Honey and Milk

4: Just Party Things.

Darryl

The minute George and I entered the party, I felt someone pull on my shirt and tug me into a separate room. I yelped, reaching out, but was quickly pushed into a dark corner, pressed to a wall with two arms trapping me in. I began to freak, realizing that I might as well just get stabbed right here, only looking up to realize that, low and behold, it was Zak. "Skeppy! You muffinhead, don't scare me like that!" I whined, wriggling slightly. He laughed and I caught the faint scent of alcohol in his breath. Everyone on the team, give or take a few, had earned special little nicknames based on inside jokes or something stupid they'd done.

"Aw, you're the only muffinhead here." He smirked, my eyes reaching his only to catch onto how close our faces had become. He leaned forward, pressing a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose, causing me to giggle. I looked around, peering out to see the swarms of people laughing and partying. Good thing none of them were paying attention to the pair.

"Skep, you're gonna get us caught! First you were making me blush in front of George in our dorm and now you're openly kissing me! I thought you were the one who wanted to hide this." I frowned, crossing my arms with a disapproving look. He sighed, looking down.

"I know, I know, but it's been so overwhelming not having your room near mine anymore. I wish we could just hide in the corners of the library again but our schedules never line up." He pouted, pulling away, allowing us to seem like two bros chilling. His words made my heart ache.

"I'm sorry, I wish we could too." I reached over and laced a single finger with his. "I'm always open to make our relationship public since it would give us more time to be out and together. I'm just waiting for you to be ready."

Zak and I had started dating a little over 7 months ago, near the end of our freshmen years. During that time, neither of us really wanted to make the information open, so we had stolen sweet words and kisses behind the rows of textbooks, an area of the library no one ever visited. It worked, but that was last semester. This time around, we both had classes over the other's open periods, leaving us barely any wiggle room. The best we could work with were loving smiles and winks from across the locker room, amidst a crowd of hangry college swimmers.

That's how we met, of course. We were immediate close on the team, having been in the same lane for almost every practice. Our budding friendship period was amazing, and it took a quick turn after our big meet a few months in. We were roommates for an away meet and, well, let's say we gave each other our own seven minutes in heaven, but more like 3 hours. Those moments were pure bliss, finally being able to explore the romance of someone I'd been fond of for so long. Of course, we had become more of friends with benefits though. Nothing became official until around April, when we finally decided to make this our own sport.

And that's how we ended up here, with my finger loosely connected to his own, my mind quickly slipping away from the friend I had so rudely been taken from. I could see Zak becoming a little flustered, his verbal affection not being the best, especially in the sea of people. "I really appreciate how much you care. Seriously." He blurted out, his face looking like a tomato. I chuckled, pulling him towards some sofas. Everyone is likely drunk, tipsy, or too engrossed in the action to notice two random guys slipping off behind the furniture. Zak looked a little confused, before I sat him onto the ground and quickly hopped onto his lap.

"How about this, no one will see us back here." I cooed, feeling a major boost of euphoria and confidence now that there weren't watchful eyes to avoid. I smiled, staring into his deep muddy eyes. It felt like it had been ages since I was able to feel the familiar flutter in my heart as he reached up, running one hand loosely through my hair and the other curling around my waist. With one movement, he took his hand and pulled my head towards his, a delicate kiss soon melting into one full of a longing passion. We felt up each other's hair, down our backs, Zak even becoming bold and running a cool finger under my shirt, causing me to shiver. We pulled away, foreheads pressed together as I hummed, smiling, and closing my eyes to savor the moment.