Dex knew his fate was sealed the moment Keefe Sencen walked into his room.
He hadn’t reacted when Biana walked in, though everyone expected him to. He didn’t even flinch when Sophie Foster plopped down next to him, flashing him a small smile. The way the rest of his friends looked at him put him at unease; like Sophie next to him was a ticking time bomb that was about to erupt at any moment. Dex cringed at the thought of it.
“Thanks for having me here,” said Linh to Juline as she set down her bags, her usual sweetness proud on display. She nodded at Dex, as if to say the sentiment was for him too.
“Yeah, Dexy, we’re eternally grateful,” Keefe said, grinning ear to ear.
Dex sighed. It wasn’t fair that Keefe Sencen and his stupid blond hair and his stupid endearing smirk and his stupid pretty eyes were always the centre of Dex’s attention. Even next with Biana, who practically a super model with her full cheeks and teal eyes, Keefe seemed to take the spotlight. And it was hard to pretend you didn’t have a crush on someone that you were always looking at.
“What do you guys normally do on sleepovers?” Sophie asked, applying a layer of lip balm. It was a habit she’d picked up to replace her other habit of pulling out her eyelashes.
Tam looked around for a moment before answering. “Linh and I don’t really do sleepovers. And the rest of you look just as clueless.”
The small awkward chuckles from everyone confirmed this.
“Then let’s do this human style!” Sophie said, and there was a shadow of an evil grin as she did so. Dex cocked his head to his side.
“And what would be the first step, Foster?” Keefe said, after a moment of dramatic silence.
“A game,” Sophie said, then smiled. “Spin the bottle? Seven in minutes in heaven?”
Fitz seemed to be the only one in the room who knew what Sophie was talking about, as evidenced by him nearly choking by the water he was drinking. Biana took this as opportunity to aggressively slap his back. Life saving measures, as she called it.
“Thanks Bia,” Fitz muttered, straightening up and adjusting his glasses. His face was still noticeably red. “You know, from what I’ve heard of those games, they can get really M-rated really fast.”
“…M-rated…?” Marella said, furrowing her eyebrows.
“It’s a human system for rating how mature movies and films are,” Dex jumped in, proud of his amateur knowledge of human technology.
“See, you said words in a sentence, but I only understand them as words in a sentence.”
“Whatever,” Sophie rolled her eyes. “We’re teenagers. And besides, what’s there to do if not play stupid games?”
That seemed to convince everyone.
So, they all sat in a circle, as per Sophie’s instructions. Right opposite Dex was Keefe, who was tapping his fingers against his pants, smirking at no one particular. Biana sat down next to him, and that seemed to bring everyone’s gaze to the two of them. Ugh. Couldn’t a guy get over his non-existent crush in peace?
“See that bottle over there?” Sophie asked, pointing to the object in the centre of the circle.
“That’s a crystal.”
“Shut up Stina,” Sophie said. “Well, one person has to spin the crystal and kiss whoever it points to. We take turns with who spins it, so everyone participates equally.”
Everyone exchanged looks with each other.
“I told you it wasn’t PG,” Fitz muttered.
“PG?” Marella asked.
Sophie rolled her eyes. “We don’t have to play it, obviously, but I thought it might be fun. It’s not like any of us are dating anyone, right?”
Everyone collectively muttered no. Dex did so while staring at Keefe.
“Great,” Sophie said, clapping her hands together. “Who wants to go first?”
“Why not you, Foster?” Keefe said. “You suggested this game. Seems fair.”
“Mean,” Sophie muttered, rolling her eyes. “Fine, cowards.”
She spun the crystal, and everyone eyed the purple jewel, wondering who it would land on. The moment slowed down, to Dex. All he could think was please not Keefe, please not Keefe, as the crystal spun. Slowly, it stopped, pointing its sharp edge toward Marella.
Marella smiled wryly at Sophie. “Well, well, well.”
“Well, well, well indeed.”
“What happens now?” Marella asked.
“I come up and kiss you.”
“Then do that.”
Sophie moved to Marella, who was sitting two spots to her right. The two blondes made mischievous eye contact before lightly kissing. For Dex, it was awkward. Not because he was watching his best friend/cousin/ex-crush his one of his best friends, but because he had no idea what to do.
“Well, that was awkward,” Stina muttered when the two pulled away.
