Book Bonds - 12. Dumped For...

Two questions welcomed us as Merry and I entered the kitchen. One was innocent and curious enough to embarrass me, the other had an unusual accusing and desperate, at the same time, tone to it.

“How was it?” Andrew asked, nudging Merry and grinning from ear to ear. It was one of the rarest times when I had blushed so deeply. Merry, on the other hand, had no problem and smiled broadly.

“Do you know something? Tell me!” Reece was quick to follow with the second one as he saw me.

The blushing became confusion.

“Know what?” I asked perplexed.

“Haha. Just listen to him,” Hayden said before he could explain. “He thinks there’s something between Ashton and me!”

“Is there?!” Reece was quite demanding. And with reason…

“Why do you care, Reece?” Hayden purposefully continued to tease him, probably long since we came down.

“Because we’re friends!” His face told me he was really struggling with this.

“Do friends usually do what you did last night?”

That piqued my interest. And it seemed Hayden hit a nerve. She winked at me, probably hinting about the note.

Reece was quiet with a miserable expression on his face.

“What did he do?” I wasn’t the only one interested, as Merry and Andrew’s eyes grew wide out of curiosity.

“He…” She looked at Reece. “Shall I tell them?”

No one could have taken it that much, I thought.

“Do what you want!” he said angrily and stormed out of the kitchen, inside. Sometimes Hayden was too hard to handle.

I stepped beside her and smacked her on the head.

“Ouch! What you did that for?!”

“For humiliating him. You never do it that way when stuff like that happens.”

“Love story…” I heard Andrew whisper to Merry.

“I’m sorry,” Hayden said. I hoped she felt half as guilty as she looked.

“Not to me. Go!” She stayed unmoving. “Hayden!”

“Jace… Look at the time! Gotta go!” And before I could say anything she disappeared from the kitchen through the back door.

“Ahh, that air-head!”

“Did they really realize it now?” Andrew asked.

“Even I saw there was something and I haven’t known them that long,” Merry added.

“Leave them alone. They’ll be alright.” I looked my boy in the eyes and smiled. “Let’s go.”

“What? I don’t want you to drive me home yet!” His face frowned cutely.

“Who said I was going to?” His eyes beamed. “Wanna see where I live?”

“Yeah!”

Before we even got to my room, without giving him a proper tour of the house, we were holding and kissing. With our eyes closed, I guided him inside and continued our passionate lock. In my mind I was unashamedly wondering how it would continue and where, because my room was slightly different, peculiar and unusual than what some have seen.

At first this was supposed to be a simple show-you-where-I-live, but once Merry… both of us found that the house was empty, he started nudging and urging me to show him upstairs. Both of us knowing what it meant, I wasn’t reluctant for a second when he wanted me to hold him in my arms. We couldn’t stop being one, becoming one, and feeling like one.

I waited for the moment when Merry would open his eyes and take notice of his surroundings, but was more engrossed in the heat and gentleness of his body. Kissing, lost in thoughts and in the moment, I was startled from his exclaim when our lips suddenly parted and he skipped somewhere.

“Books!” He had seen the wall. I got dumped for books! “Wow! They’re so many!” Hehe, but he was so cheerful. “And… Jace!” he said excitingly as he finally looked around. “What’s with your room!?”

It wasn’t a normal room at all, more like a library jungle, in both senses. I had one of the walls entirely covered with shelves where my book collection along with other kind of interesting stuff was, while all around the floor laid plants, some so big and high that reached the ceiling, which gave the room an exotic look and left you wondering if you were really not somewhere east.

“It’s so cool in here!” Merry was overjoyed. “Was it your idea? Oh… that’s a stupid question. Of course!” He talked fast, breathless, astonished from what he was seeing. “It expresses just the kind of person you are!”

I stepped behind him as he continued observing in awe, noticing other details, and just as I was about to wrap my hands around him and steal a kiss, he slipped away from my grasp. He turned and gasped, gazed in amazement, taking everything in.

“Jace! This wall has writings on it! Poems…!” Great, unheard, emotive.

If I had known showing my room to him would have this effect on him I would have made it sooner. Well… I’d gotten used to it, but Reece’s and Hayden’s reaction was the same when they saw it for the first time when I transformed the old mousy and uninspiring one into this.

“Chosen ones…” I said and stepped behind him. “My favorites,” I whispered close to his ear, trying to remind and return him to what we were previously devotedly doing.

I thought I did the trick, because he turned and met my gaze.

“Did I say how cool it is here?” Our lips softly met. “Thanks for showing me your room. But…” Another kiss. He looked around as though he was searching for something. “There’s no bed, Jace,” he whispered mischievously.

I thought that it would soon raise questions. He eyed me suspiciously as though it was some sort of conspiracy against him.

I let go of him and walked to one of the corners where I moved aside two tall palm trees. I could feel Merry was behind me, curious about what else I could surprise him with, or maybe more concerned about the bed thing.

“What’s that?” Merry asked when he saw me lifting something from the floor.

“You wanted a bed.”

“A blanket?” he said disappointed.

“Silly! It’s a hammock.” I said as I hanged it on two hooks, hidden behind plants on the two meeting walls.

