Two Boys Learning

32. Damning Kisses

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?"

Tori's shriek made Will nearly drop his milkshake, and Ash laughed. "He calls it vanocolate," he informed her, and Tori winkled her nose, looking horrified. 

"You're insane," she informed Will, breezing past him to pay for her own milkshake.

Will grinned and grabbed Ash's hand, lacing his fingers with the smaller boy's and tugging him to a table, sitting down. Tori joined them a second later along with a tall brunette with green eyes that smiled warmly at Will and Ash.

"This is my girlfriend, Taylor," Tori informed us, and Taylor waved. Ash grinned back at her and sipped his milkshake.

"Nice to meet you," Will said, nodding politely.

Tori grinned and leaned over, kissing Taylor's cheek. "She just applied to a college down in Texas."

Taylor giggled a little. "It's not that big a deal. They just have an amazing medical program, and I want to be a nuero-psychologist when I grow up."

Will's eyes widened. "Shit, college," he said, the realization dawning. He looked down to Ash, who blinked. "It's almost Christmas. I need to figure that out."

Taylor laughed again. "Well, what do you want your career to be? I'm sure I could help."

Tori grinned. "She's definitely gonna get a full-ride. She's too smart to get anything less."

Taylor snorted. "Oh, shut up, you'll jinx it."

Will smirked at their playful banter and glanced down at Ash again. "What do you want to be?" Ash murmured to him.

"I dunno," Will whispered back, leaning forward slightly. "You?"

Tori giggled. "You guys are the cutest."

Will looked up and realized how close he was to Ash. The smaller boy squeaked and scooted back, blushing and grinning.

Will cleared his throat. "In any case...how did you two meet?"

"Tutoring," Taylor and Tori answered in unison. Tori grinned and waggled her fingers. "I'm an idiot, and I was totally failing in Chemo, so Taylor was assigned to help me. And the rest, as they say, is history." She turned and smiled mischievously at Taylor.

Ash chuckled and said something, but Will wasn't listening anymore. His gaze had snagged on the door that Tristan had just walked through.

Tristan's gaze caught his almost immediately, and he blinked, his eyes lighting up slightly, and then his eyes dragged down to see Ash leaning against Will's chest, and his expression went blank.

"Will? Wiiiiiill? Earth to Will? William?"

Will tore his gaze away from Tristan and looked back to Tori, who was waving her hand in front of his face. "What?" he asked, distracted.

Tori rolled her eyes. "I said, where did you live before you moved to River Heights?"

Ash glanced up at him, smiling faintly. "Someone's distracted," he whispered coyly.

Will smirked and leaned forward, kissing his forehead. "I lived in New York," he said to Tori, dragging a hand through his hair. "A friend of mine did my hair just before I left. As a kind of parting gift." What he left out was that he'd had it dyed the same color of Riley's eyes. That thought made his smile falter.

Ash noticed and found Will's hand under the table, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Hey, isn't that Tristan?" Taylor said suddenly. "He's your ex, isn't he? Will?"

Will coughed as Ash whirled around, and Will hesitantly glanced back. Tristan was ordering something at the counter, clearly pretending like he hadn't seen them at all.

God, I hope he doesn't go back to being an asshole, Will thought with a sigh, returning to his milkshake.

"So," he said, steering the conversation away from Tristan. "What are you guys' plans fro the holidays?"

Tori grinned. "Taylor and her family are coming over for Christmas dinner," she announced proudly. "Then we're all heading up to the mountains to go skiing."

"Sounds fun," Ash said, grinning. He glanced up at Will. "I think I'm just gonna stay at Will's."

Will smirked and kissed the side of Ash's head. "Of course."

Tori sighed and nudged her girlfriend, grinning. "Well, I think that's our que to get out of here. We're heading to the movies. I'll see you two lovebirds at school tomorrow."

At that, she grabbed Taylor's hand, and they rose and left.

Will glanced down at Ash, whose attention had drifted to Tristan again. He pursed his lips.

"Hey," Will said. "I don't like Tristan. I never did. That was just--he was helping me."

"You kissed him," Ash whined. "Right in front of me! You just kissed him!"

Will sighed. "It was his idea, I promise. You know I love you, baby."

Ash pursed his lips and looked down, but Will tilted the smaller boy's chin up and kissed him lightly. "There," he said softly. "I kissed him, but now I'm kissing you. That's all that matters, yeah?"

Ash blushed. "Y-yeah," he agreed, grinning. He glanced around, and then suddenly went absolutely still, paling just as quickly as he'd blushed.

"Oh, no," he whispered, and Will followed his gaze to see Ash's father standing at one of the windows, staring at them, his mouth hanging open and his face turning a steady shade of deep, ugly red.

"Oh, shit," Will breathed.

Ash started breathing hard. "Shit," he squeaked. "Shit. He's gonna kill me. He's gonna kill me--"

Ash's father looked absolutely livid now, and started toward the door, and Will hissed in a sharp breath, squeezing Ash closer to him.

"On three, you run," he whispered to Ash. "I can hold him off, okay?"

"No!" Ash yelped. "I don't want him to hurt you--!"

"I'll be fine," Will growled. "You should be worried about him."

Ash's dad was at the door now, yanking it open and storming over to them.

"One," Will breathed, standing. "Two."

"No--Will--"

"Three."

- - - - - - - - - 

Heh. Early update (again).

Also.

Sorry about the cliffhanger. *sneaky Texas face* Love you guys!!!!

How was this chapter? I've been running out of ideas, so I figured I had to get the ugly parts out of the way before this book dragged on for, like, years.

What would you guys think about a sequel? I'm not sure if I have a plot for that just yet, but I'm sure I could come up with something.

Vote, comment, and follow! Please! Your support means everything to me. :D

Q: Favorite Marvel character? Or if you don't watch Marvel, favorite character from any movie?

A: LOKI. YESSSS. MY BABY BOIIIIII.