Levitate (An Andy Leo x Dave Escamilla story)

Levitate - XXIV

My name is Andrew John Velasquez, I am sixteen years old, and I don't think I've ever been happier in my short lifespan. David and I have been dating for two weeks now, and it's as if the planets aligned at the thought. Af it was written in the stars, our relationship began smoothly. My parents didn't question why I suddenly began spending the night with him more. They think I'm with him right now to work on a project. Little do they know, we just had sex.

I put down the notebook and smirked as I looked up to the sight of David's naked body standing in the doorway of the bathroom, the soft yellow light silhouetting his features in an image so beautiful, Michelangelo himself would have a hard time finding a muse to recreate the scene as stunningly as him. I brought my fingers up to delicately touch at the dark bite marks that now littered the base of my neck, fresh compared to the ones on my chest from the day prior. David's eyes landed on me and a bright red blush filled my cheeks.

"Hi." I breathed, making him laugh.

"Stop staring. That's weird." He chuckled in response before pulling on his boxer briefs and joining me on his bed.

"Whatcha writing, hmmm?" He hummed, my cheeks now turning a deeper pink as he pulled the book from my hand.

"No. David, stop it." I plead, quickly pinning him to the bed in an attempt to stop him from reading the contents of the page. His grin only grew wider at my plea and he opened the book.

"'My name is Andrew John Velasquez.'" He read aloud, my hands now reaching for the book even more.

"John, huh? I wouldn't have guessed that one." He grinned, quickly pressing a kiss to my lips though I only cared to get the book back.

"Yeah, my dad's name. Can I please have it back?" I sighed, not wanting him to go any further. He hesitantly handed it back before he pressed another kiss to my temple.

"I'm gonna read it one day." He smirked.

"With your consent too." His beamed his pearly white teeth and I felt my heart flutter slightly.

"Keep dreaming, Escamilla." I chuckled and he hummed, his eyes falling on my head. I already knew what he was looking at, though I didn't want to admit it.

"Did it hurt?" He asked. I thought back to the day it had happened and my eyebrows began to knit together.

"No. It didn't." I admit.

"I really didn't feel it at all. I saw the blood on the floor, but I didn't feel it." The words came easily, the suicide attempt being something I wasn't yet comfortable talking about, but with David, it seemed okay.

"Where'd you get the gun?" He asked softly, his fingers touching over the skin.

"Bought it from some kid at my group therapy sessions. He's a weird dude. I knew he probably had something like that on him. He sold it to me for forty bucks and a handful of pills." I admit, turning on my side to look at Dave. His eyes were filled with sadness as he pressed another kiss to my nose.

"Why'd you do it?" He asked, cupping my cheek and stroking the skin softly with his thumb.

This was the question I didn't want to answer.

"Next topic, please." I breathed, earning a quick, small protest.

"Baby." He pleaded and I only shook my head no.

"I'm not ready." I admit, his expression easing as he sighed.

"Alright. I'm sorry." He murmured before pulling me closer to him by my hips, hand hands delicate as he pulled. I stayed within his embrace for longer than I had expected before pulling away, finding my boxers within the sheets and pulling them up, the plaid green pattern making Dave smirk.

"Have you looked in your brother's book lately?" He asked, nodding from his spot on the bed. I pulled the black book from my backpack before shaking my head no, having not thought of it since the incident.

"C'mere. Open it up." He insisted, patting the bed next to him as hard as his hand would allow. I scurried back to the bed, climbing in carefully and tossing the book down, being sure to start from the last page I had seen, flipping to the next one, a half finished water painting of a dock looking over the water making me smile.

"Our parents used to take us to California for the summer, before things went south for them. He must've painted this from memory." I sighed, touching over the paper softly with the tips of my fingers, Dave looking to me with a small sigh.

"You miss him a lot. Don't you?" He asked. I could only give him a nod, my throat constricted so tight at the thought of the last time I could remember Ollie.

"I was nine when I last saw him. He was seventeen." The memory slowly came to mind as I spoke.

"We weren't in Texas. We were in New Mexico. Las Cruces. There's a road that you take, and it's nothing but backwoods, back road farmland. Our parents thought it would be fun to let us go pick pecans." I smirked at the thought, remembering Ollie lifting me into the trees and picking on me for being so small and lightweight.

"It was fun. We had more pecans that we knew what to do with. It was like the world stopped for that small moment in time. We were all happy. My parents wanted to be together. My dad liked me. Loved me, even. He looked at my mom the way people look at the night sky, or at photos of far away places that seemed unreachable. She was something else to him and he valued her. He loved her the way everyone should be loved." I couldn't help the wide smirk that now sat upon my face as I thought of it.

"We were the happiest any group of people could ever be." I murmured.

"That's the last memory I have of my brother. I don't remember that night, or even the next day, or even the day after that. I just remember sitting down in the grass while the cool breeze whipped through my hair, stuffing myself on more pecans than humanly safe for consumption." I could practically feel the grass beneath me as I took David's hand in mine, intertwining our fingers together softly.

I still couldn't stomach the taste of pecans to this day.