Road To Nowhere - Chapter 8

[ahopper84]

Title: Road to Nowhere
Chapter: 8/?
Rating: R/NC-17
Warnings: Drug use, language, sex... all the fun stuff.
Summary: Zac learns that growing up sucks, but not always in a bad way.



"So how'd your date go?"

I looked over at Skyler. We were smoking under the bleachers again, this time after school. I had the day off from work, and he never had anything better to do than hang out with me, or so he said.

"It went really good. She's gonna draw me for her art class, and she said I could draw her, too."

"Like one of your French Girls?" he laughed, nudging my knee with his own. He threw his head back as he exhaled a plume of smoke. We laughed for a second as he passed the cigarette to me. "That's cool though. You gonna ask her to homecoming?"

"I kinda hinted at it already. She... I don't know, she seemed kinda weird about it. I might've jumped the gun a little, so I guess I'll just have to wait a while and try again."

"Well hey, if she shoots you down, I'll be your date." He laughed again, but as I looked at him, his smile settled into something more sincere. He almost looked shy, which was something I hardly ever saw.

"You gonna buy me flowers and everything? Or is that my job?"

"You can if you want. Or hell, nothing saying we can't both." He looked down and picked at the grass beneath us, and I got the distinct impression we weren't really joking around anymore. In all the time we'd been messing around, we'd never really talked about what it meant. We hadn't felt the need to; we were friends, we liked to have fun, and sometimes that meant making out.

Except it was more than that now. As he looked up at me, plucking the cigarette from my fingers and bringing it to his lips, I felt a tremor of... something, deep in my chest. Friendship, attraction, but deeper. He was my best friend, and I cared about him a lot. maybe romantic feelings weren't out of the question either.

"I mean, it's whatever," he said after a while, shrugging. "If you even feel like going. We could always just catch a movie or something."

"Well I mean, I don't want you to feel like the backup plan." It did feel a little wrong to be holding him on reserve. What if there was someone he'd wanted to go with? He hadn't mentioned anything, but he had plenty of options. He wasn't popular like Tay, but the girls definitely talked about how hot he was when they thought we couldn't hear.

"It's cool," he said, smiling. "Probably won't go myself, unless you do. Not really the pep rally, team spirit type."

I nodded, not really knowing what else to say, and reached into my bag for my sketchpad. I'd forgotten it was open to the picture of Taylor, and tried to flip the page, but Sky noticed it before I could.

"Woah, hold up. Lemme see that." He grinned and took the pad from my hand, looking it over. He glanced at me, one eyebrow cocked, and I felt my cheeks heating up. “Damn. He model this for you, or is it from memory?”

“Fuck off,” I said, rolling my eyes and reaching for the book, but he held it out of reach. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”

“Freudian slip of the pen?” he asked, smirking. He looked at the drawing again, his eyes slowly wandering over the page. “It’s really good, though.”

“Thanks. I really don’t know why I drew it like that.”

“How come you don’t draw me like that?” He grinned as he handed back the sketchpad.

“Who says I don’t?” I shot back, even though the truth was I hadn’t. At least not yet, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to.

“Well if you ever need a model, just hit me up.” He laughed, but I shrugged, flipping to a new page. “If your muse isn’t available, that is.”

“He’s not- For christ’s sake, I didn’t mean to draw him like…”

“Like a porn star right before the money shot? I’m just screwing with you, Zac,” Skyler laughed. “I mean, it’s not like you wanna jump his bones, right?”

“R-right…” my answer didn’t sound nearly as convincing to my own ears, and the way Sky looked at me, I was pretty sure he didn’t completely buy it, either. “I mean, that’d be pretty fucked up, right?”

“I guess,” he said with a shrug. “I dunno. I mean, siblings is kinda different, isn’t it? Like, if he was way older, but you guys are only what, a year and a half apart?”

“Are you seriously making an argument for incest?”

“I’m just saying it wouldn’t be as fucked up as, like, a parent or uncle or something. And, well…” He glanced at me, his cheeks turning just a little pink. “I mean, he’s hot, you’re hot… the two of you together might be kinda hot.”

I stared at him in disbelief. He reached into his pocket and dug out a fresh cigarette, lighting it and inhaling slowly. Was he honestly saying he was okay with the idea of Taylor and me, together, sexually? I didn’t know what shocked me more -- his lack of judgement, or the relief I felt because of it. I wasn’t ready to admit that yet, though; I barely wanted to admit it to myself.

“You think he’s hot?” I asked, nudging his knee with mine.

