ART FOR ART'S SAKE [BxB]

• rex and luna •

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: rex and luna

When the door swung open, Corey held his breath. He'd been expecting his best friend to answer, not the best friend of the boy he'd just kissed. "Hey, Ty." He murmured awkwardly. "Is Velvet there?"

Ty smiled at him warmly, "Hi Corey, she's just feeding Rex." He ushered him inside and shut the door as softly as possible. "Are you okay?"

Corey didn't look directly at him but kept his eyes trained on the floor. "Yeah." He lied plainly, walking straight past him and heading down the familiar hallway.

Velvet was sitting cross legged on the tiled kitchen floor, her dark hair pulled into a scruffy bun as her glasses hung off the end of her nose. She usually wore contact lenses but seeing as it was barely past nine AM on a Saturday morning, she clearly hadn't reached that part of her morning routine yet. She was still in her pyjamas as her squirming dog, Luna, fidgeted in her lap, being held back by her collar so she didn't leap on the other animal. The fluffy ginger cat, Rex, was peacefully eating in the corner, getting eyed up by the hungry dog awaiting her breakfast.

When Corey entered, the young beagle broke free from Velvet's grip and bounded over to greet him, her floppy ears bouncing happily. "Corey?" Velvet asked in surprise as he sunk down onto the floor to reach her level, letting Luna lick his face and wag her tail excitedly. "What are you doing here?"

Corey glanced up at Ty skeptically, then back at his friend, "I need to talk to you...umm — alone."

"Ty, can you give us a few minutes?" She asked politely.

He smiled understandingly, "Sure. I'll be in your room." He paused halfway out the door as the Harry Potter theme song began playing quietly from his trousers. Plucking the phone from his pocket, his ringtone still echoing throughout the room, Ty glanced down at the screen and his eyebrows creased into a frown.

"Who is it?" Velvet asked curiously.

"Dorian." He murmured distractedly. "That's weird, he never calls me." He held the phone to his ear, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. Corey could faintly hear the sound of Ty's voice disappear up the stairs until the only sound came from the ginger cat eating his food in the corner. Corey could only imagine how that conversation was going and it made him queasy and nauseous.

"Where are your parents?" He asked.

"It's their anniversary — they're on some romantic weekend getaway in London." Velvet explained. "Are you alright, hun?" She pressed worriedly. "Did something happen?"

Corey distracted himself by playing with Luna's velvety ears, running his fingers through her short fur, feeling her warm tongue lap at his hand affectionately. "Dorian kissed me."

Her baby blue eyes eyes lit up, a smile stretching across her lips. "Corey, that's—"

"Stop smiling. Why are you smiling?"

"Isn't this good?" Her face fell and her brows twitched into a frown. "Did you not want him to kiss you?"

"No, I guess I...I did... I don't know, I never really thought about it."

"Do you like him?"

"Yeah." He sighed.

Rex finished his food and trotted over to where Velvet was sitting, crawling into her lap with a chorus of meows, purring for attention. "I'm confused. You like him and you wanted him to kiss you, but now you're upset that he did?"

It sounded ridiculous when Velvet said it aloud, but something was still holding him back. "I know it's stupid." He agreed. "It just feels like he's fucking with me. Like he's making a point of how someone like him would never fall for someone like me."