My Head is a Jungle - Chapter 2
Well, here is Chapter 2. Quickly after Chapter 1. In this chapter we meet Charlie's friends and continue the world building. I appreciate this is a slow burn, but all the best stories I have read on Nifty slowly build up to the hot scenes and they are all the better for it. This is the first thing I have ever written, so please mail me thoughts, feedback, like it or not to rmlambertauthor@gmail.com !
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Chapter 2
"CHARLIE! COME ONNNNN! WAKE UP! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE! MUM IS GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Matty, Charlie's older brother of three years, continued shouting up the stairs. Charlie continued staring at the ceiling while ignoring the shouts of his brother. The idea of returning to school wasn't exactly filling him with joy. He wasn't really sure why. He had friends, pretty good grades, and never got in trouble. Perhaps it was because he was about to start Year 11, the end of high school, a year filled with exams and coursework and decisions about the future. But it was more than that, there was something about the performance of school, the dance, he didn't want to play anymore. Desperately, he tried to think of an excuse to stay home, maybe he could say he had an upset stomach during the night. But then, "MUMS MADE EGGS CHAR-" "YES! Matty I'm awake I'm coming Jesus! Chill" Charlie shouted back at his brother. It wasn't a fight worth having today, besides, perhaps it would be weird to miss the first day. He could hear his brother laughing from downstairs as he staggered into the bathroom rubbing the sleep from his eyes. It had been five days since he last jerked off, the night where he looked at the college bros video. So as you can imagine, there was a considerable bulge at the front of his boxers as he considered himself in the bathroom mirror. For a brief moment, he considered jerking in the shower, but decided against it. Time wasn't his friend this morning. Instead, he brushed his teeth and stepped into a steaming hot shower, thoughtful about the upcoming day.
"Do you think everythings okay with Charlie?" asked Holly.
"Why wouldn't he be?" replied Matty, "Mum, he's definitely more okay than I was at 15. He's the smart, sensible one." Holly laughed, "Why do you think we had another son, we needed an insurance policy!" Matty snorted into his orange juice. That was the truth. What Holly didn't know was at 16 Matty was sneaking out of the house partying most weekends, something Charlie definitely wasn't doing. Charlie was the sensible one. Matty wasn't concerned at all. The table was quiet as they continued to eat breakfast, but then Holly continued, "He just seemed, not himself all summer. Quiet. Like there is something not quite right. He's hardly seen his friends this summer. He's mostly been with the dog. Or your Dad." Matty considered his answer for a second, "Mum, I can talk to him. But he's fine! I'll drive him to school and check in with him? OK?" Holly didn't say anything in response to this, instead she got up from the table, walked round and hugged Matty tight from behind, kissing the top of his head. "Maybe you're not so bad at all" she said with a wry grin, but then, "don't mention this to your Dad though, I don't want him to worry... not that there is anything to worry about.. I'm sure."
"Did you worry about me this much?" Matty said, already knowing the answer. The truth is, Matty was more independent, laidback, he always had this incredible ability to let everything wash over him. Charlie was more thoughtful. He focussed on football and training, he had never seen him drinking or smoking or partying, all of which he had done plenty by the age of 16. But, he resolved to talk to Charlie, to make sure his little brother was okay.
At first Charlie was adamant he wanted to get the bus to school. But when Matty bribed him with the offer of a can of Monster from the garage on the way, Charlie gratefully got into the car with good grace. Charlie liked Matty's car, a battered old Volkswagen Golf their parents had bought Matty when got accepted into University. For Charlie, even though the car resembled the outside of Apollo 13, and was a sea of empty cans of coke and crisp packets, the car represented freedom and maturity. Matty had a habit of putting all the windows down and blasting his music to the point Charlie's ears hurt, but this morning it felt good. As Matty went to hand over the energy drink, he said, "Before I give it to you, you have to answer my question." "Hey, that wasn't part of the deal!" Charlie complained. "Just, answer my question. Are things okay with you? You've not felt like yourself this summer." Charlie looked at Matty and considered his answer. "Yeah, man, of course. I'm fine. I just wanted a bit of space from some people this summer." Matty looked into Charlie's big brown eyes, "has something happened?" "No!" "You sure? You promise you'd tell me if there was?" "Fuck, Matty, yes, of course. I'm fine." Charlie began to get out of the car. "Hey, and give me the drink!". Matty handed over the can with a smirk on his face. "Is this about a girl? Charlie felt his cheeks going slightly pink and pushed the car door open. "No! There's no girl. Jesus. I'm fine Matty. I promise." As he began to walk away from the car, Matty shouted through the open window "We'll talk more later! I'll be late home though- I'm going to see Alexia after work!" Charlie waved at Matty and walked up the drive towards the school building. As he cracked open the can of Monster and slightly shuddered at the cold splash of the drink sliding down his throat he checked the time. Realising it was twenty minutes until school started, he slid onto a nearby bench and opened the Snapchat group containing his two best friends in the whole world, Louis and Theo.
