Chapter 7: Heat

At the risk of being a label monger, let me start out by saying that Woody Allen once quipped that he could never be bis*xual because it would only double his chances of being alone on a Saturday night (or something along those lines). Well, Woody obviously never met Pete, who, in the course of one night, reconnected with an old girlfriend and got his rocks off in bed with his best friend.

The title of this chapter is Stay, but I think an alternative title should be Heat. Heat plays a very important and palpable role in the action that takes place throughout this chapter as if it is a character in the story pulling strings and making things happen. Heat is introduced in the cab ride home, when Pete looks down to see Earn's head resting on his chest, and the image melts Pete's animosity as he feels the heat from Earn's body pouring into him, in spite, so Pete tells us, of the A/C in cab being on full blast.

Heat reemerges after Pete gets Earn into his room at which point Earn declares, "Oi! It's Hooooot!" The heat makes Earn a rowdy drunk, as he swings from being compliant to being demanding and at times incoherent and drunkenly, albeit in a lovingly way, delusional. Once again, he declares how hot it is but this time, the heat in the room prompts Earn to strip down to his boxers and crash on the bed, a move that proves decisive a short while later. Pete also succumbs to the effects of heat and strips down to shorts before laying down to sleep. While reaching to turn on some music, he stumbles across the A/C remote and turns it on, but things only get hotter (in every sense) from here.

The boys toss and turn trying to sleep but eventually end up face to face a few inches away where Earn's hot and heavy breathing heats Pete's face as Earn wraps his arm around Pete. While feigning cold, Earn encircles Pete, who now starts feeling the heat in his own body building. Eventually Pete admits to feeling like a fire has been ignited in him, that he senses their hot bare skin melting together, and that his heart is racing as if he's going to have a heart attack. From now on, the emotional heat will match the physical heat until the of the action between them.

The boys, drunk as they are, make a pretty lively mutual love fest. 
Pete starts off questioning what they are doing and whether it's right, even trying to break free, but only half-heartedly. It doesn't take long until he's lost in the moment and all the sensations he's experiencing. Eventually, the heat must be expelled and they enter into a mutual ion scene that ends, predictably, in a hot messy for both of them. Exit heat. Enter cold. Not cold sobriety, but cold reality brining along its accompanying questions and doubts.

The post coital thoughts that immediately enter Pete's mind (almost as quickly as Earn drops off to sleep) are almost all posed as questions. What have we done? Was it a weird s*x dream? Did it really just happen? And these are the things running through his mind as he slips into unconsciousness.

I thought this picked up pretty well from where the previous chapter ended. I'll venture a guess that a sober and reflective morning after is where we're headed, which is an entirely different place these boys end in this chapter, so ending a drunken s*xual encounter with a drift into unconsciousness works for me. Leaving him asking these questions is, I think, a good segue into the next chapter and what this night might or might not mean to these boys. Will it mean the same or different things to them? Will it just be disregarded as a one time drunken indiscretion? Is this the deepening of their relationship? So on we shall read to hopefully find our answers.

I thought the music selection was good and fit the s*x scene well, although it would not have been long enough to last to the end if I had not thought ahead and set it to auto beforehand (I know myself too well and I always read through s*x scenes slowly anyway). I would suggest tagging another suitable song to solve this (Pete already has his phone on shuffle in the story anyway). 

There's one thing I'd like to question because I think I may be misunderstanding something. What was the point of the two "girls" trying to kidnap Earn? Why were they there since they didn't really contribute to the story, other than to show how Earn's friends still had his back (but I never really thought that they had abandoned him for real anyway)? They could have just noticed him passed out and ignored by the music club members and decided to help him. I was just confused a bit by that.

And finally, while I know alcohol is being used as a plot device to free the boys of their inhibitions, I personally think the level of drunkenness is a bit much. If Phun and Noh had spent several hours downing mystery drinks, multiple beers and straight vodka shots before their first s*xual encounter, it never would have happened (my own first time either for that matter - LOL). I think the level of intoxication needs to be lessened a bit to make it more believable and seem more natural. But that's just me. Not everyone will share this opinion. 

