Sweater Weather (BoyxBoy)

Ch 4 [My Left Hand meets your waist]

Coach and Mrs. Bauer went out on date, he'd been busy every night, tomorrow was our game, and this weekend he and Kyle were going on a trip. Since the big screen in the living room was free we hooked the Xbox into it. Carly was upstairs talking her life away on the phone.

The front door open and Kyle paused the game. We looked up to see Skylar come in. He dropped his bag and took his shoes off. He'd looked tired, he's been coming home like that all week. I didn't know gymnasts trained that hard.

"I am so tired." he plopped down on the recliner.

"You shouldn't flip so much." Kyle said unpausing the game.

Skylar shushed him and put his hand up. We looked up to see him on the phone.

"I don't know, but you're like totally stressing me out." he was doing this weird stretchy thing. He extended his leg in a way that would hurt my boys downstairs. He's very flexible. "Yeah. Bam had me doing some yoga-cardio thing. I just got in, my parents are having dinner at some restaurant. It's just me Chris, Carles, Kyle and his friend."

Wow. He could've at least said my name. Kyle was murdering me in the game. I was silently watching Skye more than the screen. His legs were phenomenal. I noticed he didn't have a lot of hair on them. Come to think of it he wasn't hairy at all, almost smooth except for his head. When I saw him in the towel I didn't see a spec of hair on his torso. He looks like a Abercrombie model.

"Why? You wanna come over?" he stopped stretching. "I'm pretty sure they won't mind. No, we'll probably order a pizza, I deserve a cheat day." Shit, he deserves a cheat month. "Okay. See you when you get here, later."

Skylar got up from the chair and headed for the kitchen.

"Who was that?" asked Kyle.

"Logan."

"Oh, you're lunchroom brawl buddy." Kyle and I laughed. He slapped us both on the back of our heads as he passed the couch.

He went upstairs and showered. While he was up there Kyle and I ordered a few pizzas. After a while Carly and Skye came down, Christian filled up on milk and cookies and clocked out early. They talked so much we eventually stopped playing and just joined the conversation.

"I need to hold auditions like, next week." she said messing with her hair.

"You guys suck, just deal with it." Kyle joked. She rolled her eyes at him and glared at me for laughing.

"No but seriously, Amanda fractured her ankle and she was our best flyer! I'll get Haley to replace her, but I've got to replace Haley." she looked at Skylar with pleading eyes.

"I'm not going to be a cheerleader."

"Come on, Skye. We'd put those losers to shame."

"By loser you must mean dad, cause he'd freak." Kyle added.

Skylar rolled his eyes. Kyle, out of all the Bauer kids, seemed to be the most intimidated by his dad. To the rest of them their mom was the scary one. She was kind of scary.

"Well will you at least be at the audition. I've see your tumbling, you're as clean as they come, you can show them how it's done."

"Yeah I'll go." he leaned back in the recliner, everything he does he makes it look sexy. He could be lacing his shoelaces and get me happy.

"I'll do it, if you don't haven't asked anyone else." Kyle said. I turned to him dumbfounded.

"What in the hell do you know about cheerleading?" asked mocking him.

"No. It's a tradition at West Caperton. A couple of football players go to the audition as judges, they don't make cuts or anything, they're basically there to say 'hot or not'. Skye answered.

"Why?"

"Who better to rate cheerleaders than a football player." Kyle said high-fiving me.

Carly rolled her eyes. I only half way meant it. I wouldn't mind checking out a few hot cheerleaders, but they wouldn't be my first choice.

"What about you?" Carly asked me. It was the first time she's talked to me directly without using an insult.

All three of them looked at me. I knew my answer. I wondered what was the answer Skye wanted to hear. I know we're not dating or anything, but I don't wanna ruin my chances by being a pig.

"Sure." I looked at Skylar who raised an eyebrow at me. I bet he thinks I'm the King of mixed signals, or stupidity.

The doorbell rang and Skye got up to answer it. The same boy from lunch today came in, he had his backpack and an overnight bag. He and Skye greeted each other, after saying hi to everyone else they went up to Skylar's room.

Carly told us tryouts would be next week on Tuesday. She resided back up to her room. Kyle and I unhooked the game and took it back to his room. We heard the two of them in Skye's room laughing and catching up. Carly began her hour long routine she does before she goes to bed.

Kyle began video chatting with some girl from school. She sounded like a complete bimbo.

"Dude, I'll be back. Gonna brush my teeth." if I had to hear the girl's clueless giggle one more time I was jumping out the window.

