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...
0Unrated
Chapter seven – Black-to-purple
The sound of wood-on-metal resounded on the pavilion when Ashton sent the puck crashing into the empty goal’s net. He knew he shouldn’t be going over the top with practice just before a game, but hockey to him was life drugs to an addict – he couldn’t stand his ground when his hands itched for the stick. He loved hockey. Although it was a very jock thing to say, he loved the way his mind went blank when he played, and that he could concentrate on the game without thinking about anything else.
Like the fact that he’d kissed Reona.
The puck bounced off the pole in a ridiculous miss. He skated his way to the bench to fetch some water and glanced up at the seat in the back row where Reona usually sat during morning practice with his face buried up to his eyes in a muffler, like a ninja. Even though they’d never really met, he’d always known about Reona as Keith’s designated plaything, and actually felt sorry for him, but it’s not like he’d ever taken the trouble to do something about the bullying, and he’d probably gotten a laugh out of it more than once. Anyway, as far as he knew, Reona was nobody.
It wasn’t until the beginning of senior year that he’d noticed him. Ashton had just become the team’s captain, and it was his job to gather up new members to make up for the ones leaving after graduation, so he started looking out for potential candidates among the few guys that stuck around to watch morning practice. At first he was surprised to even find Reona there – he’d never taken him for a hockey enthusiast – but the way Reona hardly ever missed practice eventually started to intrigue him.
He knew Reona was already a senior, and his build was way too slight for a rough sport like hockey, so it couldn’t be that he wanted to join the team. Also, if he was simply into hockey, wouldn’t he rather attend official games instead of practice? And if he was just too bored to self-study, wouldn’t any other place be a better, warmer choice? It just didn’t make sense.
Unless… no, it couldn’t be.
Ashton slumped onto the bench, and the memories of that night came back to him. He’d been having a crappy birthday to begin with – he’d gotten scolded for falling behind with coursework, lectured about the upcoming game, and what’s worse, he’d just come out of the kind of fight that had Candy puffy-eyed and calling in sick the next day. He hadn’t even gotten enough time to cool off when he saw Reona with that four-eyed friend of his all over him, touching him, kissing him, and something inside him snapped.
That’s when his memory got sketchy. When he came to, the guy was already sprawled on the floor with blood gushing out of his mouth, and all he could think of was getting out of there, getting Reona out of there, and suddenly they were out in the cold, and Reona was looking up at him with his eyes round with awe, the same eyes he’d always felt on his back during practice, staring, watching him, and then they were so close he could see his own reflection in grey and green, and Reona closed his eyes, and he could almost taste his breath, and his body must have moved on its own, because suddenly he was kissing him.
He fisted his hands in his hair. What the fuck was I thinking? He felt that he’d crossed some sort of boundary and now there was no turning back. There was no doubt it’d been a spur-of-the moment thing, because Ashton did not go around kissing guys, and no matter how you looked at it, Reona was one. He’d surely gotten caught up in the moment – you didn’t go on a boy-kissing spree after living straight as an arrow for eighteen years, even if the guy could easily be mistaken for a girl, or if he had the kind of face that made you feel like jacking off in the bathroom, or even if you were almost positive that he was in love with you.
---
“Now, that’s odd.”
Reona snapped out of his daze to look up at Elliot, who was the closest thing you can get to puzzled when your face looks like it’s been baked. He wasn’t wearing glasses, and judging by the spiraling black-to-purple on the swollen cheek, it should be hurting something wicked. “What is?”
“I didn’t think you even knew the way to the library,”
“That’s pretty witty for someone who got his head bashed in,”
Elliot sat beside him and began drumming his fingers on the table in the most annoying way. “So, are you gonna tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“Something like what happened right after I got knocked out at the party.”
Reona looked away and sighed. He’d been going through hell these last couple of days. Everyone in school knew about Ashton’s falling out with Elliot, and although no one really knew the reason behind it, his friend’s new face had been enough to settle the rumors. The problem was that the jock had taken him outside, which usually meant a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but Reona had gotten out of it without a scratch, and that was like wood to a fire when it came to gossip. He’d been invisible for the last seventeen years, and he’d rather keep it that way if it meant he wouldn’t have to put up with the dirty looks and chitchatting anymore.
“Come on, Reo, you know you can talk to me,”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell him – he just wasn’t so sure it’d actually happened. How could he let himself believe that Ashton had actually kissed him? What if it’d all been a delusion? And more importantly, how was he supposed to face the jock? They were no longer strangers, but it’s not like they were friends, and after that kiss, Reona didn’t know what to make of their relationship, so he’d been doing his best to avoid him. He’d switched seats for Algebra, given up morning practice and he’d even began having lunch below the stairway by the bio lab instead of eating in the cafeteria, so he hadn’t seen him at all since the party.
