The Boy With the Pink Bass

Practice went relatively normally that day, though Alex found it slightly more difficult to concentrate on the music, as there was an extremely cute boy but three feet from him. Occasionally, Alex would look out of the corner of his eye at Zack. The way he played his guitar was too adorable. First of all, he played without a pick which for some reason Alex really liked, and second, the way he delicately stroked each string as if he was trying to be extra gentle with his guitar drove Alex crazy. He was so cute it took nearly everything in Alex to not tackle him to the floor and have his way with the boy right in front of Jack and Rian.

It was nearing six, the time when the boys usually ended practice, and the band had just finished up their last song of practice. Jack, like the outspoken, obnoxious boy he is, decided to be all mock-professional.

“That’s a wrap!” The boy nearly yelled, smiling whilst drawing judging looks and snickers from his band mates.

The three boys with guitars unplugged the instruments from their amps and removed the straps simultaneously from their backs, while Rian stood up from his drum set and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. The four were rather silent, as three hours of band practice usually left them all pretty spent. After the guitars were placed out of the way, each boy took the microphone stand in front of them and placed it off to one wall, leaving only Rian’s drum set still together. This was how it usually was; the boys didn’t want to take time to assemble Rian’s drums every single day.

“Alright Ri, we gotta get going now,” Alex pointed out the obvious, and Jack nodded in approval. Zack was standing over in a corner, arms crossed timidly and shoulders hunched, still remaining completely silent. Jack and Alex picked their guitars up by the neck and ambled over to the stairs leading out of the now hot and smelly basement, promptly making their way up the steps. The two walked down Rian’s front hallway and out the door, shouting a quick “bye Mrs. Dawson!” at his mother. When the two were outside, Alex stopped his best friend.

“Jack, do you think we should wait for the new kid? I feel pretty bad ‘cause he was pretty quiet today. I just wanna make sure he’s like, comfortable around us and stuff.”

“Sweet on the new kid, are we?” Jack mocked, receiving a sarcastic laugh along with a stuck-out tongue and middle finger from the older boy, “Nah, I actually gotta go home. My mom’s making stir fry tonight,” While this disappointed him a bit, Alex understood. Jack really loved stir fry. With that, Jack turned away from his friend and walked down the road to go home. Alex decided he would wait for Zack and talk to him, no matter how awkward it would be. At least he could befriend the cute boy before anyone else in the band.

A few seconds passed before Zack walked out of the house, pink guitar slung over his shoulder and head hung. Alex hesitated to speak; the boy’s presence gave him intense butterflies.

“H-hey, Zack,” Alex piped up, his voice shaking just the slightest bit. The boy stopped and looked up at Alex, smiling a little. Those eyes; Alex was the biggest sucker for guys with pretty eyes. And Zack’s eyes were gorgeous. The beautiful shade of hazel they were and the depth Alex saw in them were almost too much to bear. Furthermore, it seemed Zack always wore that adorable half-smile whenever Alex spoke to him, though the two had spoken only twice before. The butterflies in the pit of Alex’s stomach intensified.

“Oh…hey,” Zack replied softly.

“So, what’d you think?” Alex tried to make casual conversation, “Wanna join the band?”

“I dunno,” Zack’s smile ceased, “I don’t really feel like I fit in with you guys. You’re all fun and loud and I’m just a quiet awkward kid.”

“Oh, c’mon!” Alex patted Zack on the shoulder to show sympathy, “You’d be great! I can already tell we all like you, not to mention you’re one fuckin’ talented bassist.”

The shy boy giggled and blushed, looking into Alex’ eyes again. The singer’s knees felt weak, and he giggled along with Zack. He didn’t think just a glance could have that kind of power over him, but his feelings for Zack were growing stronger by the second.

“So do you walk home or…?” Alex asked Zack, hoping he walked so that they could talk as long as they wanted.

“Nah, my dad should be here any minute. You?”

Dammit. Alex thought to himself. But, he did have whatever remaining time there was to talk to his crush.

“I walk,” Alex replied. He tried to carry on the conversation. “How long have you been playing bass? You’re pretty good.”

“Thanks!” Zack smiled again, this time a little wider, thus making Alex feel weak, “I’ve actually only been playing for three years, how I’ve managed to get this good” - Zack put air quotes around ‘good’ - “is a total mystery, but yanno, there it is.”

The boy was so cute. Alex could barely stand being next to him without resisting the urge to grab his face and kiss him like he had never kissed someone before. Just the thought of doing that made Alex’s heart beat out of control.

Just then, making Alex’s heart sink, a black car pulled up to Rian’s house.

“S’that your dad?” Alex asked. He noticed how disappointed his voice sounded, but he hoped the other boy didn’t.

“Yeah,” Zack replied, hiking the strap of his guitar higher over his shoulder, “Gotta go now.”

“Oh, shame. Well, hey, bro hug?” Alex’s stomach flipped at the suggestion, and he stuck two arms out playfully and smiled, beaming at Zack.

“Uh, sure,” Zack took a hesitant step forward and wrapped his arms around his new friend’s back, squeezing him a little bit tighter than Alex had anticipated. The sudden contact set off every nerve in Alex’s body, making his skin nearly crawl with a static feeling. It was a wonderful, wonderful sensation, and Alex just wanted to get lost in the cute boy’s hug for hours. He closed his eyes to soak in the short seconds of that feeling, which was tragically cut short when Zack pulled away.

Alex couldn’t help but smile when he saw his new friend’s face. It was a rather deep shade of crimson, and a smile that exposed just a few of his teeth shone on the boy’s face. Alex got the urge, once again, to grab Zack’s face and kiss him, but he refrained.

“Hey…so…uh…you should come over some time, like after school or something,” Zack asked his friend, eyes immediately darting to the ground and shuffling his right foot.

“Yeah, sure!” Alex’s stomach hopped up into his throat, and the weak feeling in his knees intensified sharply, “That would be awesome.”

“Okay, uh, how about tomorrow?”

“Okay!” Alex nearly shouted, drawing a smile and cute little giggle from Zack.

“Alrighty, well, I gotta go now. See ya tomorrow!” Zack promptly skipped towards his dad’s car, which was parked in Rian’s driveway, placed his guitar delicately in the back seat and climbing into the car. As Zack walked, Alex couldn’t help but stare at his butt. It was pretty near perfect, and the sight of it flexing as the boy walked made Alex whimper to himself.

Alex watched as the car drove away, not mustering up enough courage to wave. As soon as the vehicle was out of sight, the singer sighed to himself and began walking down the road to go home.