Chasing Rusty Parker Ch. 13

"What pure luck?"

"That kid on the opposing team got injured."

"So? It's not like that was my fault." He hated so much how defensive his voice turned each time he had an argument with Roy Parker.

"Your fault was playing like a brick for half a game. It doesn't matter. It's not like you're going to make something out of basketball, anyway. You missed that chance, son."

"I've played for you," Rusty said thickly, each word weighing a ton in his mouth.

His dad seemed surprised and looked at him. "Then you didn't do that good a job, if your only purpose was to impress me."

"There's no pleasing you, is there?" Rusty continued.

"You're a piece of work, boy, aren't you? I told you over and over. If you're good, you will have all doors open in front of you. But you treated all this like some sort of joke, as you do with everything."

His dad seemed to be in quite the talkative mood. True enough, Rusty didn't want to provoke him on the grounds of not wanting another to be put on the receiving end of a few hurtful words and disappointed frowns.

"It shouldn't come as a big surprise. This whole school of yours is one big joke," his dad continued. "Like that weirdo interrupting the game. I suppose I should be content no one ran naked across the floor."

Rusty bit his lip. Now wasn't a good time to be laughing.

"Something funny? Finish your damn school, and then you can do whatever you want."

"Yeah, sure."

No one was able to sour the mood like his dad. And, Rusty realized at that very moment, he had always been like that, even when he had been at home, supposedly playing the roles of father and husband.

He watched as his dad climbed behind the wheel without another word. He continued to watch while the car moved away, until its lights became dim and hard to see. Without his knowing it, his hands had curled into fists. Suddenly, he felt tired, wanting nothing but a damn shower and to hit the bed. Anything but to think of this crappy evening.

"Good game, Rusty."

He turned his head and some of his tiredness disappeared when he saw Matty walking toward him. Could it be that Matty had heard that convo? At least, parts of it? Maybe he pitied him for having such a lousy dad.

"Yeah, it was pretty good," he said, not wanting to ask Matty anything about it. If they both didn't say a thing, it could be as if it never happened.

"You, playing modest? Really? You were awesome." Matty smiled from ear to ear and wrapped one arm around Rusty's. "How about you come with me and I can read you more of A Kingdom To Plunder?"

"Are you telling me that I could be celebrating with the entire cheerleading team right now, and you want me to come with you to your tiny cell aka dorm room so that you can read to me about zombies with hard schlongs?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"That seems about right, then."

***

Matty wasn't going to comment on what he had seen and heard. Things were a lot clearer now. For a moment, the idea to interrupt them had crossed his mind, to do something even crazier than dressing up as a cat boy and having security chase him down. Something like waving his GPA score in front of Rusty's dad so that the man would know that people were really studying at Sunny Hill, and that it was as good as any other school, and then say that basketball wasn't everything--

He had stopped himself in time. It was a matter of respecting boundaries, and he was relieved that Rusty hadn't asked him about how long he had been standing there, listening in on that strained conversation with his dad.

"Boy, I so need to take a shower," he said, seeing how Rusty was silent, although he let himself be carried away as Matty dragged him along by one arm. "It's hard work to scream and shout throughout an entire game."

"Were you there the whole time?" Rusty asked.

"Yeah, I didn't miss a second," Matty lied through his teeth.

"I saw your friend's uber pink jacket, but it was hard to see you in that crowd. So, you liked it?"

"I barely have any voice left," Matty assured him. "You were a freaking star out there."

"Not through the entire game," Rusty said.

"Don't you know what they say? It happens to the best of us."

"Come on, Matty, tell me you didn't feel the need to boo for at least like a minute or so."

"No way. I'll always cheer you on."

"Regardless of how bad I do?"

"Regardless," Matty replied. "Hey, how about we shower together? My bathroom is really tiny, but I think we can manage."

"Is this your way of compensating for the cheerleading team?"

"Hey, I'm trying. And you haven't yet seen my back soaping technique. I belong in a spa as a regular attraction."

Rusty observed him through his eyelashes. "Now, you're just bragging."

"Hey, I guess you'll have to see it with your own eyes. I mean, feel it on your own back."

"Yeah, why not?"

***

In a way, Matty hadn't been talking out of his ass. Rusty groaned as he felt the firm hands moving across his back and making him feel like knot after knot of tight muscles was getting unraveled like a ball of yarn. Funny. He was thinking of Slicky Coolplums while being soaped thoroughly and massaged by Matty. It was a little bit like cheating, but it wasn't.

Ah, damn, he really needed to consider Matty as just a friend, and not even the buttfucking type of friend. Damn Maddox and Jonathan, and their unified idea that he shouldn't be an asshole by playing too close to the fire with Matty.

