Screaming Silence| DNF

Chapter Two

Tw- Signs of parental disputes.

Please tell me if there are any spelling errors, grammatical errors, or tenses errors I try to look over it but sometimes I miss stuff.  :)

George's POV:

• (The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!: Sufjan Stevens)

George stretches his palm flat against the warm rock beneath him. The sound of the ocean waves and the smell of salt brings a smile to his face. his smile grows when he feels two hands on his bare shoulders.

"Boo!" A boy with straight blonde hair and a British accent different to his jumps and uses George's shoulders for support.

George rolls his eyes in return. "Nice try, idiot. That hasn't worked since we were like eight."

"Yeah, and it took you six years to recover apparently."

George squints his eyes, still facing towards the ocean. "Why do you say that?" He giggles.

The boy leans forward, wrapping his arms around George and resting his head on his shoulder. George's stomach fluttered. He ignored the unknown feeling. "This is the first time you haven't glared at me for it."

"Oli, I'm not 13. Why would I glare at a jump scare?"

"Oh calm down," he backed up, ripping his arms away from George. "You literally just turned 14 today. You're not any more grown than you were yesterday." He walks around the rock and takes a seat beside George.

George inhales a shaky breath. "Oli," George speaks in a voice close to a whisper and tries not to squint at the sun in his eyes.

"Hm?" Oliver responds, stretching his arm to reach around George's shoulders.

George's heart stops. The thought slips from his mind faster than he can catch it. "I don't remember what I was going to say," George giggles. His chest is tight from a lack of air. He refuses to breathe in. As if doing so would cause the warmth on his shoulders to be startled away.

George feels a pair of golden-brown eyes on his cheek. He turns his head to look back at the boy.

To his surprise, he doesn't turn away. George fights against a shiver from the way Jake looks at him. His eyes dart from his golden locks, to his thick eye brows, to his freckle covered nose, to eyes he could get lost in, and land on a pair of vibrantly pink lips.

Before George can comprehend the feeling in his chest, Jake is leaning towards his mouth. Fire burst in George's chest, and a spark of electricity runs up his spine as their lips connected.

Jake pulls away with hesitation, letting his face linger about an inch away from George's.

His shoulders are tense. But when George can't help but let a smile tug at the corners of his lips, he seems to relax. He smiles back.

—

• (Turn off music)

The drive home was warmer than expected, considering the fact the two boys were covered in sand and salty water, courtesy of the Atlantic Ocean, and whatever gave Oliver the outrageous idea to tackle George off the damp but sunbathed rock he had been so comfortably perched on.

George lied on Oliver's shoulder the entire 45 minutes they were on the road. George wasn't tired. But Oli's shoulder was the perfect height for his head, and whenever he would peak his eyes open to glance up at unrealistically pink lips, ones his had touched only an hour prior, he saw a faint smile. And that was enough.

George didn't try to listen in on his parents hushed whispers, despite that being the only noise besides rubber tires against a gravel road.

George was a curious kid. Some people had even called him nosy. But he had learned not to be with his parents when he started to notice how his dad always sounded tense, and his mother always sounded tired.

In that moment, George hoped he would never have to grow up any more than he already had. And if he was forced to, he was never having kids.

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