Oh Boy! (BL)

10 - Didn't See It Coming (3/3)

!! Trigger Warning: Internalized Homophobia !!

Two was the number of kisses I'd gotten in all my seventeen years. I had received my first kiss from a girl named Emily Hanes. We'd been sixth graders and some other kids in class thought it would be oh-so-funny to make us kiss in a closet during truth or dare. It had been horrible ten seconds. Clumsy. Tense. In short: I didn't like it.

My second kiss was Andrew Callum, my math tutor. I had been fifteen, he twenty-one. He'd been so excited about me passing my first math exam here in Seattle that he'd pressed his lips to mine without thinking. I guess it was a nice kiss...until he jumped up and fled from my room, that is.

He never called again.

So, two times.

Until now.

Had somebody told me that I'd get my third kiss from the most popular guy in school I would've taken it as a cruel joke and would've hidden in the darkest corner I could find. Still, here I was, standing in the middle of a B&N store, receiving kiss number three from Clay's soft lips.

Though, I'm not even sure if one could call it a real kiss.

The touch of our lips lasted three seconds, tops. None of us moved our mouths and I could do nothing more but to stare into Clay's grey eyes like a deer in the headlights while all kinds of emotions seemed to fight in his mind. Nevertheless, I can still feel the softness of his lips, the determination in his eyes, and the tender caress of his hand on my cheek.

Feeling numb, inside and out, I didn't even notice what he was saying to the girls after he released me. My mind went blank, my heart skipped every other beat, and my body moved on autopilot.

Still paralyzed, I stumbled along with the queue until I found myself right in front of the book signing table. There was a small smile on C. C. Starling's lips when I stepped up to him — I only realized that it was a reaction to my super red face when seeing myself in the shop window's reflection later, on my way out. Hopefully, he took it as an expression of my nervousness about meeting him.

"Ken." He lifted his bushy brows when I gave him my ragged novel with shaking hands. "That is..." He opened the cover and flipped through the first couple of pages. A bright smile formed on his face. "...indeed, a first edition of Meadow. I haven't seen one of these in a long time."

"It's my favorite novel, sir."

"That makes me happier than you can imagine." He put his signature and a personal note inside the lid. "Back then, I was so worried that nobody would read it. My dream of becoming an author would've been over before it started."

I couldn't imagine a world in which C. C. Starling was not an author.

Starling returned Meadow but held on to it when I wanted to take it back. "S...sir?"

"Please wait a minute, Ken," he asked and then turned to AOL, who seemed much more relaxed now that Thorne had left shortly before the book signing started. "Would you be so kind to hand me my bag, please? Thank you."

Starling lifted the copper clasps on his brown leather bag that looked at least as old as my novel. I made big eyes when he pulled out a heavy book with a pearl white cover and put his signature inside. "I want to give this to you."

My hands weren't just trembling when I reached for the novel, they were shaking like hell. "Th...the limited edition of Genesis X? Sir, this...I can't accept this."

He smiled. "Of course, you can. Please, accept it as my gift to you."

My throat felt tight when I squeezed a "Thank you!" out of my lungs and stumbled away from the table. I stopped after only a few feet and stared at his gift. It was kinda strange how an entirely white novel could calm my mood so easily. Touching the silver ornaments on the edges alone made me forgot what had just happened – at least for now.

"Boss?"

Shaking my head, I lifted my gaze from the novel and looked at my guildmate who had stepped away from the table and followed me on foot. "Hmm?"

His red hair was darkened by sweat and his rounded cheeks were red as a beetroot. Taking my arm, he pulled me a couple of feet away from the scene. "Ken...I want to thank you."

"What for?"

He wrang his hands. "I would've ruined the whole event if you hadn't spoken up. My boss..."

I put a hand on his shoulder. Since he wasn't much taller than me, I could look him right in the eye. "What kind of guildmate would I be if I let down my treasurer? Plus..." I made sure nobody was eavesdropping. "...you told us that your boss is an ass. I can't stand guys like him."

"You're the best, boss." Without a heads up, he pulled me into a tight hug.

Blinking rapidly, I patted his sweaty back. "Um...you're welcome?"

His embrace lasted for a couple of seconds only before he released me. If I had been surprised by his gratitude, the dark look that had taken over his face now made me nervous.

"AOL?" I asked with an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

"About Clay..."

"What about me?"

I froze.

Clay was standing mere inches away from us, holding his signed copy in one hand. He looked pissed. Really pissed. "Do we have a problem?"

AOL glanced at me. "Please, be careful, boss." Without another word, he returned to C. C. Starling's side, leaving me with a furious soccer player.

"Let's get outta here!" Clay grabbed my arm roughly and dragged me towards the exit. When we stepped outside the store, he made a beeline for his car with strides so long that I had trouble keeping up.

Wordlessly he released my arm when we had reached his car before walking around the front to the driver's side. His mood seemed to tell me that I could either get in or he'd leave on his own. Of course, I got in, but when he started the engine and drove off the parking lot, I was shivering even though it was still about sixty-eight degrees.

We didn't speak at all during the twenty-minute drive back to Seattle. I opened my mouth twice to speak up but never found the courage to actually ask him what was wrong. Even though, I could imagine what was going through his head. It was the vivid memory of his soft lips on mine and my father's voice inside my head that served like a hand around my throat that told me that he was probably...disgusted.

You're disgusting!

Abnormal!

Gross!

Something like that was probably going through his mind, I knew that, but I didn't wanna hear the same words coming from Clay.

"Don't worry," I whispered when opening the passenger door in front of my apartment complex. "I won't tell anybody."

"Ken..."

I slammed the door before he could finish his sentence.

I didn't wanna hear it.