Lollipop

05 - He's A Tease

Corey

"Stop looking at your phone for every goddamn 15 minutes," Jermaine snapped as she snatched Corey's phone away from him. He jolted up and faced the two girls with his eyes bulged widely. It was almost five days after the shopping trip with Anastasia. Strangely, an unsaid rule of not bringing up the event was formed among them ever since that day.

"Return my phone back to me you witch!" urged Corey after he realised that Jermaine had taken his phone. He made multiple physical attempts to get his phone back but failed as Jermaine had better reflexes than him. It was not as if he wasn't paying attention to what Jermaine and Anastasia, also known as Ana, said. He was listening, but he also wanted to keep a eye on any new notifications from Jun. Especially when Corey was the one who ran away.

"Nope, you tell us who on earth..." Ana chirped as she took the phone away from Jermaine and looked at the screen. "Who on earth is Jun? Why is he in your favourite contacts list?" Ana stared at Corey with her big blue eyes while she moved forward towards him.

Corey moved away, trying to avoid Ana's advances. One trait he didn't like about Ana was that she could be dense at times. Even before Ana and Jermaine came out of the closet, Ana could not get the hints Corey peppered through his actions and his words. At one point, he was described by his female classmates as a 'try hard' and they often teased him in front of Ana about his crush on her. Guess what? She did not get the clue at all. It was tough, trying to get Ana to notice him. But in the end, she noticed Jermaine instead. And now even after them coming out and their (horrendous) shopping trip, she was still as dense as a rock.

How fun. His eyes screamed at Jermaine to help him, and thankfully, Jermaine pulled Ana back and they gave each other a fleeting loving gaze before turning back to Corey. 'Way to rub my wound with salt,' Corey rolled his eyes mentally.

"Yeah, who is Jun? New friend? New neighbour who pops out of nowhere? New colleague from workplace which is impossible because you don't work part-time? Your new step-brother which is also impossible because your parents are madly in love? Your sister's boyfriend? Or your husband?" Probed Jermaine as she moved closer to him. She continued, "You better tell me or I'll hunt you in your sleep."

'Why am I surrounded by crazy girls like Jermaine and that b***h of a sister,' he grimaced. Jermaine had been his best friend, or what people called nowadays - bro, ever since high school. Despite Jermaine's aggressive and tomboyish personality, her appearance was so much more feminine. Born a Chinese American, Jermaine was blessed with a face that would make her stand out from the crowd. Dark chocolate short hair that was only shoulder-length long, hazel brown eyes which he had always thought were pretty, sharp nose and plump peachy-red lips. Not to forget, she was fairly tall too. Her complexion was fair and she had a high metabolism, which allowed her to have a slim figure despite the amount of junk food she devoured on a daily basis.

At first, Jermaine seemed like the type of girl he would never find himself interacting with. She was too aggressive for her own good as well as eccentric. Her words were like knives - things she said could easily hurt another person's feelings and ego. Yet, as time passed, it seemed like destiny pulled Corey and her together and they ended being good friends. After a year, their friendship status leveled up and they became best friends. When he first knew that Jermaine and Ana had started dating, he had resented Jermaine. However, that did not stop him from being friends with Jermaine. He believed that if the situation was to be reversed, she would not cut off their friendship.

Bros before hoes, that was their bro-code. Ignoring the fact that she broke that code.

"Return me my phone and I'll consider telling you," Corey snorted as he played with the grape-flavoured lollipop on his hand. The lollipop was given by the lollipop-giving maniac when they met two days earlier. Upon remembering Jun, he could feel the heat growing in his cheeks even though the air conditioner was on full blast. His finger slid across his chapped lips in embarrassment, as he recalled what happened before.

-

2 days ago

"So you drag me here to pick out gifts because you have no idea what to buy?" Corey raised an eyebrow as he touched an Eeyore soft toy that was lying on the tray.

"Something like that and I'm indecisive as f**k so I would take hours to decide on one gift," replied Jun as he shoved a Totoro plushie in his face. 'He looks mature but he is a child at heart,' Corey smiled. He then took one of the baby Eeyore and showed it to his companion.

"What about this? Girls like this," suggested Corey. Jun purposely made eye contact with the Eeyore for a few seconds before shaking his head furiously.

"No, no, no, no, no. I can never imagine Aimi with such cute little baby. Aimi suits a gorilla, nope, an orangutan." Jun then put the Eeyore back reluctantly and let out an exaggerated sigh.

"That's mean, I'm pretty sure she's not like that... no?"

"You don't know her as much as I do. Aimi loves cute stuff--or rather what she deemed as cute. When I showed her my favourite baby kitten she called it an ugly little s**t. And guess what? She thinks that insects, especially beetles, are cute! There was this time I saw a cockroach and I killed it since the female classmates in my class were really terrified. What did she do? She scolded the s**t out of me and stopped talking to me for the rest of the week," shivered Jun as he recounted his memories.

