Make Me Weak | Rockiff

"And that’s a wrap!”

“Thank god,” Rocky mumbled, wiping the sweat from his brow. They were finally done shooting the Pass Me By music video, and he was more than relieved. It had been fun, but he had some manners he had to discuss with Ellington. You see, Rocky and Ellington were a little more than best friends, like they said. They were secret lovers, sneaking around behind everyone’s backs. They wanted to tell people, they really did, but Ellington hadn’t been home long enough to break the news to his long-time girlfriend, Kelly.

So instead, they chose to keep it secret—stolen kisses when nobody was around, holding hands under the table at restaurants, and only fooling around when they were positive nobody would be able to see or hear.

Rocky marched up to Ellington and grabbed him by the wrist, then tugged him over to the cabin where just hours previously, they had shot a kiss between his brother and some blonde chick he couldn’t remember the name of. Rocky looked around and then kissed Ell’s lips gently. “Sorry… It’s been killing me all day. Flirting with these girls, not being able to so much as look at you…” Rocky leaned his head on Ell’s shoulder and pouted.

“I hated it,” the shorter of the two responded, stroking Rocky’s hair. “But it’s over, and that’s what matters, right?”

“Right. And seeing you all wet and shirtless didn’t exactly help the matter.” Rocky trailed his fingers down Ellington’s back and kissed his neck gently.

“Fuck, Rocky, not here,” he murmured into the teen’s ear. “We’ll get caught.” Rocky pulled away and pouted, knowing that his lover couldn’t resist the puppy eyes. “Oh for fuck’s sake—fine. I’ll be right back.” Rocky sat down triumphantly and watched as Ellington jogged away.

Ratliff grabbed Riker by the arm, noticing the entire group of people had been headed off somewhere. “Hey,” Riker said, his usual grin plastered to his face. “Everything alright, man?”

“Yeah… Where are you all headed off to?”

“We were gonna start a campfire and chill for a little while, why?”

“Rocky isn’t feeling too well,” Ellington lied swiftly. “I’m gonna sit with him out in the car for a while and see if he gets any better, okay?”

“Is he alright?” Ell could see that Riker had gone into worrisome big-brother mode immediately. “Do we need to take him home?”

“No, no,” Ellington shook his head quickly. “I think he’s just overworked. Exhausted from today. Really, we’ll be fine. I’ll text you if he needs anything, but I think he just wants to be alone right now. I just don’t want to leave him all alone, in case—“

“Ratliff, are you in love with him?” Riker asked, interrupting not only Ellington’s sentence, but his breathing. Ellington coughed, and looked up at Riker, his cheeks red.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You heard me. Do you love him? I won’t tell anyone, dude, really. Just… Tell me? Please? He’s been kinda upset lately, and I’m trying to figure out why.”

Ratliff nodded slowly, adverting his eyes to the ground. “It-It’s my fault. We’ve been sneaking around for a few months now. Well, really, it’s been since the tour started. I haven’t been able to bring myself to leave Kelly… I don’t want to hurt her but I know I’m just making it worse by prolonging it. It’s hurting him that he can’t tell you guys.” Riker looked down at his best friend, and then engulfed him in a hug.

“You idiot,” Riker mumbled. “You know you guys can tell us anything. Go. We’ll give you two time alone. Promise.” Riker gave him a playful shove. Ellington, blushing, nodded and gave Riker a two-fingered salute. He jogged back to Rocky and sat next to him, smiling.