Almost Lover

“Stryker, if you stay here any longer, you’ll have to start paying rent.” My mom playfully joked.
Stryker smirked.
“When should I start looking for a job?”
I rolled my eyes at the two of them. They got along great, which was wonderful for me, but it still is a little weird. Stryker has been at my house for nearly a week now, but my parents have said nothing about it. They adore my best friend like he’s their own. It’s not unusual that he would stay over days at a time. Normally he doesn’t stay this long though.
“Today would be good.” My dad joked.
We were all in the kitchen. My mom and I were making lunch for everyone while my dad mixed some Lemonade for us to drink before it got too cold. It’s really warm today for it being October, so we are all eating outside on the patio.
“If I have to get a job, Asher has to get one to.” Stryker laughed. “It’s not fair if only I have to have a job.”
I laughed, and shook my head.
“Will you go home now?” I joked.
Stryker pouted.
“I don’t wanna…” He stated loudly, kind of like a little kid.
“Fine…” I trailed off, smiling goofily at him. I wanted so bad to reach out and kiss him, but I knew my parents would freak out if I did. “Lunch is ready,” I stated, grabbing our grilled cheese sandwiches. My mom carried a plate of baked fries, and my dad had the lemonade. Stryker got up, and held the door open for the three of us. The leaves were changing, and they looked beautiful. Fall is my favorite season, so being able to eat lunch like this made me happy. I don’t know what it is about the season, but I love it.
“This is really good,” Stryker stated, smiling at me.
I smiled back and nodded in return. I looked over at my mom, whom was eying me carefully. I furrowed my brows and shook my head at her. She shrugged, and took a large gulp of her lemonade.
“So, Stryker…why exactly are you over here so much lately?” My dad asked. He did his lawyer thing, and clasped his hands together. He looked over at us for an answer.
“My mom and I…uh…we’ve been havin some problems. We’re not really seeing eye to eye on some things…” He tried to explain. He ran his hand nervously threw his hair, and I bit my bottom lip. He was sexy when he’s nervous.
“What kind, sweetheart?” My mom asked with a small smile. She still looked between the two of us. I got a little uneasy under her stare. She’s my mom and I feel like she can read everything like it is written on my forehead.
“Nothing…it’s stupid.” He sighed. “I don’t really want to talk about it…if that’s okay?”
My mom nodded and my dad sighed.
“If that’s what you want. We want you to know that even though we love having you around, think about how this may be making your mother feel.”
“Right now, I could care less. She hurt me…and someone who means the world to me. I can’t forgive her that easily,” He huffed. “Does that make sense?”
“I think that it does,” I spoke up. “If that was me, I’d feel the same way.”
My mom cleared her throat a little bit.
“You may stay here as long as you like, but you need to work things out with your mom,”
“I’ll try.” Stryker promised.
When my parents shared a careful glance, I reached over to my side, and slipped my hand in Stryker’s. He looked over at me, and smiled widely. I returned the smile before turning around, and looking at my parents. My dad was eating, but my mom’s eyes were burning holes into my head…again. I rolled my eyes at her. I know she’s catching on. It wouldn’t be that hard to. Lately, we’ve been all cuddled up more than normal. I don’t exactly lock my door when my parents are home, because they tend to leave me alone. My dad even almost walked in when we were making out one time. Stryker and I were holding hands when my mom walked into the house, and we quickly ripped them apart. I think that she might have caught a small glimpse.
“I’ve got the plates,” Stryker stated, letting go of my hand, and grabbing the plates. My dad grabbed the pitcher of lemonade. They walked on while my mom and I got up to walk inside. She held the empty plate that used to carry the fries in her hand.
“Asher?”
“Yeah?” I asked, turning around toward her.
“Is there something going on that I don’t know about?”
I laughed.
“What are you talking about mom?”
“Honey, you can tell me,” She said calmly. “Is there going on between you and Stryker?”
I laughed again.
“Wow mom. He’s my best friend, that’s a little weird don’t you think?” I stated. She just kept giving me her cold stare. “He’s straight, mom. Stryker and Shelley just really got into this big argument about someone that he’s seeing. They don’t exactly see eye to eye.”
She was silent for a minute while she stared at me. I was holding my breath before she answered.
