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Chapter 14 - Twirling flowers; Crushing Petals
Two consecutive knocks woke Nick. He groaned and wondered who was knocking on his apartment door at such a late hour. He swung his legs to the side of the bed, feeling a carpeted floor instead of cold wood. A minute or two more passed until realization dawned on him like a reluctant snail. He looked behind him to find Joe sleeping peacefully and he remembered where they were. He drew the blanket over Joe's bare chest and tossed the pillow and blanket around in the other bed to make it look slept in. He quickly pulled on a shirt before trudging noisily to the door and answering the polite knocks.
Zac stood outside in the halls, freshly showered, shirt clinging to slightly damp skin.
"Good morning, Jones. Breakfast will be in half an hour. Please alert Jonas that there is a meeting fifteen minutes prior."
Nick, who had leaned sleepily against the door frame, nodded slowly as everything that was said caught up with his still snoozing mind.
"See you at breakfast." With that said, Zac knocked on the other door, the knocks a little harder. He'd probably already tried to wake the occupants before them once.
Nick stretched, scratching his abdomen absently. The noise and activity beside their room finally registered to his muddy mind. David was moving bags into the room next to theirs, the one that was apparently under renovations. After knocking on a few more doors, Zac paused to help David move a few more belongings.
"What's going on?" Joe's voice came from behind. He appeared beside him, still wearing only his pajama pants. A brief touch on the small of his back acted as a greeting. They watched some more until Nick was able to flag down the pair for some questions.
"Hey. What's happening?"
The pair approached them, trailing wet footprints on the carpeted floor.
"Good morning."
They exchanged greetings and allowed David to explain.
"Rain wet the carpet."
"What did you do, David?" Nick grinned, already waking.
"He was not at fault. A moth entered the room last night. I was too tired to help it outside so I left the window open. We woke to a wet floor."
Joe and Nick snickered a little.
"Only you, Zac," Joe said, shaking his head.
"So you guys are moving into the room beside ours? I thought..."
"We did not want to trouble the staff; we can deal with stripped walls. Everything else is fine."
They nodded their understanding as their thoughts ran along the same lines: I wonder how thin the walls are.
Zac turned to Joe.
"Jonas, the meeting...?"
"Yes, I heard."
"See you in fifteen."
They closed the door behind them. Nick leaned against the door and Joe leaned on him.
"I wonder how thin these walls are."
Joe hummed against his neck.
"We can find out..."
"How?" Nick inquired, running his hands on the boy's sides.
"I can jerk you off and ask our neighbors how loud we were." Joe grinned against his skin.
Nick sniggered and pushed the boy away. "C'mon, let's get ready. You have only a couple of minutes."
They headed to the showers. A few boys were already there, either in the process of showering or having just finished. He was grateful for the individual stalls and glass doors. Keeping his white robe with its frog prints close over his chest, Nick claimed a stall. Before he entered, he saw something glimmer on Joe's chest. He asked himself how he could have missed it earlier. His chain dangled around the pale neck, pendant pressing flat on Joe's chest. The boy hadn't worn it in a while but he'd probably kept it close.
His recent dreams, or nightmares more like, returned to him suddenly. Nick sighed under the torrent spray of lukewarm water. Behind his shut eyes, he saw the image of blood on the snow.
"It's still a little wet out there, but I think we can manage the race. You guys won't let a little mud stop you from learning, right?" Mr. Davis cheered positively.
David and Nick snorted. "You're a geek, Mr. Davis!" they cheered. Laughter followed as Mr. Davis blushed guiltily.
"Alright, everyone draw your partner's name from this box!"
A couple of minutes later, they stood outside beside their partners. Nick looked over to a seething Demi as the girl gritted her teeth in jealousy. Miley waved from her spot beside a rather petulant looking Joe.
"I should have gone ahead of her! Why did I have to be so nice?"
"Oh, c'mon, Demi. Am I that bad?" He grinned adorably.
She spared him a moment to direct a glare in his direction. He only grinned at her turned back.
"Hey, Nick?"
The brunette boy looked down from his perch on a tree limb at his race partner. Demi twirled a wild flower's stem with her fingers, head bowed, watching the flower spin.
After a few moments of silence, he looked to the distance once more. A few sun beams penetrated the thick and low gray clouds. Mist swallowed the trees and land, allowing only the tree tops to be seen.
