Stone Hearts & Hand Grenades - 6. Chapter 6

Blair, Cam and I were all over Blair's house getting ready for the first football game of the season against Beverly Hills High. Our schools have had this football rivalry since forever. The last 3 years, since we've been Freshmen, ECR has won the game every single time. We had a pretty solid season last year too, 9-1. I wasn't really a big football fan, but since Blair was a cheerleader and Cameron loved watching the guys, I went to most of the games anyway. Blair was in her bathroom straightening her hair while Cam and I were sitting in her room looking through magazines and listening to music. I was actually kind of bored, to be honest, which usually never happens around these two. We came over straight from school and it was around 5:30, so we had like 45 minutes before Blair had to be back at the school.

"Cameron Lang! I so wanna kill you right now!" Blair yelled from the restroom. "Stop going through my damn panty drawer, you perv!"

"I didn't even think you could see me from in there. Do you have a camera in here or something?" Cameron was turning red from laughter.

"No, but I do have a mirror and I can see you!" Her high pitched voice was extremely shrill when she yelled, it was almost tinny and metallic. It was hilarious to hear her try to yell.

She finished her hair and started on her makeup, while Cameron just sat on her bed. Just then, Elle, Blair's younger sister came in the room and started talking to Cam and I. Elle was really sweet, and girly. But she was so different from Blair. While Blair was more bubbly and outgoing, Elle was a lot more reserved and shy.

"I'm not going to the game tonight, Blair. I'm so sorry, but Shannon is having her back-to-school sleepover and she invited me. We're going to the mall tomorrow and everything. I cannot miss this!"

"WHAT?! You promised you'd be there!" Blair stopped doing her makeup and stepped into her room. "You're not going to see me debut my first time as head cheerleader!"

"I know, I know, but I can see you cheer anytime, though. Her sleepover starts at 7. That's like right in the middle of the game."

"Ugh! Whatever! Go to her sleepover. Just don't ask me how to become a cheerleader after I've graduated."

"Not that I'd want to anyway," she retorted to her older sister. Elle started playing in Cameron's hair, messing the wildness up even more.

"Oh my God, Blair! We should totally straighten Cam's hair! That would be so cute!" Elle said, excitedly.

"No! No no no! You're not going to straighten my hair. I don't do that," vehemently denying them the idea.

"Come on, Cam! I think you'd look cute! It would be a change and a challenge." I said, wondering how he'd look with straightened hair.

"No! I like my wild mane. It fits my personality too much."

"You're so stubborn, Cam. Just let them do your hair. You might even like it." I said, countering him.

"Fine! I'll let you straighten my hair. I've never straightened it, so don't burn me."

"I know what I'm doing, so I won't burn you. I've been straightening since birth, girl."

"Don't start that. See that's why I didn't wanna do this anyway."

"Lighten up Cam! You'll like it. Trust me. It will look so pretty!"

"I'll do it under one condition," Cam said, turning to me. "If I straighten my hair, Trace has to put on makeup." He had this evil glint in his eye as he said so.

"What? Why would I do that? Are you f*cking crazy? No way!" I was not going to do it.

"YES! I could totally make it natural! Trust me! Have I ever let you guys down? I mean come on! You're gay! Live a little!"

"If Trace isn't going to do the makeup, then I'm not going to do the hair straightening, and that's final." Cam said sternly.

"Come on Trace, you should be a part of it too. Don't leave your best friend out to dry." Elle said, ever so coyly.

"Whatever. Do you even have makeup for black people, Blair?"

"Umm, YEAH! Remember when I used to sell Mary Kay to these old women just for fun at my dad's firm? I still have a ton of makeup that I've never used from them."

"Just no lipstick and eye shadow. I'm still a guy, I'm not a drag queen." I said, defeated, and giving in to their trickery and foolishness.

"Who wants to go first!" Blair said excitedly. Cameron volunteered to go first, so he went into Blair's bath and she began to straighten his pouffy, curly mane. After 20 minutes, his hair was completely straight. Like bone straight. It kind of worked. Blair made an off-center part so his hair naturally fell in layers. It looked really nice.

I was next so she got the Mary Kay products out of the box in her closet. She told me to turn away from the mirror and to close my eyes. I tensed up when I closed my eyes, fearing for the worse. I felt something creamy and wet go across my cheeks, forehead, and chin, and I started freaking out.

"What was that Blair?! What are you doing?"

"It's only moisturizer. Calm down. This is just going to make your skin soft and provide a barrier for the makeup from getting so deep in your pores."

