6. “You can date whoever you want, but you should marry the nerds and the good guys.” - Sheryl Sandberg
Chapter 6
“You can date whoever you want, but you should marry the nerds and the good guys.” - Sheryl Sandberg
Dylan
I stirred as a heavy weight lifted from my chest, the morning light streaming through the shutters on windows. Beams of light tried to pierce their way through the skin of my eyelids. I groaned as the warmth that was all around me was slowly pulled away.
“Oh my god I’m so sorry!” Who the fuck is that? My eyes darted open to find a sleep-rumpled and startled Austin Ridge sitting upright in my bed, looking down at me cautiously while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I fell asleep in your bed.”
Okay here goes the gay panic routine, I thought to myself; it kinda sucked because he’d been doing so well.
“Hey, sorry I should have woken you up.” I pulled the covers up around myself, creating a barrier between us so he didn’t feel too exposed. “I texted your mom that you would be staying here as we were having an all-night study session.”
“You did?” A confused look crossed his face.
“Yeah sorry, I should have really woken you up then and sent you home, but you were dead to the world.” I retreated further across the bed.
“It’s Saturday right?” he asked, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Yeah.”
“Oh that’s cool, then I can sleep some more.” He shocked the shit out of me by reaching across the bed and pulling downwards until I was lying back in my original position. He rested his head on my chest, slinging an arm across my waist and pulling me closer towards him. “Sorry, you were super comfy, so I have no plans to move for the next hour.”
Carefully I lowered my arm until it rested gently on his back. With that contact he made a kind of growling happy bear sound, pushing his back towards my palm. “I like it when people tickle and scratch my back.”
I slowly raked my nails up and down his back, his breath coming in short, stuttered pants across my chest. The side of his mouth pressed into the skin of my pecs, and I dug my fingers deeper into his back. “That’s so fucking good, Dylan.” His moaning short-circuited my thought process, but the deep timbre of his voice went straight to my cock which got instantly hard in my shorts. I prayed he didn’t move closer to me, otherwise he was gonna have a very hard dick pressed into his belly.
“Austin, not that I need to stop or anything,” I cursed myself inwardly for asking the question that needed to be asked, “but what’s happening right now?” I didn’t let up on the tight muscles of his back, working my fingers now into the knots of his trap muscles.
“What do you mean?” he groaned against me.
“I mean we are both half-dressed, in my bed,” I began, “and you were naked, and now you’re not. But I mean you’re almost naked, and you’re wearing my underwear in bed, with me. You’re lying on my chest While I play with your back. What’s going on with all that?”
He stiffened slightly, his head lifting but only enough to rest his chin on my chest. He stared off at the wall, his eyes darting up after a second to meet mine. “I don’t know,” he murmured. “I keep thinking I should maybe say something, but I don’t know what it is I’m supposed to say. I don’t know what’s happening other than I really like it. I know that yesterday when you said you didn’t want to hang out with me anymore, it felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach and yanked my heart out through my throat.”
“Ouch,” I laughed lightly, my fingers trailing slowly and featherlight across his shoulder.
“I know that when you agreed to let me come back over, it made me really happy.” He turned his head till it faced mine. “I know that I’m more comfortable with you than anyone I’ve met in my life and that just lying here in bed with you is so fucking peaceful. But I’m scared.”
I stopped. “What are you scared of?”
“I’m scared that if I really try and describe what’s happening that I might fuck it up and it might go away, and I really don’t want that to happen.”
Fuck, I didn’t want that to happen either. Just him being here with me like this was beyond my wildest imagination, and I would take that over not having him here at all. Did I want to know what lies on the other side of the question? Sure. But did I want to know so bad that I was willing to lose whatever this was in this very moment? Fuck no!
“Well how about this then,” I resumed stroking the tense muscle in his back, “how about we don’t talk about it at all, and we just lay here and enjoy whatever it is?”
“Yeah?” A bright smile covered his face.
“Yeah.”
He rested his head back down, burrowing closer into my side. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. As predicted, my steel hard cock was now pressed into the tense muscle of his chest. He chuckled lightly but made no attempt to move.
We didn’t speak for an hour. We didn’t move except for my ministrations and for the featherlight touches of his fingertips over my belly which he’d started fifteen minutes earlier.
“I like your stomach,” he mumbled sleepily as he began to drift back to sleep.
***
“So what happened then!” Hailey’s fingers found my ribs.
I squirmed in my seat, a spray of coleslaw blowing onto my plate in front of me as I fought against the evil work of her fingers at my side. “Hailey stop!” I spluttered.
She pulled her hand away from me and gestured for me to go on. I didn’t want to be shouting to the masses about one of the most popular guys in school being almost naked in my bed cuddling with me, but Hailey was not just anyone.
“Nothing, we just lay there for a while and chatted.” I shrugged. “He went home in the afternoon, and I haven’t really spoken to him since.”
“Well you’re gonna get your chance,” Hailey said, looking over my head. “Austin, hi!”
I turned my neck sharply to see him smiling down at me. “Shove up.”
“Where?” I gestured to the wall next to me. “It’s a two-seat table.”
