Random Thoughts

Strangers With Benefits

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Written by Pink-Butterfly

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Episode 6

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Once again, Nate Davidson stayed behind in the art room after school hours like he always did. 

He had always had a love for drawing and painting from a young age.

The paint speaks to him in a way that makes him feel at ease.

Today, his subconscious mind created a sunset behind a row of trees. The trees were black as shadows, giving off a feeling of the unknown. And the sky was painted a mixture of orange and yellow with the black of the night seeping from above.

It wasn’t anything extraordinary but Nate thought it to be nice.

At least, that’s what Ivan Carey would say.

His only one true friend in school.

“Wow. Look who’s here. The loner “.

Nate gulps at the familiar voice.

Which is never good.

The same person who’s known for bullying and never gets tired of it.

Bryant.

One of the members of the football team in school.

Who is basically worshipped by the top social circle in school.

But none of them worship him as much as they worship the captain himself, Nathan.

Nate kept his eyes on the canvas trying to ignore the people who have entered until it is taken away from him.

Forcing him to look at them.

“Isn’t this pretty ?”. Bryant jokes knocking his confidence out the winDow, as he throws the canvas to the floor followed with a chorus of laughter behind.

Nate sighed shrugging it off as he was already used to their actions.

He stood up grabbing his bag not bothering to reply them.

“The silent treatment. Really?”. Bryant says as he doesn’t utter a word of acknowledgement towards them.

Nate carries on walking to the door ignoring their presence but stops when the door is slammed shut in front of him forcing him to face his bullies.

“You need to learn some manners, Naty-Nate”. Bryant mocks and before he could realize it, a thick layer of liquid flowed down his back traveling down and Nate immediately knew it was paint.

He struggled to hold in his tears as another cup of paint starts pouring down his back again.

It was too humiliating but he was weak to stop it.

“Man! This is so much fun “. Bryant laughs out pouring dark blue paint directly over his head.

The paint fell down Nate’s face as it got stuck in his hair while he clammed his lips shut to avoid it going into his mouth.

“There! Now you are a work of art yourself “. Bryant patted his head as more laughs are heard.

“Hey!! What are you guys doing ?”.  A voice yells out from the doorway.

Nate wiped the majority of the paint from his eyes and mouth to look at the person who has opened the door.

“Just having some fun, Jeremy, don’t worry about it!”.

Nate looked at Jeremy and could tell he’s unamused by the actions.

He admired the boy in front of him. From his raven shiny hair, to his tanned flawless face.

His shoulders are broad and arms looked muscular under the long sleeved uniform shirt.

Only then did he recall who this is.

Jeremy Scott.

Nathan’s best friend.

“Bryant, leave ! Now!”. He says with such order that surprised Nate when the boys began to leave.

Bryant began to leave with a snigger as he laughed.

“Next time loner!”.

Tears roll down his cheeks as the footsteps leave.

Jeremy sighed as he reached over and tried to wipe the paint off his face. “Sorry about that, he’s a jerk “.

“T-Thank you!”. Nate replied letting out a small smile.

“So uhh, it’s a coincidence coming by here and helping you out with your bullies but I wasn’t here for that...”. Jeremy looks around. “I dropped by to talk to a certain Ivan Carey, do you have any idea where he might be ? I thought he was supposed to be here since he’s in the Art club. I need to talk to him “.

“Oh !”. Nate muttered. “Ivan left early “.

“Right !”.

Jeremy hummed as he picked up the canvas on the floor. “This is really good “.

Nate’s eyes widened at the compliment as he wasn’t expecting it.

“Even though Bryant threw it to the floor, I still think it’s really good. You are very talented—“. He paused looking at the boy in front of him. “What’s your name ?”.

“Oh! Nate Davidson”.

“Nate!”. A small smirk grew on his face as he returned the canvas back. “Well my name is Jeremy. Nice to meet you. And I hope I see you around again “.

“Nice painting!”. He compliments me again as he leaves the room.

Nate smiles as he goes.

Even though he just got drenched in paint.

Something about Jeremy made his heart flutter.

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“Nathan! Are you free tomorrow night? My parents won’t be home “. Jana said in her sickening sugar coated sweet voice as her body pressed against him while her finger traced his chest.

She looked up at him with a flirty gaze biting her lip.

Nathan gagged internally.

If it had been just three months earlier, he would have gladly fucked the sense out of her pretty head.

But at that moment, he couldn’t help but feel revolted by her offer.

Her lips were too glossy, her eyes were too flirty, her voice was too high pitches although he used to love it, all these were now awkward for him.

The only thing he could think of as Jana pressed her body onto him; was a certain someone’s soft and blotchy lips-mainly from biting on them, deep and thick voice, unkempt hair, soft skin, the smell of fresh laundry and the sweet taste of honey.

As if on cue, Ivan turned the corner to find Nathan, pressed against a wall with a girl from their class playing with his uniform tie.

For some reason, Nathan was suddenly swallowed by the feelings of guilt, his hands becoming slightly colder and clammy with his chest tightly constricting.

It was like he had the urge to apologize to Ivan and explain that Jana was no one to him.

Why was that?

Was Ivan Carey someone to him ?

They weren’t dating, they didn’t have any relationship going on and if it weren’t for their occasional-more and more frequent hookups.

“Sorry, Jana. What you and I had was a one time thing”. He said with a smile pushing her off gently and walking inside the classroom after Ivan.

He sat on his usual seat waiting for Hal and Jordan with whom he shared most of his classes with, except Maths.

Taking out his things as students slowly piled onto the room, Nathan was soon completely immersed in a group of friends from the class and the one next door.

He had always been popular, mostly because he had many talents and participated in a lot of school things.

His title of captain of the football team did help him too of course.

The chatterboxes in the class were very loud, the students were catching up after the weekend and some were already fooling around before first period, talking amongst themselves and laughing along.

It filled the classroom with the sounds of chairs being dragged to form small groups of friends and loud teenagers talking about nothing and everything at the same time.

He was in a conversation with others and when the attention wasn’t fully on him, Nathan tried to steal a few glances at Ivan who was merely by himself at the back of the class.

It was almost amusing how extremely out of place Ivan looked in the light hearted and social environment.

He had his books opened on the desk, writing down things that Nathan couldn’t possibly see from far, earphones were plugged into his ears, but he wasn’t smiling, he didn’t hum, and he didn’t even bob his head to whatever music that he was playing on his phone.

Ivan wore his unbothered expression simply working on whatever he was doing.

Nathan scooped out his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text to the other, before placing it back into the pocket of his uniform slacks, thankfully not catching anyone’s attention.

The ding of his phone was heard softly, no one really paying attention to it, except Nathan, who looked at Ivan as he took his phone out of his own pocket and checked the message.

He then placed it back into his pocket and stood up not looking at Nathan once as he left the classroom.

Nathan smirked and followed him out a couple of seconds later, not without telling his friends he would be back in a moment.

He joined Ivan who was waiting at the corner of the empty hallway just like the sent text had said.

“Jana doesn’t mean anything to me “. Nathan said cutting the chase as his chest became light after revealing what was hoarding him.

Ivan rolled his eyes.

“I don’t care if you choose to fuck with other people “. He mumbled. “That’s none of my business “.

He then proceeded to leave Nathan alone which made him disappointed.

Had he wanted Ivan to be jealous ?

Sort of.

But if Ivan was okay with him fucking around with other people, did that mean he also does it ?

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TBC

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Written by Pink-Butterfly