“I was able to read his mind when he was about to bash you,” he started, “and right before he kissed me,”
Elliot suddenly sprang to his feet and robotically packing Reona’s things, looking as if he was trying very hard not to think by keeping his hands busy, so that he wouldn’t be able to read his thoughts. Reona reached to touch the bruise on his face, making him flinch away with a hiss.
“I’m sorry,” And he was, for more than one reason.
They finished putting everything away in silence and left the library, and Reona asked him to go ahead without him since he needed a detour to fetch some stuff off his locker. The main hall was always packed during recess and he had to make an extra effort to tune out the squeaky thoughts around him, so he didn’t notice him until it was too late to run away.
“Hey, Reona,”
The same voice that haunted all his wet dreams now made him wish the earth would swallow him whole. Ashton was leaning against his locker with his arms folded on his chest and his hair wet and slicked back as if he’d just gotten out of the shower, waiting for him. Since the jock was blocking the locker, Reona couldn’t get his textbooks without asking him to move, so he either ran for it and cut class for the rest of the day, or committed social suicide by speaking to him.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Ashton beat him to it.
“Uh, I really can’t talk now. I’m, uh, running late for class,”
“Yeah, I know, but I was wondering if we could meet up sometime later.”
“You see, uh, I get off like, really late,”
“That’s okay. I’ll give you a ride home. We live in the same direction anyway,”
Oh, great. There was no way he could refuse him without being rude, and nobody in their right mind would be rude towards a jock who doubled your size in many ways. “Uh, okay then,”
“You get off around seven pm, right?” Reona nodded. “Wait here and I’ll come get you then,”
The first bell set off, telling him he’d be in trouble if he didn’t hurry up, and when he shifted on his feet Ashton finally got the hint.
“See you later then,”
He stared after the damn clueless jock as he left, and the eavesdropping crowd stared after Reona as he got his things ready as quickly as possible and sprinted up the stairs to the classroom, wondering how he could make it to the end of the day without being eaten alive.
---
“Let me see if I got this straight,” Elliot started through gritted teeth, “you’re saying you’ve got a date with the asshole that fucked up your best friend’s face?”
“I’m saying he offered me a ride and I couldn’t refuse,”
“Do you even realize what you’re getting into?”
Not really. “It’s just a ride home,”
“I’m going with you,”
“And I thought you had some sense of self-preservation left in you,”
“You know what they say about offering the other cheek,”
“I’ll be going on my own,” Reona got up and swung his schoolbag over his shoulder. “And I’ll be going now,”
“Wait—,“
Reona dashed down the corridor and turned to the stairs, praying to whoever was listening for the jock to have forgotten about him. He’d considered standing him up, but just thinking about the consequences gave him the chills, and if managing to run from someone like Ashton was unlikely, hiding was impossible.
No such luck. Just around the corner, the living proof was standing by the lockers, jingling his car keys with the kind of aura that screamed ‘better than you since the day I was born' and made you feel like dirt on a beggar’s feet. And the moment Ashton flashed him a killer smile, he thought he could die happy.
“Hey. You’re all set to go?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so,”
“Let’s go then,”
Reona followed him to the parking lodge and was glad to find that it was either late or cold enough for people not to be hanging around. They got into the car, and although it wasn’t his first time, he couldn’t help but feel plagued by the jock’s presence, his body heat, his heady smell. Ashton started the engine but not the radio, and now that he had no choice but to listen to whatever he had to say, curiosity was getting the best of him. “You said you wanted to talk?”
“Well, yeah. It’s, uh, been a while since I last saw you,” He looked as if he were chewing on his next words. “You haven’t been coming to morning practice.” It wasn’t a question.
“I’ve been, uh, revising,”
“I haven’t seen you in the cafeteria either,”
“Uh, yeah, I guess,” He was bad at lying and worse at coming up with excuses, so no wonder Ashton wasn’t buying it.
“I think you’re avoiding me,”
No use denying now. “So?”
“So, I was wondering if you’re avoiding me ‘cause of what I did to your friend,” he started, “or what I did to you,”
So that’s what he wanted to talk about. Jocks will be jocks. Ashton had taken his little joke too far and now wanted to make sure it stayed off the record, so Reona either kept quiet about it or could as well kiss his smile goodbye. Like washing a stain off a shirt. He hoped the hurt wasn’t showing on his face. “It’s, uh, okay, I won’t tell anyone about it,”
The jock gave him a puzzled look.
“You want to pretend it never happened, right?”
“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Ashton wasn’t looking straight at him, and if Reona didn’t know any better, he would have thought the jock was embarrassed. “I thought we could, I don’t know, hang out,”
… Huh? “I don’t really see where hanging out with me fits into the picture,”
“What if I can make it fit?”
And they must have pulled in at some point, because suddenly the growling of the engine was gone, and suddenly they weren’t moving, and suddenly Ashton was kissing him.
