Kieran & Drew (11 page)

He dug his hands deep into his pockets and sniffed sharply. He was determined to keep his shit together. Right now, all his mom had was him, and he wouldn’t let her down. Screw his dad. His uncle would be home soon, and everything would get better. Luckily, despite how potentially shitty all this had made him act toward Kieran, Kieran didn’t seem to be holding it against him. That easy forgiveness with the promise of something completely spine-tingling and disassociated with the rest of his life was exactly what he needed.

Oblivious to it all, Kieran, or just the idea of being with him again soon, would see Drew through this rough patch.
CHapTer SiX.

K
IERAN swallowed thickly, bitter saltiness lingering on his tongue as his lips grazed up a gorgeously toned abdomen that rose and fell with juddering breaths. Drew panted above him, coming down from an intense climax as Kieran slowly stood up before him, feeling smug and happy. He pressed his lips to Drew’s neck, leaning against him and thrilling at the feel of Drew’s arm loosely circling his waist.

“You’re getting really,
really
good at that,” Drew croaked, sounding surprised and impressed at the same time, and making Kieran feel absolutely
awesome
.

“Given the right incentive…,” he murmured, continuing his spray of soft kisses against damp, salty skin.

 

Drew laughed. “You made your incentives pretty clear through text.” He groped Kieran’s butt. “Even made
me
blush.”

“Kiss me,” Kieran demanded, his voice quiet but confident. He pulled Drew close by the back of his neck, sighing into a much-needed kiss and winding his arms around Drew’s neck. “I love kissing you,” he murmured against Drew’s lips. “Put your hands on my hips.” He took Drew’s hands and did exactly that. “I love your hands right here.”

Kieran grinned as he was turned and lifted a few inches to sit on the broken desk Drew had been leaning against. Automatically he opened his legs as Drew pushed his way between them, looking to Drew for direction. His breath caught and he glanced down between them to watch Drew unbuckle his belt and unzip his jeans. Drew had come, but Kieran was still rock solid.

It was enough to have Drew’s lips on his neck and his hand slowly jacking him. In fact, he didn’t know if there was anything that could feel better. The sensation of being jerked off by a hand that wasn’t his was still something of a novelty and utterly
amazing
. But lips pressing against the crook of his neck and behind his ear was something tender that couldn’t be imagined or fantasized, only felt.

With his eyes closed and his head tilted back, lost in the most perfect feeling in the entire world, it took him a moment to realize that Drew wasn’t there anymore. He opened his eyes to see Drew looking back at him as he crouched before him.

“What are you doing?” he asked, despite knowing the answer.

Drew grinned, looking nervous but self-satisfied at the same time. “What do you think?”
“What—
really
?” His breath whooshed out of him as his hands danced nervously over Drew’s shoulders. “Are you sure? ’Cuz… really, w-we can just carry on with what we were doing—”

“I want you to feel this. You
have
to know what it feels like, and I’m going to be the one to show you.”
Despite his brave words, Kieran saw him swallow apprehensively as he shifted to get comfortable crouching in front of him. Drew took his penis in hand, and the nervous look he cast upward, as if looking for approval, made a warm feeling swell in his chest. He reached to brush Drew’s cheek, but gasped instead, his hand falling back to Drew’s shoulder as a warm, wet sensation engulfed him.
“Oh my God,” he breathed, closing his eyes. “Oh…
wow
.” He heard Drew snort and felt him begin to pull away, and he even smiled, knowing how dorky he must have sounded, but he kept his eyes shut and dragged desperately at Drew’s shoulders. “No, please, please don’t—
ah
.” He gasped and released a deep, agonized breath as the warm,
tight
feeling returned to his dick.

He didn’t know how long that feeling of pure heaven continued— not long enough, that was for damn sure—but the second he opened his eyes, he wished he hadn’t. When Drew began to scramble to his feet with a curse, it was then that he realized that they were no longer alone and Toby Bennett stood there, eyes wide with a stunned look on his face.

“Uh…,” Toby said. Sounding about as intelligent as he looked.

Kieran froze and then hurriedly tucked himself back into his pants. He looked between Toby and Drew, mortified. Toby seemed embarrassed, but Drew… Drew’s expression was bordering on total panic.

“Hey, look… I-I was just grabbing some supplies….” He held his hands up, showing he meant no harm.

