Dreamspinner Press Year Seven Greatest Hits Page 13

  “Danny,” Elliot moaned against his mouth. He hooked his thigh over Danny’s hips and pulled him closer. It wasn’t close enough. It never was. Danny succumbed to his need for skin and slipped his hands under the waistband of Elliot’s sweats—not far, just enough to feel the beginnings of a sweet swell of muscle and flesh. Elliot groaned against his mouth and deepened the kiss, his hand sliding under Danny’s waistband, nails scratching lightly at Danny’s skin.

  Every inch of Danny’s back went all shivery. He was turned-on as hell, and it felt so right, like this was the way he and Elliot were supposed to be, bodies entwined, lips together, hands touching, hearts pounding out of their skin.

  “I love this,” Elliot whispered when they drew away for breath. “I never knew it could feel so….”

  “Insanely good?” Danny shuddered and cupped his hand around the curve of Elliot’s ass to pull him closer.

  “Better than that,” Elliot groaned. He raked his fingers up Danny’s spine and tangled them in his hair, cupped his face, thumbed across Danny’s cheeks. His eyes were wide and full of wonder, as if he still couldn’t believe he and Danny were real. “Have you… been like this with a guy before?” he asked quietly.

  They’d spent so much time ducking around corners to make out they hadn’t ever talked about what they’d been doing, as if maybe bringing up the real subjects would break whatever spell they’d been under. Danny didn’t want to deal with reality anymore, but he supposed Elliot deserved to know.

  “No. I’d been with Katie since we were kids. I noticed guys before, but I never did anything about it. Have you?”

  Elliot gulped. “I’ve never been with anyone like this before. I made out with a couple girls and a guy or two. Messed around a little. It was nice. Okay, you know? But,” he sank his fingers back into Danny’s hair, that look on his face again like he was awestruck, “this is nothing like that. Nothing.”

  “Not even close.” Danny smiled. “I—” Danny broke off. It was one thing to say it to Reece or Tate or Webb. Danny loved them, and he admitted it freely. If he said it to Elliot it would mean something else entirely. Something he felt so hard it hurt. He just couldn’t say it. Not yet.

  “What?” Elliot whispered.

  “Nothing. Just want to kiss you again.”

  Elliot grinned at that. “Okay.”

  DANNY was tired. Like bone deep, never been so tired in his life kind of tired. They hadn’t done anything physical that day, but they’d been at the studio for hours, even missing the house’s typical dinner hour. Josephine had made them their own dinner, spaghetti and warm breadsticks, salad, and even brownies for dessert. He barely even noticed the plush seat of the booth-style table in their house’s kitchen, just collapsed gratefully in front of a plate of food, Elliot on one side and Webb on the other.

  “Today was so long,” Reece mumbled around a mouthful of pasta. He hadn’t even waited for the rest of them to sit before he started eating. “If tomorrow wasn’t a light day I swear I’d cry.”

  “Just keep eating,” Tate said, snickering. “That usually seems to help.”

  Reece used his free hand to flip Tate off but kept shoving noodles in his mouth. Danny laughed, loopy from too little sleep and hours of recording. He didn’t even care if it was funny. Webb’s head drooped onto his shoulder, and he reached up to ruffle Webb’s hair, conscious of Elliot’s heat pressed up against his other side. Webb went to put a breadstick in his mouth, but his eyes were closed and he missed, shoving the breadstick against Danny’s shoulder instead.

  “Hey, dork!” Danny nudged Webb with his shoulder. Webb sat up and laughed when he realized what he’d done.

  “What, you want it in your mouth?” Webb joked. “You want my breadstick in your mouth?” He started poking Danny’s mouth with it. “It might not fit in there with Elliot’s pickle. My breadstick is pretty big.”

  Danny laughed and shoved his own breadstick at Webb. “I think you want my breadstick in your mouth.”

  They both chuckled and tried without much luck to jam buttery breadsticks in each other’s faces.

  “Hey, you trying to make me jealous? Get off my man.” Elliot’s voice was low and grumbly. He reached over Danny and prodded Webb with his fork.

