Chapter 19

 

 

"What about onions?"

 

"Onions?" Guy asked, crinkling his nose in a displeased way, "Why onions?"

 

James shrugged. "I don't know. Because they remind me of you."

 

Guy frowned. "Please explain how a smelly vegetable reminds you of me."

 

"Don't be so touchy Guy," James chastised.

 

Guy bit his lip. "Fine. I'm sorry."

 

James smiled. He could never resist the way Guy pouted like a small child. "Alright, I'll tell you how. Onions are layered. On the outside they are bitter, but on the inside they are sweet and delicious. You are exactly like that. Outwardly you don't seem to have a lot of appeal as far as personality goes, but if someone were to take the time to really get to know you they'd see what a truly sweet person you are."

 

Guy looked James in the eyes, clearly full of appreciation. "It means so much to me that you think that."

 

James placed one hand over one of Guy's and stroked it lightly with his thumb. "I'm glad." He leaned back in his chair, knowing that Guy liked his space and that he would sometimes get uncomfortable with intimate moments like this one. "Now what are we going to do about this crop situation?"

 

"What about tomatoes? Tomatoes could be nice."

 

James tapped his fingers on the table. "I don't know. My mother used to grow tomatoes sometimes. The bugs would usually destroy most of them."

 

Guy shrugged. "I'm sure that wouldn't be much of a problem, if we used the proper chemicals. But we don't have to grow those, if you don't want to."

 

"It's not that I don't want to, I just feel like what we grow should be sort of special. Special to you, or special to us."

 

Guy rubbed his chin. "I see what you mean. But I don't know of anything like that."

 

James smiled sheepishly. "Neither do I." He leaned forward just enough so that he could rest one elbow on the table, his hand cradling his right cheek. His other hand tapped sporadically on the hard wooden surface. His face was so intense, so full of concentration, Guy felt he had to look away. He felt like a glance in James' direction would be equivalent to glancing into his deepest thoughts. They were something Guy had always wanted to be able to know, but would never dare ask about.

 

James shifted in his chair, and suddenly his eyes lit up with the all too familiar spark that Guy could always recognize without fail. He had come up with something that tickled his fancy.

 

But Guy was surprised and more than a little frustrated when James did not instantly blurt out the thought like he usually did, and instead kept silent, with nothing but a small smile to explain what he was thinking.

 

Guy tried to hide his curiosity. But he couldn't stop wondering. Was it an idea? A past experience? A memory he was fond of? The questions ate away at Guy, and he had to bite his lip to keep from asking them. So hard, in fact, that he drew blood. "Ow" he said, without meaning to.

 

James looked at him suspiciously. "What is it?" he asked.

 

"Nothing....I just cut my lip."

 

James started at Guy a long time. "So what are trying to refrain from saying?" he finally asked.

 

Guy frowned. "Okay....you caught me. I was trying not to mention it, because I didn't want to be intrusive. But now that you ask...I just have to say it. What were you thinking about just now? I just have to know. It looked like it was something great."

 

James smiled lovingly at Guy. "That's not intrusive at all. I was going to tell you anyways. But I thought it would sound kind of lame," he admitted.

 

Guy laughed. "We both sound like idiotic teenagers right now."

 

"You're right," James agreed, laughing too.

 

"Okay...now tell me what you were thinking," Guy told James, more than a hint of childlike impatience in his tone which James thought was sweet.

 

"I was just reminiscing. I started thinking about the gardens my mother used to plant. With the exception of those damn tomatoes, everything she planted flourished. She was always full of knowledge about the various foods and flowers she planted. It all came from my grandmother. She was basically an expert." He looked straight at Guy then. "She told me some of what she knew, too. I don't remember most of it. Gardening never seemed particularly interesting to me."

 

He locked eyes with Guy. "But there is one thing I remember clearly. One evening she was cutting up something I had never seen before. I asked her what it was. She told me it was a vegetable called a beet. And she told me beets were special. Obviously, I wanted to know why. She said that they were unique because their leaves were shaped like hearts. She told me how my grandfather had no money for a ring, so he proposed to her with a beet. It should have sounded ridiculous to me, but instead I thought it was romantic."

 

"That's incredibly sweet James. You thought I'd think it was lame?"

 

James blushed. "Well, yeah. It sounds so cheesy, like some stupid movie."

 

"I used to think those kinds of movies were stupid, but I don't anymore. Because every day I am with you I feel like I am living in one; it just feels to good to be real. And yet it is. And it is the farthest thing from stupid. It's beautiful and amazing and simply perfect."

 

James let out a nervous little laugh. "Well I'm glad, because I don't think it's stupid either. I just thought you would. And that makes me so much less afraid to say this...I think we should grow beets. For the cheesiness alone."

 

Guy didn't hesitate even for a moment. "Yes. That sounds perfect," he said.

 

 

 

-

SPIN

 

 

There could not have possibly been a worse moment in Chris's life. Why? All of his dreams were about to come true- the ones that had consumed him ever since the first day of ninth grade, anyway- but under all the completely wrong circumstances. It should not have been happening here, in front of a circle comprised of eight other teenagers, all with invasive eyes. And, most importantly, it should have been consensual.

 

He was roped into the game to begin with. The idea of being able to make out with a bunch of the girls at the party without consequences may have been enticing to the other boys, but Chris was not really interested. Sure, he liked making out with girls every now and then, but he liked it better when it meant something. Not that any kiss he'd ever had actually meant something.

 

But it was a party, what else was he supposed to do? Chris never handled alcohol well, but he would do almost anything else to feel like he was fitting in. Even if it almost made him miserable. So, when another boy at the party came up to him with an empty beer bottle in his hand and told Chris to come join them, how could he refuse?

 

The rules were simple: spin the bottle, of course, and kiss whoever it landed on. No matter who they were, boy or girl. No less than ten seconds (“With tongue!” “No, I thought we'd do it with our feet.”). Chris sat down, hoping that it would never stop on him, though he knew that with his luck, it might hardly land on anyone other than him.

 

Yet, it was at least ten minutes before it even came close to where he sat. It went from boy to girl to boy to girl to boy to girl to boy to girl to girl to boy to girl to boy to girl to boy. There was a discrepancy at one point, as the bottle landed in between two people; one long-haired blond girl by the name of Jeanette and a scruffy looking boy called Justin. It was decided that the boy who had spun the bottle would kiss both of them, then spin again. Another girl, a red-head aptly and boringly named Ginger.

 

And then it finally landed on Chris. The following seconds were, up to that point, probably the worst ten of his life, and certainly the slowest moving. Ginger was not exactly what Chris would call a good kisser, and she had some perfume on that made her smell like a dead animal. After it was over and Chris sat back in his spot, he still felt like he could smell it. He was afraid it would stick with him forever.

 

He sighed and grabbed the bottle. It seemed to spin just as slowly as time had passed during his experience with Ginger. He desperately wished the night would end already. When it finally stopped, he lifted his eyes to see who it had landed on. From the shoes alone, it appeared to be another boy. Chris quietly groaned.

 

But he was really regretting playing the game when he looked up to see a pair of green eyes staring back at him. His breath left him, at least for as long as his brain permitted before it automatically regulated the inflation and deflation of his lungs. He blinked a few times, perhaps to make sure he was seeing correctly.

 

The boy with the green eyes. The boy who always wore jackets that looked like they were five sizes too large. The boy with the softest, sweetest voice. The boy with the brightest smile in the world. Jonny. The boy who Chris was completely infatuated with. Somehow Chris hadn't noticed he was even there until this moment.

 

And now they had to kiss. They had to. There was no way out of it, not without being called a coward and being shunned by the rest of the group. Chris couldn't handle that. So, he crawled his way across the circle until he reached the middle. Jonny was less than a foot away from him. He could feel his cheeks flush.

 

Jonny started to lean in, and Chris started to panic. But he forced himself to lean in as well, because he couldn't show signs of just how nervous he was and just how much this moment meant to him. If anyone found out, he would surely be teased nonstop. He was certain of it.

 

The moment their lips touched made Chris want to cry. It felt absolutely wonderful, but this was not how it was supposed to happen. He was supposed to magically become friends with Jonny one day, then slowly break his way into Jonny's mind and steal his heart. Then Jonny would confess his feelings, and he would give Chris all the confidence he needed, and Chris would no longer feel the need to try to fit in. He and Jonny would be happy together just the way they were.

