Luckily for Kai, the rest of his trip through town had been uneventful. The oddity shop had had a “BOGO” sale on all their different sized bottles of fake blood (Kai was still perfecting his own recipe) and grabbed a few more hunks of clay from the craft store. His “just in case” purchase. There’d also been some nice paint brushes and sculpting wire on sale so he purchased those as well. If it weren’t for the few extra tips he’d gotten at work, Kai wouldn’t have splurged as much as he did but at least he wouldn’t have to make as many trips into town now. He carried his bags, and the smoothies his sister had ordered, inside.

Juggling the paper bags and two smoothies, Kai ascended the stairs. As he tried to play it cool about getting another chance to talk (aka embarrass himself) to Carter, he debated mentioning the run in with his mother. No, Carter probably had no interest in hearing about that peculiar interaction. Maybe another day, if his mother hadn’t already blown up his phone. Kai stopped outside his sister’s door and readjusted his grip on the styrofoam cups. He had another dilemma to face- how was he supposed to knock? He knew it annoyed Janine when he forgot to knock, which was usually an innocent mistake. His sister was just as guilty of barging in though. He could use his head to knock on the door… He rolled his eyes at himself. Janine and Carter were expecting him so what was the harm? The door was already cracked.

Using his shoulder to nudge the door the rest of the way open, Kai poked his head in and paused. Carter and Janine were practically in each other’s laps. Their faces are only inches apart. He felt his mouth open but nothing came out. Only a few, agonizingly long seconds passed before Janine noticed him and scowled. Carter only looked surprised. Maybe even a little guilty.

“Christ, Kai. Did you forget how to knock?”

Kai couldn’t hide his frown as he held up the smoothies. “Hands are kinda full here.” He glanced at Carter from the corner of his eyes. He didn’t have the right to be jealous but he added on “You’re welcome by the way, lovebirds.”

Kai had his suspicions that Carter and Janine would cross the boundaries of friendship and end up together. That didn’t stop the bitter swirl in his stomach from tightening around his organs. Think of Zach. His, maybe, sorta boyfriend. Though they never officially labeled their relationship, Kai had asked Zach a few times if they were exclusive. Of course, babe. I’m only interested in you. As sweet as those words had been, they sounded more like an empty promise.

Janine took the smoothies with a sardonic smile and an equally disingenuous thank you. He was ready to tuck his tail between his legs and shuffle off to his room when Carter thanked him. It was just a polite gesture but Kai still found himself turning around, wanting to see the smile he could hear in Carter’s voice. It was worth it. Even when Janine slammed the door in his face, it was worth it to see Carter’s smile.

Back in his room, Kai felt the tension ease off his shoulders. His room was the only place in the world where he felt like he could breathe. There were no prying eyes save for the clay figurines that sat on a shelf his father had built for him. He toed his shoes off before settling into his desk chair. It creaked quietly from the new weight. He set his bag of movie goodies on the floor and moved to rifle through them. Upping his art supplies always brought on bursts of fresh creativity. He hoped the new paint brushes would revive his motivation to finish his movie. There was a film festival in Philly- a decent sized event that let every form of filmmaker submit their projects. Kai had only a few more weeks until the deadline and he was set on making it. That would certainly make his application to UCLA stand out.

Most of his short film was already complete. Just a few, minor tweaks to his clay protagonist and three more scenes to film. He was cutting it close but he knew he could finish filming in at least a week and a half. That would allow him about a week and some change to edit and polish up the final product. Mr. Dillons, his favorite teacher and mentor, had agreed to help Kai wherever needed. He mainly just needed his approval before sending it off. Release it into the universe for people to see and judge. A nerve that was still too sensitive for Kai to touch. How would we ever succeed if the idea of anyone seeing his film, a project he had invested so much time in, made his stomach twist into tight knots?

Kai had just started opening the packaging for the brushes when his phone buzzed. He freed it from his pocket. A smile crept over his face as Zachary’s name popped up on the screen.

Zachary: Free for a skype call?

Kai made sure his door was shut before typing out a response. It’d be nice to have some company while he worked. Kai pulled his laptop out from the leather bag propped against his desk and booted it up. Well, it was more of a tablet than a laptop; a tablet that you could attach to a keyboard. It took only a few moments to load. It was pretty fancy- a Surface pro. A gift from his parents that they bought based on the marketing targeted at creatives. Kai clicked on the Skype icon, wanting to make the call first but Zachary already beat him to it. He happily accepted the call. His stomach swooped.