I look forward as always to where this story is headed. It's an ambitious arc and it takes a long reading to fully appreciate it. It's getting to where I'm starting to feel like I need to go back and read the previous chapter again before I read the new one. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that's bad. I did that reading the original novel once I caught up to the translated chapters at P'Kuda's. When you wait between chapters, you lose touch with the story. At least I feel I do, so it helps keep you in the zone.

 

Chapter 8: Ringtone

This is a shoe drop chapter. Our hero had a spit swapping and j*rkoff session with his best friend at the end of the last chapter and fell asleep trying to dispel his concerns about the consequences in its aftermath. The suspense in this chapter hinges almost entirely on waiting for the other shoe to drop when we find out how Earn feels about what they did. It turns out to be a much more enjoyable wait for us to read about than it is for Pete to live through.

The opening hangover is not only expected but practically mandated. The twist is that Pete wakes up alone, setting the stage for his quest to find out what the night before was all about. It is essential that for the author’s story arc that Pete not embrace the prior night’s actions as a watershed moment in any real sense, and he has to take comfort in being able to recall that Earn was the initiator and kissed him first, rather than have him admit to enjoying the s*x a little bit along the way. This reaction is not unexpected considering how the previous chapter ended, and although it may be disappointing to some readers, this chapter also contains the reason why later on.

So our hero jumps in, hangover and all, and heads to school where his suffering is just intensified. His first sight of Earn is almost too much for him to process. He feels physically sick, and immediately starts rationalizing and trying to figure out how to approach him. There is an interesting reveal in this panic, however: “What if he remembers what we did, then what? Do I just blow it off like nothing? It was nothing, I think.” So he’s not as convinced as he built himself up to be earlier in the morning. Hmm… We get a brief lesson on the classroom organization chart and then Pete gets his first chance to gauge Earn's response to the previous night by asking how he slept, but Earn’s reaction convinces Pete that he knows what they did. But class ends abruptly and Earn uses the distraction to flee the classroom and Pete’s stomach sinks. When Card tells him that Earn’s been down all morning and gets quiet and red-faced whenever Pete’s name comes up, Pete becomes determined to try to resolve this before he loses his friend.

Pete’s quest resumes at lunch, as he looks for Earn and frets about losing his best friend and brother over something like this. His day takes a big upswing when he gets a fortuitous text from Lhew, who teasingly flirts with Pete, brightening his mood by calling him penguin. She also gives him the all important suggestion that puts him onto Per’s trail for some advice on his "relationship problem" with Earn. Pete discretely engages Per in his “relationship problem” and after some pretty humorous teasing and joking, Per hands over what Pete needs to make a breakthrough, to wit, “It’s only awkward if you make it awkward!” Armed and encouraged, Pete calls Earn and finds out where he is. As he races to the opposite end of the campus, the anticipation builds as to what he’s going to say to Earn to try and regain what he fears has been slipping away since the previous night.

The (sorry) is at hand (sorry again) as Pete approaches Earn and asks why he’s been avoiding him. As a thoroughly red faced Earn apologizes for having a wet dream on Pete in the night, Pete’s built up tension fuels his release of an explosion of laughter and relief. Earn remembers nothing, and actually thinks it’s his fault. After assuring Earn, he is completely forgiven and that Pete still has his back, Earn affectionately throws an arm on Pete’s shoulder, but this elicits a heated reaction inside Pete’s body such that he notices, and he finally has to knock Earn’s arm off to squelch it from developing further. Hmm… The bullet has been dodged and the reset button successfully hit. The other shoe has now dropped, but we get a 2-fer this chapter. And it is here where we learn why the previous night was not a watershed moment for Pete. With his mood flipping a 180, Pete next calls Lhew to tell her how things turned out, but his elevated mood entices him to start flirting with her almost immediately and she playfully responds in kind. The next thing we know, Pete is asking her out on a date as the banter and flirting continue. After agreeing to meet up, the chapter ends with Pete on cloud 9 with his sights set on the live music competition.

