Cheesy, 2016
This written entry into Expression 2016, “Cheesy,” was entered by Jennifer Alderton-Moss
He took in a deep breath and looked back at his reflection. This was crazy.
Alistair Mensa did not get nervous. As the schools head boy and prom king, he was always confident to the point of arrogance. Yet here he was, sweating himself silly over some stupid boy. Then again, Demetri wasn’t just any boy. He was perfect.
He’d asked out hundreds of people. He could do this. It would be easy.
He checked his hair once more before heading out of the bathrooms. He figured he could wait by Demetri’s locker until class finished.
As it turned out, he didn’t have to. He turned the corner going into the A-block straight into a solid wall of muscle. He took a mildly shocked step back, looking up at the blond man’s face, before returning his usual cocky grin to his face.
“Demetri!” He said, trying to ignore the fact that his hair was now thoroughly ruined, and really, that was one of his best features, “I was just looking for you.”
His grin widened at the end, especially when Demetri tilted his head in confusion. It didn’t make sense that such a tall, built man could be so adorable.
“What for?” Demetri asked, his smooth baritone voice sharpened by a fading Russian accent, a remnant of his childhood.
“Well,” Alistair started, straining to keep his smirk in place as his heart started beating erratically, “Do you want to have dinner?”
Demetri’s brow furrowed like there was something he didn’t quite get yet. The rest of his face maintained its apathetic demeanor.
He replied, with a little uncertainty, “No?”
Mensa couldn’t help but let his grin slip then, faltering slightly and taking a half step back. He’d been sure he’d been reading the signs right, but now? He just didn’t know.
“Oh.” He said. Coherence evaded him. “Okay.”
He felt hollow, like the echo of his footsteps as he turned and walked down the corridor, away from the beautiful boy over whom he’d been losing sleep.
He was definitely never doing that again.
∞ ∞ ∞
Demetri didn’t get it.
He didn’t get why the hottest guy in school had been looking for him. I mean, what would he possibly need Demetri for? Other than the answers to the chemistry homework due tomorrow. Alistair didn’t care about his academic performance, so he doubted that was it, but besides his academic prowess, Demetri wasn’t exactly considered an asset; especially socially.
And then asking him a weird question about dinner? He just didn’t get it. It was barely even lunchtime; why would he want to have dinner?
He shook his head, continuing in his walk to the cafeteria. Alistair was a strange guy. A really strong strange guy, with stunning eyes and perfect hair. Demetri just didn’t get him.
∞ ∞ ∞
Alistair wasn’t exactly sure what he would call his mood; he didn’t want to go as far as heart broken. He was just feeling kind of droopy and pathetic.
He was lying face down on the couch just feeling sorry for himself. Nobody else was home, and he really just felt too drained to do anything more.
It was sad. He recognised that.
There was always one thing that cheered him up.
Pizza.
Even just the thought of it perked him up, at least enough to find his laptop and begin ordering it. He entered in his regular; cheese pizza, with extra cheese. Why ruin perfection by trying to add stuff? The extra cheese was a guilty pleasure. He knew it was bad for him, but there was really nothing better than super cheesy pizza. He’d had a terrible day; he deserved to treat himself.
Just for that, he added a bottle of coke and one of those chocolate lava desserts. Perfect.
When he got to the confirm order screen, he almost accepted without a second thought. Until he noticed the ‘Delivery Requirements’ section, which he had previously skipped over, and he had a brilliant idea.
What was better than hot cheesy pizza delivered to your door? Hot cheesy pizza delivered to your door by a cute guy. That would definitely make him feel better, if only by proving his crush on Demetri wasn’t hopeless and all consuming.
He quickly typed in ‘Please send your cutest delivery boy’ before grinning to himself and confirming his order. A message popped up saying expected time of delivery would be in 15 minutes. Now he just had to wait.
He connected to the Bluetooth speaker and started up his “Shrek” playlist. This could cheer him up too.
He flopped back onto the couch as the music started (All Star). He wasn’t ashamed. He knew every word. It definitely wasn’t because he’d watched Shrek 14 times (and counting). As the chorus came he could feel his toes twitch, and he grinned, tapping away on an imaginary set of drums above his head.
