NO Love Club (Boy × Boy) ✔

36) A. HORRIBLE. IDEA.

"This is a horrible idea." I warned him, but obediently stood up and pushed his chair to the bed. I locked the brakes to keep the chair from moving, and then turned to frown at Cole. I had no idea how I was supposed to get him up with my arm in the sling. "A. Horrible. Idea."

"Nah, just.." Cole shifted closer to the edge of his bed, relaying on his arms where he couldn't use his legs. "Pull me to your side." He suggested, circling his arm around my hips as I pulled him up and pinned him to my side. When Cole was in the air, solely relying on my strength, he gasped: "Oh fuck, this was a horrible idea."

"I told you so." I lectured, gripping my arm tighter around his waist. Yet, by some miracle, I was able to hoist him to the wheelchair without any accidents. When he was sitting there, we both bursted into an adrenalin filled laughter. "Jesus Christ, let's never do that again."

"Let's not." Cole agreed, a wide, genuine smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. After he had rolled his chair to face his desk, he asked in a voice that was a little too nonchalant to actually be nonchalant: "That didn't hurt your arm, right?"

"I'm okay." I promised, fumbling for the notebook and placing it on the desk in front of him. I could still feel his arm around my hips, and that definitely hadn't been a turn on. Not at all. And yet, it was all I could think about while I watched him leaning down to scribble notes. 

"What did you mean by this?" Cole asked, frowning at something I had written down. So, for the next hour or so I spent explaining what we had been working on that day. Cole listened to my rambling with deep concentration, even stopping to write down his own jottings. 

It would be an understatement to say I felt out of place while sitting at the dinner table in the Walker's spotless kitchen. I barely knew Cole's parents, but at least Chloe was there giving me encouraging smiles. Their dad, Gary, barely even noticed I was there, as he leafed through some space magazine. Vivian, on the other hand, was taking a lot of interest in me all of a sudden.

"It's nothing special, but it'll fill your stomach." Vivian was in full-on host mode, bustling around the kitchen to make sure I had everything I could possibly want or need. "I should have asked, if you have any allergies or if you're a vegetarian like Cole."

"It's fine, I can eat anything and this all smells delicious." I reassured her, giving her a big smile. My mom is a terrible cook, if I'm being completely honest, and she works too long hours to cook even if putting her in the kitchen wasn't a recipe for chaos. Dad cooks, if he's not too tired from work, but mostly we just order in.

"Well, aren't you polite." Vivian wondered, a pleased blush creeping on her cheeks. Then she added with a meaningful tone: "Cole could certainly learn something from you."

"Mom." Cole warned, narrowing his eyes at her. He scooped some white-ish cubes from one bowl onto his plate, then proceeded to take some rice.

I had no idea what their deal was, but Cole and his mother's exchange of words couldn't have been further from playful banter. The atmosphere felt charged, like they were just pretending to be a happy family in front of a guest.

"So, you're a vegetarian?" I asked Cole, wanting to change the topic. If it had been just playful banter, I would have made a joke about Cole's rude habits. But as it clearly wasn't, I didn't want to make him feel even worse about it.

"Oh no, don't let him get started." Chloe exclaimed, her fork stopping halfway to her mouth. When I just stared at her blankly, she explained: "The last time he did, I cried my eyes out. All those poor animals.."

I was waiting for Cole to make some wiseass remark about it, like 'if you feel so bad about them, then why do you eat them?', but instead he just shrugged and pushed another forkful of those white-ish cubes in his mouth. For a while he just chewed in a thoughtful silence.

"It's just something I —" Cole began, but he was cut short by Vivian. 

"How many times do I need to tell you not to bring those magazines to the dinner table?" Vivian quipped, frowning at the magazine Gary's nose was still buried in. Mom never complained about dad wanting to bring a book to a table, instead they would read together and maybe even have a glass of wine while on it.

Gary sighed, set aside the magazine and turned his undivided attention to his meal. A line appeared between Cole's eyebrows at that, but yet again he shrugged it off. One could have thought he was pouting, as he wasn't his typical snarky self, but I didn't think it was about that at all. Something about him seemed softer, less charged towards everyone whereas Vivian was still going on with full battery.

The rest of the dinner went on much the same way. Vivian alternated between a courteous host and a nagging housewife so fast it made my head spin. Gary kept glimpsing his magazine with longing, not partaking into the conversation. Chloe started blabbering happily about some new course she was taking, and Cole mostly only talked when he was spoken to. 

Afterwards, Chloe gave me a lift home, telling me that she couldn't wait for Cole to get back to school and that she could give us both a lift to school from time to time. If it worked with her schedule, and so on, and then, somehow, she ended up explaining to me all about Antiphos-something syndrome. 

"Anyway, it was called electrocoagulation, so if your bleeding won't —" Chloe droned on.

"Electrocoa.. what?" I frowned in confusion, and when Chloe repeated the word, I chuckled: "And now you're just making up words."

"I swear I'm not." Chloe swore, letting out a loud cackle. Then she glimpsed at me — please keep your eyes on the road — and said: "You should come over more often, today was fun."

"Oh, I will." I promised with a toothy grin. Until Cole was back to school, I was planning on stopping by till he was sick of seeing my face. And to deceive him from realizing it was because I had already lost the bet, I had a plan all figured out.

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Question of the day:
Do you like ASMR?

(Me: I know it irks many people, but I love it. It helps me to relax and fall asleep faster.)

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If you have any good feedback to give about the story, I would really like to hear it. Lately I've been having extra many doubts about this story and my writing skills. I obviously won't pressure you to comment anything, but just in case you want to make my day, that would be appreciated. :)