  He was trying to joke about it. Danny knew he was. But it was obvious he wasn’t kidding. Elliot’s face went stony, and he glared at poor unsuspecting Webb. Danny backed off immediately. Jealousy and exhaustion weren’t the best combination. Danny saw Elliot’s jaw working, muscles clenched. Webb just laughed, oblivious, and kept trying to shove the breadstick in Danny’s mouth.

  Elliot took a few more irritated bites, then dropped his fork on his plate so it clattered and ended up on the table. Then he crawled over Reece and stomped off toward the stairs without saying a word.

  “Shit,” Reece breathed. “What was that?”

  “He’s probably just tired,” Tate answered, his voice kind and understanding. He and Elliot didn’t have much in common, but Tate loved his boys. All of them.

  “Maybe I should go talk to him?” Webb asked. He looked guilty, like he’d actually done something wrong.

  “Nah, I got it.” Danny took a few more bites of his dinner, a couple gulps of juice, and grabbed some breadsticks to go. “See you in the morning, guys.”

  He plodded up the stairs, chewing slowly. How could Elliot really be jealous over Webb, of all people? Sure, Webb was insanely gorgeous—probably the hottest of all of them by far, to tell the truth—but Danny didn’t see him like that. He never could. Webb was like his brother, his favorite prank buddy. How could anybody not see that all Danny ever wanted to do was be with Elliot? He pushed open the door, ready to say all of that.

  Elliot was sitting cross-legged on the floor. “Sorry,” he mumbled as soon as Danny walked in. “That was pretty childish.”

  “You know I’m not into Webb like that, El. What happened?”

  Elliot shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just tired and I was already a little pissy and Webb’s so hot”— he glanced up—“even if you’re not into him, you know he is.”

  Danny nodded in agreement.

  “It’s just… it was stupid. The guys don’t even know how I feel about you. Webb was just messing around, but it looked like you were flirting, and I’ve never felt like that before. Like this flash of anger that he even dared to touch you.”

  “We touch the other guys all the time.” Danny was confused.

  “I already said it was stupid. Remember when you told me how you got jealous over Savannah even though you knew I didn’t mean it?”

  “True.” He’d never felt jealousy like that before, hot and irrational and strong enough to make him want to hate Savannah when she’d done nothing wrong. Of course, he’d never felt like he did about Elliot either. Apparently he wasn’t the only one. They were going to have to be so careful or things would blow up someday soon. Danny reached out and cupped Elliot’s face. “Guess we’ll just have to watch for that and talk to each other about it.”

  “Yeah. Should I go apologize to Webb?”

  Danny rubbed Elliot between his shoulder blades. “Nah. Talk to him in the morning. It’s cool.”

  “Bed?” Elliot asked.

  “Yeah. I’m exhausted.”

  “DANNY, did you just get asked to meet in Mike’s trailer?” Elliot asked the next morning. His eyes were wide with worry.

  “Yeah, in like ten minutes right?” Danny was worried too. They hadn’t been as careful the past few days, reckless in their touches, kissing places where people could find them more easily. Sleep deprivation and escalating need hadn’t been a good combination where Danny and Elliot were concerned. He didn’t think they’d been caught, but a meeting with just him and Elliot in the producer’s trailer didn’t sound very good.

  “What do you think this is about?”

  “What else could it be about? They probably saw something they shouldn’t see and are going to bust our asses over it.”

  “WE JUST
want you two to take a break from each other,” Mike, the show’s main producer, said when Danny and Elliot were seated in the producer’s trailer at the side of the house. He and the other producers had just informed Elliot he would be taking a few days off from the show. Danny didn’t like it. He doubted Elliot liked it either. “We saw the footage from the kitchen last night. Things have gotten a bit… close.”

  Oh, shit. That’s what prompted this….

  “Wait, so you want me to go home? Like to my parents’ house?” Elliot asked.

  “For a few days. Just a breather,” Mike answered.