“Disagree,” Sophie and Marella said at the same time. They smirked at each other and winked – winked! – before returning to their spots.
“Who wants to spin?” Sophie said, eyeing everyone in the room. Either everyone was too afraid to kiss someone, or too afraid to admit they wanted to. Dex tried not to think about where he landed on that scale. “Ugh, fine then, Keefe, you spin.”
“Why me?” Keefe said, playfully glaring at Sophie.
“Because you suggested I go first,” Sophie said, a Keefe-level smirk on her face.
“Fair enough.”
Keefe spun the crystal, and this time, Dex was begging that it was him. Or that it wasn’t anyone else. The best outcome right now was if the crystal decided to fly itself to the Forbidden Cities. But that didn’t happen. The crystal slowed to a stop…
…right in front of Fitz.
Dex felt his heartrate speed up. No way. But it was true.
Keefe had his smirk on his face, kind of like his usual one, but it seemed etched on his skin this time, deeper, like it wasn’t going to leave. His cheeks didn’t take on even the palest shade of red, opposite to Fitz, who looked like a tomato in glasses.
“Come on, Fitzy, we know you want to,” Keefe egged on. Behind his glasses, Fitz rolled his eyes.
“Whatever,” Fitz said, obviously trying to play it cool. Dex bit his lip. He wasn’t even trying to be unexcited for this.
Keefe put his hands on Fitz’s knee – subconsciously? – and pulled him into a kiss. It only lasted a second, but it was longest second Dex ever had to endure. There Keefe was, hardly five feet away from him, kissing Fitz Vacker oh-so delicately. He could see Keefe’s blond eyelashes flutter against Fitz’s skin, which was turning redder by the second. How could they communicate that much pining in one kiss?
It took a second for Fitz – and Dex – to come to when they pulled away. Fitz looked dazed, like someone had taken his brain, scrambled and shoved it right back in his head, only this time with rose-tinted images of Keefe floating around.
“Oh my God,” Fitz muttered, blinking fast and breathing had.
“Relax, that was the most kid-friendly kiss I’ve ever had,” Keefe teased, and Dex did not want to decode that.
“I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”
“Aw, come on, don’t lie to me, Fitzy. I could feel the romantic-sexual tension through our very scandalous skin-to-skin contact. Perks of being an empath.”
Fitz threw the pillow he had been hugging to Keefe’s face.
“Hey! Not the hair!” Keefe groaned, bringing his hands to his head to fluff up his hair. Dex had half a mind to tell him that even with mud slicked hair, Keefe looked amazing. But other, sane part of his mind told him to keep his mouth shut.
“This is so boring,” Stina scoffed.
“Is not!” Sophie jumped in, ever ready to argue with Stina.
“Well, maybe not for you. But for the rest of us…” Stina glanced over at Linh, Tam and Biana, who were sitting there, trying to avoid eye contact with Sophie.
“I mean, a little bit,” Biana chimed in.
“Fine, then,” Sophie said, but she didn’t seem disappointed at all. In fact, she seemed pleased. “Let’s modify the game.”
“Anything in mind, Foster?” Keefe asked, reaching his chin higher than normal to check his reflection against Dex’s mirror.
“The pair that the bottle chooses has to spend seven minutes alone in a closet – do you have a closet we could use, Dex?”
“That one is fine,” Dex said, pointing his finger toward a pair of closet doors no one had noticed. It could easily fit two people.
“Perfect!” Sophie grinned. “Now it’ll only be awkward for the two inside the closet. The rest of us can gossip.
“So…seven minutes in heaven?” Fitz said, and Sophie jovially shushed him.
“Sounds fun,” Biana smirked. “I’m in.”
“Same,” the rest of the group agreed. Dex chimed in too, but secretly, his heart was going a mile a minute.
“Great,” Sophie said. “Now, someone has to go who hasn’t already…Dex! You do it!”
Sophie tossed Dex the crystal, which Dex caught – ahem – dexterously. He stared at the purple crystal with his periwinkle eyes, contemplating his life choices for a second before nodded.
“And…go!” Sophie said, grinning ear to ear. Dex tried to imitate her expression, but he must have just looked weird.
