Stay Close, Don't Go

Going to Oliver’s parties was an expected habit that was going to consume us all; Janie and myself that is. Mercy had been sick lately, to my delight, and hadn’t been attending school. That also meant that her presence at the party would be nonexistent.

The evening of the party, I was over at Janie’s and sitting on her bathroom counter while she “worked her magic” with make up. On any other day I probably wouldn’t have let her, but a hidden part of me wouldn’t mind looking great because Tom would be there.

Speaking of Tom, he has basically consumed my thoughts lately. He gives me about ten different feelings in one look. I’m completely convinced that he’s going to give me a heart attack if our simple kisses ever evolve into something else. Of course, that would be me dying happy so I wouldn’t complain.

“Woah Madison, yeh look fuckin’ amazin’ with just the little make up I put on yeh.” Janie complimented setting down her brushes and random eye shadow colors.

I hopped off the counter and turned around, my eyes meeting my reflection. She wasn’t lying. Some how I managed to go from a plain pretty to gorgeous with just a bit of blush, lip gloss, and eye shadow. Maybe she did have some sort of magic.

“Thank you.” I told her with a smile, now pleased with my finished appearance. I was wearing a pair of dark jeans along with a black tanks top and green-ish cardigan.

Less than thirty minutes later we were approaching they Sykes’ house; the party already in full swing. Janie entered first, myself close behind so I wouldn’t loser her. We reached the kitchen where everyone was, Tom not included, and she latched herself on to Matt.

Feeling slightly out of place, seeing as everyone seemed to be in a pair, I stepped back a tad to separate myself from everyone. As I did, an arm wound its way around my side and suddenly Tom was next to me.

“Where do yeh think you’re goin’?” He mused quietly into my ear, his breath on my skin giving me goose bumps.

I shrugged lightly, trying to ignore the fact that my whole body was currently tingling because of his touch. It was obvious Tom was nervous too. He was trying to seem confident, letting his arm linger around my waist as we all talked in a group, but I could see the look in his eye signaling he was still unsure about the two of us together; as if our kiss didn’t confirm anything.

“Come dance with me.” I whispered in Tom’s ear as I moved out of his grasp.

My hands took a hold of his arm and I pulled him with me out into the living room. The couches were pushed to the sides of the room leaving a dance floor type center. Tom was quick to react one I settled in the middle of the floor, countless people around us.

The song, on cue, switched to a slow beat that I didn’t mind. I looped my arms around Tom’s neck, taking a step into him, while his hands rested on my hips and applied a light pressure. Again, I looked another step into him causing our hips to now brush together with every movement we made.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked softly, my lips brushing against his neck as I spoke. I watched in amusement as his skin began to prickle with goose bumps.

Tom leaned his face down near my ear and he spoke as softly as I had, his lips also brushing my skin. “Just ‘ow beautiful yeh look.”

My skin started to burn, his words making me blush ten shades of red at once. He saw this and smiled, his face still very close to me.

Swallowing, I cleared my throat before I spoke again. I needed to make sure my words wouldn’t come out as a stutter. “Hah, thanks. Glad you think so.”

“O’course I do.” He said again, finally finding his confidence. I liked this, the confidence I mean. Having him sure of himself made us way more comfortable around each other.

There was no need for me to reply, so I didn’t. Not replying didn’t stop Tom from keeping his face close as we swayed together. Two more songs and a thick, but good, tension between us still hadn’t led to another kiss. I was craving one, two days was to long time to go without, especially if it was Tom we were talking about.

I was planning on being bold and being the first to cause a kiss to happen, but I was so rudely interrupted by Oliver. He seemed to have no sense of good timing.

“Aye Tommy.” Oliver half sang, a bottle of beer in one of his hands, “Mind if I steal your girl for a quick dance? I want a word.”

Tom glanced at me before nodding to Oli, letting him take my hand and whisk me away. When I stole a look back at Tom, he was already in a full conversation with Lee and he didn’t seem upset so I let Oliver move me to the beat.

“I’m goin’ to give yeh some pointers, ‘kay lovely?” Oliver told me, a smirk on his lips. He was fully amused with Tom and my connection; I would say relationship but it isn’t one.

Oliver continued to talk as the song changed, “If yeh want to get anywhere with him, yeh ‘ave to be the first to hint to it, a way to his heart is feedin’ him grape juice or fruit related things, and to get a point across yeh ‘ave to be very blunt.”

I nodded, not sure what to say in response. Oliver continued to ramble though, mentioning facts about his brother or just random things in general.