The sound of wood-on-metal resounded on the pavilion when Ashton sent the puck crashing into the empty goal’s net. He knew he shouldn’t be going over the top with practice just before a game, but hockey to him was life drugs to an addict – he couldn’t stand his ground when his hands itched for the stick. He loved hockey. Although it was a very jock thing to say, he loved the way his mind went blank when he played, and that he could concentrate on the game without thinking about anything else.
Like the fact that he’d kissed Reona.
The puck bounced off the pole in a ridiculous miss. He skated his way to the bench to fetch some water and glanced up at the seat in the back row where Reona usually sat during morning practice with his face buried up to his eyes in a muffler, like a ninja. Even though they’d never really met, he’d always known about Reona as Keith’s designated plaything, and actually felt sorry for him, but it’s not like he’d ever taken the trouble to do something about the bullying, and he’d probably gotten a laugh out of it more than once. Anyway, as far as he knew, Reona was nobody.
It wasn’t until the beginning of senior year that he’d noticed him. Ashton had just become the team’s captain, and it was his job to gather up new members to make up for the ones leaving after graduation, so he started looking out for potential candidates among the few guys that stuck around to watch morning practice. At first he was surprised to even find Reona there – he’d never taken him for a hockey enthusiast – but the way Reona hardly ever missed practice eventually started to intrigue him.
He knew Reona was already a senior, and his build was way too slight for a rough sport like hockey, so it couldn’t be that he wanted to join the team. Also, if he was simply into hockey, wouldn’t he rather attend official games instead of practice? And if he was just too bored to self-study, wouldn’t any other place be a better, warmer choice? It just didn’t make sense.
Unless… no, it couldn’t be.
Ashton slumped onto the bench, and the memories of that night came back to him. He’d been having a crappy birthday to begin with – he’d gotten scolded for falling behind with coursework, lectured about the upcoming game, and what’s worse, he’d just come out of the kind of fight that had Candy puffy-eyed and calling in sick the next day. He hadn’t even gotten enough time to cool off when he saw Reona with that four-eyed friend of his all over him, touching him, kissing him, and something inside him snapped.
That’s when his memory got sketchy. When he came to, the guy was already sprawled on the floor with blood gushing out of his mouth, and all he could think of was getting out of there, getting Reona out of there, and suddenly they were out in the cold, and Reona was looking up at him with his eyes round with awe, the same eyes he’d always felt on his back during practice, staring, watching him, and then they were so close he could see his own reflection in grey and green, and Reona closed his eyes, and he could almost taste his breath, and his body must have moved on its own, because suddenly he was kissing him.
He fisted his hands in his hair. What the fuck was I thinking? He felt that he’d crossed some sort of boundary and now there was no turning back. There was no doubt it’d been a spur-of-the moment thing, because Ashton did not go around kissing guys, and no matter how you looked at it, Reona was one. He’d surely gotten caught up in the moment – you didn’t go on a boy-kissing spree after living straight as an arrow for eighteen years, even if the guy could easily be mistaken for a girl, or if he had the kind of face that made you feel like jacking off in the bathroom, or even if you were almost positive that he was in love with you.
---
“Now, that’s odd.”
Reona snapped out of his daze to look up at Elliot, who was the closest thing you can get to puzzled when your face looks like it’s been baked. He wasn’t wearing glasses, and judging by the spiraling black-to-purple on the swollen cheek, it should be hurting something wicked. “What is?”
“I didn’t think you even knew the way to the library,”
“That’s pretty witty for someone who got his head bashed in,”
Elliot sat beside him and began drumming his fingers on the table in the most annoying way. “So, are you gonna tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“Something like what happened right after I got knocked out at the party.”
Reona looked away and sighed. He’d been going through hell these last couple of days. Everyone in school knew about Ashton’s falling out with Elliot, and although no one really knew the reason behind it, his friend’s new face had been enough to settle the rumors. The problem was that the jock had taken him outside, which usually meant a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but Reona had gotten out of it without a scratch, and that was like wood to a fire when it came to gossip. He’d been invisible for the last seventeen years, and he’d rather keep it that way if it meant he wouldn’t have to put up with the dirty looks and chitchatting anymore.
“Come on, Reo, you know you can talk to me,”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell him – he just wasn’t so sure it’d actually happened. How could he let himself believe that Ashton had actually kissed him? What if it’d all been a delusion? And more importantly, how was he supposed to face the jock? They were no longer strangers, but it’s not like they were friends, and after that kiss, Reona didn’t know what to make of their relationship, so he’d been doing his best to avoid him. He’d switched seats for Algebra, given up morning practice and he’d even began having lunch below the stairway by the bio lab instead of eating in the cafeteria, so he hadn’t seen him at all since the party.
