"Why would I be joking?" Austin was perplexed by the sudden change in Noah's features. "I thought you wanted me to drop you home."
"Wha-" he cut himself mid-sentence. He had been so caught up in flirting shamelessly with Austin that he hadn't noticed Austin parking in the driveway." Oh!"
"Yea, oh!" Austin imitated, "Why -"
"I swear, I didn't actually think you were serious," Noah said quickly, interrupting, trying to defend himself and lighten the moment.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Austin asked. He had actually not noticed Noah's reaction to him parking the car. I mean, he had, but he brushed it off as Noah being Noah.
But Noah didn't know that. So he kept internally kicking himself for being so fucking gullible. What did he think, that Austin would suddenly change his mind and play into his barely clever games. How stupid was that!
"Can we just forget this happened?" He asked while reaching for the door handle. Yup, he was angry at himself and the deep frown and constipated look on his face made Austin think that he had somehow done something wrong.
He shouldn't have cared seeing as Noah was possibly the most annoying thing he had ever encountered all his life, but he did. And felt bad for whatever it was.
"Are you having one of your little episodes? Like an allergic reaction to the air in my car or something?" Austin quipped.
"Huh?" He was holding the door open but only one foot was out of the car so he turned to look at Austin over his shoulder.
"I just brought you where you said you wanted me to but it looks like you are not enthusiastic about it," Austin answered, "Where did you want me to drop you off, Narnia? Because, if so, you didn't pay enough."
"Goodbye, Austin and thanks for the ride." Noah slammed the door and walked away in a hurry.
"Ooook?" Austin said as he stared puzzled at Noah, who seemed to be making a break for it. He still didn't know what it was though. Oh well.
***
Noah arrived the door to the Dawson mansion, a place he was supposed to call home till he finished high school -which was less than two years remaining but managed to seem like an eternity.
He slid his key into the keyhole and opened the door. As soon as he went in, he looked outside to see if Austin was still in the driveway, probably still befuddled at his sudden actions but Austin was already driving away.
He didn't know whether to be upset or relieved that Austin didn't push further. He should have been relieved that he didn't have to explain or find some ridiculous excuse to get out of explaining, but he didn't.
He somehow needed Austin to give a crap about him -which was kind of hard for Austin considering Noah automatically went to dick mode whenever he was within fifty yards of him.
That was like a defense mechanism for Noah. Having been an asshole his whole life when it came to relationships, he had absolutely no clue how to express his liking for Austin and his mouth helped by saying the most god awful and lamest pickup lines and catch phrases ever created by man.
He walked away from the door. "Hello!" He called, "Anybody home?"
That was somewhat a waste of breath considering the Dawsons were ever hardly home, especially this time of day on a Thursday. It reminded him of his father -who also used travel a lot for work.
Noah hardly ever got to see his father or got to spend much father-son time with him. His work always came between them. But Noah didn't resent him. He understood that's what a man did in order to keep his family provided for.
Even if there was somebody home, sometimes it was hard to get a response given how huge the house was. A person at the furthest room in the house could never have heard someone calling from the living room. There was nobody home though.
He took two steps at a time up to his room, which was right next to Michael's. He plopped his bag on the sofa and fell like a bag of rocks onto the king size bed. He had to give it to Mrs.Dawson for the wonderful work she had done in this room -that is, if she was the one doing the decor. Chances were that she didn't. Safe bet.
The bed alone was like sleeping on a cloud. Two thousand thread count imported Italian sheets, pillows filled with air pockets and feathers that probably came from some poor birds caged somewhere and some seriously fancy organic cotton comforters that he could not even begin to start guessing which country they came from.
The floor was graced with a thick white carpet, a grey, leather love seat that sat near the right end wall of the room, next to the minifridge. The walls were all white, which was a down side considering the bedding and the carpet were white.
It made him feel like a crazy person shackled up in an asylum -with the exception of the straitjacket of course.
It had only been two days but he felt a connection to Austin like he never had with anyone before. It was something beyond the striking big, brown eyes and the long, sexy hair that framed his face into a phenomenal shape almost supernaturally.
Austin's hair made him long for the day he would be able to tangle his fingers in it. It was even more than the way his ass looked in those tight jeans he wore today that hugged all the right places and the way he rolled his eyes sassily whenever Noah said something idiotic -which happened so often it could have been a law.
The connection was so strong that it even superseded his professionally chiseled chest and abs -which he could not get himself to stop thinking about since he first saw them in the car(he could probably give a finger to have Austin perform a strip tease for him some time. A man can dream).
Just thinking of that boy was driving him insane. Of course, his physical features were a huge bonus. He knew he was falling ...falling so fast and so hard into an unfathomed place.
He wondered if he had met Austin a few months ago he would have been able to feel the same way. That was highly improbable but he would never know now.
Noah hadn't realized he needed to be saved so bad, until he saw those eyes. All these thoughts going through his head made him want to break into the liquor cabinet downstairs, because the beer in the minifridge just couldn't cut it.
At the same time, he needed to stay strong like he had been told during his two months in rehab. At the time, he had just agreed to all the nonsense they spewed just to humor them. He knew as soon as he got out, he was going to relapse faster than they could yell "no!"
Austin was about to change everything -he knew it was inevitable and the reason for that was going to remain a mystery, unless he could device a way to find out why.
Suddenly, he started recalling everything Dr.Monroe had said back in rehab.
Suddenly, he needed to become a better person but he knew well that he wasn't doing it for himself.
Suddenly, he needed to have meaning to someone in this world, to have someone really care for him.
Suddenly, those beers in the fridge felt like grenades, they needed to be thrown out -and fast, before they could detonate.
