LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 35

Ralph's heart was beating so fast, so aggressively, he felt it might burst right out of his chest. He was laying on his couch, while the TV quietly played an old episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks as a form of ignored background noise.

Jack was holding himself up on the weight of one of his arms, hovering over Ralph's panting, warm body. His other arm laid horizontally across Ralph's chest as his fingers caressed the sweaty, hot skin on Ralph's face. Jack smiled down at him, continuously leaving kisses on the brunette's cheeks, nose, and forehead in an urgent fashion. Ralph was so intrigued, he was practically giggling with joy.

"You like that?" Jack whispered feverishly as he dragged his fingers down the side of Ralph's face, finding his ear and stroking the lobe until Ralph leaned into the touch.

"Mhm hm" Ralph agreed in a mumble, too entranced by Jack's all consuming presence to articulate a response in word form.

Jack smiled down at him again, letting his fingers wander down Ralph's neck before fidgeting with the neckline of his t-shirt.

"More" Ralph demanded with a childish eagerness. He sounded like a little kid who wanted the last bite of a chocolate chip cookie. Jack was smitten with the younger boy's burning desire to have him, every last part of him if Jack would let him.

Jack leaned down and kissed Ralph's cheek and then his nose ever so gently before pulling back up and away. The ecstatic younger boy giggled again in response. His laughter sent Jack into an erotic state, it was the most alluring sound he'd ever heard. Though he resisted the urge to keep kissing Ralph, knowing it would evoke that reaction out of him, in order to avoid evoking an incontrollable reaction out of himself.

"Kiss me" Ralph whispered as he unwrapped his arms from around Jack's back, letting his fingers dance up and across the blond boy's arms.

"Is that what you want?" Jack asked smugly as he lowered himself down so his weight was fully on top of Ralph now. Ralph nodded rapidly, desperately. Jack brought his lips close to Ralph's neck, but hovered there without making contact. Instead of complying with the brunette's request, he pulled himself up on the weight of his arm again and used his free arm to push the damp, matted hair up off Ralph's sweaty forehead. Ralph opened his eyes and stared up into Jack's deep blue ones. There was a hunger in his gaze; a burning desire to consume every inch of the blond, to be so close to him that they'd become one.

When the front door opened and in spilled the laughter and conversation of Laurie and Jeffery Langley, Jack practically jumped out of his skin in an attempt to separate himself from Ralph. He nearly fell off the couch in his leap to get off the other, and Ralph sat up with an equal amount of urgency, grasping onto Jack's arm to keep him from falling. Jack then shuffled back so he was sitting properly on the couch beside Ralph; both their faces beat red with the awkward sting of embarrassment.

Ralph's parents stood tensely in the doorway, groceries in hand, their conversation coming to an abrupt halt as they watched the boys detangle themselves from one another; a horrific, unsuccessful attempt to straighten out in time.

"How did the shopping go?" Ralph forcefully asked before tensely clearing his strained throat.

"Store was pretty busy" his father answered, an equal amount of tension in his voice. "But we got everything we needed."

"Oh, good" Ralph smiled weakly before dropping his gaze in a painful, uncomfortable manner.

Jack looked over at Ralph who had turned his burning gaze back on the TV.

"What are you guys watching?" his mother asked, hoping that they'd at least have the answer.

"Alvin and the Chipmunks" Ralph replied, as a Nerf Gun commercial played on screen. "It's just on commercial break" he added unnecessarily.