Rock Starz

7| Tesco

Nathan woke up in James's bed while James was still asleep. Nathan felt uncomfortable, he had more or less collapsed in his arms. That was something he hadn't done to someone since he was a child. Nathan got up and gathered his things and then left without saying anything.
He walked downstairs and was looking for some servant who could let him out.
"Nathan, right?" Nathan was startled as soon as he heard a low voice. He turned to where the sound came from and that startled him again.
"You are-"
"James's father." That was clearly not what Nathan meant but he was in fact right.
"Is he still asleep?" Nathan glanced at the stairs that led to James's bedroom and then nodded.
"Yes, sir." Nathan bit his lip uncomfortably as the word just slipped out of his mouth. He didn't know whether to actually call him sir, or your highness, or king.
"It looks like you won't be staying until he wakes up, do you?" Nathan cleared his throat.
"No, I have to catch the bus so-"
"Ferdinand!" Nathan was rudely interrupted by the king.
"Yes, your highness?" The king pointed at Nathan.
"Can you take him home? It's the least I can do for my guests." Ferdinand bowed briefly.
"But of course, your highness." Nathan looked at the two neatly dressed men in surprise.
"Oh, you don't have to- the bus stop is very close to my house, so I'll just-"
"There's no way around it. If you can make my son happy, with whatever you're doing, then I have to give you something back." Nathan smiled sheepishly.
"Um, okay." It was clear, Nathan had no idea how to talk to the king. It wasn't like that was something he learned in school, or from his parents. Before Nathan knew it, he was in the backseat of a neat black car.
"So, Nathan, how exactly did you meet James?" Nathan bit his lip and swallowed. He thought for a moment as he began to fiddle with the hole in his trousers at his knee.
"I, uh, you see- I, ran into him." Nathan cleared his throat tensely, feeling his cheeks turn red and his heart beat faster.
"Where did you run into him?" Nathan saw Ferdinand looking at him through the rear view mirror.
"At the, uh, store where I work." Nathan bit his lip nervously.
"Oh yeah? Which store do you work at?" Nathan sighed in relief when he noticed that Ferdinand seemed to believe it.
"Tesco." Ferdinand nodded and focused back on the road ahead of him.

"Now, won't you look at this beautiful face in front of me." Nathan looked annoyed at the person in front of him.
"I didn't know you worked." Nathan sighed and scanned the product that was rolling down the conveyor belt.
"My dad makes me work, now that the band isn't doing so great." James frowned at Nathan.
"What do you mean? It's going great, now that I'm here." James said full of himself as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Yeah, but we don't make any money from it. The gig in the bar is purely for our own pleasure. If we're lucky, we'll get discovered by a famous record label, or a manager with some handy contacts." James sighed and looked at Nathan tiredly. Couldn't that guy be happy with what he had for once?
"Okay, then we'll find a manager after our gig, we'll become world famous and rich and then you can learn how to smile." Nathan gave James the deadliest look James had ever seen.
"That'll be £1.50." James sighed and started rummaging through his pockets.
"When are you done working?' James threw a few coins on the counter.
"Four o'clock, why do you want to know?" Nathan put the money in the till.
"I'll wait for you then. Outside." James grabbed the can of energy drink from the counter and walked away with a wink. Nathan sighed in annoyance. The first thing he felt like doing as soon as he finished work was to flop down on the couch and not leave it for a long time.

"So I really like her but I just don't know how to tell her, and Nathan will get all mad at me again, and who knows, maybe I'm just too stupid for her." Devon sighed as he took a swig from his bottle of beer.
"Does she even have any idea that you like her?" Devon thought about it and looked at Isaiah.
"I don't know, I mean, she's busy with her dad who gets drunk all the time because he misses his wife." Isaiah nodded vaguely, his eyes narrowed and he looked tired.
"I think you just have to wait for the right moment. I mean, the worst she can say is that she doesn't feel the same way about you." Devon thought about it, and he figured it made sense. He felt bad for Clara, because she always seemed so busy taking care of her father.
"And Nate willing to kill you is a big possibility, but hey! Who doesn't Nate want to kill?" Devon nodded and took another sip of his beer.
"I'm just gonna do it." He stood up and put his bottle on the table. He shook off the fear and looked straight ahead with determination.
"Devon-"
"I'm gonna tell her how I've felt about her since the first time I saw her." Isaiah looked at Devon, shocked and panicked.
"Devon, I don't mean right now-"
"And I don't care what she's gonna say! Because I have you, Lynx and Nathan, and James." Devon put on his jacket and walked towards the door.
"Thanks, mate." He then said to Isaiah as Isaiah looked at him with wide eyes.
"You're welcome but-" And he was gone.

"You look weird in those clothes." James said with a smirk, referring to Nathan's work uniform.
"I didn't choose this voluntarily." He muttered in annoyance as he walked into his room with James following behind him. Nathan took off his work clothes and grabbed an old and oversized band shirt that was lying on a chair. James's eyes briefly slid to Nathan's upper body.
"Are you still mad at me?" James asked then and Nathan frowned at him.
"Why would I be mad at you?" James sucked his teeth and leaned against the wall.
"Because you left this morning without saying anything, like a fucking one-night-stand." Nathan looked at James for a moment before he put his head through the hole in his shirt.
"I felt, uh, too much. I never talk about my feelings with anyone you know. Especially not with guys." James chuckled and he plopped down on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed.
"I figured. But you shouldn't bottle everything up Nathan." James walked over to Nathan and Nathan looked at him a little surprised by his words.
"Why do you want to know what's going on in my head?" James looked at Nathan with his blue eyes piercingly.
"I just want to be your friend. I never really had friends as a prince. Friends, in a, uh, normal life." What James told Nathan made a lot clear to him.
"I can understand that I might be going a bit too fast, but this bond really means a lot to me. And you do too. Because for the first time I feel normal, and like it doesn't matter what I do. I'm just so grateful for you." Nathan looked up at James with wide eyes. He had never imagined what it would be like to be a prince. He expected James to be spoiled and rich, but it actually went much deeper.
There was a silence between the two, Nathan didn't know what to say back and there was a certain tension to be found. The way James stared into Nathan's eyes made Nathan feel nervous. As if he had a reason to be nervous now.
"You have no idea what you've saved me from." James came a little closer and Nathan bit his lip. Suddenly the door flew open and Devon came storming in. He ignored the two boys who stepped back in shock, as if they were caught doing whatever it was they were doing.
Devon pulled a nice shirt out of the closet and started to put it on, after that he tried to fix his hair in the small, clumsy mirror that hung on the inside of the closet.
"What are you doing?" Nathan asked suspiciously and Devon sprayed perfume on his neck.
"That's none of your business." Devon said as his standard line, to Nathan.
"Where are you going?" Nathan asked afterwards once he noticed what Devon looked like.
"That's none of your business." Devon said in an annoyed tone as he rushed out of the bedroom again. Which left Nathan and James surprised.