Over Me, Part Three
{Part One is here}
{Part Two is here}
I found myself restless that night, not able to find any sort of comfortable spot on the shitty, overused garage-sale mattress. My bed creaked in protest as I turned to my side, seeking a better position. Instead I found Kohl’s eyes staring at me through the dark.
“Did I wake you up?” I whispered slowly. “Sorry, this damn thing is too-”
“No, it’s okay.” His voice carried a strange tone, as if he were fascinated with something I couldn’t see.
Our eyes locked for several moments, until I finally closed mine in a somewhat futile attempt to sleep and ignore him in the same move.
“Chase,” He said finally, the weight of his voice forcing my eyes open. “Do you love me?”
I tried to cover up how much the question had caught me off guard as I murmured, “Of course. You’re my best friend.”
Silence.
He took a breath and tried again “I meant, are you in love with me?”
“Where did you get that?” I asked, grateful that the darkness hid my paling skin.
Kohl sat up in his bed. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “You’ve just been acting a little odd lately and I just wondered…”
My breath caught. Was it really that obvious? “Kohl…” I began, but now he was moving toward me and I quickly became distracted by his legs straddling my waist.
“Chase,” he sighed, his breath teasing my lips as he pinned me to the bed. “Do you love me like this?”
“I-”
My reply turned into a muffled groan as Kohl descended on my lips, slipping his tongue between my unresisting lips. I snaked my arms around him, returning the kiss with all that was left of my brain function. He smiled against my lips and pinned me harder, withdrawing his tongue from my mouth.
When I opened my eyes, I did not see Kohl. I saw me, my parents, my brother, and my friends all twisted into one smirking, horrifying face, though it was Kohl’s voice that issued from its lips. “You’re sick.”
I closed my eyes to avoid the demon. “I’m not.”
“Yes,” it hissed. “You’re a freak.”
“No.”
“You’ve gone too far.” When I reopened my eyes, Kohl was there again, but quickly fading.
“Don’t leave me Kohl,” I whimpered, grasping at his wrist. There was nothing there.
“Too late.”
“Kohl, stop!"
I woke, finding myself shouting at the wall opposite to my bed.
Kohl poked his head into the room, eyebrows raised. “Why? What’d I do?”
“You-” I choked, unable to say much else, until… “Is that my shirt?”
“What?” he asked, looking down at himself. “Oh, sorry.”
“It’s fine, I just-”
He laughed and pulled the shirt off, throwing it at me. “No, here. I was just wanted to see if you’d notice.”
“Well, I did.” I was also noticing how well the shirt held his scent, and was contemplating how long I could hold it to my nose without looking like a total creep.
Kohl turned to the dresser, his back and a large tattoo of a Chinese dragon facing me. “Apparently.”
He grabbed a shirt and turned around, startling me into my “Of Course I Wasn’t Staring At Your Shoulder Muscles, What Are You Talking About?” face, which was completely unused to date. It wasn’t very convincing either, but he just smiled and left, not bothering to put his shirt on.
My head dropped into my hands, presumably to scold myself for recklessness, but I failed to consider the shirt in my hands, which caused me to lose that thought as soon as I buried my nose into it. This was going to be harder than I thought.
~x~x~x~x~
“Chase!”
Wincing, I held the phone away from my ear as Kaylie squealed elatedly into the phone. I had half hoped she’d given me the wrong number. Trying to remember why I was doing this, I brought the earpiece back toward me. “Yeah, it’s me.” Unfortunately. “It was… nice seeing you the other day.” I would have preferred a nice migraine.
“It really was!” She fell silent, and I braced myself for the awkward confession. “I just wanted to tell you - so we’re on the same page - that I wanted you to call me for a date.”
“I figured,” I replied, trying to cover up my disinterest, “but why didn’t you just ask me?”
“I didn’t want to ask you in front of your friend. I didn’t want him to tease you or anything.”
I rolled my eyes. “He knows.”
“He does?” It took all I had not to burst out laughing at her shock. “How?”
“He’s not an idiot” was a rather attractive answer, but instead I went with: “There’s only one other reason a woman has given me her number, and he knows I didn’t rear-end your car.”
She laughed loudly and obnoxiously, and I withdrew the phone from my ear again.
“So…” I said with an effort, “do you want to see a movie tomorrow or something?”
She gasped in badly feigned surprise. “I would love to!” She went on to babble about various movies playing at the IMAX and show times and god-knows-what when I heard voices outside the door.
Kohl! “Ahh, you know what?” I stammered, gripping the earpiece with both hands. “I’ll call you tomorrow and we can figure out a time, but I really have to go…”
“Alright, I’ll talk to you then,” she chirped, hanging up before I mumbled a good-bye.
I shoved the phone back onto its base as Kohl came through the door, followed closely by Brandt.
“Kohl,” I said with a dramatic sigh, “I told you, no threesomes until you get him tested.”
“I’m clean,” Brandt muttered with a frown.
“I’m sure,” Kohl snorted angrily.
I stared at him, surprised by his tone. Kohl was never angry.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked carefully.
