Jonathan Parker

Day 3, Las Vegas, State of Nevada.

Letʻs make this thing clear to the general audience first: I am writing this in a hotel room somewhere in Las Vegas, and I donʻt actually like being here to the largest extent.

Itʻs not like that I donʻt like the city, I just donʻt like the fact that AJ was acting really strange when we were walking down the infamous Strip of Las Vegas.

Sure, the city itself was "fabulous" and all of that shenanigans, but there is a reason why we refer to Las Vegas as the Sin City. And in a "Sin City", you don't wanna hang around long enough to be one of the so-called "sinners.", if you donʻt want to destroy your fortune here.

And truthfully saying, I wouldn't think about going out of the hotel for any reason, if AJ hadn't dragged me outside to the streets of the city.

But after two and a half hours walking through all of the hotels of the bustling part of town, I started to think about what would I do if Aaron wasn't here.

Maybe I would just groaned inside my hotel room, wishing that he was here, and watching some movies or get out and strolled through the streets of Las Vegas out of boredom.

But thanks to him, it wasn't that much of a problem anymore, since he already entertained me enough while my parents were out having their own romantic and intimate time.

When we walked back to our shared room, I let AJ gets into the shower first, while I sat on the bed, watching whatever show was there on TV.

But my mind was not on what is going on in front of my eyes. It was having a problem with my heart. Oh well, common thing, right?

The only thing that make this matter a hardship, is my heart is beating rapidly for my one true best friend.

Out of all people, I have to fall for AJ McAllister, the school's popular jock. Who is so happened to be my closest friend since second grade.

I mean, who would ever think that I will end up falling head over heels for him?

Definitely, I am not on that list. Neither does my parents.

But here I am now, trying my best not to blush when he looked at me with those soul-piercing icy blue eyes.

For sure, I know that I am in love with him. But I would never risk our own friendship for a thing like a crush on him.

But I know it is getting harder and harder to keep my feeling a tableau between both of us, because of him being so close to me all the time.

The funny thing, is I do not wanted him to leave. The only thing I wanted him to do for me, is to stay right there next to me, and help me getting through my senior year in absolute peace.

Now, I am standing inside the shower stall, butt naked, and warm water were pouring down my torso.

I felt my entire body started to heat up from all kinds of embarrassment when I recalled the first encounter between us two, at the maximum level of intimation.

No, I donʻt mean just us standing near each other. What I meant here, is us two, laying next to each other, in our boxers, while he tried to cuddle me from behind.

"I like to cuddle you. Youʻre warm." He explained while we were sleeping, and I honestly donʻt have any objections against it.

If there is anything I could argue, it would be him telling me that I am the person who is warm.

Truthfully saying, that record should be for him. I mean, I sometimes mistaken him with a heater when we were sleeping.

His body was as radiant as the sun. His mind was as deep, mysterious and laid-back as the shining moon.

Sometimes, I use my 11:11 wish for such a naive reason: to be with him, romantically.

One of the things that I know I would never have.

The reason is pretty simple: he deserves someone better than me.

Someone who is not whiny, or socially awkward, or have such a bad taste in sport, although his best friend is a sporty guy. (by the way, I still canʻt even understand why did I became friends with him in the first place back in second grade.)

I was deep inside my thoughts about him, when the bathroom door open, and I saw him, flushed with shyness, and started looking through the room. I could say that, since I saw his head moving around the place.

"Johnny? Is my old t-shirt inside the stall, since I think I would need it again like, right now?"

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that part, when he walked out of the bathroom, with only a towel on his waist, his hair were humid from the shower and his torso fully exposed in front of my eyes.

In that one moment, my imagination started to run wild. And I do know that every single time my imagination started to run wild, it does run wild.

My mind was quickly filled with imagination about me and AJ on the bed together, doing sexual things.

The husky, authoritative voice of his asking me to be his and only his.

His warm breath on my neck, breathing heated thoughts into my ears.

His lips on my earlobe, nibbling it like it is his lifeʻs sweet nectar was on my ears.

My own body, trembling in submission and pleasure...

"Hey, Jon, are you in there?" AJ said through the door. "It's growing late, and I'm hungry."

"Alright, wait for me, I'll be out in a bit." I hastily answered, my face still looks clearly flushed from what my imagination had done during the last couple of minutes.

God, puberty... I cursed under my own breath, while finishing up my shower and mentally reminding myself not to have that much of perverted thoughts about him.

Minutes later, we once again hit the streets of the Strip, in order to find something that would satisfy our appetite for proper food, other than what we have at school.

And as Californians, our craves for fresh things is never-ending. But I wouldn't ever thought that AJ would pull us into such fancy places for dinner.

What I meant "fancy" probably won't be somewhere with chandeliers and all kinds of pro-French Revolutionary decors. The one thing I'm talking about, is him dragging me into Gordon Ramsay's Burgr.

He dragged me into a restaurant operated by Gordon Ramsay himself.

---*---

Well, definitely we just had a big dinner. Fifty bucks total, to be exact. All thanks to me, AJ and our ginormous appetite.

But it doesn't mean we did not have some fun afterwards. So much fun, that now we are panting after our long walk back to the hotel.

We were hearing some tunes on YouTube, while AJ started to snuggle into me.

"You have a blanket." I grunted.

"But you're comfy." He replied, while I made a mental eyeroll. He always use the puppy eyes trick, and as we all know, it always works.

But the fun part of it, is his eyelids started to slip down through his pupils. He was fast asleep, his head were on my shoulders, while his hands were tugging me close.

"Good night, AJ." I whispered into his ears, and untangled his hands.

As I scrolling through the unfinished craft of my second novel, I sighed. Partially because I don't really have a lot to write today, another thing is because of my intention for this one book.

The novel would be dedicated to AJ; and aside from my Creative Writing teacher, Kim- my great friend, and myself, no one ever know that this novel exist.

AJ once told me he wanted a big surprise for his eighteenth birthday, and now, he has it.

A novel, specifically made to accompany his taste in art.

I fully understood his art taste, since I grew up with him. But I won't understand, why would we wanted to read what I write so much?

Honestly saying, I only asked Kim for this one favor, because I have the chance to ask someone else other than AJ to first read my book. Over the course of two ridiculously long years, he already became the first one to read any of my stories, from the first time I attempted to write a 500 words long short story to the finish of my first full-length novel.

I silently sighed. I only have eight thousand words on my gift, and I would need at least two thousand more words to finish the gift.

The problem is I don't know what to continue on.

Itʻs just like those moments, when you just cannot decide who you should vote for because both sides are equally bad, but you are a registered voter and you NEED to vote.

And sometimes, things just will not stop being weird.

I turned off my laptop, and laid next to AJ on the bed.

I need to not letting the one person I love the most after my parents and myself being disappointed in me.

For the sake of God Almighty, let's finish this. I silently cursed under my breath, while closing my eyes and slowly started to drift into sleep.

Let's hope that this one summer trip would help me with my mess of feelings...