Escaping Perfect

Disclaimer: The characters belong to me. Any actual people included within this story are just used in fictional usage. No harm intended.



“Brick, get your head out of your ass, boy!” Coach Olsen yelled.



“You too, Larsen. Get a move on. How do you expect to win a championship if you’re screwing around.” The coach yelled a J.D. Larsen, Warren’s best male friend.



Practice was brutal. The next game leading to the national finals was that Saturday and Coach Olsen was riding them hard. Drills, drills and more drills; kept them occupied. By the time Coach Olsen blew the whistle, every boy on the field was ready to collapse. They all herded towards the locker rooms to go home and get some sleep for the evening.



“Hey Warren!” Warren turned back to look at J.D. who had the nerve to try to sprint over. “Man, I’m so dead. I really wanted to go to Curly’s to get some burgers and fries, but damn-I’m freaking exhausted.”



Warren chuckled. “I feel you, bro.” J.D. sprinted off towards leaving Warren alone to get a cup of Gatorade.



As the first warm sip hit his tongue, a quiet ‘hey’ floated his way. Jace Howard was walking towards bench. Once upon a time, they’d been friends. Well friends, enough to play in each other’s sandboxes and go to each other’s birthday parties. That lasted until the junior high social strata assortment occurred.



“Hey.”



Jace held up the camera. “I was wondering if I could get a few pictures of Westlaw’s golden boy.” He ducked his head shyly, “Hopefully, you’re not too tired for a just a couple of pics.?”



Warren really wanted to go home, but he could stay to pose for a few shots. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t have something nice to look at as well. Jace snapped pictured after picture telling Warren to move this way and that. All Warren could think was how Jace really should be in front of the camera. Jace was a part of the artsy, literary crowd and he had the male model good looks that automatically put him near the top of the list for dislike by the jock crowd.



“Thanks so much.” Jace picked up his camera bag. “I’ll give you some copies when these are developed, cool?”



Warren smiled automatically. “Thanks man.” He watched Jace head off in the opposite direction as he went towards the showers. That was too close for comfort. He wondered if things would ever get better when it came to attraction.



An ice cold shower cooled him down to the point where he could basically focus on other things besides his dick. The parking lot was near empty, except for the a few smatterings of cars here and there. One car was still park by his. He didn’t notice how close he was to the other car. As he slid in, he saw someone pass behind his Explorer, the driver of the other car.



The ignition turned flaring to life the dormant vehicle; suddenly he shifted the car into reverse. He only stopped it when he heard the sound of metal and glass crunching and breaking.



“Shit.” The curse slipped through his lips. His parents were going to be pissed. Not really, more along the lines of disappointed.



“Crap, man.” Warren drove forward slightly and parked the SUV. The other driver exited their car. They began to examine the broken side-view mirror.



Warren hopped out his Explorer, rounded the vehicle and stood face to face with a fairly miffed Jace Howard. “I’m so sorry. Shit, I wasn’t paying attention. Shit. Shit. Shit.” The curse became a litany as he viewed the damage.



Jace rubbed his forehead, then turned back to Warren who was having a total breakdown. Talk about lack of finesse. Jace looked at his marred Mustang. It looked bad, but not bad enough to cause Warren to have such a breakdown. “Hey. Hey,” Warren was too busy freaking out to hear him. “Hey! Cut that out. I know I shouldn’t be asking you this, but are you okay?



Warren stopped stalking around the car to actually look at Jace. “Um, yeah. I’m so sorry,” he lifted the dangling mirror, “Really, I am extremely sorry.”



Jace waved off another apology. “How about we go over to the Lucky’s garage? If he’s open, we can get an estimate, so we can keep the insurance out of this.”



Warren nodded meekly, inside he cursed himself for being so distracted. His day wasn’t getting any better. Now, the possibility-no the inevitability of spending time with his ‘crush’ was making him into a nervous wreck.



An hour and a half later, the pair exited Lucky’s garage. Each held a copy of the repair invoice. “Three hundred dollars! Oh man, my parents are going to be pissed. Shit.” Warren shoved the invoice inside his letterman jacket. And took a deep breath before looking back at Jace. “Once again, I’m really sorry.”



Jace smiled. “It’s okay. I’m glad this was the only expense.” Jace smiled lightly, the look so serene that Warren had to tighten his body rigidly. “Things can’t stay beautiful forever.”



“But at least we can try to keep them that way.” Warren replied. Jace walked over to his car with Warren trailing behind him, his large presence of Jace’s heels.



“How about you talk to the ‘rents tonight and I’ll meet you after school at Curly’s?” Offered Jace as he stared up at the Stallion’s star quarterback.



Warren thought it over for a second, then jumped at the idea. Why so eagerly, he didn’t want to think about. “Sure. Could it be later? You know, I have practice. With the game being so close, Coach Olsen is working us really hard-” Jace nodded, an amused expression on his gorgeous features.



“Sure.” Warren watched Jace drive off. All the while he could have kicked himself for his impetus. He babbled-he’d babbled like a crush-struck schoolgirl. Why couldn’t he just be normal?





Please read and review. Thanks.