 

But no. His first kiss with Jonny, the thing he had longed for most for years, was the result of what could basically be considered nothing more than a dare. It did help that Jonny didn't seem absolutely revolted by the thought of kissing Chris, but only a small amount.

 

Chris tried his hardest to act like this wasn't nearly what he wanted, but it was difficult. No matter what he told himself, he found it impossible to not portray his feelings in the way he kissed Jonny. Then, when the ten seconds were sadly gone, Chris pulled back and the look in Jonny's eyes told him that he knew. Of course he knew. As Chris went back to his seat, he hoped that no one else could tell.

 

Chris kept his eyes on Jonny, unblinkingly, as the other boy took his turn. The feeling still lingered on his tongue, and his chest was still tight. He felt the stab of jealousy as Jonny went and kissed some girl, then he realized that it had brought with it a bought of nausea. It ate away at his stomach for a while, until he had to excuse himself without actually excusing himself, bouncing up on his feet and running into the nearby bathroom.

 

“What's wrong with him?” someone asked.

 

“Must have drank too much,” another answered. “Can't handle his booze.”

 

“He didn't drink anything,” a girl said. “Maybe someone should check on him...”

 

Seeing no other immediate interest, the girl volunteered herself. She quickly joined Chris in the restroom, where she found him hunched over the toilet bowl.

 

“Are you all right?” she asked him. Chris looked at her wearily. Without saying anything, he turned back after a few short seconds. “You didn't drink, did you?”

 

Chris shook his head. He was starting to feel just a little better, most likely due to the fact that his stomach no longer had any content. The girl put her hand on his shoulder, but only moments later withdrew it.

 

“There's some mouthwash on the sink over there,” she said, blindly pointing behind her. “I would use it if I were you... if you're coming back to the game, you know.”

 

“Oh, yeah. Thanks,” Chris quietly said to her. A moment later she had left the room. He took his time composing himself, trudged over to the sink and grabbed the bottle of green liquid the girl had been referring to. He felt weird using other people's things like that, but he did it anyway. It wasn't that big of a deal.

 

Chris tried to reenter the room as calmly and inconspicuously as possible. He thought he might have accidentally caught Jonny's gaze, but he turned his head away too quickly to be certain. He was just about to sit down when one of the other boys spoke.

 

“What time is it?”

 

“It's only, like, ten or something. Why, you got a curfew?”

 

“No... maybe. And anyway, this game is getting old. We've gone around the circle way too many times.”

 

“Yeah, he's right,” a girl chimed in, the same girl who had checked up on Chris. “And, well, we don't want anyone else to get sick. It could be a virus or something.”

 

Chris's cheeks burned and his eyes widened a little. Mostly everyone looked at him, and though they all tried to do so as discreetly as possible, it was completely obvious. Now he figured that everyone thought he was diseased or something, and maybe they would try to stay away from him and would consider him as some sort of freak. He ducked his head in embarrassment.

 

“Well, I don't care what the rest of you do, I'm leaving,” a strong voice said. It was Jonny. Chris lifted his eyes just a little.

 

Jonny stood up and glanced around the circle. He really did not care if the rest of the partygoers stayed, but before he could move from his spot, several other people stood as well. Chris picked up his head. There were enough people standing now that he felt it was almost required of him to follow.

 

Therefore, as the crowd of people began to exit the room, Chris jumped up and hesitantly walked out. Once he was outside, he headed towards the road. He didn't even think about how he was going to get home. He figured he would just walk.

 

But halfway to his destination, he realized that someone was walking next to him. He looked cautiously to see that it was Jonny, whose eyes appeared to be glued on Chris's frame. Chris began to slow down, until finally he came to a complete stop. Jonny stood in front of him and stared for a while.

 

“Hi, Chris,” Jonny finally spoke.

 

“Hi,” Chris lamely repeated. Jonny sighed deeply and bit his lip.

 

“That kiss before... you felt it, too, didn't you?” Chris looked at him with large eyes and gradually nodded. Jonny's eyes bore holes through Chris for a few seconds, then he blinked rapidly in a dazed sort of way. “I... I'm not sure... What I mean is-”

 

“It was awful,” Chris interjected quickly, “you hated it. OK. It never has to happen again.”

 

“Well, no, it wasn't awful.” Jonny twiddled his thumbs, looking rather put out. “Did you think it was awful?”

 

Jonny kept his head down and his gaze averted. Chris silently watched him. Jonny had expected at least some sort of answer- a grunt, maybe, or a full-fledged confession. Anything but silence. He looked back up to see the distress stretched across Chris's expression. Chris said the only thing he could think of.

 

“This isn't how any of this was supposed to happen.”

 

Nervously, Jonny rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. He faltered, stumbling to start his sentence approximately twenty times before he finally found the correct wording. “Well, nothing like this has ever even happened to me before. Although, I still don't know exactly what it means. I'd never kissed another boy...”

 

“But... we both felt... something?” Chris hopefully held his breath as Jonny gave a quick shrug.

 

“It was more than I felt kissing any of those other people,” Jonny replied. “I don't know, maybe it doesn't mean anything at all. Maybe I should just go home now. I'm sorry for wasting your time.”

 

Jonny ducked his head and started to walk away. Chris intended on shouting at him to stop, telling Jonny how much he liked him, but all that came out of his mouth was a desperate-sounding, “No.”

 

“No?” Jonny repeated as he shot a quizzical look at Chris. Chris took a few steps so that he and Jonny were next to each other again.

 

“You didn't waste my time,” he tentatively began to explain, “and... it could mean something. It could mean a lot, really.”

 

“Well, OK. Suppose it does mean something.” Jonny scuffed the bottom of his shoe on the ground and continued in a mumbling voice. “What would we do about it?”

 

“Maybe the first thing might be to... you know, to make sure that it means something,” Chris suggested, attempting to subtly lean closer to Jonny. “We could... reenact...”

 

“Then what? Because I know that there was something there, but I'm not so comfortable with... being with a guy.”

 

“Oh. I see.” Chris hid his sadness as well as he could, but inside he could feel his heart breaking just a bit. However, Jonny was privy to Chris's despondency, and he let out a frustrated groan, burying his head in his hands.

 

“I'm sorry,” he told Chris after he let his arms drop to his sides. “I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Now I just feel like a jackass. Do you like me?”

 

With great reluctance, Chris replied, “Yeah.” Jonny shot him a look of utter sympathy. Chris was wishing once again that he had just stayed home that evening.

 

“Then maybe we should hang out sometime. You seem like a nice guy.” Jonny held out his hand momentarily as some sort of gesture. “And who knows? My thoughts on this could change... I could become comfortable with it.”

 

For a while Chris did not respond. He imagined what it would be like to just be friends with Jonny, but to have that possibility lingering of their relationship becoming something more. It was a lot nicer than the way it had been.

 

“OK,” he finally agreed. But he wasn't entirely finished. “One quick question, though-do you like me?”

 

Jonny chuckled. Chris wasn't sure how to take this at first, though hearing Jonny laugh made him a bit happy. “I guess so. You're at least one hell of a good kisser.” Chris couldn't help smiling, and blushing a dash as he did so. “Hey, do you need a ride home? Because I could give you a lift.”

 

Chris brightened, having completely forgotten that he had planned on merely walking home. He liked this new idea much better. “Uh, yeah, that would be great, actually.”

 

“All right. And maybe on the way we can start off this whole being friends thing,” Jonny said, and it seemed to be a cue for the two boys to walk off towards the road. “I don't think I know very much about you.”

 

“I don't think there's very much about me to know.”

 

Jonny shiftily glared at Chris out of the corner of his eye. “I'm sure there's a lot more to know than you let other people know.”

 

“OK, that's probably true,” Chris agreed, laughing a little. Jonny laughed with him, and as Chris discreetly admired his newfound friend, he thought that maybe the party hadn't been so dreadful after all.

 

 

INFAMOUS.

 

 

 

 

The blood trickled down his chest, dripping onto the floor.

 

Drip...drip...drip

 

Chris walked away, dropping the knife on the floor before leaving the room.

 

Slam

 

Chris lifted up the lid of the bin and threw his blood soaked shirt into it and started walking down the street- topless. Women stared...men stared. He was receiving all sorts of attention. The attention he needed. The attention he craved.

 

The police had arrived by now. Chris was now receiving media attention now. TV crews from all over the world had now descended on this small street in North London to witness one of the biggest rock stars in the world...being arrested.

 

...and they were not disappointed. Christopher Anthony John Martin was arrested at 2:19am. There was no struggle and he was quickly taken into custody and questioned.

