Categories > Original > Romance > MindStalker
Nobody said highschool was easy, and Reona knows it best. He's gay, he's in love, and guess what? He reads minds, but the only person his powers won't work on is Ashton, the way-out-of-his-league c...
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Chapter six – Just my luck
“Come on,”
“Just quit it already, I’m not going,” Elliot flipped through an Algebra book and handed it to his friend, tapping his finger on a particular worksheet. “Get this one done and I’ll let you go for the day,”
Reo threw him a dirty look, pouting as he got to work. He just heaved a weary sigh, taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, a habit he’d picked up from years of having Reo drive him up the wall for one reason or the other. To think that I’m giving up my weekends to get this airhead through high school.
“I don’t get any of this,”
“That’s just like the ones we’ve just gone through. Use the same formula,”
“But I don’t see how,”
“Reo, this is as easy as it gets,” he hissed, a step short of desperate, feeling quite tempted to give up on him. Reo was a lost case when it came to Algebra – gifted as he was with mind-reading, he certainly didn’t owe anything to other mental abilities – and Elliot would have definitely quit tutoring him by now if they weren’t best friends, just because of his annoyingly persuasive pleading. There was very little he could deny those wide pristine eyes, and it was getting lesser. “This is the very last time I’m explaining this to you, you hear me?”
“What’s the harm in coming with me to the party?”
“There’s no way in hell I’m setting foot on a stupid jock party,”
“How can you tell it’s stupid when you’ve never been to one?”
“Because when stupid and jock go on the same sentence, you get a redundancy. Look it up in a dictionary, I bet they’re even synonyms. And if you add Ashton, well, I don’t think there’s even a figure of speech for that,” Elliot scorned, spitting out the name in an acid tone.
“Geez, what is it with you and Ashton? I don’t get what about him ticks you off this much,”
Well, Elliot wouldn’t know where to start naming reasons. First, he was a jock, and that was bad enough by itself. Second, he was every girl’s wet dream, which was bound to rile every guy with an ounce of manliness on them. Third, Ashton was currently dating Candy, the very summit of feminine beauty and the hottest girl in the whole school. Fourth, he seemed to think people were disposable, judging by the way he hopped from girl to girl, changing girlfriends like bed sheets. And fifth, without even knowing, he had Reo wrapped around his finger. And that pissed him off the most.
He’d struggled so hard to get close to him, past the walls Reo had built to protect his secret, and now Ashton was waltzing into his life with his eyes on the prize, and wanted him to watch. Because even if the jock’s mind was unreadable to Reo, his intentions were pretty much crystal clear to Elliot – there was no doubt that he’d taken up some sort of wicked interest on his best friend, and Reo wasn’t complaining. The possibility that Ashton could somehow overcome their hard-won friendship was silly, if not stupid, but it still hurt on his pride.
“I’m allergic to stupid, that’s all. I get itchy around him,”
“You’re being a little boy about it,”
Yeah, he was and he knew it. Truth to be said, the masochistic side of him wanted to go to the damn party and watch over Reo, although there wouldn’t be much he could do to prevent him from getting snatched away from him right under his nose. And now that he knew where it was taking place… So much for resolve.
---
Reona huddled down on the front passenger seat, nipping on his fingernails as if he were on his way to the gallows rather than to a party. He’d barely felt the week go by, lost in a haze of foolish excitement over the upcoming party, but now that the weight of it all was downing on him, he didn’t feel ready in the least. He felt like crap, and what’s worse, he looked like it – the nerves made him paler than usual, and having spent the night tossing and turning on the bed only caused him to look like a crumpled piece of paper – and that definitely didn’t do much for his self-esteem.
The only thing that made it bearable was Elliot sitting by his side, even if against his will. He was pissed and had no intention of hiding it away, sighing loudly every now and then, much like a dragon blowing off smoke through his nose. The thought made it hard not to smile.
“You won’t be laughing when I make up my mind on how you’ll be thanking me for this,”
Elliot parked two blocks away, his predictions confirmed when they walked up to the party site and saw the impressive mess of cars in front of Keith’s house. Judging by the amount, at least half the school had come to the party, which was already rocking, and pretty loud at that. They slipped into the house and the punk music crashed through his their ears with the melodic flair of an electrical chainsaw, making Reona half-deaf in a matter of seconds. I can already feel a headache coming.
