel Council issues.

Directly on the far side of the fence there was a bench. It made this a perfect spot to jump the fence.

What made this spot so much more noticeable was the fact that there was a streetlight directly over the bench-

 in the playground and it lit an orange circle out over the small area.

 

“Adventure boy,” I called out to Austin, as I walked toward the bin. He saw where I was heading and knew what I was

thinking. What was this? I mean he knew what I was thinking. Is this what they say about couples finishing each other’s sentences?

I mean, I know we’re not a couple but damn, that was freaky, because it was not the first time he had thought of what I was thinking.

 

He reached me as I stopped beside the trashcan and he smiled over at me.

 

“I’ll go first,” I confidently stated.

I gripped the holes in the chain link fence and positioned my left leg on the edge of the trashcan and used my right leg to bunt myself up onto the bin.

Looking back down at Austin I grinned at him and let out a little chuckle.

I was so glad that he chuckled back because he was obviously enjoying my company too.

Undoing my straps for my backpack, I tossed it over the fence and let it drop onto the bench below on the far side.

 

Just like that I reached for the top of the fence and pulled myself over as I used the tips of my shoes, to gain some leverage.

Before I knew it, I let myself drop down most of the way on the other side of the fence before I let go and came down on top of the bench with thud.

 

I waited for Austin to climb over in the same fashion as I did and when he was over both of us looked at each other.

 It was like where should we start? The playground was medium sized, I guess you could say.

It had a roundabout, a fort made out of 2 by 4 boards of wood that was all painted bright in neon colours to emphasize that this was a kid’s place.

It had two small slides leading down from the fort as well as steps that lead up to the top side.

However, it was our little escape from reality tonight: it was paradise.

It has the usuals like a seesaw in the corner and a set of swings.

 

The playground was quiet and all that was heard was our gentle footsteps.

The moon offered a little light as did the lamp over beside the bench where I left my backpack.

 

We ended up navigating toward the slides. I chased him like I was one of the girls with cooties from 3rd grade.

But he also ran, like he was being chased by a girl with cooties from the 3rd grade.

I chased him up the fort steps as he begged and giggled from the excitement.

I too could feel the redness build up in my face and I really started to work up and bit of a sweat as I playfully chased after him.

His laugh was so intoxicating, his giggle was so hearty and his smile was so to die for.

 

He launched himself down one of the slides, as did I, and barrelled out the far end and ran straight for the roundabout, I after him.

Following close behind, I gripped onto one of the many bars and started to push it a little as I hopped on with him.

Catching a breath after all our excitement, he begged me to give him a couple of minutes,

because he was getting a stitch in his side from all the laughing and all the running.

I took this as an opportunity and proceeded to march forward.

When he saw me coming, you should have seen the fear in his face as well as the anticipation of what was to come next.

He ducked down and crawled on his hands and knees to escape me.

But I caught up with him and wrestled with him on the merry-go-round.

He laughed and convulsed under my body weight as I tickled the crap out of him.

 

“Sa…, Saam... Sss… Stop!” he coughed and snorted out.

When I thought he had had enough, I stopped tickling him and fell down beside him on the metal roundabout with a loud clunk that made the thing vibrate with tremors.

I laughed as I looked up at the sky through the colourful handlebars of the merry-go-round that could be identified if you looked closely for detail.

The moment was so surreal, I mean the laughing. ‘He’s laughing’, I thought to myself, which made me proud, ‘I’m making him laugh’.

That’s got to be good, right?, I questioned myself.

 

I lay there with Austin by my side for a couple of minutes, just looking up at the stars while the laughing slowly faded.

 

I thought he had fallen asleep for a minute, and to satisfy my curiosity, I lifted my head off the metal floor and looked over at him.

He was looking directly up at the sky. He turned his head ever so slightly to look at me and smiled.

Only this time, it felt warm and fuzzy. I felt my butterflies kick in, and that’s when I felt his hand nudge mine, which lay at my side.

He nudged it a second time as I looked down and opened my hand.

Just like that, when I opened my palm out, he slid his small hand into my hand and interlocked with it.

I looked back up at his face and saw him staring out into the sky.

