(Chapter 14) -- The Shack Forums

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To say that it was a bit of a struggle trying to finally step away from our new friends on the Pier wouldn’t do the actual difficulty of the task any real justice. I mean, we had basically become their personal ‘pets’, with them fawning all over us as though the novelty of two boys willing to date each other and kiss one another in public would never wear off after a while. Then again...to be honest, it probably would have shocked me too a while ago before meeting Parker. So, I guess there’s a part of me that sort of gets it. Still...it feels a little weird.

Parker and I had to promise every last one of them one hundred times each that we’d meet up with them at the AMC theater tomorrow, and that we’d get there early enough to make sure that we could get something autographed by the actors before they had to leave. And finally, after a ton of goodbyes and some physical ‘pulling’ to escape the clutches of their constant bear hugs...we were able to get out of there and start making our way back home.

“Who knew that we were going to leave here with an entire cluster of new best friends today?” Parker giggled.

“I know, right?” I smiled back. “But...it’ll be worth it if our favorite boys are actually there for us stare at, face to face, for the first time.”

“Oh God, Kevin...I swear...I just want to be close enough to smell him, you know? Hahaha, is that weird?”

Raising an eyebrow, I said, “No lie? Yeah. I think that’s a little weird. But I guess I’ll allow it. Just this one time.”

Neither one of us could say that we didn’t have fun today, albeit an unexpected surprise. I just remember taking my last few looks at him as we had to retreat from one another and go back to our boring lives of bleak skies and monotonous routines. It’s not like it hurt or anything. Not really. But my heart felt a little bit emptier without having Parker right there to refill it with that joyous energy that I was becoming so addicted to. It honestly felt like half of me was missing now, and he was happily taking it with him. But I didn’t want to let on that I was craving so much more from him at that moment...just in case he didn’t feel the same way, you know? I don’t want to come off like some kind of a stalker or anything. But another extended kiss would have been nice before forcing myself to yank my aura away from his...forcing us to be two separate people again. It hardly seemed fair, that’s all.

“I’ll be wearing my ‘GFD’ gear tomorrow. Promise.” I told him with a bashful grin.

“Awww, dude...you don’t have to. You can just carry it in a bag or something for them to sign. I was just wearing mine today because I thought you were gonna do it first. That’s all.”

“I should have thought about it. But I wasn’t sure if you were going to show it off or anything.”

“Of course I was going to show it off. Hehehe! I’m a loyal ‘Day-Hard’, dude. That’s what we do.”

I smiled widely, my blush deepening as I tried to look away from his eyes and keep my composure. “Yeah, well I’m a bigger fan than you are. So don’t even come around here with that nonsense.”

“Hehehe, whatever. Just know that I’ll be dressed up for sure. You can join me or not. I want Adam Turner to see me paying him homage so I can maybe talk him into getting a hug, so I’m not missing my shot.”

My jaw dropped, causing Parker to burst out laughing. “Your shot at WHAT, exactly, sir???” I said.

“Just a hug! Geez!” He said. “Well, and maybe a kiss. A quick one. If it’s not off of the table.”

“Now you’re just torturing me.” We shared a fun moment or two...but Parker really did have to go. So he turned to head off in a different direction, but he looked back at me the whole time. I was almost strong enough to just leave our day together at that and turned around to go home...but I couldn’t. I just...I couldn’t. “Parker? Wait up for a second...”

But I didn’t want to chicken out at the very last second, so I just used my momentum to breathlessly run over to him and wrap my arms around his neck. Right there on the busy Chicago street in front of everybody. And I closed my eyes as I connected my lips to his and just...let myself enjoy this cherished moment for everything that it was. Something to take me away from anything and everything that could possibly make me feel even remotely about doing this.

I know that it really caught Parker off guard at first, with him sort of gasping at first and his muscles tightening up involuntarily as his brain tried to assess the situation and figure out what the heck I was doing. But then, just a few seconds later, I felt him relax. His body softened. His breathing steadied itself. And I felt his hands lightly move up to rest on my hips, both to hold himself steady and to gently pull me in closer. Wow...can that boy ever kiss.

It wasn’t really anything overly gratuitous or anything like that, I swear. It’s not like we were groping one another or tongue kissing while mashing our erections together like nobody was watching...even though I seriously thought about it once we started. But for a slightly extended kiss...Parker made me weak in the knees as goosebumps covered me from head to toe. When our lips parted, it took a moment for us to let each other go...giving way to a quiet flutter of boyish giggles as we timidly tried to calm ourselves down again.

“I think I’m going to be a huge fan of your surprises going on from this day forward.”

