A Little Foolishness and a Lot of Curiousity 2/8
Master Post
Chapter Two
The first few weeks of classes flew by for both Kris and Adam. Kris was reconnecting with his friends and settling into band practice and getting ready for baseball tryouts. Games were months away but they always held tryouts in the fall so they could practice through fall and winter to be ready for spring games. Adam was settling into his new school and learning the ins and outs of getting along with both students and faculty. He also quickly made friends with a few of the other theatre kids and was spending time with them, getting ready for upcoming auditions for the winter play. They also found themselves getting closer as each day passed. They had a lot of the same tastes in television and music and genuinely enjoyed each other's company.
"So, what's the story with him, anyway?" Charles asked at dinner Friday evening.
"What?" Kris asked, turning his attention back to his friends. He couldn't seem to stop his attention from wandering to Adam. He was glad Adam was making his own friends but he couldn't help but worry about how he was adjusting. The other theatre students seemed to genuinely like Adam, but he also knew more than a few students had made comments about Adam since school had started and he didn't really know which ones. His concern about Adam was totally normal. He just didn't want his friend to be hurt because spoiled rich kids could be cruel. He knew that better than most, since he was one of the few less privileged students attending.
"Your roommate?" Cale clarified. "You've been spending a lot of time with him. What's his story?"
"I told you, he transferred here because he wasn't happy at his school in California," Kris said, before finishing off the last of his burger.
"Yeah, we all know that," Charles said, nodding. "But what's the story with him? He's not exactly normal."
Kris immediately felt himself tense. This wasn't the first time he'd heard a comment like that. That Adam wasn't normal, that he was a freak. And those were the nicer of the words he'd heard tossed around. He had hoped his two closest friends were above that, though. They'd never judge someone on appearance alone without getting to know them. Maybe he'd been wrong. "He's completely normal."
"Kris, really," Charles continued, completely ignoring the obvious displeasure on Kris' face. "He wears more makeup than my sister. And what's with the hair?"
"He has a point," Cale agreed. "He's different."
"Different isn't always bad. He likes to wear makeup, so what?" Kris argued, stopping short of saying he liked the makeup. It looked good on Adam, not that he didn't look equally good without it. "Same with his hair. There's nothing wrong with spending more time on your hair than just running a brush through it."
"We aren't saying there's anything wrong with it." Cale argued, "It's just, guys don't do that stuff."
"Apparently, some do," Kris snapped. "I can't believe you can't just accept him for who he is. He's been nice enough to not judge any of us because we aren't from a big city, but you'll judge him because of some eyeliner?"
"We didn't say…" Charles stopped midway through his argument when Kris got up from the table and walked away, dumping his tray into the trash as he walked.
Kris was angry. He knew Adam had transferred here from his old school because of problems with the other students when they'd found out he was gay. Kris had hoped that wouldn't happen here. He'd hoped at the very least his friends were above that and would have Adam's back, but if they were judging him because of a little eyeliner he was no longer sure if they would or not. He just needed to be alone, away from them right now. He needed time to cool off before he talked to Adam.
~~**~~
Adam watched Kris leave the cafeteria and he could practically feel the tension radiating off him from across the room. He hoped, but didn't really believe, that whatever the problem was it had nothing to do with him. He'd met Kris' friends and ate with them every day until he'd joined the other students from the theatre group for dinner in the last week or so. It wasn't that Kris' friends didn't like him but he could also tell they weren't necessarily as accepting as Kris.
"Everything okay, Adam?" Matt asked, pulling his attention back to the table.
"Yeah," Adam said, smiling. "It's great. I'm just distracted. A lot of homework to get done tonight."
"So, you're not going into town tonight?" Josh asked. "I thought you'd totally be up for partying."
"Sorry," Adam said. "Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow, though. I really need to work on some homework and want to turn in early."
"Holding you to that, Lambert," Josh yelled as Adam walked away from the table with a wave.
"I'll be there, I promise!"
A few minutes later he was hesitating outside the room he shared with Kris. Should he knock or just go in? It was his room too, but if Kris left because he wanted to be alone maybe he shouldn't just walk in. Finally he took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
"Hey," Adam said, walking into the room to find Kris sitting on his bed in his sleep pants, and strumming his guitar. "You left dinner kind of fast."
"And you followed," Kris pointed out, setting his guitar aside.
Adam walked over to his dresser and pulled out his own sleep pants before answering. "Well, I could feel the tension all the way across the room. I was worried."
"It's nothing," Kris shrugged. "Just been a long week."