I lay back down and closed my hand on his, returning the mutual feeling, and looked up at the sky.

I didn’t feel as nervous now; my hand hadn’t got clammy like it had done with Ethan. I didn’t want to let go, and I didn’t plan to anytime soon.

 

We lay there like that for about another ten minutes until Austin broke our holding hands and got up and walked toward the swings.

I have to admit that I felt disappointed when he broke the connection.

Looking up I beamed across to him, to see if everything was okay.

Between the swings and the roundabout, he turned around to see if I was coming.

Jilting his head toward the swings, I nodded as I got up and took a hold of the bar on the roundabout for support to stand up.

 

He broke into a skip as I hopped off the small ledge on the merry-go-round.

The scratching of dirt and the trembles from the roundabout was heard as I went over toward Austin, who sat on one of the two swings.

 

He looked up at me embarrassed as I took my seat on the swing beside him.

You know those swings that have the rubber bottoms and chain supports.

He started swinging back and forth and I just sat there for a moment and thought about what to say.

He was innocent.

He was willing to spend the night with me... Kicking away from the foam ground that was spread all around the swings,

I started to lean forward to begin some sort of motion.

Immediately, I sat backwards on the swing and let all my body weight push me back.

I then leaned forward again and then back.

Before I knew it I was building speed and kicking my legs out to keep up the speed.

 

As we swung at different paces, I thought about the letter that Austin had given me the first day he had arrived.

I had never gotten the chance to talk to him about the letter, but I didn’t want to bring it up without first having something to break the ice.

I asked him what he would be doing for spring break. He said that he would be going up to his aunt in Seattle for a day or two.

 But other than that, he only had the science exhibition. He was still unsure if he had a partner for the day and that made me feel bad.

 It would be a shame for anyone to ditch him just because he was outed.

But looking on the bright side, if he was without a partner, then I’d get the chance to possibly partner up with him.

Does that make me selfish, I mean, as much as I want him to be able to be himself, a part of me doesn’t want to share him.

I just want to have him all to myself. But I found myself thinking about Ethan; how would Ethan take that news?

Would he hate me, would he maybe stop hanging out with me?

I know Ethan hadn’t been the best of friends lately, but he has always been there for me. I’m sure he’ll come around.

 

Looking over at my companion, I watched and felt the rush as I flew through the air at high speed.

I wish I could have stayed there all night with him, and I would have. Everything was fine, and so perfect.

My butterflies never seemed to quit and I felt a fire in my heart that I had never felt before.

Looking at things now, I guess you could say I was ashamed of Ethan’s lack of decency.

I mean, he could have tried a lot harder to make Austin feel welcome, regardless of what Nash had said about him, I thought to myself.

The creaks of the swings chimed every time one of us went forward, and I felt the small shudder from the mechanism the swing was set up on.

 

Drawing in my breath as we swung back and forth, I decided to brace myself and blurted the question of the letter out.

 

“Hey, Um… I never said thanks for the letter.”

 

Austin continued swinging for a couple of seconds after the question broke the air, but slowly lost momentum as he ceased to push himself forward and backwards.

“Letter?”, he asked looking a little offended, as he was now finally stopped and looking directly over at me.

 

“You did send it, right?”, I begged, wanting to know the truth almost too desperately.

 

“I didn’t send anything. I didn’t give you a letter.”,

he mumbled as he started to slowly pushing away from the ground ever so slightly that it made the swing sway a little.

You know, like what you see in a horror movie when the swings are swinging on their own with nobody on them.

Only this rare human being was sitting on it, which made it not so scary.

I mean the darkness was scary, sure. The playground at night, totally. But with him ‘Pff, no way.’

 

He did not really ask who sent the letter after that. I found that interaction sort of odd for the weirdest of reasons.

I was assuming he was going to ask, but he didn’t and that was a little worrying.

But at the same time, I felt like I had got my judgment all wrong.

Who could the mysterious sender have been? If Austin hadn’t sent it then who did?

I found myself begging for it not to have been a girl. I don’t need that shit right now.

I’m putting up with too much shit at the moment.

