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Neil sat at his desk, working through some math problems for his calc class on Monday, when he heard a few soft taps on his bedroom window. He looked up to see his blonde neighbor and not-boyfriend, Andrew Joseph Walker, impatiently waiting outside the window.
Sighing, Neil got up from his work and went to unlock and open the window for Andrew. Neil then returned back to his desk as he watched Andrew climb inside.
“Took you long enough. It’s fucking freezing out here,” Andrew complained, leaning against the window sill.
Neil rolled his eyes. “You didn’t have to come in through the window. You could have come in through the front door like a normal human being. It would have probably been faster.”
“Mommy Dearest doesn’t like me, remember?” Andrew taunted, knowing how much Neil cared about his mother. He fished out a pack of cigarettes out of the pocket of his leather jacket. He lit up one of the cigarettes out of the pocket of his leather jacket. He lit up one of the cigarettes and took a long drag, not caring that he was smoking inside someone else’s house. “She thinks I’m a bad influence or some shit. I wonder where she got an idea like that.”
Neil thought about his mother. She was one of the strongest people he ever known. He admired the strength it took for her to walk out on his abusive father almost ten years ago. He didn’t understand the magnitude of her actions at the time because he was only six years old at the time, but as a seventeen year old now, he could appreciate what she did both for herself and for him.
Unfortunately, leaving Neil’s father left Mary paranoid that Nathan would show up and drag them back to Baltimore with him. That’s why this was their seventh new home in the past year alone. Mary didn’t trust staying in one place for too long, and she certainly didn’t trust outsiders.
“Don’t take it personally,” Neil comforted. “She doesn’t really like anyone.”
Andrew took another long drag on his cigarette. “Why would I start caring about what people think of me now?”
The two boys sat in a comfortable silence as Andrew finished up his cigarette. He stubbed it out in the ashtray that Neil kept on his desk just for Andrew before lighting up another cigarette to smoke.
Neil was thankful that his mother had went out for the evening. He knew her rules about having people, especially Andrew, over at the house was strictly forbidden. She thought that Andrew was dangerous punk and a bad influence. Neil would have to empty the ashtray, removing any evidence that Andrew had ever been over that night. He hoped that the smell of cigarette smoke would dissipate before his mother returned home that night. But for now, he was grateful to have Andrew there with him.
From the seat at his desk, Neil watched Andrew smoke in the window sill. He stared as though he was trying to commit the blonde to hid memory – from the fading blue tips in his hair from the time he let his adopted sister, Renee, dye his hair to his ripped, black skinny jeans and scuffed up combat boots.
Neil loved the way the light gleamed off of Andrew’s lip ring, but he liked the way it felt against his lips more whenever they kissed.
Andrew noticed Neil staring. He locked eyes with him and smirked when he saw Neil steal a quick glance at his lips again. “Yes or no?”
“Yes,” Neil breathed out in anticipation. Andrew took one last drag on his cigarette before stubbing it out in the ashtray.
He pushed himself up off of the window sill and slowly made his way over to Neil. When he finally reached him, Andrew leaned in close. Neil licked his lips in anticipation. When their lips were just inches apart, Andrew exhaled and blew a bunch of smoke in Neil’s face.
Neil pulled back, coughing from accidently inhaling some of the smoke. He brought his hand up to wave in front of his face, trying to clear out the excess smoke.
“You’re such an asshole,” Neil complained, half coughing and half laughing. “Did you seriously just hold that in just so you could do that to me?”
Andrew smirked again, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Hasn’t anyone told you to not ask stupid questions?”
Neil laughed and repeated, “Such an assho–”
Andrew cut him off with a quick kiss, wrapping his arms around Neil and pulling him in closer.
Neil kept his hands down by his sides until Andrew broke the kiss to tell him that he could put his hands on his head and in his hair.
After Andrew resumed kissing Neil, Neil’s hands shot up to Andrew’s scalp. His fingers interwove with pale blond curls as the kiss deepened.
They kissed long and hard. Nothing else mattered. It was as though the rest of the world melted away. When they finally pulled apart, both boys were left a little breathless.
With one had still in Andrew’s hair, Neil moved the other one to rest against the wall near Andrew’s head. With the leverage that the new position gave him, Neil leaned down to kiss and bite Andrew’s neck.
Andrew shivered at the sudden contact but quickly adjusted himself to give Neil more access to his neck and shoulders by throwing his head back. He leaned in to Neil’s touch. Stifling a moan, Andrew retorted, “Give it up. The vampire fad has been over for years now.”
Neil planted one last kiss on his neck before responding, “Shut up. I know that you think my neck fetish is attractive.”
Andrew let out a soft snort of derision. “Like I would find anything about you attractive.”
Neil gave him a playful bite on the shoulder. “Whatever you say, Buddy.”
