Dancing In His Storm [BxB] √

CHAPTER 8.1: The Kiss

AUGUST

"So did you kiss her or not?!" Mary sounded agitated over the phone and there's only one reason why she's acting like that. It was only eight-thirty in the morning when she called me just to gather some updates about what happened last night.

I feel like I need more sleep but Mary can't seem to wait until the afternoon to reach out to me. My head is banging and I'm pretty sure this is caused by the vodka that we had last night. We only had one bottle of vodka and that was enough to make us tipsy and frenzy. That's the only second time that I've had alcohol but it's the first time that I really felt the numbing sensation that people loved about it. I tried moving a little and I already feel like I'm going to die out of dehydration.

"Hold on, Mary. Cut me some slack and let me get something to drink first." I spat over the phone.

"Okay, okay! But go faster!"

Mary seemed eager to know about the things, and when I say things she meant details, that happened last night. I sluggishly moved out of my bed deliberately letting the eager Mary wait over the phone. I'm feeling rather weak as I moved tardily knowing the fact that there's nothing worthy to spill. I remembered Rachel was about to kiss me when my savior, Nicole showed up looking for a lighter. There was a short moment of awkwardness between me and Rachel as Nicole begin her search for a lighter. Rachel's awkwardness was probably because of the fact that someone interrupted her moment but for me, my awkwardness was because I'm not into kissing her. I'm obviously gay and even if I take Rachel's gorgeousness into consideration, kissing her intimately isn't going to happen. I might kiss her as a friend but never in a million years, I would suck her lips as what lovers do.

"Are you done now?" Mary muttered and I can almost feel the impatience growing inside her.

"I'm on it."

I inched my way towards the fridge, poured a glass of ice-cold water, and gulped it with such thirst that I can almost hear my throat making swallowing sounds.

'Gulk gulk gulk'

"Lord, that was good!" I let out as soon as I emptied the glass. I poured another and then gulped it exactly the way I did to the first one.

"Ugh gross!!! Is that really how you drink water?" Mary chatted expressing her disgust about the swallowing sound that my throat created.

"I'm just thirsty as fuck, don't judge me. We had vodka last night and my head is banging." I confessed.

"Wait, you had alcohol?" Mary sounded surprised.

"It's just one bottle of vodka."

"So what? It's still alcohol."

"And no one got wasted. We all just got tipsy and we all partied decently." I think I was trying to lighten up the situation after catching Mary's hint of frustration. Maybe I was just trying to let Mary feel a little less jealous.

I'm not going to lie about it. I really had much fun last night, the karaoke was the best of all, the snacks were good and the bond that I made with Rachel and her friends felt phenomenal. It was close to best, and I'm looking forward to more parties like that to happen.

"Decently? Really?" Mary doesn't seem to believe me.

"Yeah, we had our snacks. We had the karaoke all to ourselves. We had a bottle of vodka and that's just about it."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, let's get back to what I was asking you." Mary trailed. "Did you or did you not kiss Rachel Curtis?"

"Do you really want to know the answer?" I asked just to fuck with her thoughts. I know Mary had already revealed her hidden feelings for Rachel, I thought that act alone was brave and I'm forever be honored to be the only person that she has told about it.

"Just tell me already."

"Well,..." I let out and then took a long pause.

"August!"

"No, we did not. She was just about to kiss me but Nicole suddenly showed up looking for a lighter." I secretly wanted to say yes just play with her but I guess she deserved to know what really happened.

"How unfortunate! But I do think Rachel likes you." Mary spat and somehow I felt an iota of jealousy gritting in her tone.

"What makes you think of that?"

"Isn't it obvious? The one and only Rachel Curtis invited you to their karaoke night, that never happens. They always do karaoke every Friday, just the three of them and you are like the only person I know who got invited to that shit. And then she tried to kiss you, how freaking lucky you are!!!"

"Mary! I think you are over exaggerating this. Rachel, Victoria...Nicole. I know they are the most popular girls in school but they are still normal people." I trailed hoping that I could at least let Mary know that there's nothing extra special about getting invited to this karaoke night. There are plenty of parties she could get invited to if she just acted a bit cooler than the way she looks.

"Whatever, August! I've got to go now, my mom's waiting for me. Bye, see you on Monday." Mary dropped the call and I finally got my chance to go back to my bed and sleep.

I spent the rest of my Saturday sleeping. I woke up at three in the afternoon and found Wednesday doing some paper works at the living room.

"What are those?" I asked as she was flipping through pages of paper that appeared to be some list of things they need to pay.

"Bills, bills, bills and bills." She answered seemingly flustered. "August?"

"Yes?"

"You don't have any problem staying home alone right?" Wednesday asked.

"Uhm, no. I think I'm all grown up to be on my own. Why?"

"I just bought this grocery store downtown." My stepmom began as I sat down beside her. "We haven't hired anyone yet and I think I'm going to work there for a few months just so we can save a few cash."

"Which grocery store is that?" I was thinking of that grocery store at the same building where we bought our snacks last night. "Eight Thirteen mart?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

***

I had a nice early dinner with my dad and my stepmother. We all had an open conversation about the grocery store that Wednesday talked about and dad was not okay with it. The pride of being the man of the house seemed to control my dad but Wednesday, with her well-supported arguments, won in the end. Dad doesn't want my stepmother to work for the sake of the baby but it's pretty evident that he still has to recover from our financial loss. We watched television as a whole family until we all decided to retreat to our bedroom by nine.

I laid on my bed thinking about the problems that I'm about to face this coming Monday. Rachel and I haven't had a real closure after her failed attempt to kiss me. I feel like she should be the one to come and talk to me about that. And then there's this Ambrose threat that I have to look after. That fucking bully!

"Fuck!" I cursed as I hugged my pillow.

I have to be heedful at all times. My parents aren't exactly stable financially which meant I can't be rushed to the hospital even just for a simple stitch. That will still cost something.

I immediately thought of reaching out to Rachel, maybe talk to her and make her comfortable. I believed Mary when she said that Rachel likes me and I guess I'm going to move mountains in order to secure my safety.

I grabbed my phone and began typing.

Me: Hi, how are you feeling?

Rachel: Good, I feel good. I didn't have a hangover.

Me: Really? My head was banging this morning.

Rachel: I'm really sorry. I didn't warn you about the vodka thing. Was that your first time drinking?

Me: No, but it's my first time in how many months.

Rachel: That makes sense. What are you doing right now?

Me: That's a good question! I'm actually thinking about you.