I did not want a nuclear missile to come my way; everything was already fucked up as it was.

If by some chance some girl did have a crush on me and was sending me admiring letters, what would I say to her if she tried to approach me?

“Err, you don’t have the proper equipment between your legs?”

 

I wish Austin had asked me about the question again, but I felt like he didn’t want to pursue the matter any further.

I mean, what was wrong with people, just when I want to talk about something serious, nobody wants to discuss what the bigger problems are.

Now that was exasperating.

 

Some time had passed and, sure enough, I thought I was feeling things when I felt a couple of cold spits landing on my head and face.

Looking up to the source of the random coldness, my cheeks were speckled with a couple more.

 

It was starting to rain. ‘Great’, I thought. ‘Just my luck.’

 

Springing to our feet, we started to laugh at our predicament.

It would be rather on the funny side to stand out in the middle of rain and get soaked again.

But I guess it would have been cute to see Austin soaking wet, but then again,

I could only imagine him shivering to death and that’s not something I wanted to happen.

 

Racing over toward the fort and slides, we both crouched down underneath the platform and took shelter.

Both of us started to get playful giggles as we sat on the ground, well Austin did.

I raced over to my backpack that lay on the bench, before it would be a lost cause.

I plucked it up as I could feel the cold droplets hitting the outer layer of my clothing and dived back in under the platform with Austin.

 

Sitting underneath and being sheltered, I remembered that I had brought the cake and coca cola with me.

I know it was a crummy idea but I was starting to feel a little peekish and decided it was time to eat a little something.

 

Before I could open the backpack Austin finally asked me with a resonating sound,

 

“Okay, I gotta ask. What gives with the school bag?”

 

I unzipped the bag, reached into it and pulled out one of the deep-red cans.

 

“Ta-da!”, I said with some dramatic effect to add to the surprise of the moment.

He gave that lovely smile of his and held out his hand. I held the can up slightly over his hand and teased him a little bit.

I kept pretending I was going to let go of the can and let him take it.

But I guess the joke got old after a couple of seconds and I decided to just give it to him.

However, he must have thought I was still messing with him and didn’t bother to try and take the can,

so it plummeted down between his crossed legs and smacked off his shinbone. A small yelp escaped Austin as he felt the small impact. 

 

I immediately felt bad for having done that, and not warning him in advance that I was letting it go.

“Are you okay?” I asked in a state of panic that I might have hurt him.

 

He chuckled to himself as I watched his right hand disappear between his crossed legs and emerge with the can.

 

Jesting, he added as he started to open the can,

“I know you like me and all. But love hurts; you don’t need to start hitting me with soda cans just yet.”

 

“Eh…, “I breathed out with a soft chuckle.

There it was again: him being cute and all that fuzzy and warm feeling. His presence was almost intoxicating.

 

Giving him a smile, I watched as he took a noisy gulp from the can and my eyes widened.

For such a posh boy, he was not one to show it. I mean, he never talked about his wealth or what his family owned.

He never talked like some of those snobs you would hear on the tv, talking about a bad investment.

Here he was, in his own little world, sucking the bubbly gas from the top of the can like a five year old.

He was kinda dorky and yes, he was goofy, but I liked that. It made me feel like I was the only one who was seeing the true Austin.

Digging back into my bag I took my can out and placed it on the ground beside my folded legs and took out the cake that was in the lunch box.

His eyes lit up like a child at Christmas. There was so much life in his eyes, so much heart and so much sorrow.

 

“You want some,” I offered as I clicked the latch down to open the lunchbox.

The cake was a lovely biscuit cake with malt-teasers and marshmallows under the icing.

My mouth started to water as I could smell the freshly baked cake sitting on my lap.

 

He gave a shy smile and looked down at the ground with a seductive face. He knew what he wanted and I knew what to give him.

I took a slice out of the container and handed the plastic wrap over to him and he snatched it out of my hand like it was a first place prize.

He started to stuff his face and sip on the cola to wash it all down. I too devoured what I had in my hand.

OMG, it was literally mouth-watering, it was so good. I mean, how can you not love biscuit cake.

