I kept absentmindedly putting a finger to my lips, remembering that just a few hours earlier, Vic's had been there. Last night was...indescribable. Vic surprised me in every way imaginable. Before last night, our interactions ranged from pure distaste, to innocent flirtation, to emotionless. But now?

Vic showed a completely different side of himself. He was sweet and gentle and nervous? He actually admitted to being nervous when he came back to kiss me at my window. I never thought I'd see Vic Fuentes act nervous. And around me of all people.

That kiss. I had never experienced anything like it. Sure, I had kissed and been kissed before. But it was almost always lust filled, where each person wanted the same thing, pleasure and nothing more.

With Vic, it was tender and simple. As his shaky hand moved against my cheek, I felt connected to every bit of him. Every butterfly in his chest, every buckle of my knees, every hitch in my breath, and every movement of his lips.

"Yo Kellin, our shift is over!" Mike's loud voice pulled me from my daydream.

I was currently leaning over the metal counter in the fried dough stand, savoring the warmth from the afternoon sun. Mike and I had the morning shift today and it was just nearing 3:00 PM.

Vic hadn't texted me all morning and since we didn't really talk about what happened last night, I hadn't said anything to Mike. It wasn't my place, and I didn't want to make a fool of myself if the kiss wasn't going anywhere. Plus, I got the feeling that Vic had never been with a guy before and I wasn't going to out him to his brother.

"The morning shift isn't so bad, now we have the whole rest of the day ahead of us." I replied, taking off my paper hat.

"Speaking of which, the guys are coming over to jam soon and don't think I forgot you're going to the same university as Vic. I want to hear you sing dude!" Mike smiled at me.

"Uh...I get kind of nervous singing in front of other people." I mumbled.

"Vic used to be the exact same way. But trust me, we all love you and it's a musical safe space with us." Mike said encouragingly.

I did really want to see Vic, and this would be a great opportunity to hang out with him again in a group setting. Less nerve wracking. Plus, I had never been to Vic and Mike's house before and I really wanted to hear their band play.

"Plus, there will be beer and tequila and tacos. And killer music. I'm a GOD on the drums!" Mike urged.

"Alright alright, I can't say no to that." I said, giving in.

"That a boy! Let's go!" Mike hopped off the counter he was sitting on, as I followed him to his house.

The walk wasn't long since everything in this little was so close together. Before I knew it, Mike was leading me up a cobblestone walkway to a bright blue door made up of different shades of blue wood slates.

In the center of the door was a huge stained glass window, depicting a scene of wildflowers. Bright colors of red, orange, greens, and yellows reflected from the glass and danced on the ground as Mike pushed the door open.

He led me inside and I was caught off guard with how colorful everything was. We walked into a huge kitchen with the living off to the side.

The kitchen had sandy white cabinets with different baubles of sea glass as the door handles. The table was placed in front of a bay window facing the beach and ten mismatched colored chairs were crammed all around it.

My eyes scanned the wall as I took in all of the family photos they had hung up. There wasn't one bit of empty wall showing as dozens and dozens of frames filled the space. Each frame looked like it was handmade with a bunch of different sized sea shells, no doubt picked up from right outside.

I smiled as my gaze passed several photos of Vic and Mike growing up. From photos of them riding bikes together in the front of their house, to gauky awkward photos from what had to be their first days of middle school, to a smiling photo of Vic being held up by his soccer teammates. There weren't any new photos after that.

"Mike? When was this photo from?" I asked, pointing to the one of Vic and his teammates.

"Oh that was during his Junior year, they won the State Championships that year." Mike answered.

Junior Year? Given how much the Fuentes' clearly liked documenting lots of milestones, it was kind of weird that they didn't have any photos of Vic from his senior year. However, I shook it from my thoughts and continued following Mike throughout the house.

"Your home is beautiful." I told Mike.

Mike shrugged, "Our mama likes to collect stuff, from garage sales and flea markets, stuff like that."

I nodded, following Mike to a door situated at the end of a hallway.

"VIC! We're all going into the basement, get your ass down here! Pretty boy is here!" Mike yelled, facing the stairs that led to the second floor where I'm guessing Vic's bedroom was.

My cheeks flared up at the pretty boy comment.

"Wait, are you talking about me?" I questioned, following Mike down the stairs to the basement.

"Hm? Oh yeah, Jaime came up with it. He said you're the cutest in the group by far. And then whenever he said it, Vic would blush for some reason. So now we just say it to mess with him." Mike rattled off.

I opened my mouth to talk but Mike cut me off, "Don't worry that's just how Jaime is, it's a compliment for sure, we weren't making fun of you at all."

"Oh no, I didn't think you were. I think it's funny actually." I reassured him.

Why would someone calling me pretty boy make Vic blush?

We entered the cozily dark basement, plush oatmeal colored couches were set up in a square shape in the center of the room. Off to the side, there was a full band set-up with Mike's drums, a bunch of guitars and basses, and a couple microphones and mic stands. I was impressed.