His face was lit up when I turned to see him.

“I wanna try it!” He pushed past me and literally jumped on top. He was happy. I made him. Was I happy? I was happy. Merry made me. “Can it fit two?” He grinned at me.

“We can try,” I replied and climbed on top of him.

“Jace you’re heavy.” Merry started to giggle.

We turned and tossed trying to find a comfortable position.

“Turn like this.”

“No, like this.”

“Here!”

“Not like that!”

“Move a little sideway.”

“Hehe, you’re poking me, Jace.”

“You too!”

“Nuh uhh.”

“You’re the smaller one. You should be on top.”

Our bodies were tangled, our feet entwined; we struggled to settle down and I thought the hammock was going to turn upside-down.

My words, though, didn’t go unnoticed and Merry started to laugh.

“It sounds fun, Jace. You be the bottom.” He stuck his tongue out.

“Oh, really? Did I not find that you were ticklish last night?”

My revenge was sweet and arousing. We almost fell.

“You’re a little devil, you know,” I said to him as we calmed down and were comfortably lying. My arm was wrapped around him; he was almost on top of me with his head on my chest. “Cute little devil!” He giggled and shifted his head to look at me with the most innocent expression on his face. “What happened to wait I’m not ready, I’m nervous, I think we should wait, I’ve never done this, that kinda stuff, huh?” I tried to reason, though I wasn’t complaining. “You fixed last night yourself!”

“What can I say?” Hehe, he didn’t even try to defend himself, instead he planted a kiss on my cheek. “I like giving you pleasure.”

“And I like seeing your smile when you’re happy.” We kissed.

All of a sudden something round, four-legged and hairy jumped on top of us. I was startled, completely forgotten that there was another, smaller resident in the house. Merry was kind of shocked since I hadn’t told him about Poe. We became two guys and a dog on a hammock.

“Who’s this?” he asked in amazement.

“Merry meet Poe. Poe, Merry,” I introduced them.

“Hey Poe!” he lifted his hand to pet him and Poe returned the gesture by leaving a wet trail on his face. “Ewww!”

“He likes you!” I was laughing.

“Haha, I like him too! But I think I’m going to wash.”

“You better!” I said. “I don’t want to feel like I’m kissing Poe!” I joked.

“So, you’ve kissed him before?” His tongue stuck out.

He was already up or I would have reminded him of his weakness again.

I laid there with Poe by my side thinking like many times I’d before. Thinking about Merry, who was just in the next room and I had the feeling as though he was miles away, close and unreachable; thinking about me and how I went heads on in having a boyfriend, giving in to the impulse without feeling scared or insecure; I was thinking about us and what would and could happen tomorrow; thinking about Poe, who was tenaciously trying to lick my face.

“How come your parents aren’t home on Sunday?” Merry asked me as he came back in my room.

I lifted my head to see him.

“Somewhere out. Probably shopping or travelling out of town. Why, do you want to meet them?”

“I want to know more about you,” he said smiling. Instead of coming back in bed with me and Poe, he was curious to see the books.

“Heh, I guess it’s only fair since I got to meet yours…” My voice trailed off and I suddenly came to the conclusion that my parents are going to be somehow involved in this. The look on my face must have been unusual.

“Hey, Jace, wait!” he quickly said. “I know what you’re thinking. I’ll understand if you… introduce me only as a friend… It’ll be better even, until you’re ready.”

“Ready?” I spoke the word slowly.

“To show or tell people about us.” He meant to come out, right?

“Yeah…”

Silence grew between us.

I was thinking; Merry became frustrated. I didn’t want that.

“Jace, I…”

“Quiet, doofus.” I stood up and went to him. “Everything will be okay.” I closed my eyes and tried to kiss him but he didn’t feel like into it. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“We’re referring to each other like that now, are we?” He looked surprised. “Are we going to move to dirty words next?” He giggled playfully. That boy…

We were in front of his house. I was dropping him off. After almost twenty-four hours of us being together it finally came the time when we would separate. I didn’t want to let him go. His parents knew. They would understand… but maybe I had to understand I couldn’t keep him all to myself.

Neither did say anything nor move; our eyes were locked and whispered with their own amorous voices. We weren’t nervous or anything like that. We just didn’t want to leave each other’s presence. Of course, I said I would drive him to school tomorrow; it wasn’t as though it was the last time we were going to see the other or be together. It was just that the end of such a special time for us that left that lingering feeling of parting.

“It was amazing,” he finally said.

“Sure was, but don’t trap it into words, the feeling.”

I leaned towards him and our lips touched.

“Holy shit! That woman!” he exclaimed when our eyes opened.

“What?” I asked confused.

“My mother! She’s peeking at us!”

I turned to where he was looking. She sure was, but it was nothing secretly, because I saw a warm, smiling face behind the window. I waved at her and she waved back.

“Hehe, I like her. I think she’s happy for you.” I ruffled his hair to get his attention on me.

“Hey!” It worked. “Remember what you promised me!”

“And you send me something yours.”

He opened the car door and stepped out.

“Bye, Jace!”

Sure enough, when I later returned home and checked my email, I saw Merry had right away sent me two files and a small message.

They might make you a little horny!!!