Chapter Twenty

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Jenna's house was in the same neighborhood as Chaz Wheeler's. Both were three-story houses in spacious properties with pools. The area outside Jenna's was smaller though, and she usually held her parties inside. 

Like Chaz's parents, Jenna's mom went out of town a lot. But unlike Chaz, Jenna normally had a cleaning company over after each party, so she didn't care if a hundred teenagers wrecked the place during the night.

It was Joey who received Carter and Seth at the door, with bright eyes and one red solo cup in each hand. He already had a clear head start on them on the drinking. Probably because it appeared he had kept true to his word and skipped the post-game shower. Carter imagined the rest of the team had too, judging by how quickly they all got to the party.

Joey shoved the solo cups in their hands, urging them to drink. Carter grimaced as he concluded whatever was inside wasn't just beer. He set the empty cup on a sideboard inside, while Joey dragged them along to the living room, where Jenna and Mel sat on the couch with a few other cheerleaders.

Jenna greeted them with an enthusiastic grin. She had definitely also gotten a few drinks in before their arrival. "Have you tried the jello shots? Try the jello shots! Sienna, pass the shots. You have to try these!"

Carter wasn't the biggest fan of jello shots but he took it, and the next one Jenna shoved into his hand as well. Before Jenna and the other girls could throw themselves at him the same way they did at Seth, Carter sat down at Mel's side. 

Like her friends, she was still in her green and white cheer uniform. Unlike her friends, though, she looked completely sober.

"I'm surprised to see you here," he said. "You're usually a master at the art of getting away from these things."

Mel laughed. "Jenna made me. She summoned some kind of Girl Code law and preached about supporting your best friend's parties."

"Parrish," Scott Myers cried, plumping down to Carter's side, a bottle of Grey Goose in one hand and a cup in the other. Mel raised her eyebrows as he poured a generous amount of vodka on the cup in front of them.

"Drink," Scott barked, thrusting the cup under Carter's nose. He grimaced as the smell of alcohol wafted over him. That was, at least, half a cup. Of straight vodka.

"That's a lot," he complained.

Scott chortled. "You look way too sober. Chug that."

Carter took the cup in his hand and Scott hooted. "You're next, Jones," he warned.

Mel lifted her hands in defense. "Can't. Driving," she said.

Carter knew that probably wasn't true. If she had come to Jenna's party, she would probably stay the night, even if she had brought the car. But he didn't say that, downing the drink Scott had foisted on him instead. It burned his tongue, throat and stomach, and his face contorted unpleasantly.

Scott cheered. "One more!"

Carter shook his head, unable to say no through a burning throat. But when Scott poured another inch of vodka for him, he drank that too. He would probably have drunk more if Seth hadn't come to his rescue, with a determined cheerleader glued to his arm. He took the bottle from Scott to chug a good portion straight from the neck of it, peeling Scott's drunken attention away from Carter. That gave him maybe two minutes to start feeling the heat spreading outward from his core, before Jenna came to sit on Mel's lap, at his side, holding the jello shot tray.

Carter had two more jello shots and one disgusting cup of a mixture prepared by Joey, before he started feeling too hot. But he didn't know if that was the alcohol or the girl that had clung to him in the meantime. Maybe both. Probably.

Carter's eyebrows drew in as he recognized a face across the room. He turned to Jenna. "You invited freshmen?"

Jenna shrugged, a little hazy-eyed. Which should be why Melanie was so attentively sticking to her side, sitting as barrier between her friend and Bobby Gonzalez.

"I guess some of the JV kids and their friends are here," Jenna answered.

Carter got up, ignoring the confused pout from his company. As soon as he stood on both feet, he felt his brain swoosh. That probably wasn't good. Still, he walked up to the girl he had spotted.

"Lydia!" He called with a grin.

The expression on her face went from peacefully neutral to wide-eyed surprise as she turned to face him. "Hi," she replied, sounding taken-aback.

