↔IMPULSE↔

↔Movie Night↔

↑Picture of Reese Vaungh above↑

Within 5 months of school, Blake went through seven girlfriends.

His seventh girlfriend had just broken up with him, he laid on Reese's bedroom floor and sighed. This bedroom so almost more familiar to him than his own. The posters from indie bands on his walls, the cork board colourfully painted and covered with tons of pictures. His bed had mismatched pillow cases and tons of blankets, the lava lamp was orange, his walls painted turquoise. Blake knew everything in this room down to the slipper that was missing it's pair under his bed to his favourite stuffed animal on his bookshelf.

Reese came in with two cans of soda, he handed one to Blake before sitting on the floor with his back against his bed. "All those stairs are seriously killing me." His sweatpants had a hole in the cuff and his tank top was the colour of a pumpkin.

The Vaungh family lived in a renovated firehouse, Reese's bedroom was on the third floor, he had a pole that went straight down to the first floor right outside his bedroom door, but sadly, he had to walk up three flights of stairs to get to his room.

"How are you feeling man?" Reese asked.

"I'm okay."

"Why'd this one break up with you?"

Blake scoffed, "the same reason as the last six. 'I don't seem to be interested'. I think I act like I'm interested. I take them on dates, text them good morning and good night, I'm a nice guy!"

Reese opened his soda and slurped some of it. "You are a nice guy, but maybe having a high school sweetheart isn't in your cards."

Blake set his drink aside and used his arm to cover his eyes, "ugh, but I want to fall in love! Why do girls have to be so complicated? Why can't they be upfront and honest like guys and Nikki?"

"Then why don't you date Nikki?"

"Ew, that would be like dating Amelia." Amelia was his older sister, she was twenty and currently studying social sciences at Berkley. She was just like Nikki, blunt as a baseball bat and just as brutal. "Don't you want to try falling in love, Ree?"

"Yeah, sounds fun but with who?"

"Nikki. Ingrid. One of the hundred girls throwing themselves at their feet."

"First of all, I throw your words back at you. Ew, Nikki is seriously twisted. Ingrid makes me nervous, she looks at me like a piece of meat." Reese shuddered and took another drink of his soda. "The other girls just like my looks, I don't want that. So who else could I fall in love with?"

Blake left his arm over his eyes when he blurted out impulsively blurted out, "wanna try falling in love with me?"

The room was silent, no, the house was silent. It was just the two of them there. Blake was nervous to move his arm, he expected Reese to just laugh it off and tell him that he needs a new girlfriend. 

What he didn't expect was, "sure, why not?"

He quickly removed his arm and looked over at Reese who was drawing a smiley face in the condensation on his can. Blake sat up, "Reese, you heard what I said right?"

"Yep. Let's fall in love." He looked up from his can, the same challenge in his blue eyes that Blake saw after the kiss, "I bet you'll fall in love with me first."

Blake rolled his eyes, "yeah, right. If anyone falls in love first, it'll be you."

"What do you want to bet?"

"No clue. Bragging rights?"

"Alright. Deal."

More silence stretched between them, "so...how should we start this?'

"I don't know." Reese reached over and laced his fingers through Blake's, his hand was warm and rough, it felt weird holding his hand because his hand was nothing like holding a girl's hand. His thumb stroked up from his wrist to the knuckle of Blake's thumb, sending shivers through Blake. Blake looked over at Reese, he was reading the ingredients on his soda can, absentmindedly caressing Blake's hand.

Blake slipped his hand free and cleared his throat, "let's watch a movie. What time will your parents be back?"

Reese looked up, "huh? Oh, Dad is showing some bigshot's paintings and Mom is in her studio. So if they come back tonight, it won't be until like two or three."

Mrs Vaungh, she preferred to be called Winnie, had a art sudio on the second story of Mr Vaungh's gallery. Mickey and Winnie Vaungh raised their children to be just like them, quick to laugh and open-minded. Blake had always liked them, they were so different from his suit-and-tie father and pencil skirt mom.  

The blond helped him up off the floor and grinned as he went down the fire pole. Blake chuckled and sighed, he remembered the first time he came over to Reese's house and was freaked out by how high it seemed. Now, he followed Reese down happily plummeting the three stories after him to go watch a movie in his living room.

While Reese got the movie ready, Blake was in the kitchen making popcorn and pouring some jellybeans into a bowl for Reese, the brat had too much of a sweet tooth. He walked into the living room, Reese was lounging on the oversized velvet couch the colour of mustard and smelled faintly like tobacco and paint. It had always been there in his living room with mismatched living chair and a scratched up coffee table.

He was covered up with the colourful afghan his grandma crocheted. He eagerly took the bowl of jellybeans and began eating only the red ones. "What are we watching?"

"Nightmare on Elm Street. I love this movie." The box set television was turned up and the curtains were closed, lights were off. It was barely lit, the TV provided a little light and the red light on the VCR was glowing in the cabinet beneath the TV.

Blake sat down a normal distance from Reese, his friend looked over at him, "you're going to get cold."

"No, I won't," Blake said defiantly.

Let's get one thing straight, Blake wasn't a wimp, however, he didn't like horror movies. The sudden scares that made him jump or the eerie background music. He would never say anything because it made him look bad, halfway through the movie, he had his knees drawn up to his chest and he was shivering. Reese's house was brick and cooler than most homes, especially in the winter without the space heater or fireplace going.

The couch shifted, the afghan was tossed over his legs and a warm body pressed up against his side. Reese wrapped his arm around Blake's shoulder and pulled him closer, "I'm fi—" A loud crash in the movie made him jump and he felt a chuckle rumble in Reese's chest.

"Don't laugh at me!"

Reese put his other hand on Blake's knees and pulled them away from his chest until Blake was comfortably situated against Reese, he was tucked under his arm, his head rested on the side of his chest, one leg was brought up on Reese's lap and the other was tangled between his warm legs.

"Wait a second! Why do I seem like the girl?" Blake asked abruptly, he went to sit up.

Reese pulled him back down and tightened his grip around Blake, "shut up and watch the movie." Blake huffed and turned his head towards Reese's chest. How could he be so comfortable being so close? Well, never mind, it was Reese after all. Whatever, he was a comfy pillow and he was nice and warm so Blake was perfectly fine stealing his body heat.

The warmth and familiar smell of Reese were making him drowsy. He loosely held onto the bowl of popcorn and yawned, the movie was nothing more than background noise, he was too tired to be jumpy. During the last twenty minutes of the show, Blake was out like a light. 

Blake couldn't help but wonder if their bet would actually work, could either of them really fall in love with each other? After all, they were two straight guys who had been friends for years. This would be an interesting challenge, or maybe no challenge at all.