I had previously expressed the hope that Pete would not backslide in the questioning his feelings and reactions toward Earn, but I do not by any means find him doing so unbelievable. In fact, it’s more accurate and authentic for him to do so. He is 17, after all, and in a process of self-discovery and we are along for the ride. A ride whose destination we don’t really know. There are the pair of clues in this story that Pete leaves us to tell us that there could be more to his feelings toward Earn than he’s willing to acknowledge right now, but we are going to have to let him share that when he’s ready.

The buildup of mood in this chapter is terrific and smartly advanced as we approach the end. From a horrible morning filled with dread to an anxious morning swimming in doubt, we get delivered into an afternoon of hope and a closing scene filled with triumph. The best part about the ending is that we get to wait for two new shoes to drop in the future; the one involving Lhew and the now the music competition. These are great set-ups to the future arc of the story. Great pacing as usual. Waiting in anticipation for more. Thanks.

 

Chapter 9: Lights

My first thought was that it must be penguin season or something. Everybody wants a piece of Pete. 

A fun opening segment with the boys practicing for the live competition and arguing over how to pick the songs they’ll be playing is just the start to this lively read. In the ebb and flow of banter among them, we see more personality emerge from Por and Card, and their freshman drummer, Hack. The arguing abates when Pete suggests an acceptable compromise to everyone. We also get to see Earn rest a hand on Pete’s shoulder and make him feel hot and uncomfortable. After a playfully smug Earn demonstrates his cleverness by explaining his strategic pick of Change by the Deftones (Ohm’s favorite band) as the first song chosen for their set, he goes thoughtfully silent when asked about which song he’d pick to win Noh to their side, finally promising to get back to them. This tie to the novel is a smart way to introduce this chapter which really strikes out on its own from this point forward, because this the night of Pete’s date with Lhew. 

Earn doesn’t know who Lhew is, but he’s very enthusiastic for Pete, which again, makes Pete conscious of Earn’s dimples, his lisp, and that he finds Earn somehow adorable. Once at the mall, Pete’s first surprise of the evening happens immediately after he gets out of his parked car when Lhew sneaks up and playfully scares him. His reaction to seeing her and how she looks pretty much set the tone for the date. He playfully covers her eyes as they snake up the escalators in the mall while he leads her to the location of their date, but when he removes his hands and reveals that they are in an arcade, Lhew throws him a curve ball by expressing disbelief and feigned outrage, only to spin it around with a “just kidding” and a protruding tongue. Lhew is an upbeat fun girl with a mischievous streak and a quick mind and she jumps right into the date warning Pete that she’s going kick his a*s. They spend the entire rest of their evening having a blast with each other, completely forgetting to eat. They then enter into a playful back and forth over McDonalds or something pricier, but when Pete declares that he’s willing to spend more on her, she blushes and he finds her embarrassment cute. So through their fun, we get to see the authenticity in their interactions and how their personalities mesh in a very natural and appealing way. 

Over their food, Lhew asks about band practice, and when Pete gripes about Earn picking all the songs, Lhew responds that he sounds bossy and not like a person she’d want to be around. After Pete responds with a thoughtful and revealing defense of his friend, she comments how well Pete knows Earn, and then teases Pete that he and Earn would make a great couple making Pete choke on his drink. This reaction results in Pete assuring her that he’s “not like that” and he and Earn are just best friends while breaking into a sweat seeing images of Earn’s lust filled face in his mind. When she replies that a bunch of things start with just being friends, she offers him some fries dipped in her ice cream and caramel sundae, setting him up for a joke that goes completely over his innocent and inexperienced head. This girl is more than meets the eye and not unsurprisingly more mature than Pete.

The ride to drop Lhew off at home is spent joking and singing along to songs, but it also brings to Pete’s mind the singing he and Earn shared before the soccer event. After a pleasant exchange at the end of the date, Lhew finds that she cannot open her door to exit Pete’s car, causing Pete to have to lean across to force it open. As he stretches across Lhew’s lap, he suddenly leans in and kisses her which pretty much rocks his world (he sees multicolored lights, hence the title) and the kiss arouses him as well. He drives home with his head up in the clouds thinking about what a bada*s he is for getting his first kiss, but of course he immediately realizes he is completely mistaken, and the memory of being with Earn steams him up in spite of the A/C being on full blast. He turns up the music and tells himself that Lhew is the one he likes, and Earn is his best friend.