I felt more creamy, moist product go in the same areas along with what felt like a brush, sweeping all over my face. I tensed up even more.

"Relax, Trace. I'm not making you ugly. This actually matches your skin tone perfectly. So just calm down. It's only covering up the minor flaws you have. There aren't even many of them. You have great skin."

I began to relax a bit, but then I felt her sweep over my eyes. "I said no eye shadow!" freaking out even more and opening my eyes wide.

"It's not shadow, Trace! I'm just applying the foundation all over your skin. As I said, you need to calm down. You're even more stubborn than Cam."

"Whatever, just hurry up." She continued to brush my face over and over again with me closing my eyes, she'd pause and then start again, in different areas of my face.

"Okay, I'm gonna put some mascara on you, so I want you to open your eyes and look down." I followed her directions and opened my eyes and looked down. She put the mascara on both eyes and finally said she was done. I turned around to look in the mirror, and I was absolutely shocked.

I looked like an enhanced version of myself. My skin looked absolutely flawless and clear. No blemishes or marks, none of the bags that I tend to get when I stayed up too long. My eyes popped, and my cheekbones stood out even more. "Of course you need a lip moisturizer, so you can do that on your own." She sprayed something across my face after and it smelled really good, so I didn't mind.

"I actually look better, but it's like I barely have any makeup on at all. What kinda magic is this stuff?"

Blair only laughed and gathered her duffel and keys. "Come on, lets move or we're going to be late."

We arrived at the football stadium around 6:15, cutting it close for the headcheck for the cheerleaders. Cam and I hung out by Blair's car, just waiting for the gate to open. We saw Hunter and Catherine pull up.

"Hey guys! We wanted to get here early so Hunter could talk to Harrison before the game," Catherine said, hugging both Cam and I.

"Yeah, I don't usually come to football games, I just wanna see him play. He's been begging me forever," Hunter said as he rolled his eyes. "I feel really uncomfortable."

"I do too, but whatever. Just enjoy it. How many games have you been to before this one?" I asked him.

"Only 4? If even that many..." His voice kind of trailed off.

"You're so cute, Hunt. I've been to more games than you," Catherine said, making fun him.

"By the way, Cam, loving the straight hair." Hunter said, running his hand through Cam's hair. His hair was really long, reaching a little bit past his shoulders. When it was curly, it was so tightly coiled that it didn't look so long.

"Thanks. It was Blair's idea. I kind of like it," Cam said, flipping his hair.

Cars started rolling in, so we knew enough to head towards the football stadium and get seats before the crowd came. Especially on a big rival game like this one. The four of us headed to the gate, paid for our tickets, and took our seats in the top middle section of the seats.

About 5 minutes later, the stadium begin to fill up more and more, until it was packed with ECRHS football fans, parents and students alike. News crew, teachers and staff faculty. You know, the usual when it came to highschool football.

Soon enough, the band opened with their song, then a student sang the National Anthem and the game was on. After about 30 minutes, I kind of tuned the game out and just started looking on Twitter, Facebook, looking around the stadium, ect. I glanced up, and I saw Christian to my left about 5 rows down. He was sitting with his girlfriend. I tried my best not to roll my eyes at the sight, but I couldn't help it. I guess our team had scored another touchdown because the crowd got on their feet. I stood too, and looked at the scoreboard. We were ahead by 12 points. Another win for us. I told the gang I was going to get something to eat like some chips or something.

As I was walking down the steps, I heard someone calling my name. It turned out to be Christian, so I told him I'd be right back. I went to the concessions stand and got a bag of chips and a soda.

"So you're just gonna walk away from me like that, Trace?" I turned around to see Christian walking up to me.

"Ummm, I told you I'd be back, but you found me instead." I paid for my things and began walking away.

"So do you wanna come back and sit with me?" He said playfully, walking beside me.

"Your girlfriend isn't company enough?" I responded, jabbing him in his side.

"My girlfriend? What?" He genuinely looked confused.

"Yeah, the girl that you're always with."

"Oh, yeah. Does it make you jealous?" He was smiling again, his eyes dancing like a wild fire in the California night.

"Nope. Why would that make me jealous? Doesn't matter anyway," I said plainly.

"I think it does. Especially to you, but hey, I'm not saying anything."

"Good, because I'm definitely not jealous." We stopped walking and we were facing each other.

"So are you gonna sit by me or what?" He said, still smiling. His teeth were so perfect.