@charliesz Where you both at? I got a ride with Matty and I'm here early...
@louislouis69 School doesn't start for 19 minutes. Still in bed lol.
@charliezs Fucks sake. Hurry up! I look like a loser..
@louislouis69 haha... fairly standard
@charliesz Thanks man. Prick.
@louislouis69 Stop messaging me you will make me late...
@theo_quick1 There in 2. Mum is just dropping me off. Wanted to look fresh on the first day. Got to look good for Hannah.. ;)
@charliezs That's not going to be a thing all year again is it..
@theo_quick1 Have you seen those tits?
@louislouis69 He makes a fair point...
@charliesz Fucks sakes. Hurry up!
Charlie opened his front camera and checked how he was looking. Even though he wasn't vain, he still wanted to make sure he looked his best. As Theo said, you wanted to look good on your first day. He couldn't quite believe he was in Year 11 already. Finishing High School. It all felt like it had come around way too quickly. He rearranged the tie of his uniform and made sure his middle parting looked good. He took a mini bottle of sauvage from his backpack and sprayed a small spray on the nape of his neck. Sitting on that bench, he felt confident. He knew he looked good. As he sat there waiting for Theo and Louis, many of his schoolmates were piling into the school building. Some saying hello, some checking him out, girls whispering and giggling when they saw him. He mostly kept his eyes on his phone, feeling way too on show for this. He wanted to keep a low profile this year, and this wasn't the perfect start.
A loud laugh made Charlie look up from his phone. It was a group of sixth-formers, who got to wear their own clothes, walking into the building. He had seen them before, but something about the group of them caught his eye. They were two years older, but they could have been five years older, perhaps it was the clothes. His eyes particularly lingered on the boy at the back. He was tall, exceptionally tall for his age. He was wearing baggy jeans and a tee, a mop of curly brown hair and had a skateboard under one arm. Completing the look was a brown leather jacket which Charlie thought was awful, but as part of the ensemble.. Something about it worked. Charlie was also surprised to see he was smoking as he walked up the school drive. There was something about the way he was carrying himself, the mop of curly hair, that made something stir in Charlie. That same feeling he always tried to fight. He felt his dick begin to harden inside his trousers. `What the fuck was happening?!' Charlie thought. But, the more he tried, the more he continued to watch the guy walk into school. He had to readjust slightly, because his dick was pressing against his tight school pants. The curly haired skater boy stopped to put the remains of his cigarette into the bin, and as he did he looked over and met eyes with Charlie. Just for a second. Charlie looked back, cheeks flushed. Possibly for less than a second, but Charlie definitely felt their glance contained a vibe? Chemistry? He blinked, went to look at the boy, and then- "Chaaarlie Brown! Charles Dickens! I missed you man!" It was Theo. He pulled Charlie into a bone crushing hug. Charlie hoped he couldn't feel his dick, still hard. "Looking fresh Theo! Fuck, you're super brown. Was it that hot in France?!"
"Well, you know me. I found some tanning oil shit on TikTok and lay out in the sun like a piece of roadkill for two weeks. The girls love a tan lad." Theo had a boundless sense of optimism. He was average height, dark hair, green eyes and a strong build. His Dad was a rugby coach and Theo was heading the same way. "Anyway, where have you been all summer? Theo asked.
"Um, no where. We were in Scotland for two weeks, and then I was just, you know, chilling at home." Charlie continued, "Dad had some time off for once, so we played some golf, went swimming, you know, wholesome shit."
Whilst Charlie was talking, Theo pulled out a small green and blue box from his pocket and inhaled deeply on it. "Theo, what the fuck?" "Charlie, my man. Things changed a bit over summer..." Charlie stared at him. "Charlie. It's a vape. I'm not mainlining heroin. Just, you know. Over the summer I went to a few parties with Simon and the other boys from the Rugby team, and we tried some stuff. Red Wine by the way - don't bother. It's fucking rank."
