H2OVanoss: My One and Only

Chapter Three: "Chills"

After we left the restaurant, we all piled into three cabs and went out bowling. I was squished in between Jonathan and David in the backseat of the car with Craig riding shotgun. He laughed at us the whole ride. I guess it was funny to him that the three biggest guys basically had to sit on each other's laps for the whole journey.

I was whispering jokes to Delirious during the ride to make Nogla mad. It was always funny to make that Irishman angry, but what was even funnier was hearing Jonathan laugh at my corny knock-knock jokes every time.

We made it to the bowling alley and fell out of the taxi one by one. Scott saw us and said we made it look like a clown car. It was so stuffy inside there that I forgot how cold it was outside. I shivered as the cool breeze blew against my bare neck.

"Baby," Jonathan said as he hit me and smirked.

That fucking smile of his. The shiver I had running down my spine was no longer from the wind. What was going on with me?

We went into the bowling alley and split into two teams: Jonathan, Luke, Marcel, David, and Scott against Craig, Brock, Brian, Lui, Tyler, and I. I had an extra person on my team, so I didn't think they even stood a chance. Of course, they won both games by over 60 points. Jonathan was a complete boss when it came to bowling; I've never seen someone get so many strikes without even trying. Every time his team cheered for him his face would go red and he'd act shy. He was much different in person.

"Whatever, you guys cheated anyways," Lui said as we walked back to our hotel. It was only 11:00 PM, but we wanted to head back early to be well-rested for the start of PAX tomorrow.

David and Lui shared a room, as did Jon and Luke. The rest of us had separate rooms. Marcel's girlfriend Simone is going to fly out here tomorrow evening as well as Tyler's girlfriend Kelly. We all decided that we should take a day to get to know Delirious in person before they go off with their women for most of their weekend.

I proceeded to say goodnight to everyone that was on a different floor. Brian, Tyler, Jonathan, and Luke were just a few doors away from my room.

I stopped at my door and slid my key card to open it. "I guess I'll see you idiots tomorrow morning."

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fall asleep. What was that feeling that I continuously got around Jonathan? It wasn't a bad feeling, it was just... Weird. I stayed up for multiple hours researching. There's no way... I didn't like him. I couldn't like him. I like girls, not guys.

I opened my eyes to the bright lights that shone through the window. I looked at my alarm clock: 5:52 AM. Great, 3 hours of sleep, I thought to myself. I knew I wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep, so I got dressed and left my room to go get free breakfast downstairs. I opened my door and Jonathan was walking past. My heart leaped to my throat. "Hey, what the hell are you doing up so early?" I asked him.

"Couldn't sleep, Luke snores like a bear. I'm going to get some breakfast, wanna come?"

"Yeah, sure, I was just about to head down." The tiredness seemed to escape my body.

We ate large portions of bacon, eggs, and toast as we waited for the guys to wake up. It was nice to finally talk with him alone.

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and began to speak. "I know it was hard for you to finally meet us, but I can tell everyone really likes you. You're an okay dude, Jon. How come you never met us sooner?"

He sighed deeply and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "I'm awkward and weird-looking, Evan. It doesn't help that I'm gay either. I just thought y'all wouldn't like me if you knew who I really was, which is dumb because I understand now that y'all are just the nicest guys. I should've came a long time ago, I'm sorry."

"That's ridiculous," I laughed. "Also, you're not awkward or weird-looking, dummy. You're pretty damn hot." That last part slipped out, but I knew he'd take it as a joke anyways.

The others finally woke up and we headed out for day 1 of PAX. We all drifted into groups of two or three. Jonathan and I spent the day together and tried out so many new games. He kept getting excited over all of the horror games. He made me play one with an Oculus Rift. I absolutely hate scary games, and every time I'd jump or yell at the game Jon would start laughing until there were tears in his eyes.

Tyler and Marcel left the convention early to hang out with their girlfriends for the rest of the night and Brian and Craig were hanging out together with some other people I didn't know. The rest of the guys planned a small fan meet up outside of the building, but I knew Delirious couldn't do it yet. I left with him for the night and we went walking around the city. He opened up about himself and told me all about his childhood. His father passed away when he was just 9 and he was left to care for his mother and sister. He had a lot of love to give and I could see in his eyes that he is a compassionate person.

Every now and then on our walk him and I would accidentally touch hands. It gave me chills every time. "Sorry," he kept mumbling embarrassingly.

When our feet were aching after hours of walking, we made it back to our rooms. I gave him a hug before we went our separate ways for the night. "Goodnight," I said smiling.

"Night, bitch," he said as he ruffled my hair.

I got ready for bed and looked in the mirror where I caught myself with a permanent smile. Maybe I do like him.