“Holy crap,”
Reona couldn’t really hold his friend’s thoughts against him. The insane amount of people inside simply had to defy some laws of physics, and the air was so hot and stuffy it was no wonder that most people were suitably dressed for the peak of summer, although all the beer they’d already gone through had surely played a part. Just looking at them made him sweat beneath his jacket.
“Now what?”
“Uh, we mingle. I guess,”
Elliot threw him a ‘you go first’ look that spoke for his thoughts. Reona wasn’t all that pleased with the idea of slithering aimlessly through a crowd of people he barely knew, if he knew at all, and making an ass out of himself trying to socialize, when he couldn’t even dance. He ogled the crowd apprehensively, feeling the fear and excitement go past the knot in his throat and straight to the stomachache he’d been nursing for the past hours.
Reona almost felt glad when a mass of scarlet hair flashed though his range of vision and Mae threw her arms around his neck to squeeze the life out of him in a hug.
“Hey there, cupcake,” she greeted, giving his cheek a quick peck and beaming a pleased grin at Elliot, “having fun?”
“We just got here,”
“Aren’t you hot in there?” Mae asked, pointing at his jacket. He nodded. “Hand it to me,”
They stripped their coats off and followed her to wherever they were to be put away, Reona making more of an effort than Elliot to listen while she scolded them for being late and ranted about what a hammer party it was, filling them in on what they’d missed so far.
“Oh yeah, Ashton was asking about you.”
Reona choked on air. “H-he was?”
“Yeah, he thought you were coming with me, since you don’t have a car. I told him Elliot would probably give you a ride, but I didn’t expect him to stick around. I thought parties weren’t his thing,”
“Uh, yeah, I kinda dragged him,” Reona fidgeted, desperately hoping his efforts to fight off the blushing were paying off. He didn’t want to be too obvious. “Uh, you know where Ashton is?”
“Well,” Mae started, “I don’t think he wants to be found right now. He’s probably upstairs,” Her lips curved upwards in the naughtiest way. Reona just stared at her, trying to make sense out of her reply. “You know, getting his birthday present from Candy,”
“She means he’s getting laid,” Elliot interjected.
“Oh,” Reona stopped feeling altogether for a moment. He figured he was shocked, even though there was nothing to be shocked about. He knew Ashton was dating Candice – he’d seen them up and down the school corridors, their passing drawing everyone’s attention, even though it wasn’t clear to him who was parading who – he’d even caught them making out in Ashton’s car, and wasn’t naïve to the point of thinking that their dating didn’t go beyond kissing. So why was he so mortified at the thought of them having sex?
Being there suddenly felt like the stupidest thing in the world – he would’ve laughed if he hadn’t suddenly forgotten how to. Why did he want to come in the first place? For Ashton. Well, where was Ashton? Upstairs, screwing his girl. What difference did going to a stupid jock party make?
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” He was so out of it he even answered Elliot’s mental question aloud. “I’ll, uh, get us some drinks,”
He started pushing his way through the crowd towards a door that hopefully would let him out, not bothering to feel sorry for the many feet he steeped on. Maybe it was the heat, but his mind was getting hazy and the rowdy thoughts of the crowd were getting harder and harder to tune out. The hint of a headache he’d gotten earlier was also becoming sharper, and the stifling damp air was making him sick. I’ve got to get out of here.
Reona suddenly tripped onto something taut and bulky that caught his fall, and instantly knew it couldn’t be good.
“Look who’s come out to play,” Keith flashed him a wolfish smile. “Ain’t it past your curfew, lil’ princess?”
Just my luck.
“Lookit you, all dressed up,” He roughly spun Reona around. “You trying to score some with the ladies? Oh yeah, I forgot, you’re not into girls,” He dropped an arm around his neck, half-choking him with the inside of his elbow. Reona clawed at it, but he was no match for the jock’s beastly strength.
“I bet you’re lookin’ for someone to pound into this pretty lil’ ass of yours, ain’t you?”
Reona felt a hand slide to the back of his jeans, feeling him up through the denim, and thought fast. He saw himself sinking his teeth into the jock’s arm, creating an opening that would either let him get away or qualify him for the beating of his life – but even that would be better than what the jock had in store for him.
Someone landed a sound smack on the back of Keith’s neck. Reona had never felt so glad seeing a jock that wasn’t Ashton.
