Lilies for a Lifetime

Chapter 10 // Cheerleader

The morning after their first kiss / Age 18...

Vincent tiredly blinks his eyes open when his internal alarm goes off. He groans and sits up in bed, entirely forgetting what he experienced yesterday until he sees Hayden quietly snoozing beside him.

Fuck.

When Vincent glances down and examines Hayden's peaceful features–his mouth slightly ajar, eyebrows relaxed, long eyelashes touching his cheek–his head starts to pound. He buries his head in his hands as his thoughts begin to clash like the formation of a tornado.

Was it a mistake? What the hell happened? Why did I even bring up the idea of dating so soon?

Vincent isn't torn up about the slightly steamy moment he shared with Hayden last night because he is ashamed or weirded out by kissing a guy; his mind is falling to pieces at the notion that he could lose his best friend if anything goes wrong between them.

Vincent can't have that.

Hayden, despite his sleeping state, wiggles closer to Vincent. As soon as Hayden's head touches Vincent's lap, the usually reserved boy freaks out–as if they haven't been this close before.

Vincent instantly but carefully rushes out of bed to splash some water on his face, hoping it provides some clarity. It does him no good so he does it again and again and again...and again until it looks like he has fully submerged his head in a tub of water. He looks in the mirror to see what a mess he's become just because of a little kiss.

...Except it was more than a little kiss.

Vincent can't help but cringe when he remembers how he threw his shirt off in the heat of the moment. He briefly peeks inside his dorm room at Hayden again and almost has a heart attack when he sees how dark the hickey he left on his neck is.

"Oh, god. What the fucking fuckity fucking fuck fuck," Vincent mumbles, pacing around the bathroom. "Jesus Christ. What the shit did I do?"

Since Vincent needs anything to distract himself from the gay crisis that he is undergoing, he decides to take a shower to ease his mind. The only problem is that when he gets into the shower, his thoughts are anything but innocent.

Hell, I really did just go all in last night.

Vincent slaps himself a few times to try and get back his calm and composed attitude, but it's to no avail. Continuing to utter a long line of curses under his breath, he tries to get ready for the day.

Everything is peaceful for the brief moment that he forgets about Hayden Williams, but all of a sudden, when he is brushing his hair, the memories come surging back to him.

Vincent fondly dug his fingers into every part of his best friend's body yesterday. The two boys kept tugging each other closer and closer, getting more passionate by the second as if they had done the devil's tango millions of times before. And damn, Hayden wasn't holding back as he tugged on Vincent's hair yesterday.

Vincent groans again as he covers his face in embarrassment.

While Vincent is having a meltdown in the bathroom, Hayden slowly starts to wake up. However, he still feels exhausted and wants to drift right back to sleep. Stretching out on the bed to get more comfortable, Hayden realizes that Vincent isn't next to him.

Getting up with drowsy confusion, Hayden wanders to the bathroom when he hears Vincent mumbling to himself. Hayden swiftly pushes the door open and Vincent freezes in his spot.

Vincent waits and waits and waits for Hayden to say something that'll either soothe his mind or dissipate the imaginary tension between the two, but Hayden stays silent. As a matter of fact, he remains wordless as he grabs Vincent's hand and pulls him back into their dorm room. Hayden lightly shoves two hands into Vinny's chest and pushes him back onto the bed. Despite the heavy battle going on in Vincent's mind, he complies when Hayden cuddles up to his chest.