Standing next to Lydia Mason, Carter recognized Chaz's little brother, Brad. He didn't acknowledge the kid, though.

"You're here," he declared happily. Lydia raised both her eyebrows when Carter had to support himself on the wall to his side for a second. "Are you alone? I mean-Did you come alone?

"Uhm, no," she answered slowly. "Johnny brought me."

Carter's grin broadened. "Johnny's here? Where?"

A little smile tugged at Lydia's lips, as she whirled around whatever was in the cup she held. "I'm not sure. Probably outside," she told him.

"Okay, thanks," Carter said, pulling away from the wall. "Uhm, be safe. Have fun!"

Lydia laughed as she watched him walk away backwards until he knocked into a girl. He turned around apologetically to see the assaulted stranger's face fade from deeply annoyed to promptly forgiving the moment she took one look at him.

Finally, Carter managed to reach the front door. As he stepped outside, the air hit him like a cloud of wet steam whenever the team finished their shower. It may be October, but it was also Florida. He walked up a few steps before leaning against one of the stone columns that supported the vast balcony on the first floor. He touched his forehead to the stone, hoping to feel the cool on his skin.

"Are you alright?"

Carter turned with a twirl. His back collided with the column so he could stare at Johnny, standing by the door with his hand in the pockets of his denim jacket.

"I found you."

Johnny bit down on an amused smile. "Pretty sure it was the other way around, champ."

"You said you weren't coming."

Johnny tilted his head slightly. "I said I probably wasn't."

"But you came." Carter grinned openly.

Johnny's lips twisted upward with a lopsided smile. "I did," he said slowly.

Carter could see the other boy's eyes rake down his figure from head to feet and then all the way back up. He did see that, didn't he?

He'd left his jacket in Seth's car, standing only in a thin t-shirt, but he didn't feel like he needed it at all. Inside, it was hot and stuffy; outside, it was warm and humid. He touched the back of one hand to his face to feel if it was too heated. It felt like it, just not to the touch. But his hand was probably too warm as well.

Carter pushed away from the column, ignoring the light-headedness he felt. "I have something to show you," he told Johnny, stepping closer to him. Maybe too close?

"What is it?"

"Just come with me," Carter insisted, wrapping his hand around Johnny's wrist to pull him back inside behind him.

He knocked into a couple of people on the way, before he took Johnny up three flights of stairs. Johnny looked at him with raised eyebrows as Carter guided him into Jenna's attic. 

Carter stepped in front of him, smiling proudly.

Johnny bit his lip. "Yes?"

"Look," Carter said, urging him farther inside to gesture at the device set up on the short window.

"It's a telescope," Johnny stated, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah," Carter said. "It doesn't work, though. Or, I guess it does, but it's Jenna's brother's and he doesn't know how to set it up. So it's just been here since last Christmas."

Johnny shook his head, like he still didn't understand. "She has a brother?" He asked, only sounding half-interested.

"Yup. He's like thirteen now or something. Lives in Jacksonville with their dad."

Johnny nodded, like that piece of information couldn't concern him any less. He looked between Carter and the telescope. "Am I supposed to touch that?" He asked, evenly.

"If you want." Carter shrugged. "Jenna doesn't care and I don't think her brother does either."

Slowly, almost unsurely, Johnny moved closer and knelt next to the instrument. He looked at it for a couple of seconds before touching a piece in the bottom. Carter watched with an overt smile as Johnny fiddled with the focusing knob. Eventually, he peeled his eye from the eyepiece to glance at Carter, who didn't try to hide the way he had been openly staring.

"I'd need more time to find something. Not sure what we're supposed to be able to see in the sky tonight, to be honest. But I think that's Pleiades," he said as Carter knelt to his side. "You can actually see them with the naked eye. They're supposed to be pretty obvious, but this is the city so..." Johnny pointed at a patch of dark night sky, sprinkled with a few dots of flimsy light. They looked all the same to Carter and his eyes quickly bounced back to Johnny's face.

