Catch My Breath (10 page)

Danny knew his feelings weren’t platonic. Far from it. He wasn’t a moron. But he had to control it. Elliot was his friend. His closest friend. They’d stayed up for hours talking and laughing in their room, getting to know each other. He’d never found anyone he got along with better. Yes. Elliot was his friend.
Friend.
Katie was his girlfriend. End of story. It would be best for everyone involved if Danny reminded himself of that on a daily basis.

“H
EY
, El?” Danny’s voice was soft in the darkness of their room.

Elliot rolled over so he was facing Danny’s bed. He’d been half asleep, but Danny’s voice opened his eyes. Elliot loved Danny’s voice. Kinda scratchy, soft, already so familiar. “Yeah?”

“This is crazy, isn’t it?”

Of course it was. The show, the record deal, it was all kind of crazy. Some days he forgot in the bustle of everything they had to do, but then reality would hit out of the blue, and he’d be bowled over once again.

“Of course,” he said. “I can’t believe we’re actually recording a freaking album. We already have
fans
. Could you have ever imagined having fans before?”

“Well, yeah… but that’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“I meant this.” Elliot could barely see Danny’s hand wave in the darkness, gesturing between the two of them. “You and me. Man, this is going to sound cheesy as shit, but…. It seems impossible to believe we didn’t know each other two months ago. You’re already, like, my best friend. The thought of not knowing you is so weird. Like it was another life. You know what I mean?”

Elliot did know. He couldn’t imagine his days not filled with Danny’s brash laugh, his huge smile, the constancy of his familiar touch. Not anymore at least. Danny had become a part of him so quickly. Webb, Tate, and Reece had too, all in their own ways, but it wasn’t quite the same.

“I know. It’s… I don’t know. Like nobody really got me before you.” Elliot laughed. “See? I can be cheesy too. It’s just, like, we were meant to be friends or something. I think we were meant to meet.”

Danny stood from his bed and shuffled over to sit on the edge of Elliot’s bed. Elliot scooted in closer to the wall to give him room.

“I think we were too,” Danny said quietly. He reached over to thread his fingers into Elliot’s hair. He’d done it so many times by then it felt like second nature to have his hand there. Elliot nudged catlike at Danny’s hand with his head so he’d know not to stop. Danny chuckled softly, but kept petting. “I mean, I love the guys to death. They’re cool as hell. It’s just different with us.”

Elliot turned his head to look up at Danny. He could see his face in the darkness, barely, those high cheekbones and a hint of a fond smile. Elliot smiled in return and covered Danny’s free hand with his own. Maybe in another friendship that would seem weird. For them, that was just the way they were. As confusing as it was at times, Elliot loved it.

“Hey, scoot over a little more,” Danny said. “I’m cold.”

Elliot didn’t even think about how it was anything but cold in the room, didn’t think about how it was odd ’cause they were just platonic friends, right? He simply moved without question. Next thing he knew, Danny was cuddled up under his covers with him, sharing his pillow. Elliot felt the warmth from his body, could almost feel his skin, would’ve been able to feel his skin if he just moved a few inches… but he didn’t. It wouldn’t be right. Danny trusted him.

“Night, El,” Danny whispered.

“Night, Danny.”

Danny reached up and ruffled his hair again. Then he kissed Elliot on the forehead. It took Elliot a long,
long
time to fall asleep.

Chapter 6

IS LOOOOVE IN THE AIR AT BAND CAMP?

A Candy Scoop Exclusive!

Candy Scoop here again and our offices are buzzing with talk of bromances on this season’s newest show
Band Camp
! We feel a little bad for THE PIXIES with all the manlove in that house. Just kidding. We’re jealous if you want to know the truth. Take pictures girls!

With all this talk of bromance, who are the love matches, you ask?

WEBB from STATIC and JEFF from OCD have bonded over their shared love of Nirvana and moody brooding glares. Maybe they made time for some smooching as well (right boys)?