Earn haunts Pete throughout this chapter either by touching Pete casually, smiling at him or in popping up in Pete's memories. The end holds a really strong image in the first kiss/not a first kiss scenario. To my mind, that is a very telling slip that reveals how divided Pete is in his head right now about how he feels. Lhew is a fun and interesting girl who has a good sense of herself and is very open-minded. She likes Pete and he likes her, enough to ask her out and take her on a fun date, and even to kiss her at the end. But he also can’t seem to get Earn out of his head, even while on his date with Lhew. Memories surface spontaneously, and Lhew picks up instantly that Pete and Earn are close. She claims to have been joking when teasing Pete about he and Earn making a good couple, but was she? Does she see more than Pete does? He’s telling the story, but she’s more mature and seems to know more than he ever let on to even himself, let alone to her. I like the introduction of a dynamic character to expand the story and give it more authenticity and depth. Lhew looks like she’s going to play a decisive role in pushing Pete forward one way or the other. It often takes a character like that to foster such changes in real life too. I hope Lhew sticks around for a while because I like her. This is very interesting and enjoyable. Thank you.

 

Chapter 10: Serenade

This chapter is a feast of emotional cross-talk from Pete.  Typical 17 year-old guys are pretty much ready to find s*x in almost anything, but Pete drives on both sides of road the entire distance of this chapter, and this is a long one for sure.  My main focus is on Pete’s mental and emotional struggle, but before diving in, I want to mention the increasing character development of the wingmen, Por and Card.  I like how they are starting to emerge as more prominent characters with backstories of their own.  It’s nice to see them get some flesh on their bones rather than just be empty names.  It helps build up the entire story and make it more rounded.  
The chapter opens the morning after Pete’s date with Lhew, finding him arriving at school early where he is joined by Por for some light banter as they enter.  They wind up in the cafeteria, chatting in line for breakfast, when Por asks Pete if he “got any” on his date.  Por drops some coins on the floor, so Pete just pays for both breakfasts while Por searches for his dropped money.  Pete finds himself admiring his friend’s a*s each time he bends over to pick up a coin, but stops himself to ask what the he’s even thinking.  (Hmm… Pete seems to be opening up to himself and to us about something, but we shall see.)  As they park at a table to eat, they discuss Pete’s date with Lhew.  During his rendition of the date, Pete keeps thinking about her body and how beautiful she looks and admits to getting hot under the collar.  (So within the expanse of only several minutes, Pete has gone from admiring his friend’s a*s to getting hot over the date he had the previous night with a cute girl.)  After Pete lets it slip out that he kissed Lhew, he begs Por not to tell Card, but when Por asks about telling Earn, Pete gets irritated and tells him “especially” not Earn.  Por asks why “especially” not Earn, but Pete responds by bribing Por with not having to pay him back for buying his breakfast to gain his silence.  Earn has surreptitiously snuck up on the tail end of this exchange and wants to know what they’re talking about, throwing what Pete tells us is a curious grin, a cat-like expression along with his dimples all of which make Pete lose his focus for a second.  When Por and Pete continue to holdout, Earn gives Pete his puppy dog look that forces Pete to look away.  When Earn teasingly promises to squeeze it out him “one way or the other” with a smile, Pete becomes clumsy hearing his lisp and cute begging face, at which point Pete agrees to spill the beans later at band practice.

By the end of this opening segment, Pete has swung back to Earn and his engaging looks and personality in mere minutes after thinking hotly about Lhew.  There is a lot of emotional cross-talk running through him so far in this chapter.  All I can say is that Pete’s endocrine system needs a holiday for sure.

