Chapter 55 Chapter Fifty-One
Omniscient Narrative
The house was already loud before Demi even stepped inside.
Music thumped through the walls, bass-heavy, distorted just enough to rattle the windows.
Someone had propped the front door open, and warm air spilled out, thick with the smell of beer, sweat, and cheap cologne.
A couple Demi barely recognized were laughing too hard on the stairs, one of them already spilling a drink.
Alex pushed in behind him, hand briefly brushing Demi's lower back to guide him forward through the crowd.
"Guess half the school showed up" Alex shouted, grinning wide as he looked around the crowded room.
Demi laughed back, adrenaline still humming through him from the game.
He hadn't even fully come down yet, his body felt light, unreal, like he was still running.
The win echoed everywhere tonight. People slapped their shoulders, shouted congratulations, called their names like they were something bigger than themselves.
"Good job QB"
"Yo! Demi! You did amazing today"
"The other team didn't know what was coming at them"
"Great job guys"
They were something bigger tonight.
The party was at one of their teammate- Jake Moreno's house, his parents were out of town, which meant no rules and no supervision.
Jake spotted them almost immediately.
"There they are!" he yelled, lifting a red cup like a trophy. "Our heroes" he cheered making the people in the room also cheer along.
Someone shoved drinks into their hands before Demi could protest.
Beer for Alex, something clear and sharp-smelling for Demi.
"To our win!" someone shouted.
"To our win!" They yelled back
They drank.
The alcohol hit Demi fast, he hadn't eaten much since the game, nerves killing his appetite.
Warmth spread through his chest, his limbs loosening. The edges of the room softened.
Alex leaned in close to say something, and Demi was suddenly acutely aware of how near he was, how his arm pressed along Demi's side.
Alex smelled like soap and freaking lavender-a scent Demi had grown to love-.
Demi turned away quickly, took another sip.
'Don't be stupid Demi', he told himself.
'He's just your best friend' he reminded himself
'Yeah, a best friend that loves to sneak into your bed every now and then and will kill you if anyone finds out' his subconscious mind told him.
They moved through the house together, gravitating toward the same spaces without thinking.
The living room.
The kitchen.
The backyard.
Everywhere they went, people cheered. Someone started chanting their names at one point, half-serious, half-mocking, until Jake jumped onto a chair and demanded everyone shut up so he could make a speech.
It dissolved into laughter before he finished.
As the night wore on, more people arrived. Faces Demi hadn't seen since freshman year.
Friends of friends. Seniors he'd only ever passed in hallways or seen briefly in class.
Girls with glitter on their cheeks.
Guys already shirtless for absolutely no reason.
Demi drank more than he meant to.
Then more.
By the time someone suggested spin the bottle, he was buzzing, head light, thoughts fuzzy around the edges.
They were packed into Jake's basement, string lights draped along the ceiling, music turned down but still pulsing.
"Classic rules," said Maya, a girl who Demi vaguely knew from biology class. She sat cross-legged on the carpet, already flushed. "No backing out."
A bottle, empty vodka, label peeling, was placed in the center.
Demi sank down against the couch, Alex dropping beside him. Their knees touched.
He didn't move away.
The first few spins were chaotic. There was laughter. There were groans from people who didn't get who they wanted. A couple kisses that were sloppy and exaggerated. Someone cheered every time lips met, like it was a sport.
Demi watched more than he participated, heart thudding louder with every spin. His mouth felt dry despite the alcohol. He couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if-
'Stop' he mentally yelled at himself. He needed to stop thinking about Alex before he spots a hard on here and he did NOT want to have to explain it to anyone.
People might get the wrong idea.
Alex nudged him with his knee. "You good?"
"Yeah," Demi said quickly. "Just drunk."
Alex laughed. "Same."
The bottle spun again. Landed on Jake and some girl Demi didn't know. They kissed, longer than necessary, to more cheers.
The room felt hot.
Then it was Demi's turn.
He stared at the bottle as he picked it up, the glass slick in his hand.
For a second, everything seemed very quiet, like the room was holding its breath.
He spun it.
The bottle clattered, wobbling, slowing.
Demi's stomach dropped as it turned...turned...
And stopped.
'Shit'
Pointing directly at Alex.
The room exploded.
"No way!"
"Holy shit!"
"Do it!"
"Yaoi??"
Alex froze.
For half a second, Demi forgot how to breathe.
This was stupid. It was nothing. Just a game. But his heart was pounding so hard it hurt.
He could feel every inch of Alex beside him, his warmth, the tension radiating off him.
Alex laughed, sharp and too loud. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
People hooted.
"C'mon," Maya said. "Rules are rules Alex."
Alex ran a hand through his curls, eyes darting around the room. Demi watched his face closely, saw the flicker of something there. Panic?, it also looked something like fear.
Alex scoffed. "Nah. That's-" He gestured vaguely. "That's not happening."
The room quieted a little.
Demi's chest tightened.
"Why not?" someone asked raising a brow at the very annoyed looking male
Alex shrugged, forcing a grin. "I'm not-" He stopped, laughed again, harder. "I'm not into that gay shit, okay?"
The words hit Demi like a slap.
For a moment, he couldn't process them. They echoed in his head, sharp and ugly, cutting through the alcohol haze.
Gay shit.
Did people think he was gay because he hadn't reacted the way Alex was reacting?.
The room went awkwardly silent. Someone muttered "Dude..." under their breath. A few people laughed uncomfortably, unsure.
Alex kept talking, digging himself deeper. "I mean, no offense, man," he said, finally looking at Demi, but his eyes slid away just as fast. "It's just a joke. I'm not kissing a guy."
Demi felt something inside him fracture.
He managed a laugh, thin and fake. "Yeah. Yeah, it's fine, I'm not gay either so it doesn't bother me."
But it wasn't,
And it did infact bother him.
His face felt hot. His throat burned. All the warmth from earlier curdled into something heavy and sick.
This wasn't just a joke. This was Alex, his Alex, saying that being associated with something like that, something Demi had been quietly carrying alone for years, was disgusting enough to reject out loud.
Alex looked relieved when people started talking again, when the bottle was spun away like nothing had happened.
Demi sat there, barely hearing anything.
He remembered every shared locker room glance he'd forced himself not to linger on.
Every time Alex had changed shirts in front of him without thinking.
Every late-night conversation, every laugh, every moment Demi had carefully folded his feelings into something smaller so he wouldn't ruin what they had.
And now this.
Alex leaned closer, voice low. "You okay?" His voice showed concern.
Demi nodded automatically. "Yeah. Just drunk, remember."
Alex smiled, grateful. "Okay, good"
But Demi felt hollow.
The party blurred after that.
More drinks were poured. The music got even louder, Jake didn't care about his neighbours.
Someone even went ahead as to puke in the bathroom sink which made Jake give the person clean up duty.
Demi laughed when he was supposed to, nodded when spoken to, but everything felt distant, like he was watching himself from far away.
At one point, Alex threw an arm around his shoulders, pulling him in.
"Still the MVP," Alex said fondly acting like he did not just hurt Demi's feelings.
Demi smiled back, even though his chest ached, he really didn't want to be here, he wanted to be at home, away from everyone and especially away from Alex-which was a first for him seeing as he always wanted to be near the other-.
'If you knew' he thought. If you had any idea.
Later, outside on the back porch, Demi leaned against the railing, breathing in cold air. The noise from inside was muffled here. His head spun, but his heart felt painfully clear.