“Nothing.” His tightened fists and jerky movements told me otherwise.
“Look, Kohl,” Brandt started, but Kohl cut him off.
“Just leave, Brandt.”
“But-”
Kohl gave him a glare that could freeze the Sahara. Brandt opened his mouth to protest a second time, but changed his mind and left in defeat.
“What just happened there?” I insisted as the door closed.
Kohl chewed on his lip. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because if I do, I’ll follow him home and kick his sorry ass like he deserves.” He mumbled through gritted teeth.
I had to consciously stop myself from raising my eyebrows. I didn’t doubt that he could do it - he was strong, unlike his slim frame would suggest - but Kohl was not the kind of person to hurt anyone, regardless of the reason. “What did he do?”
“He…” His eyes met mine for a split second before he cast his gaze to the floor. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
This time I allowed my eyebrows to rise and crossed my arms. That was not going to fly. “Kohl,” I threatened.
He shook his head. “I said don’t -”
“Kohl.”
He winced, mumbling something.
I uncrossed my arms only to cross them again the other way. “What?”
“He told me he loved me,” he repeated, this time making it sound like a question.
I blanched. My arms dropped. “He what?”
“He said he loved me,” he said a third time, more confidently. “And not like brotherly, platonic love. Love love. In love!”
My lip twitched and my blood grew hot. Brandt. That slut - that bastard! - with Kohl? Kohl was mine! I was with him first! I deserve him! There was very little stopping me from following the urge to walk out the door and carry out Kohl’s plan to murder the asshole.
“God, Chase,” Kohl continued, his head dropping into his palms. “I thought we were friends, you know?”
My rage faded into shock as the words hit me as surely as a bag of bricks. Brandt loved Kohl. I loved Kohl. Brandt told Kohl, and now… A wave of nausea washed over me very suddenly. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, but it was not in reply.
Thank god I still had Kaylie to set me straight.
~x~x~x~x~
Kohl found me the next night lying on the living room floor amidst several empty bottles. I have no memory of that night except for my crushing despair and Kohl’s gentle voice as he held my head over the toilet.
~x~x~x~x~
I couldn’t open my eyes the next morning. The sun was insultingly bright even through my eyelids. I think it hurt my head, but I couldn’t exactly tell through the initial ripping pain. My muscles ached like a bitch and I was honestly afraid to move them. I was still for a long while until someone - likely Kohl - placed something on the end table by my head.
I groaned something that was meant to be somewhere in between How can I be so stupid? and I am never dinking again!
“Rise and shine,” said Kohl, an obvious grin in his voice.
I cracked an eyelid at him and was reminded by the sun that that probably wasn’t the brightest of ideas. “No thanks.”
He stubbornly grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a sitting position, handing me the glass of water he had put on the end table. “Here, drink this. You’re dehydrated.”
I mmnnhhed my thanks and took a long drink as Kohl asked, “What happened last night anyway?”
“I was drunk.”
“I know that, smartass,” he snorted. “Is there particular any reason why you were drunk?”
Other than the fact that apparently I’m irreconcilably gay and have no interest in the opposite gender at all? I thought, setting down my drink. And how I’m so in love with you I can’t stand it, but you’d murder me if you knew? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.
I placed my palm on my aching forehead and tried to think up a good lie. “Shit, Kohl,” I groaned. “I had enough alcohol in my system to nearly vomit away my internal organs and you expect me to remember what happened last night?”
I waited for the flicker in his eye that signals that he’s seen through my lie, but it didn’t come. His eyes only showed concern for his hung-over idiot of a friend.
He shifted a little. “Last night you said…” he began, but he let the words drop before he finished.
No way. “What did I say?” I asked, trying to keep the anxiety form my voice while preparing myself to launch the I was drunk, I didn’t mean it like that speech.
He shook his head and waved a hand. “Nothing, really. You mentioned Kaylie paired with various I’m-sorrys and don’t-hate-mes, but mostly you just babbled.” I sighed in relief. After a short silence, Kohl smirked. “Did you, like, drunk-dial her or something?”
I laughed. “If I did, that’s probably why I don’t remember.” Answering Kohl’s quizzical look, I explained, “My mind naturally blocks out unpleasant things.”
“You don’t block me out,” Kohl said, sitting next to me on the couch.
“If I thought you were unpleasant, I would have ditched you back in grade school,” I joked.
Without hesitation, Kohl swung over me so he straddled my thighs. “Do you want me to make myself unpleasant?” he asked, eyes flashing.
“You’ll have to try very hard.” That was the most honest thing I had said all morning.
My pulse quickened with anticipation as he pressed closer, letting his lips ghost over my jaw.
RRRRRIIIIINNNNGGGG
My head screamed in agony from the noise and in frustration from the sudden loss of contact as Kohl leaped up to get the phone. I let out a low groan that summarized both emotions.
“Hello?” Kohl chirped, but his smile died in a heartbeat. “Oh, Brandt. Hi.”
He pursed his lips and turned away from me, speaking to Brandt in a low voice. This is when an idea struck me.
But I should know better than to have ideas by now
~x~x~x~x~
{Part Four is here!}