What was more appealing was that Austin liked the same desert I liked for a birthday cake.

The sound of the rain hitting the ground in anger was heard and the munching of Austin.

It was possibly the best way to end the night for me; I knew that it most likely was coming to an end.

There was so much life left in him.

He was someone I could see myself falling in love with; I mean, I think I already am, but I’m ashamed of myself for feeling this way.

It’s so much pressure. I want to love him, but that tiny voice inside my head says it’s not right, what will people think?

 

The silence was broken for a short second when Austin let out a sharp and loud belch and then continued eating like nothing happened.

I blushed at his accomplishment. I ended up watching him as he finished the remainder of the cola and I just watched in a state of awe.

He looked over at me when he had finished his can and placed it on the ground in the small space between our crossed legs.

He was my own little cookie monster. And totally adorable.

He smiled bashfully as he had caught me watching him and started to go all shy;

that was enough for my stomach to start feeling queasy again and my butterflies took off again and started making my stomach all weird.

I started to tremble a little again, like the time I did in his hallway.

He must think I have something wrong with me; nobody starts jittering all of a sudden like me.

But I stood corrected on that statement when he started to rub his hands together and shivered a little.

Nothing else came to my mind, as I leaned back a little bit and hoisted myself up off the ground a little and unzipped my-

parka and made a sloppy attempt to put it around him.

 

He smiled at the gesture as he hugged my coat, just like you’d do when you wake up at 8 am on Saturday morning,

not wanting to get out of bed, because it was the weekend.

 

“Thanks”, he said as he bit his bottom lip and coyly smiled.

I didn’t think much about it. All I was doing was giving him my jacket.

Because he was cold, of course. It was the obvious thing to do.

Although I did think it was a lousy idea, because I was feeling the effects of the cold. But I didn’t care, at least he was warm.

Giving him a warm smile and flash of my eyes, I told him without speaking a word he was welcome.

 

Soon after that the rain had stopped -  well, it eased. The small haze was bearable.

With that we decided to get up from under the slides and stood up stiffly.

I hadn’t noticed we were sitting under there that long. But it was cool.

He could see I was cold and he handed me back my parka, as he gave me an appreciative look.

 

“You better take this back before you freeze.”, he said softly as he handed the jacket back to me.

Taking the jacket, I put it back on and gave him a smile.

 

We walked the small distance back over to the bench, that was soaking.

I told Austin to be careful of the slippery surface as he climbed up first ahead of me.

While he scaled the chain-link fence on the playground side, I threw my backpack over the fence.

Just like that he leaned over the top and came down on the far side of the fence and put his tippy toes on the roof of the steel bin.

 

Before I knew it, my life flashed before my eyes, as I heard a swishing sound and Austin fell sideways off the bin.

My heart jumped in my chest and I quickly climbed the fence and scrambled over it to get to him.

My vision became blurred, and my only thought was to get to my fallen friend.

 

Placing my feet firmly on the bin I jumped down to the ground with a crunch of the gravel and turned around to him.

He started to sit back up from where he had landed beside the fence.

He cupped his left elbow as he sighed and scrunched his face up a little in discomfort, as he tried to see what was wrong with him.

He bent his arm in expectation, when his face turned to indicate an excruciating pain.

He let out a gasp and straightened his arm back out, and let out a soft whimper.

 

Bending down to his level I placed my fingertips on the underside of his forearm and lifted his elbow up a little to my face.

He had a nasty looking gash on his elbow.

It looked sore and I wanted to quickly get him back to his feet and take him home, to make sure he didn’t die.

 

“My adventure boy hurt himself,” I mocked to calm the situation.

He let out a half-hearted chortle, and gasped when the pain took over again.

He threw back his head with a smile and looked back to me.

 

“Does it hurt?”, I asked with sincerity, all joking aside.

 

“A little,” he said softly.

 

“Good,” I said confidently. “That means it’s healing.”

 

Just then he blushed and started to stand back up.

But I felt a dominant side of me taking over that I had never felt before and pushed him the couple of centimetres back to the ground.

 

“Hey,” he said with a hint of question.

 

I could not hold back my feelings anymore and all I knew faded into the background.