The crystal spun and spun and spun, almost as if someone had rigged it. Come on, just stop. Dex begged the inanimate object, hoping to end his moment of misery and excitement. In truth, a part of him wanted to do this, but only if it was with a certain blond boy named Keefe who it was likely not to be.
He thought this right as the crystal spun to a stop, in front of none other than Keefe Sencen.
Time stood still. The air in the room became stale for a moment as Dex’s eyes bore into Keefe’s. For that second, Keefe’s expression wasn’t its usual smirk; no, it was something else, something rawer. But that moment was gone, and so was the vulnerability, replaced by his signature smirk.
“Dexyyy,” Keefe said, standing up, his platonic-bro-dude voice, which happened to be Dex’s least favourite voice of Keefe’s. “Let’s do this!”
“Let’s,” Dex squeaked out. Keefe raised an eyebrow; he must have noticed Dex’s apprehension. Subtly, he leaned to Dex’s ear level.
“You know, we don’t have to do anything in the closet. We don’t have to even go there if you don’t want to,” Keefe said in a low voice. Dex sharply inhaled, turning red. When since did he become Fitz Vacker?
“No, it’s okay,” a moment passed before Dex added, “I want to.”
That expression appeared on Keefe’s face – only this time there was a hint of smile on it. It was weird, and not in a bad way. His eyebrows didn’t seem arched to accent his usual smirk, which was now a small smile. It even softened his normally piercing eyes.
“You guys gonna make out here instead?” Tam grinned. Keefe scoffed.
“You wish, Tammy boy,” How did Keefe have such chemistry with everyone?
Tam rolled his eyes, and held up a pathfinder, the time blinking in an out of sight in the corner – kind of similar to a human phone. “We only start timing from when you go in.”
Keefe stuck his tongue out at Tam, but didn’t send a snappy remark his way. Instead, the blond grabbed Dex’s wrist tightly and dragged him inside the closet, shutting the door behind them. Dex fumbled against the wall, before switching on a very dim bulb that hung from the ceiling. Keefe whistled as he looked around.
“Not too bad for fashion, Dexy,” Keefe said as he inspected one of Dex’s jerkins.
“Yeah, that’s my favourite jerkin,” Dex said, looping his fingers in the drawstrings of his hoodie. “My dad gave it to me.”
Keefe stayed silent to that, admiring it for a moment before picking up another piece. It was a human T-shirt, one among the many he’d collected from Sophie or the Black Swan. This one was had a giant W in it, and he distinctly remember Sophie not telling him what the W meant. Keefe opened his mouth to speak, with his hand pointing at the shirt, but Dex was done with it.
“Oh, comeon,” Dex huffed, folding his hands across his chest. “We’re stuck in a closet playing a human kissing game and you want to talk fashion?”
Keefe stayed quiet for a moment, the only proof that he wasn’t a statue being his ever-so-slightly raised eyebrow.
Dex turned red. Fuck, shit, fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did he say that? Keefe Sencen had no obligation to kiss him, no matter how badly he wanted him to. And now Dex was going to ruin his friendship with Keefe over a stupid crush. A stupid, stupidly long, stupid crush.
Keefe seemed to choose his words carefully. “And I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about clothes?”
Dex shook his head. Keefe smirked.
“What do you want to talk about?” Keefe asked.
Dex opened his mouth to talk, but no words came out. What could he say? Didn’t he just technically admit his crush on Keefe? And what did Keefe’s reaction (or rather, lack thereof) mean?
Keefe must have noticed Dex’s frozen state, because he dropped the joking demeanour and decided a different approach. “What about... instead of talking, we… try something else?”
If Dex was drinking water, he would’ve choked on it.
“I mean, we are playing a kissing game, after all.” Keefe said, stalking closer to Dex. He took Dex’s hand and gingerly squeezed it, as if to tell him what he was going to do. Dex’s chance to pull out, it seemed.
Dex squeezed back. Three times, just to make sure. With that confirmation in mind, Keefe smiled softly, dropping Dex’s hand and placing one on his cheek, and the other resting on Dex’s shoulder. Carefully, Dex, did the same, resting one hand atop Keefe’s head and the other loosely gripping Keefe’s arm. Keefe left a moment’s wait between them, a final are you sure, before the two kissed.
After his unfortunate moment with Sophie, he’d expected the worst. But this? This was so different.
And so much better.