 

A few hours later he was charged with murder.

 

He was due in court the next day...

 

The victims widow was present and was told to be silent after hurling both verbal and physical abuse at Mr Martin.

 

When asked to give a full account of the event, Chris decided to answer with the vulgar answer of; "Ask the deceased"

 

The prosecution went on to tell the judge of what she had accounted from the event. That Mr Chris Martin approached the victim...Mr Jonny Buckland... unprovoked with a knife...and went on to stab the victim between 27 and 30 times in his chest. He died at the scene.

 

The prosecution then went on to educate the judge and the jury with the fact that Chris Martin left two children without a father. His widow is also expecting another baby. The baby will never know it's father.

 

"Why did you do it?" he was asked. His answer was simple.

 

"I was always famous...but never infamous"

 

 

 

-

-

 

Chapter 20

 

 

Guy sat at the kitchen table, intently studying the manual he had purchased earlier in the week. He wasn't really absorbing any of the information, though. He saw the words there, but they didn't really register with him. He was nervous.; fearful of screwing up.

 

He heard the squeak of the thick wooden door's hinges and looked up from the book. Evening sunlight crept in through the cracks of the door, casting a warm glow on the man who stood there. James idled just inside the doorway, standing tall and looking pleased with himself.

 

"How was your trip to town?" Guy asked, smiling to mask his worry with the manual.

 

"I went to the local farmer's market in the square."

 

Guy raised one eyebrow, not quite sure where James was going with this. "And how was that?"

 

James smiled widely at him. "It went very well." He walked over to where Guy sat. "You can throw that old thing out now," James said with a casual wave of his hand.

 

"Why?" Guy asked suspiciously. He closed the book and held it to his chest protectively.

 

"Because it's old and we don't need it."

 

Guy frowned. "Then how else do you expect me to learn this stuff?"

 

James grinned again. Guy could feel himself getting angry, as he often did when confronted with situations he did not understand, but he controlled it and allowed James to explain. "The real thing. We don't need some ancient manual from a second-hand bookstore."

 

"The...real thing?" Guy asked slowly, still not quite understanding.

 

"Yeah, as in an actual human being with actual knowledge on crops."

 

Guy's eyes widened a little and he gripped the book a little tighter. "Are you sure? They...know things about this stuff?"

 

"Yes, I'm sure," James said, laughing. He tipped Guy's chin up with his thumb.

 

"She was a very nice woman who just took over her father's beet farm. She learned straight from him. I spoke with her. It sounds as though she knows quite a lot. And she agreed to have us over tomorrow afternoon to explain the basics. So don't look so worried."

 

He kissed Guy lightly on the lips. "So are you ready to put down that old thing now?" he asked, gesturing towards the book Guy still clutched.

 

"Fine." He tossed it onto the table. "But I could've figured it out myself," he grumbled.

 

James laughed quietly and wrapped his arms loosely around Guy's neck, letting them rest on his shoulders. "You've been staring at that manual for days. And you've been so concerned with mastering it that you haven't learned a single thing."

 

"It almost scares me that you know that."

 

"Oh come on, you had this frown on your face every time you looked at it. I knew there had to be a better way." He kissed him again, this time on the cheek. "I don't like to see you so worried," he whispered.

 

"Thanks," Guy replied, managing a small smile. "You did find a better way. I just hope I am smart enough to retain anything of what she says," he mused.

James rolled his eyes. "You are a natural born farmer. You will learn everything like...that." He snapped his fingers.

 

Guy could no longer resist. He stood up and gave James a forceful hug. He buried his head in James's chest and inhaled. "You don't know how glad I am that you are home. That book really was driving me crazy."

 

"Could you show me how glad you are?" James suggested slyly.

 

"Always," Guy said with a genuine smile.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"Are you almost ready?" James called from the kitchen.

 

Guy groaned loudly. "I don't think I will ever be ready."

 

"Give the mirror a break and leave your hair alone. It looks fine."

 

"Fine? Just Fine? Fine isn't good enough James." But he reluctantly turned from the mirror and walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where he was met by a plate of food.

 

"Eat," James ordered. "I told Karen, that's her name, that we'd be there by ten."

 

Guy looked horror stricken by the time, but sat down to force some food down his throat. "Thank you for this," he said between mouthfuls. "It's nice to have someone tell me what to do when I get like this. I am just so nervous," he admitted.

 

James sat across from him, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of toast. "I cannot fathom what on earth you are so worried about. All we are doing is visiting a fellow farmer and obtaining a bit of knowledge from a friendly chat. Just.......think of it like visiting a neighbor. In the rural sense of the word, she is one anyways. Just a few miles away from here."

 

"I know," Guy said. "I just...I am worried that she will take one look at me and tell me I am not cut out for farming."

 

James frowned and his eyes became serious. "Don't be ridiculous. You are a highly qualified and capable farmer. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise.....I'll punch them a lot harder than I ever punched you."

 

Guy laughed, but grimaced at the memory. "There is certainly no arguing with that logic. Anyone would think twice about what they said after a hit from you."

And Guy knew it was true; there was no argument there. One look at James's determined face told him that James would punch him square in the face if it meant getting his point across. It gave Guy a good feeling to know that James was this adamant about defending his reputation and lifestyle.

 

Filled with new found confidence, Guy stood hurriedly and grabbed his jacket. "I'm ready to go now," he said cheerfully. James laughed, and grabbing a piece of toast, followed Guy out the door.

 

The drive wasn't long and soon they were pulling into the long , gravel coated driveway in front of a nice looking farmhouse. It was painted a nice shade of blue, which seemed to have been mixed especially to match the sky.

 

A woman stood on the porch. James turned to Guy. "You still ready? You're not going to implode or something?"

 

"Haha, very funny," Guy countered. "Yes, I am still ready. Let's go."

 

They exchanged smiles and walked the remaining distance up to the porch to speak with the woman.

 

 

 

Sorry yall but page 2 will just not do!

Chapter 6

 

“Have a safe flight Savannah.” Will said as he gave his sister a kiss and a hug.

 

“Thanks, I’m so excited to be going back to the rain and cold. Why can’t I stay here? I could go to school and it would be great!”

“Uh no. Give mum my love.”

 

“Goodbye Savannah, thank you for being such a dear to me!” Peaches said.

 

“Of course! Behave you two! I know where to find you!” Savannah teased.

 

“Alright smartass, go get on that bird already!” Will said as he pushed Savannah towards security.

 

 

-*-

 

- A word of caution for the next scene ;) -

 

The candles flickered in a careless manor. The power had gone out a couple of hours ago, which left Will with only candles and matches. He and peaches were sprawled out on the old rug in the living room with the game of scrabble placed between them. It was getting overbearingly warm in the room, but with the windows and doors open the storm outside would leave the home in a drenched state, so they remained closed.

 

Will began to sweat and grow uncomfortable in his confining clothes. After laying down his word he casually took off his shirt revealing his muscular chest. Peaches eyes slowly looked up over her tile board and leveled on Will’s chest. A tingle shot through her body. ‘My God he is delicious.’ She thought to her self. Feeling the heat of the room herself peaches reaches up and pulled off her tank top revealing her black bra.

 

A small smirk appeared on the lips of Will as he laid down the tiles S E X on the board. Pecahes inwardly grinned and placed the tiles Y E S down. Will read the word and in flash shoved the game aside sending tiles scattered across the floor. Will grabbed Peaches and pushed her down to the rug. He began with fiery kisses from her stomach, one after another, slowly, tenderly, leading upward towards her lips. Peaches let out a low moan as his lips left torturous burns on her skin.

 

Her hands reached down and fumbled for the button at the top of his jeans, unclasping it she began to synch his jeans down, feeling his muscles all the way down. He did the same to her, but felt her womanly curves and delicate skin against his. Will pulled her closer to his body and wrapped his hands around her backside finding the clasp on her bra. Struggling Will grew desperate and tore the bra off and was quick to caress her freed bosom.

 

Peaches threw her head back and bit her lip at the sensation Will was stirring in her body, it was overwhelming and yet she craved more. Will was quick to sense the desire and slide one hand down and began to slide her panties down and then took off his boxers to reveal his throbbing membrane. Peaches felt the hard member next to her body and began to beg that Will enter her. “Fuck me Will, let me see the stars and feel you even closer to me. Give me some more!” Will slid into her and they began to move together in rhythm to their racing hearts. Peaches body tensed and she slid her hands through Wills hair and shouted his name. Will pumped back and forth and then stars collided, universes were shattered and both Will and Peaches moaned together in ecstasy. Chests heaving in pleasure the two kissed and interlocked their hands. Will sighed in content and pulled Peaches into his body and they spooned together until they fell asleep listening to each other’s hearts beating.

