Woah! I'm updating this again! Whaaaaat? Well SBA Testings are finally over and I only have like four weeks of school left now? But hey, I have a three day weekend right now and no homework! So I had time to type up some chappies! Speaking of which, there should be another chapter for 'He Came To Get Me' out tomorrow or sometime this week - my plan was to update them both at the same time but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Enjoy!
Jay flashed the keys out of his pocket and punched it into the lock, opening the door to Cole's house.
No one knew but Cole had given Jay a spare key to his house in the event that he would ever want to come over - or just wake him up in time.
Jay took a step inside of his friend's house and set Evan down on the couch before switching on a light. "Huh, looks like no one's up yet." He said to himself, and partially to Evan. Tucking the keys back into his pocket, Jay slowly made his way up the stairs and to Cole's room.
To his surprise, he found the door completely shut. This was going to be a challenge. He thought. Or not, considering how much of a heavy sleeper Cole was. He reached out for the handle and gently pushed, opening the door, allowing a small creak to slip by. Cole did not stir at all, and Jay smirked.
His first thought was to turn on the light, but the sunlight from outside was definitely bright enough to illuminate the room.
Jay bit his lip, holding back a squeal.
His boyfriend always looked so adorable when he slept, and Jay could never help but want to squeeze between those arms and sleep with him.
He checked his watch. 8:30, Jay duly noted, and they were supposed to be at the party between 11 and noon. He strode over to the bedside and turned on Cole's screen to the lock, catching a glimpse of his wallpaper and the alarm.
Jay smiled warmly. It was that picture that he had took of the two of them just yesterday when Cole had refused to get up out of bed. And the alarm, well it read half an hour more till it would go off.
"What did I do to deserve you, huh?" Jay said at a normal volume, not surprised that Cole still hadn't woken up. He crouched down at the side of the bed, and smiled even wider, brushing the bangs from Cole's eyes. "I know it sounds super cliche but… you're just… a dream."
"So you're not gonna wake up, huh?" Jay gwaffed, "Shall I just wait for your alarm to go off?" He stood back up, setting Cole's phone back on the bedside. "Guess so," he drawled. In the interest of time, Jay made himself comfortable in the corner of Cole's room where he had placed the new beanbag he had purchased last week.
Several minutes later Jay heard a beep and he sought to investigate it, seeing as it came from Cole's phone. He crawled towards the device and picked it up, turning on the screen. A text message. From someone named Morro.
Morro.
Jay felt his stomach churn. Morro.
What was Morro doing texting Cole? And how did he get Cole's number?
Jay read the message.
Hey, just checking to see if Jay will be happy.
Jay will be happy? Jay will be happy?
Instinctively, he typed: Jay will be happy about what?
His thumb hovered over the 'send' button and he stared at the message intently. He shouldn't… it wasn't his phone… and it wasn't any of his business to be snooping around...
But Jay wanted to know why Morro, out of all people, was texting Cole, his own boyfriend.
Why?
The sudden stir in bed alarmed him and his fingers tightened around the phone. Suddenly feared that Cole would wake up and catch him on his phone, Jay shut off the phone and put it back on the table, scooting backwards towards the beanbag.
A couple minutes later, Jay had passed out, asleep on the beanbag.
When the thirty minute mark had passed, Cole's alarm sounded and rang loudly through the room. Startled, Jay hunched his shoulders till his ears were touching and he watched, waiting for Cole to get up.
Shockingly, Cole hit snooze on the alarm but turned in bed and went unmoving again, presumably still sleeping.
Jay's jaw dropped and he shook his head, trying to process what just happened. "What?" Jay hissed softly, "What?"
"Aw, come on, it's freaking nine." Confidently, he stood up from the beanbag and marched on over to the bed, taking out his own phone and raising the volume all the way up, blasting music a couple inches away from the side of Cole's head.
Seeing as this had no affect on him, Jay turned off his phone and plumped down on the bed, shaking his boyfriend.
"Cole… Cole, come on, wake up. It's nine…" Jay fell back against the wall and yawned. He shook Cole once more, desperate to wake his boyfriend up at once.
"Jay… quit shaking me."
"You're awake! Come on, get out of bed, ya big lug!"
"I'm not in the mood… I'm tired…"
"Picnic's today."
"Let's see," Jay started, poking his head inside of the bags. "Chips, candies, ice cream sandwiches… ice cream sandwiches?" He shot a worried look to his boyfriend and tilted his head to the right. "Uh, won't those melt considering how hot it is outside?"
Cole turned around and disappeared behind the door frame before reappearing with a bigger picnic bag. "Should have brought this out," he said and set it down next to the other prepped bags. "This should be better for the ice cream sandwiches… now, what else we got?"