There was imperfection in the way they clumsily met in the middle, with both their lips trembling against each other’s. Dex felt Keefe’s hand grip tighter and his eyelashes flutter against Dex’s skin. Dex felt himself clutching Keefe’s hair for dear life; tight enough to pull it out. But there was unmistakable chemistry, want, desire, in the kiss.
Dex understood Fitz’s earlier dazed state when they pulled apart. It felt unreal, but very much real, as evidenced by the lingering spark on Dex’s lips. It took a moment for him to recognise the blond boy in who was smiling sideways at him. Not quite a smirk; something softer, something reserved just for Dex.
“Holy shit,” Dex said, and immediately regretted his choice of words.
Keefe snorted. “Holy shit indeed.”
Dex could see it in Keefe’s eyes; he was just as flustered. Even by not being an empath, Keefe’s emotions were clear on his face. Even his winning smirk couldn’t hide it.
Dex didn’t let the silence sit for long. “Now what?”
Keefe stared at Dex quizzically, who simply rolled his eyes.
“Come on, Keefe. We just kissed in a closet. And don’t try and tell me it was just for the game or whatever. You wanted to, even if we didn’t have to. I wanted to. I still want to.”
The words seemed so dangerous; they could so easily make or break the teetering tower of their relationship. Dex felt his heart pounding against his chest. There was no doubt about how he felt about Keefe; it was all in the open air.
“Then what if we did it again?” Keefe asked, stepping forward again. Dex pursed his lips.
“Not without knowing what we are.” Dex said firmly, but he was panicking on the inside. Had he gone too far? He was ruining it, wasn’t he?
Keefe paused on the spot, letting the silence sit for long enough to have Dex properly worried, before speaking. “What about boyfriends?”
Dex paused before he replied, even though he already knew the answer. “Boyfriends sound good.”
Keefe smiled, and that made Dex smile too. “Great. Can I kiss you now?”
Dex laughed warmly, nodding as he did so. This time Keefe’s hands were both in Dex’s hair, and Dex had his arms wrapped around Keefe’s waist. It was less nervous last time, more casual – the kind of thing Dex could get used to.
“Seven minutes is up!” Stina called from outside the closet. “Stop making out in there and let the rest of us have a go!”
This time, when the two pulled apart, they were smiling. Grinning, in fact. Dex tried to tamp down the smile on his face but failed miserably.
“We’re coming!” Keefe called. He turned to Dex. “You ready?”
Dex nodded. “It’s getting stuffy in here.”
The first thing Dex noticed when he stepped out of the closet was the blinding lights of his room. The second was the curious expressions plastered on everyone’s faces.
“So… you guys look… red…” Tam said. Linh elbowed her brother, glaring at him.
“God forbid I kiss my boyfriend.” Keefe scoffed, but there was a smirk on his face. For a moment, there was confused looks and not-so-secret glances exchanged among the group, but a moment later, it erupted into cheers.
“Finally,” Sophie scoffed. “I could sense the pining from a mile away.”
The rest of the crew nodded with a smirk on their faces. Dex gasped.
“What? You all knew?” Dex said in disbelief. “No way. You were all so weird about me when Sophie or Biana entered the room.”
“Uh, yeah, because the two of them had a bet with each other to see if the two of you were dating or not earlier today. Were you?” Stina said, ever the pioneer of no-bullshit.
“No, we weren’t,” Dex spluttered. At the same time, Sophie groaned, and Biana cheered.
“Ha!” Biana grinned. “That’s twenty lusters.”
“Mean.” Sophie said, as she dropped some coins in Biana’s hand.
“Dex wasn’t the only one who made it obvious,” Fitz chimed in. “Keefe’s eyes were practically hearts whenever he looked at Dex.”
“Not true!” Keefe jumped in, turning a dark shade of red.
“I don’t have to be an empath to sense you were crushing hard.” Fitz smirked, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Whatever,” Keefe said, laying back. He stretched his arm out and Dex took it as his chance to lay his head on Keefe’s shoulder, which he did very not-awkwardly, thank you very much.
The others chattered animatedly among themselves, the game quickly forgotten, it seemed. Keefe’s hand reached for Dex’s, and the two’s fingers intertwined. Sharing a quick glance, they squeezed each other’s hand three times, just to make sure it was real.