The Senior and The Junior

Chapter 23: Missed You

Dylan's POV

Although my plans were to head home straight over school to work on the article Jonathan insisted we start on decorations for the charity auction right away. So instead of heading home and getting cozy in my bed as I had intended I found myself in the passengers seat of Jonathan's car on our way to church. The whole time I had wondered what was taking Chris so long to text me back. Football practice ends about an hour after water polo does.

"Dylan?" Jonathan's soft voice proceeds to break me out of my train of thought. "Yeah?" I turn my neck to look over at him, his eyes steady on the road. "I appreciate you taking some time out of your day to come and help me with this. I know you've been really busy with that sports article." He shows is gratitude. "And I know it's a Monday." He chuckles. "No problem. Anything to help a friend." I smile. Jonathan flinches at the word "friend" his face turned sour. "Okay. We're almost there. Are you hungry? We could grab a bite to eat real fast." He quickly breaks the awkward silence. "Yeah. Sure." I awkwardly smile. "Alright. So what's it gonna be?" He grabs his phone from the dashboard and hands it to me. "Look up some places. My password is 53902". I unlock his phone my eyes darting past all of the video game apps. One thing about Jonathan is that he is a huge sucker for playing video games. He loves all kinds of them, arcade games, sports games, horror games, action, you name it. It's one of the many things that brought us close together as friends when we were younger. I remember I would always go over to Jonathan's house and we would stay up all night playing video game after video game. Finally, I tap on Safari and proceed to search "Restaurants near me".

"Hey. Ronnie's is open." I tap on the screen and turn the screen over to show Jonathan. "Sick. Let's go there then." Ronnie's is a famous Italian restaurant here in Roseville. They have the best pineapple pizza in town. That and cheese bread. "Don't try to convince me to get pineapple on pizza." Jonathan says. I scoff. "Are you kidding me? Pineapple pizza is the best.". "I'd have to disagree." He laughs. "Oh yeah like pepperoni and olives on pizza is so exciting." I lock his phone and place it back into the dashboard. "Well, better than pineapple." He shrugs. "You're so annoying." I let out a small chuckle. I then rest my hand on the glass window as we enter downtown Roseville, all of the tiny shops beginning to light up in vibrant neon signs. Nearby at the burger joint I spot Chris with a couple of meathead football jocks.

He's seated on the patio with his buddies. Laughter omits from the large and wide table as they bite into their burgers and dig into the five basket of fries laid out on the table. I turn my attention back to Jonathan as we pull into a parking spot just outside of Ronnie's. I grab my jacket from my backpack in the back and slip it on as Jonathan exits the car, slamming the door behind him. Suddenly, my door comes swinging open. Jonathan steps aside gesturing me to step out. I step outside of the car covering myself tightly as the chilly air begins to linger onto my skin. My favorite part of fall has always been the change of weather. That and the scenery. The ways that the leaves turn into a burnt orange and brown signifying that Mother Nature is upon us once again.

Christopher's POV

"Okay seriously dude, coach was on your ass today." I snort as I joke with the other guys about practice today. "Fuck man. I know. I don't know why he was being such a dick today." Daniel rolls his eyes while grabbing a hold of his burger. "Yeah, he was being a jackass." Luke chimes in. "He's just stressed. I think we're all pretty fucking stressed. Homecoming is less than two weeks away." I come to coaches defense. "Coach has a good reason to be a jackass. He's just trying to push us to do our best." I add. "Easy for you to say, coach adores you." Kyle speaks up. "Shut up. He loves all of our annoying asses. Just because I'm quarterback doesn't mean that I'm a favorite." I look over at Kyle. He's has always had it out for me from the start. We both joined the football team together as freshmen and we both wanted to be the quarterback. For the next two years of high school it competition after competition of us competing for coach's approval. Finally, junior year I was promoted to varsity and became the quarterback and captain. I won and Kyle lost. Period. There really is nothing to discuss at this point. "Okay." Luke attempts to break the tension at the table. Kyle breaks his gaze away from me and begins to clean up his food. "Look." He gestures over towards behind us. I turn my head to look. "What are we looking at?" Daniel, just as confused as me asks. "It's that weird kid Dylan with that queer Jonathan." Kyle laughs. I look over at Ronnie's where I spot Jonathan and Dylan coming out of the restaurant with a three boxes. They laugh as they stand close side by side. Dylan looks happy. "I bet they're both gay for each other." Daniel snickers. "Daniel shut the fuck up. You too Kyle." I spin my head back towards the table. The two look taken aback. "What's your problem?" Kyle smirks. "Wipe that smug look off your face before I wipe it off for you." I shoot up shoot my seat. "My bad. My bad." he surrenders putting his hands in the air. Daniel looks shaken up a bit. "It's getting late and I have to study for a test tomorrow. Catch you guys in class tomorrow." I dig into my pocket for my car keys, grabbing them. I leave a wad of cash on the table for the waiter.

Dylan's POV

"Okay no. You were actually good! I swear." Jonathan chuckles while taking a bite into his slice of pizza. "Oh yeah, then why didn't I make the team?" I raise my eyebrow in suspicion. "Because." Jonathan says before he stops to think for a moment. He looks puzzled. "See you don't even know what to say." I laugh. "I told you that athleticism isn't exactly my forte. I tried to warn you." I take a small bite of my slice. "Well yeah, but just think about all of the time we could spend together if you had made the team." He shrugs. "So, that's why you wanted me to try out." I gasp. "I thought you wanted me to try out because you though I would make a great addition to the team!". "Well yeah that too!" He shouts, nervously laughing. "I caught you." I take another bite.

Our voices echo throughout the walls of the large hall of Jonathan's family church. We sit on the floor, criss crossed with the boxes of pizza and cheese bread laid out in front of us. "Okay okay, I'm not going to lie. Yes, I made you try out because I wanted to spend more time with you and also because I really did think you would have made a great addition to the team. I promise." He finishes his third slice of pizza. "I believe you." I finally give in, finally finishing my second slice. I reach over to water bottle. "And I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you that I haven't missed you a lot." He says also reaching for his soda. I freeze for a moment as those words echo throughout my mind.

"Missed you a lot."

A flashback pops into my mind from the night at Lake Evergreen with Jonathan.

FLASHBACK

"Wow." I pant, struggling to catch my breathe as I plop on the spot next to Jonathan. "Wow. As in that just happened or wow as in it was good?" Jonathan chuckles, also struggling to breathe. "Erm.. Both?" I laugh. I sit up and reach my arms out in the dark in search for my shirt. I can't see anything. The only visible light is the moonlight reflecting off of the lake and onto the car. "Hey.." He cradles me from behind, his breathe lingering on my neck. I feel a tingling sensation from behind me as he gently kisses my neck sending a million little tickles down my spine. I turn around to face him. My hand travels alongside his jawline and then through his hair. "You seriously have no idea how long I've wanted to do this." Jonathan speaks in a soft tone while he caresses my cheek. We grow silent, nothing but the sound of the crickets chirping outside and our heavy breaths. I lie back down with Jonathan and rest my hand on his chest. He playfully runs his hands through my hair. He kisses me on the forehead and holds me as I slowly begin to drift off into a deep slumber.