  “Your friendship reads as awfully intense on film. It makes you look less accessible to the fans if you’re always looking at each other,” Sharita, another producer, added. Danny waited for them to say the word “gay.” Waited for a bomb to drop. But it never did.

  “So we’re too close as friends?” he clarified. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Yeah, I thought the fans liked all our little bromances. And what does me going home have to do with that?” Elliot asked.

  “They do like the bromances. To a point. But if you and Danny are always more interested in talking and joking with each other than flirting with the girls on the show, how are the fans going to expect you to want to flirt with them?”

  “We don’t want to flirt with them,” Elliot blurted out. “We don’t even know them.”

  Danny’s heart melted a little at Elliot’s naive outlook. He got it. They weren’t Chris, they weren’t Isaiah either. It wasn’t just about the music for Static. A big part of boy-band appeal was the boys themselves and the fantasy that they were available and ready to fall in love with a swooning fan at any given time.

  “We’ll tone it down,” he promised.

  “Good.” Sharita nodded. “I still think it’s best for Elliot to go home for a few days. Take a break. Get some perspective.”

  “Why me?”

  She smiled. “Don’t take this as a punishment, sweetie, just… time to think. There are thousands of girls out there hanging on your every word, ready to buy your album, wear your T-shirt, write your name on their face, and stand in line to meet you. What do you want them to think of Elliot Price?”

  He shrugged. “That I’m me?” Danny saw when Elliot gave up. “Never mind. I get it. I’ll go home.”

  Danny wasn’t sure if Elliot did get it, but he wasn’t a fighter. Elliot liked to make people happy, and if going home for a few days would make their producers happy, then so be it. Still sucked.

  POOR ELLIOT!!

  A Candy Scoop Exclusive

  Breaking news! Our favorite curly haired cutie ELLIOT PRICE is set to take a break from the Band Camp set this week. Oh no…. The reasons for his absence are still unclear but Candy Scoop has sources at the scene ready to confirm.

  GRACIE from THE PIXIES says: “Elliot’s sister is getting married. He has to go home for the wedding. We’ll miss him!”

  But WEBB from his own band STATIC has reported that it’s really ELLIOT’s mother and she’s sick and missing her baby during her illness. (Get well soon ELLIOT’s mama if that’s the case!)

  We’ve heard other eyewitness reports of tension flaring between the members of STATIC. Tsk Tsk. Maybe ELLIOT was sent home for a time out. Naughty boy!

  Whatever the reason, we hope our ELLIOT comes back to us soon. His BFF, and partner in bromance, DANNY would sure miss him!

  —CS

  “Elliot, I promise I didn’t say that. Do you even have a sister?”

  Gracie looked horrified. The tabloid article had been linked all over Twitter. Elliot received everything from condolences to questions and even hateful messages telling him to leave Webb alone. It was crazy.

  Elliot laughed softly. “No. No sister. And I know you didn’t say that.”

  “Dude, and I didn’t say your mom was sick either,” Webb muttered. “I’d never spill that stuff to the press. She’s okay, isn’t she?”

  Elliot shrugged. He hated lying and he sucked at it. “My mom’s fine. Don’t worry. I’ll be back in a few days, ’kay guys?”

  He didn’t know what the producers had told everyone. Apparently not much. It didn’t sit well with Elliot that his friends had been lied to or at the very least not informed, but he wasn’t in the position to make waves. Elliot smiled weakly.

  “We’re kosher though, aren’t we?” Webb looked worried. “Everything settled? I don’t know who said we were fighting.”

  Elliot felt like an idiot for even causing even the smallest bit of drama. “Of course we are, man.” He gave Webb a tight hug. “I was seriously just having a pissy night, and I took it out on you. The cameras caught it, but I swear it looked a lot worse than it was. It wasn’t your fault at all.”

  Webb looked relieved. That made Elliot feel like an ass. Tate and Reece hugged him, as did the girls. He got waves from OCD and Chris and Isaiah. It seemed like the whole house had gathered to watch him do his walk of shame to the van. Good thing most of them didn’t know what his little vacation was really about.

  Danny.