While he spoke, I was too focused on trying to see where Tom went to pay attention. He disappeared out of my sight when Oliver dramatically spun me around earlier. There was no doubt I was a little uncomfortable being this close to Oliver. Tom, I don’t think, was ready for me to be Oli’s friend yet; he was too worried of repeat and I didn’t want to test it.

Just as Oliver tried to get me to dance for another song, I caught sight of Tom’s back leaving through the front door of the house. I stepped back from Oliver, told him I was going to find his brother, and then made a mad dash for the door.

The air was calm outside and no one seemed to be in the front of the house; except for Tom that is. He sat by the street on the curb with his elbows on his knees and his hands supporting his chin. He was staring off into no where.

“Tom?” I asked quietly, walking up behind him.

He looked at me, raising both eye brows in the progress. His eyes only lingered on me a minute before he stared straight ahead again. I stepped over to the curb and sat down next to him, not sitting too close.

“I’m sorry, if I made you mad.” I said, using Oliver’s advice of having to be blunt. We both knew he was mad because I had been dancing with Oliver. “What’s wrong?”

There was something about curbs that had an effect on Tom and I. It was like they were a key in the equation between the two of us. If we were on a curb, we could talk properly.

“It’s just Oliver.” Tom said. This was the first time I had heard him say Oli’s full name. “He comes on so thick sometime, an’ I swear, he’s so oblivious to certain things.”

I understood exactly what he meant, and after mimicking the way he was sitting, I replied, “Oblivious like how he doesn’t notice him dancing with me makes you angry.”

“Sort of.” Tom muttered with a nod, “It’s not that it makes me angry really, just annoyed. An’ I’m sorry if I’m comin’ off as jealous, but hell, I’d probably even ditch me for Oli.”

“I wouldn’t ditch you for Oli.” I said, too quickly for my own brain to register exactly what I had said. After saying this, I glanced over at him. In the light from the street posts, I could just see enough of him to make out the red creeping up on his neck.

“Well, it’s not always that way.” He mumbled oddly.

He didn’t know that I knew what he was talking about, but I did and I needed to understand more than he was letting on. Hopefully this curb could do more than make us talk properly, but maybe it won’t let my words come out sounding the wrong way.

“Bad relationship experience involving Oliver?” I asked quietly. Tom shifted uncomfortably next to me, so I added a bit more, “You don’t have to tell me.”

“Nah, I don’t mind.” He replied, now looking up into the starry sky. “We dated for three months. I never liked a girl like that before really. An’ then one night at a party, I heard her say somethin’ to her friends about Oliver but didn’t think twice about it. Nearly an hour later she was feeding Oli shots like candy and she was feelin’ all over him. I don’t blame him, he was smashed, but it made me see that he’ll always be the star sibling.”

From his words, I could tell that experience and that girl cut him deep. I was curious who she might be, just so I could shove it down her throat that she potentially left the greatest person for someone else.

It took me a long moment to try and figure out what to say back. I didn’t want to say that I was sorry or anything, he wasn’t looking for that.

“Tom, don’t think less of yourself because Oliver appears to be the star sibling. I don’t think that’s true. No matter how cliché this sounds, you are both amazing in your own ways. He just happens to sing and is good at the catching girls game.” I started to say, not knowing if I was making things worse or not, “Personally, I’d rather have the cute, shy, and fun brother with the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen.”

Tom didn’t look at me when I glanced at him to see his reaction. He didn’t have to look at me though, the blush and smile forcing it’s way onto his face was enough to confirm that I had said something okay.

“I thought normally the guy was supposed to compliment the girl.” Tom said shyly, trying not to show the fact that I had made him blush madly.

“It can go either way,” I told him, looking up into the sky, “I personally like speaking my mind, and I love watching you blush.”

If possible, Tom’s face burned an even brighter color and he looked down towards the street as if that would hide his face.

“Well if speaking your mind is a good thing,” He started to say, finally looking in my direction, “Then I think I should just kiss you already.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” I breathed, my stomach doing flip-flops.

Tom leaned in my direction, pushing his soft lips on to mine briefly. He pulled away for a moment before pecking my lips a few more times. My arms raised up and I cupped his face, practically forcing him to make the kiss more than five seconds long.

The way we wear seated on the curb was a bit uncomfortable, but kissing seemed to make all of that disappearing. We weren’t even making out yet I felt like every inch of me was freaking out about this kiss.

I was sick of these little kisses, though they were nice, and soon I was tilting my head to the left. Tom tilted his head the opposite way, catching on to what I was doing, and his hand cupped my face before we simultaneously opened our mouths and practically started fireworks with our tongues.