He thumbed at his smooth skin. "Don't worry– I promise. Cross my heart…." Tristan leaned in for another kiss when his dad hollered, "I think the dough has chilled long enough!"
But he didn't quite listen, as he was too busy still cuddling…
Chase, ignoring Tristan’s father, met him halfway. Their lips met softly in a delicate harmony. They were like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together. Chase didn’t want to let go, didn’t want to leave Tristan ever.
Tristan relaxed for just a minute, his chest pounding furiously. "I'm not sure how much more I can take…." He smiled. "But…. Maybe…. We can finish our cookies? I mean… I hope you're still in the mood for them as much as I am…."
“I am,” Chase made a smile, remnants of that terrible memory pushed to the back of his mind. All he could think about was Tristan. So his smile grew as he forced himself to stand up, but he stayed right next to Tristan’s side.
Tristan grabbed Graham again and headed back downstairs with Chase behind him.
As he got into the kitchen, he caught a glimpse of his father grabbing the keys to the car. "I'll be out for a few minutes to get the pizza– if you have an emergency, just gimme a call."
Tristan waved as he went out the front door. "Well… You know what this means…."
“What?” Chase tilted his head to the side, taking the liberty of getting the cookies out from the fridge. A soft smell of cookie dough caressed his nose and he hummed in pleasure at the scent.
"We can do whatever we want until Dad gets back," He shrugged. "….Just sayin'…" He set Graham back on the counter where he wouldn't get stuff spilled on him.
Tristan wandered over, pulling some cookie cutters from the cabinet. He met him over at the wooden cutting board, setting the bag of cutters down. "So…. Where do you wanna start?"
“Where do you want to start? I’m happy as long as I’m with you,” Chase told him, a happy smile appearing on his face as he leaned on side of the counter a little bit.
"Well…" Tristan flushed a little, grabbing a pinch of flour to cover the board. "You don't want anything to stick…" He pulled the bowl over and took a significant chunk out of it, slapping it into the flour.
It clouded up in his face, and he had to turn around to sneeze into his arm.
Chase laughed a little, moving over to grab the rolling pin and start on that for Tristan. Gosh he’s so cute… and handsome… and perfect, all at the same time… Chase smiled even more, “I love you.”
Tristan smiled warmly, sniffling a little from his sneeze. "Alright…" He snuggled up against him. "I thought we were making cookies…" He nudged him playfully with his hip. He's really asking for it…. He thought, totally smitten.
Beep
“I don’t mind taking our time,” His hands paused at the rolling pin, and then he was leaning in to Tristan, their lips a breath apart. A dare, in its own way.
Tristan’s chest fluttered a little. “Well… wouldn’t it be weird if Dad walked in on us this way?” He glanced back out the window, to see the driveway still empty. “But you’re right— as long as he’s gone, nothing can go wrong.” He turned back, Chase unbelievably close. ….I didn’t really expect our date to be like this….
“I…” He pulled back slightly, knowing Tristan was right. It was too much of a risk for Tristan’s father to find out. He went back to the rolling pin, distracting himself with that while he asked, “What would your father do if he found out… about us?”
Tristan's brow furrowed. "I have no idea….. Neither of my parents know about… You being my boyfriend…" He trailed off, deep in though. Mom would shun me, but Dad…. "I seriously don't know…" He began to worry about it, and he stared at the ground. The mystery of his father finding out scared him, even though there was a slim chance that he would be okay with it.
Chase finished with rolling the dough out, still wishing he could kiss Tristan but forced those feelings away. The feelings were stupid anyways, he’d probably just end up accidentally wrecking their relationship.
Tristan brought himself back anf sighed. "I just hope it doesn't have to come to that…" He opened the bag of cookie cutters and pulled one out. He dipped the sharp edge in a shallow pile of flour off to the side. "At least Mom for sure isn't around, and I know for sure what she'd do…."
“She and my dad would be friends, I think,” Chase said with a sigh, grabbing another cookie cutter and pressing the shape into the soft dough. Why does the world have to be so… plagued by homophobia?
"Well, she'd do it because she just hates me…" Tristan used the same cutter again, spacing out a little. "To be truthful…. I don't understand her half the time…."
“Oh…” Chase wished he could fix it, fix something at least, but he was just a guy. He couldn’t do anything to make people understand him and Tristan- how much he liked Tristan.
He rolled out more dough and pulled out more cutters to make more and more until only a small ball was left that didn't fit any of the cutters. They were all on baking sheets, ready to go into the oven
Tristan went and began to preheat the oven and turned back around. "Now we gotta wait for the oven to heat up…."
Chase glanced out the window, but forced himself not to go over to Tristan. Even if Tristan’s father wasn’t here, no matter how much he wanted to be held in a soft, warm hug, it would be stupid of him. He didn’t want to stretch Tristan’s love, “What do we do now?”
"I dunno…." He glanced out the window again, sweat forming on his brow. Damn…. Now what….?
He was deep in thought when the phone rang. Tristan trotted on over and saw that it was his dad's cell number. He picked it up. "Hello?"
"Sorry to break the news, son," He began, "But it might be quite a while before I get home…. There was some kind of thing going on and I'm stuck in traffic…. So just hang tight and don't burn down the house!"
"Okay…. Bye." He hung up, and he smiled.
“What was it?” Chase asked, tilting his head to the side. His paranoid side of him immediately assumed Tristan’s mother was coming home early or something, and he chewed his lip nervously.