Back home, I just had a mediocre mic and some simple recording equipment. I wasn't that good at playing instruments but I could play basic chords on the guitar. However, I had Justin play guitar on the songs I submitted with my college application. Usually Justin played bass, but he was a much better guitarist than I was.

"Kellin's here!" Jaime exclaimed and ran over to me, engulfing me in a huge hug. I practically fell over from how sudden he threw himself at.

I laughed and hugged him back, "Hey Jaime, this is some set-up you guys got here."

"Hell yeah, we're going to be the best band in the entire universe! Right Tone?" Jaime said, shooting Tony a glance.

"Galaxy. They say galaxy in Star Wars Jaime, not universe." Tony said quietly, rolling his eyes and smiling.

"Tomato tomahto, potato, patahto." Jaime shot back.

"You want a beer Kellin?" Mike asked, gesturing towards the coffee table set up in between the couches.

"Won't your parents get mad when they come home?" I asked skeptically.

"Nah, as long as we stay in the house and don't go overboard, they're cool with it." Mike answered.

"Well in that case..." I replied before twisting the top off the glass bottle and taking a small sip.

The guys started tuning their instruments and setting up the amps while I watched from the couch. I glanced at my phone and noticed it had been about a half an hour since we came downstairs. Vic was still nowhere to be found. I was getting impatient and really wanted to see him.

"Hey guys, I'm going to go find Vic. Which room is his?" I asked the group.

"First door on the left when you get to the top of the stairs." Mike answered, barely looking up from his drum set.

"Thanks, I'll be right back." I said, setting my barely touched beer bottle on the table in front of me.

I climbed up the basement stairs before continuing up the next flight that led to the second floor. I followed Mike's instructions and turned left just a bit until I was facing Vic's bedroom door.

I was just about to knock when I heard a crash, it sounded like a big clattering, like a bunch of pieces of something were scattering across the floor. I leaned my ear up to the door and heard Vic muttering curse words to himself and sniffling.

"Uh Vic? It's Kellin." I said, knocking on the door a few times.

I leaned my ear up to the door. I didn't hear footsteps coming towards me. I didn't hear anymore clattering or cursing. I didn't hear anything.

"Vic?" I repeated a little louder this time.

I tried to open the door but it was locked. Panic rose inside me for a reason I did not know. But I felt sick at that moment. Something wasn't right.

I tried knocking again and again, I wasn't going to stop until Vic opened the door.

"Vic, open the damn door." I said again.

Just as I was about to get my debit card out to try and pick the lock, the door swung open revealing a completely normal looking, Vic.

"Geez someone's excited to see me." Vic said cheekily.

"I heard something fall, and then you were muttering, and it sounded like you were crying, and why was the door locked?" I questioned, I knew I probably sounded ridiculous right now but I didn't care.

"You really ask a lot of questions." Vic said, laughing like he was trying to play it off.

I wasn't letting him off the hook that easily. I know what I heard.

"Move please." I asked, crossing my arms.

"God you're cute when you're mad. Have I told you that?" Vic shot back, still with that goddamn smile on his face.

"Uh huh, flattery isn't going to work this time." I retorted, quickly sliding around Vic who was caught off guard as he tried to grab my waist, failing to step me from entering his room.

I looked around trying to find the source of the crashing, but nothing seemed out of place for an eighteen year old guy's bedroom.

"What fell?" I questioned, spinning around to face Vic.

"If you insist on knowing, I walked into the corner of my desk here and stubbed my toe. That's why you heard sniffling, it hurt! And the crash you keep talking about, was this ceramic whale I made in middle school that was sitting on my desk." Vic answered, holding up a wastepaper basket that contained a million pieces of a broken whale sculpture.

I raised my eyebrow at him, not knowing what to say.

"Now do you believe me?" Vic asked, looking up at me with innocent eyes.

"Okay...if that is all true then why lock the door?" I asked, keeping my arms crossed.

"I was writing lyrics, I hate being interrupted when I'm writing." Vic shrugged, gesturing towards his open notebook on his bed.

Part of me still didn't believe Vic, but I had no evidence to think anything different. I had one last question for him that I didn't intend on actually asking out loud but adrenaline was coursing through me and the words fell out of my mouth.

"And why didn't you text me today? I mean, you kissed me last night and then I didn't hear from you at all." I asked quietly.

"Uh.. um.. well...I'm not really good at stuff like this." Vic responded, his arm rubbing the back of his neck.

"Stuff like what?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"You know...this. Having feelings for someone." Vic sputtered as he gestured between himself and I.

"I have feelings for you too." I whispered.

"Really?" Vic asked, his face looked completely shocked.

That confused me, I thought I made my feelings clear to him with how I acted last night at the carnival. Usually I was the one getting confused, I didn't take Vic as the type to be oblivious.

"Yeah...I haven't been able to stop thinking about you and that kiss." I admitted shyly.

Vic's face lit up and his once frowning mouth was replaced with a cheeky grin.

"I'm a pretty good kisser aren't I?" Vic asked, chuckling.

I rolled my eyes playfully, "There's the cocky Vic I know."

"You didn't answer my question." Vic raised his eyebrow as he took a step closer to me.

