Timothy’s Terrible Prompt Stories - 11. No prompt: Date Day part II

“Nelson, can I kiss you?”

Eric’s question sent shivers down my back. I knew that the brief, innocent kiss we had shared after I’d agreed to be his boyfriend was his first. He had admitted so immediately afterwards in words which were engraved on my brain.

“I wanted my first kiss to be with you, but I thought it was a hopeless dream. Now I believe some dreams do come true.”

The irony of both of us having a crush on each other and keeping our distance as a consequence was almost funny now that we were together. But I still shuddered at the thought of not having my dream of Eric come true. There was no way I was messing up this chance!

“Yes please, Eric.” I turned towards him and his free hand came up to cup the side of my face. The left hand was still holding my right hand in a firm grip, as if he never wanted to let me go.

“You have such beautiful eyes, Nelson. Like my favorite milk chocolate.”

Both of us kept our eyes open as he leaned forward and kissed me. It was brief, but the slightest touch of his lips on mine sent my heart into crazy palpitations. He moved his head back and looked at me, as if he was contemplating the result. Then he dove in again.

This time we closed our eyes as the kiss got intense. Still no tongue, but I lifted my knee and slid sideways to straddle his upper thighs. I used my left hand to hold tightly onto his neck as we kept our mouths joined. His lips were incredibly warm and soft as we explored the new and exciting territory of being intimate. I had kissed a few other guys, but nothing compared to how Eric made me feel. I didn’t want to stop, ever.

But of course it was too good to last. Somebody cleared their throat behind me.

Eric and I flew apart; I got a glimpse of his shocked blue eyes before I fell sideways.

“Shit!” The curse left my mouth before I could stop myself.

I twisted round and caught sight of some familiar red hair above a grinning face.

“Fuck, Jazz, you nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought my parents had come back.”

My best friend teased, “I’m not sure they would have been impressed by the sight of their son making out with his boyfriend on the kitchen floor.”

I stood up and gave Eric a hand to pull him up. He was still a bit shell-shocked and blushed like mad when Jasper laughed and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Way to go man, you sure don’t waste time! I’ve never known Nelson to be so oblivious to his surroundings. I must have stood there for at least ten seconds without you noticing.”

“Cut it out, Jazz. What did you want?” I tried to avoid sounding irritated, and truth to tell, I could see the funny side of this. But I’ve been out to my friend for years, and he’s seen me kiss a guy before. Although not like this. Mmmm, I wanted more kisses from Eric.

“My mom needs me to take her grocery shopping. I just came over to tell you that I’m going to drive over to the baseball game around one-thirty. I’m only staying for two hours, because Carolyn agreed to meet up with me at four. If you want a lift back, it’ll have to be before that.”

I looked at Eric and he nodded.

“I’d like to see Rob’s game. He rarely admits it, but I know it means a lot to him to have family and friends attending. My dad will be there for the end of the game, so it’s cool if we can go from the beginning. Thanks for giving us a lift, Jasper.”

“You’re welcome, Eric,” Jasper said with unusual politeness. He grinned at me, “I’ll see you later, Nel. Have fun.”

He went out the back door and leapt over the low fence between our houses. We’d been doing that for years rather than going the long way round.

“Well, that’s sorted then. What do you want to do between now and one-thirty?” I smiled at Eric and he gave me a shy grin back.

“Apart from that, I mean!” I cleared my throat and once again told my dick to behave. “Maybe I should show you our house?”

He nodded and came over and took my hand. I loved the fact that he does this as if we’ve been dating for a long time, but I couldn’t help wondering if he would act the same this afternoon. Saying you won’t hide and actually holding hands with someone in public can be two different things. And I wasn’t going to force him to do anything.

I gave Eric a quick tour, and naturally we ended up in my room. He headed straight for the bookshelves along the wall with the window. I sat on the bed and watched him as he browsed the selection. Suddenly, he seemed to recall where he was and turned round.

“Sorry,” he said with a wry grin. “I always do this when I visit a friend for the first time. I love books and you can tell a lot about someone from the books they have.”

“That’s OK. What did you learn about me?”

“That we have similar tastes in books, and you have a couple I’d like to borrow.”

He turned back and grabbed the newest volume of Skulduggery Pleasant and held it up. I nodded, and enjoyed his delighted smile. We spent an hour discussing books we liked, digressed into films and ended up on computer games. Nerds? Yep, but we did kiss a bit along the way.