He sweetly brushed my hair back with his hand, and I tried to break some of the ncreasing tension by saying, “Just remember...you won’t be getting any more of that if I find out that you’re sneaking around trying to get some lovey dovey attention from ‘Mr. Teen Hollywood’ at th autograph signing tomorrow.”

He playfully rolled his eyes. “You drive a pretty hard bargain, you know that?” Soon adding, “We’ll see how I feel.”

“You know...technically, I saw him first.” I reached up to twist one of his nipples, but he was quick to smack my hand away before I was able to give him a decent pinch. And then we made a quick rundown of our plans for meeting up, and he said, “Get home safe. K?”

“Bye.” And we both went back to living with only half a heart again. Enough to keep us alive, I guess...but nowhere near as satisfying. I doubt life will ever feel right without him ever again.

I am so hopelessly hooked on that boy. Thank God for some good fortune and a sucker punch worth of luck.

Now...I’m not really what one would call a jealous guy. But once I got home and settled in with just a few distracting words being passed between my mom and I...I found myself thinking about Parker even more than usual. To the point of obsession, in fact. I kept tapping my fingers on my desk, bouncing my heels on the floor...checking my phone every few minutes to see if he tried to call me or leave me a text or something. And after four or five failed attempts of me trying to simply ‘will’ his presence into existence so that I could let out a sigh of relief and try to fit myself into reality again. I mean...should I call him first? Maybe he’s waiting for me to call. Maybe he’s feeling all nervous and awkward too, you know? Or...or maybe something happened to him. Maybe the bus got hijacked by terrorists, and he’s halfway to another country overseas right now. Anything could have happened. Maybe he lost his phone, which means he lost my number, which means I’ll have to wait for tomorrow’s meet up and have Ally and her friends help me look for him in the crowd so I can give it to him again. I’ll write it down on a piece of paper or something this time so he can keep it in his wallet. Electronic info is so damn fragile. One little glitch and you could lose everything with the snap of your fingers.

Is my phone battery charged. It looks charged. Maybe Parker’s phone batter isn’t charged. I’m going to plug it into the charger anyway. Just in case.

Why am I being so jittery right now? I should just...busy myself with something else. I’m going to end up looking clingy and weird if I bother him again so soon. I’m betting that would be a bad thing. I had to fight the urge to stand up and start pacing around my room like a hungry tiger at the zoo, so I picked up one of my foam balls and just started to shoot a couple of hoops against my closet door. It was all I could do really, right? That and...wait.

I missed one of my shots and watched it bounce off of the little plastic rim, rolling over towards my bookshelf...drawing my attention to all of my ‘GFD’ merch and books. Including the newest cutout from Gay’s shop. With Taryn biting Justin on the nape of his neck...eyes glowing with a menacing glare as those little rivers of blood ran down Justin’s bare chest.

Damn pretty boy teen actors. Where do casting directors even find these boys, huh? It’s so not fair. All I could think about was Parker probably laying back on his bed...staring at that same cutout and thinking about how amazing it would be to touch him just once. I knew, deep down, that I was just being silly...because, like I said...I’m not a jealous guy. Nor do I have any reason to be. It’s not like I didn’t buy this same stuff for the exact same reason. But I couldn’t help but to feel a little bit of an ache, regardless. Right there in my heart, and stretching down into my stomach like a rubberband, squeezing them both. I sighed to myself and got on Youtube for a while. I probably wasn’t helping myself a whole lot, but one of the first things I looked up was Adam Turner and some of his interviews and fun little videos.

His eyes were so blue. And his smile had enough charm to freeze some of his fans solid. Whether it was a daytime or a nighttime talk show...the moment the host introduced him and brought him walking out on that stage, the crowd would go crazy and he handled it all with humility and grace. Just look at him. He knows he’s gorgeous. He’s just pretending not to...I can tell. Ugh!

I don’t think I watched a whole video from beginning to end. Just a few minutes here and there. Some photo shoots, some behind the scenes stuff, and a few podcast appearances. I’ll bet you that Parker watched every last one of these videos before. Probably twice. Maybe even more.

First some random boy at the local skate park, and now this. I swear, Parker is turning me into a full blown maniac, and I can’t even tell if I want it to stop yet or not.

Oh wait...there’s something new. A video short with the director of the movie announcing the meet and greet and giving out more details. Shit, does this mean that every ‘Day-Hard’ in the Chicago area is going to know about tomorrow now? Maybe we should leave even earlier than expected if we want to get into the building before they start cutting off the line. That would make the whole day a waste...

“So what can fans of the first ‘Gone From Daylight’ expect from this highly anticipated sequel? The buzz around this production is absolutely insane.” The reporter asked as they sat down with one another, except with a totally different, much more tame, movie cutout behind them. Not that it was bad or anything. I’ll probably end up grabbing that one too at some point before the movie gets released...but it was nowhere NEAR as hot as the one we got before they took them out of circulation for the sake of content.