“I was able to read his mind when he was about to bash you,” he started, “and right before he kissed me,”
Elliot suddenly sprang to his feet and robotically packing Reona’s things, looking as if he was trying very hard not to think by keeping his hands busy, so that he wouldn’t be able to read his thoughts. Reona reached to touch the bruise on his face, making him flinch away with a hiss.
“I’m sorry,” And he was, for more than one reason.
They finished putting everything away in silence and left the library, and Reona asked him to go ahead without him since he needed a detour to fetch some stuff off his locker. The main hall was always packed during recess and he had to make an extra effort to tune out the squeaky thoughts around him, so he didn’t notice him until it was too late to run away.
“Hey, Reona,”
The same voice that haunted all his wet dreams now made him wish the earth would swallow him whole. Ashton was leaning against his locker with his arms folded on his chest and his hair wet and slicked back as if he’d just gotten out of the shower, waiting for him. Since the jock was blocking the locker, Reona couldn’t get his textbooks without asking him to move, so he either ran for it and cut class for the rest of the day, or committed social suicide by speaking to him.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Ashton beat him to it.
“Uh, I really can’t talk now. I’m, uh, running late for class,”
“Yeah, I know, but I was wondering if we could meet up sometime later.”
“You see, uh, I get off like, really late,”
“That’s okay. I’ll give you a ride home. We live in the same direction anyway,”
Oh, great. There was no way he could refuse him without being rude, and nobody in their right mind would be rude towards a jock who doubled your size in many ways. “Uh, okay then,”
“You get off around seven pm, right?” Reona nodded. “Wait here and I’ll come get you then,”
The first bell set off, telling him he’d be in trouble if he didn’t hurry up, and when he shifted on his feet Ashton finally got the hint.
“See you later then,”
He stared after the damn clueless jock as he left, and the eavesdropping crowd stared after Reona as he got his things ready as quickly as possible and sprinted up the stairs to the classroom, wondering how he could make it to the end of the day without being eaten alive.
---
“Let me see if I got this straight,” Elliot started through gritted teeth, “you’re saying you’ve got a date with the asshole that fucked up your best friend’s face?”
“I’m saying he offered me a ride and I couldn’t refuse,”
“Do you even realize what you’re getting into?”
Not really. “It’s just a ride home,”
“I’m going with you,”
“And I thought you had some sense of self-preservation left in you,”
“You know what they say about offering the other cheek,”
“I’ll be going on my own,” Reona got up and swung his schoolbag over his shoulder. “And I’ll be going now,”
“Wait—,“
Reona dashed down the corridor and turned to the stairs, praying to whoever was listening for the jock to have forgotten about him. He’d considered standing him up, but just thinking about the consequences gave him the chills, and if managing to run from someone like Ashton was unlikely, hiding was impossible.
No such luck. Just around the corner, the living proof was standing by the lockers, jingling his car keys with the kind of aura that screamed ‘better than you since the day I was born' and made you feel like dirt on a beggar’s feet. And the moment Ashton flashed him a killer smile, he thought he could die happy.
“Hey. You’re all set to go?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so,”
“Let’s go then,”
Reona followed him to the parking lodge and was glad to find that it was either late or cold enough for people not to be hanging around. They got into the car, and although it wasn’t his first time, he couldn’t help but feel plagued by the jock’s presence, his body heat, his heady smell. Ashton started the engine but not the radio, and now that he had no choice but to listen to whatever he had to say, curiosity was getting the best of him. “You said you wanted to talk?”
“Well, yeah. It’s, uh, been a while since I last saw you,” He looked as if he were chewing on his next words. “You haven’t been coming to morning practice.” It wasn’t a question.
“I’ve been, uh, revising,”
“I haven’t seen you in the cafeteria either,”
“Uh, yeah, I guess,” He was bad at lying and worse at coming up with excuses, so no wonder Ashton wasn’t buying it.
“I think you’re avoiding me,”
No use denying now. “So?”
“So, I was wondering if you’re avoiding me ‘cause of what I did to your friend,” he started, “or what I did to you,”
So that’s what he wanted to talk about. Jocks will be jocks. Ashton had taken his little joke too far and now wanted to make sure it stayed off the record, so Reona either kept quiet about it or could as well kiss his smile goodbye. Like washing a stain off a shirt. He hoped the hurt wasn’t showing on his face. “It’s, uh, okay, I won’t tell anyone about it,”
The jock gave him a puzzled look.
“You want to pretend it never happened, right?”
“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Ashton wasn’t looking straight at him, and if Reona didn’t know any better, he would have thought the jock was embarrassed. “I thought we could, I don’t know, hang out,”
… Huh? “I don’t really see where hanging out with me fits into the picture,”
“What if I can make it fit?”
And they must have pulled in at some point, because suddenly the growling of the engine was gone, and suddenly they weren’t moving, and suddenly Ashton was kissing him.
Sign up to rate and review this story