By the end I was seated at my computer showing him a few neat shortcuts to a game we both liked. He was standing behind me looking at the screen, and suddenly I felt his fingers run through my hair below the nape of my neck. I got completely distracted and my explanations petered out, but I managed to keep the game going on the screen.

Eric commented now and then and seemed absorbed, oblivious to what his hands were doing. I sat in silence, enjoying the soft caresses and not daring to move in case I broke the spell. I wanted to pull the tie off my hair and close my eyes to experience this fully, but I restrained my urges. Eric had no idea how much power he had over me right now. How much I wanted to turn around and get my first taste of him, of the hot hardness I’d felt against me very briefly the day before and this morning.

“Nelson, is something wrong?”

I looked up to see my game character die spectacularly since I’d stopped moving it. The hand in my hair withdrew and I sighed in defeat. I shut the game down and turned to look at Eric.

“You just found one of my weak spots. I love having my hair touched or played with. If you do that I’m totally distracted and not able to deny you anything.”

“Really?” He looked unsure, but I wasn’t joking.

“Yep, honestly. You can ask my mom or sisters, but please don’t tell anyone else.”

“That’s so cool.” He took my hand, pulled me up and led me over to the bed.

“It is?” I wasn’t quite sure why he’d think so.

When we sat next to each other, he reached up and took hold of my hair tie.

“May I remove it?” I nodded and shivered in anticipation.

Eric gently slid the tie down and I shook my hair loose. His small intake of breath made me look at him. I’d never dated anyone who showed any particular interest in my hair, but Eric seemed fascinated. He slid his hand into my tresses which reached the middle of my shoulder blades.

“I would never have dared to tell you, but I like your hair long and I’ve thought about touching it, playing with it, wrapping it around my fingers and…”

He tangled his fingers in my hair at the nape of my neck, pulled me towards him and kissed me. I got hard so fast it hurt and I whimpered into his mouth. We fell backwards onto the bed; I was half on top of him and sliding my tongue between his lips. I’m not sure what would have happened, if the phone hadn’t rung at that exact moment. It broke the spell and we jerked apart. It rang again and I jumped up and ran out on the landing to pick up.

“Hello?” I was proud of sounding calm and collected.

“Nelson? It’s Carolyn. Is Jasper at your house?”

“Hi Carolyn. No, he isn’t. His mom took him shopping. Have you tried his cell phone?”

“Yes, but it goes straight to voicemail. Anyway, when you see him, tell him my evening out with the girls is cancelled, because Erica is sick. If he wants, we can go out tonight instead of just spending a couple of hours together.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that, and I’ll thump him for not having his phone on. Again.” I pushed back the hair which fell into my eyes and tried to gather my disheveled tresses.

She laughed, “Thanks, Nelson. Sorry to bother you with this, but I’m at work and my break is almost over. I left a message for Jazz, of course, but you know how he is.”

“I sure do.” For some reason Jasper rarely had his phone on or checked his messages. It wasn’t the first time people rang me to get a hold of him.

We hung up and I turned to find Eric standing in the doorway to my room, watching me. I automatically smoothed my hair back and his gaze followed the motion. Oops, note to self, my boyfriend might have a bit of a hair fetish. I like the idea. And going back to what we were doing was tempting, very tempting. But one of my dad’s warnings from last night intruded.

“Whatever you do, don't force the moment. Being a gentleman means you won't take advantage of Eric – that is, if you really care about him, you won't. Get it, son?” Damn, and in any case our parents would never trust us again, if we played around on our first date. Time for a distraction.

“Maybe we should go and make some lunch. And there’s something I want to talk to you about.” I smiled to show it wasn’t anything bad.

“Sounds good, I’m actually getting hungry.” Eric followed me back to the kitchen, after we’d made a quick detour to the bathroom. I got my hair tied back and washed my hands.

We made sandwiches and ate them while we chatted. I talked a bit about Jasper and Carolyn, and told Eric Jazz wanted us to go on a double date with them. To my surprise he groaned.

“Damn, that reminds me. Rob wants us to go on a double date with him and Melanie. Oh, and Tony and Maria will probably ask too, but I don’t mind that. I want you to meet them, and I’m fine with Jasper and his girlfriend too.”

“I take it you’re not too hot on Melanie?”