“Keith, man, they want you outside,”
“Can’t you see I’m busy here?”
“It’s ‘bout the game,”
Keith cursed under his breath and reluctantly let go of Reona, but still smirked. “I’ll see you around,”
Reona stared after the jocks while they left, feeling the relief wash over him. God bless hockey. He turned around and almost stumbled on Elliot, who’d been watching from the sidelines, waiting for the right moment to jump in.
“You okay, Reo?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” He blinked hard, still recovering from his one-on-one with the jock. Keith’s jokes were getting old but still shook him up and set his heart pounding. “At least he didn’t shove my briefs up my ass or anything,”
“You know that’s not what I meant,”
Reona looked away. Dealing with himself was the last thing he felt up to.
“Wanna go home? You can crash at my place,”
He nodded, cracking a smile. Elliot knew him so well, it was almost scary. He swung an arm around him and kissed the top of his head, and when they were just about to turn and leave, Reona knew.
A split second before it even happened, the thought of knocking the lights out of Elliot flashed through his mind, and before he could even reason he felt himself be yanked out the way, and could only watch when someone sent his friend crashing to the floor with a brutal punch.
“You fucking homo,”
Ashton stood there, panting with his fist still up and about, and even if he tried, Reona couldn’t keep up with the emotions rushing through the jock’s face as he stared down at Elliot splayed out on the floor. The crowd had already emptied a circle around them when someone killed the music, and it was like Ashton suddenly snapped awake.
He glanced at Reona, and before he could react, the jock grabbed his elbow and started making their way out through the crowd, dragging him all the way to the exit. Reona heard Mae crying out for Elliot before Ashton threw him out the door and locked both of them outside.
Reona was at a complete loss – he had no idea what to feel, what to think, much less what to do, and he found himself pretty much trapped against the door when the jock started pacing back and forth on the doorstep. Ashton just looked so… not Ashton, as if he were beside himself.
“You,”
He didn’t even have time to gasp when Ashton slammed his fists against the door on either side of his head, and all he could see was a messy mass of dark hair before the jock glanced up at him, and for a second he couldn’t help but marvel at the impossibly gorgeous face that was only a few inches from him before he realized it. Oh god, he’s gonna hit me.
He closed his eyes shut and waited for the blow.
“Come on,”
“Just quit it already, I’m not going,” Elliot flipped through an Algebra book and handed it to his friend, tapping his finger on a particular worksheet. “Get this one done and I’ll let you go for the day,”
Reo threw him a dirty look, pouting as he got to work. He just heaved a weary sigh, taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, a habit he’d picked up from years of having Reo drive him up the wall for one reason or the other. To think that I’m giving up my weekends to get this airhead through high school.
“I don’t get any of this,”
“That’s just like the ones we’ve just gone through. Use the same formula,”
“But I don’t see how,”
“Reo, this is as easy as it gets,” he hissed, a step short of desperate, feeling quite tempted to give up on him. Reo was a lost case when it came to Algebra – gifted as he was with mind-reading, he certainly didn’t owe anything to other mental abilities – and Elliot would have definitely quit tutoring him by now if they weren’t best friends, just because of his annoyingly persuasive pleading. There was very little he could deny those wide pristine eyes, and it was getting lesser. “This is the very last time I’m explaining this to you, you hear me?”
“What’s the harm in coming with me to the party?”
“There’s no way in hell I’m setting foot on a stupid jock party,”
“How can you tell it’s stupid when you’ve never been to one?”
“Because when stupid and jock go on the same sentence, you get a redundancy. Look it up in a dictionary, I bet they’re even synonyms. And if you add Ashton, well, I don’t think there’s even a figure of speech for that,” Elliot scorned, spitting out the name in an acid tone.
“Geez, what is it with you and Ashton? I don’t get what about him ticks you off this much,”
Well, Elliot wouldn’t know where to start naming reasons. First, he was a jock, and that was bad enough by itself. Second, he was every girl’s wet dream, which was bound to rile every guy with an ounce of manliness on them. Third, Ashton was currently dating Candy, the very summit of feminine beauty and the hottest girl in the whole school. Fourth, he seemed to think people were disposable, judging by the way he hopped from girl to girl, changing girlfriends like bed sheets. And fifth, without even knowing, he had Reo wrapped around his finger. And that pissed him off the most.