 

 

 

Chapter 7

 

Will awoke to sunlight streaming across his living room. He quickly turned around to find he was alone. Finding his jeans he got up and walked into the kitchen finding his shirt on a beautiful female who was straddling the kitchen stool with a cup of coffee in her hands. Will smiled and wrapped his arms around her giving her a kiss.

 

“Good Morning.” He whispered.

 

“Yes it is a Good Morning.” She replied.

 

“Mmm you know what would make it even better?”

 

“mmm What?”

 

“If we continued what happened last night here on the kitchen counter.”

 

“Ahh see now that would be lovely, but you have work.”

 

“Shit! What time is it?”

 

“Just after 7.”

 

“Fuck” Will shouted as he ran out of the kitchen and upstairs.

 

Peaches smiled and hopped off her stool and made him a cup of coffee and a lunch.

Will ran back into the kitchen and Peaches gave him what she had made and a quick kiss before she pushed him out the door. Giggling to herself Peaches set about getting ready for the day. She showered and cleaned up the living room. After looking around the kitchen she decided that she would go grocery shopping and make Will something nice for dinner.

 

-*-

 

Peaches leaned casually on the metal cart as she strolled up and down the isles of the market debating on what to purchase. A quick glance in her cart showed very little, a cartoon of milk and a box of cereal. Chuckling to herself Peaches debated upon serving Will cereal for dinner. Rounding the next isle Peaches was met with boxes of pasta and sauce and felt that making Will lasagna would be yummy treat for his long day at work. Grabbing a box of noodles she placed them in her cart. Humming a little tune she continued to meander placing more items need to make the dish in her cart. After she had all the main ingredients she found herself in the produce section debating upon what fruit to buy. She was picking out Gala apples when she heard someone calling out.

 

“Clemy!” “Oh my gosh Peter, it’s Clemy”

 

Peaches looked up to see a woman with similar features like her own dragging a bewildered man toward her. They looked so familiar the same eyes the same straying wisps of hair. She was almost certain that she knew them, yet she just couldn’t put her finger on it.

 

The woman had made her way to Peaches and threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly! Peaches just stood there in shock, unsure as to whether she should hug her back or not. The woman finally let go and turned toward the man named Peter instructing him to call the car. The man who had a ghostly expression on his face gave a small nod and took out his cell phone and began to dial a number.

 

“I can’t believe you’re alive, I thought that you had died, but yet here you are! My Clementine, my baby girl.” The woman said in a thick southern accent.

 

Peaches was in shock, this woman had just called her Clementine, as in that was her name. Who was this woman?

 

“We never should have let you go out surfing that night, but you looked so desperate and I knew you were feeling the jitters about getting married. Scott, was so crushed, but now, Oh my! We must have you call Scott to let him know you’re alive!”

 

“Uh excuse me.” Peaches timidly said. “But who are you? Who is that man and who is Scott, and how do you know me?”

 

“Clementine! My goodness girl, I’m your mother, and that man there is your father, and Scott is your fiancé! Sweet cakes, you must have lost your memory, we searched that beach up and down and all we found was that damn surfboard. You have been missing now for about 8 months.”

 

“Carolina, the car is here. Come now.” The man announced as he turned away from the two women and walked toward the store doors.

 

“Don’t you mind your father, he just got over loosing you and now here you are. Come now, we must get you home and.. ‘Carolina gave a quick look over at her daughter’ out of those commoners clothes. I shall him Mary go out and get you some new clothes. Come along.”

 

Peaches was beyond confused, one minuet she is shopping for dinner for Will and her and the next she is being told that her name is Clementine and that these people are her family. Peaches could not seem to move and just stood in place flabbergasted.

 

Carolina noted that her daughter did not seem to be moving so she took her hand and pulled her along leaving the full cart behind.

 

Waiting outside was a black Porsche SUV and a man holding the door open, Carolina thought nothing of it and walked straight up to the car and got in and tugged Peaches in with her. The door shut and the man holding it prior appeared in the drivers seat and took off.

 

“Peter, we are going to need to get Clemy some medical attention, she is a ghost of her former self and well dear she can’t seem to remember much of anything.”

 

‘Of course dear.” Peter responded and once again pulled out his blackberry and began to dial numbers.

 

Carolina turned to face her daughter, “ Now, where on god’s earth have you been?”

 

All peaches could think about was Will, his house, his sister, and how happy and at peace she felt when she was with them. She was so confused that all she could do was stare out the window. They were driving along a private drive with old oak trees lined along both sides and lush greenery all around. Eventually the drive lead out of the trees and into a clearing where a large white plantation home stood, complete with a wrap around porch and tall Roman pillars.

 

“Ah well it doesn’t matter, now we must get you well again, so that you and Scott can be married. Speaking of Scott, it appears that he received the message, his car is parked outside our house.” Carolina announced as she pointed out the window to the red Ferrari.

 

“Wonderful timing, now we must get you upstairs before Scott sees you like that. Ugh what have you been wearing, such trash, but no worries that can be fixed… but you hair.. well that will just have to do for now, until I can get you an appointment with Chad.” Before Peaches had the chance to speak she was being whisked out of the car and into the stunning plantation home.

 

 

A Rush

1-

 

 

He lifted his head and stared at his reflection in the mirror over the sink. He needed to make sure that the water tumbling down his cheeks was noticeable, but not overbearing. It took a few additional minutes to get it perfect. Then he headed out the door.

 

He kept his head down and watched his feet until he made it outside. He glanced and saw the boy standing by the sign that loudly displayed the word BUS. He silently walked up to the boy, standing quietly for a while.

 

After a minute or so, he turned to the boy. “Excuse me,” he timidly began, waiting for the boy to look at him before continuing, “you're waiting for the bus, right?” The boy nodded. “Would you- would you happen to have an extra few pounds for fare?”

 

The boy looked at him sympathetically for a moment before reaching into the pocket of his jeans. “Yeah, I should have a few somewhere...”

 

“Thank you. I would have it myself, but I sort of left... well, I left everything at home. I didn't really think at all before I left. I just wanted to get away from my parents.”

 

“Rough home life, huh?” the boy asked while handing him the money. “Did you get into a fight with them or something?”

 

He shrugged. “Sort of. Well, it's kinda a long story.”

 

The boy smiled, which he thought was odd at first. “Hey, the bus won't be here for a bit yet, and even then, the ride is ridiculously lengthy. You've got plenty of time to tell me.” Then the smile quickly disappeared, replaced by an expression mostly resembling regret. “Unless, of course, you just don't want to say. That's fine. It's your business, not mine.”

 

“I guess I'm sort of obligated to tell you, since you gave me the money and all,” he said in a quiet voice.

 

“No, you shouldn't feel like you have to,” the boy insisted, shaking his head. “I was just helping out. You're not bound to me for life or anything.”

 

He looked down at his feet, twisting his mouth up in various shapes. Then he eyed the boy again. “What's your name?”

 

“Chris,” the boy almost immediately replied, grinning once more. “What's yours?”

 

He smirked slightly. “I'm Jonny.”

 

Chris extended his hand, looking expectantly at Jonny. “Nice to meet you, Jonny.” Jonny hesitated at first, but he did shake Chris's hand. Chris examined him a bit. “Now, about that long story.”

 

Jonny laughed softly and rolled his eyes. “All right,” he said, looking out into the distance. He thought for a few moments of how exactly to start. There were a vast amount of different options. He laughed forcefully again. “I'm not really sure where to begin.”

 

“Well...” Chris dragged out the word for much longer than necessary, doing some thinking of his own. “Do you not get on with your parents often? Or was this just a one-time sort of thing?”

 

“We don't ever really agree on anything,” Jonny answered in a deep voice. “They say they want what's best for me, but I don't think they understand that it doesn't mean they shouldn't still take my feelings into consideration.”

 

“I'm sorry that your parents are like that.” Jonny looked over and smiled slightly at Chris's candor. “Sometimes it seems like my parents are that way, too. But I know they're not. They've given me mostly everything I've ever wanted. More than I've deserved, probably. But I shouldn't be bragging about that, huh? Sorry.”

 

“No, it's OK. It's good that your parents aren't jerks like mine. It's sort of like... there's still some hope for humanity,” Jonny jokingly said, smiling wider than he had during the entire conversation thus far. Chris smiled back, and Jonny knew that already they had a strong connection.