"No! I'm already with my friends, so yeah..." I kinda got frustrated with him and my voice raised a few decibels, so I had to mentally calm myself. I don't know how he had this kind of pull on me, especially since he's only a friend and I've only known him a week.

"I know, but you can still sit with me. I won't bite you, you know," He was still so cool and natural about it. "Unless you want me to..."

"No, I'm gonna have to pass this time. Maybe the next home game I'll sit with you."

"You're shady as hell, Trace. I thought we were cool?" He kinda threw his arms up in defeat.

"We are! There's no denying that, but my friends are expecting me to be back by now... And so is your girlfriend. I don't want to intrude on your time together." I replied, trying to get back to the stadium.

"What? You aren't intruding on anything. In fact, I welcome you to come and sit with me. You'd prove it if you aren't jealous."

"Oh my God, what's up with that? I'm not jealous."

"If you weren't, you wouldn't have a problem sitting with me. Do you like her or something?"

"What? No!"

"I get it... You like me." He was beaming from ear to ear.

"Whatever, Christian. Bye." I tried walking away, but he blocked me. "What are you doing?"

"Say it."

"Say what?"

"Say it, Trace. I'll let you go if you just say it."

"I have no clue what you're talking about..." I walked around him and he spun me around. This time, there was no smile, no joking manner, just a deeply serious expression behind his beautiful eyes.

"There's this connection between us. I can't explain it, but it's there. It's been there since day one. Don't deny it, Trace."

"I have to get back to my friends." With that, I walked away. I went back to my seat, with Cam, Catherine, and Hunter.

"You were gone so long, Trace! We were just about to go and find you," Catherine said.

"Yeah, Trace, what happened?" Cameron chimed in.

"I was just speaking to a friend, that's all. I'm here now guys," I said, as I took a sip of my soda. It was halftime, so the band played 3 songs and then the cheerleaders took center stage.

Blair was front and center, looking as excited as ever, if that was even possible. She was beaming with pride. They went into their routine, twisting and flipping and tumbling in the air. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a text from Christian.

Chris: We hangn out tmrrw. No objections.

Trace: Okay, I won't.

Chris: C u @ 8. :)

Trace: AM?! :O

Chris: Yeh cnt w8 ^_^

Trace: Ya whatever...

I put my phone back in my pocket and continued to watch the game. Every so often, I'd glance toward where Christian was sitting. His girlfriend had her head on his shoulder. Truth be told, I was jealous. I shook it off and tried to pay more attention to the game. Blair's cheerleading number was over, and the game had resumed. We were ahead 34-10.

I tuned out again, when we were clearly winning the game. I didn't drive here, so I couldn't just leave, even though I wanted to. So I just sat through, talking to Cat and Hunter and Cam about random things, laughing at the typical boys who painted their bodies, the random kid dancing all offbeat to the music people were playing in the stands.

Finally it was down to the last quarter, and we were winning by a long shot. When the game was getting to the last minutes, Blair and her girls did their motivational cheers and such.

We won the game, 52-19, and I saw Derrek run up to Blair, pick her up, and give her a huge kiss on her lips. "Cameron! Look! Blair finally got her man! About time," I said excitedly. I was really happy for her, even though I though Derrek was a douche.

We walked down to the field where all the football boys were all rowdy and excited, and found Blair looking like the happiest girl on the planet. I also saw Harrison hug Hunter really hard and Hunter ruffled Harrison's hair. So cute!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Blair screamed with excitement. "I can't believe he kissed me in front of the entire school. That shocked the hell out of me!" We were walking outside of the gate and to the student parking lot. "There's going to be a party, but I don't think I'm gonna go. I'm kind of tired, guys."

"I have to get up early anyway, so I'm not going either, lets just go home." I said, as we got to her car. I rode the front seat coming here, so I let Cam take the front seat while we drove back to Blair's place. We made random conversation about the game and such and about how Harrison was beginning to get more comfortable with Hunter and everyone else now that he had pretty much come out to us. We arrived at Blair's home in little to no time, and Cam and I were heading back to my house.

I went to my room, and showered, making sure to get all of the makeup off my face. Once I got out of the shower, Cameron told me goodnight and went to the guestroom. I got in the bed and went over the conversation that I had with Christian at the game.

I couldn't deny that there was a connection there, but he was taken. I couldn't do anything about it, no matter how much I wanted to just run into his arms and kiss him. I still couldn't change the fact that I fell weak at the knees with every smile. I couldn't help the fact that every look my way was a rollercoaster of emotions. Somewhere in the night, I drifted off to sleep.