Eric made a face, “Promise me you won’t tell Rob, but I can’t stand her. He adores her, and I have to admit she does treat him nicely. But I can’t help feeling she’s only in the relationship for the status of dating him. And for some reason she rubs me the wrong way. Maybe because she kept trying to set me up with some of her friends.”

“Well, that’s one problem you won’t have anymore.” I got up to cut us each a huge piece of the delicious chocolate cake, which Eric’s mom had sent with him, and I finally brought up the subject that was on my mind.

“Which reminds me: Eric, have you thought about how you want us to act when we’re at the baseball game?”

He frowned at me, “What do you mean?”

“Are you ready for us to be out? To be seen as a couple? I don’t mean necking in the bleachers, but can I hold your hand? Introduce you as my boyfriend? There will be lots of people from school, and since I’m very much out, just sitting next to me will make people wonder if we’re together. I think it’s better to be proactive.”

“Nelson, I’m proud of being with you and I’m ready to be out. I’ll hold your hand and kiss you or hug you; whatever it takes in order to leave no doubt that we’re together. In fact, I prefer this way rather than having to tell people.”

“Oh.” Wow, Eric might have been deep in the closet, but he certainly had no lack of courage once he had made the decision to come out. However, I wondered if he realized how much attention we would attract. Would he be able to deal with that?

“Nelson, I’m a bit hurt that you doubt me like that. Rob told me you wouldn’t date me unless I was out. If I’d known I would have come out sooner. But I didn’t see much point, since you ignored me.”

I stared at him, trying to work out the meaning of his words. Then I gave up and just asked.

“Eric, how long have you liked me, if you don’t mind me asking?”

He blushed, and I wanted to hug him, glad I wasn’t the only silly fool around here.

“Ehm, pretty much since the first time I saw you.”

“When was that?”

“Duh. You gave a speech at Assembly on the first day at school.”

I face-palmed myself.

“What? Come on, Nelson, it wasn’t love-at-first-sight. I just saw you and thought you were hot. And you did talk on behalf of the GSA, so I knew there was a good chance of you being gay.”

“But you didn’t do anything about it. Like joining the GSA or something.” I tried not to whine or sound accusing, but the thought of how much time we’d wasted annoyed me.

“I joined the drama club.” Eric folded his arms across his chest and leaned back. Mmm, nice – no, keep your attention the conversation, Nelson.

“You… you joined the drama club because of me?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want to ask too many questions, but luckily there is a lot of gossip about you, so I soon found out that you’re a drama club member. I joined, hoping I could get close to you. The fact that I enjoy acting and that I like writing scenes even more came as a surprise. But it was nice compensations for the disappointment of you ignoring me, even avoiding me.”

I hid my face in my hands, chagrined and mortified. I’d gotten it completely wrong, and all those wasted months were my fault. Never had I regretted my shyness and inability to flirt more than I did now. Of course I should have been the one to take the next step. I was an idiot.

I’d seen Eric for the first time at the second drama club meeting. He’d been surrounded by girls, including Tina, and while he looked uncomfortable at the attention, he was nice to them. I’d been attracted by his looks and his calm, collected behavior; he was so obviously intelligent, but he didn’t flaunt it, even if he probably found the silly chatter of teenage girls as ridiculous as I did.

My crush developed so fast, it took my breath away. And apparently my wits too. But now I’d better man up and confess as well.

“Eric, I more or less fell for you at the first drama club meeting you attended. And I’m so sorry about keeping my distance, but I thought you were straight. And I knew I’d be unable to hide how much I liked you, if I spent too much time with you. Fuck, I might have ended up begging for your … ehm, never mind! And to think you wanted me too, all that time. Damn, I feel so stupid now.”

Two warm hands took mine and pulled them away from my face. A familiar voice whispered in my ear.

“Forget the past, Nelson. We’re together now, nothing else matters. I’m yours and you are mine, and I want the whole world to know. So will you please stop beating yourself up for previous missed opportunities, and focus on the future instead? I agree that by us being proactive, starting today at the baseball game, there won't be any silly gossip, there won't be any doubts or questions, and as for stupid comments from bigoted assholes, well, maybe there will be a few.”

My wonderful boyfriend laughed.

“But that’s what I’ve got a lethal boyfriend and a protective brother for, according to Rob. To flatten anyone who gets obnoxious about you and me being together.”

He pulled me close and kissed me hard, and I had to agree. Nothing else mattered when Eric’s arms were around me, and all worries disappeared when his mouth was connected with mine.