Chapter five has arrived! I really, really hope you all enjoy it; the feedback I get on my chapters really inspires me to do well, and write more. For those fans of Gavin, you may hate me for this addition. For the fans of Kayden, your welcome!
Enjoy,
~PeterPanics
You're sure you don't need any more help?" Gavin asked quietly, glancing around my new digs.
"Yeah, I'm just going to crash tonight. Thanks for helping." I said with a groan, pushing my last suitcase against the wall.
"It's big." He mumbled, peaking around the corner. His smile never stayed when he was around me anymore. His dark, intense eyes never met mine, and when I asked him to help me with things like this, it was always a fight. It was hard for him to even talk to me anymore...
"Took me a month to find it." I countered, trying not to touch his skin as I took my bags from his strong arms.
It was nothing special. In all honesty, it was a major step down from Gavin's posh modern SoHo apartment on the sixtieth floor.
It was a simple apartment, big and empty. It was five-story, walk-up, renovated warehouse, and my apartment on the third floor was proof. There was one main room, massive and spacious, with a small kitchen and bathroom through a door in the very far corner. The walls were drab white, with two long florescent lights along the ceiling, and a single window with a view of the city skyline. Living in Brooklyn was different, but it was
good
different... a sort of on-my-own different. And it was, my first time truly alone, without Cassidee or Gavin to watch over me.
"You're always welcome back in SoHo, you know. You'll always have a place..." His voice trailed off, and his eyes fell to the floor. "You'll always have a place to be with me."
I watched him pull his dreads back, inhaling deeply. It crushed me to know I was why he was hurting. I never meant to hurt him. I never meant for any of this...
He left without another word, glancing back over his shoulder to look at me once more before he disappeared down the stairs. It had been about a month since I'd decided to let go of the past, and more importantly, let go of Lucas.
Gavin may have been the hardest thing to let go of. I didn't feel the same way he felt about me, and I had realized that about halfway through my odd transition. I never would feel the same way, and it killed me. I had used Gavin. But to him, I was the first man he'd ever been intimate with (No matter how drunk or heartbroken I was at the time) and that meant something more to him.
I sighed, and sat down on mattress Gav had helped me carry up. Time was passing so incredibly fast. September was gone, leaving an early-November chill in the air, something I'd coined "two sweater weather". Gavin and Cassidee had seen me off to my new apartment; Professor Wrought was busting my balls on the end-of-semester compositions, and Kayden...
Things were good.
Life was good.
*****
"So are you going to help me paint the new place?" I asked, packing my sheet music into my messenger bag.
Kayden smiled, letting his hair down in the way he knew I liked. He set his gym bag down beneath the tree and sat down on top of it, wrapping his jacket tighter around him.
We'd begun meeting beneath this same tree every afternoon now that we were done collaborating on the ballet. I'd begun working with the orchestra now that I'd written and reviewed the composition, and my composing kept me pretty busy. I looked forward to the little breaks I got with Kayden.
Before he could answer, Vera's tiny hands wrapped around my waist in a big hug. Her eyes darted to Kayden as Molly and Daisy arrived too, the dancers each settling down around us.
"Hey Mr. Bossman!" Molly chirped, poking Kayden's cheek playfully.
"Hey ladies. Good rehearsal." He said, high fiving each ballerina. The three girls had become accustomed to hanging out with us when we were on campus, usually after our classes or rehearsals.
"So Kayyyddeenn," Daisy whined, "There's a party tonight. I think it's at Jared's house. You in?"
Kayden half smiled, and shot me a small glance. "Well... I kind of already had plans. A friend needs my help. Painting or some shit." He looked at his shoes but we could all see the red on his cheeks. It gave me butterflies, and managed to turn me on at the same time.
Molly looked at me and grinned. I just shrugged innocently.
"I dunno what he's talking about." I laughed, kicking at the fallen leaves around me. Vera's smile only encouraged me to turn the same shade of red as Kayden.
I think everyone knew that slowly, it was happening.
*****
I toweled my hair down quietly, listening to the bass drop in the next room. I swayed to the dubstep beats as I pulled my jeans on, pausing to fasten my belt around my waist. The mirror was clouded with steam, but I could catch little glimpses of my reflection, and I could see the boyish excitement in my eyes. Kayden was coming over, and it meant more time with him. Any time with him was great, because now that we were working separately, it felt like we never saw each other anymore.