To no one's surprise, Louis was late. He breezed in at 10, looking, like he always did, just woken up. But Charlie was glad to see him. Louis was the guy you would always want around in a crisis. Nothing stressed him out, he judged nobody. He was the human embodiment of the colour yellow. Theo was all hormones and energy all underpinned with a slight insecurity, Louis couldn't have been more confident in himself. It actually made Charlie jealous. He wished he had Louis' sense of self. He was also the least sporty of the trio. Tall, a shock of dirty blonde hair which came down past his ears, Louis' passions were coding and gaming. He always gave good advice, and was very much a go with the flow guy. Charlie was happy they were back as a three. The day passed by without incident. The usual. This is the most important year of your lives etc. Charlie found it harder to concentrate than usual. For some reason, his mind kept wandering back to the skaterboy from this morning with his cigarette and brown leather jacket. During their last lesson, which was Maths, Charlie's least favourite lesson, Theo threw a paper ball at Charlie and gestured to him to open it. It said,
`Simon has a free house at the weekend. Parents in Rome. His brother is buying beer. You in?'
Charlie didn't know what to say. He didn't know Simon and Theo's friends from the rugby club. He looked at Theo who was looking expectantly at him. He looked at Louis,who sat next to Charlie during maths and gave a, `I don't know..' kind of face. Louis met his eyes and whispered, "if we both go it'll be fine. Come on. It'll be fun." He looked at Theo and gave him a smile and a thumbs up. Theo was beaming but quickly had to look down as Mr Rogers was moving around the classroom. "Sir, may I use the bathroom?" Charlie asked, and as he left the room, dropped the note into the waste paper bin.
As he walked to the toilet, Charlie thought about the party. Something about it made him nervous. Would he be expected to drink? He had a big football game on Saturday, but he knew Theo would want him to drink. He made a mental note to talk to Matty about it that night. He also knew Theo saw this as an opportunity to talk to girls, which made Charlie nervous. He had kissed a girl before on a class trip the previous year, but that was his only experience with girls. He found the constant snapchatting and messaging with girls exhausting. So while lots of girls were interested in him for his looks, they found him quickly boring. He stood at the urinal thinking about all of this, unzipped his trousers and started to piss. Next thing the door opened and two boys walked in, both in Charlie's year. They stood at the two urinals next to Charlie. Charlie looked straight ahead. The two boys were chatting and fooling around and something made Charlie look right. He saw both of the guys' dicks right there. It was like electricity through Charlie's body. One shorter than the other, one with more hair than the other, but two very different, very close to him, dicks. He felt his trousers becoming tight again and his face flush.He hurriedly finished, washed his hands and left the bathroom in a hurry. As he went, he couldn't stop thinking about the other boys' dicks. Which then led him to thinking about the skateboard boy's dick. What did that look like? I wonder how big it is, he thought. `It doesn't matter. I'm not gay'.
After school Charlie had football practice. Football was his favourite thing in the world. It was 90 minutes when he didn't need to think about anything else, other than the game in hand. He modelled himself on the pitch on the Argentinian player Garnacho, the winger who played for Manchester United. Like Garnacho, Charlie was praised by his coaches for his speed and dribbling abilities, and his chance creating in the box. Charlie was well liked by everyone in the team, because he had exceptional skill but wasn't greedy or obnoxious. He'd always pass the ball rather than trying to score himself. He was selfless like that. Naturally, he felt awkward in the changing room. Lots of athletic teenage boys, Charlie often kept his eyes down and showered at home. While packing his bag after a long practice, Charlie felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Elias, a handsome defender on the team. Charlie couldn't help notice all Charlie was wearing was a small towel, clearly just out of the shower which Charlie avoided at all costs. Elias said, "Hey! I heard you're coming to Simon's party at the weekend!" Charlie hesitated, and replied, "erm, yeah. I think so." "Jesus, don't sound too excited," Elias laughed.
"Nah, it's just, I don't know so many people there. I'm not exactly... experienced with partying.. I didn't know you knew Simon?" Charlie replied,awkwardly.
"Simon's brother is friends with my brother, so we used to go on family holidays and stuff... besides, you know me" Elias replied with a grin. Then, unmistakably he looked Charlie up and down and made very direct eye contact with him. Charlie looked back at Elias, hoping he hadn't gone too red. Charlie went to speak but no words came out. Elias, helpfully, filled the gap. "Make sure you find me on friday. We can have a drink together. Get to know each other better." and gave Charlie the smallest wink and grin, and walked away. Charlie looked at Elias' strong, muscular back as he walked away and thought - was he flirting with me then? Or am I just looking for it everywhere? But, he couldn't deny it - Elias going to the party would make it more fun for him. Theo would be chasing skirt everywhere, and Louis would be, Louis. So the idea of hanging out with Elias was exciting to Charlie. With a smile, he picked up his back and went for the bus, his mind firmly on Friday night and Elias' strong, muscular back.