There’s a nice tie into the novel when the lunch period arrives the group draws toward the cafeteria with the usual back and forth conversation when Earn peels himself away to do more reconnaissance for the band’s set list in the upcoming competition.  Pete watches him run upstairs with a smile on his face running to where Noh and his gang of friends are hanging out and sees Earn throw an arm around Noh’s shoulder while they laugh together.  Pete tells himself it’s just about the audition songs, and that Earn won’t be so preoccupied after the event is over.  Is this just Pete downplaying the obvious or a storyline seed being planted for the future? 
After school, they go to Card’s house to practice the Deftones song.  Two hours into it, the band revolts over practicing the song over and over, and they decide to have a break for food.  Por, Card, and Hack take off for KFC, leaving Earn and Pete alone for the first time in a while.  Pete notices that there are awkward silences between them that weren’t there before and that Earn seems aloof and depressed.  Earn asks about his date with Lhew as he slides up next to Pete, urging him to spill the details.  Pete admits that Earn looks like a cute little kid and his heart starts to race.  Pete goes on about where he took Lhew, what they did, etc. and as Earn moves in closer to ask if anything happened, causing their knees to touch, this forces Pete’s face to flush.  The combination of Pete’s reliving the date and sitting so close to Earn makes him break into a sweat.  When Earn throws an arm around Pete’s shoulder and chides him for more details, Pete is overwhelmed by both his memories of Lhew and Earns insistent gaze, and consequently reveals that he kissed Lhew.  Earn shrieks aloud and grabs Pete in a playful headlock and Pete’s reaction to feeling Earn’s muscles and body cause him to flush intensely and push Earn off.  Pete knows he’s red faced and embarrassed by it, but Earn is perplexed as to why, and tells Pete that he looks adorable like that.

As Pete careens further down the road, his emotions continue to jump from one side to the other.  I’m  paraphrasing a lot in my summary, but the ebb and flow of the dialogue and the emotions in this section are written really tightly.  They have to be to make Pete’s emotional switchbacks believable, which they are.  The emotional tension building up inside Pete is high, especially when he’s telling Earn about his date and has the two streams of emotional energy coming together from his memory of Lhew and his physical proximity to Earn.  That’s a great predicament to put him in, but hard to pull off.  Well done.

The action continues to escalate in the remaining 1/3.  Pete asks Earn how his reconnaissance went which leads to Earn picking up a guitar and singing the song Too Close by the band Friday, one of Noh’s favorite bands.  The song leaves Pete speechless and unable to take his eyes off Earn due the intensity in his voice.  Pete feels his heart vibrate to the guitar and is completely entranced, including getting butterflies in his stomach as he stares into Earn’s eyes.  When Pete tells Earn the song is amazing, Earn gives him a friendly hug at which point Pete’s phone begins to announce an incoming call from Lhew.  Pete talks to Lhew and plans a date for the following day.  The bandmates return with the food and they practice the “new” song for an hour before stopping for the day and heading home.

On the ride home in Pete’s car, Earn and Pete start singing to songs on the radio.  Earn slapping his thighs in time to the music reminds Pete of what’s in between them and he imagines “weird things” and turns up the A/C.  They sing away the rest of the ride to Earn’s house and after grabbing his bag and getting out, Earn turns back to remind Pete of a Cheer Club meeting.  As Pete acknowledges the meeting, he tells Earn to head on inside to which Earn teasingly replies, “Aw, no good night kiss?  That stuff only reserved for Lhew now?”  This remark results in a mutually good-natured exchange of offs and middle fingers.  As he rides home, Pete acknowledges that he enjoyed the day with Earn but something felt strange and odd, even though Earn hasn’t been any different since the soccer tournament.  Pete’s mind then jumps to Lhew and how he enjoys their conversations and that her body gets him hot, but acknowledges that his mind keeps returning to Earn.  Pete ends the chapter telling himself that things between him and Earn feel different now whether Earn knows is or not.

So ends Pete’s supercharged emotional day.  His awareness of the changes in his feelings is growing, but he is still in the crosshairs of his yet-to-be articulated desires.  He bounces from being entranced by Earn’s singing Too Close to making a date with Lhew for the next day.  Then a short time later, he’s back to sharing feel-good moments with Earn while they sing together on the ride home.  He evens get a good night kiss tease from Earn, which makes Pete realize that things have changed between them.  This is an exceptionally enticing and complex quandary for a character which is otherwise so good natured and intellectually oriented.  His journey is advancing, and he’s aware of it, even if he doesn’t quite understand it yet.  I look forward to the next chapter and another date with Lhew for I’m sure the emotional tension is only going higher.