"Right," Adam sighed. He didn't know if he wanted to force Kris to tell him what the problem was or not. Maybe it had nothing to do with him and he was butting in where he didn't belong. "I'm gonna shower."
Kris flopped back on the bed when the bathroom door closed. He just knew Adam wasn't going to let this go and he didn't want to tell him that he'd left dinner because his friends might have a problem with him. Because admitting that was going to mean admitting, at least to himself, that he might see Adam a bit differently than his other friends. Not that he wouldn't defend anyone he considered a friend or, for that matter, anyone who was being judged unfairly, but they hadn't been that hard on Adam. Not really. They'd just implied he was different, which he was. He wouldn't get this upset if someone suggested Cale's newly shaved head was odd, so why be so upset over Adam?
Part of Kris already knew the answer to his questions. He didn't want to be Adam's friend-not just his friend anyway. The other part of Kris wasn't ready to deal with what that all meant just yet. While he may have known in the back of his mind for a long time, long before he met Adam, he'd never had to deal with it before. But since meeting Adam it was getting harder to ignore.
"So," Adam said as he walked back out of the bathroom, still running a towel over his hair. "Are we going to talk about what happened at dinner or just pretend it didn't happen?"
Kris grinned at him. "Pretending it didn't happen works for me."
Adam dropped the towel on the floor and sighed. That wasn't the answer he wanted but he wasn't going to force it tonight. "Fine, we won't talk about it. But it's only seven and we're both apparently in for the night. We aren't actually going to sleep now, right?"
Kris released the breath he'd been holding while hoping Adam wouldn't press him about why he'd left dinner. "I hope not. We could do homework?"
"I don't think so," Adam said, shaking his head. "It's Friday night, homework is for Sunday."
"So what do you suggest?"
"Umm…I still need to perfect my song for auditions next week," Adam offered. "I could use your opinion."
"Sure."
"Okay, I want you to be totally honest, all right?" Adam said just before launching into the song he'd chosen to use for his audition.
Kris stared at him in silence and shock as he sang. He'd seen enough school plays here to know Adam would have the part he wanted. There was no one in the school that sounded like that. Hell, he wasn't sure there was anyone, anywhere that sounded like that. He wasn't sure how long he'd just sat and stared until he realized Adam was staring back at him nervously and was saying something.
"I know it needs work," Adam was saying, "but it's not horrible, right? Just practice a little more?"
Kris blinked in surprise. "Wait, you think that was bad?"
"Well," Adam sat next to him on the bed. "You didn't say anything so I thought…"
"It was perfect," Kris quickly assured him. "You sound amazing. Now I'm sorry you ever heard me sing."
"You have a wonderful voice," Adam argued. "You're really good too."
"Not compared to you," Kris sighed. He knew he didn't sound bad but next to Adam he was pretty sure everyone sounded a little less than perfect. "Okay, so that took all of ten minutes."
"You're auditioning for a band thing, right?" Adam asked.
"Yeah, not the band class obviously, but for the band that does the play and sometimes some shows doing current music and stuff. Not just the usual 'band' stuff."
"Are you auditioning for guitar or piano?"
"Both, sort of," Kris admitted. "I'd rather do guitar, but Mr. Moore agreed to let me audition for both so that if I don't get guitar, piano is still an option."
"Okay, then let me hear it."
Kris picked up his guitar and began to play again. The same song he had been playing when Adam first came in the room. Adam watched and listened and mentally berated himself for his growing crush on his very straight roommate. This wasn't going to lead anywhere good and he knew it. He needed to be careful, to make sure it stayed a friendship because what he didn't want was to ruin what they did have because of a stupid crush.
"So?" Kris said when he'd finished playing.
"It's great," Adam said. "You should definitely get the guitar spot."
Before Kris could respond Adam's phone rang.
"Hi, Matt," Adam said answering the phone.
"Hey," Matt said. "I just wanted to let you know that we really are going into town tomorrow night, to that little club. And we were serious; we do want you to come with us. We're going right after lunch if you want to spend the day…"
"Thanks for the offer," Adam said. "I'll definitely meet you at the club but I think I want to hang out here tomorrow and make sure my song is perfect."
Kris snorted at the claim that the song was anything less than perfect, which earned a frown from Adam.
"Okay then meet us at the club. Kris'll know which one."
"I'll get directions from him then."
"Bring him along," Matt offered. "If he doesn't have plans with his friends or whatever. He's more than welcome to join us too."
