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Danny sat on the hood of his car, waving Sandy off as she skipped up the porch to her front door. They'd just been to a late show at the drive-in, and he insisted on seeing her home safe. With a final wave, she closed the front door and he hopped into the driver's seat, giving the engine a satisfying rev up before driving off down the road. As soon as he was far out of sight of her house, he pulled in at the roadside and thumped his head on the steering wheel, finally able to swallow the lump in his throat that had formed after kissing Sandy goodbye in the car.
He didn't know what was wrong with him. He loved Sandy! She was sweeter than soda and as bright as the sun, but lately whenever they kissed…it wasn't Sandy he thought about. Instead of her soft, warm lips he couldn't help but imagine rougher, chapped ones. When he placed a hand on her cheek, instead of her smooth skin, he wished he was touching the stubbled skin of…
An image of Kenickie laughing played in Danny's mind. His head thrown back and his faced scrunched up with joy. Danny gripped the steering wheel tightly and drove off, hoping for the distraction to banish the stutter of his heart.
Maybe it's the cigarettes, he thought as he reached for the one he kept tucked behind his ear. Maybe they were stopping him from thinking straight, in every sense of the word. His mother always said they were bad. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he put the cigarette between his teeth and reached for the lighter he kept on the dashboard. Just like Keneckie did when he drove.
Danny took a long, relieving drag. He held the smoke for a moment before he blew it out, hoping his thoughts would follow it. They didn't. He reached for the radio dial. He had a way of dealing with these thoughts of Kenickie that he liked to call brick-walling. He just ignored them, busied himself or distracted himself. Usually, it worked. But lately, it hadn't been working all that great.
When his methods didn't work, he was forced to suffer in silence. Who could he tell? Sandy? The rest of the T Birds? His father? Yeah, chuckled to himself. That'd work out great. As he drove, he mentally went through the hypothetical conversation.
"Hey, pa! Guess what! I wanna make out with Kenickie!"
Danny clenched his jaw. That was the first time he'd aknowledged it. Shit.
He flicked his half-smoked cigarette out the window in frustration. He was angry because it was true. For weeks, all Danny had been able to think about was kissing his best friend. His male best friend.
But that wasn't how it was supposed to be. He was supposed to be in love with Sandy, his high school sweetheart. They were supposed to get married and have children. They were supposed to move into a suburban house with a white-pickett fence that was identical to every other house on the street. He was supposed to go to work and come home to a loving wife and take his kids to baseball games on the weekends.
The furthur Danny drove and thought, the more he realised that didn't want any of that. He had loved Sandy, once. But he didn't want to settle down with her. He didn't want to live in a house identical to every other house. He didn't want a boring office job. He wanted Kenickie. But everyone and everything told Danny that he couldn't have him.
Danny didn't realise he was crying until he felt a tear fall from his chin. He frowned at himself, and aggressively wiped at his cheeks. Now he was being silly, he thought as he dragged himself out of his black hole of thoughts.
He saw a familiar sign on his right as he carried on, and brought the car into a sharp turn. If there was one place for him to go and clear his head, it was the garage. He needed the familiarity of it, and time to himself for a while. He definetly couldn't go home looking like he'd been crying.
As Danny parked the car, he saw a familiar body slumped over a desk. Kenickie. He was sitting slouched forward over a design sheet with his head cushioned by his forearms. Danny heard the snoring before he even got out of the car and smiled softly. Nickie always had a habit of falling asleep on the job.
As quietly as possible, Danny got out of the car and crept towards the desk. He shook Kenickie by the shoulder gently, recieving a groan of aknowledgement in reply.
'Nickie? Wake up.' He tried lightly.
His friend raised his head lethargically. 'Danny? Thought you were going to the drive-in with Sandy.'
Sandy.
Danny felt guilt rise in his stomach. 'I did. I, uh, came here to get something for the car.'
It was an awful lie, but he was banking on Keneckie's drowsiness for it to work.
Apparently it was Danny's lucky day, as his friend just nodded and yawned.
He glanced around the garage quickly, thinking that he should just leave. But he didn't. Instead, in robot like fashion, one hand grasped the cigarette box in his jacket pocket and the other reached for the lighter beside Kenickie. He really needed to quit.
He took a drag, and as he exhaled the smoke Kenickie stood up and took the cigarette from his hands. He put it between his teeth and inhaled, pulling it away sharply.
'You have shit taste in smokes.'
Danny snatched it back and laughed.
'You smoke them, too.'
Now it was Kenickie's turn to laugh.
'Doesn't make them any less shit.'
After that it was silent for a while. They just passed the cigarette back and forth like clockwork. Danny didn't speak for fear of revealing his thoughts, and he could tell something was weighing on his friend's mind as well. On one hand he didn't want to pry, but on the other the silence was agonising.
'Hey, you okay Nickie?' Danny asked eventually.
Kenickie looked at him for a moment. He opened his mouth and then closed it, clenching his jaw.
'We're friends, right Danny?' He asked quietly.
'What kind of question is that? You know we are.'
Kenickie nodded slowly, as if considering the answer.
'Til the end?'
'Til the end.' Danny confirmed, placing a hand on his shoulder. His mind was racing with discarded thoughts.
Kenickie gave Danny a soft smile.
They stared at each other for a moment. Then two moments. Then three.
The silence surrounded them like a bubble until Danny pulled Kenickie closer to him by the shoulder, crashing their lips together. Rough, chapped lips. Just as Danny had imagined. And just as he became panicked by his actions, those rough, chapped lips were moving in time with his own. Kenickie's hands gripped Danny for dear life, one on his arm and on on the back of his neck. It was messy and fast, but at the same time syncronised and perfect. Not at all what Danny had imagined, but much better.
When they pulled away for air, Kenickie was grinning from ear to ear. Danny found it contagious, and soon they were holding onto each other and laughing. Laughing for no reason at all.
'You don't wanna know how long I've wanted to do that for.' Kenickie said, breathlessly.
'I was about to say the same thing.' Danny replied with a smirk.
A sudden twinkle lit up the other man's eyes. 'Oh, really? Well,' He brought them together even closer still and pulled down the collar of Danny's shirt.
'We'd best make up for lost time.'
He kissed Danny's neck from jaw to collar and back, and as he did so Danny wondered was he dreaming. The pain of Kenickie's teeth nipping the skin of his collarbone, and Danny gasped. He definetly wasn't dreaming.
Sandy might have been as sweet as soda and as bright as the sun, but Kenickie was as addictive as nicotine and as magnetic as steel.