Calling Affection (Boyxboy)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Oliver's POV

I was not here of my own volition. And I was not having a good time.

Loud, trashy music boomed throughout the house, making the floor thrum with vibrations from the bass. The nasty, piss-like scent of shitty beer was everywhere—no surprise, with all the beer cups and cans trashed around on the floor. 

The sickeningly sweet smell of weed clung to my skin, despite me staunchly avoiding the stuff. I wondered how many times I'd have to shower to get it off. It was giving me a headache. 

And as if that wasn't enough, the moist, dirty air was only made worse by the sweaty teenage bodies dancing without a care. And it wasn't the macarena their hormone-driven bodies were getting up to—no, in fact, it was the delightful, graceful dance of 'publicly grinding crotches'. 

I loathed parties of the formal sort, where everyone dressed up in stiff, uncomfortable outfits and spoke in subtext and insinuations. But at least I could speak the language, there. 

Here, nobody was speaking. There was no room to. This wasn't a party for polite folk—no, I had unfortunately been dragged to the filthiest, crudest place a person could imagine.

A teenage house party.

A few hours earlier:

"And so your regular teacher says... let me see, where did I throw that note... ah, here it is. Quote: 'Tell that rotten pubescent bunch to complete this assignment by Friday with a partner, but no copying or I'll bring back corporal punishment', unquote." 

The substitute physics teacher rubbed his forehead, shrugging. "I'll give you five minutes to choose a partner," he said before sitting back at down to rest his head on the the teacher's desk. 

There was a moment of silence—and pity—as our class collectively watched him struggle with whatever midlife crisis he was clearly in.

The peace was broken just a moment later, kids springing up like weeds. The battle for partners had begun. I could already hear Kristy argue with Jane over which of them would get to be with Thalio. Unbeknownst to them, Thalio was thrown a message from across the class, presumably from Vivian asking to be partners, but it missed and hit Rosalia, who threw it back but missed, hitting Marco. 

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and ducked under an eraser carelessly flung across the classroom. Without proper teacher supervision, high school really felt like a jungle.

"Oliver, do you want to be partners?" Mila asked. I watched her get hit by a highlighter someone threw, and she picked it up and chucked it against Luca's head. It bounced off him and knocked someone's water bottle to the floor. 

I bit back my snicker as Luca turned around to glare at us, rubbing the back of his head. Seeing me, his gaze softened, and he sent a wave. 

I panicked a tiny bit when I saw him getting up. Between Mila and Luca, I would much prefer someone who knew how to count. 

"Sure, I'd love to," I agreed, claiming Mila before any foreign interference. 

"Hey guys," Luca greeted.