Of course there’s the early favorite of REECE and TATE from STATIC, dubbed “Rate.” Deeeee-Lish!! Although we might be getting some three-way love action because lately crooner CHRIS COLLINS has gotten cozy with our five STATIC cuties. Candy Scoop is quite alright with that!

Last but not least is the dark horse “Delly.” ELLIOT and DANNY aren’t the first STATIC bromance, but they might be the most adorable. Sorry Rate, we still love you!

By the way we’d love to know what goes on up in the STATIC rooms at night because these boys are all sooo close and cuddly. Gentlemen, you have the same assignment as THE PIXIES. Pictures!

Tune into
Band Camp
Tuesdays at nine for all the action….

—CS

I
T
WAS
around nine at night when Reece stuck his head into Elliot and Danny’s room. Danny had been reading, and Elliot was messing around on his laptop. “Hey, you two want to watch
Saw
? Everyone’s going to meet in the big room in ten minutes.”

Elliot cringed. He’d never been a fan of horror flicks. “
Saw
?”

“Yeah, we’ll be there,” Danny answered.

“Cool.” Reece retreated back through the bathroom into the room he shared with Tate and Webb.

“I don’t like scary movies. I think I’m just going to stay up here.” Elliot stuck his feet under his blanket and got ready for a long boring night.

Danny hopped up from his bed and skipped over. He took Elliot’s laptop from him and closed it before grabbing Elliot’s arm and dragging him out of bed. Elliot’s feet got caught in his blanket and he nearly fell. “Hey!” he protested.

“C’mon. You’re not staying up here. I’ll hold your hand,” Danny added with a snicker. “It’ll be fine. Bring your blanket.”

It was impossible to say no to Danny.

By the time Danny dragged him down to the main room, all the chairs were taken, and the only spot left on the big sectional couch was the recliner chair section at the end. It was either that or get stuck on the floor and have a numb butt by the end of the movie. Danny just shrugged, sat on the recliner, and made room for Elliot between his legs. Elliot hesitated for a minute—’cause sure, they cuddled all the time, but
still
—then he thought,
screw it
, and flopped down against Danny’s chest. Danny spread the blanket over them as the lights flickered off. He pushed the button to recline their seat until they were practically lying on each other. Elliot decided that as much as he hated horror movies, there was nowhere in the universe he would rather be than exactly where he was.

Casually, Danny’s hands drifted their way down Elliot’s arms, which were folded across his chest under the blanket, until they were, in fact, holding hands. It wasn’t the first time they’d held hands by any means. Danny grabbed Elliot’s hand constantly, pulling him around the house at his usual breakneck speed, and Elliot had done the same a few times. But it felt… different, intimate, with their fingers slotted together instead of just curled around one another as usual. It was a little scary yet right and good and comfortable all the same. Like they were meant to be twined together under the blanket in a ball of limbs and fingers. Elliot stroked Danny’s wrist with his thumb before he realized that probably wasn’t part of the “friend code” even when the friends were like him and Danny. But when Danny squeezed his hands and rubbed back he figured that was okay too.

Danny let go of one of Elliot’s hands and used his fingers to comb through Elliot’s hair and push it down.

“Sorry. Your hair was tickling my nose,” he whispered before he wriggled his hand back under the blanket and into Elliot’s grasp.

Elliot giggled quietly to cover up his nerves. “I need a haircut.”

Danny leaned way forward until his lips were right up against Elliot’s ear. “Don’t cut your hair,” he murmured. “I like it just like it is.”

Elliot’s entire back went all shivery and full of goose bumps. He melted even more into Danny’s embrace.
Damn. Did he really have to do that?
Elliot noticed Webb looking at them speculatively, and his stomach dropped. Could Webb see it? Elliot knew he wasn’t very good at hiding his feelings. His mom called him her little open book. He’d tried to push his attraction to Danny down, cover it with friendship, joke about the bromance, but it was hard when he was lying on Danny’s compact, muscled body, breathing him in, fingers tangled together. It was hard to remember that they were just good friends. Elliot made a dumb face at Webb, in the hopes that he’d forget whatever he thought he saw, and leaned back to watch the movie. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too bad. Or maybe he’d be so distracted by Danny he wouldn’t get scared at all. Probably. It was always like that anyway.

