Kisses of Fire (boyxboy)

Chapter 57 - Premonition

After the whole asthma attack scene on Saturday, it was midway through spring break, and Cooper had been more productive than he expected. He and his parents went on a mini road trip just for fun, but Cooper got sick halfway through, so they came back. His asthma was still bad, and he still wasn't eating, so he was weaker, but he tried not to show it. Due to his weakness, he slept in most of the time, but once he woke up, he would either skate to Max's house or hang out with River. He and his dad even hung out a bit and got back to basketball, but Cooper couldn't do it for as long as he wanted; he missed practice even though he was on the cross country team; it didn't compare to basketball.

On Wednesday, when Cooper finally woke up, he took a shower and walked into the kitchen where his parents were. His mom smiled at him, and his dad was putting groceries in the fridge when he saw Cooper, "Hey, are you coming home tonight?"

Grabbing a water, Cooper shrugged. "I don't know." He most likely wasn't due to his plans and knowing River, they were going to run late.

"Well, if you do, how about we shoot some hoops, and I'll take you driving." If he absolutely wanted to, Cooper could've gotten his license, but he hadn't practiced for a few months, so his parents decided against it. They promised him he could get it when he turned 16, but that was still eight months away.

"I'll see. I'm going over to a friend's house and then the skate park." Cooper suddenly got a text from River and went to check it while he walked to the door.

Both parents told him to be careful and that they loved him, but he barely heard as he walked out the door.  "Alright." He said, not paying attention and closing the door. River had voluntary lacrosse practice, and being the captain meant he had to show up, so the two were scheduling when they would meet each other. They'd been together for three months, but it felt like longer after everything they'd been through; o celebrate it all, though, River promised to take him out, so that was what they had planned.

Skating to Max's house, when he got down to the basement, there were his three best friends messing with their instruments. "About time you got here," Max said, noticing him.

Throwing his stuff on the couch, Cooper grabbed a guitar and also started tuning it, "Calm down, I woke up late." After a while, when he got it perfect, he relaxed on the couch and started playing. "It feels nice that things are back to normal." Everything felt the exact same way before the gay rumors were let out; the only difference was that he no longer was weirded out by River.

Max started playing a song and looked over at Cooper, "You mean you still refusing to join our band? Yes, I agree."

Mike was on the drums twirling a stick around his fingers and pointed it at Cooper, "Yeah, man, you jam with us at rehearsals, so I don't get why you don't join."

"Crowds aren't my thing." They weren't; he hated them and would rather die than have a ton of people around him looking at him. Deep down, he always hated going to parties but once he'd get tipsy, he didn't really care.

Noah groaned and got up, leaning on one of the mics. "But we need you. You could be the face of our group. With a couple singing lessons from Max's mom, you'd be golden."

"I'd let you be the lead singer." Max shrugged.

"Sorry guys, but that's a hard no." He handed the guitar to Noah and went to the drums that Mike let him take over. "Although, I wouldn't mind being the drummer." He said, smiling before playing a beat Mike showed him.

All three of his friends were standing around, looking at him, and Mike tried to change his mind again. "Don't you see that you have a natural talent? When are you going to acknowledge it?"