"Thought I'll find you here."

I look up at the familiar voice. Julian grins down at me. I ignore him, and continue watching Comfort eagerly chew his calcium bone. 

Julian sits beside me on the bench. He clears his throat. Sighing, I look at him. Using his eyes, he earnestly motions towards his feet. 

"What?" 

Julian grins and moves his feet in the air. 

"New shoes?" 

"Not just new shoes!" he grips my arm, too excited. "But, the very limited edition, Nike Air Zoom Alphafly. Ultra soft cushioning, slip-resistant, super soft rubber sole, sleek design- Dylan?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm listening," I mumble, rubbing Comfort's belly as rolled on the ground. A laugh escapes my mouth, at Julian's pissed face, "I'm sorry. I'm not much into shoes. For me, as long as they fit and look good, I'm happy."

"Uncultured jocks," he mutters under his breath. 

"Don't worry," I shift closer to him, putting a hand on his thigh. "They look sexy on you." He gives a reluctant smile. Then the devil side of me, gets an idea.

"Comfort looks bored. Shall we all play?"

"Okay."

So I bring out Comfort's ball, and throw it towards Julian. Comfort barks in high spirits, and sprints towards Julian, who throws it back at me. This time I purposely throw the ball outside the park.

Seeing no chew toy, like I expected, Comfort targets Julian's shoes, or may I say, his new shoes. I clutch my stomach from laughing too hard, as Julian runs around the park yelping and screaming for help. Comfort mistook his screeches as signals of excitement, and chases him with extra vigor.

Finally Julian makes it to me, and hides behind me. "Dylan!"

I stop laughing, and stick out a feet to stop the hysterical dog. "Comfort stop," I say breathless. "Sit!" Like I had been training him, he sits in perfect attention.

"I had a heart attack. Ow," Julian leans against my shoulder tired. "You pinhole! I knew you were jealous of my cool shoes."

I grin amused, "I am not jealous. But I think, Comfort has taken a particular liking to them." I point down, at Julian's confused face.

"Comfo no!" Julian cries horrified, because Comfort was cheekily rubbing his dirty nose all over.

"Relax bitchcake." I pick up Comfort. "He's just licking them." But it was lost at Julian, who was profusely fussing over his shoes.

"I used to think, the damn dog likes me," he mutters sullenly.

"He does. Look," I bring Comfort towards Julian's face, who readily licks his cheek. For the rest of the evening, Julian keeps his distance always hiding behind me.

We had fallen into a weird routine these days. In school, if we catch each others eyes, then we would wordlessly follow each other to abandoned places to swap saliva. If we hang out with friends, either of us would volunteer for carpool. The obvious motive being, we can drop each other off at the last, and have ample of alone time.

Rest of the time, we wouldn't even bother acknowledging each other looking like two strangers. I didn't actually have a lot of time, to dwell over, what I am gonna do about this whole thing, but I know one thing for certain. That, I am heavily attracted to Julian. 

I have to force myself to talk less, and not get too excited around him. The oddest, and stupidest things about him, gets me turned on these days.  Heat travels through my body, on seeing him laugh at Comfort. He catches me staring, and gives me a warm smile.

"Shall we head off to your place?"

"Sure. You got everything we'll be needing?"

"Yes," he nods gravely, his eyes gleaming wickedly. 

"We'll be studying. Don't expect anything else," I smack his head, making him pout. Yesterday Julian complained, how his biology lab instructor gave him extra homework. It was justified considering, he stuck the flower he had to dissect, into his back pocket and twerked in front of Lia's face. 

At first, he approached the nerd of the group, Luke, to assist him. Safe to say, Luke looked beyond alarmed at the request. Then the rat, slyly suggested, in front of everybody, that I am also a sharp student and I would be able to help Julian better. I tried to back out, but defeatedly gave in at Julian's moping face.

So here we are, back in my room. While I changed from my jeans into boxer shorts, Julian takes out his binder and makes himself cozy among the pillows.

"Why are your sheets empty?" I ask, looking through his assignments. He doesn't answer. I climb on the bed, and sit cross-legged in front of him. He takes the opportunity to, tuck his feet under my knees. 

I knew Julian didn't bother studying, cause he was loaded like Alex. He once told me, he had a secret savings account, just in case his parents cut him off. So he actually didn't have to worry, that if he didn't get proper grades, or if his parents didn't provide for him, he could not get a college degree or something.

But judging by his carefree attitude, I don't think he even wants a college degree. I place him in the first category of 'Rich Kids', along with Alex. The kinds, who know how to use, and misuse their money. Second category is Luke, the boring and righteous type. His parents are also loaded, but he has this stubbornness, to make it out on his own.

I flip through the binder, till I find his last assignment. Diagram of male reproductive system. "A tad dramatic?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at the big, thick, penis drawn with unusually large balls. 

Julian stops ruffling my hair with his pencil, and looks at what I'm talking about. "Watching Hentai finally paid off," he grins naughtily. I huff out amused.

"Your bag is surprisingly empty," I muse, when I move his bag to make space. He doesn't answer, because he was busy bending low to study my feet, with the weirdest of expression. 

"Julian?" I slap away his hand that was pulling my toes. "Huh?" he looks up, his face a picture of glee, like he witnessed something unexpected.

"Where are your sheets from last week?" I ask patiently, silently wishing to kiss him.

"I lost them," Julian shrugs bored. The similarity between his actions, and Alex's, was giving me head ache.

"You know what's surprising," he turns to lie on his stomach, lifting his face on his palms. "Lia has started doing her homework."

"She realized it's time to mature up," I offer, simultaneously reading the questions. 

"Naah, not yet," he dismisses. "I'll know it, when she becomes like serious, serious. Earlier she was like me, never caring for her paper. But now she's putting some effort?"

I put down the binder, and look at him. Carefully, I begin, "Julian, have you noticed how Lia and Luke have been sitting together, a lot." 

He smiles at me, and for a second I think he knows. "Are you telling me you are finally accepting your gay side, and now you have a crush on Luke. Now, that's a threesome I could never be opposed to."

I sigh, and give up. "Sit up monkey. We're going to learn about DNA patterns."

..................................

Sorry for the late update. As a penance, I wrote three chapters for you. So go on, read read.

Hope you liked this chapter!