"It's like broccoli soup," he murmured. No matter how he squinted he couldn't penetrate the gray that cloaked the ground. Finally, he gave up. "I can't see the other teams with all this fog," he announced and carefully climbed down the slightly slippery tree trunk. Once his feet touched the ground, he wiped his hands on his pant legs and turned to face the dark-haired girl.
He was surprised when her arms pinned him and forced him to lean back against the tree trunk. She was eyeing him carefully, assessing.
"I have a favor to ask."
He furrowed his eyebrows, his curiosity piqued.
"We're friends, right?"
"If you want me to arrange a meeting between you and Jonas, you better get in line. Almost every girl has asked me already." He tried not to get distracted when he noticed she was leaning closer.
"No, it's not that, at least not yet. We're friends, right?"
He shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Sure, I guess so." She was definitely leaning closer, he thought.
"Kiss me?"
"What?" He pushed her away gently and escaped her arms. Backing away a few steps, he shook his head to make sure he had heard her correctly. "Are you mixing medicines?" he asked.
"Hey!" she protested. "I'm asking for a bigger purpose!"
"Should I be scared to ask what that is?"
"I wanted Joe to be my first kiss, but I don't want to be an inexperienced kisser, so I thought I should practice!"
To her mind, that probably made a lot of sense, he thought. "Demi, as..." He coughed. "...Flattered as I am that you chose me, shouldn't you go the old fashioned way and just kiss him despite your inexperience?" Not that Joe would be interested in kissing anyone else any time soon, he mentally added. Maybe, or maybe not? Now he was confused.
She stepped closer, getting a strange gleam in her eyes. He took another step backwards.
"S-Shouldn't you save your first kiss for the person you really like? Isn't that part of the entire experience? Isn't it a special thing despite the clumsy results?"
She clutched her head and made a frustrated sound. "I love him, Nick! I can't help it! I want it to be perfect! I can't stop thinking about him! I hate it when his eyes aren't focused on me; I don't want him looking at anyone else, touching anyone else!"
Her eyes had grown wide and slightly watery. She gripped the flower to her chest, crushing some of the petals. He stared at her, suddenly undecided as to how to react, as to what to say.
She grew silent and then spoke in a softer voice. She twirled the flower once more with its stem and its damaged petals.
"You know what I think love would feel like, Nick?"
He did not interrupt her; just let her express her heart.
"I think it will feel like spinning... Spinning... until the whole world turns into a blur and all you can see is the person you love spinning along with you." She smiled softly. "That's what I imagine love would be like."
She looked up from watching the spinning flower and met his eyes over the short distance. "How about you, Nick?"
He shifted under her gaze and avoided her eyes, choosing instead to look at the fogged distance. He recalled the strong emotions he felt whenever he thought of or was near Joe. It was a feeling of...
"I don't know," he answered.
Demi closed the distance between them in three quick strides while he was distracted by his thoughts. She gripped his hand and looked at him with pleading eyes.
"You understand, right? Please, Nick? For me?"
He began to shake his head and panicked as she leaned forward. Somehow, he couldn't move away; he was suddenly weak. He was too frightened to break her heart.
"Jones! Demi! Have you forgotten the race?"
They jumped apart at the familiar voice of the class president. Joe and Miley stood a short distance away, wearing twin expressions of curiosity and surprise on their faces.
Demi began floundering and tried to explain that it wasn't what it looked like, while at the same time avoiding all their eyes. Miley grilled her for being caught in a compromising position. Joe met Nick's eyes over the girls' heads, questioning. The brunette teen indicated that he would explain later.
The rest of the race was silent. Miley and Joe stayed with them. Once in a while, Miley would tease the other girl. Demi would protest but was obviously not in the mood to spar words with her rival. She excused herself at the end of the race, and apologized that they hadn't won, then disappeared into the other activities. Miley followed her, leaving the boys alone.
...Spinning... Spinning until the whole world turns into a blur...
Joe pulled him to an empty room and barely allowed him time to explain what he'd walked into before kissing him desperately, seeming to be searching for something. Nick kissed back, ignoring the guilty feeling eating away at him slowly as he recalled Demi's words.
...And all you can see is the person you love spinning along with you...
With Love, Carlie :D