“We’re not buddies,” Andrew snapped with no real anger in his voice. “This is nothing.”
“And you always said that you wanted nothing,” Neil replied cheekily.
Andrew shut him up with another kiss. It wasn’t as hard as their earlier kiss, but it still had a ferocity to it.
After kissing for what felt like both an eternity and a small moment gone to soon, Neil pulled away. “I still need to finish my calc homework.”
Andrew took a step back. He then moved over to Neil’s desk. He pushed Neil’s textbook over to make some room for him to sit down on top of the desk but also for there to be enough room for Neil to work.
“You’re such a good little nerd,” Andrew mocked as he patted the textbook, gesturing for Neil to sit down and finish the homework that was happily interrupted earlier.
Andrew picked up Neil’s latest copy of Exy magazine to leaf through while Neil worked. He would occasionally throw out a random comment or two about whatever exy player was being featured in the article he was skimming. The comments were more a means to get Neil riled up rather than an actual interest in the sport. Andrew may be the starting goalie of Council Rock’s Golden Hawks, but he had very little interest in the sport. He mostly just played for his adopted mother – Stephanie, his adopted sister – Renee, and Neil. His real reason for playing was just to be able to spend more time with Neil.
After a little while, Andrew fished out another cigarette to light up.
“Another one?” Neil asked, taking a brief break from his homework. “Don’t you know those things are bad for your health?”
“You’re bad for my health,” Andrew retorted.
Neil let out a small chuckle. “Nice comeback. Where’d you get it? 2005?”
“That’s rich, coming from the guy so behind on pop culture that it’s sad,” Andrew remarked.
Neil’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that reminds me, we still need to finish our Star Wars marathon.”
Andrew rolled his eyes. The other night he thought it would be a good idea to help educate Neil on pop culture by showing him the Star Wars trilogies. What ended up happening was Neil asking so many questions rather than just watching the movie like an average human being. But if Neil was excited to continue watching the movies with him, Andrew could put up with a bunch of stupid questions from his not-boyfriend about the plot, the characters, and overall storyline of the flims.
“Are you almost done your work?” Andrew asked. After seeing Neil nod, he continued, “You finish up your last couple problems, I’ll go get my laptop.”
With that, Andrew exited out the window and climbed back over to his own house. All it took was stepping over a small gap to get from one roof to the other. Their bedroom windows faced each other, making late night visits like this one much easier.
Andrew returned with his laptop to find Neil sitting on his bed, wrapped up in a blanket. He shrugged off his jacket before joining him on the bed, laying the laptop down on their laps. Neil wrapped a hand around Andrew’s tattooed bicep as he snuggled in close. He laid his head down on his shoulder as Andrew pressed play on the movie.
It didn’t take long for Neil to start asking questions. Andrew tried his best to answer without getting to annoyed. Overall, it was a nice relaxing night for the two boys.
After about an hour in, Andrew heard a soft snore. He looked over to see Neil asleep and lightly drooling on his shoulder. He smiled fondly at the sleeping boy. He figured that they’d probably have to rewatch The Phantom Menace later on, but for now, he’d let Neil sleep while he got to enjoy the film without having to answer a bunch of questions.
It wasn’t until he heard a car door slam, did Andrew realize he would need to wake Neil up.
“Psst, Neil,” he whispered.”Neil, wake up.”
Neil didn’t wake up, but instead snuggled closer.
Andrew sighed and then pushed Neil off of him, almost causing him to fall of the bed. “Neil! Wake up!”
Neil woke up, startled. He reached for a knife before he realized where he was and who he was with. “Andrew! What was that for?”
“Your mom is home,” Andrew answered, trying to get up out of the bed.
Neil’s eyes widened. “Shit.”
Neil threw the blanket off of them as they struggled to get out of bed. They could hear Mary downstairs. It was only minutes before she came up looking for Neil. Once they were both on their feet, he passed Andrew back his laptop and walked him over to the window.
“Yes or no?” Neil asked.
Andrew rolled his eyes before responding. “Yes.”
Neil leaned in a pressed a quick chaste kiss to Andrew’s lips.
Before climbing out the window, Andrew turned back to Neil. “Better luck next time.”
“You need a new catchphrase,” Neil called out after him.
Once Andrew returned back to his own home, Neil let out a sigh before heading downstairs to greet his mother. He wished that his time with Andrew had not been cut short, but he figured that it’d be okay since they would end up meeting up before school tomorrow anyway. He just hoped that this would be the one town his mother didn’t make them leave. This was the town he had started putting roots down in, like playing on the exy team and getting involved with Andrew. Neil was finally getting to act like a normal teenager for the first time in his life and he didn’t want to lose that. And he especially didn’t want to lose Andrew.