  Elliot turned to find Danny following him to the van. “I’m really sorry,” he said quietly.

  “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Danny enveloped him in a long, tight hug. Elliot buried his face in Danny’s neck and closed his eyes, trying to memorize how it felt. Five days without Danny’s smell, his touch, everything Elliot had gotten used to, sounded intolerable.

  “I’m gonna miss you,” he whispered.

  “Me too.” Danny stepped back and ruffled Elliot’s hair. “I’ll call you,” he added quietly. Elliot knew that was exactly what the producers didn’t want. Too bad. He nodded and tossed his bag into the van before crawling into the backseat. Danny gave him one last sad look before he slid the door shut. Elliot jammed the earbuds of his iPod into his ears, refusing to make small talk with the driver. Probably wasn’t very polite, but he wasn’t in a good mood.

  IT WAS nearly lunch when the studio’s van pulled up in front of his parent’s midsize ranch house. As much as Elliot hated being separated from Danny and his friends, he had to admit it was really nice to see home. His mother was waiting at the door to envelop him in another long hug. It wasn’t the same as Danny’s hugs, but he’d missed them just the same.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Come in, love. I made you a sandwich.”

  Elliot’s mother talked about the neighborhood while Elliot ate the sandwich and two huge cookies she’d set out next to it. He knew what was coming though. If he was his own son, he’d ask.

  “What happened?” And there it was. Elliot didn’t know how to explain his little field trip. He could say it was because he and Webb were arguing, but that would disappoint his mother. Plus, Elliot didn’t want to lie and make Webb look bad. He could make up some other story… but again. Lying. He didn’t want to and he wasn’t good at it.

  “The producers thought that Danny and I needed a break from each other.” The truth. It was hard to look at his mother after he said it. She reached out and tipped his chin up with soft fingers.

  “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged. “They said our friendship was getting too intense and we needed some time apart. I don’t know how to be any other way with Danny. We’re just… like that.” Elliot looked back down at his hands and fiddled with one of his bracelets. He had a feeling the conversation was about to turn ridiculously awkward.

  His mother gave him a sympathetic look. “How long have you had feelings for him?”

  Boom. Awkward.

  “Mom.”

  “Elliot.” She smiled at him kindly. “Do you think I don’t know my own son?”

  He resisted for a moment but then let out a long, tired sigh. “Honestly, I don’t know how everyone hasn’t figured it out. I’m so obvious. I try not to be, but when we watch the footage it’s like right there.”

  “And Danny? He has feelings for you too I assume.”

  Elliot nodded miserably.<
br />
  “It’s not an easy situation, is it?”

  “It’s not really why they sent me home, unless they didn’t say it. They just think Danny and I seem too… intense, they said. We’re not showing enough interest in the fans. They want me to think about the image I want the fans to have of me and how I can live up to it.” He made a disgusted noise in his throat. All Elliot wanted was to sing, hang out with his new best friends, and be with Danny. The rest seemed so fake and contrived.

  “That’s the way things work.”

  “I know.”

  “So, what now?”

  “I sit here for a few days, then I can go back and act like Danny and I aren’t as close as we are?” Elliot hated it.

  His mom stood and walked around to his chair where she put warm hands on his shoulders. “Just be careful, okay, baby? You’re not just Elliot anymore. You’re Elliot Price from Static, and people are watching you.”

  He knew. He knew people were watching, and every move he made with Danny could potentially cause trouble for his band. That was becoming clearer with each day.

  “HI.” ELLIOT couldn’t help smiling at the sound of Danny’s voice, so comforting, familiar. He missed it. He’d been missing it nearly every second for two days.

  “This sucks.” Danny had never been one for beating around the bush.

  “I’m coming back on Friday.”

  “That’s forever from now.”

  “I suppose that it has to be sufficient enough time for me to ‘think about how I want the fans to see me’.” Elliot rolled his eyes.

  “You make it sound like you’re on a timeout from the playground.” Danny laughed.

  “Aren’t I? Plus, this is screwing with rehearsals, with recording. They had to reschedule our fan meet and greet. It’s just stupid.”