Elements of Desire, 1
Sterling, Marty, and Skyler are self proclaimed nerds. For as long as he was in college, Skylar liked straight football star, Wyatt Jeperson. When Skyler invents a chemical that makes people fall in love, he decides to try it on Wyatt. But with Wyatt’s love comes a truckload of problems as he learns real love isn’t skin deep.
Be Warned: m/m sex
Excerpt:
It was a well-known fact that all the footballers hung out at Jenny’s Junction after Friday night games. While Sterling usually avoided going out a lot while he was drop dead drunk, there was this tiny voice in his head that whispered, What if Skyler got it right? And the thing was, he clung to that hope, that belief that maybe, just maybe, he could have Wyatt.
Like a staggering zombie, he had to shoot that zombie in the head before it got too out of hand.
Not that it was the “cool thing to do,” the three of them walked, or more rather, staggered, to Jenny’s, clinging to each other like a remake of The Human Centipede. When Sterling managed to open the door—push and pull is hard when he was drunk—he found his way inside. Somewhere in the room, he could hear Wyatt’s infectious laughter, but he couldn’t manage to summon the courage to sit near him, even for this.
“This was a stupid idea,” he said. “Who the hell decided to come here?”
“You,” Skyler pointed out.
They dissolved into laughter.
But he went silent at the sound of Wyatt’s voice growing closer and closer. Despite the fact that all he had to do was sit there, his stomach did a knot not even a sailor could master. Wyatt came around the corner, probably en route to the bathroom, with Kim on his arm. For the first time since the chili incident, their eyes met.
Wyatt stopped dead, those famous brown eyes Sterling admired widening in shock. His heart went double time, but he knew Wyatt was probably looking at something behind him. He couldn’t be looking at him, not like that.
Unless…
No, don’t even think like that, he chastised himself.
“Baby, what’s the matter?” Kim asked, having stopped short at his abrupt halt. She tried to tug Wyatt forward, but his eyes were elsewhere. Then, with an action that would have silenced the room if people could see it, he brushed off Kim’s arm and approached their table. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
Just like that, Wyatt stood in front of him wearing his letterman jacket, the hair Sterling so desperately wanted to touch tousled by the football game. “Hey,” Wyatt said, his eyes trained on him. “You go to our college, right?”
He nodded, realizing he was so insignificant that Wyatt didn’t even remember getting showered by chili. Or maybe he was too lovestruck to say anything. No, he said to himself.
Suddenly, he realized Wyatt was expecting a reply. “Yeah, I do.”
“Did you catch the game?” Wyatt asked, as Kim made an impatient tut behind him. But even Kim didn’t challenge someone like Wyatt.
“No, I’m afraid not.”
The disappointment on Wyatt’s face was more obvious than a wart on a newborn. “That’s a shame. You should see the next one.”
Before the conversation could continue, Hunter and another letterman jacket-wearing buddy came around the corner. “Hey, Wyatt, what’s taking so long?” Hunter asked, then turned his head toward him. “Yo, chili guy! What’s your name?”
“I think we’d both like to know that,” Wyatt said, an edge to his voice.
“I’m–” For a horrifying moment, even his own name escaped him. “-Sterling Wellborn.”
“Cool, dude. Nice to meet you. Anyone who can embarrass my brother is a friend in my book.” With a smirk, Hunter elbowed his brother in the ribs.
But Wyatt wasn’t having it. “Hey, do you want to go to a party tomorrow?”
The smile on Hunter’s face disappeared. He sent his brother a confused glance, and then shrugged in a way that was, he was coming to learn, so Hunter. The other letterman guy wasn’t having it, though. “Dude, we don’t know these guys.”
“Shut up, Keith,” Wyatt said. “So … tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sure.” He pulled out his phone. “Can I get your number?”
And by some miracle, he got it.
