Straight Boys

So You're Straight?

Zachary's POV

He was so fidgety. Andrew Parsley, one of the stillest guys you'll ever meet, sat in the passenger side of his car, leg bouncing up and down at maybe lightning speed. He was leaning against the door, head peering out the window to watch each street sign pass by, willing the Hospital sign to come into view. He leant against the door, elbow propped by the handle and his head resting in the grasp of his white knuckles. His mouth knawed at his nails, his eyes darted over and over and over each moving object, and his shoulders were tensed from what I could see. By the way he held onto his bouncing knee like it was his very life support, and the way his spine stood straight against the front of the seat, you could just tell there was something on his mind. That there was something needing to be released from his thoughts, yet the only way to let go of them was to have every joint popping and muscle moving.

I couldn't take it.

It had only been five minutes; five whole minutes since he had agreed to let me drive him to the hospital, which was at a whopping ten minutes from the high school. In these past five minutes, I had shot Taylor a quick text telling her to not wait up and don't worry about us. I had told Andrew that everything was doing good, things were getting better, and that there really was a rainbow at the end of the pot of gold.

In these past five minutes, well maybe two weeks - I could hardly tell when - I had realized that there was something about Andrew Parsley.

I may have subconsciously started thinking about it, but I didn't want to mention it. Not to him. Not anyone. Hell, not even to myself. I didn't want to have to face the truth that there was something about Andrew, the way that he held himself and the fact that he didn't. He didn't hold himself to any standard besides being himself, nor did he really have a standard of himself to reach to. He was just a person, there, living, being and that was the greatest thing in the world. He didn't have to put on a mask, and he never seemed to want to. He could be himself, yet you wouldn't really see him because there were different parts. Like pieces of a puzzle, Parsley was a masterpiece waiting to be created just from figuring out every twist and turn to his mind. It was in the way he could be so bland, so critical and cliche, but then do a 180 degree turn and become something so raw, so there in the world that people would kill to study him in the future. There was just something about him, and it was making me go crazy.

It was driving me to the brink of insanity, when deep down, I knew it shouldn't have been. It would only bring trouble. Yet, I chose to ignore myself and pursue, if only from the four corners of my mind, the thought of Andrew.

It was driving me to the brink of insanity the way he wouldn't quit shaking his leg. I was going to make a joke about it, yet I didn't feel like it was needed, nor wanted; and I don't think I would have been able to stomach the bitter taste of a stupid joke in these few minutes. So I opted for a different option.

Swiping a tentative thumb over my bruising jaw, I thought it through and decided to Hell with it, before I settled my shaking hand firmly against his knee, milimeters from his hand. We were stopped at an intersection, and the red light from the stoplight casted a faint hue of a bright red over the two of us. The color made his eyes seem almost dark violet.

I tightened my fingers around the space just above his knee, letting each digit feel how shaky he was from under his jeans. I mustered the most sincere look I could, while also holding agitation just around the corner and spoke gently, "Calm down. We're almost to the Hospital. Your sister is gonna be fine. Just hold on." He breathed in heavily, the action causing his eyelids to flutter closed, and then back open.

"I know... I know." His voice was coarse around the edges, and it triggered a reaction I hadn't felt in forever. It caused the hairs on my arms to stand on end. I shouldn't have been feeling this way. I had a girlfriend for God's sake, yet... I couldn't help it.