Kickflip | bxb

twenty: the future

"Quinn!"

Jess kicked the door open and stormed into their room to yank Quinn's headphones angrily off his head, catching one of his ears painfully in the process.

"Hey!" Quinn protested, reaching for his headphones as Jess dangled them just out of reach. "Don't--you'll break them! Those are fricking expensive!"

"Your friend is on the phone," Jess told him, rolling her eyes. "Stop ignoring me."

"I'm not ignoring you," Quinn snorted as he started to get up. "I just couldn't hear you. Who is it?"

"Matt."

Quinn froze halfway to his feet. "Tell him I'm not home," he said shortly.

"No," Jess retorted.

"Jess--"

Jess folded her arms across her chest and glared at Quinn. "What, you finally make a friend who's actually nice and then after your first fight you just give up on him? You suck at confrontation."

Flopping back down onto his bed, Quinn covered his face with his hands. "You don't understand," he said petulantly.

"Just say you're sorry, dumb butt," Jess snorted, flumping down onto her own bed and reaching for the magazine on her bedside table. "I'm not lying for you. Or let him sit there on the phone until he realizes you're a jerk and hangs up, see if I care."

"I hate you," Quinn muttered against his hands.

"Good. I hate you, too."

Groaning, Quinn pushed to his feet and trudged into the kitchen, where the phone rested on the counter beside its scuffed cradle, looking far too ominous. Quinn picked it up gingerly, like it might bite.

"Hi."

"Hi, it's Matteo."

Matt's voice was like the brush of warm fingertips against the back of Quinn's neck. He shivered. "Hi," he repeated more quietly.

"I finished my video," Matt told him.

"Oh." Quinn was a little taken aback. "I thought you weren't supposed to look at screens or something."

Matt laughed dopily, and Quinn found it a little hard to breathe.

"Yeah, I'm not really. But I was so bored, and I finally figured out what was wrong with it."

"I, uh, that's great, dude."

"I'm having people over tonight to watch it."

"Sweet." Quinn nodded dumbly even though Matt couldn't see it.

"I want you to come."

Quinn pressed his knuckles into his eye, leaving smears of black all over the back of his hand. "Matteo--"

"It's cool, Quinn," Matt reassured him.

Quinn felt like he couldn't quite catch his breath. "Are you sure?" he asked, finally, voice little more than a whisper.

Matt laughed again. "Yeah, dude, I'm sure."

Despite agonizing far too long over what to wear  (one belt or two? Full makeup or only the light face he had been doing lately?) Quinn was still the first to arrive. Matt may have told him to come too early. He would never tell, but he opened the door with a big grin on his face.

Quinn gawked at him. "Your hair," he said, eyes wide.

"Yeah, I know, it looks so bad," Matt said, running a palm over his shorn hair and huffing in a stupid laugh. "My mom talked me into it. I guess it'll grow back."