“Okay,” She sighed. “You’re free to go,”
“Thanks,” I breathed out, and ran toward the door. I came into the kitchen, and only my dad was standing there. “Hey Dad, whe-.”
“Bedroom,” He stated.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. I bolted toward my room. Once I was in, and my door was shut, I turned toward Stryker. He was staring down at his phone. He was typing away before pressing the phone to his ear. He looked over at me, and smiled sadly. I climbed on my bed behind him, and I sat with my legs on either side of him. My arms wrapped around his waist, and I lazily laid my head on his shoulder. He smiled at me, and kissed my cheek sweetly.
“I’m calling my mom, if she will answer.” He replied. “Hey mom,” He said a second later. “I know…I’m sorry, somewhat. No, I shouldn’t have done that. I know it was a little…honest. I don’t know when I’m coming home exactly. I’m just kind of mad right now. You understand me right? I can’t be around you right now.”
I sighed, and kissed his shoulder for comfort. I know that it hurt him, and it’s only gotten worse. I want him to fix everything with his mom. I don’t even care that it hurt us that she doesn’t like us together. I just want their relationship to be fixed. It’s hurting Stryker, and I don’t like that. I want him to be happy.
“He’s good,” Stryker spoke, making me pay attention to him more closely. “He’s great to me, mom. I feel…I dunno, different. I don’t want to stay away from him more than five minutes.” He blushed, and his voice dropped a little bit. I knew that his mom was grilling him about the two of us. “Yeah…he’s right here. Like I said, I don’t wanna stay away from him. I…uh…I dunno yet. ‘Cause I just don’t.” He laughed nervously. “Um…he’s right here. Yeah? I’ll ask. Hang on. I love you too,” He took the phone away from his phone. “She wants to talk to you,”
I furrowed my brows and took the phone from him.
“Hello?” I said slowly into the phone.
“Hey, Asher.”
“Hi,”
“Do you love him?”
I stopped everything, and I looked over my boyfriend. He just looked confused toward me for a minute before I smiled widely, studding his face.
“Yeah,” I answer. “I do,”
“Good.” She sighed. “Take care of him for me. We’ve got to work out some parts of my relationship with him. I love him, and I know that you do to. He’s my baby, Asher. I’m sorry, I just got a little freaked out.”
“Its fine,” I answer. “I’m gonna let you go now Shelley. We’ve gotta talk now.”
“Okay, honey. Be good. I love you both.”
“We love you too.” I answered.
“Bye,”
“Bye,” I replied before I hung up, and handed the phone over.
“What was that about?” He asked me, eying my face carefully.
“I love you,” I stated. It just sort of flowed out of my mouth. I felt a little nervous when I said it. I chewed on the inside of my mouth, and stared at him.
“What?”
“I know,” I sighed, laying my head on his shoulder. “I feel all awkward now. Forget I said anything.”
“How could you love me?” He asked. I looked up at him like he was dumb. “I mean…how do you know?”
“Well, you’re all I could think about. And I just wanna be around you all the time. I blush when you look at me a certain way, and I don’t blush. I really just…love you. I don’t know how else to explain in, Stryk. I’m not very good at expressing myself…”
“So you love me?” Stryker smirked, turning around slightly in my arms so that he could face me.
“Y-yeah,” I stuttered. “I know that we’ve been dating for like a month and a half, but we’ve known each other for a while. I already loved you in a best friend sort of way. It’s not that hard.”
Stryker leaned forward, and placed his forehead against mine.
“I love you too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” He smiled, and kissed my lips softly.
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Cause…ya know…I can be a diva.”
“Aren’t all gay men diva’s?” Stryker joked.
I rolled my eyes.
“Shut the fuck up,” I smirked back at him.
“I love you…” He cooed.
“I love you.” I laughed lightly. I moved my chin a little bit, pressing my lips tightly against my own. “What are you getting me for my birthday?”
Stryker laughed, and pulled further away from me.
“I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to decide actually,” He replied. “You turn eighteen in a week.”
“I know. I’m so fucking excited!” I nearly yelled. “It’s kind of a big deal.”
“What are you going to do?” Stryker asked me, grabbing my hand to play with.
“We’re having a party in the back yard,” I smiled. “Like a cook-out, but in the fall!”
