Closed More Than You Bargained For

[Kasim Safir]

Kas had been feeling cagey lately, things with Michael feeling just that much too serious for him than he was comfortable with. He'd thought dating Michael would be all fun and games, which wasn't totally wrong, but maybe more just not what it was cracked up to be.

He'd escaped out to the Cliffs with Eric, certain he'd be a decent distraction from the mess in Kas' head. Drama followed Eric like a cloud and Kas was sure it'd help get his mind off Michael to just poke Eric until something interesting fell out. Like a drama pinata. So, slumped on the grass once they'd gotten far enough from the lake to be out of earshot, Kas had commenced prodding. "What's new with you? Any fun new death rivalries? Plans for the ball? Someone we need to murder on Connor's behalf?" He asked, eyes trained on the collection of clouds skudding across the sky overhead.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric had been glad to go with Kas to the cliffs, mostly because he felt like Kas had been too busy with his Hufflepuff friends and with Michael to hang out with him much. It wasn't that he'd missed him, but it was still annoying. Eric was sitting on the grass and staring out over the water, frowning a bit. He glanced over at Kas with a frown. "Well, I'm sure Michael told you about the weird letter Sydney sent him. So at least more people now know how insane she is." He said with a shrug. "But.. no, nothing else new." He said, pointedly ignoring the question about the ball. There was something he couldn't help wondering about, but he wasn't sure if he would ever be brave enough to actually do it. "I guess you're going with Michael? All lovey dovey?" He asked, leaning into the teasing a bit.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas twined his fingers in a few blades of grass, making a non-committal noise at the mention of Michael, ripping up a few bits of grass to pile on Eric's knee. "Yeah, he got to learn the hard way about her, I guess. Though I bet you're enjoying people actually agreeing with you for once," he added, giving Eric a poke in the leg. Kas had never been Sydney Townsend's biggest fan, staunchly in support of Eric when it came to her being crazy, but he liked her even less now that she'd been messing with Michael too.

"I can't always take you to all the dances, Eric. Guess you'll have to find someone else," he shot back, blowing Eric a kiss and ignoring the way his stomach jumped at the thought even though he was joking. He wanted to quickly bury the feeling, but a quick mental stock check of his brain showed it was already too full with worrying about Michael to stash the quiet mixed up feelings he had about Eric too. Instead, he did his best to distract himself by pulling up more grass, pressing it intently onto Eric's knee on top of the rest of the pile.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric shrugged but smiled a bit. He couldn't deny it was fun to trash-talk Sydney with his roommates. He had actually felt like part of their group for once, though he knew that he wasn't actually their friend. "It was pretty good. Especially because she can't do crap now without Michael showing her stupid letter to a professor." He said, seeming pretty pleased about that.

Eric rolled his eyes at Kas' joke, nudging him. "I'm not even sure if I'm going." He said, though he thought of Minnie again. "It's so boring." He muttered, though it was half-hearted. He watched as Kasim put more grass on his knee, frowning a bit. "Are you trying to bury me, Safir?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas felt like there was a bubble in his chest as he and Eric kept joking about the ball. He hated this weird feeling he got every time he thought too much about Michael. It felt like guilt, or fear, or something equally unpleasant that Kas liked to keep far away from him. Michael just seemed so comfortable and so sure about everything. Everything including Kas. And Kas felt like he was just waiting to prove him wrong.

He was only half listening to Eric as he talked, eyes trained on his hand near Eric's knee, grass still stuck to his fingertips. Distantly, he heard Eric ask him something, but Kas didn't really register it, pushing his palm down where it had been lingering on Eric's leg for leverage so he could push himself upwards, surging forward to press his lips against Eric's. Kas was sure his brain was screaming about what a terrible idea this was, but Kas couldn't hear it over his heart thumping in his chest.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric noticed Kas was being weirdly quiet, and frowned at his friend. What was going on with him? He didn't even answer his question. Eric tensed when Kas suddenly pushed down on his leg and let out a small gasp as the other boy kissed him. He was completely frozen for a moment, his brain taking a few seconds to register what exactly was happening. Kas was kissing him. Out of nowhere. Eric finally pulled away, his eyes wide. "Man, what the f***." He said, scooting back a bit while staring at Kas in shock.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas was an idiot. Kas was the biggest idiot in the whole school. The kiss probably only lasted maybe a few seconds before Eric was pulling away, but Kas felt like he'd stopped breathing, jerking himself backwards when Eric spoke and struggling to suck in a breath. "Sh*t," he said succinctly. "Sh*t, sorry I don't-" Kas backed up a little further, distinctly aware of Eric's tendency to hit things that flustered him. And boy was Kas flustering right now. What was he thinking. "I'll go. I'm going," Kas decided, scrambling up to his feet, eyes still locked on Eric and hands raised like he was some sort of wild animal about to charge and not one of Kas' best friends. One that he'd just kissed. Kas was an idiot! Maybe if he left fast enough Eric would forget this had ever happened. Or at least not be able to catch up if Kas decided to just fling himself into the lake.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric felt like his brain had slowed down to a crawl, and he was having trouble processing what happened. But as he saw Kas back up, Eric realized he was worried about what he would do. He frowned. "Kas- hold on. I'm not going to hit you or something." He snapped, annoyed that it seemed like he was really worried about that. "You don't have to go- but..." Eric flushed. "Sorry. I like... someone else. A girl." He added, just to be clear. Though maybe Kas had kissed him as some sort of weird test or joke, he wouldn't put that past him.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas scrubbed a hand over his face, then did it again for good measure, hoping the ground might just swallow him whole before he opened his eyes again. "Look, look, it's fine, forget it. Please," he said, aware of the way his voice had pitched up, an edge of hysteria creeping in. Eric mentioned he liked someone else and Kas had a boyfriend already, what was he thinking. "Brief moment of insanity, won't happen again, promise," he said with a strained laugh, wondering if it wasn't too late to pass the whole thing off as a joke. But Kas didn't think he could pretend to be normal right now, heart still rabbit fast in his chest. All he wanted right now was to get away. "I'll talk to you later," he lied, turning and fleeing with as much dignity as he could still manage, which Kas knew wasn't much as all.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric knew he wasn't going to forget this but he knew better than to say so. He remembered just then that Kas was dating someone, his roommate Michael. Eric just nodded numbly when Kas said it wouldn't happen again, then watched as he fled. Eric sighed, not sure what to do now.