Chapter 4: Telling You
The rest of the school year was a torture, at least for Pietro. Madison was stuck to Evan like... like something really sticky! She was practically following him everywhere, to the games, in the hallways, after school. It was driving Pietro insane.
Fortunately the summer came quickly and Madison went to some expensive place for the whole two months, leaving Evan and Pietro in New York. They had lots of fun, spent whole days messing around and playing basketball. Evan even tried to teach Pietro how to skateboard. 'Tried' being a key word. After that Pietro turned out to be a natural talent in first aid.
And then eight grade begun. And the first person Pietro saw after returning to school was Madison.
"And the day was starting so nice," he said to himself.
Of course Evan immediately left his side to say 'hi'. He haven't seen him until the end of the day. But after that ha had him all to himself, as they were having a sleepover. No girls whatsoever. Evan recently had birthday and boys were eager to test new video game he got from his parents. And since Evan's parents weren't going to be there, why not use the chance?
"Hi mom," said Evan as they entered his house. Mrs. Daniels emerged from the kitchen, cleaning her hands with a small towel.
"Dinner is in the oven boys. Don't stay up too long."
For few more minutes she prepared to leave, while boys sat in the living room, playing. However the game turned out to be more boring than expected and soon was replaced by a movie. They watched as the alien ran across the screen at super speed, killing off the main characters.
"Wouldn't it be cool to move like that?"
Pietro just nodded. "What would you say if I told you I can move so much faster?" ha thought, watching his friend. But Evan's eyes stayed glued to the TV screen.
It was well after midnight when the movie ended. Evan got off the couch and stretched, yawning.
"Share the bed or the floor?"
"I don't care."
"The bed it is then. I'm too tired to set up a mattress for you."
Pietro laughed shortly and went to the bathroom. As he showered he thought that it would be great to sleep with Evan. On the other hand it would also be a perfect torture. Being so close and not being able to touch. Gypsy sighed, frustrated. No, he will never risk losing Evan.
He walked back to Evan's room, where the other boy laid on his double bed, reading a comic book. His hair were wet, which meant he already showered, most probably in his parents' bathroom. Same as Pietro, he wore just pajama pants. Albino turned away to put his stuff on the chair.
"Pietro, what are those?" exclaimed Evan, seeing long shiny-white scars on his friend's back.
White-haired boy turned rapidly. Shit, he forgot about those.
"Nothing."
"Doesn't look like nothing to me."
"Please, Evan," Pietro's voice was quiet, tired. "Don't ask. They're old."
Evan still looked concerned, but didn't say a word. They slipped under the bed covers. For a while they talked, but then blonde started yawning and fell asleep. Pietro smiled to himself,watching Evan's expression soften. A crazy idea came to him. First he poked his friend's chest. When he got no response, he proceeded to the risky part. He leaned in, capturing boy's lips in a gentle kiss. He tasted like strawberries and vanilla.
Quiet murmur caused Pietro to jump away. But then Evan didn't wake, he just had a dream. Albino calmed down, and soon fell asleep as well.
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Evan woke up rapidly. He had a nightmare, which he couldn't really remember and something woke him up. His mind, still clouded with the dream, couldn't exactly tell what. Then he felt it again. Delicate tingling on his neck and something warm moving against him. He looked down and took a double take.
Pietro's light frame was cuddled against his chest, albino's head tucked under his chin. It was... nice. Pietro's skin might have looked like ice, but it was warm and smooth. His white hair were soft and smelled like wind and spring flowers. Evan could feel his chest raising with every breath.
Suddenly it hit him. He was holding Pietro. Another boy!
He quickly moved away, in result falling off the bed. Loud thud caused Pietro to jump up in surprise. Within a second he was wide awake, staring at Evan sitting on the floor.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I could ask you the same thing, man."
Pietro looked at him strangely.
"You were cuddling against me!"
"Oh."
Blonde watched Pietro blush furiously, turning his eyes away from him, slender, almost feminine fingers playing with one of his white bangs.
"I... I was cold."
If Evan heard the tremble in his voice, he didn't show it. Instead he smiled and said:
"I figured that much. Still, you freaked me out a bit."
He got up from the floor. Then he though:
"But it felt good, holding you. Your skin feels so nice... What the fuck am I thinking?"
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The weekend passed with no more surprises. But as everything that's good, it had to end. As soon as they got to school, they were attacked by Madison's presence.
"Oh, like, hi Evan! How was your weekend? I was like so totally bored so..."
Pietro's hearing shut off. He didn't want to hear her squeaky voice so early in the morning. Instead, he looked at Evan, observing light playing in his hair. He looked into those brown eyes, always full of emotion. He noticed the boy was saying something.
"Huh?"
"You're OK, man? You kinda spaced out on me."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. You were saying?"
"I was kinda... asked out."
Pietro felt something heavy in his stomach.
"Who asked you?"
"Madison."
Evan knew he shouldn't say that as soon as he saw his friend's trademark smirk fell. He didn't really feel like going, but what could he do? It's not like Pietro felt the same way about him, did he?
Pietro was simply shocked. A lightning could have stuck him now and he wouldn't notice. How dare she! Asking his Evan out like this! Wait, did he just thought "his Evan"?