The hall was dim. Light only came from the bottoms of Carly's room and bathroom, and Skye's door was completely open. Music also came from his room. It was some new song I've heard too many times but still didn't know the name to. I slowly walked to his room trying to be quiet, I've got pretty big feet but they couldn't be heard over the music. I walked passed the bathroom to hear the shower running. It had to be Logan, the rest of us had already showered.

I peeked around the corner of Skylar's room. Compared to Kyle's it wasn't only bigger but he kept it a lot neater. I leaned against the wall with my arms folded. A smile crept on my face as I watched Skye. He stood in a handstand and walked around on his hands. His shirt fell down to his chest, I bit my lip at the sight of his bomb ass body. He bent his back and walked over back on his feet. He looked at me watching at him and he tried to hide his smile. He continued his stretching, making me gawk at his flexibility.

"That's impressive."

"It's just stretching."

"Yeah, well I've never see anyone make just stretching look that good." I subtly licked my lips. Skye tried to hide his rosy face. Him blushing had to be the cutest thing in the world. The more I see his smile the more beautiful it seems.

"Dude." I heard Kyle's voice from the hallway. I jumped a bit as I turned around. "The bathrooms that way."

"Yeah. I uh. Logan was in there and I--"

The shower was separate from the vanity area, I could've easily brushed my teeth with out disturbing Logan. I didn't need Kyle becoming suspicious of me liking Skylar. Skye would probably kill me if Kyle thought we were a thing. I just stared back at him with a look that said confused and nervous.

"Man, I can't always be the smart one." he said shaking his head. He went back to his room thinking he accomplished something. I wasn't too far behind. Before leaving a winked at Skye. He rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. I don't want to jinx it, but he's definitely warning up to me.



****

"Well we're at the end of the fourth and unless the Pirates learn magic all of a sudden, they're going to take home the L. The WC Rangers came on the field today and were playing no games, Mike. The Pirates defense weren't ready for number twenty-four, Kyle Bauer, and number thirteen, Jackson Chrome. These two seniors had the game of their lives tonight. It's like Bauer put ball magnets on his receivers' gloves. Passing yard after passing yard, he was on fire." said a commentator.

"Well, Rick lets not forget about 'Clackson Jackson Chrome' this kid was moving through the defense like a knife through warm butter. He was untouchable tonight, scoring two touchdowns in the first half alone. Very rarely do you see high school students return a kickoff with such ease but he pulled it off. The crowd was going crazy over their team tonight."

The crowd at the school's stadium was going crazy. Fans with painted faces screamed and cheered all night. The home side was painted in blue and black with shirts, caps and banners.

Coach Bauer couldn't be happier as he looked at the clock run down. The score board read 42-6, all his hard work was paying off, it was the perfect way to start off the season. His boys on the sidelines all held their helmets and counted down the final ten seconds of the game. He looked back at his wife and kids, Carly stood in the stands with her family, she refused to let her squad cheer looking a mess. Carly and Skylar wore their their letterman jackets and had identical caps to their dad. Christian had a football face painted on him and waved a Pom Pom they sell at the front gates. Leah and her kids all had t-shirts with Kyle's number on them. It's been a tradition since he started coaching at West Caperton that they attend every game. He raised his hand and put up his index finger. Smiling they all did the same.


The buzzer ran and the players went berserk. Jumping up and down and shouting. Coach Bauer walked on the field and shook the hand of the less happy coach. He joined his team in the line up as they all shook hands.

"Boys huddle up!" he said as the other team sadly walked off the field. He stood in the middle of the field where the school logo was painted into the turf. He put his hand in a fist and the players all join in in a huddle. "Bauer, count us out."

"Rangers on three. One! Two! Three!"

"Rangers!" the team broke the huddle and continued celebrating.

Jackson and Kyle hugged with huge smiles on their faces.

"Best first game ever, man!" Kyle shouted. He shook his head through Jackson's sweaty hair.

Jackson looked at the crowd a smirk creeped on his face. He found the Bauer's and his eyes immediately found Skylar. Their gazes met, in a crowd of hundreds he only saw him. Skylar tried to stop himself from blushing, but overall gave up and just gazed back at Jackson. He chuckled when Jackson winked at him, he didn't break the gaze until the players headed back to the locker rooms.

Carly was completely taken aback by with the little 'stunt' Jackson just pulled. She had thought he was staring at her, but after a few eye rolls she figured he was looking past her. She followed his eyes to Skye who was standing next to her. "Why and the hell is he looking at him like that?" she thought to herself. It was a look that Jack and Rose couldn't beat. When he winked Carly nearly fell down the bleachers. "What the hell was that?" she said under her breath. She looked over at Skylar who was still blushing. He hung his head and tried not to look at Jackson. She couldn't believe what she saw.