"It's a star cluster." Johnny shrugged.

"Cool," Carter said.

Johnny snorted and Carter grinned. Without warning, he stood up and rummaged through a few of the things piled up to the sides of the otherwise empty attic. Normally, he wouldn't look through other people's stuff so shamelessly, but he knew for a fact Jenna and her mom didn't mind. Whatever wound up in the attic, wasn't overly valued downstairs.

"They have a whole lot of stuff like this up here," Carter told Johnny, still looking for something in particular. "Expensive stuff Jenna's mom bought Diego and their dad sent Jenna. The whole rich divorced parents thing."

Johnny hummed ambiguously, standing up. He was staring at Carter with a kind of curious, fascinated look.

"Found it," Carter declared happily with a grin, as he whipped something from beneath a box of other stuff.

Johnny raised his eyebrows. "A drone."

Carter nodded readily. "That's actually what I wanted to show you," he said, walking up to Johnny with the drone in his hands. "This one's broken, though."

Tentatively, Johnny took it from his hands to inspect it. It looked in pretty good shape. Practically unused. He could feel Carter's eyes on him too. Shamelessly staring. He met his gaze slowly.

"Why do you say it's broken?"

"It flies all weird," Carter said. "Look."

Johnny watched Carter go back to get a remote from the same place he had dug up the drone from. Once Johnny turned it on, Carter proceeded to pilot it around the attic to show the way it seemed to flail around, like a drunk bee. Johnny extended his arm out so Carter could land it on his palm.

Carter watched as Johnny turned it around in his hand, observing with more attentive eyes. With a little smile, he showed him the four little feet on the underside, protected with little glued-on rubbers. All, but one. It had probably peeled off in a fall or something.

"These things are carefully calibrated. Without the rubber, it's probably unbalanced," Johnny explained. "That's why it 'flies all weird'."

Carter grinned. "You're so smart," he blurted.

Johnny snorted. "Somebody's been drinking."

Carter shook his head. "Somebody's been drinking a lot," he corrected. "I might be hangover tomorrow. I wasn't really planning on that."

"It's always bad when things don't go according to plan," Johnny mused sarcastically, his brown eyes glinting with mirth. It drew Carter's gaze in. Like a moth to a flame - or bees toward sweet honey.

"Not always," Carter heard himself say.

Johnny smiled. Carter's eyes slipped from his honey-colored eyes for a second to spot something on his cheek. He reached his hand up.

"Don't move. You have an eyelash on your-"

Johnny's breath hitched as Carter's finger touched the top of his cheek, gently.

"There," Carter declared with a smile, showing Johnny the thick dark lash stuck to the tip of his finger.

Johnny's eyes danced between Carter's finger and his smile, lips parting. He looked speechless.

Carter's gaze was stuck on the light pink tint that had spread across Johnny's cheeks. Slowly, he leaned in. Tentatively.

Johnny didn't move. His eyes glanced down to Carter's lips, still curved into a smile, before they came back up to meet Carter's gaze. 

A thought popped up into Carter's head. Sudden, and extremely appealing.

Resting his hand on Johnny's cheek again, fingers barely brushing his face, he leaned farther in until their lips touched. Johnny immediately responded, like a reflex. He moved his lips against Carter's, leaning into his touch before he pulled away. Not enough to put distance between them, only to stop the kiss.

"You're drunk," he whispered.

Carter smiled. "I still know what I'm doing."

Brushing his thumb across Johnny's cheek, Carter pressed their lips together again. And, once more, Johnny returned it instantly. Carter's chest swelled with elation, encouraged by the reaction. He moved his other hand to rest on Johnny's hip, relishing in the breathless gasp he got from it.

Motivated by the positive response he was getting, Carter guided Johnny until his back hit the wall, gently. With a thud that only seemed to sound in the back of Carter's mind, Johnny dropped the drone, opening his mouth to let Carter's tongue in.