He could practically feel Drew’s desire to run away coming off of him in waves. Drew was edging away from him, his face scarlet. He tried to reach for his arm. “Drew, don’t—” But the panic had set in, and Drew was out the door—pushing past Toby—in a matter of moments. Kieran stared at the door that slammed shut behind Drew, and his heart sank.

That was it, then.

Kieran straightened his clothes with a fury fueled by disappointment so acute he could barely breathe. His eyes stung and felt warm. He wanted to hit someone, he wanted to hit Toby. Clothes straight, he snagged up his backpack and turned to Toby, who was still standing by the doorway looking utterly dumbfounded. His voice, when he spoke, didn’t sound like his own. It was a wounded noise he had no control over.

“Why’d you have to do that?” he shouted.

 

Toby blinked at him, raising his hands, palms forward once more in defense. “Hey… like I said, I was just getting—”

 

“I don’t care, you shouldn’t be here!”

“I’ve done nothing wrong!” Toby spluttered. “I’m staying late to try and finish my stupid art project. You guys are the ones who—”
“Just shut up!” He rubbed his hands over his face. “It’s all ruined.” Kieran looked up when sensing Toby close by.

“Look, I won’t say anything, okay? I’m… I’m not going to
out
you, or anything.”

 

“You won’t?”

Toby seemed to study his face a moment, as if looking for something. “I always thought you might be gay too, but never in a million years would I have thought that Drew Anderson would actually—”
“‘
Too
’?”
Toby grinned and lifted one shoulder in confirmation. “Guess I’m

not the only gay guy in school. Hell, there’s three of us, apparent—” Kieran woke up. “You can’t say anything! Not about Drew. He’d get so much shit for it, you can’t—”

“Whoa, Kieran. Would you just—
hey
, calm down, alright?” He touched Kieran’s arm, squeezing gently. “I’m not going to say anything.”

“You won’t?”
“No. That’d be kind of douchey of me, don’t you think?”

Kieran didn’t answer; he merely nodded miserably and shifted the strap of his backpack more comfortably on his shoulder. “I need to go catch up with him—let him know.”

Toby moved out of his way. “Alright. Good luck with that.” He moved past Kieran to snag up a box of acrylics.

 

Kieran stopped and glanced back at him. “You don’t think he’ll talk to me?”

Toby shrugged. “He blew out of here kind of fast, didn’t he?” “Well… I guess, but given the situation—”

“He up and left you to deal with me, didn’t he.” It wasn’t a question.

 

“He was panicked.”

 

Toby looked at him and shrugged. It came across as patronizing. “Okay.”

 

Kieran’s mouth worked as he tried to find the right thing to say, but eventually he gave up and shook his head. “I have to go.”

“Alright, see you around.
Oh
,” Toby said, turning to face him as Kieran was halfway out the door. “Just a thought, but use something to block the door next time, yeah?”

Kieran didn’t answer and opened said door to leave, but paused when Toby spoke again.

“If there is a next time, of course.”
K
IERANwas at his wits’ end. Drew wouldn’t reply to his texts, and he hadn’t picked up the one time Kieran had been brave enough to try and actually call him. He didn’t come to the storage room anymore. He skipped art class. There was no mistaking that Kieran was being ignored, and the idea of it—the idea of Drew, the first person he’d kissed, the first person to try and be friends with him, trying to freeze him out—was unbearable. He didn’t want to go back to just being alone all the time. Even just having someone to text was a novelty he didn’t want to lose. Sure, Toby had tried to talk to him a few times. He’d even asked him if he wanted to hang out, but it didn’t feel quite right to do so while his situation with Drew felt so unresolved. He’d tried to tell him through text that everything would be fine, but still there was no response.

Drew was still in school, he knew that much. He’d seen him on the field, from under the bleachers. It amazed Kieran how quickly his life had gone back to the boring slow drudge that it was. Back under the bleachers, hanging with Tony, the janitor at lunch, just reading his comics and trying to not sniffle in front of the big guy who
also
didn’t speak to him.

Any attempt he made to speak to Drew had, as of yet, gone unanswered. So, out of ideas and feeling alone, he looked over his shoulder, checking again that the hallway was clear as he leaned against the locker—
Drew’s
locker—and scribbled his note.

DrEw, PleAsE CalL me back, oR tExt, oR Meet ME in the S.R, aNYthIng. ToBy iSn’t gOIng to Say A wOrD. CaLL me.

