Chapter 9-2
679 Words
They left at ten. Milzani’s was on the south side of the town centre, nearer to the housing estates than the pubs and clubs, and as they passed the empty bus stops, Jayden dared to slide his arm into the crook of Darren’s elbow and squeeze.
“Thank you,” he said. “They were pretty good, actually.”
“Surprisingly,” Darren said. “I usually avoid the live mike nights like the plague.”
Jayden sniggered, bumping their shoulders to throw Darren off-stride a little. “Where are we going?”
“I’m going to walk you home, and then I’ll cut through the park back to Beauchamp.”
“That’ll take you ages!”
Darren shrugged. “It’s a nice night.”
“But…”
“Jayden, I am walking you home whether you like it or not,” Darren interrupted. “I suggest you put up and shut up.”
Jayden flushed, bit his lip, and blew out a lungful of air in an exasperated sigh. “Fine,” he conceded. “But don’t blame me when you get, like, a massive head cold or something. It’s going to snow next week.”
“It’s going to try,” Darren corrected as they left the town centre behind entirely for the residential areas. “And when it does, I’ll wear a hat.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“…Your hair fits under—oh my God, forget I said that, I…”
Darren started laughing, and Jayden bit down on his urge to ramble out some sort of apology for the faux pas. He felt shaky and nervous again, now they were alone, with his hand in Darren’s elbow and being walked home. Being walked home. Like a proper date. Because it was, and at the end of their proper date and walk home, Darren was going to kiss him, and Jayden had a serious case of butterflies. Butterflies the size of saucers and made out of razor wire. And it was so stupid because they’d kissed before. They’d kissed—Jayden mentally counted up—at least eight times now. At least.
But this was a date. A proper date. And…
“Are you even in there?”
He flamed red.
“You’re good at that zoning out thing,” Darren commented.
“Sorry.”
“I dunno. Could be a good thing. I was asking if I’d sufficiently charmed you yet.”
“Um…sufficient for what?”
“For you to agree to go out with me again,” Darren returned easily, and Jayden managed—somehow—to keep the blush at a steady pink.
“I, um…I think so, yes,” Jayden mumbled as they reached the corner of his street. He stopped, pulling Darren to a halt under the streetlight with him, and the orange light bouncing off those curls was oddly pleasant. “I mean…I really enjoyed tonight. And…I really like you, so…”
“We’re on the same page then.”
“Yeah. But, um…?”
“But?” Darren prompted.
Jayden slid his hand down to tangle with Darren’s. “You owe me a kiss,” he blurted out.
Darren’s eyebrows climbed for his hair. “I what?”
“You said you’d kiss me hello when we got to the cafe, but you didn’t. So, um…you owe me two kisses. A hello and a good night.”
For a brief second, Darren simply stared at him, and the butterflies began to chew on Jayden’s stomach in aggressive retribution, but then a smile bloomed from one side of Darren’s face to the other, and he laughed shortly.
“I guess I do,” he said and slid both hands up to cup Jayden’s face, fingers settling behind his ears, warm and firm and certain. And the kiss tasted of dark coffee and sparks of half-dissolved sugar and for a long minute, Jayden simply forgot to breathe.
“Hello,” Darren whispered against his mouth, and then he pulled back, dropping his hands to loop both arms around Jayden’s waist. Jayden fumbled for a moment, unsure what to do, before deciding on dropping his arms over Darren’s shoulders and feeling the cold leather under his fingers, hard and unyielding.
“Hello,” he echoed and grinned stupidly.
“You coming to The Brightside on Tuesday?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” Darren breathed. “Then…good night, I guess.”
Jayden closed his eyes and pushed into the kiss, opening his mouth and coaxing Darren into deepening it. His hands tangled themselves in that wild hair without Jayden’s permission, but he didn’t care: he was standing on a street corner at twenty past ten at night, freezing cold, and kissing the most amazing guy he’d ever met. He could have died, right then, and he would have been okay with it.
And then Darren was letting go, slipping away into the night, dragging his fingers along Jayden’s arm to squeeze his hand before he disappeared, and Jayden leaned against the lamp-post for balance as he watched him go, dizzy with the sheer shock of his life right at that minute.
He had never felt more alive.
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- Writer