I leaned in and pressed into his lips. Just like that.

I know someday, if people ask me where my most romantic kiss was, I’d say on the ground outside the local playground under one single streetlight.

It was all I needed to tell him in that moment, because when I leaned back he wasn’t smiling.

He was looking up, but not with a smile, or joy, or sadness even. It was unclassifiable.

It was the first time I felt FOUND. I mean, in this crazy world and all the mixed up feelings I was feeling, I knew he was the one.

The one who would change me, for the better, regardless of what people had to say.

 

Extending my arm out, I pulled him off the ground and we both walked back to our bikes and mounted them.

I made sure my school bag was securely on and then cycled silently with Austin back to the school where we would have to part ways.

I would occasionally glance over to make sure he was okay, and once I knew he was okay I looked ahead and kept cycling.

Once we finally got to the school, I felt a part of me die, as I felt that this was going to be the end of the wonderful-

experience that me and Austin had created tonight. Maybe it was just for one night, I wasn’t to know. But truth be told, I was sad.

 

I then had an idea and asked him to come back to my house for a little while.

He thought about it and then agreed, since it was only 3:30 am. By the time we cycled past the town hall and home it was nearly 4 am.

Thinking about it now, I knew it was rather foolish to invite him back, because he most likely would be going home at 6 am, just before sunrise.

But with all that said I was glad that he was riding beside me and we were both going in the same direction.

 

***

 

Pulling into my driveway, I avoided my mom’s car the second time in a row tonight.

Hopping off the bike I looked for signs of life. I looked for lights on in my house or even in any of the neighbours’ houses.

It would have been a shame if a nosy neighbour was to rat on me for sneaking out with Austin, although it still would have been worth it.

I mean, I’d do it again, in a heartbeat.

We remained as quiet as possible and entered with our bikes under our arms in the side entrance and placed them at the back door.

Pushing the handle for the patio door, we hastily navigated to the second floor and silently into my room.

I crept at a stealthy pace, and checked around corners to make sure my mom was not awake.

 

Switching on the light, I entered my room with Austin. I knew it was nothing like what he had. But it was home to me.

He did not seem to react any differently, so I felt content. I was a little embarrassed with the messiness and the smell.

It wasn’t like it was bad or anything, it wasn’t really smelly but I hadn’t had time to fix things and get it really fresh-like.

He took a seat on the end of my bed as I tried to scoop some of the mess back into the corners to make my room appear a little cleaner.

 

While I was cleaning, Austin broke my concentration with a question. “Can I see your drawings?”, he asked.

I looked around at the cutie on the end of my bed, and I could not believe this was happing.

I looked at what he was looking at. His attention returned to my bedside locker were my journal was sitting.

“Sure,” I said as I pushed some dirty laundry under my bed with my foot.

I felt my eyes were starting to sting a little. I knew that I was getting tired, but I was determined to stay awake.

 

Sitting beside him on the bed, I watched as he turned page after page and complimented my work.

I felt so happy that I could do a back flip. I probably shouldn’t though.

But just the way the night went and that he was here with me and complimenting my drawings, I couldn’t have asked for a better night.

I remembered that he was in need of medical attention so I brushed off his cut arm and with that I crept out-

to the main bathroom and returned a moment later with a first aid kit.

Bending down in front of him, I moved to the side of his legs and placed the first aid kit on the floor and took out the antiseptic.

Then I found a cotton ball from all my mom’s and sister’s makeup accessories.

 

“Take off your jacket,” I told him as I poured a little of the antiseptic onto the cotton ball and dabbed it over his cut after he had rolled up his sleeve.

He was handsome when he rolled up sleeves.

I could even imagine that this cut, when it healed, would be a sexy scar.

But none the less, with the little sting he held his peace as I cleaned the cut for him.

 

My eyes started to sting like crazy.

I decided to maybe splash some water up into my face to wake me up, after I had finished fixing him up,

and with that I got up and treaded slowly to the bathroom.

I could have sworn I heard Austin begin to yawn as I started running the tap and waited for the water to warm up.

Placing my hands under the flow in a valley shape.