Zachary Webb was beautiful. He was laying in bed, elbow propped up to hold his head. Even in the low lighting of his bedroom, Zach seemed to glow. He hadn’t styled his short, brown hair so a few strands fell over his forehead. And of course, he was shirtless. Kai kept his eyes on the other’s face, however, since he was respectful. But a few quick glances at Zach’s chest wouldn’t hurt. Whatever muscle- tearing workouts Zach’s soccer coach had him doing were certainly paying off.

“Your hair is getting long.” Kai mused, leaning back in his chair.

Zach blew out a breath from behind closed lips. “Does it look crazy? I ran out of product so this is what I’m dealing with until I get my ass into town.”

“No, you look good.”

Zach’s smile was soft but he winked playfully. The bastard knew he looked good; he didn’t need Kai to tell him that. His high cheekbones, no matter how shitty the lighting, always looked sharp enough to cut through sheet metal.

“So do you… You always look good.” Zach hummed in a honey-sweet whisper.

Kai made a show of rolling his eyes but he couldn’t deny the heat coloring his cheeks or the way he bit back a idiotic grin. Zach’s knowing giggle told Kai he knew exactly the effect he had on Kai. Annoying.

“You should have told me you needed more of that hair gunk stuff- I just came back from town.”

“Oh, yeah?” Zach asked, brows raising in amusement as Kai’s teasing jab. “Give me a haul, sweetness.”

“Ugh, that’s worse than honey bunny.” Kai teased.

“You liked candylips, right?”

“You are terrible.”

Zach chuckled as he blew Kai a kiss. His fondness of pet names, while admittedly endearing, made Kai’s nose scrunch in distaste. He was growing used to them. Zach would eventually figure out that a part of Kai liked his silly nicknames for him.

“Terribly cute, huh? Or charming?”

Kai huffed as he threw a balled up piece of paper at his camera. “I didn’t really get anything that exciting. Just some new brushes and clay… And more blood.”

“Gross." He wrinkled his nose before continuing. "I bet your movie is gonna kick ass.” Zachary beamed as he adjusted the arm holding his head up. The muscles in his arm flexed slightly under smooth, tanned skin and Kai barely processed what he’d just said.

“I-, yeah, I hope so.” He sniffed, using the back of his hand to push his glasses up.

“Will I get to see it?

Kai inhaled deeply. Despite his dislike of horror movies, Zach always showed such enthusiasm for Kai’s films. He would, without complaint, sit through a third watch of Candyman with Kai, looking away whenever there was even a speck of blood on a character. Kai could never bring himself to tease Zach for that. Especially with how tightly he held Kai during the more intense scenes.

“Yes… You might hate it though.”

“Nah, everything you do is great. Even if it’s about a chick turning into a tree.” His tone was light and playful.

“There’s more to it than that. It’s about, ya know… Feeling cursed. Or like your family is cursed.”

Zach studied him long enough that Kai had to avert his eyes. He busied himself with spreading his brushes over his desk. After a while, Zach hummed softly. Kai had been worried he’d start asking some uncomfortable questions.

“What are you up to tonight? My parents aren’t home… Probably won’t be until tomorrow night.”

Kai pretended to think hard about his question, tapping his chin. He could hear Zach groaning in annoyance. He made a quiet ‘mmmm’ to further drag out his answer. No, he had no plans for the night but he had to tease Zach a little bit. He couldn’t be that easy.

“I’ll have to check my schedule but I think I should be free.” He answered with a smirk.

Zach sat up, the camera jostling briefly as he pulled his laptop into his lap. “I know you’re so busy so I appreciate you considering penciling me in.”

Kai’s answer would have been as equally as clever but a timid knock on his door made the words die in his throat. The last thing he wanted was Janine to catch him Skyping the school’s golden boy. That would lead to far too many questions.

“Shit, I’ll have to call you back.” He whispered, gesturing to his door with a cock of his head.

Zach must have understood because he hung up without so much as a goodbye. Kai, trying and failing to not be so taken aback, sat up. A much more confident knock on the door made him grit his teeth in annoyance.

“Christ,” He muttered to himself and shoved his chair back from his desk.

He yanked his door open with a scowl, preparing to scold his sister but his mouth failed him when Carter’s startled blue eyes and piercings came into view. He looked close to holding his hands up in surrender. Kai watched him take a step back and felt himself sheepishly shift on his feet. Oops.

Next Chapter: Nail Polish; Carter