"She is a special individual, I must say..." Corey gulped. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? No, I will never date someone who hates cats. And she has a boyfriend already despite claiming herself as aromantic. She's my bro, so if I ever date her, I'll feel like I've committed incest." Corey then shuddered at the thought of dating his sister. 'Nope, that is never happening even if we are not siblings,' he thought.

"Look at this, Corey! This is perfect for her! Oh my, such a genius I am!" Jun claimed proudly as he handed the E.T stuff toy to him. "She loves E.T!"

Through their interactions, it was rather easy for Corey to figure out the person Jun was. Self-confidence is a beautiful thing and that was what he saw in Jun. It wasn't as if Jun had an inflated ego which would consider him as a self-centered jerk. No, from the way Jun carried himself, he was a man who loved himself enough to live each day fruitfully.

Corey was envious of people like Jun.

"That's great." Corey gave him a smile as they went to purchase the E.T stuff toy. When they walked out of the store, their fingers brushed against each other, causing Corey to feel butterflies in his stomach. He tried to peek at the taller man, but he looked unaffected. 'I should stop thinking about this stupid things,' he sighed mentally.

"Before I forget," chuckled Jun as he took out a grape-flavoured lollipop and gave it to Corey.

-

"Wanna get Llao Llao?" Was what Jun suggested after 3 hours of shopping. Needless to say, Corey nodded madly as he grabbed his taller friend's hand and headed to the store to get food. He could have sworn that Jun's face flushed pink when he peered at him at the corner of his side. 'Is he okay?' Corey wondered.

"I like how your personality changes when I talk about food," Jun remarked behind him. He then continued, "You're the passive-aggressive type, huh." Corey decided that he would not respond to what Jun said and that's when he felt his cheeks were being poked by him.

"Don't poke my cheeks," Corey deadpanned.

"Then talk to me, I need your voice to survive," Jun said whimsically.

"I'm tired after being dragged around today, give me a break. I don't mind going on a shopping trip but who on earth shops in ten different shopping malls just to look for gifts?!" bewildered Corey as he tried to absorb the fact that Jun was a monster. 'Truly a child at heart he is though,' Corey thought when he saw Jun pouting.

"And thanks to that I finally found the perfect gifts for my friends. But come on, you don't mean that, boy."

"Aren't you hungry? Just save your energy for now and stop talking."

"I am hungry, indeed. But I'll use this energy for you. " teased Jun as he popped up in front of Corey out of the sudden with a wink and those dimples. Corey could feel prickly heat around his ears as his face began to redden like a beet.

"Weren't you behind me? What the heck happened?" questioned Corey as he avoided eye contact with Jun.

"Doesn't matter. Ah, you're blushing! Look at me, Corey."

"Don't want to." The butterflies in his stomach were fluttering madly that it made him a little nauseous. His heart palpitated wildly in his chest, so loud that he could hear it resounding in his ears. Jun moved closer to him, a step by a step. He continued to back away, until he hit the wall just behind him. Gradually, he lifted his face up and stared right through at Jun's moonstone-like iris. The tension intensified as what seemed like a staring competition continued. He was then struck with realisation--why did this position feel like Kabedon*? And why did he have this type of feelings with Jun? He wasn't gay, definitely. At least that was what he believed in.

"You're way too close, do you perhaps want to move away?" Corey mumbled as he tore his eyes away from Jun to refrain himself from looking at his face.

"Hey, can I kiss you?" That was the magic phrase that made Corey blush even harder. Did he want to? Should they? They were friends. Friends should not have feelings like that for each other. Heck, they only knew each other recently! Every relationship started with friendship, his inner self-debated with his mind. 'Move away, Corey. You still have the chance!' The voice in his mind shrieked at him thunderously, yet his hand unconsciously reached out to the younger male and came in contact with the said male's chest. 'His heart is pounding furiously, like mine,'  When Corey remained silent, Jun traced his fingers along his cheek to his lips before holding his chin up. With that, their lips met.

It was careful at first, but slowly the carefulness was replaced with gentleness. For a man, Jun's lips were soft. His lips enveloped Corey's with warmth and slowly he melted himself into the kiss. When they broke apart, they gazed at each other for a few seconds before all the confusion came rushing in. Questions, mixed emotions and helplessness hazed created a huge fog in his mind and blocked his rationality out. Impulsively, he shoved Jun away and he ran away, with his heart beating twice as hard as before.

-

Back to reality

"Ouch!" Corey yelped as Jermaine pinched his ear as hard as she could. She furrowed her eyebrows and slapped Corey's thigh.

"You don't ignore me and daydream! I want to know who he is. If your love for me is unconditional you will tell me!" Jermaine demanded as her girlfriend pulled her closer to calm her down. Ana gave Corey an apologetic smile as she placed her cherry-coloured lips upon Jermaine's cheek. That successfully calmed her down, but her demanding glare on Corey did not subside.

"Can I say I don't love you?"

"The bromance is over, Corey."

"I still have Ana, righ..." He was interrupted by the vibration of his phone, which happened to be in the hands of Ana. Ana looked from Corey to her girlfriend sheepishly and handed the phone back to Corey. Corey eagerly went to w******p to see if there were any new messages from him. He knew that he was at fault, but he could not muster up the courage to message him. His face twisted into a scowl when the message was from schoolmate instead of him. 'What am I wishing for?'

