ᴏᴀᴋʟᴇʏ ᴄᴀʀʀɪʟʟᴏ was discovered at fourteen years old, being praised as a musical prodigy by the media ever since. His fame had only increased until now. At nineteen old, he's the most remarkable musician of his age, and he's only getting started. At...
He didn't laugh at my joke, but I didn't expect him to. He still had his eyes closed, and his breathing was still too quick and shaky.
"Uhm... okay. So one: I've once driven a tour bus." The most difficult part of the game wasn't coming up with truths that sounded like lies. The hard part was coming up with lies that sounded like truths which sounded like lies. Especially when I was drunk enough to have the room spinning around me. "Two: I've also had a drink or two too many. Three... three... Uhm..."
"Three?"
"Yeah, three."
"No... I mean... that's the lie," he said, his voice stabilized a little since the last thing he said.
"How did you know?"
"You came up with the first two so quickly," he explained.
"Pretty sober conscious for a drunk guy."
"I'm pretty smart too, you know? My knowledge comes from experience." His breathing slowed down, deeper again, but I could tell he was still very much overly aware of what he was doing, and he tried to keep everything hidden.
"Experience I lack, which is why we work so well."
Nolan put his arms on either side of my head and slowly started leaning on his elbows so we were close enough that our noses could touch. He smelled a lot like liquor, with a hint of fancy cologne, and he was a little sweaty, but I didn't mind. Something about it made him feel more real. I took in his scent watching his eyes as they flickered around my face.
"We work awfully well," he said, running a finger along my jaw. His eyes followed his moment. "You're so pretty," he said softly.
I didn't want him to keep saying that, so I pulled on his shirt lightly until he was close enough for me to kiss.
He tasted the way he smelled. I wondered if I tasted the same to him. Or maybe by kissing we'd start to taste the same, somewhere in between the both of us.
I was getting lost in him. I lost myself in him. It was like everything around us didn't exist when we were together, and it reminded me of every song, every melody that described true happiness.
"Shit—"
And Happiness was ripped away from me by the voice intruding our secret island. I wasn't worried though, because it was the voice of my best friend.
The door closed loudly, and Nolan scrambled off me. He was worried, he didn't know Genevieve that well.
"Oh shit, you're not gonna do it on my new carpet, are you?" she carefully opened the door again, and I watched her as I sat back up. "You should lock the door."
"Get out," I said.
"We'll talk about this once we're all sober. I mean, are you staying, Nolan?"
He looked at me with wide eyes.
"Uh, yeah," he said. "I guess."
"Great," she said. "Not on the carpet."
"We weren't—"
"And lock the door."
She closed the door and I turned to Nolan quickly.
"I'm sorry, she's right. I should've locked the door." It wasn't a very good idea to be making out with a guy at a party when you did not want it to go public yet.
"It's fine," he said, his face a bright red, but he did seem okay. He wasn't shaking, he was actually smiling a little. "But we should probably lock the door now."
I laughed, and did exactly that. I locked the door and then let myself fall on the bed.
"What do we tell her?" I asked, waiting for him to join me. It didn't take long before he did, and I took his hand, holding it against my chest. I hoped he could feel how quickly my heart was beating.
"That we're sorta going out?"
I chuckled. "That's kinda what we're doing, isn't it?"
"That's exactly what we're doing."
I turned around to lie on my side, so I could watch him. His cheeks were still rosy from the alcohol and Gen coming in, but he looked peaceful. For once I didn't see the wheels in his head twisting and turning, filtering through everything, thinking of what to say and what to hold back.
"What if I tell her you're my boyfriend?"
He was silent, his face still strictly fixed on the ceiling.
"Mhm," he said. That was all, as though he didn't hear me but agreed anyway. I knew he had heard me though, because his hand had become more sweaty, and his breathing had become inconsistent.
"Nolan?"
He coughed. "Yeah?"
"What if we tell her we're boyfriends?" I asked, repeating the question differently.
Another long silence, with my heart's pace picking up with every second. It was like he was doing this on purpose. Why was he doing this?
He finally turned around so we were face to face again, and he was biting his bottom lip, his eyes scanning over my face again. It made me nervous how he kept doing this. Maybe a hair was out of place, or maybe he was looking for features he could judge me on.
"I would love to be... boyfriends."
"Yeah?" I couldn't contain my smile.
"Yeah."
"Like, really?" My eyebrows shot up. I didn't realize exactly how nervous I felt until now, when the nausea became butterflies.
He laughed and nodded, and I pressed our lips together, moving closer and closer until there was no such thing anymore.
"Wait," he said, pushing me away. I frowned.
"What?"
He laughed, covering his face with his hands, and I couldn't help but laugh as well.
"What?" I asked again through fits of laughter. His eyes sparkled like little stars, their color a cool green, even visible in the dim lighting.
"Happy birthday, Boyfriend," he said, and he connected our lips again like nothing happened. Kissing me through giggles and whispers. We didn't stop at being tired. We didn't even stop at falling asleep, waking each other up in turns and laughing about it afterwards. Ugly laughs, the ones you wouldn't dare share with anyone other than a best friend or family member, and would make you laugh harder. We kissed, tasting each other's lips until our energy and will power wore out, only stopping once we fell asleep simultaneously.
In my dream that same night, we already fell in love.
•••
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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Both Oakley and I are now 20, time flies by. I started writing the first draft of this story back in 2019, that was four years ago!
I hope everyone who's reading this is having a very nice day (I mean, it's my birthday, so I sorta demand it 😁)