"Are-you-going-to-go?"
"What?"
Pietro mentally smacked himself. Accidentally he started talking in hyper speed mode. He repeated the question that his friend could understand.
"I... I think so. I mean, I can't stand her up like this. And if it doesn't work, we just won't do this again."
"Yeah, right."
"Hey," laughed Evan, seeing albino's sour face. "You'll get your own shebari*."
"That's not what I'm thinking about."
"Watch it or I'll believe you." (1)
Pietro smiled weakly, then turned and walked away. Strange, considering that he seemed to run everywhere.
As soon as he left school perimeter, the speedster ran. He ran as fast as he could, not caring about glass shattering from a sonic wave he created. Tears were falling down from his eyes. He was losing him. Just like Wanda...
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Evan shifted nervously on the bench. He felt weird, sitting alone in the park, surrounded by kissing couples. Madison was late. Half an hour late. And as if it weren't enough, Pietro didn't show up in school for last few days.
What if Madison won't show up? He'd be a laughing stock in school...
Suddenly he realised that he wouldn't care. Ha had his eyes set for... someone else.
"Oh, like here you are," all too familiar chirping sounded behind him. "I was like totally on time, I swear, I just like met my best friend, you know Kathy, from my math class, she's totally awesome, anyways, we like started talking and she was like so great and I totally forgot about time..."
Evan let Madison talk, while silently praying for her to shut up. She finally had to take a breath. Before she said anything, he butted in:
"You wanna see a movie?"
The girl nodded and started to talk about the movie she heard of. The boy sighed. He was used to speed talking in huge quantities, alright, Pietro did it all the time. But at least he made sense.
Going to the movies turned out to be a bad idea. Firstly she made hi watch some boring chick flick. Secondly, she wanted to pay for both.
"If I went with 'Tro, we'd split," thought the boy. Why was he suddenly thinking of Pietro?
But after the movie came the worst.
Madison asked Evan to close his eyes. He looked at her strangely, but complied. The second his eyelids shut, he felt two arm sneaking around his neck and chubby lips pressed against his.
Evan's first kiss. He would have enjoyed it, but something was simply not right. Strange thoughts were running through his head. The boy didn't know were did they come from, were they right or wrong. All he could focus on was Madison. Her lips were too full and her hair too long. Her skin smelled like spices, heavy and suffocating scent. She was too short, her arms not slender enough, her chest pushing against him in wrong places.
Madison wasn't Pietro.
Evan broke the kiss and turned away. He could feel blush creeping up his face. He didn't wait for Madison to start speaking, he simply ran away. The only thing he knew, was that if he din't do something about his feelings, his head is going to explode.
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Soon he found himself outside Pietro's house. Something struck him. He knew albino for five years and he never was inside his house. Gathering his courage, he knocked on the door.
"We're not buying anything," came hoarse voice from the inside.
"I'm not a salesman... sir," anger boiled in Evan as he remembered scars on his friend's back. "I'm looking for Pietro."
"He's not here. Try at his friend's though. That's across the street."
Blonde raised and eyebrow and turned towards his house. The man was right! The light was on in his room. The boy rushed through the front door, then up the stairs, taking two steps at the time. As expected he found Pietro in his room. Albino sat on his bed, his knees pulled up to his chest, back resting against the headboard. His eyes were closed.
"Hey 'Tro. What's wrong?"
"She's gone, you know."
"Who?"
"My sister."
Evan took few careful steps towards the other boy and sat next to him. Pietro didn't seem to notice.
"I thought I lost you too. To her. I thought you didn't want me around anymore."
Blonde's eyes went wide with surprise as he felt white-haired head pressing against his shoulder. But he was even more shocked that Pietro's light frame shook with sobs. Pietro cried in front of nobody. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around his best friend, pulling him into comforting embrace.
"Funny," he thought. "How many details you start to notice in situation like this."
And indeed, his brain registered the whole lot of details. The feel of Pietro's shirt against his bare arms, the smell of mint shampoo and wind in his hair. How his tears sparkled in the lamp light. He smiled to himself when he came up with an idea. He started singing quietly. He sang in Romani, the only song Pietro ever taught him. It was a lullaby, one of Pietro's favorite. Somewhere in the middle of it, the gypsy boy stirred in his arms, trademark smirk back on his face.
"Stop it. You're really killing the melody."
Evan laughed but didn't realease Pietro from his hold.
"What are you doing?"
"I have no idea," replied Evan.
They sat like this for a little while. Blonde noticed that Pietro was unusually still. Suddenly albino spoke up.
"You're my best friend, you know?"
Evan nodded.
"Im' going to tell you something. Promise me, that you won't freak out."
"I promise."
"I like you."
"You're my friend, you're supposed to like me."
Pietro stood up rapidly, running his long fingers through his silver hair.
"No, I mean I like like you."
And he was gone.
* shebari - girl
1 - author's trademark motto
Sorry it took so long, but I had to buy a new laptop because my old one exploded (fan failure they told me)
Next up: Evan finds something out about himself and he has to deal with what Pietro told him...