We were still in our "getting to know" stage. I was fine with it, and he was ecstatic about it. We usually did little things together, coffee at the café, walks in the park, sometimes the occasional dinner or movie. It was very friendly. It was...
perfect
. This is what real couples do. They enjoy being around each other, and I really enjoyed being around Kayden, almost more than anything else.
As if it was fate, the doorbell rang. I grabbed my tee shirt frantically, sprinting out of the bathroom, tripping over drop cloths and paint tins, to the front door. I hesitated before I grabbed the knob, knowing that seeing him after I opened it was going to turn my knees to jelly and set the butterflies in my stomach off. I very bravely opened the door.
There he was. Dark hair tumbling out of its band, hanging down to his strong collarbone. His big hazel eyes covered by a dazzling pair of Ray Bans, his smile lit up his entire face. His coat hung in his arms, his rumpled tank top showing much more of his toned body than usual. I suddenly felt ashamed, standing in front of him and all his beauty, shirtless. I felt my cheeks burn red as I invited him in, and was surprised when his arms linked around my waist and he wrapped me in a hug.
"You look so cute when you blush, Dev." He grinned. He tugged me tight against him, resting his chin on my shoulder. "Why are you blushing, anyways?" he asked, pulling away from me and walking into the empty room. He took off his sunglasses to look around as he spoke, his smile infectious.
"Uh..." I stuttered, pulling my shirt over my head. "No reason."
He raised an eye brow at me, throwing his bag in the corner and sauntering back over to me. "What are you doing?" He asked, watching me smooth my shirt out.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out, and I felt my cheeks burn again.
He smirked, and I felt his cold hands on the hem of my shirt. "You'll ruin your clothes." He scoffed, mumbling something about he was glad he wasn't my mother.
I didn't know how it happened, but Kayden was gently tugging off my shirt. It was an innocent enough gesture, after all he was just worried about my clothes, but there was that part of me that wondered what it would be like if when he slid it off, he pressed his lips to my chest and found that magical little line down my body that took him to my hard, wet, co-
"Have you been working out?" Kayden asked, staring at my bare torso. "You've always been so thin... but... I mean...I've never seen you with your shirt off and..." His voice trailed off and he reached out a cold hand to trace the lines of my stomach and chest. "You're toned." I caught a sparkle in his eye that succeeded in making my balls feel like they were lead weights.
"Don't sound so surprised." I managed a stiff chuckle, moving away from him to hide the bulge in my jeans his long fingers were provoking.
When I turned around, he was in the middle of pulling off his own tank top, exposing his long, tan body. The intricate tribal tattoo wound around his chest and shoulder, trailing down his ribs and waist, and disappeared into his dark jeans. His sculpted body twisted perfectly with every movement. It was the most I'd ever seen of him, and it was enough to make my mouth water and fill my mind with thoughts I was ashamed of.
I need to jack off, like, now.
I stopped, and took a deep breath. Calm the fuck down, Devon. Paint your fucking walls.
I stooped down and began to open paint cans, each top coming off cleanly.
"Gold?" Kayden scoffed.
"Yes, gold." I answered.
"Tacky much?"
"Bitch, please." I laughed. "The sun sets through that window. The light is going to hit the walls and its going to be brilliant." I explained.
"Has someone been reading Home and garden?" Kayden teased.
"Well I'm going to make a
fantastic
house wife one day." I said, my voice high and effeminate.
His laughter echoed around the empty room as he picked up a paintbrush, dipping it in the golden pool of paint.
"We miss having you in rehearsals." He said quietly, propping the ladder up and ascending it.
"We?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction as I began my own section of wall.
"The girls... me."
"You miss my punk ass ruining your rehearsal?" I asked, taking the brush to the wall in long, wide strokes and eyeing him.
He chuckled. "Yeah. I do. How are things going with the orchestra, though?"
"It's hard directing them."
"Why?" he asked, surprised.
"I don't like telling people what to do." I shrugged, pulling a paint tin closer and coating my brush.
"That's my favorite thing to do." He snorted, looking down at me from his ladder.