When he had first agreed to move in with the Dawsons, they had been strict about what not to do if he wanted to live in their house, around their son. Yea, right! That's why he had snuck beers into his room -to make a point; rules were for suckers. Now he was making the decision himself. That made him feel like a man making his own rules.
He got up and opened the fridge, pulling out the six pack that was hidden in the back behind a few water bottles. They really didn't conceal anything, just provided the illusion of it. He took them and left them on the kitchen island, then went back to his room.
When he got back, his phone was ringing from somewhere in the room. It was in his backpack .
"Oh no, not again!" He exclaimed as soon as he saw the screen. It was an unknown number but he knew exactly who it was. It was the one person he had always tried to stay away from when he started regaining his senses. He had changed his contact information so many times for the purpose of hiding from the guy but he always managed to find him which was extremely frustrating.
"Jesse." He said flatly once he had answered the call.
"Noah baby! Thought you were still in rehab!" Jesse shouted. He sounded different from the last time he had spoken to him. He couldn't remember when though.His voice still had that screech it always had though.
"Then why did you call my personal number?" Noah asked. Jesse definitely knew he was already out, he was just full of bullshit.
"You know I always have a sixth sense, so I took my chances to see if you actually ran away from that hell hole like you said you would!"
"I guess I changed my mind and went through with the whole thing." Noah had to fight the urge to roll his eyes.
"So, how many have you had today?" Jesse asked.
"I'm off that shit man."
"Oh..that's why you sound so boring. It's so weird talking to you when you're sober. How's that like?" This time Noah just had to roll his eyes. He knew Jesse was building up to something.
"Cut the bullshit Jesse ,what do you want!"he demanded.
"Can't I call my best buddy just to see what's going on in his life?" Jesse said,feigning hurt in his voice.
"To do that,you'd actually need to have a best buddy, which I'm definitely not."Noah replied matter-of-factly.
"Why you gotta be like that? We both know I was the best thing that ever happened to you after what happened!"Jesse said. "If anything, you should kiss my feet."
"Listen, Jess-jess -"
"Don't call me that."Jesse cut him off and Noah could practically hear the pout he was most definitely making.
"How about just Jess?" Noah asked.
"You know I love it when you call me that!"Jesse replied cheerfully.
"Fine!Whatever happened, happened. That's all in the past. I got a new life now and I don't need you in it. So, go fuck with someone else."
"Why are you being so awful?You could talk a little nicer you know!" His voice was starting to break, as if he was about to cry.
"I thought I just did!"Noah said. "Now,stop calling me, it's pathetic!"
"Are you gonna make me regret it if I don't stop?"
"You have no idea!" Noah was starting to get agitated.
"Good,you always made it ten percent hotter whenever you said you'd make me regret it." His voice was back to normal, the shrill voice getting a little sharper from what sounded like enthusiasm. He had always been a little bipolar.
"Listen here you pipsqueak !" Noah began,raising his voice. "I need you to crawl up whatever or whoever's hole you've been in for the past few months and leave me alone. I'm gone, for good! And I'm happy that I don't have to see your stupid face or listen to you yap like a constipated chihuahua all the time when I need you to be quiet. I don't want you to contact me in any way, just find yourself some loser and kiss his ass all you want, you hear me?"
"You're the loser!" Cry voice ,again!
"Fuck you!"he said and hung up,immediately blocking the number Jesse had just contacted him with.
Great, this was clearly a bad omen. Whenever ghosts from the past came haunting, they just never seemed to know when to stop. And now, Jesse had just knocked over the first domino and the moment it fell onto the next one, everything would start tumbling over. He just hoped it wouldn't be soon. Maybe he was meant to be a shithead forever. Perfect. Just fucking perfect !
He sat down on the carpet, leaning his head against the bed, as he simply stared into space. Just then,his phone rang again. He did not even look at the caller ID .
"Are you deaf or just looking to get hurt real bad you fucking ass!" He yelled impatiently.
"Whoa! Which family of snakes crawled up your ass and had an explicit reunion!" The person asked, and that voice did not sound like Jesse's.
"What- "he started as he took the phone away from his ear to check the ID. "Oh,fuck!"
"Should I call later?" Austin asked, "At least when I know it's safe?"
"Oh no, babe, you're always safe with me." Noah automatically went to lame dick mode.
"Argh!" Austin was already getting annoyed ,"I was just asking if you saw where I put the stained shirt after I took it off."
"And here I was with my pants halfway down, thinking we were gonna jerk off together over the phone!" Noah flirted, "Why you gotta be such a tease?"
"Can you just stick that thing into a wall outlet and put us all out of our misery!" Austin retorted.
"I could, but that will just make it swollen," Noah replied. "Oh, now I get it. You like 'em big! But don't worry babe, I've got the biggest one in town -perfectly ripped for your pleasure!"
"Forget it, stupid shirt ain't worth it!"
"Wait!" Noah called out before Austin could hang up. "I'm pretty sure you threw it out of the car during your freak out."
"And you found that hard to say earlier." Austin said.
"What can I say, it's a sickness, really.I keep picturing you naked. Is there a way to solve that?" He was just messing around,trying to keep Austin on the line longer.
"Yea, there is, actually."Austin answered, "Jump off the roof at school tomorrow." And then he hung up.
Noah stayed in his position,cradling the phone like it was an egg of some sort.All the anger that had been seeping through him a few minutes ago was all gone. It was almost laughable what an effect the guy had on him.
But then he remembered something. Quickly,he went over to his backpack and pulled out a coffee stained, white T-shirt . He stretched it out in front of him, staring at it.He felt like he needed to have it.
After a moment of just looking at it and smiling, he picked it up and held it close to his chest, closing his eyes and breathing in the sweet natural scent, "Oh, yea. I definitely gotta make him mine soon."
************************