Music - Video Games by Lana Del Rey

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Todd

"You sure it's not in there?" I asked Hollie over the telephone, hoping she would find my cell phone in her car. I had no idea where I left it. It had been a day since I realized I lost my phone and it could be in Hollie's car or I may have dropped it at the party.

"It's really not in here, Todd. I searched everywhere." She replied and I groaned in annoyance. Dad only got me that cellphone just two weeks ago and it sure as hell wasn't cheap. It would cost me months of my allowance to get a new one. "Just ask your mom to buy you a new one."

"Mom doesn't even have a phone. She will kill me." I said. Mom didn't even have a phone because she thought phones were expensive and impractical. I sighed as I played with the telephone cord. It was tangled again. "I'm gonna hang up. Talk to you later."

I ran my hand through my hair and sighed for the second time. I probably dropped the phone at the party and there was no way I was going to get it back.

With nothing much to do anyway, I ran upstairs to get change on my trunks. I didn't want to stress over a cell phone - perhaps, not today - so I decided to take a quick dip at the pool. I would have called Phil and Hollie to come over but Phil was out of town and Hollie was grounded after her parents found her wasted in their front yard. Her mom wasn't at all impressed after finding out she puked on her roses.

I grabbed my towel and I was about to head down when mom entered my room. "Sweetie, someone's at the door looking for you. He told me he's a classmate of yours."

A thought passed my mind and I remembered that Tony guy I ate pizza with last Friday night. But I figured it couldn't be him as I didn't give him my address and he wasn't my classmate. "Who is it?"

"I didn't hear his name right, but I think it's either Craig or Gray." My mom replied. "Either way, I'm making lunch soon so invite your buddy over for lunch, okay?"

Gray? I had no idea how he knew where I lived. "Okay, thanks, mom." I scratched my head as my mom left the room. We barely talked to each other so his visit came off a little odd.

When I went downstairs, Gray was at the door, fixing his wavy blond hair. He grinned when he saw me and raised his hand awkwardly. "Gray? What are you doing here?" I asked while I drape my towel over my shoulders to cover my exposed torso.

"Hey Hitcher, I came to return this..." He buried his hand in the pocket of his shorts and pulled my cell phone. "I think this phone's yours?"

"Oh my God, yes." I grinned as he handed me my phone. "I've been looking for this since yesterday."

"I found it under the couch just this morning. It was ringing like crazy." He said.

"Thank you," I said as I checked the phone for scratches, but there was none. "By the way, how did you know where I live?"

"I asked you Hollie." He said. He added, "I got her number from your cell phone. Is he your girlfriend?"

I chuckled as I shook my head. "Hollie's not my girlfriend. She's just a very close friend of mine."

"I see...going to the beach?" He asked as he stared at what I was wearing.

"Not really, just the pool," I explained as he leaned on the side of the door while casually staring at me, which made me  feel a little awkward. "You have anything to do today? Mom told me to invite you for lunch but that's gonna be in an hour... do you swim?"

I wanted to swim and it would be awkward to leave him alone in the living room. "I can lend you a pair shorts."

"You know what? I like that." He smiled as he let himself in.

Before we went upstairs, we walked into the kitchen so I could introduce Gray to my mom. "Mom, this is Gray. Gray, mom."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Hitcher. My mom is a huge fan of your books." Gray said as my mom grinned like an excited kid in a toy store.

"Okay, I like you already." Mom grinned like the joker as she looked at me with approval. "Just call me Sally, dear."

Mom has been a well-known motivational writer in the state for years. I never read any of her books before but I knew she was a good writer since she was featured in The New York Times last year.

"Tell your mom the latest book will be released next week," Mom told Gray as she went back to preparing our lunch.

"Oh, Sally, I'm sure she knows, but I'll still let her know I met you." Gray smiled, reassuring my mom he would.

When we reached my room, Gray made himself comfortable on my bed. His eyes wandered around the room while I looked for a pair of swimming trunks in my closet. "You got a pretty huge room, Hitcher." He said while I heard my bed creaking.

"It isn't really, I just don't have many things around," I said as I pulled a brown swimming trunk and threw it to him, in which he smoothly caught with his hand. I scrambled to my bed and lay down as he got up to his feet and walked towards the bathroom.

He did not get to the bathroom like what I assumed he would though. Gray stopped in front of my closet, his back turned towards me as he stripped naked to the day he was born. My eyes instinctively looked away as I felt my cheeks flared in embarrassment. Thank goodness I did not see his dick, but his butt was in full display. "Uh...the bathroom's just two steps away, Gray."

"We're both guys here, Hitcher. A dick isn't new to you anymore because obviously, you've already seen yours." He laughed as he finally pulled his swimming trunks up. It fitted him right as we were just as tall as each other and we had the same built. I guessed he was a little more muscular since he was more exposed to sports than I did with my casual surfing.

My eyes caught a glimpse of his butt and I felt my cheeks heat up at the sight. He had a pretty cute bubble butt. It was fuller than mine.

I must say, he looked rather good in my swimming trunks. For a guy who had been playing basketball - which could get rough most of the time - his pale skin looked smooth, almost like a porcelain doll. Aside from being the captain of the basketball team, I could see the reason why he was popular in school. But I wouldn't tell him that.

