Conflicted Eyes, Confusing Feelings | Complete

s i x t y

That knocked all the wind out of Sage.

For the first time, Sage chanced looking at him despite the millions of knives being impaled into his quivering heart, telling him not to.

Tousle-headed and sloppily dressed in an old sweater and washed out denim jeans, Xander wasn't paying attention to anything or anyone in particular; only sat there blankly letting eyes stay on the half-done cigarette in hand. He slipped it between his light pink lips, talking a long drag before letting the smoke filter through his nose.

He neither acknowledged Felt nor Sage.

Sage's heart ached Suddenly, he didn't know whether he should keep his hands in or out of his pockets.

"Xander?" Maria prodded. The tall boy didn't look up until Maria called his name a second time. He glanced up at her, no emotion whatsoever displayed by his poker face.

Gaining his attention, Maria gestured towards the couple. "You've met these two? I don't think you know Sage very well, though. He's Felt's boyfriend."

Felt bounced forth, sticking out her hand. "And I'm Felt!"

Xander stared at her hand as though it was a piece of dirty cloth.

Maria rolled her eyes, knocking Felt's hand out of the way. "You know each other already," she snapped.

"No fair! He already knows who Sage is too!"

"Yeah, as the gay kid who wrote a bunch of dirty garbage about him," Maria sarcastically out, clicking her tongue in annoyance at Felt's constant interruption. "An official introduction won't hurt."

Thus, she went on to say, "So Xander, meet Sage."

Face hot with a flush of acute embarrassment, Sage backed away as Xander stood to his full height, towering over all of them. He stuck his hand out for Sage.

"Nice to meet you, or whatever."

It was Sage's turn to stare at Xander's hand.

The same one that grazed his cheek every time Xander soulfully stared at him, just before they kissed. The same hand that brought Sage to a climax back in Xander's room. The same hand Sage held and webbed his fingers through, just weeks before.

The hand that was now Maria's.

"Sage?" Felt nudged him, waving her hands at the senior boy's outstretched one.

"Oh, um..." he mumbled.

D-do I really have to?

His heart shot to his throat, beating loudly in his ears as he lifted his sweaty hand from his pockets. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to say a simple 'nice to meet you' without making complete a mess of himself, Sage wordlessly slipped his hand into Xander's much larger, cold ones.