 

“OK, but just because I get fed three meals every day doesn't mean I have any right to shove it in the faces of the starving children on the street.” Even through the smile, Jonny could see how apologetic Chris truly was over the situation. He seemed to be a thoroughly genuine boy.

 

“But the starving children are used to it,” Jonny replied. “Used to the hunger. They know it'll never change for them, no matter what anyone else has. It doesn't make them feel bad to see other people happy. And well-fed.”

 

“This metaphor is going to start confusing me very soon, I can tell,” Chris said with wide eyes. But his expression changed as quickly as it had the previous times, into something a bit less frightened. “Listen, enough about me, anyway. So, your parents don't get you.”

 

Jonny looked around again, trying to find the farthest possible point in his field of view. “It's more than that,” he started to explain. “They don't even try to get me. They just assume what it is that I'm like and then go from there. I don't think they actually know anything about me.”

 

“Do you at least try to let them know about you?”

 

Jonny gave a halfhearted shrug. “I have tried in the past. A lot. But I sorta gave up after a while. I feel like it's not even worth trying anymore. They're never gonna care.”

 

“Maybe one day,” Chris said with a bit of hope in his voice. “You never know. I mean, maybe it'll be too late by then- it's probably too late now- but that doesn't mean it won't happen.”

 

Jonny shifted his eyes again, locking them with Chris's. He noticed just how brightly colored they were, and he figured that it was more of a reflection of his personality than anything else. Chris seemed to be a very upbeat, loving life sort of person. “I appreciate your optimism,” Jonny told him. “I should try to be like that more often.”

 

 

A Rush

2-

 

 

Jonny sighed. The bus ride was almost over. He and Chris had spent the entire time talking. Jonny told Chris that he and his parents had an argument that evening over Jonny's plans for college. He said that they wanted him to go to an ivy league school, which would mean that he would have to work harder in school than ever before to make sure he had the right grades to get in, and his parents refused to listen when he told them that all he really wanted to do was study art history.

 

“So, you're an artist?”

 

Jonny looked up at Chris and grimaced. “I wish. I don't have nearly enough talent to actually do that sort of thing. But I'd love to learn about it.”

 

Chris tilted his head, his blue eyes scanning Jonny's visage. “I'm sure you'd be good at it.”

 

“And I'm sure you don't mean that,” Jonny said. “Thank you for your kindness, though.”

 

“I do mean it.” Chris shifted slightly in his seat, briefly glancing out of one of the windows on the other side of the bus. “You seem like the kind of person who would put a lot of emotion into their work. That's what matters, you know. If you have enough passion, people won't care that you didn't color in the lines.”

 

“Is that how you got through kindergarten?”

 

Chris grinned and nodded vivaciously. “And first... second... third... fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...” He rolled his eyes upwards quickly, thinking. “Then I learned how to color in the lines, so I toned the passion down a bit. Not too much, of course, just a little,” motioning with his hand just how much 'a little' was.

 

Jonny laughed and started to reply when the bus came to a stop. “Well, I guess this is it,” he said.

 

“Yeah,” Chris agreed in a solemn tone. The two stood up and wordlessly walked off the bus. Jonny began to walk down the sidewalk alone, but he was prevented by a hand on his shoulder. “Wait!” Jonny spun around, not in the least surprised to see Chris in front of him. Chris cleared his throat a little, tucking some of his hair behind his ear. “Do you have a place to go?”

 

“Um...” Jonny frowned at the ground. “Well, no. Like I said, I didn't think before I left... I guess I'll just walk around for a while.”

 

“Or you could come to my house,” Chris suggested, trying to sound as innocent as possible. “I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind if you joined us for dinner.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yeah, come on!” Chris moved forward enough so that he could wrap an arm around Jonny's shoulders, then he began to lead the way down the street. “Even if my parents do mind, then we can just do like you said and walk around. I don't think they will mind, though.”

 

“Thanks,” Jonny gratefully mumbled. In return, Chris merely smiled at him.

 

When they walked into the house, Chris dropped his arm and quickly left Jonny's side. “Mum!!” Chris shouted as he stood in front of the nearest doorway, though his mother entered through the door on the adjacent wall.

 

“Yes, Chris?”

 

Chris spun around. “Oh- uh, I brought a friend over, is that all right?” Just as he finished speaking, he turned to see that Jonny was still standing by the front door. He beckoned him on with a wave on his hand. “Come in, man.”

 

Jonny submissively stepped forward, clearly not wanting to emphasize his presence. He slowly gazed around the room.

 

“I... don't think we've met,” Chris's mother slowly and awkwardly began. Jonny looked to her and flashed a nervous smile.

 

“This is Jonny, mum,” Chris brightly told her. “I actually only just met him today, while I was waiting for the bus. But I think we've become pretty good friends. Right, Jonny?”

 

“Yeah.” Jonny slightly shook his head. “Well, I mean, we don't really know that much about each other, but... these things take time.” Jonny absentmindedly rubbed his arm. He was suddenly very aware of the glare he was receiving from Chris's mother.

 

“So, it's OK if he stays for dinner, yeah? He's not crazy or anything, I promise.”

 

She slowly turned to her son, and in a calm manner replied, “He can stay.” Chris beamed, grabbed Jonny's arm, and roughly began to drag him into the other room.

 

“This is our sofa,” he began to explain, pointing to the dark brown piece of furniture in the middle of the room. It was a fairly sophisticated-looking object- perhaps a sign that Chris's family was somewhat wealthy. “It's in the middle of the room because it sort of helps to balance everything else in here out. At least, that's what my mum says. My dad says it's so it's not so far from the telly when the remote goes missing.”

 

“Well, that's pretty clever.”

 

Chris smiled at him for a few moments, staring wondrously. Then he quickly switched back to his previous perkiness and grabbed Jonny's arm once more. “Come on, I'll show you the rest of the house!”

 

For the next half hour, Chris led Jonny on a tour through each and every room, including the bathrooms and coat closet. Chris put far too much detail into his descriptions about the rooms, going so far as to tell Jonny about the disputes the family had when deciding on what color to choose to paint the walls with. He was in the middle of recalling his reasoning for picking a royal purple for his room when his mother called up to them.

 

“Chris, dinner is ready!” she hollered up the stairs to them. Chris paused, then motioned to Jonny for them to leave the room, taking the lead as they walked towards the dining room.

 

Jonny was going to take a seat at the table when he realized that Chris, who was standing to his right, had pulled the chair out for him. He made sure to grin his thanks before he sat down. Chris plopped himself down in the next seat over and watched as his mother brought a steaming plate of food to the table.

 

 

A Rush

3-

 

 

Nearly finished, the meal had been a quiet one. The four all sat and ate their dinner without so much as one word. But now that the food was disappearing almost entirely, Chris's father decided to become a bit more social.

 

“Jonny, do you live around here?” Jonny looked up. He quickly held up his hand and tried to swallow the food he was chewing. “Oh, sorry.”

 

“I live about half an hour away,” he said when his mouth was finally clear.

 

“So you don't go to the same school as Chris, then?”

 

Jonny shook his head.

 

“It's a shame,” Chris interjected, observing the lump of mashed potatoes on his fork. He seemed to be contemplating whether or not to eat them. Ultimately, he did, and he was not as polite as Jonny, speaking with his mouth full, “Maybe we would have been in some of the same classes.”

 

“You are the same age as Chris, right?”

 

“Um, yeah,” Jonny slowly answered, though truthfully he had no idea how old Chris was. It was rather easy to guess, though; judging by Chris's face and youthfulness, he was probably sixteen, seventeen at most.

 

“Well, maybe you two could end up going to the same university, then. Where are you planning to go, Jonny?”

 

Jonny quickly glanced at Chris, who shot him an apologetic look. “Not sure just yet,” Jonny replied with a shrug. Then he looked at Chris again. “What about you?”

 

“I'll probably end up at UCL,” Chris said in a slightly dissatisfied tone. “My dad went there.”

 

“Now, Chris, you know you don't have to go there just because your father did,” his mother said to him. She was giving him an oddly stern look.

 

“I know, I'm just not sure where else I'd go. I don't even know what I want to do yet.”

 

“You don't?” Jonny asked with a hint of surprise.

 

“Maybe something to do with history.”

 

“Well, you should start to think about it a little more,” Chris's father said. “Whatever you do pick, we'll support it, but you've got to get on it. And soon.”