"Jer, I think that we should not force him to say if he really doesn't want to. Corey, if you feel like it, we are always here to lend a listening ear." Ana placed her hand over Corey's and flashed him a warm grin. Just when Ana made the move to stand up, Corey held her back. Touching her hand tingled his skin, but the electrifying spark he felt whenever he managed to get close her was no longer there. He was expecting himself to avoid eye contact with Ana, but strangely, his eye bored into hers without shying away, as if they were just normal friends.

"I'll tell the both of you."

-

"Basically, you like him." Jermaine stated passively.

"f**k no. This is ridiculous, we have only met like a week ago? Stop joking around, I'm not kidding!" Corey hollered as he looked at her in ridicule.

"And I'm not too. Okay I know we're not supposed to talk about this again but let me talk about it okay? You don't have to commit to Ana, do you know? You don't have to. You like her, but that does not mean that you should stop yourself from finding another person," she said as her eyes bored into his. Corey opened his mouth to rebuke, but nothing seemed to come out. He wanted to formulate something out to attack what she had just said, but his mind went blank.

"I know this might irk you considering I'm Ana's girlfriend, but I want you to understand that I care about you. So seeing you being conflicted between that guy and Ana really irritates me. You can call me a selfish b***h for saying this, but you can let go of her, you know? I've known you for years now, so I know that you don't actually love her the way you wanted. Okay, that sounds really presumptuous," she paused for a second. "but am I right?"

"..." Corey remained silent as he glanced at Ana. Smiling awkwardly, Ana spoke softly, "Enough, Jer. Stop it, really. You're making him uncomfortable. Let's not talk abou-"

"Ana, this has to be cleared or else we will never return back to our usual trio. Corey, reply me," Jermaine insisted with a straight face.

A tense silence followed after. When the silence became too pressurizing, he sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. Okay, maybe that part is true. I don't love-like her. But I like her enough to want to date her. And you like her too. Good for you, now she likes you back! Fun, yeah? That's why I'm trying to let her go! And..." Jun's smiling face then crept into his mind. 'f**k, why am I thinking about him now?'

"And?"

Jun's gestures towards him replayed in the back of his mind. His laughter, his words of wisdom, his gentleness towards him, and his lollipops--everything the other male had done for him. Corey made friends with Jun only for only around two weeks as, yet he felt like he had known Jun since forever. With that, a soft grin stretched across his lips. "He happened. I made a new friend and he is a wonderful person. That's why I don't want s**t to go wrong again. I know that I am still clinging to Ana, so I'm trying to change that. And now I'm going to f**k everything up because of my stupidity and his actions!"

Ana moved towards him. "What actions?" she prompted in curiosity.

". . .  He. . ." A blush made its way to his cheeks. "He kissed me," he said inaudibly.

"Wait, what? What did I miss out? Whatever, so are you going to just ignore it? I think you should just ask him about it. I find it surprising that you don't seem too bothered that a guy kissed you though," Jermaine pondered as she moved closer to Corey.

"I'm surprised too, trust me," Corey dazed. "I'm hundred percent sure I'm straight, but he is the only dude that can make me feel like that. This is so weird, me liking a dude and all since I've only harboured crushes on girls before. But this is 2018 and gender doesn't really matter when it comes to intangible things like love, so I don't find a need to make a big deal out of it. It's not love, definitely not," he persisted.

"I think you should speak to him," Ana cooed. "If you care about him, I think you should have a talk with him. This doesn't mean you should get in a relationship with him though. Talk your heart out to him and understand how he feels for you." She went closer to Corey and gave him a big hug. "We are always here for you." Her sparkling, beautiful big eyes reminded Corey about his initial crush on the girl. He wasn't shallow enough to fall for one for their appearance. It was Ana's personality that drew him to her. Now, He would not say that he was completely over her, but his feelings for her wavered around the defined line between friendship and crush. When Jun's voice reverberated and his smile accompanied with those dimples flashed in his mind, he knew for sure that he undoubtedly felt something more for the taller male.

"I'm scared. What if I screw this s**t up?"

"Then he is not the one for you," Jermaine said and she pulled Corey into a hug just like how Ana did earlier, with more aggression and less cuteness. "I don't think I've said this enough, but I'm so sorry for hurting you the way Ana and I did. I don't want you to feel drifted from us because we'll always be friends, us three. Ana and I will always support you no matter what you do."

"Jermaine being sappy and all. This is the first," Corey returned her hug and continued, "The both of you, officially forgiven. You owe me a Subway for being the b***h that you are, though."

"Yeah, yeah," Jermaine pinched his cheeks. "I'm getting you face mask, your face is oily."

"Don't pinch my cheek," Corey deadpanned. "f**k you, Jermaine. My face is completely fine!" Just then, Corey's phone vibrated again. When he locked into his phone, a new message was sent to him by the person he thought he might have newfound feelings for. 

Jun: Let’s talk tomorrow, face to face.