Claustrophobia (Boy x Boy) ✔

25) JUST KISS ALREADY

*Cody Walker's POV

"I still think you cheated, so I shouldn't have to come." I complained, tossing a grey hoodie on my bed from the wardrobe. It almost landed on Oat's head, but they dodged just in time.

"No, the deal was to have a race and whoever reached the finish line first won. I did and now I'm taking you to the party. Chop-chop now or we'll be late." Oat announced and handed the hoodie back to me. 

So, I had no other options than to get dressed and ready to walk out the door. Sometimes I thought it would be easier to not have friends after all, then I would at least be safe from parties.

"Kobe, Mylo! Please tell them I don't want to go out." I pleaded from the front door.

"Nah, you never go anywhere." Kobe's curly head peeked us from the kitchen doorway. 

"Yeah, it'll be good for you." Mylo agreed and soon those two were both grinning at us. 

"Have fun!" They said in unison.

"Thanks for nothing, traitors." I frowned, but as I had no other options, I followed Oat and shut the front door behind. 

***

I'm not sure what I expected, but definitely not an old factory with deteriorated brick walls and huge windows that shed neon light from inside to the darkening evening. 

"What is this place?" I breathed, gaping at the sight in front of me. I could already hear how techno music blared inside.

"It's an old glue factory, but it's been out of use for as long as I've lived here. These days it's mainly a festival hall. I heard renting it costs an arm and a leg." Oat babbled and held my hand, guiding me towards the entrance. 

I. Really. Didn't. Want. To. Go. There.

I've never been to a party, or at least I haven't been to a real party with people at my age. Surely I've been to a friend's birthday party when I was 7 years old and so was everyone else, but I think you already figured out that isn't the kind of party I'm talking about.

And why would I have been to, when no one wanted to invite the ugliest guy in the school and even if I had somehow gotten in I would have been spat at or thrown in a pool or gotten someone's lukewarm beer on my face? 

"Can we not go? Please?" I tried again and Oat turned to look at me, probably realising I was being serious. 

There were people all around us, some of them jolting us by accident. My heart was beating so fast I was afraid it would burst out of my chest and my hand, which Oat was still holding, turned clammy. 

"You really —" Oat began with a soft voice, but they were interrupted by a familiar duo.

"I can't believe you're actually here." Ade got excited to see me — apparently everyone had thought I wouldn't be coming today — and before I knew it, we were following him inside. Somehow I just couldn't bring myself to stay behind.

The factory was lit with blue light that made the colourful paintings on the faces of the other partiers glow. There were bright neon signs on the high brick walls and the spacious interior beamed with colors. It was breathtakingly beautiful, something you would only think to see in a movie.

"Let's put some paint on." Oat announced then and wiggled two glowing paint bottles in their hand. They already started walking towards me, but Ade blocked their way.

"You'll have the honor, I'm not letting Ian touch my face." Ade grinned and nudged Ian, who stared at him with wide eyes, towards me. 

So, somehow we ended up sitting in the painting booth, Oat in front of Ade and Ian in front of me. Whereas Oat had already started to smear neon orange paint on Ade's skin, me and Ian still just sat there looking at each other. I'm not sure why that was, but the way Ian looked at me made me even more nervous. 

"Uh.. I can do it myself, if you don't want to." I muttered. I didn't want to put him in an awkward situation, since he clearly didn't feel comfortable with the idea of touching my face. Not that I could blame him or anything. 

"No, no, I want to!" Ian exclaimed so suddenly I almost jumped off the chair. Then he added more quietly, looking unsure: "Unless.. you don't want me to?"

"No, I don't mind." I mumbled. 

Then Ian, finally, leaned closer and started smearing neon blue paint on top of my cheekbone. He did it so meticulously I almost felt like I was some sort of brittle porcelain that needed to be treated with care. Meanwhile Ian sneaked glances at me and every now and then our eyes locked. 

I had a weird feeling in my stomach and I noticed I was holding my breath, whenever I felt his fingertips brushing my cheek and whenever he looked at me like that.

"Um, could you move your hair?" Ian asked so quietly it was almost like he was telling me a secret. 

I did as he asked, tucking the curly locks behind my ears. Doing so made me feel bare, because I always kept my ears hidden, even when I was home alone. Ian had seen my Dumbo ears before, back when I wasn't so insecure about them. However, if he felt like laughing at me now, he hid it well. 

When Ian tucked one stubborn lock behind my ear, he — believe me or not — did it almost tenderly, a small dreamy smile on his lips. Seeing that made my cheeks and the tips of my ears turn red and I gulped. He was acting so weird it was making me feel weird as well.

When Ian was done, I returned the favour by smearing the same blue paint on his face. I cursed inwardly as I noticed my hand was trembling when I pressed my forefinger against his cheek. It surely didn't help that Ian didn't take his eyes off me, not even for a second. Still, I continued smearing the paint like I was cool as a cucumber.

Apparently we were taking too much time, since at some point Oat and Ade had turned their attention to us and the paintings on their faces looked like they had been there for a while. Then Ade started grinning. 

"Just kiss already."

♡♡♡

Question of the day:
Do you like rainy days?

(Me: Lately I've fallen in love with walking in the pouring rain under an umbrella. So yeah, I like rainy days.)