****
Skylar's POV

My bed's comfortable, I'm tired as hell, today was my first day without practice all this week, but I can't fall asleep to change my life. I'm not nervous for my competition tomorrow. There won't be any tough competition there. My body is a little sore, but I usual sleep well in the worst conditions. I took my pills, the nighttime dose usually has me out within thirty minutes. I'm restless because of Jackson. He goes out of his way everyday to do things that make me question him. Why would a guy that moved here from some hick town in Alabama come here and try to get with another guy? Nothing about Jackson says gay. He's too much of a 'He-Man' to give me that vibe. I've been going to photo shoots, dance classes, and gymnastics competitions since I was little, homosexuality is nothing new to me. Over the years my gaydar has become pretty accurate, but Jackson came to town and put that to shame. I wonder if that's why he and Carly broke up, he wasn't interested. But why should they have sex if he didn't like girls? Is he bi? All I know is he isn't joking at this point. Anyone would've gave it up by now. He seems to get more and more intense. I can't go a second of seeing him without him giving me that stupid smirk or that douchebag wink.

Even now he has my heart pounding at my chest. I rolled my eyes at myself not understanding why I'm even thinking about him.

"You do not like Jackson Chrome." I say to myself. I don't. I've never thought of a guy that way, and I sure as hell don't now.

Head resting on my arm I thought of all the bad things I knew about Jackson.

He's an idiot, he and Kyle are coasting at the bottom of their class with D averages. When he gets home from practice he smells like he's been wrestling in the middle of the Sahara. He had sex with my sister then broke up with her a week later. I've seen him trip a kid in the hallway just to get a laugh out of it. I have to let him copy off of me in Chemistry so he won't fail off the team. His table manners makes Christian look classically trained. If he isn't playing football he's playing Xbox, I can't count how many times I've seen him tapping a controller in just basketball shorts and socks. Not that it's not a good look for him, he actually looks good shirtless. His happy trail is a sight to see. When he stretches and I see his armpit hair I think have I ever seen anything sexier.

"What the fuck am I saying?" I said tossing the covers off of me. I sat at the edge of my bed with my hands in my hair. I stood up with a big sigh and walked out of my room. The hallway was dim, moonlight shined through the large window at the end of the hall. The TV in Christian's room was louder than it needed to be. The house was dark but everything was easily visible. I entered the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the drying rack. I filled it up halfway from the faucet and drank it all in seconds. I tugged at my hair and let out another sigh.

"Couldn't sleep, Dimples?"

I jumped at the sudden sound, I turned around to see Jackson leaning against the counter behind the kitchen island.

"Shit." I said under my breath. My heart was racing, he stood there eating a cup of my yogurt. He had on an old sleeveless shirt and boxers. I tried avoid looking at him. "What are you doing down here?"

"I was hungry." he seductively licked the yogurt from the spoon, making me weak at the knees. He smirked and set the cup down, he came around the island and stood in front of me. Afraid of what he'd do or say I spoke up.

"You played well tonight." I blurted out not knowing what to say.

"Thanks." he smiled and took a step closer. "It's easy to show out when you're trying to impress someone."

I looked down and avoided his gaze, I didn't want to fall for his smirk. My heart was jackhammering my chest.

"You were trying to impress me?" I asked still looking down. My voice was shaky, Jackson chuckled at it.

He lifted my chin with his thumb and index finger, he made me look into eyes, he made me fall into them. "Did it work?" he drug out. He wasn't smirking at me. His face wasn't giving a stupid look or grimace. He was as serious as ever. This was the closest I'd ever been to him. I'm pretty sure he could feel my chest beating against his.

I couldn't force a word out of my mouth. I stood there with him holding my face for what seemed like an eternity. My mouth gaped open but nothing would come out. Jackson had me speechless.

He chuckled and his smirk returned. He brought his face down to mine and I pulled back. His hand wrapped around me and pulled me back to him. I closed my eyes and waited for it to happen. "Goodnight." he groaned in my ear.

I watched him go back up the stairs to Kyle's room. I pulled my hair again, frustration built inside me. I played what just happen back hundreds in my head. Recollecting his warm breath passing over my ear, still feeling his firm chest against mine, the smell of strawberry yogurt still lingered in my nostrils. I grunted loudly, with my arms folded I rested my head in them on the counter.

"I think you like Jackson Chrome." I told myself disappointed.