“We can share.” I slid as much as I could towards the stone wall as he slipped into the seat next to me. He flung his arm around the back of the chair to steady himself, his fingertips resting on my shoulder. “So how are you guys today?”
“Yeah good.” Hailey smiled, her laser stare focused on the fingertips currently stroking the thin fabric of my t-shirt. “I was just about to tell Dylan that I accepted Todd’s offer to go with him to prom.”
I reached forward and slapped her hand lightly. “You never told me that!”
“Well, we were busy talking about other things.” She side-eyed Austin and gave me a sly wink. “Anyway, I’m telling you now.”
“Todd’s a good guy.” Austin smiled, his fingers gripping my shoulder and giving it a squeeze, and my heart began to pound heavy in my chest.
“So, we are going to have to do some dress shopping, yes?” I asked her seriously.
“I was thinking I would just throw on something from my closet.” Her nose scrunched in disgust at the idea of dress shopping.
“Unless you want to go dressed as a truck driver or dock worker then we are going to need to go shopping.” I grabbed my bag from the floor and pulled out my class schedule, “I think we both have a free last period tomorrow, why don’t we go then?”
“Me too.”
“What?” I turned towards Austin, “You want to come dress shopping with us?”
“Well, I figure Hailey will be spending a lot of the time in the dressing room, so maybe I could come along and keep you company?” I couldn’t help the smile that overtook my face in that moment. Who is this guy?
“That’s really kind of you Austin,” Hailey interrupted my moment, “I think it would be a great idea if you came. Not only because you’re the only one of us with a car and you can drive either.”
Austin laughed, his hand slipping further down my arm until he was basically side-hugging me right there in the middle of the cafeteria. “That’s fine.”
“So what about you Austin?” Hailey’s face took on a kind of evil mischievous look. “Which lucky lady has won the privilege of your escort to prom?”
“No one.”
I turned to him and frowned. “Seriously,” I laughed, “who are you taking? You can’t not go, you’re captain of the football team. Isn’t it like law that you have to go with one of the cheerleaders?”
“I don’t know how enforceable those laws are,” he chuckled, pulling me that much closer to him until I was tucked neatly under his arm. “I think a few of us guys on the team are just gonna go stag together and have a blast, you know?”
I was both elated and a bit dejected that first, he was not taking anyone to prom, and second, that I was one of those people that he wasn’t taking to prom.
“How about you Dylan, have you asked anyone yet?” He pinned me with a curious, almost accusatory stare.
I’d better answer in the right way. “Nah, I’m going stag too.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Plus, I’m going to steal a dance from lady here.” I gestured towards Hailey.
“Yeah, Todd won’t mind.” She stuck a carrot stick between her teeth and crunched it sharply. “On that note, I told Todd I would meet him for the last ten minutes of lunch so we could discuss prom.” She picked up her satchel and walked out of the room. Austin made no effort to move into the now-vacant seat, but simply leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“If you get to steal a dance from Hailey, then I think it’s only fair I get to steal a dance from you, okay?” He leaned forward and pressed his lips gently to my cheek.
The next day I found myself in what must be the ninth dress store in the past two hours. I leaned back over the chair and groaned. “For someone who was going to just pick any old dress from the closet, she can take an age choosing a new dress.”
“It has to be perfect, you big ‘mo!” Hailey called from the dressing room.
“I didn’t know she could hear me.” I winced at Austin who sat next to me, looking equally frazzled.
“Surely this has to be the last store right?” he asked me hopefully. “I mean, I’m not sure there are any more stores in town.”
“Aren’t you glad you are going with the team and don’t have to put up with this shit all night at prom,” I laughed and shoved his arm playfully.
“Oh I don’t know,” a small sad smile played on his face, “I wish I could just take who I really wanted to take.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and shrugged. “Oh well, someday I guess.”
Before I got the chance to ask him what exactly he meant by that – because I really didn’t want to misunderstand what he means – I opened my mouth to do just that when the dressing room door opened and Hailey stepped out. All thoughts vanished from my head as I stared open-mouthed at the vision in front of me.
“It looks okay right? I mean I think it looks okay. I think I love it, but I won’t buy it if it looks awful. Oh, it looks awful doesn’t it? That’s why you’re not saying anything. I’ll go take it off and I’ll just stay in my room slash belltower like Quasimodo.” Hailey face went from joy to panic in five seconds flat.
“Hailey stop,” I gasped. “Don’t take this the wrong way as you know I think you’re gorgeous, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look more beautiful.” From what she’d told me when she was pulling it off the hanger, her dress was an A-line, off-the-shoulder sweep train in chiffon. It was in a kind of golden champagne color which made her bronze Italian skin glimmer and her blonde hair almost shine. On her bust were very small intricate silk roses in the same color, While the skirt had a satiny look to it. There was a split up the side of the dress where Hailey’s toned smooth thigh and calf peeked out. She looked like a movie star, and I could not stop looking at her.
“Seriously?” She beamed at me.
I pointed at Austin without looking, knowing that he had the same dumbfounded expression on his face as I did. “Todd is going to lose his shit,” he said simply.
