“Ouch!” I curse lightly, throwing down the glue gun I’d been holding, and shake out my burning hand. I hate glue guns. Honestly, if I never see one ever again, it will be too soon. Sadly, they are needed for the posters. I hold up my stinging finger to my mouth, sucking lightly on the light red burn.
“Need some help with that?” Noel’s voice startles me out of my thoughts. He’s leaning over the arm of the couch closest to me, his face a foot away from mine.
“I-I’m okay thanks.” I wince inwardly. I never stutter.
He smiles warmly and reaches out to grab my hand, careful to avoid the burn. “Come on, you need to run some cold water over that.” He pulls me up off the floor and drags me towards their kitchen at the back of the house.
He tugs me forward until I’m leaning against the marble counter at the sink. This is the one room in the house that is more modern than artsy, as their mom happens to be an excellent cook and treats her kitchen like a spoiled child—it gets all the latest appliances and fixings. Noel runs the tap until he approves of the temperature and slowly brings my hand under the gentle spray. Now he’s cradling my hand in his, and I can’t help the fact that my heart starts racing. Who am I kidding; it’s been racing since I saw him walking towards us in the school parking lot.
I hiss quietly as the cool water hits the burn on my finger. Noel’s fingers caress the back of my hand in a soothing motion. “Feel any better?” his voice is low and deep and husky and beautiful. I swallow and nod, not trusting my voice. I pray that he won’t look down.
He just grins softly. “Good.” He drops my hand after a moment, and I try not to let my disappointment show. Dammit, I don’t care!
Yes you do. A voice in my head says.
No I don’t. I say back stubbornly.
Stop denying your feelings.
No. He’s Angel’s brother for Christ’s sake!
And Angel would want you to be happy.
Not if it meant crushing on her older brother!
You love him.
Dammit, I can’t!
I just barely resist swearing, and realize Noel’s staring at me strangely. Shoot, did I say any of that out loud? But he only asks, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Umm, I need to finish my posters.” Yeah, posters. Focus on the posters. He nods slowly, his brow furrowing. Before I can start analysing what just happen, I spin around and head back to the living room, leaving Noel standing by the sink. I can feel his gaze boring into the back of my neck, but I don’t look back. I do, however, debate smacking myself in the face, but that would just make me look even more ridiculous.
***
After dinner, I head out onto their back porch for some peace and quiet. I love their backyard, all lush gardens, with cute little statues and ornaments spread through the bushes. I always wished we had a garden, or even a backyard. Somewhere to go for peace and quiet, somewhere to sit and think, other than my room. Somewhere with fresh air; a place to walk, or just to step outside and sit on the steps and stare up at the stars. Can’t do that with a third floor apartment.
“What are you doing out here by yourself?” Noel’s voice startles me out of my thoughts. Glancing back, I keep my face relatively neutral.
“Just thinking.” I shrug and turn back around as he sits down beside me on the step. We’re quiet for a few minutes, just looking out over the quiet garden. The sun is almost completely set, and everything is thrown into shadow.
“Have you talked to your father lately?” He asks suddenly. I should have known he’d bring it up. I keep forgetting that at one point, we were friends. Still are really. A pang of guilt hits my stomach as I admit to myself that I may have been avoiding him a little. Still, I practically lived here at one point, so we didn’t really have a choice but to become friends.
I shrug nonchalantly. “Nope.” I hope he’ll leave it at that. Of course, he doesn’t.
“When was the last time he called?”
“About a month or two ago. He apologized for forgetting my birthday.”
“Your birthday was in June.” He looks confused.
“Exactly.”
“Jeez, I’m sorry man.” He puts his arm around my shoulders, and I lean into him before realizing what I’m doing. I quickly sit back up.
“Whatever. I’m over it. He was always a bastard anyway. He’s gone; I don’t understand why he bothers trying to pretend he still cares.”
“He was still your dad.”
“Yeah, my dad who left when he found out his son was a fag.” My face twists in disgust.
“Hey, don’t say that. It’s a terribly word.” Noel’s brow creases in a look I can’t interpret. “Besides, you’re right, he was a bastard for doing that. What I meant was that it’s okay to be hurt; it’s okay to care, because despite that, he was your dad. And you didn’t deserve that.” He falls silent. He looks like he wants to say more, but doesn’t know how to say it.
We sit in silence, because he doesn’t seem inclined to continue, and I haven’t the faintest idea how to reply to that. So we sit, and stare, and listen to the crickets chirp, in a companionable silence.
And in the end, when I can find my voice, I just simply say, “Thanks.”
_________________________________________________________
A/N
I will try to upload more as soon as possible, but I'm also working on two projects for school, so it may be a few days :/
Fun fact: the picture for Backstage Kisses is actually the picture that inspired it, which means that it is Noel and Bo in the pic.
And remember; vote, comment, tell me what you liked and didn't like, and maybe I'll upload even sooner!
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Backstage Kisses (BoyxBoy)
Short Story(This story contains gay characters. If you have a problem with gay content, please do not read.) Beauregard Dubois, otherwise known as Bo, has been in love with his best friend's older brother for years. However, he'd never do anything to hurt Ange...