Jay tore his gaze away from the cooler Cole had brought in and checked the inside of the snack bags once again. "Fruits - ah, okay, really?"
His boyfriend tossed him another curious look.
"Fruits are not snacks," Jay grabbed the bowl of strawberries and such and set them down on the counter, shaking his head.
"You can't just expect everyone to be eating junk, Jay."
"I eat junk!"
The older male picked up the bowl and put it into another bag, deciding it was best he bring it himself as an extra thing to the picnic.
"Cookies… donuts!" Jay's eyes widened, "Now that's more like it, Cole!"
"You're call," he told him, rolling his eyes. He patted Jay on the back and started for the stairs. "Alright! I am going to go upstairs to change, then maybe we can take a walk around the block? You're the one who came over early, so I dunno what else to do here, honestly."
Jay leaned back against the counter and waved his hand. "Psh, sure."
"Awesome," Cole smiled, "Could you move everything to the door?" Jay simply nodded, slinging two of the bags over each shoulder.
Giving the kitchen one last look, Jay scrunched his nose and shared a look with the other. "Hey, where's Evan? … I swear I left him right here when I got inside."
"I'll go see if he made it upstairs," Cole assured him and disappeared out of Jay's field of vision.
The second Cole made it to his room, he scanned it for any signs of a cat passing by. He spotted a pile of his dirty clothes and he walked to it, crouched down and dug through it curiously. "Evan?" He called, standing up.
Opening his closet doors, he shuffled through the racks of shirts and tossed a set of clothes onto the bed.
After changing into his day clothes, he resumed his search for that cat of Jay's.
He checked under the bed, then in the bathroom, his Dad's room, and any other room that was on their second floor.
"Any luck?" Came Jay's voice from the bottom of the staircase.
Cole hurried down the steps and met his boyfriend at the bottom, shaking his head sadly. "Aw, shoot. Where did he go?"
Cole ran a hand through his hair and squinted. "I honestly… don't know? There's not many places to hide here."
Jay put his hand to his chin and thought, searching the living room for clues. "We haven't checked the garage!"
"Now, how would he get into the garage if the door was closed?" Cole tried to reason, following the younger one to the entrance to the garage. "Aw, crap." He swore under his breath as soon as he saw that the door was left open.
"What were you doing in here?" Jay asked, shutting the door behind Cole when they stepped inside.
"My Dad probably forgot to close it, I guess."
Jay sighed and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Evan?" Jay's leg instinctively came up and he shrieked, falling backwards against Cole's back. "Evan! What are you doing down here?" He scolded and scooped the kitten into his arms.
"Wow, that was fast… I guess he was in here… Guess this means we can head back up!" Cole told him, ushering his boyfriend back inside.
After about a half hour of walking around the block, Cole decided it was time to hop in the car and drive on down to the park for the picnic.
The memories of that text Cole received from Morro fought their way back into Jay's thoughts and he craned his neck towards the window. He kept his mouth shut the entire ride to the park, his thoughts never straying from that text.
Why? Why? Why?
"Wake up, Blue, we're here."
Jay tilted his head towards Cole, prying his eyes open. "When did you come up with 'Blue'?"
The car geared into parking and Cole unbuckled his seatbelt, opening the door. "Just… popped into my head." He said with a smile. "Blue just represents you."
Jay met Cole outside of the car and beamed. The two opened the doors on either side of the car to the backseats and pulled out the bags packed with food, Evan hopping out as well.
"Ah," Cole said, taking a deep breath as they started for where the tables were set up. "Don't you love the feeling you get when the weather is just perfect and the breeze is just right?"
"Yeah," Jay grinned, leaning his head against Cole's shoulder. "Yeah, it is."
As they neared the benches, Jay saw both Nya and Skylor already setting up. His eyes drifted to the right and he caught a glimpse of Kai and Zane socializing beneath one of the large trees. "Look, Kai and Zane are here already! Hey, Sky!" Jay shouted, waving his arm up high. Cole was walking beside him, holding two bags while Jay held one and Evan in the other.
"Well," Skylor started as they set their stuff down on the benches, "You two sure are early."
Cole jabbed a finger at Jay in an instant and smirked. "Hey, not as early as those two," Jay remarked, pointing to Kai and Zane.
Kai raised his brows and stepped forward, folding his arms across his chest. "Hey, I came here with Nya."
"Psh, your sister being here isn't an excuse!" Jay scoffed and put his hands on his hips. "So, who else is coming? Lloyd, right?"
"And Ronin," Nya added as she helped Cole unpack the drinks and snacks from the bags.
Jay gagged. "Ronin? Last time I saw that guy he was the cause of my friend getting drunk!"