"Okay," Adam said hesitantly. "I'll ask him."
Adam disconnected the call and turned his attention back to Kris. Now he needed to figure out how to ask him if he wanted to go to a club on Saturday night without risking a straight boy freak out over it looking like a date.
"You're going out with Matt tomorrow?" Kris asked.
"Yeah, I'm meeting him and some of the others at club in town," Adam explained.
"Rumors," Kris offered. "It's kind of small but the music is supposed to be good and a lot of the theatre and art students go there. I'm sure you'll have fun."
"Do you want-"Adam hesitated. This was the problem with his roommate knowing he was gay. Would he take the invitation the wrong way? "Matt said I should-"
Kris raised an eyebrow expectantly when Adam stopped midsentence again.
Adam took a deep breath and started again. "Don't take this the wrong way, but do you want to come too? Matt said to bring you if you weren't busy. It's not like a date or anything."
"Sure," Kris agreed immediately. "Pretty much all of my friends plan on staying close to school to practice for sports tryouts anyway. It'll be fun."
~~**~~
Kris leaned against the bathroom door and watched as Adam carefully lined his eyes. He found the entire process completely fascinating. Adam was so meticulous and focused, it was amazing to Kris that anyone could concentrate that completely on something like this. If it took him more than ten minutes to get himself ready he would get impatient and irritated and Adam had been in the bathroom working on his hair and makeup for nearly an hour.
Kris had spent the day with Cale and Charles and he felt better about everything tonight. They'd apologized for upsetting him and he'd admitted to and apologized for overreacting. Then they'd spent the day practicing for baseball tryouts later in the week. Kris needed to work on his song for his band audition as well but he needed the work for baseball more. Music was easy for him, sports weren't. After lunch they'd gathered a large enough group to actually play a quick game. Then Kris had come back to his room, wanting to get into the bathroom to shower before Adam needed to start getting ready. He'd known without asking that this would be a longer process for Adam than it was for him. And, of course, he'd been right.
"Really, Kris?" Adam was looking at him now, one eyebrow arched in question.
"What?" Kris asked, not sure if he'd missed something while he was lost in his thoughts.
"You're wearing that?" Adam frowned, looking him up and down slowly.
Kris looked down at his jeans and t-shirt and shrugged. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Adam sighed. "Nothing, if you're sitting here doing homework or watching TV or something. But we're going to a club."
"It's not that great of a club," Kris offered. "Really, what I'm wearing is fine."
"It's really not." Adam strode across the room and began rummaging through Kris' closet, mumbling under his breath as he pushed things aside. "There's nothing else here."
"There's plenty in there," Kris argued. It wasn't like he'd only come with uniforms and one pair of jeans and one t-shirt.
"Yeah, the closet is full but everything is just a variation on that," Adam said, waving his arm at Kris before going back to pushing clothes around again. "I don't suppose you at least have better fitting jeans?"
"My jeans fit!"
"No, they really don't," Adam said. He shut the closet door with a sigh. "But the fact you think they do means you probably don't have anything that does."
Before Kris could say anything else, Adam was on the other side of the room looking for something in his own closet, and still mumbling. Finally he pulled out a leather jacket and held it up. "Perfect!"
"Perfect for what?" Kris asked, frowning at him. Adam was already wearing a jacket and he couldn’t imagine why he'd need two.
"For you," Adam said, grinning. "It's small on me so it should fit you. The jacket and a little jewelry and we can probably work with what you're wearing. No chance you'll agree to eyeliner, is there?"
"I'll try the jacket and even go along with the jewelry, but I won't agree to eyeliner, no." Kris took the offered jacket and shrugged into it. It was a little on the big side but mostly fit.
Adam was already searching through a drawer he had filled with jewelry and pulling out a few rings and necklaces. "Try these."
They spent the next fifteen minutes with Adam handing Kris necklaces and rings and then rejecting them before he finally found an arrangement he was happy with.
"So, are we going now? I'd hate to think we stood up your friends because you couldn't decide on the right jewelry for me."
"Let's go, and first chance we get I'm taking you shopping."
~~**~~
Adam and Matt sat in the booth, watching the others on the dance floor. Most of the theatre group had shown up, and a few other students. He'd quickly learned that the reason this particular club was popular wasn't just that it was open to all ages, but they were notoriously lax in checking ID. Adam was actually surprised there weren't more students here. There were a lot, but it was a very specific subset.
"Is this place like a secret from the jocks and general student population?" he asked.
