Chapter Two - Arcade

Kellin's POV

I ran home once Mike and Vic were out of sight, and made it there within five minutes. I was aware how bad I must look since I had just nearly drowned, and it wasn't the best first impression to give. I needed to make up for it. I unlocked the house and stepped inside, running to my room and pulling over a couple of my suitcases. I opened them, looking for something to wear while I took off my soaking clothes. Eventually, I found a black top with gold writing, some dark blue skinnies and a burgundy leather jacket. I put these on and then went into the bathroom, looking at my reflection in the mirror. I didn't look too bad now, just pale and tired. I combed through my hair until it looked right and brushed my teeth again, I didn't have the time for a shower. I studied myself in the mirror again and decided my hair was still a bit awkward, so I put a hat on it backwards. That was cool, right? I grabbed some money from my wallet and my phone from my bed.

After leaving the house I stopped at a corner store to buy an energy drink. All they had was Monster but that was fine with me, I just needed something to wake me up. After this, I was ready. And I was just on time, as I recieved a text from Vic once I got there.

Vic's POV

Mike and I walked home in comfortable silence. Well, sort of comfortable. After Kellin had left, Mike had joked a little... and even now he kept glancing at my arm and smiling. That moment was running through my head over and over... the way Kellin wrote on my arm, the way he looked at me, the way he winked. He had the cutest face I had ever seen - his dark hair framed his face beautifully, and his bright blue eyes shone in the sunlight. I wondered if his hair was always as wavy as it had been, but then again, he had nearly drowned. If that was him at his worst, I couldn't wait to see him at his best.

We reached our home and walked straight through the door, greeted by our Mother in the kitchen.

"You boys are home early" she said.

"Yeah, we're just getting some money from the arcade" Mike said, smiling at her sweetly. I knew that smile, and I knew exactly what he was doing.

"So you want my money then" she laughed, getting out her purse and handing us some each. We thanked her and then walked upstairs to get changed.

"You're unbelievable, she always gives you money" I laughed.

"At least you got some too this time" Mike winked, and walked into his room, leaving me to walk into mine. I combed my hair and put a snapback on backwards over it to hold it down. I then put on some brown three quarter lengths and a grey top with white writing. I didn't look too bad now, so I left it at that and then picked up my phone from my bedside table, writing Kellin's number into it and saving it. Just as we left the house, I decided to text him.

To Kellin: It's Vic, just leaving our house now, be there in 5 :)

A moment later, Kellin replied.

From Kellin: Okay, same here :)

Today would be fun.

Kellin's POV

It didn't take long for Vic and Mike to get here, and soon we were on our way to the arcade. I couldn't help but keep glancing at Vic... he looked really good. So yes, I admit that maybe you can't tell if you're actually into a person when you've only just met. And maybe I only felt this way because he saved my life, I don't know. But I just really liked him. A lot. I decided I might flirt a little today and see how he responded. I had a feeling he was gay too from those little moments he got shy or blushed a bit, but that didn't necesarilly mean that he liked me back. It was too soon to tell, and I was more than happy to experiment.

I realised I had been staring and he may or may not have noticed, so I looked away. A moment later I felt his eyes on me, but I tried not to respond.

Vic's POV

When we reached the arcade, the look on Kellin's face made me really happy. He looked like a little child, it was clear he loved arcades. He ran through the door and went straight to one of the machines - it was a gun game of some sort. One of those ones where you break into buildings and shoot zombies. Not really my type of thing. There were three guns and Kellin stood at one, motioning at us to join him. Mike did straight away, going to the gun on the left of Kellin. This left the gun on the right.

"Sorry, this isn't really my type of thing..." I protested. It was really because I didn't want to lose to him to be honest. It looked like this was something Kellin would be good at.

