Free Me (bxb)

Part 30

Over the next six weeks or so, he and Keith keep hanging out. They usually meet in the tunnel behind the school and either go film Griffin riding, sit out by the lake and talk, go to the barn at Helen and Gabe's to listen to music and talk, or go to Griffin's place when his dad isn't home to study.

The first time Griffin had Keith in his room, just to study, he felt a sort of nervousness he never felt before when he brought Rose into his room to study with her, he just never thought anything of it. His mind never wandered to doing anything other than study with Rose in his bedroom, even when his dad wasn't home and they had the entire place to themselves. He can't even remember really making out with her when they were alone in his room, but they have never really been the type of couple to make out. Griffin isn't really sure if that's normal or not, but Rose has never mentioned it, so he assumes that it's fine.

But when he has Keith in his bedroom with the entire rest of the house empty, Griffin just feels jumpy. It's almost as if he expects something to happen even though he knows it won't. Even after the first couple times of studying in his bedroom, the feeling never completely vacates his mind. When Keith sits close to him on the bed, his heart races in his chest and it's hard to concentrate on any subjects, even the ones he's good at, like math. And when their fingers occasionally brush against each other over textbook pages when one of them is trying to explain something, it's as if all the nerve endings in Griffin's hand are shocked. He doesn't understand the feelings at all, but he never stops their study sessions; he doesn't want to.

When they meet up in the barn at Helen and Gabe's house, they always hang out in the loft with all the hay talking and sharing music. Griffin was happy to learn that Keith's music taste was a lot similar to his, and he even discovered a lot of new bands because of it. It was nice meeting somebody with the same music taste as him because almost everybody at his school just listened to country music. Griffin didn't mind all country music, he even liked a couple songs, but he couldn't stand an entire playlist of it.

They didn't do much more than that, and on Thursday after school, he picked Keith up at the tunnel to go and shoot more footage of Griffin riding. Everything goes as normal, and Keith films him for about ten minutes and it's one of Griffin's better days for riding. He feels more confident today for some reason, and he hopes it really shows in the footage.

He rides back over to Keith, and Keith, used to the routine by now is already putting on his helmet. Griffin had gotten an extra one for Keith after they spent a lot of time together on his bike, and to be honest, he really likes the way the helmet looks on Keith.

"Dude! Did you catch me throw that sick whip?"

Keith doesn't respond over the roar of the engine, but he climbs onto the back of the bike and wrapped his arms around his waist. Over the past few weeks, they had gotten comfortable enough with each other for him to hold onto Griffin properly instead of just putting his hands on Lukas's waist.

He drives them over in the direction of his dad's cabin. They've hung out there a couple of times before, when his dad was at the house and Helen and Gabe were home. They didn't do it often, since their respective parents (or parent and foster parents) were almost never home during the afternoon and evening, but even though it was only Thursday, the cabin was close by and he's feeling tempted by the beers that he knows his dad keeps in the mini-fridge.

When he's approaching the cabin, he jumps over a bathtub and after Keith gets off his bike, Griffin does a little wheelie when he's parking. He tells himself it's not to impress Keith, but this feeling in his chest of wanting Keith to notice the few talents he has always overrides those thoughts.