He’d struggled so hard to get close to him, past the walls Reo had built to protect his secret, and now Ashton was waltzing into his life with his eyes on the prize, and wanted him to watch. Because even if the jock’s mind was unreadable to Reo, his intentions were pretty much crystal clear to Elliot – there was no doubt that he’d taken up some sort of wicked interest on his best friend, and Reo wasn’t complaining. The possibility that Ashton could somehow overcome their hard-won friendship was silly, if not stupid, but it still hurt on his pride.
“I’m allergic to stupid, that’s all. I get itchy around him,”
“You’re being a little boy about it,”
Yeah, he was and he knew it. Truth to be said, the masochistic side of him wanted to go to the damn party and watch over Reo, although there wouldn’t be much he could do to prevent him from getting snatched away from him right under his nose. And now that he knew where it was taking place… So much for resolve.
---
Reona huddled down on the front passenger seat, nipping on his fingernails as if he were on his way to the gallows rather than to a party. He’d barely felt the week go by, lost in a haze of foolish excitement over the upcoming party, but now that the weight of it all was downing on him, he didn’t feel ready in the least. He felt like crap, and what’s worse, he looked like it – the nerves made him paler than usual, and having spent the night tossing and turning on the bed only caused him to look like a crumpled piece of paper – and that definitely didn’t do much for his self-esteem.
The only thing that made it bearable was Elliot sitting by his side, even if against his will. He was pissed and had no intention of hiding it away, sighing loudly every now and then, much like a dragon blowing off smoke through his nose. The thought made it hard not to smile.
“You won’t be laughing when I make up my mind on how you’ll be thanking me for this,”
Elliot parked two blocks away, his predictions confirmed when they walked up to the party site and saw the impressive mess of cars in front of Keith’s house. Judging by the amount, at least half the school had come to the party, which was already rocking, and pretty loud at that. They slipped into the house and the punk music crashed through his their ears with the melodic flair of an electrical chainsaw, making Reona half-deaf in a matter of seconds. I can already feel a headache coming.
“Holy crap,”
Reona couldn’t really hold his friend’s thoughts against him. The insane amount of people inside simply had to defy some laws of physics, and the air was so hot and stuffy it was no wonder that most people were suitably dressed for the peak of summer, although all the beer they’d already gone through had surely played a part. Just looking at them made him sweat beneath his jacket.
“Now what?”
“Uh, we mingle. I guess,”
Elliot threw him a ‘you go first’ look that spoke for his thoughts. Reona wasn’t all that pleased with the idea of slithering aimlessly through a crowd of people he barely knew, if he knew at all, and making an ass out of himself trying to socialize, when he couldn’t even dance. He ogled the crowd apprehensively, feeling the fear and excitement go past the knot in his throat and straight to the stomachache he’d been nursing for the past hours.
Reona almost felt glad when a mass of scarlet hair flashed though his range of vision and Mae threw her arms around his neck to squeeze the life out of him in a hug.
“Hey there, cupcake,” she greeted, giving his cheek a quick peck and beaming a pleased grin at Elliot, “having fun?”
“We just got here,”
“Aren’t you hot in there?” Mae asked, pointing at his jacket. He nodded. “Hand it to me,”
They stripped their coats off and followed her to wherever they were to be put away, Reona making more of an effort than Elliot to listen while she scolded them for being late and ranted about what a hammer party it was, filling them in on what they’d missed so far.
“Oh yeah, Ashton was asking about you.”
Reona choked on air. “H-he was?”
“Yeah, he thought you were coming with me, since you don’t have a car. I told him Elliot would probably give you a ride, but I didn’t expect him to stick around. I thought parties weren’t his thing,”
“Uh, yeah, I kinda dragged him,” Reona fidgeted, desperately hoping his efforts to fight off the blushing were paying off. He didn’t want to be too obvious. “Uh, you know where Ashton is?”
“Well,” Mae started, “I don’t think he wants to be found right now. He’s probably upstairs,” Her lips curved upwards in the naughtiest way. Reona just stared at her, trying to make sense out of her reply. “You know, getting his birthday present from Candy,”
“She means he’s getting laid,” Elliot interjected.