“Well, I have to be really careful with what I say here...” The director replied. “...But what I can tell you is that the ‘Resurrection’ sequel is really going to go way above and beyond its predecessor. We’re looking to really expand on the vampire mythology in a much deeper way, and open up a lot of different avenues for the characters to explore the world of darkness and evolve into something that fans of the series can be proud of.”

“That sounds like a pretty big deal. So you think that this movie is going to be on a whole other level? Special effects and all.”

“Definitely. We didn’t spare any expense with the writers and the budget, and we’re working with more of the city of Chicago this time around. So it won’t be as contained as the first film was. But more than anything, we were just lucky enough to come across a young cast that has a great deal of talent and the acting chops to pull it all off. I can’t express how thankful we are for Julian Clarke and Adam Turner taking the lead roles and bringing their A game to every single scene. They were truly a blessing for everyone involved with the production.”

Ugh! More praise and worship for Adam Turner. Great. Wonderful. More reasons for him to be even more beautiful and tempting to my new boyfriend than ever before.

The interview continued, but my attention was swiftly snatched away from the screen when I got a message on my phone. My heart began to inflate and thump hard in my chest as I reached for my phone to see if maybe Parker decided that he wanted to talk tonight after all.

Imagine my disappointment when I saw that it was just a message from Ally instead. But...looking closer, I saw a few attachments added to it and clicked on the symbol to open them all.

The very first one was a pic of Parker and me standing up on the anchor at Navy Pier together. We were smiling for the picture, but anybody looking at that particular picture could tell that we were both nervous as hell. Hehehe, even in a still photo, it was almost like I could still see us both visibly shaking like a couple of cold puppies. It put a much needed grin on my face, and I continued to scroll through some of the other pics that she included in the mini collection. Parker and I holding hands...sharing some popcorn out of the same bag...using our fingers to put up mouse ears over one another’s head. Look at him. He’s so damn cute! We both had a really good time together today. I mean, it was a lot of fun, you know? Look at us. We actually look like a couple. I never thought that I’d ever be able to say that about me and another boy, but checking out these photos...it just gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

And then...Ally made sure to save the best picture for last. Parker and I, standing toe to toe with our eyes closed...and sharing one of the most blissful kisses that any two boys on the planet could ever hope to experience. I guess, since I was always so wrapped up in the dreamy haze of the moment, I never really thought about what it would actually look like for Parker and I to share a kiss like that. In public, no less.

A sense of pride washed over me in that moment, my whole body overcome with a sense of peace. Completion, you know? I just stared at that pic of us for a few minutes...even enlarging it a few times to focus on little details like the way our lips seemed to fit together so perfectly. Or to look down to see the way his soft fingers threaded themselves between my own. Then back up again to look at his blond hair as a random breeze caught the silky locks and lifted them in the most amazing way. I swear, I could look at that one picture all night. Examine every curve, every line, every euphoric second that was exchanged between us. It was like being locked in that moment all over again. It was like I could almost taste him.

I was concentrating so hard on it that I was a bit startled when my phone rang, and I switched over to see Parker’s name show up. No disappointments this time. I found myself feeling dizzy and breathless, rushing to click over and attempt to not sound too eager when I said hello.

“Hey...” Parker grinned. “I was just gonna tell you that you might want to check your messages. Ally sent me the pictures from earlier today.”

“Omigod, yes! I was just looking at them a few seconds ago. Did you see them yet?” I said, so happy to hear his voice again.

“Hehehe, yeah...” He sighed. “...They came out pretty good, don’t you think?”

I wanted to stop trembling, but my body wasn’t really listening to me at that moment. “Uh huh...” I said softly. “Some came out even better than others.”

“I was sort of thinking the same thing, to be honest.” Good to know that we were both on the same page. Then, after a brief pause, Parker said, “Would it sound bizarre if I said that I really missed you right now?”

“Not to me, it wouldn’t.” I said, and then confessed, “I actually started missing the second we said goodbye earlier.”

“Oh man...good. I thought it was just me. I thought I was losing my mind, and I felt bad about maybe calling to bug you with it.”

“You wouldn’t have bugged me at all. Not ever.” And as I paused the Youtube video to focus on my sweetheart completely, I said, “Say...do you think that you can stick around and maybe talk for a little while? At the risk of sounding creepy...it would be really cool to hear your voice right now.”

“M’kay. Give me a minute to put Jazzy in her crib, and I’ll be right back. Cool?”

“Cool.” I said. God, I love that boy. I never knew that I could get this bad. Live and learn, I suppose.