"Well if you really want to know...The kiss was a bit quick, I wasn't able to really form an opinion." I answered in a sassy tone.

"Now, let's go downstairs. The guys are waiting for you to begin practice." I continued, turning to leave.

But Vic was quick to grab hold of my arm. He pulled me towards him, causing me to spin around now facing him. In one fell swoop, Vic had his hands on my hips and had pushed me back up against his bedroom wall.

Our faces were inches from touching, Vic's eyes darkened as they flicked from my lips up to my face.

"Want to form an opinion now?" Vic asked in a husky tone.

I looked back into his deep chocolate brown eyes and gulped. It was in that moment when I absolutely wanted to melt into Vic's arms and kiss him back. But a thought crossed my mind that I had been wondering ever since Jaime's boat party.

"C-can I ask you something?" I answered, reluctantly putting my hand to Vic's chest, pushing him back a bit to create space between us.

The darkened look in Vic's eyes vanished and were replaced with a look of pure fear.

"Sure." Vic answered, trying once again to play off the visible nerves that radiated from him.

"Have you ever been with a guy?" I mumbled, fiddling with my fingers. I felt embarrassed even asking that, but I didn't want to be just a fun experiment with Vic.

"No. But I know I'm gay..." Vic whispered.

"How?" I questioned.

"Hey! I thought you said it was rude to ask that." Vic said with a small smile on his lips.

I thought back to the night Vic and Mike slept over my house and how he asked me the exact same question I had just asked him.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I just...I didn't never expected you to be gay. Let alone interested in me." I admitted, a blush creeping up my cheeks.

"Well...I started to notice all the things you noticed. I never felt anything when I was with girls. I think I always knew I was gay...but I pushed those feelings so deep down until the end of Junior Year. I started to notice that guys were attractive...and I couldn't push the feelings away anymore." Vic answered, keeping his gaze from mine, his hands fidgeting.

"I didn't know for sure until I met you...I um...I couldn't stop thinking about you from that day we met. And then when we kissed last night...I had been thinking of kissing you for days..." Vic continued.

He quickly put a pillow over his face once he was done talking.

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you either. Even when you were a dick to me." I said, adding the last part to lift the mood a little.

I sat on the bed next to Vic and gave him a playful nudge. He removed the pillow from his face and looked up at me.

"Can we stop talking about my feelings now?" Vic asked, pouting a bit.

I couldn't help but laugh at the incredibly cute face he was making right now.

"Sure, let's go downstairs. I want to hear you guys play live." I said, giggling a bit as I turned to walk down the stairs.

"Wait. Um...would it be okay if we could maybe not tell the guys about us yet? I-I haven't exactly come out..." Vic spoke slowly, it looked as if it physically hurt him to get those words out. He clenched his fingers together for a moment before spreading them back out against his thighs, relaxing.

"Of course, Vic! I know what it's like to be afraid to come out. We can wait however long you need." I answered truthfully, instinctively grabbing hold of his hand, intertwining our fingers together.

I watched Vic's face light up as he looked down at our hands. He gave mine a little squeeze before leading me down to the basement.

"Thank you, Kells." Vic said as we stood at the top of the basement stairs.

Vic leaned over and planted a kiss on my cheek before we walked down the stairs. He unfortunately let go of my hand just as we came into view of the rest of the guys.

"Finally! God where have you two been?" Jaime questioned.

"We were showing each other our lyric books." I said quickly, shrugging nonchalantly.

Vic shot me a small, grateful smile before answering Jaime, "Yeah dude, chill out."

Vic walked over to the mic stand, picking up a white guitar with neon green fake splatter dripping down it in the process. He slung it over his shoulder as he adjusted the stand.

"Alright guys, what song do you want to start with?" Vic glanced around at Jaime, Tony, and Mike.

"Let's do Southern Constellations into The Boy Who Could Fly. Since it's our opener anyways." Tony suggested.

"I love it. Great idea Tone." Vic smiled.

"Yes! We always kill that song, it's the perfect one to start with. Plus I invited Alex and Jack, they'll be here soon with the food and I want to hear their opinions." Mike added.

I watched Vic as he walked over to the couch where I was sitting. He took a swig of water before leaning over to grab a bottle of beer. He expertly popped the cap off on the side of the coffee table, taking a long gulp.

Before he pulled away, he leaned close to my face and whispered in my ear.

"Will you be my good luck charm?" He whispered.

Before he could move away I discreetly grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt, keeping him close to me.

"Always." I whispered back.

Vic shot me a cheeky grin before he walked back over to the mic stand, winking at me. He counted in the band and the basement erupted in a melodic tune. Vic didn't take his eyes off of mine. And I didn't dare take mine off his. 

____Author's Note_____

PLEASE VOTE FAM :)

Hmmm why is Vic acting weird? 

What was your favorite part from this chapter?

What do you think is going to happen in the next chapter? A little party perhaps? A little alone time? OH ALSO I'm going to start adding a photo at the beginning of each chapter to give ya'll a little visual so be on the lookout for that.

- Cassidy :)