"No," Matt answered shrugging and taking a sip of his drink. "But there's a sports bar not far from here that also doesn't card. Not everyone likes the music and dancing, especially since there aren't a lot of girls."
Adam shrugged. It made sense; straight boys probably didn't want to go out dancing with just a group of guys. "It's not like there aren't any girls." Adam gestured to the dance floor where some of the others were dancing with some girls that had met them here.
Matt rolled his eyes, "But they're public school girls, Adam."
"Sorry, forgot. Don't mix with the town folk."
Before Matt could respond, Kris returned to the table with another beer and a vodka tonic for Adam. He set both drinks on the table and then slid into the booth next to Adam. He had only been here once before because most of his friends preferred watching whatever game was on at the other bar, but he found he really enjoyed the music and dancing. The atmosphere was so much lighter here. He'd even been dancing with a few of the girls who always helped with the school plays by taking the female roles.
"Having fun?" Adam asked as Kris slid as close to him as possible without actually being on his lap.
"Yeah," Kris said, grinning and sliding the vodka tonic in front of Adam. "I got you another drink."
"Why, Kristopher," Adam said, smiling and taking a sip of the offered drink, "are you trying to get me drunk? Not that I object, but I have to tell you that I'm not that kind of guy."
"What? I-No I'd never…" Kris said, blushing and stumbling over his words. "I-I'm not-I"
Matt looked at Adam and raised an eyebrow in question, and Adam returned the smirk.
"Kris!" Allison said, coming over to the table and grabbing his arm. "I love this song, dance with me."
Adam and Matt watched a still blushing Kris being pulled to the dance floor.
"Well, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting to your joke," Matt said when Kris and Allison had disappeared into the crowd. "It was a bad joke, by the way."
"Not the reaction I expected either."
"Makes you wonder though," Matt said, finishing his own drink. "We really shouldn't be the only ones not dancing."
"Let's go," Adam agreed, downing the rest of his drink and following Matt to the dance floor.
~~**~~
Okay, so Kris getting drunk was a bad idea. Adam realized that now. At least a bad idea for him; Kris seemed to be enjoying himself. It wasn't like Kris was a mean drunk, no, it was the opposite. Kris was an affectionate drunk. One that was truly testing Adam's self-control. The hugging and dancing was bad enough, really. But then when everyone had come back to the table and space was a bit cramped Kris had declared himself tiny and climbed onto Adam's lap to make room for Megan who couldn't quite fit into the large booth with them.
"Kris?" Adam said into his ear. "Kris, you aren't going to sleep, are you?"
"Mmmm," Kris mumbled, head on Adam's shoulder and arms around his neck.
"Seriously, Kris," Adam said, trying to move the arms from around his neck. "We have to walk back and I'm not carrying you."
"You're comfy though," Kris muttered as he lifted his head and looked at Adam. "And I'm getting kinda tired."
Kris wiggled in Adam's lap again, trying to find a comfortable position and Adam bit back a groan. No one should have to put up with this. He knew Kris was drunk and really wasn't doing it on purpose, but it wasn't making much difference right now. He needed to get Kris out of here. "Okay, let's get you back to school and in bed, shall we?" Adam said shoving Kris off his lap and into the narrow space between booths.
"'Kay, but I gotta pee first."
When Kris was out of sight Adam let out a groan of frustration. "Sorry guys, I think we're heading back early."
"I can see why," Megan said grinning. "So does he know?"
"Know what?" Adam asked. He'd been pretty open about his sexuality with the theatre group. Hiding it was usually more trouble than it was worth, but he'd not met Megan before tonight and at this point it wasn't general knowledge around school.
"That you're crushing on him?"
"What?" Adam squeaked. "I'm not. Why would you….?"
"Oh please, you so are," Matt agreed. Then to Megan, "How did you know?"
"That he's crushing on Kris or that he's gay?"
"Either. Both," Adam answered for him.
"A straight boy would've pushed his ass to the floor an hour ago. Assuming he hadn't freaked out when Kris started grinding against him on the dance floor," Megan said, grinning. "And the crushing, please, so obvious. But if it helps, he's so crushing on you too."
"He's not," Adam insisted. "Really, he's straight."
"Right," Megan said, shrugging. "If you say so."
"Gotta agree, Adam," Allison offered.
"Agree with what?" Kris said coming up behind Adam and leaning over his shoulder to hear the conversation better.
"Oh God!" Adam dropped his head down for a second before turning to Kris. "Nothing. Just something about the play. Let's go." Before Kris could say anything he grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the club.
Chapter Three