"You play video games?" His face beamed as he walked closer to my video games collection just beside my bookshelf. "Dude, the latest Mario Bros is here."

I chuckled at Gray's enthusiasm. My friends and I played video games almost every weekend. As much as I remembered, video games were one the reasons why I was closed with Phil and Hollie. "It's a must have," I smirked as he ran his hand over the stack of my collection. "Wanna play later?"

"Abso-friggin-lutely!" He grinned.

•••

Gray just reached the end of the pool when I pinched my nose and prepared to dive in the pool. I launched myself into the air and soon I felt the cold water taking over my body as a loud splash and a cheering blond that was Gray filled my ears. Still underwater, I swam to the surface near Gray's side of the pool. I rested my arms on the gutter and sighed as I ran my hand through my hair. "Thank you again for returning my phone," I told Gray. "My dad got it for me just less than a month ago. I would have been grounded my parents found out I lost it."

"You're pretty spoiled." He smirked at me as he splashed water on my face.

I scoffed and stared at him with a sly smile. "Says the guy who throws parties at his parents' beach house."

Gray chuckled. "Fair point." He shifted and faced my side. "You seem physically active. Do you do some sort of sport or something?" He asked.

"My dad taught me to surf when I was around eleven. He went to our school and he was pretty much an old-school type of you." I explained. "He makes it a goal to keep everyone in the family healthy."

"So that explains your back muscles." He muttered but I did catch what he said.

"Pretty much," I replied and smiled. I did know that I had a pretty toned back.

"Do you play basketball?" He asked and my eyes grew a little wider. I wondered if he would ask me to try out.

"Yeah. But I'm not as good at playing basketball as I am in surfing." I said honestly. I didn't have much experience playing the sport. The only people I played basketball with were my dad, Phil, Hollie and some friends of mine in Dublin whenever we spend the summer at grandma's.

"We've been looking for people to join our team, Hitcher. Like, we really do need to win this year for the scholarship." He explained. "I was just wondering if you'd like to try out."

Gray didn't need the scholarship whatsoever. His parents were rich and without the scholarship, he could still go to a university because they had the money.

"Scholarship? Dude, you really don't need it. Your dad's the freakin' founder of the Pristine Mall." I said.

"I need it, Hitcher. You never know what will happen in the future and I need that scholarship just in case my parents decided to kick me out." He laughed, but it didn't come across as genuine. But what did I know? The ability to judge something on whether it is genuine or not is subjective, so I did not bother asking him why. He did not seem to want to talk about it anyway.

"I've actually been wanting to ask you about it," I told Gray. "I just never had the chance. Yes, I'd love to try out."

"That's so awesome, Hitcher. Thanks." Again, he splashed water on my face. "First to get to the other side of the pool wins, the loser gets to be the winner's bitch." He announced just as quickly as he launched himself to swim, to be ahead of me.

Between the two of us, he may be the sportier one, but swimming was my game.

I chuckled as I prepared myself to swim. He had no idea what was coming for him.

•••

After lunch, I asked Gray to stay awhile so we could play video games. Honestly, he was nicer than I thought he was and I didn't mind him around. We were focused on the TV screen as we played Soulcalibur. He definitely wasn't lying when he told me he loved video games too. I always beat my friends when it comes to this game, but so far, Gray had beat me just as many times as I had beaten him.

"So what else do you do?" He asked, the sound of our controllers clicking in the background.

"Read books, hmm, well I like going to the beach," I thought of other things but I couldn't as I was completely engaged on the television. "but I usually just hang out Phil and Hollie during the weekends. What about you?" I asked.

"Go out of town during the weekends...well, except today obviously." He said. He goes on to add, "I love to travel."

"Yeah, I've always thought of you as more of an outdoorsy type of guy." I grinned at the TV screen as I looked at his character's life about to run out. "You always skip economics."

The game ended as my character spoke his short victory speech. I dropped my controller and looked at Gray with a sly grin. "Swimming? Beat ya. Soulcalibur? Beat ya again." I teased him as he stood up and jumped over to my bed, there was a smile painted on his face. "You are so overrated at school."

"Oh come on, Hitcher. I could beat you at basketball anytime I want." He smirked as he rested his head on his arms.

"Whatever, loser," I chuckled as I got up and sat on my bed.

He laughed and threw a pillow to my face before he released a deep sigh. "Can I tell you a secret, Hitcher?" He asked, his voice got a little quieter.

"Um...sure?" I didn't want to as I thought our little bond would be just a one-time thing. But truth be told, I was curious.

'You nosey little bastard.'

"Okay, just promise me not to tell this to anyone." He said, now almost a hush. I stared at him and wondered why he would tell me something he didn't even want to tell anyone. Was I that trustworthy?

"Alright, I promise," I replied, not really sure what I was getting myself into. It wasn't as if he murdered somebody. Or did he?

"I'm gay."

My eyes widened upon realizing what he just confessed and I was left speechless. Quite frankly, I never met a gay guy before so I wasn't sure how to respond.

His eyes were focused on mine and I could tell he was waiting silently for my response. I sighed and tried to come up with a reply. "Why are you telling me this?"

He got up and sat next to me, his gaze fell to the floor for a little while before he looked back up at me.

"Todd, I know you're gay."

End of Chapter 3