Stryker shook his head at me.
“I’m invited, right?”
“Nooo. Of course you aren’t.” I sarcastically retorted. “I couldn’t not invite you, dip shit.”
“You’re so insulting.” He laughed, rolling his eyes. “I wanna go out,”
“Where to?” I questioned, looking at my clock. It was only around two in the afternoon on a Saturday.
“I want to go on a date,” He smiled. “You have yet to take me out.
I laughed, and got up from our sitting position. I walked over to my dresser, and I picked up two tickets. I walked back over and handed his to him. Stryker smiled as soon as he saw them.
“I was going to wait until next week before my birthday to go…but um…yeah.”
“I wanna go to the fair now!” He stated, standing up. “Why in the fuck are you withholding this glorious piece of paper from me?!”
“Because I wanted it to be special!” I nearly laughed and yelled at the same time.
Styker rolled his eyes. He bent down and pressed his lips to mine.
“Can we go today?”
I nodded.
“We need cover. I’ll let Taylor and Kaylie know that we’re going today instead of next week.”
“You had this all planned out, didn’t you?” He asked, eyeing me carefully.
“Of course, I did.” I smirked.
“How clever.” Stryker rolled his eyes.
I stood up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“I know. I’m going to fix my hair now. Call the girls.”
“Alright,” He called after me.

♥

“I love how obvious you two are,” Taylor rolled her eyes. “Seriously, I don’t understand why Kaylie and I had to come.”
Kaylie nodded her head in agreement.
“I know, right? If no one caught on when you got onto the ferris wheel, then they definitely did when we went into the tunnel of love. You both were so loud.”
Stryker snorted.
“We were just making out!” He defended himself while we walked around the fair grounds.
“Very loudly!” Taylor laughed. “How in the hell do your parents not know?”
I shrugged.
“They just don’t,” I replied.
“Leave us alone,” Stryker groaned. “We can’t help it. We’re teenage boys with needs.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Calm yourself, slick.” I laughed. “He’s being dramatic.”
“Shut the hell up, you fucker!” Stryker chuckled, punching me in the arm.
“Douche bag.”
Taylor smiled at us.
“At least you still act like yourselves. It’s nice to see friends who actually don’t change once they start dating someone.”
“I guess that’s why people can’t catch on?” Kaylie questioned.
“Maybe?” Stryker shrugged. “I don’t know, but I really don’t care.”
“Me either,” I added.
The girls shrugged. Taylor checked her watch.
“It’s getting pretty late. I think the fair closes in like fifteen minutes.” She informed us.
“Yeah, I have an early curfew. I got in trouble last week so…yeah. I have to be home by eleven.” Kaylie added.
“Man, I didn’t get a stuffed animal.” Stryker sighed. “You didn’t even try to win me a stuffed animal.”
“Stop being a girl,” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Butttt….” He trailed off.
I punched Stryker in the arm. He groaned and rubbed the soar spot on his arm before he gave me a death glare. I shook my head, and kept walking toward the entrance. The girls got into the back seat while I drove and Stryker sat shot gun. I dropped them off, and hurried back to my house. Stryker ran on up to my room, but my mom stopped me.
“Finally! I was wondering when you both would be back.” She sighed. “Did you two have fun?”
I furrowed my brows.
“Yeah, I guess. It was just a fair.”
“Okay…” She trailed off.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m heading off to bed, okay?”
“Okay…I love you.”
“Love you too mom,” I called, running up toward my room. Stryker was sitting on my bed when I entered. I nearly slammed my door shut. Ever since the tunnel of love, I’ve wanted to jump his bones. Stryker met me half way in between my door and my bed. Our lips met, and they moved lovingly and desperately. I grabbed his hips, and tugged them forward while Stryker’s hands went into my hair. I moaned when he tugged on the straight strands. I gripped the bottom of his shirt, and broke our kiss. I didn’t even have to tell him to take off his shirt. He moved out of my grasp, and tore it off before he went for my own. I turned so that I was facing the bed, and he came toward me.
Kissing Stryker is still very addicting to me. Through the course of our relationship, I’ve realized that his taste is like heroine. I can never get enough, and too much will be the death of me. I will kiss him until I can’t breathe, or until it is simply too much to handle and my lips need to rest. I love that about him. I love everything about him, but kissing him is my favorite…so far. Our relationship is kind of physical sometimes, but not as much as normal teenagers.
