Love sick series: the Mick Diaries

Chapter 9 love songs

The day of the Live Show finally arrived. It was being held at the school's cavernous gymnasium, and the stands were filled to the brim with teachers and students, all expecting a rocking good time from each of the finalists.

Mick sat with his band on the bleachers, watching as the first of the fifteen acts started to perform. His hands twisted themselves into his blue shorts nervously.

"Hey, relax and have fun," Heng said, who was sitting beside him. "You'll be fine."

Mick nodded, though he still felt nauseous. He'd hardly eaten anything during lunch. He wasn't the only one with butterflies in his stomach though. Fin, their lead singer, actually had to run to the toilet and puke, but everyone else in the band assured Mick that it was normal, and that he always managed to deliver a good vocal, still.

Mick was still pretty exhausted after volunteering to help set up the gymnasium until dinnertime the day before, mostly to keep Om company. There had been too many people around, though, so they didn't actually spend much time together except for a few minutes of conversation. His gaze wandered to the judges table, where Om sat. The senior was looking intently at the band on stage, occasionally taking notes or marking scores. He looked very handsome, and serious.

Om, the first guy he'd ever kissed. Mick closed his eyes, unable to stop himself from smiling at the memory of their brief kiss. He'd run over that memory in his mind practically non-stop, until even his mom and sister had to ask him to stop daydreaming and concentrate on his chores while he was at home. He wanted to tell them - tell the whole world, in fact- but Om had asked him to keep it quiet.

Mick frowned. Om had apologized for the kiss, actually. He said he hadn't meant for it to happen.

Then why had he gone for it in the first place? Why tell me he likes me, kiss me, then apologize? Mick pouted at the thought.

It was frustrating to say the least. They'd sat for a while that day, talking quietly. Om had told Mick that he was still exploring his feelings for the younger boy, and Mick accepted that. He didn't want to rush things either. But now he wasn't sure where they stood. More than friends, certainly, but also less than boyfriends?

Boyfriends don't apologize after kissing, do they?

He didn't deny that he yearned for Om every single minute of the day. The kiss had intensified his feelings for the senior in ways he never knew it could. He wanted more. More of Om's kisses, in his mouth, right now!

Was this love? How could something so wonderful be so torturous at the same time? He wondered.

The good thing was that Om now communicated with him much more freely than before. He never failed to reply Mick's messages, or to wish him sweet dreams at night. They hadn't managed to meet up over the weekend, but Om had called him late on Saturday to talk.

***

Apparently Om had spent Friday night at Noh's, his best friend and the music club president, where they'd had an impromptu party and consumed copious amounts of alcohol. Mick had been seriously shocked at how much Om and his friends could drink. Mick hadn't had so much as a drop of beer in his life, since that had been one of the things that had led his parents to divorce. His mom now refused to allow alcohol of any sort in their house, although Mick was quite curious to find out how it tasted like.

"Yeah, you might need to wait a year or so before you can join our parties, Mick," Om had chuckled his his deep voice. "Per and Knott were there but they succumbed pretty early," he said, referring to two of the music club members in the 10th grade.