Seven Minutes in Heaven

„How about a round of seven minutes in heaven?“ Jack suggests, words slightly slurred due to the few beers he’s already consumed. His brother Joe organised the beer but Zack is staying away from it. Not only does he have to drive later but he also wants to stay sober so he won’t do anything embarrassing. He can still remember a few things from the last time he got drunk and that was a very bad idea. He’d like to avoid that.

It’s Jack’s 18th birthday party and simultaneously a party to celebrate graduating from high-school, even if it’s a bit late. But nobody cares, they’re having a lot of fun.

Everyone sits down in a circle, the bottle ready to select the two to play. Zack makes sure he sits opposite of Jack’s best friend, Alex. He knows it’s irrational but something inside him thinks that if he sits opposite Alex the bottle might end up selecting them both to play the game.

He’s been crushing on Alex since freshman year but Alex is so completely out of his league that it hurts. He’s a football player and Zack is just some weird kid who happens to be another one of Jack’s friends. He doesn’t even know how he became a member of Jack’s friends but it makes it possible to sometimes hang out with Alex and Jack. Zack enjoys it every time and he knows he should really stop sneaking looks at Alex whenever possible but he just can’t resist. The older boy with the enormous fringe is just too handsome and when he stretches and his shirt rides up… God.

Someone nudges Zack and he realises the bottle is pointing at him. He panics and blushes a bit, adrenaline cursing through his veins. Apparently the bottle pointed at him first and is going to be spun again to select his partner. Zack quickly sends a short prayer to whoever might hear it to let it be Alex and watches as the green glass bottle slowly turns. It slows down and Zack gets even more nervous. His hands are sweaty.

The bottle is getting so slow that it is going to stop within the next round. It’s turning towards Alex and Zack can barely stop himself from just using his hands to direct it at Alex. Finally, it stops spinning. And points at Alex. Okay well not directly. It points at the space between Alex and his neighbour, a girl called Flora if Zack remembers correctly. He laughs nervously as the people in the room ooh and aah. He looks at Alex, unsure of what to do.

Alex luckily takes the decision off him. “Alright ladies and gentlemen, please make way for me and Zack to go play!” he says with a laugh as he gets up. Zack gets up too, trying not to stumble. This is amazing. He’s in a complete daze as he follows Alex to a room next door because Jack doesn’t want them to use his closet. God knows what he hides in there. The other guests are clapping and whistling as they pass by and Jack sends a glance and a smile at Zack. He kinda knows of Zack’s crush on Alex.

Alex opens the door to the small cleaning cabinet and lets Zack enter first. He follows suite and closes the door. They stand in absolute darkness except for the small green light of some cleaning device charging. They look at each other and Zack can feel his heart beating really hard in his chest. And it seems like Alex isn’t his usual relaxed self either.

“So what do you wanna do?” the older boy asks quietly after a while.

Zack shifts his weight to his other foot. How in heaven’s name is he supposed to tell him that all he craves is to have Alex’s lips on his own? He bites his lip and looks up at Alex, faint glimmer of the little green light reflecting in his eyes.

Alex looks back at him and Zack is so damn glad it’s too dark for the football player to see him blush because he is blushing harder than ever before. They look at each other for some more.

“Can I try something?” Alex whispers, looking down. He seems to be flustered. Zack’s heart beats even faster if that is even possible. What could Alex possibly want to try?

A few seconds later, it becomes apparent what he means by it because Zack nodded and Alex put his hand on the younger boy’s waist to draw him closer. Zack is sure he’ll faint any second because damn, Alex’s body so close to his in a dark, tiny room? This had been in his dreams but he hadn’t ever thought it’d come real.

Alex’s breath smells of peppermints and Zack is so glad he refused the garlic bread earlier and instead popped a mint too. Alex’s fringe is slowly beginning to touch Zack’s forehead and their noses bump together slightly. Alex just laughs a tiny bit and angles his head. And then their lips touch. It’s sweet and innocent but soon, Zack gets his hands moving too. In a sudden rush of confidence, he puts one on Alex’s back to press them closer together, while the other one ends up in Alex’s hair. Alex kisses him more intently now, hands tangling in Zack’s hair. Zack kisses back and Alex lets his tongue slip into the younger boy’s mouth. Zack suppresses a gasp but doesn’t stop Alex.

At some point, he has to break away though. This all is so overwhelming and he hasn’t really figured out how to breathe while kissing yet since this is his first proper kiss. But soon enough, his lips are pressed against Alex’s again, he’s just not able to resist their attraction.

The next time, it is Alex who breaks the kiss. He looks at Zack for a bit.

“I like this a lot,” he finally whispers. Zack is about to reply with something along the lines of “me too” but Alex adds something. “And I like you a lot too.”

Zack doesn’t even know how to reply now. He opts for kissing Alex again, lips curving up while pressed against Alex’s.

“I like you a lot too,” he mumbles and feels Alex’s smile against his lips too. He decides that this is one of the best feelings in the world.

Someone knocks at the door. “This has been a bit more than seven minutes,” they hear them laugh.

Alex looks at Zack and takes him by the hand.

“How about we take this somewhere else?” he asks. Zack nods and Alex opens the door, pulling him with him. And Zack couldn’t care less about the stares and laughs because he’s got a bubble of happiness inside of him.