 

“I know,” Chris muttered, his head bowed down in shame. His eyes shifted to the left, and he shot another expression of apology in Jonny's direction. Then he perked up a bit. “Jonny, when will you go back home?”

 

“I-I don't know,” Jonny stuttered. “An hour or two, I guess. My parents should be calmed down by then.”

 

“How will you get home?”

 

“I'll have to take another bus, I guess.”

 

“Nonsense! My mum can drive you home.” Chris beamed excitedly and forced his mother. “Right, mum?”

 

“I could, yes.”

 

“Well, that's very kind, but I wouldn't want to make you-” Jonny began before he was interrupted by Chris.

 

“It's fine, Jonny.” Chris insistently waved his hand in the air. “I need to learn how to drive anyway. This could be good practice.”

 

“Chris,” his father said jokingly, setting his elbow on the tabletop and leaning forward, “you told him that your mother would be the one to drive him. I'm sure Jonny's parents would like their son back in one piece, not a hundred.”

 

Chris rolled his eyes, and Jonny grumbled a bit. “I wouldn't be so sure.”

 

Jonny's statement sucked the happiness out of Chris's appearance. He frowned at the table, eyes darting around everyone's empty plates.

 

“Jonny, do you want to go for a walk?” Chris kindly inquired.

 

“Sure.” Jonny grabbed his cup and finished off the rest of his drink. “Thanks for the dinner. It was really good.”

 

“No, thank you for eating up the food so we won't have leftovers that will sit in the fridge untouched until they go bad,” Chris's mother laughed. Jonny smiled back at her, then he felt a sudden tug on his left arm.

 

Chris had already stood up from the table and was trying to yank Jonny up as well. Jonny looked at him blankly, and deliberately took as long as possible to stand. Chris, though seemingly frantic, watched and waited with a great amount of patience. When Jonny was finally on his feet, Chris linked their arms together and began to walk out of the room.

 

“Don’t be out for too long, Chris,” his mother called after them, “it’s going to get dark very soon.”

 

“Yes, mum,” Chris droned as he and Jonny rounded the corner. He released Jonny’s arm and ran forward to open the door. He held it for Jonny and waited until the other boy had gone through first before he left.

 

The sun was already going down, painting the boys in a pinkish orange light as they trudged down the sidewalk. Jonny said nothing and stared at his feet, while Chris hummed some random tune to himself. After a short time, he even started drumming his hands on his legs. Jonny discreetly looked at him.

 

It was like Chris never ceased to be a giant ball of energy. In the mere hour or two that Jonny had known him, he had seen Chris go through several abrupt mood changes, but each time he returned to his original animated state. It was almost difficult to keep up with.

 

Eventually, Chris’s spirit got the better of him, and he began to sing into the darkening sky. It was quiet singing at first, but as with every other aspect of Chris, it quickly grew louder and more extravagant. Jonny wasn’t entirely sure that Chris remembered he was still there, and he wondered if Chris would have behaved like this if he had been aware that Jonny was staring at him.

 

“Maybe you should do that instead,” Jonny said to him. “Be a musician.”

 

Chris stopped his serenade and turned his head to Jonny. He didn’t appear to mind that Jonny had been intently observing him. Or maybe he still hadn’t noticed. “Yeah, maybe,” he shrugged, and while his tone was not rude it suggested that he thought the idea was preposterous.

 

“I mean, it might be difficult, but you could probably do it.” Chris considered the idea more carefully, thinking for an extremely long and silent minute.

 

“We should probably go back to my house soon,” Chris said, his eyes glancing over the deep blue sky. Then he looked over at Jonny. “But you don’t have to go back home yet, if you don’t want to. You can stay.”

 

“I should probably go back home soon.”

 

Chris was silent again, and as they reached the corner of the street he slowed and turned around. He took a deep breath, then grinned at Jonny. “Race you back!”

 

Jonny threw him a skeptical look, but he didn’t have time to give an actual reply before Chris bolted away towards where they had just come.

 

 

A Rush

4-

 

 

“Am I doing this right?” Chris asked as he turned the steering wheel to the left as far as it would go. Jonny was sitting in the back seat of the car, laughing to himself at Chris’s constant anxiety. Chris’s mother was in the passenger seat, trying to deal with her own anxiety; Chris was more or less a dangerously inexperienced driver.

 

“You might want to keep to the correct side of the road, Chris,” she answered in a shrill voice. “If there was another car coming, we’d hit them head on.”

 

“Oh, man,” Chris breathed. He spun the wheel dramatically to correct his mistake, but the action drove the car into the other lane at a much faster pace than it should have. Chris hit the brakes to slow down, causing everyone to lurch forward. He made some disappointed and frustrated noises, while Jonny tried to muffle his laughter (though he realized that it was actually quite a serious situation).

 

“It’s all right, Chris, just keep going.” Chris mumbled various things about how it wasn’t all right, and that he would imminently crash the car and kill the three of them. Jonny still found his paranoia amusing, and Chris’s mother was clutching the seatbelt by her abdomen so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. “You’re only going to crash if you have no control over the vehicle. As long as you’re not speeding down the road and you keep to this lane, you should be fine.”

 

“Jonny, where do you live?”

 

Jonny took a break from chuckling and cleared his throat. “Uh, you can just drop me off at the bus stop if that’s easier for you.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Jonny nodded, though it wasn’t as if Chris would be able to see him. “Yeah, it’s fine. I live a few minutes away from there. I can walk.”

 

“Are you sure you’re sure?” Chris quickly turned his head to see Jonny, until he realized that it was a terrible idea. He twitched back into position facing the road, tightly gripping the steering wheel.

 

“Chris, just drop him off at the bus stop,” his mother ordered. “Then you and I can switch seats and I’ll drive home.”

 

Chris kept his eyes on the road, but he frowned and drew his eyebrows together. “It’s because I’m a horrible driver, isn’t it?”

 

“No,” she replied, though Jonny thought it was obvious that she was at least partially lying, “it’s because I don’t want you driving for so long in the dark when you’re not experienced. Maybe once you’ve had more practice on these roads during the day, then you can make the entire trip.”

 

Chris had been able to tell as well as Jonny had that his mother was not being completely truthful. “It’s because I’m a horrible driver,” he resolutely muttered.

 

His mother refrained from acknowledging the comment directly, instead settling on a deep sigh. Jonny smirked and looked out the window for a lack of anything better to do. After a long silence, Chris’s mother turned in her seat.

 

“Jonny, I apologize for the hecticness,” she said. “Chris has only ever driven once before, and he unfortunately has a great lack of confidence in himself.” She looked up to Chris and blinked at him pointedly, though he was not distracted by it in the least.

 

“Hey, well, I think I’m doing a little better,” Chris quietly stated. “I’m on the right side of the road, right?”

 

“Well, you could be over a bit more, but I think that if another car comes along, you’ll be fine.”

 

“And the bus stop is not that far away,” he added in a stronger voice. “I really don’t think we’ll crash or die.”

 

Jonny looked over to where Chris was, narrowing his eyes. He thought it was interesting just how quickly Chris bounced from one emotion to the next. Quite often he had run into people who were either constantly depressed or constantly happy, but he had never met anyone quite like Chris before. He wondered how much of this dynamic disposition Chris was even aware of.

 

“It's all right,” Jonny slowly said, his eyelids still partially closed. “I'm used to people who drive a lot more recklessly than you. At least you're trying.”

 

“Jonny, the fact that I'm trying probably makes it worse,” Chris told him. “Since I'm trying really hard and I'm not so good at it. But I bet the people you know could do it if they tried.”

 

“All right, Chris, we get it. You don't think you can drive well. Just stop talking and keep your focus on the road,” his mother said. Jonny found himself laughing once more at the brashness in Chris's mother's tone.

 

The car stopped quite abruptly, though there was not as much of a jolt as before. Chris put the car in park and undid his seatbelt. Jonny had unbuckled his own seatbelt and was on his way to opening the door when it opened, seemingly by itself.

 

Jonny stood up and stared at Chris. “Jonny, we should hang out sometime,” Chris softly said. “Like tomorrow. After school. If that’s all right.”

 

“Um, sure.”

 

Chris looked around for a bit, leaning his arm on the open car door. “We could meet… at that park we passed a few minutes ago. It’s close enough to both of our houses, I think.” Jonny nodded. “OK. So… we could meet at four or something.”

 

“Four sounds good.” Chris gave a tiny smile before he moved and shut the car door. He walked around to the seat his mother had been sitting in before.