"Come on Vic, please?" Kellin asked, doing puppy eyes and jutting out his bottom lip. If I had a camera with me, I would have taken a picture of him right there. That look. It was the single most sweetest thing I had ever seen, and I couldn't say no. He grinned triumphantly when he saw me walk over and join him, and patted me on the back. "you're going down" he laughed.

~~~~Three hours later~~~~

I turned around, high fiving Kellin as we both screamed "YEAH!" after once again, completing the entire game. I turned to look at Mike, but he was gone.

"Kellin, where did Mike go?" I asked, stunned.

"I have no idea... he was there a minute ago..." Kellin said, as confused as I was.

I looked at the clock on the wall, pointing at it in horror. We had been playing this game for 3 hours straight, and used all of our money on it. Kellin followed my gaze and his expression looked the same as mine.

"How did we..." he muttered.

"I have no idea"

I took out my phone, texting Mike.

To Mike: Dude where did you go? And when?

From Mike: I left about an hour ago bro. The game was boring me and I didn't want to intrude... ;)

To Mike: Intrude? What are you on about? And sorry bro, I didn't mean to leave you out...

From Mike: No problem, I don't really mind. You were clearly busy ;)

I knew exactly what he meant, but I wasn't going to respond. Kellin and I were having too much fun for that, I wasn't going to let Mike's words bother me. Partly because I hoped they were true. If it was that obvious that something was going on that Mike felt the need to leave, then maybe Kellin was aware? Maybe he knew what he was doing. Two could play at that game. I grinned as I thought of exactly where I was going to take this.

"So..." Kellin said, and I realised that I had been silent for a few minutes.

"Sorry, I was just thinking what we could do now"

"Got any ideas? I have no money" Kellin sighed, shaking his wallet upside down.

"Yeah, I have the perfect idea. Come with me" I said, hesitating a little before grabbing his hand and pulling him through the room. I silently prayed that he wouldn't mind, and he didn't seem to as he held my hand just as hard back. I think I even saw him smile a little. I led him outside onto the small basketball court, happy to see that no one was there.

"What are we doing here?" Kellin asked, as I awkwardly (and reluctantly) let go of his hand.

"What do you normally do on a basketball court, Kellin?" I joked, and he glared at me.

"Fair enough" he said, walking over to the box filled with basketballs and taking one out. "Is this free?" he asked.

"Yeah, pass it?" I asked, and he bounced it on the floor to me. I held it up, throwing it to the net. It went straight in, not even touching the rim.

"Wow you're good for your size" Kellin laughed, winking. I glared at him. "Just kidding!" he said.

"I'd like to see you do better" I challenged him, passing him the ball. He nodded and turned to the net, concentrating hard and biting down on his tongue. He bounced up a little and threw the ball, hitting the rim. He missed. Kellin sighed and looked down, ashamed. Was he blushing? I picked up the ball and walked over, laughing quietly. "It's okay Kellin, not everyone's the best" I said, putting a comforting hand on his back. He was looking down, his hair covering his face. I was worried.

"... You're clearly the expert at putting balls in holes" he said, grabbing the ball from me and running away laughing, while I stayed fixed to the spot, blushing like mad at his innuendo. He ran towards the net and threw the ball, throwing it through perfectly. He skipped back over, leaning close to my ear and whispering "but maybe I am too..." and then skipping away again. Oh...

I eventually recovered from my state and chased after him as he ran away with the ball. We were both laughing, and I was shouting at him to give it back. This earned me a few winks and he stuck his tongue out a few times, which was the cutest thing ever. Of course, these were paired with him flipping me off occasionally. I didn't care, I was just happy to be here with him. We carried on playing with the ball (don't laugh, you sick people...) until late, and the sun began setting. We sat down on the fence, looking towards the beach in the distance. I liked sitting here, you could see the sea clearly. It was beautiful. But there was something equally beautiful sitting next to me.

I turned to look at Kellin, who was smiling back at me, just as happy as I was.

"Hey..." Kellin said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Thanks for a great day" he smiled.

"No problem, the same to you" I said, and then thought for a moment before I shyly said "same tomorrow?". This made him smile even more and he nodded quickly.

"I'd love that" he said, and then got down from the fence, standing infront of me. "Wanna go?" he asked. I didn't really want to go, infact, I wanted to stay like this forever. But the sun had just disappeared beneath the horizon and I knew it was going to get cold and dark soon, so I agreed and jumped down. Laughing, he stood next to me and we began walking home. I noticed just how close he was standing to me - closer than a normal friend would. I think. Close enough that every so often our hands brushed against eachother. As much as I wanted to just go for it and hold it, I couldn't do it yet. I barely knew this guy, it had been one day. And since I now knew he lived here, we had a lot of time to get to know eachother. I couldn't wait.

Kellin's POV

Vic and I walked together until we reached the point we had met up at earlier. He awkwardly stood infront of me, and said 'bye'. I laughed a little and held out my hand for him to shake. I knew it was uncool and old fashioned, but it meant that I could do what I did next. He took my hand and shook it, and I took it as an opportunity to pull him forward, and hug him a little. Only like a typical bro-hug where we patted eachother's backs, but it would've been weird if I just hugged him like I wanted to. So it was close enough.

"Text me about what time you want to meet up tomorrow?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah sure. See you tomorrow Kells" he smiled.

"See you tomorrow"

We both turned and walked away. Kells I thought. What a cute nickname. From today, I knew that I really, really liked him. And he clearly liked me too, but I didn't know how much. Enough to hold my hand... I , no straight guy would act that close to another guy unless he had something to hide. I decided i'd play this game with him, oh, I would. If he was going to be difficult, so was I. I was going to mess with this boy. I was going to make him need me. He was going to think about me, and eventually, he was going to be with me. Because I needed Vic, more than I had thought. And I really, really wanted him to be mine.