Whenever Danny was in the room, Elliot had to keep reminding himself that anything else existed at all.

“H
EY
, it’s going to be a really nice day. Not too hot. Do you want to go down to the Santa Monica Pier or something? We have the whole day off, I think.”

Elliot had been brushing his teeth when Danny snuck up behind him. He jumped a little, and Danny laughed. “Still creeped out from the movie last night?”

Elliot finished brushing and rinsed out his mouth. “No, dork. You just startled me. And sure. The pier sounds awesome. Wanna see if the other guys want to go?”

Danny shrugged. “Thought we could just take off on our own. Less waiting around.”

Elliot tried not to grin when his whole body reacted to the idea of a day with just him and Danny. They’d gone to a couple of movies on their own and even out for sushi one night, but the thought of having Danny to himself for a whole day made Elliot really happy. And nervous. Happy but nervous. A giddy combination.

“Okay. I can be ready in fifteen minutes. Sound good?”

Danny grinned. “Yep!”

B
E
C
OOL
.

His silly crush had gotten worse since they’d cuddled in front of the entire cast of
Band Camp
. Elliot couldn’t get Danny’s touch out of his mind, the way Danny’s golden skin felt brushing up against his arms, his voice, his laugh so wild and carefree. It had gotten to the point where he dreamed about Danny half the time when he fell asleep. It was getting to be an addiction. Elliot didn’t care.

Danny and Elliot grabbed a bus down to the pier since Danny’s car was back at the long-term lot he’d left it in weeks before. They squished into the back corner seat, legs and arms and shoulders connected, talking a mile a minute to each other about the roller coaster and corn dogs and darts and the ringtoss.

By the time they got to the pier, their list of what they wanted to do was far longer than the amount of time they had until they had to catch the bus back to the house. Elliot dragged Danny to the roller coaster first and laughed out loud when Danny screamed at the (fairly tame) drops toward the ocean. They ate chocolate-dipped frozen bananas and played most of the carnival games, tried not to puke on the swinging pirate ship, and even went for a sunset spin on the Ferris wheel that looked out over the Pacific. Elliot had to tell himself he didn’t want to hold Danny’s hand, as he would if he’d been on there with a date—and it was so, so, so hard sometimes to remember that he and Danny
weren’t
on a date. Instead, he pointed out random things on the ground and babbled on about Lord knew what to distract himself from Danny’s soft pink lips and the way his skin glowed, burnished in setting sun. Danny smiled fondly at him and ruffled his hair.

“C’mon, El. I’m hungry,” was all he said when the Ferris wheel dropped them back off onto the pier.

They walked, bumping shoulders and hips, collecting corn dogs, chips, sodas, and cotton candy that they dumped onto an available table to eat in the flickering carnival lights.

“Josephine would kill us if she saw all this,” Danny joked. Their cook made treats, but she was always enforcing the rules of healthy eating.

“So would Samantha.” She was the show’s makeup artist. It was her job to artfully cover anything that made the guys look less than perfect, including pimples. They all had a love-hate relationship with her and her makeup brushes—Elliot would never forget the first time she’d tried to talk him into bronzer—and the effects of all that junk food would probably make her job harder.

“Do you know she wanted to put eyeliner on me the other day?” Danny asked. “
Eyeliner
. She said it would make the green in my eyes ‘pop’. So dumb.”

Elliot fluttered his eyelashes. “But you would’ve looked so preeeetty,” he crooned. He wasn’t surprised when he got a kick to the shins, followed by Danny’s toes rubbing the spot in apology. They rarely roughhoused with each other like they did with the other boys. Danny was usually really gentle with him. They smiled at each other over the picnic table.