 

“Goodnight, Jonny!” he happily called. He waved quickly, then slid into the car. Jonny waved back and watched as they pulled away.

 

“Goodnight, Chris.”

 

Once they were out of sight, Jonny turned and began to walk down the road, smiling slyly.

 

 

A story for the celebration of Brooke's birth.

 

 

SHOWS

 

 

 

 

Jonny and Chris were walking home from the movies.

"I think we should see that movie again tomorrow," Chris told him.

Jonny, looking at him with wide green eyes, laughed and shook his head.

"That's the fourth time we have seen it this week," he said.

Chris shrugged his shoulders.

Running a bit ahead of Jonny, he turned around and threw his arms out.

"SHAZAM!" he yelled as if casting a spell on his best friend.

Jonny laughed.

"Oh so you have seen Harry Potter so many times that you now think you can cast spells or something?" Jonny asked.

Chris fell back into stride behind Jonny.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, in a correcting tone, "Harry does not cast spells like that."

"Your obsession with this character is a bit out of hand," Jonny snickered.

Chris gave him a friendly shove.

"Oh and your obsession with that American television show isn't?" he asked.

Jonny stopped walking.

A serious look clouded his face.

"DO NOT make fun of that show," Jonny said, "It is perfect."

"It's perfect cause you have a crush on that doctor," Chris teased.

Jonny started walking again.

His hands in his pockets.

His head down.

"Maybe," he said, "What's it to you?"

"Well he is a little creepy," Chris said, "And his relationship with that other doctor is obviously a flirty one but he is just too scared to do something about it."

"Yeah," Jonny said, raising his head, "He reminds me alot of someone that I know."

Chris stared at Jonny with big eyes.

"Who?" he asked.

Jonny rolled his eyes.

"I am sure I don't know," he said, sarcastically.

Chris hopped around on the sidewalk excitedly.

"Tell me!" he said.

Jonny stopped walking.

"Oh I don't know.." he said, "Brownish curly hair, big blue eyes, lean slender face, eccentric attitude. Who does that sound like to you?"

Chris raised his left eyebrow as he thought.

Jonny shook his head.

"Never mind," he said, dejectedly.

They walked in silence until they reached Chris apartment.

"Come up for awhile," Chris said, "We can play jacks."

Jonny crossed his arms.

"Jacks?" he asked, "Like the kids game with the ball and the jacks?"

"Yeah!" Chris said excitedly, "I am good at it. I have very good hand-eye coordination."

He winked at Jonny.

Jonny took at deep breath.

He wished Chris would stop winking at him all the time.

It just got his hopes up for nothing.

"Fine," he said, in a low mood.

Being with Chris depressed him.

Not being with Chris tortured him.

"I'll get the juice boxes!" Chris said, disappearing into the kitchen, "Orange or Apple?"

"Apple of course," Jonny said, "Like usual."

The two men sat cross-legged across from each other on the floor.

The ball and jacks between them.

Chris was right.

He was excellent at the game.

Jonny's mood lightened as he watched how excited Chris was.

He couldn't help be happy at the way Chris' face glowed with he laughed.

Then it was Jonny's turn.

He was having a bit of success as well.

Suddenly, Chris grabbed his hand.

"It's me...." he whispered.

Staring straight into Jonny's eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Jonny asked.

"It's me....you watch that show because the doctor reminds you of me. And his relationship with that other one reminds you of us."

Jonny swallowed hard.

He dropped his head.

His heart pounded in his chest.

"Isn't that it?" Chris asked.

Jonny felt his face burning in embarrassment.

He nodded slowly.

Chris reached forward and raised Jonny's head gently.

"I watch Harry Potter because I wish I could find a way to put a spell on you," he confessed.

"What?" Jonny whispered.

Chris nodded.

"How long?" Jonny asked, reaching up to touch Chris' lips.

"Since the first day we met," Chris whispered.

"Me too," Jonny admitted.

"Why didn't you say something?" Chris asked, resting his hand on Jonny's neck.

"Why didn't you?" Jonny asked.

"I don't know," he confessed.

"I thought you were the goofiest looking thing I had ever seen and yet the most beautiful thing I had even seen," Jonny told him.

"I just thought you were sexy as hell with that wild hair and those green eyes."

Jonny laughed.

"Thank goodness for Harry Potter and House and Wilson or we might never have gotten together," he joked.

"We would have gotten together eventually, Jon," Chris said, "It was meant to be."

At the same time they both leaned forward.

Two pairs of luscious, well-shaped lips met in the middle.

Jonny opened his mouth.

Chris did too.

It was a perfect fit.

 

 

 

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF ME

 

it's in PDF format, just so you know.

 

Chapter 21

 

 

They stopped a couple of feet from her. Guy felt the familiar anxious feeling begin to build up inside him again and he instinctively slipped his hand into James'. Instantly the warmth of his skin relaxed him and he knew he knew he could handle this.

 

James squeezed Guy's hand lightly and struck up a conversation. "Hi, Karen. Thank you so much for agreeing to teach us a little something of what you know."

 

"No problem," she said warmly. "You both seem like nice men. And by the way, who's this one, hmm?"

 

"I'm Guy," he told her. "Nice to meet you." He reached out with his free hand to shake one of hers.

 

"Nice to meet you too," she replied. Her eyes shifted downwards from Guy's eyes to about waist level, obviously noticing one of James' and Guy's hands clasped tightly together.

 

"So you two are together then?" she asked.

 

Guy thought there was something odd about the way she asked the question, but when James replied in the affirmative, she smiled widely. So Guy told himself he was being ridiculous and pushed away those thoughts quickly from his mind.

 

"Well, you two don't have to stand there all day," she told them. "Please do come inside. I already started the kettle; the water should be boiling soon. I'll make you both some tea and we can have a little chat."

 

She turned from them and headed into the house. Her long, reddish-brown hair flipped as she turned, and her bright blue flowered sundress swished around her knees. Both James and Guy were impressed by the confidence she seemed to have. And they both had a newly strengthen faith that she could teach them all they needed to know.

 

"You can have a seat right at the table," she told them as they followed her into the kitchen, conveniently just as the kettle began to whistle. It was a nice kitchen, spacious and airy. A lot of light shone in through a large window above the deep-basined sink.

 

"In case you were wondering," she said busied herself making the tea, "I don't exactly dress in this way on a regular basis. Imagine how difficult it would be to do farm work in a dress, and keep it clean at the same time?"

 

She turned around and placed a steaming mug of tea in front of each man. The she rolled her eyes. "I suppose you wouldn't understand. You farming men would wear the same clothes out in the fields as you would to a wedding."

 

"Hey...," Guy said suddenly, for some reason feeling a bit offended, "James used to dress very nicely. He was a rich businessman when I met him. The first time I saw him he was wearing some fancy expensive suit."

 

James laughed. "It's okay, Guy. I don't mind. I much prefer to dress in jeans anyways. They're a lot more comfortable."

 

Karen gave James a quizzical look. "You used to be a businessman but you decided to give that up for farming?"

 

"Not exactly for that. I gave it up just because I wanted to. I have never liked the upper class lifestyle. And I gave it up for Guy. Because even if being a businessman had been my favorite thing in the world, I would have given it all away just to be with him."

 

"Oh, I see," she replied distractedly. She seemed to have lost interest.

 

Guy blushed at the kind words and thanked James quietly, all the while trying to keep away thoughts about Karen that kept sneaking into his head. He knew he didn't have a reason for it, but there was just something about her he didn't quite like. Or maybe just something he didn't trust. But a glance at James told him that he was completely comfortable with her, so Guy wrote off his concerns as paranoia.

 

"Well," Karen finally said, breaking the silence between them that had crept up unexpectedly, "enough of this idle chatter. Let's talk beets, shall we?" Both men nodded in earnest agreement. "Okay. I'll tell you all the basics."

 

And she did. Both James and Guy concentrated carefully on her words. But Guy was paying extra close attention. James glanced over at him a few times and notice the way his eyes shone with a determination he had never seen in him before, as if it were his civil duty to remember every bit of the information like his own personal mantra.

 

His intense expression couldn't help but produce a goofy smile on James' face by the time Karen was finished explaining things to them. James found it inspiring to see Guy so intensely focused on a goal. It stirred up something in James, moving him to want to return home immediately and begin putting Karen's words into practice.