His hips ground into mine, and I threw my head back with a moan. It felt so fucking good. I whimpered and begged Stryker to do it again. I brought our lips back together. I grabbed his bottom lip with my teeth, and it was his turn to moan. I took hold of his face, making our kisses deeper and deeper. My skinny jeans were incredibly painful. I whimpered again when our hips separated. Stryker smirked down at me, and I rolled my eyes. Of course he would get an ego about that. I reached between us and tried my best to unbutton my pants. He pushed my hand, and straddled my waist. He moved a little bit, and I bit my lip. I ended up bucking my hips a little bit. Stryker’s hand slid down until they were almost in my boxers.
“OH MY GOD.” Stryker jumped off of me quickly. It took me a second realize that someone had walked into my room. Stryker got off of the bed, and stood awkwardly. I lifted myself up into a sitting position. My mom stood in the doorway, looking like she just saw a ghost. I looked down at myself, and I felt insanely embarrassed.
“What’s with the screaming?” My dad asked, running into the doorway. He looked between all of us. “What’s going on in here?” I groaned and stood up. My pants were still kind of falling down, due to Stryker pulling them down a little bit. I grabbed the top, pulling up my pants. My parents went between the two of us. I buttoned up my pants quickly, and Stryker tossed me my shirt. I pulled it on over my head and ran my hands threw my hair.
“Living room…now,” My mom sighed.
Both of my parents turned to leave. I gave a worried glance to Stryker, who looked like he wanted to die.
“Hey, it will be okay.” I nearly whispered, grabbing his hand. “I promise.”
“Your parents are going to hate me now.” He sighed, looking over at me. “Your dad might kill me.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I’m not a girl and my parents love you,” I took a breath. “If it helps, I’m a little scared too.”
“Thanks,” He rolled his eyes.
“Hey…” I trailed off. Stryker looked at me with a small frown. “I love you, okay?”
“I love you too.” He almost smiled.
I linked our fingers together, and I started down toward the stairs. Stryker followed because if I wasn’t holding his hand, he would run pretty quickly. He was used to getting caught by girl’s parents, and running away. I can’t let him run now, especially since he has been staying with me. I turned the corner, and walked into the living room. My dad was sitting down on the couch while my mom was pacing. She stopped, and both of them looked our way as soon as we entered the living room.
“How long?” My mom demanded.
“Month and a half,” I mumbled back.
“Seriously? That long?” My mom asked us. “You two have been…sleeping together that long.”
Stryker cringed.
“We’re…uh…we’re dating.” He corrected. “We’ve been dating that long.”
“What?” My dad asked, looking really confused. “You two have been dating, and no one told us?”
I chewed on my bottom lip, and looked over at Stryker before I looked at them.
“We wanted to wait to start telling people. It’s hard enough as it is for our relationship. Telling people would complicate it.” I answered.
“We told my mom,” Stryker sighed, shaking his head. “She won’t even look at me now. She tried to deny that I am actually in love with someone of the same gender. It’s horrible. She tried setting me up with some random college friend’s daughter.”
“That’s why he’s been here,” I cut in. “She hasn’t acted the same since we told her two weeks ago.”
“You told Shelley two weeks ago, and not me?” My mom looked so hurt when we told her.
“It was a test run.” Stryker lied. “If she didn’t take it well, we agreed telling the two of you off.”
“So no one else knows?” My dad asked. He still looked really confused.
“Taylor, Kaylie, Izzy, and Shelley know.” I sighed heavily. “And now you two,”
My mom almost smiled.
“Honey, I’m happy for you. I’m happy for you both, I really am. I’m just confused and hurt as to why you didn’t tell me,”
I looked down at our intertwined hands.
“If we told you guys…it wasn’t our secret. The more people who know, the harder everything gets.”
Stryker squeezed my hand.
“So…the person you love?” My dad wiggled his eyebrows.
“Yeah…well…” Stryker’s face turned really red, and he looked over at me. “I love him.”
I felt butterflies in my stomach.
“Is that how you feel, Asher?” My mom nearly giggled.
I nodded.
“I love him too.”