Y O U T H (scomiche)

scott

Rick told me Scott was in his room, so I walked up the steps and down the hall. The door was open, and Scott was standing by his bed, talking with his sister.

"Hey Lauren." I said. She whipped her head around to me.

"Mitch! You're free!" She wrapped me in a hug.

"Huh?"

"You were grounded for, like, a week! What could you possibly have done to piss off Mike and Nel so much?"

"Oh, it's a long story. Hey, uh, I think your parents wanted to talk to you real quick. It was something about the-"

"Condoms! Oh shit!" She immediately ran out of the room and down the steps. I closed the door quietly and clicked the lock in place.

"Wait, what did they want?" Scott said. I soaked in his words, craving to hear his voice again after a week of its absence. Instead of responding to the question, I ran towards him practically latched onto him in a hug, almost dropping a tear down my cheek.

"No, wait, seriously, what did they want with her?"

"Nothing, I just wanted her to leave." I said, laughing into his shirt.

"Oohh."

"I. Missed. You. So. Much." He leaned further into the hug, swaying back and forth with me.

"I missed you too. How was gay camp?" He half-whispered. The video game wasn't on yet.

"Oh my god it was terrible. My bunk-mates were okay, but I missed you, like, every day."

"Sorry about all the texts. I was lonely."

"I can relate. I got waay more from Kirstie, so I think you're okay."

"Oh man, I believe it."

I rested my head in his chest, enjoying his scent again. We heard stomping up the stairs from a frustrated Lauren, who shouted "Mitchell!" before she walked into her room and shut the door. We laughed and let go of the hug, Scott turned on the video game tutorial.

I shoved him onto his bed, playfully, so he was sitting down. I put my knees around his thighs, pushed his hair back and kissed him, craving touch.

He pulled away to take off his shirt and mine, as usual. We wanted to be careful of where we placed hickeys so our parents wouldn't notice. I started moving my hips against his, out of habit, and he mumbled "that's not fair" in between a breath and a neck kiss.

In Texas, the age of consent is seventeen, which we both are. But it gets tricky when you read the fine print. There's many, many different rules for being seventeen, under seventeen, over seventeen, etc. But, for us, if we have sex without both of our parents permission, then our parents could sue each other. Scott turns eighteen in about a month, so if we have sex then, then my parents could sue Scott. So, according to Texas law, we can't do it. Now, we could say "fuck you" and do it anyway, but neither of us would feel right about it, so we don't, and it's torturous.

I think the best moments we have are when we're both in boxers and white socks. We're both more "shiny" than "sweaty," and quietly making out to the sounds of whatever video game tutorial Scott put in the console. One time I actually asked him where he got the game, 'cause it's a fairly new and expensive one. He said his cousin got two of the same console and game from each of his parents, who hadn't told each other because they're divorced, so he gave Scott one in exchange for twenty bucks.

We heard Connie's footsteps up the steps, more than likely to call Scott downstairs for dinner, so I improvised.

"Scott! You've gotta cover me, I'm by myself out there, lets go!"

"I'm coming, goodness. What are you doing?"

"You need to reload Sco-" There was a sound of an explosion from the video game.

"I told you you had to reload! You need ammo for health." I made a confused face, having never played a video game in my life. It also wasn't exactly hard to fool Connie, though.

"Here, I'll give you an extra life, but you need to get out there! This side mission only takes, like, ten minutes." I was trying my best not to laugh at myself. The only thing I knew of video game lingo was from watching pewdiepie.

We heard her light footsteps down the steps again and listened to her through the vent.

"I'm gonna give the boys about fifteen more minutes, I'll set the table. He probably wants to see Mitch for a little longer. Plus, the boy doesn't have to be home for another half an hour."

"Alright, sounds good, Connie." Rick said.

I gave Scott a thumbs up and got back onto the bed. Scott crawled towards me and pushed me down against his pillows. He slid an arm around my back to hold me, and pulled me into his side. We put ourselves as close  to each other as possible, intertwining our legs and messing up each others hair, giving kisses that were more laughter than kisses. We both pulled away.

"I wish we could be official." I said, more of a matter of fact than complaining.

"I know, me too." He rubbed circles in my temple with his large thumbs.

"I feel like if we did, my parents would be more angry about the fact that gay camp didn't work than the fact that I've been in a secret relationship for three years." He giggled.

"Yeah. I still have no idea how my parents would take it. After last Sunday, my parents kinda talked about it, but they were more stating facts than opinions."

"I feel like, no matter what, you're still their son and they'll love you no matter what, despite the fact that you'd prefer a boyfriend than a girlfriend."

"True. I'm, just, nervous about it."

"That's understandable."

"Do you think we'll actually stay together after high school?" I said.

"I want to. I really, really want to. I love you too much not to. Plus, I feel like once we can hold hands in public and flourish as a couple, then we'll really click. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. We'll be happier to be together."

"Exactly!"

"I can't wait for the day."

"Me neither." He smiled and kissed me again.

"Footsteps." Scott said, his mom getting closer to the door. She knocked on the door three times.

"Scott, honey, dinner's ready! Mitch can stay over if he would like, but I think his parents want him home."

"Thanks, mom." Scott's demeanor completely changed when talking to his mom, but he snapped right back to the Scott I knew when looking back to me.

"I should probably head home." I started stretching a little, never leaving his hug-cuddle-thing he had me trapped in. I kissed his shoulder before lifting his arm off of me to pick my jeans and t-shirt off of the floor.

"You want a ride home?"

"I'm fine, thanks. It's still light out. God bless the summer."

"Only a week left 'till school."

"Honestly, don't remind me." He laughed and put his clothes back on while I fixed my hair.

We both checked each other for marks, to no avail, turned off the TV, and walked down the stairs. I waved goodbye to the other Hoying's while Scott walked me outside.

"I'll text you."

"Same." I started walking away, and Scott walked back into his house after I was down the block. My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Scott: "It was really, really good seeing you again. I love you, like, a lot. I know you always say you love me more, but it's, like, unimaginable how much I love you. Get home safe xo"

I blushed at the text, dismissed it to reply later, and told my mom I was on the way home.