There were questions undoubtedly worth asking, but none of them was in Carter's head at the moment. He felt heat engulf his stomach, trailing up to his chest and all the way to the tip of his fingers, like a tingling string of ants.

Johnny felt like he shouldn't make any sudden moves. No forceful actions. No movements aside from those strictly necessary. He couldn't believe Carter had-was-kissing him of his own accord. He didn't want to scare him off. But he couldn't resist the urge to put his hands on the quarterback's shoulders. Broad, muscular shoulders he has admired from beneath the cut of his varsity jacket or tight-fitting t-shirts, through quick stolen glances. They were strong, firm and warm beneath his hands, and Johnny moaned into the kiss before he could stop himself.

The hand Carter had pressed softly against his cheek trailed to the back of his neck and up into Johnny's hair. Johnny gasped helplessly as Carter's teeth gently tugged at his bottom lip. His breath hitched when Carter pressed his body closer, pushing him more firmly against the wall. 

Johnny's brain turned to mush.

He was in Jenna Torres's attic. At a party. Trapped between a wall and Carter Parrish's very warm, solid body. And they were full-on making out. It was no longer a sweet, candid kiss. It was hot and messy and incredible. And Johnny knew Carter thought so too. Because as he pressed closer, his groin pushed against Johnny's hip, and Johnny's heart stopped when he felt the other boy's excitement against him.

Feeling like he might be pushing his luck, but not caring at all, Johnny adjusted a little to slide his thigh between Carter's legs. He moved just a bit, going for the slightest friction. Carter gasped audibly and Johnny smiled triumphantly into the kiss.

They both heard steps outside, moving up the stairs, and it was Carter who pulled them apart, leaving Johnny leaning against the wall, panting.

Carter ran a shaky hand through his hair exhaling deeply, just before the attic door swung open. Johnny held back an eye roll, when he saw Jenna Torres standing with her hand on the doorknob. Her cheerleader ponytail had come undone, near-black hair a little unruly and eyes slightly unfocused.

"Joey said he saw you come up here," she said looking at Carter. "What are you doing?"

"I was showing Johnny your brother's drone," Carter said.

Slowly, Johnny lowered himself to pick it up from the floor. It hadn't broken on impact.

Jenna's eyes found him and swung back to Carter, without the smallest hint of recognition. Of course.

"It's broken," Jenna said.

"It's not," Carter contested. "Johnny knows what's wrong with it."

Johnny pursed his lips. "Maybe," he countered.

"You want it?" Jenna asked, looking at him. Johnny's eyebrows shot up. His brain wasn't yet back to full working capacity. He wasn't sure he knew what she meant.

"The drone. Do you want to keep it? Diego doesn't even like that sort of thing and this junk just keeps piling up."

Johnny looked down at the object in his hands before he faced Jenna again. She really didn't show any sign of knowing who he was. Or remembering ever speaking to or about him.

"Are you sure?" Johnny asked carefully.

"Yeah, he doesn't even come here that much anymore. Spends all summer with his friends," she mumbled.

"Thanks. I guess."

"Yeah, you're welcome," she said, like it really made no difference in her life. Her eyes were quickly back on Carter. "Now stop being weird and come downstairs. People want to see your face."

Carter shot Johnny a sheepish smile, before following Jenna down the stairs. Johnny went after them, hovering at the bottom of the stairs when they reached it. Carter stopped to face him.

"I'm going," Johnny muttered.

"Already?" Carter asked. He sounded... disappointed?

Johnny bit back a smile, feeling his lips warm and swollen. That served to remind him of what had just happened between them and he couldn't stop the smile then. Didn't even try.

"I have to find Lydia and take her home," he said. "Promised my dad we wouldn't stay late."

Carter nodded once. "Then... bye."

"Bye."

Carter grinned, slowly. Handsomely. He stepped a little closer to Johnny and spoke into his ear,"You should definitely come to more parties."

***

I switched a little between Carter's and Johnny's POV along this chapter, because there were thoughts from both sides that I wanted to include. Did it work, or was it confusing?

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