He let out a little elated laugh. His bad mood was diminishing with each chord. Demetri who?
The song was over far too quickly, and it switched to the next one in the playlist. There was a pause in his smile between songs, but when the low, rumbling voice started off with “I’m too sexy…” the grin returned full force.
It didn’t take long before he had rolled off the couch and pushed himself up off the floor. He spun round and swung his hips. He grinned as he danced around to the beat, striking appropriate poses and checking himself out on every semi reflective surface. Half of him sincerely hoped that his neighbours weren’t home, and the other half wished that someone would find him dancing like this, especially when he started popping the buttons of his crinkled white shirt; a compulsory article of clothing for his school.
By the end of the song he had a thin sheen of sweat coating his back, and his shirt had fallen to the sides to reveal a thin line down his torso. He leaned against the table and caught his breath for a minute, letting Bonnie Tyler start the next song without him.
When the chorus started he jumped up onto a chair and started belting out the words, ridiculously off key.
He stayed there for the next verse, grabbing the landline and using it as a microphone.
As the chorus started again, he stepped up to the table, throwing his arms out to steady himself as he almost slipped over. Maybe socks on the hard wood wasn’t the best idea. He was so engrossed in his singing that he almost missed the tinkling of the doorbell.
“Just a sec!” He yelled out, sheepishly climbing down from the table and turning the speaker down
before running down the hall to the door, sliding along the floor and straight into the wall as he tried to stop. He laughed, rubbing his forehead, and pushing off to open the door.
His grin flickered as he took in the person in front of him, essentially extinguished in a shaky exhale. Just his luck that it would be Demetri showing up here, holding the pizzas out with one hand, the other hanging stiffly at his side.
“Oh.” Alistair breathed. As his smile slid off his face, he could feel something heavy sinking into his gut. Why did it have to be him?
“Uh…” Demetri said, squinting a little, as if trying to piece things together, eyes scanning down Alistair’s chest, “Do you have company?”
“No?” Alistair answered. What kind of a question was that? He knew he had a reputation for being a bit of a playboy, but really?
“Oh I just…” Demetri started, realising that the question was probably out of line and fumbling for an explanation, “Your buttons and, uh, you look a little flushed.”
Alistair thought it was weird that Demetri looked a little pleased by his answer, but then, Alistair couldn’t really think about anything as a flush started to creep up Demetri’s neck, spreading onto his face. Really, it was just unfair. Normal humans do not look that cute in some tacky company uniform with their faces all red.
Demetri coughed, smiling as he tried to get away from his blunder, “Pizza!”
Alistair’s smile was polite, and blatantly dishonest. It didn’t reach his eyes, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at Demetri. He was disappointed; he’d spent all that time trying to get his rejection out of his mind. What a waste. He should have gone straight to the liquor cabinet instead.
“Yeah I’ll…” His voice sounded strained even to him as he tried to reply, “I’ll just go get my money.”
He was turning to leave when he heard Demetri speak again, voice laced with concern.
“Are you okay? You seem kind of disappointed.”
Alistair turned back around, his throat drying up. He really did not want to talk about this.
Demetri was looking at his feet, and mumbled, “I’m sorry if I’m not cute enough; I was the only guy on shift.”
Alistair let out an exasperated sigh, “Dude, come on, I think you’re plenty cute, you know that.” That’s the whole fucking problem!
Demetri looked up, mouth hanging partway open, brows pulled together, “What?”
Alistair frowned at that, getting more and more annoyed at having to go over this again, “What do you mean what?”
Demetri just looked more confused, “Why would I know that?”
Alistair dragged the heels of his hands down his face, groaning with embarrassment and frustration, “It was kind of implied in me asking you out!”
Demetri was looking at him like he was mad now, his hands waving about as he spoke. It was lucky he
hadn’t dropped the pizza. “You haven’t asked me out?”
Alistair ran his fingers through his hair. This really was not a conversation he wanted to have. “Yes I have!”
“What? When?” Demetri prompted. This had turned more into an argument than a conversation, frenzied and manic.