“Oh,” Reona stopped feeling altogether for a moment. He figured he was shocked, even though there was nothing to be shocked about. He knew Ashton was dating Candice – he’d seen them up and down the school corridors, their passing drawing everyone’s attention, even though it wasn’t clear to him who was parading who – he’d even caught them making out in Ashton’s car, and wasn’t naïve to the point of thinking that their dating didn’t go beyond kissing. So why was he so mortified at the thought of them having sex?
Being there suddenly felt like the stupidest thing in the world – he would’ve laughed if he hadn’t suddenly forgotten how to. Why did he want to come in the first place? For Ashton. Well, where was Ashton? Upstairs, screwing his girl. What difference did going to a stupid jock party make?
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” He was so out of it he even answered Elliot’s mental question aloud. “I’ll, uh, get us some drinks,”
He started pushing his way through the crowd towards a door that hopefully would let him out, not bothering to feel sorry for the many feet he steeped on. Maybe it was the heat, but his mind was getting hazy and the rowdy thoughts of the crowd were getting harder and harder to tune out. The hint of a headache he’d gotten earlier was also becoming sharper, and the stifling damp air was making him sick. I’ve got to get out of here.
Reona suddenly tripped onto something taut and bulky that caught his fall, and instantly knew it couldn’t be good.
“Look who’s come out to play,” Keith flashed him a wolfish smile. “Ain’t it past your curfew, lil’ princess?”
Just my luck.
“Lookit you, all dressed up,” He roughly spun Reona around. “You trying to score some with the ladies? Oh yeah, I forgot, you’re not into girls,” He dropped an arm around his neck, half-choking him with the inside of his elbow. Reona clawed at it, but he was no match for the jock’s beastly strength.
“I bet you’re lookin’ for someone to pound into this pretty lil’ ass of yours, ain’t you?”
Reona felt a hand slide to the back of his jeans, feeling him up through the denim, and thought fast. He saw himself sinking his teeth into the jock’s arm, creating an opening that would either let him get away or qualify him for the beating of his life – but even that would be better than what the jock had in store for him.
Someone landed a sound smack on the back of Keith’s neck. Reona had never felt so glad seeing a jock that wasn’t Ashton.
“Keith, man, they want you outside,”
“Can’t you see I’m busy here?”
“It’s ‘bout the game,”
Keith cursed under his breath and reluctantly let go of Reona, but still smirked. “I’ll see you around,”
Reona stared after the jocks while they left, feeling the relief wash over him. God bless hockey. He turned around and almost stumbled on Elliot, who’d been watching from the sidelines, waiting for the right moment to jump in.
“You okay, Reo?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” He blinked hard, still recovering from his one-on-one with the jock. Keith’s jokes were getting old but still shook him up and set his heart pounding. “At least he didn’t shove my briefs up my ass or anything,”
“You know that’s not what I meant,”
Reona looked away. Dealing with himself was the last thing he felt up to.
“Wanna go home? You can crash at my place,”
He nodded, cracking a smile. Elliot knew him so well, it was almost scary. He swung an arm around him and kissed the top of his head, and when they were just about to turn and leave, Reona knew.
A split second before it even happened, the thought of knocking the lights out of Elliot flashed through his mind, and before he could even reason he felt himself be yanked out the way, and could only watch when someone sent his friend crashing to the floor with a brutal punch.
“You fucking homo,”
Ashton stood there, panting with his fist still up and about, and even if he tried, Reona couldn’t keep up with the emotions rushing through the jock’s face as he stared down at Elliot splayed out on the floor. The crowd had already emptied a circle around them when someone killed the music, and it was like Ashton suddenly snapped awake.
He glanced at Reona, and before he could react, the jock grabbed his elbow and started making their way out through the crowd, dragging him all the way to the exit. Reona heard Mae crying out for Elliot before Ashton threw him out the door and locked both of them outside.
Reona was at a complete loss – he had no idea what to feel, what to think, much less what to do, and he found himself pretty much trapped against the door when the jock started pacing back and forth on the doorstep. Ashton just looked so… not Ashton, as if he were beside himself.
“You,”
He didn’t even have time to gasp when Ashton slammed his fists against the door on either side of his head, and all he could see was a messy mass of dark hair before the jock glanced up at him, and for a second he couldn’t help but marvel at the impossibly gorgeous face that was only a few inches from him before he realized it. Oh god, he’s gonna hit me.
He closed his eyes shut and waited for the blow.
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