I waited for my hands to fill up before I threw it up into my face not once, but three times.

 

Drying my face, I checked myself out in the mirror before I went back out.

It got me thinking; what did Austin find so appealing about me.

Was it my personality? Was it my looks? Or a mixture of both. Who knew, I mocked my reasoning.

 

Heading back out, I was about to suggest to Austin that we could watch some Netflix.

But there he was, asleep on my bed facing toward the window. I could only see his back, since he had rolled over and gone to sleep.

I had the sudden urge to see how peaceful he was and scurried around to the far side of the bed to get a better look at his face.

Yes, he had a fine ass but that was not the point.

I mean, he was beautiful there, lying on top of my bed with his head on my pillow and his right arm propped under it for support.

He was so adorable; it was like he had had so much fun and then just conked out.

 

The way he was lying was just too cute to pass up; Looking around my room in search of my journal,

I came to notice it at the bottom of the bed beside his feet, where he was sitting a few moments ago.

His feet were so small, so cute. Yes, I said his feet were cute. He was worth drawing at this moment in time.

Grabbing one of my many sketching pencils from my desk,

I turned off the main light and turned on my bedside lamp and sat back down at the window, which had a window seat built into the deep window.

 

I had started to draw the outline of his body and key in some of the major details I wanted to capture from Austin.

The soft rhythmic breathing told me he was safe and that his dreams were pleasant.

I sketched for a little while longer until I was happy with the basic outline. One thing that struck me was off chord.

I had never noticed before that there was a tiny scar above his right eyebrow. Even with this little imperfection he is beautiful.

It was one of those sorts of flaws that made him irresistible.

It was one of those cute flaws that grows on you, and you end up falling in love with it all the more once you noticed it.

I do not know how I didn’t notice it until now, but I was glad that I had. It made me wonder how he had got it.

 

Just when I was about to finish with the drawing outline, what did Austin do? He turned over onto his back, and mumbled a little.

Damn… Austin, he’s excruciatingly adorable when he wants to be.

I felt my butterflies kick off again in my stomach, but it wasn’t like before, it was different somehow.

I got off the window seat and picked up the blanket that I always cover myself with at night.

I drew it and covered him with it gently.

It was one of those personal mementos you know, like a woollen blanket that grandma would knit for her grandchildren.

Only I had this since my birth and it was my favourite blanket.

I felt it was my duty tonight to take care of him, because I knew deep down I owed him.

Once I had covered him and I was content that he was comfortable,

I sat back down on the window seat and used the couple of pillows I had thrown onto the seat on previous days.

I built myself a mountain behind my back for support and I snuggled in,

pulling another blanket over me and continued to draw Austin from memory and finished the rest of the drawing with what I had.

 

That’s the last thing I can remember, because not long after that I could swear I saw the sky turn an orange-blue and then I must have fallen asleep,

being content to be so close to Austin.

 

The End Of Part 7

 

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading.

Please, comments are welcome. Actually needed, lol.

 

Email- danny2017writing@outlook.com

Twitter - @author_daniels

Tumblr - dannywriting2017

 

Bibliography; of LGBTQ stories by D.K. Daniels, on Nifty.

 

Even If We Tried (First Draft) - Gay Male, Young friends

Spring Tide (Unfinished)- Gay Male, Young friends

As They Say (On-going) - Gay Male, Young friends

Our Little Darlings (Stand-Alone Edit)- Gay Male, High School

Ghouls, Goblins & Ghastly Boys (Mini-Series)- Gay Male, Young Friends

Light The Night (Mini-Series) - Gay Male, Young Friends

Who We Are (Stand-Alone Edit) - Gay Male, Young Friends

 

Bibliography; of LGBTQ stories by D.K. Daniels, on Iomfats

 

Who We Are (Listed under D.K. Daniels Author)

 

Bibliography; of LGBTQ stories by D.K. Daniels, On Cornercafe.us

Ghouls, Goblins & Ghastly Boys (Listed under D.K. Daniels Author)

Light The Night (Listed under D.K. Daniels Author)

Who We Are (Listed under D.K. Daniels Author)