Cole cleared his throat, earning Jay's attention. "Are you forgetting that he took me home and saved me from the stranger?"
Nya sighed. "He's a friend of mine, guys. And Kai and I have known him for years, so suck it- Wow, you guys sure bought a lot of food… I'm impressed!"
Jay, who was chatting it up with Kai and Zane, grinned sheepishly and waved a hand. "Well, my mom needed some more fabric for her quilts, so we were kind of at it already just taking anything we saw."
"You guys brought fruit punch too, wow. Really, wow!"
"Thaaaat… was actually-"
"My idea," Cole piped in, taking a box of sugar cookies out of the bag. "Anyways, what have you been up to?" He asked Nya. "How's the job?"
"Oh, great! Skylor's having me fill in for this other guy in a couple of days and she said that she'd treat me to something as a reward!"
Cole mustered a smile and opened the container of cookies, stuffing one into his mouth. "Nice," he swallowed and closed the box tighter, ignoring the look Nya gave him.
"How's bout yours?"
"Smoothie thing? Ah, same old everyday. Nothing's really changed, honestly."
"What about Jay?"
"What about Jay?"
Nya shrugged and folded up one of the empty bags. "Does he have a job? Mm, how is he? As, you know, you're boyfriend? You and I hardly get any one on one time together."
"He does not have a job yet, actually. He should really start considering one now that I think of it…" Cole unpacked the soda cans from their paper cartons. "He's really lazy… likes to stay home playing video games all the time. Hardly goes outdoors, which is a real bummer."
"Hey, you can get him to go outside, can't you? You love nature and you're his friend. Bonus, you're his boyfriend so he can't really say no to that," Nya added with a fashionable wink. Cole chuckled softly and tossed the trash into an empty paper bag.
"Hey, Cole, can I get a sugar cookie?" Jay asked, now standing between him and Nya.
"Umm, no. These are for the picnic. It hasn't even started yet."
"I saw you take one." Jay sneered.
"I paid for the cookies," Cole defended.
Jay snorted, puffing out his chest at which both Cole and Nya attempted to keep from laughing.
Seeing as they were in public, Jay got an idea and he grinned devilishly at Cole, raising his scarred brow. Cole cocked his head.
"What… I know that look. What are you thinking of right now?" He wondered. Jay only continued to look slyly to Cole. "Trust me, at least half or more of your ideas go wrong almost a-"
Nya's eyes grew wide the minute Jay had leaned in towards Cole for a kiss, shutting the other up. Her hands rose to cover her mouth as she softly gasped, a smile growing on her face.
Jay had the look of determination written all over his face when he took the chance.
And Nya could already tell what Jay's plan was.
Affection in public was often something Cole liked to shy away from, as he wasn't as comfortable with it as Jay was. That and he just got flustered easily.
So, being the smartass he was, Jay saw stealing a kiss as an opportunity to fluster Cole enough that he would crumble just enough for Jay to get the things he wanted.
"Smart," Nya noted, keeping her eyes on the two of them. Zane, Kai, and Skylor turned to see what was all the commotion about and in return, all they could see was a very happy Nya, leaning against the table with a bright smile.
After what felt like forever to Cole, Jay pulled away, a hand clenched around a chunk of Cole's tank. "So about that cookie?"
"I… you, heh…" Cole looked around when he felt everyone's eyes on him. He cleared his throat in an attempt to wash away the shakiness in his voice, but what he didn't know, was how red he was. Jay only laughed, feeling Cole's arm heat up beneath his hand.
"Yes or no?" Jay asked.
"It's idiot… ahh!"
Jay pecked him on the lips once more.
Cole covered his face with his hands and mumbled something.
"What was that?" Jay teased, already reaching for the sugar cookies.
"Just take the damn cookie."
With another light kiss on the cheek, Jay snatched a cookie from the box. "Thanks, bro."
Just as Jay was moving to take a bite out of the cookie, a low, gravelly voice called from behind and Jay froze in place.
"Hey, Jay! Am I late?"
Jay gulped and stood, it was as if his legs wouldn't even allow him to turn around. His mind immediately raced back to the text message and he connected everything finally.
So this was it. This was what Jay would be 'happy about'.
"Cole! Hey!"
At the mention of his name, Cole peered between his fingers and cast a glance at Jay and saw his friend glaring daggers at him with piercing blue eyes. Never before had Cole seen Jay this angry. And never before did he want to get Jay this angry.
Thank goodness his hands were already covering his face…
But this was all for the best.
He invited Morro because he wanted Jay to get over it and make amends.
Jay had spun around, staring at Morro the same way he had at Cole.
Fearfully, Cole's eyes switched between Morro and Jay.
Too late now.
"Hi…"