For the umpteenth time, he had to say it to himself. They were right, obviously, even if they didn't have a clue that Rusty might like having Matty's hands on him like that a bit too much.

Still, that didn't mean that his dick had any idea what being a moral upstanding person meant. The Mighty Thor had been twitching like crazy every time Matty had breathed on his neck by accident, each time his fingers had moved a bit too close to his ass for a non-sexual massage.

"Thanks a lot, Matty boy," he said, trying to sound nonchalant and his usual self. "I think I can take it from here."

"Sure." Matty was obviously fighting to hide the disappointment in his voice. "I'll wait for you to finish, and then it'll be my turn."

"Yeah, thanks. Just make sure not to fall asleep without reading some of that zombie stuff to me. You lured me here with that promise alone."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Rusty waited until Matty closed the door to grab hold of his now fully hard cock. "I'm fucking supposed to be a nice dude and stop jumping Matty's bones, you fucker," he admonished his longtime friend.

The Mighty Thor could be an asshole. He sprung happily in his hand while Rusty closed his eyes. He needed to think of some girls and stuff. Yet, each image he conjured in his head somehow metamorphosed into the only person he wasn't supposed to fantasize about. A pair of juicy tits invariably turned into Matty's smooth chest, a tiny waist into the guy's hard abs, and he didn't even dare to think about butts. If he went there, he was bound to become a goner in less than sixty seconds.

"You will pay for this." Rusty pumped his cock a couple of more times and then slapped it one time. "You will go to sleep, blue balls and all. That will teach you."

***

Matty showered in record time, wanting so much to understand why Rusty had assumed that completely non-combat attitude toward him, although they had practically stood naked in the shower together. He had expected at least a bit of teasing if not something physical, yet nothing of the kind had happened.

It was all right. After all, Rusty had just gone through a tough time, first through that miserable first half of the game, and then that conversation with his dad. Matty couldn't even imagine how it would feel to be in open conflict like that with his parents. They were demanding and wanted him to excel in his studies, but they never looked down on him or made him feel bad about himself, as he had seen tonight while witnessing Rusty and his father from the shadows.

He groaned and pressed the palms of his hands against his closed eyes. He was being an asshole. No one in their right mind would think of sex under circumstances like that. As much of a free spirit as Rusty was, there was no way that kind of rejection wouldn't get to him. Right now, more than anything, the guy needed a friend, not a horny dude who could barely wait to get into his pants.

When he got out of the bathroom, the sight that greeted him made his resolve shake a smidge. Rusty had only a pair of sweatpants on -- he must have had them in his backpack, and he was lying on Matty's bed, hands behind his head, contemplating the ceiling. When Matty walked in, his eyes turned to him and he smiled, not like his usual flirtatious or teasing smile, but the genuine kind.

Rusty moved away from the edge of the bed, closer to the wall. "Come on, hop in. I can really barely wait to hear more of what happens in that crazy fantasy."

Matty smiled, too, as he grabbed the book and climbed on the bed. As a friend, he would ignore Rusty's naked chest, and the warmth of his body, and the pleasant smell of his skin. He fluffed his pillow and arranged it so that he could lean against the wall in a sitting position. Rusty rested his head in Matty's lap immediately, wrapping one arm around his left leg.

It was pure temptation, so he reached for the blond head and began caressing it gently. Rusty immediately made a purring sound, and Matty snickered. "You're like one big cat. By the way, that thing with the cat boy, right? Wow." He waited with bated breath.

"Yeah," Rusty agreed quietly. "He pulled me out of my funk. Just what I needed at that moment."

"How could he know you were having a hard time?" Matty asked. Damn, he really loved to play close to the fire.

"He's a student here, at Sunny Hill. There's no other explanation."

"Do you want to touch his tail?"

"It's a pretty fluffy tail."

Silence followed, and Matty considered if all this probing was a good idea on his part.

"I don't know how he knew what to do, but it's like he really knows me," Rusty continued.

"He sounds like a friend," Matty commented, his heart in his throat.

"I don't want to be friends with him," Rusty retorted. "I want to pull his tail and fondle his butt, because he's a total cockteaser. Plus, I have plenty of friends already."

"Like Maddox and Jonathan," Matty pointed out.

"And you. You're an awesome friend, Matty."

"The kind whose butt you want to fondle?" he risked.

"Yeah, about that. I shouldn't do that to a friend."

Matty pursed his lips and blinked hard. What the hell was going on?

"Now, go on, start reading. My eyes are already closing."

"Okay," Matty said softly.

He had just been friendzoned. Just like that. Although his eyes were getting moist and he no longer could see the letters clearly, he continued to read. It was fine. It was totally fine. Rusty needed a friend, and he, Matty, was okay with that.

TBC