“Today!?” Alistair hissed. His face felt like it was on fire and he just wanted to hide, but he couldn’t move, and he couldn’t stop talking. Everything was involuntary. “Demetri, seriously, stop making fun of me.”
Demetri’s eyes widened and he looked offended at the thought of that. “I’m not! You really did not ask me. Tell me when.”
Alistair’s eyes were about to pop out of his head. Why was this conversation still happening? “After fourth? I asked you to have dinner?”
Demetri just looked at him, waiting for him to keep going. As if that was a fact, but didn’t actually provide an explanation to anything.
Alistair looked away; that light switch was suddenly looking very interesting. “With me?”
He glanced back to Demetri, he was still just staring. Alistair didn’t know how to make it much clearer.
“As a date!” Alistair hissed.
Now it was Demetri’s turn for his eyes to bug out, processing the words and screeching, “Wait, what!?”
Alistair groaned, leaning forwards so that his head was pressed against the door frame.
“Can you please slam the door now?” He asked, “I think it would hurt less that this conversation.”
Demetri ignored him, continuing with his meltdown. “That’s what you meant?!” He looked mortified with himself for missing it.
Alistair brought his head back and started banging it against the window next to the door frame. This isn’t at all how he wanted the day to go. He hadn’t even got his pizza yet. It was probably cold now.
Demetri’s hand flew over his mouth as he realized something else. He breathed in deeply as he slid it out of the way. “Shitty shit shitters I said no.”
Alistair groaned, stopping the movement of his neck and letting his head fall still against the window with a gentle thud. “I fucking know okay stop rubbing it in!”
Demetri just looked horrified now, and the panic was leaking into his voice, speeding it up and making the Russian undertones stronger. “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t even realize you were asking.”
“Wait,” Alistair took a step back, lifting his head and looking straight at Demetri, “What?”
Demetri flushed again, glancing nervously at his feet, before strengthening his resolve and setting his sights directly on Alistair, “I mean, if the offer still stands, I get off at seven.”
Alistair could feel his voice about to crack, and he kept his eyes locked on Demetri as he nervously whispered, “Really?”
Demetri’s lips curved into a hesitant smile as he nodded.
“Wow.” Alistair’s grin started creeping back, “Yeah.”
“Yeah?” Demetri parroted, as if after all that Alistair was going to change his mind. His shy nervousness aided the recovery of Alistair’s smile.
“Yeah.” Alistair said again, with certainty. “You could come here; we could watch a movie or something?”
Demetri grinned at this, “You better save me some pizza.” He looked down at the pizza, registering why he was here in the first place. “Oh yeah, speaking of…”
“Right,” Alistair laughed, “I’ll be just a second.” He retrieved his wallet from on the table smiling to himself. Maybe this was exactly how he should have wanted his day to go.
He got back to the door, and traded money for the pizza box, and the bag containing the drink and the dessert. He kept catching eyes with Demetri and flushing. He couldn’t stop the smile that was threatening to split his face in half.
“I should probably go back to work.” Demetri said, with a sheepish grin. He started walking backwards down the path, not wanting to look away from Alistair, “I’ll be back at seven!”
He turns away and keeps going down the path, Alistair watching from the doorway. Then he stopped, turning around and walking back. His sheepish grin was still there, but there was something else to it now that Mensa couldn’t place.
“I forgot to give you something!” Demetri said.
Alistair tilted his head a little, squinting with confusion. The drink and dessert had both been in the bag. He hadn’t ordered anything else had he? He was about to query it, but then Demetri’s hand was grasping his shirt and tugging him forwards and their lips were pressing together and Alistair’s eyes were closed and his brain was short circuiting and his knees were weak and just wow.
Demetri pulled away with a grin, flattening his palms against Alistair’s chest.
“Sorry.” He said sheepishly, “I couldn’t wait.”
Alistair smiled, ducking back in to press another chaste kiss on Demetri’s lips, before pushing him back down the path. “I’ll see you at seven.”
“I think this piece really promotes the normality of LGBT+ people and relationships. The fact that the characters are gay or bisexual is never explicitly addressed, they’re just regular teenagers, with regular relationship problems and regular worries. Nothing is changed by their sexuality, they’re just teenagers.”