Chapter Fourteen

A Chapter by Chris

Zach drove down the street at a slow pace, the setting sun shining between the houses that he passed on the right and into the car. He partly stared off into space as he reflected on the past week since him and Greg went to the movies. The two of them had been spending a lot of time together since then. They usually sat at the same table as each other during lunch, whether it be with his friends or Greg's, and they hung out at the park or went to the mall after school. Whenever they weren't hanging out, they usually spent somewhat long periods of time on the phone.

However, during the course of the week, the two hadn't kissed once. The Junior understood for the most part though. He figured being in an abusive relationship like Greg was would make someone a little bit cautious about trusting someone so readily when getting into another relationship. However, Zach couldn't exactly say he wasn't frustrated by the younger male's cautiousness. It did kind of hurt since it basically felt as though the Sophomore didn't trust him too well. At the same time though, he didn't think he should complain too much. The other male did hug him after all, so he figured he should at least try to be content with that.

The dark-haired male snapped back into reality as he stopped the car in front of Greg's house. It was now a Friday and the two had made plans to go to a fair for a little while. Greg, who had been waiting for him on the wooden porch, stood up from the glider and walked towards the car before climbing in. They greeted each other and began to talk as Zach started to drive.

About ten minutes later, Zach parked the car in the makeshift parking lot of the fair. The two climbed out of the car before walking into the fair hand-in-hand. After having a small argument about who would pay for the tickets they needed in order to ride the rides, Zach bought a few strips of them before they began walking around. The two got on just about every ride they came across, one of them being a small rollercoaster and the rest being spinning rides. Every so often they had to return to the ticket booth to buy more tickets, and the two had decided to alternate paying for the tickets so one of them didn't become completely broke by the end of the night.

After walking around for a while in search of a ride that they hadn't been on yet, the two came to the Ferris Wheel. Deciding they would ride it, they got in line. They waited for about five minutes until it was finally their turn to get on. After the car they were in lifted up into the air so the next one could be boarded, Zach wrapped a somewhat muscular arm around Greg's shoulders. The Sophomore smiled some as he leaned into the older male a little.

“Having fun?” Zach asked.

“Yeah,” Greg said before their car was lifted a little more into the air before stopping.

“Good,” replied Zach. There was a few seconds of silence as Zach looked around a little. “I think we've already ridden all the rides here. Do you wanna keep riding them, or do you wanna do something else?”

“Let's go play some games after this,” answered Greg.

“Alright,” Zach said as the Ferris Wheel started going.

When the ride ended, the two got off before walking around in search of games that they wanted to play. They found quite a few of them that looked fun and easy to play, but they didn't have much luck in any of them; neither of the two won any prizes, but they got pretty close every so often.

After several minutes of this, the two decided that they would just head home. It was somewhat late and both of them were getting a little exhausted from walking around so much. The two began to make their way towards the exit hand-in-hand.

“Who will be our next contestant!” the game host at the Test Your Strength game said into the microphone. “C'mon, anyone can do it! How 'bout you kid? You wanna try?”

Zach stopped and looked towards the game host to see that he was looking at him. He didn't say anything right away, but instead looked at Greg in a questioning manner.

“Go ahead,” said Greg as he relinquished the Junior's hand.

“Alright,” Zach replied before walking towards the game host.

The game host handed Zach the mallet while briefly explaining through the microphone what to do. Zach walked up towards the base of the tower before firmly gripping near the end of the mallet's handle. He lifted the mallet over his head with his body slightly arched backwards and his arms fully extended as he eyed the center of the base where he was to strike. After giving a couple test swings, Zach swung with the mallet with all his might, grunting from the effort. He struck the base a little off-center and the weight shot up the tower, going a little over the halfway mark.

“Ooh, not too bad, but not good enough either,” said the host through the microphone. “Try again.”

On Zach's second try, the weight went a little further up the tower until it fell back down again. With his last try, Zach took a few more test swings than the last time, focusing as best as he could on the center of the base. When he felt like he was ready to give the real swing, Zach brought the mallet up over his head with his body arched backwards a little and his arms fully extended like the last time. With as much strength as he could possibly use, Zach swung, grunting from the effort like the previous two times. This time though Zach struck the center of the base almost perfectly and the weight shot up the tower and rung the bell. Ignoring the comments the host shouted into the microphone, Zach picked out a somewhat small blue monkey before walking over towards Greg.

“Here, this is for you,” Zach said as he held out the monkey for Greg to take.

“Thanks,” replied Greg with a smile before taking the monkey. Zach wrapped an arm around his shoulders afterwards before they resumed their walk towards the parking lot. “I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised you were able to ring the bell. I almost didn't think you were strong enough.” He smiled a little sheepishly.

“It's not all about strength,” said Zach with a small smirk. “Accuracy is the key. My dad taught me that when he took me to a carnival.”

“Oh, I guess I didn't really think about it like that,” admitted Greg.

After a minute or two of walking, they finally reached the car and got in it before driving home. They talked a little, exhaustion beginning to take its effect as the car ride progressed. When they reached Greg's house, the car coasted to a stop in front of it. Greg unbuckled his seatbelt before looking at Zach.

“Thanks for taking me to the fair,” he said. “I really had a lot of fun.”

“No problem dude, anytime,” the Junior replied.

There was a few seconds of silence as they looked at each other. Greg looked down at his fidgeting fingers for a second, seemingly hesitating on something, before looking back at Zach. He reached out to caress Zach's cheek a little before leaning in to kiss him on the lips. The Junior's eyes widened in surprise from this for a moment before fluttering closed like the other's. Time and space seemed to stand still around them and the rock music playing from the radio was tuned out as the kiss lasted for what seemed to be hours upon hours. After a few seconds though, Greg slowly broke the kiss, a large smile on both of their faces afterwards.

“Bye,” Greg said while opening the car door.

“See ya later dude,” replied Zach.

The dark-haired male watched Greg until he disappeared inside his house. He looked out towards the darkened street before him, smiling to himself for a moment, before driving off.

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© 2009 Chris

Author's Note

I'm not completely sure how accurate the Test Your Strength thing is since I've never tried the game. It's just something I read about, so I thought I would use it.