“God I hope so,” she said, turning around to check herself out in the mirror. “Are you gonna try on a tux?” I caught her gaze in the mirror, her eyes flitting between me and Austin.
“Maybe, you think I should?” The reflection of my face in the mirror was taking on a sort of squashed peach look. That isn’t attractive , I scolded myself and schooled my features.
“You made me do the clotheshorse thing today,” she gestured down at her dress, “it’s only fair that I get to do the same to you. Also, I want a picture of me and you in our finest so I can tell my kids in the future that I dated a cute nerd and turned him gay.”
“Sweetie, I’d have to actually kiss or bone you for that to happen, and unless you’re secretly Christian Slater in disguise, then that’s never going to happen.”
Austin barked out a sharp laugh, shaking his head at our verbal tennis match. “Well lucky for the both of you I have my camera in my car, so I’m just gonna go grab it.”
I left Hailey to twirl in her dress while I picked a couple of simple black James Bond-looking tuxes from the racks and took them back to the dressing rooms.
“Can I help you sir?” a voice suddenly sounded behind me. I dropped the armful of suits on the floor in shock, jumping and turning in the air.
“Holy fuck!” I wheezed, my heart pounding a million miles a minute. “Where in the shit did you come from?” My eyes stopped darting around long enough to rest on my verbal assailant. If it hadn’t been for the coronary he just about gave me, then this guy would definitely have been a contender for one of my late-night masturbatory fantasies. This guy ticked all my boxes; he must have been over six feet by at least three or four inches, wide chest with dark hair poking over the V-neck of his white and navy blue store t-shirt uniform. Thick forearms dusted with dark hair and aqua blue eyes shone out from his olive face. I guessed he had long hair, based on the size of the man bun he had going on, thick wavy dark hair tendrils falling around his face.
“Oh fuck, I’m sorry I said ‘shit’, and ‘fuck’.” I spluttered, the drool in my mouth making it difficult to form actual sentences. “So what I mean to say is that I shouldn’t have said ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’ and I’m fucking sorry about that.”
The muscular thick-forearmed Italian-looking god regarded me with overt amusement and wonder as I rambled myself into something approaching hysterics.
“Okay, can we start over please?”
“Absolutely.” He nodded, his arms folding across his chest, making his muscles bulge obscenely. “Go ahead.”
“What I meant to say was,” I tried to remember words when I suddenly came to a realization, “hey, I wasn’t going to say anything! You scared me! What do you want?”
This earned me a laugh as he shook his head lightly. “Sorry sir, I just saw you carrying a lot of suits and you looked like you might be struggling, so I just thought you might need some help.”
How insulting! “What, you saw a skinny little weak nerd and thought that I couldn’t handle clothes and that you might have to save me?”
“Well, actually I saw you in the racks looking at clothes and thought you were really cute,” he said, non-plussed. “This was just an opportunity to come and talk to you.”
“What, me?” I looked around to make sure he wasn’t talking to a hot guy or girl behind me, because that had happened before. I’m never going back to that PF Chang’s again.
“Yeah, you.” His smile was so warm and affectionately. “Are you here by yourself?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but very much like a ventriloquist, the sound came from the large body suddenly behind me. “No he isn’t, he is here with me.” The ventriloquist sounded pissed.
“Sorry man.” The changing room attendant put his hands up in front of him. “I thought you were single.”
“I am!” I protested, turning around sharply to see a very agitated-looking Austin staring daggers at the very nice deity in front of me.
“Sorry, I’m confused.” He looked between me and Austin and gave us a brief nod. “I’ll give you gentleman a minute.” He wandered off back towards the men’s section and out of sight.
How fucking dare Austin do this? Yes, I completely understand that he didn’t want to label whatever we were to each other. I mean, we’d slept together in the same bed almost naked, and I’d seen him naked a couple of times now and we’d woken up in each other’s arms, but I’d never even kissed the guy. Now this unbelievable smoke show showed a bit of interest in me, and Austin basically pissed all over my back legs, what the actual fuck?
“How unprofessional!” He gritted his teeth. “What, he just thinks he can just come over here and flirt with whoever he wants? Who does he think he is?”
“I don’t know Austin,” I bit out, “I never even managed to get his name.”
Obviously not picking up my mood he continued, “I mean the gall, that he would just start hitting on you like you some available piece of meat. Like he can just have you, when he can’t because I….”
My heart stopped for a moment. “When you what?”
His gaze snapped to mine, a panicked look taking over his whole face, his body tensing like he was about to bolt. “I don’t know what I mean,” he quickly corrected himself. “Is that what you want?” he frowned, looking down towards his feet. “You want to go back and flirt with him?”
I absolutely hate that his kicked-puppy look works so effectively on me. “No, Austin,” I sighed, “I don’t want to flirt with him. I don’t want to flirt with anybody…” his frown line deepened, “else.”
And just like that the sun came back out and his smile overtook his face.
“Really?” he chewed at his bottom lip, a hopeful lilt to his tone.
“You’re ridiculous,” I smiled, snagging the clothes piles from the floor in front of me and walking into the dressing room.