 

K x

He folded it and, after looking once more over his shoulder to check that no one was coming, fed it through the slats of Drew’s locker. Voices coming down the hallway startled him; he snagged up his backpack and sprinted for the corner. Once safely out of view, he slumped against the wall, only perking up when he recognized the voices. It was Matt and Adam Jefferson.

“So we’re getting hot and heavy, right? Then Tiff’s sister walks in and—”

 

“Do I really want to hear this?” Matt asked in a bored tone. “Trust me, you do. So Tiff’s sister walks in, sees her sister halfnaked with her hand down my pants and just starts screaming—” Kieran peeked around the corner to see Matt screw his face up in distaste, a reluctant grin on his lips.

 

“Ah, geez, Jefferson….”

 

“Tiff’s all freaking out, right? Because her sister’s like… I don’t know, thirteen or something….”

 

“Stop talking. Stop talking right now.”

 

Adam shrugged, looking smug, and Kieran felt his lip curl. He hated that guy.

“The kid’s gonna learn the facts of life at some point, right?” “Stop. Talking.”

Matt dropped his bag as they came to a stop where Kieran stood only seconds ago. For a horrifying moment, Kieran thought he’d screwed up and put the note in the wrong locker—knowing that Matt and Drew’s lockers stood side by side—but was relieved when Matt reached for the combination padlock of the
other
locker.

“Hey, so… what’s up with your boy Drew?” Adam asked, leaning against the lockers as Matt exchanged books from his backpack into his locker and vice versa. Kieran immediately perked up.

Matt shrugged. “Not sure. He might have some shit going on at home again, I don’t know. He’s not really in a talkative mood lately.” “Yeah, he nearly bit my head off in practice yesterday when I asked how his shit was going. Boy’s got issues.”

Kieran could see the heavy frown on Matt’s face as he hefted his backpack back over his shoulder and closed his locker. He ground his teeth as a couple of girls walked by, chattering and making it impossible to hear what Matt said in response. As soon as they passed, he was pressed close to the wall, trying to listen closely and catching the end of a sentence.

“So he’ll be there, yeah?” Adam asked.
“I guess. I don’t know.”
“Most of the team’s going to be there.”

“Look, Jefferson…,” Matt said in voice that clearly indicated he was running out of patience. “I can’t make him do something he doesn’t want to do. He’s a big boy, you know?”

“Oh come on. Thompson’s parents are gone for the weekend and they have a pool. A fucking
pool
, Matt. That means bikinis.” “Sounds like a cliché eighties movie to me.” He smirked. “Molly Ringwald going to be there?”

“Molly who?” Adam asked. Kieran rolled his eyes.
“Moll—never mind.”
“She new here?” Adam frowned. “Is she hot?”

Matt stared at Adam. “Oh my God. Um… I’m this way.” Matt tilted his head left.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. I’m heading this way.” He gestured in the opposite direction. “Look, get Drew to come along, alright? He’s been acting like a dick, burning bridges left and right, you know?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Matt nodded. “See you later.” He headed off.

“Remember, Thompson’s place is on Forty-two Whiddon Avenue, nine o’clock tonight!” Adam called, and Matt held up a hand in a wave without turning around.

Kieran watched as Adam took off, and waited until he rounded the corner before slumping against the wall.

A party.
Even as the idea formed in his head, his insides churned at the mere thought of doing it. Crashing a party? Crashing a party he knew there was a good chance Drew would be at? The last time he’d been to a party was when he was… what? Five? And that had been at his dad’s restaurant. The idea of going to a party now, with people from school who’d probably be drunk and that much meaner, was enough to make him break out in a sweat.

But Drew might be there.

And there was no way Drew would get mad at him in front of others, especially in front of Matt, who sounded as in the dark as he was. He wished there was something else he could do, another way to get Drew’s attention without drawing attention to himself. He was holding on to the hope that if he could just somehow let Drew know that it was fine, that Toby wasn’t going to say anything, then they could go back to the way things were—they could have their secret again. But as the days had passed, he was beginning to realize that perhaps all he was doing was flogging a dead horse.

His stomach grumbled. He headed off toward the janitor’s closet, wondering if maybe he explained it to Tony (leaving out a few incriminating details) then perhaps the friendly janitor could grunt some sort of wisdom at him.