Frustration -SERIES- [Part 1] [boyxboy]

Chapter Fifteen

'All Time Low.'

'Weezer.'

'Red Hot Chilli Peppers.'

'Snow Patrol.'

'Lights.'

'Silverchair.'

'Royseven.'

'Name Withheld.'

'Tyler!' Josh leaned up on his elbows and glared at me. 'You are such a sycophant.'

'"Tyler" is not the name of a band,' Conor commented, not bothering to sit up or open his eyes. 'Drink.'

Josh, Rachel, Conor, and I were all laid out flat on our backs and side-by-side in Castle Park in the centre of Bristol, bored to death and entertaining ourselves the best way we knew how – by getting drunk. In an effort to liven things up even further, we were playing a game whereby one person said the name of a band, and the next person in line had to name a band beginning with the last letter of the previous.

'This game blows,' Josh complained, after taking a gulp of his foul-smelling drink.

'Just because you're losing,' Rachel quipped.

'I am not!'

'You are,' I told him. 'Perhaps you should broaden your musical horizons.'

'Me! I'm not the one who named my boyfriend's band!'

'I should hope not,' Rachel murmured, and Conor and I snorted.

Josh sat up properly, looking around him suspiciously at the innocent Bristolians strolling by. 'I'm going for a walk.' He stood up and paused, staring down at Rachel. 'Are you coming?'

Rachel cracked open one eye and squinted through the bright sunshine at him. 'Can I have a piggyback?'

Josh considered for a moment, then shrugged. 'Okay. But no funny business.'

'Funny business!' Rachel looked affronted as she stood up too. 'What on earth do you mean?'

Josh looked at her sceptically. 'The last time I gave you a piggy back we fell into the Seine.'

I propped myself up on my elbows. 'Why haven't I heard about this?'

'Because it was mortifying,' Josh told me flatly.

'It was wonderful,' Rachel countered. 'But not to worry. I have no wish to repeat the experience in the Avon.' With which she hoisted herself up on Josh's back and, looking long-suffering, he stumbled away.

There was a beat of silence, then, 'Can I-'

'No,' Conor interrupted me without opening his eyes.

I shut up and looked around me sulkily without sitting up; Conor turned his head and raised an eyebrow bemusedly as he opened his eyes.

'I'll buy you a popsicle if you like,' he teased.

I considered, then decided against it. 'I don't want to get up,' I told him. The sun was high and bright and blissfully hot and the grass smelled sweet and tickled my feet and the backs of my legs as I lay on it. It was one of those moments where the elements seem perfectly in sync and you might mess it all up or miss it altogether if you don't just sit there and appreciate it.

'Thought so,' Conor murmured, closing his eyes again and turning his face back to the sun. I looked at his profile for a couple of moments, taking in the way his hair fell over his eyes even though he was laying back; his long eyelashes; his lips that could make me forget my own name; the way his chest rose and fell regularly as he breathed...