“Not as hot as you,” Sky answered, giving me a once-over that made me grin. There was an honesty to his words though, and that was what made me smile. He leaned over and kissed me, slowly. I kissed him back, setting my sketchbook aside and laying back, pulling him down with me.

He laughed and flicked away his barely-smoked cigarette, then situated himself over me and kissed me again. There was no hurry today, no need to get off as quickly as possible. Anyway, it didn’t feel like that this time. The way he looked down at me, it felt more emotional, more… important.

We took our time, just kissing and holding each other. One of us would kiss the other’s neck, or rock our hips together, fingers gripping at shirts or reaching underneath to touch skin, but then we’d back off again. I loved the way he he whimpered when I nipped at his ear, and he chuckled at my moan as his nails dragged lightly down my chest. There was a heat building, but it was a slow burn.

Eventually I became aware of the sun starting to set, the bands of light coming from between the bleachers growing rosy and dim.

“Sky,” I said, practically more breath than word. “Sky, we should… we gotta…”

“Just tell your folks you’re crashing at my place.”

“And what, sleep with you under the bleachers?” I chuckled. Sky looked up, his eyes unfocused, and I realized how my words had come out. He smiled and sighed, sitting up.

“Well, do you wanna come over? We can get pizza or something. Mom's pulling a double at the hospital tonight, and Dad’s got poker, so he won't be home til late, if at all.”

“Yeah, okay. I'll call and ask, but it should be fine.”

“Cool.” Sky gave me another quick kiss, then rolled to the side so I could sit up. I dug out my phone from my backpack and called home. As expected, my mom had no problems with it, as long as I behaved and got to school the next day.

She never said it, but I always got the feeling she worried about Skyler. It wasn't that she thought he was a bad influence; if anything, she seemed to hope I'd be a good influence on him. But she knew his family wasn't as well-off as ours, not poor exactly, but not as lucky (or “blessed”). She always made it a point to invite him over for dinner, holidays, stuff like that, without it coming across as pity.

We packed up or stuff and headed for his place, me on my bike and him on his board. Skyler lived in a different part of town from me, a little less suburban. Lots of smaller houses crammed together, with maybe a small patch of yard in the back. A rottweiler barked at us from behind a chain fence as we rounded the corner onto his street.

“Shut up Mikey,” Skyler yelled, which only made the dog bark more. We laughed and rode on, down to the red two-story at the end of the block. I parked my bike next to the porch and followed him inside and up to his room, laying on the bed while he closed the door.

“So what do you want to do?” I asked, kicking my shoes off. Sky smirked at me as he joined me on the bed, but I rolled my eyes and gave him a nudge. “Besides that. Horny bastard…”

“Like you don’t love it.” He laughed as he lay on his side next to me. “But I don’t know. What do you feel like doing?”

“Hm…” I looked at Skyler for a second, then got an idea. I climbed over him to reach my bag, which I’d dropped on the floor, and pulled out my pencils and sketchpad. “How about that muse gig?”

“Sure,” he said, grinning. “Just tell me how you want me.”

“Just like that’s fine.” I sat up with my back against the wall, and looked him over, then started drawing. We sat quietly for a while, the scratch of my pencil on the paper and the muffled barking from outside the only sounds.

“It cool if I move?”

“Yeah, you’re fine, I’m almost done.” I looked up as Sky shifted, stretching his arms above his head. I put down a few more lines, then sighed and set my pencil down. “There. Not perfect, but…”

“Lemme see.” Sky moved next to me to look at the drawing. It wasn’t sexual like the one I’d done of Taylor. I’d tried to capture his smile, the innocent one he gave me sometimes. He looked up at me and gave me the same smile, and I felt a warmth in my chest. “I love it.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm.” He leaned closer, giving me a light, barely-there kiss. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” I answered, barely above a whisper. As we stared at each other, the feeling in my chest grew. The more I thought about it, the more obvious it became. But just because I felt it, didn’t mean he did, too. And even if he did, was it worth risking our friendship over? And what about my feelings for Kat, and my… whatever, for Taylor?

“What are you thinking?” he asked, his brow furrowing and his lips curling into a concerned frown.

“I don’t know…”

“Well whatever it is, forget it for now. Not important.” He nudged my nose with his, brushed his lips against mine. He was right. All the complicated messy stuff could wait; for now, there was just us, and doing what felt right. And what felt right was tossing my sketchbook aside and wrapping my arms around him, and letting him pull me down into a deep but unhurried kiss.