 

Never before had he had such a desire to do work. Nothing he did in the business world even vaguely interested him. It just made him want to crawl into bed and sleep off his intense boredom. This feeling was so different, so unlike what he was accustomed to, that he almost allowed a giddy laugh to escape from his mouth.

 

"Thanks so much," he told Karen enthusiastically. "I really appreciate you taking the time to do this." he reached out to shake her hand.

 

She gave him a small smile. "Thank you," she replied. "But it was nothing. I never have anything much to do when I am not working on the farm, anyways."

 

Guy spoke up quietly. "Yes, thank you. This was very helpful to me." He pursed his lips together, and James could tell that he was thinking something over. "But in all honesty," he said, I am not very sure of my abilities yet. There are a lot of aspects of beet farming that are different than what I am accustomed to."

 

"You'll be fine," she assured him. "I could tell you were eating up every word I said."

 

"All the same...I still want to at least ask....do you think you could drop by our farm? See how we are doing? make sure everything checks out? If you aren't too busy of course."

 

James rolled his eyes but had to smile at what a perfectionist Guy was when it came to farming. It was so clearly his passion. "I would be happy too," was Karen's reply, with a smile so big that Guy actually felt fearful. But when he met James' admiring eye, he relaxed. As long as James was around, everything would be okay.

 

 

 

 

A Rush

5-

 

 

Jonny scanned his immediate area. It was hard to see all of the park with the abundance of trees scattered about. He wasn't sure where in the park Chris was going to be. A glance at his watch revealed that it was five after four, so he figured that Chris was already around somewhere. He just had to find where that was.

 

He was looking at the benches first, thinking that maybe Chris had arrived early and was sitting while he waited. Then Jonny thought that since Chris was such an energetic boy, he might instead be running around the park or even fooling around on the playground. But there was still no trace of Chris.

 

Perhaps Chris was running late, then. Jonny sighed and took a seat on the nearest bench. His impatience manifested in the tapping of his fingers on the bench's armrest. He watched a group of teenagers run by. They looked like they might have been part of a cross-country club, judging by their roomy tank-tops and skintight spandex shorts. Jonny started tapping his foot as well.

 

A new sound began to make its way into Jonny's ears. It was quiet, so he had difficulty identifying it, let alone discovering its origins. It sounded a little airy, like whatever was making the noise had been trying to hold its breath. Then it turned into a hissing sort of sound. Jonny looked at the ground, then shook his head. Thinking that it could have been a snake was probably a ridiculous thing to do.

 

Steadily, the noise grew louder. It- whatever it was- didn't sound like it was getting closer, though, only louder. And Jonny now realized that the sound was coming from above. He cautiously looked up, slightly wary of what he might find.

 

There was nothing. The sky was empty, save for a few clouds that were floating nearer to the sun. Jonny stared at the ground again, deciding that whatever it was had little importance to him. He needed to keep an eye out for Chris.

 

For a minute the noise ceased. Jonny continued to watch the park's inhabitants in search of Chris. Then the hissing started freshly, but there was a hint of laughter in there as well. Jonny found himself involuntarily becoming perplexed again. He still saw nothing in the sky, though.

 

It was as if this mysterious source was taunting him now. The hissing gradually morphed into a persistent giggle. Jonny looked up for one last time. If he didn't see anything, he would move to another bench and wait for Chris.

 

He was just about to stand when a voice spoke to him. “You're really blind, Jonny, aren't you?” followed by another laugh.

 

Jonny stood and alertly spun around, wide eyes darting everywhere. He was convinced the voice had belonged to Chris, because who else could it have been? But he was struggling to see where Chris spoke from. All that was in front of him was emptiness.

 

In the space between Jonny and a close large oak tree, a thud emanated as Chris landed on the ground. His eyes lit up as he watched Jonny jump, completely startled, and he laughed again.

 

“I've been waiting for you for, like, fifteen minutes,” he brightly told Jonny.

 

Jonny took a deep breath in his ongoing attempt to calm himself down. “You have?”

 

“Well, I got here early,” Chris explained with a shrug. Then he motioned behind him. “It took me five minutes just to climb that tree.”

 

Jonny, too dumbfounded to speak, simply blinked at Chris for a while. In return, Chris obliviously beamed at him. A few times Chris looked around, moving his head in a quick, almost bird-like fashion. Jonny could tell he was loosing his patience. Maybe he was even eying those runners in a longing way. Jonny started to smile himself.

 

“Chris, do you want to do something other than stand here and stare at each other?” Jonny knowingly asked.

 

Chris enlarged his eyes and nodded with a very serious expression. “Yes,” he replied with a hint of exasperation. Jonny laughed and started to walk away past Chris. Chris turned and followed. “So tell me, Jonny, how long do you think it would have been before you found me?”

 

“I probably would have gone home first,” Jonny muttered, triggering a laugh from Chris.

 

“But I would have stopped you before you left,” Chris told him. He tilted his head to the side. “I guess that's what I did do.”

 

“I was only going to move to another bench.”

 

“Oh, sure, but then I'd have been still in that tree for nothing.” Chris took a massive step forward, then he swung around and proceeded to walk backwards, looking directly at Jonny. “What should we do today, Jonny?”

 

“I don't know, you're the one who said we should hang out.” Jonny gave him a plain look, but Chris lifted his eyebrows as if to tell Jonny to go on. Jonny didn't really know what else to say, but he gave it a go anyway. “So you should have a plan.”

 

Without warning Chris stopped, so abruptly that Jonny came within an inch of bumping into him. Chris was paying no mind to Jonny, though; he was pensively looking up at the sky, eyebrows tightly knitted. Jonny could see Chris's jaw tense several times before Chris finally glared at him again. Chris locked eyes with Jonny, something appearing to be concern shooting through as he quietly breath, lips pressed tightly together. Jonny felt slightly concerned himself, since this was the calmest Chris had ever been in Jonny's presence.

 

The runners pounded the pavement next to them again, finally breaking Chris's concentration. He watched as they went past, and his eyes lit up. “Let's go to the other side of the park,” he softly said, then immediately moved his feet along the ground, momentarily leaving Jonny behind.

 

Jonny watched Chris as they walked through the fields. He was all right with letting Chris lead him around. It was best this way, since it was obvious that Chris had that natural leadership quality in him. If Jonny had tried to take over, it wouldn't have worked out so well. He was also constantly being kept on his toes, because Chris was far from linear. But Jonny sort of liked that.

 

 

A Rush

6-

 

 

A small building- probably housing the restrooms- left a long shadow on the newly cut grass as the afternoon sun struck its side. Chris led Jonny around to the back of the building where the shade dwelt. He stopped in the middle of the shadow's premises, waiting for Jonny stop in front of him. As Jonny ceased to move forward, Chris smiled a little.

 

“I like to come here sometimes- by myself, because I don't think anyone else knows- well, no,” Chris cut himself off a second time, shaking his head, “I guess it's not really a hidden place, is it? Just out of the way. No one bothers to come here. No one bothers me here.”

 

“Does anyone bother you not here?” Jonny simply asked.

 

Chris oddly threw an apologetic look at Jonny, sheepishly slumping his shoulders a bit and turning his eyes to the ground. “Well, I think not a lot of kids at school like me that much. They probably think I'm overbearing.”

 

Jonny stared at Chris with nothing in particular on his mind. The silence worried Chris, though, and out of paranoia he eventually looked up at Jonny. “It's not exactly a bad thing,” Jonny quietly told him.

 

Chris's eyes softened and he turned to the building. “We can sit down,” he kindly suggested. He waited for Jonny to move first, though.

 

Jonny sat down with his back against the wall of brick and brought his knees up to his chest. Chris sat to his right, leaving his legs stretched out in front of him, his hands clasped in his lap.

 

“What do you do here, usually?” Jonny asked.

 

“I sit,” Chris paused, “and I pretend.”

 

“Pretend what?”

 

“Pretend that there's someone with me who is my friend and doesn't resent my... caring nature.” Chris inhaled deeply, and there was such a long span of time before he exhaled again that Jonny started to worry just a little. “I do mean well, I really do. But the fact is- I'm just a nosy person.”

 

“I don't resent you,” Jonny said, causing Chris to look up at him. “Not yet, anyway.”

 

Chris slowly grinned. Infectious, the smile spread onto Jonny's face without his permission. They remained that way for several moments. “Well, I'll do my best not to pry into your affairs. Then you won't have to resent me.”

 

“And I'll try not to resent you, even if you do pry into my affairs,” Jonny laughed. Chris nodded his head excitedly.

 

“Sounds like a plan, Jonnyboy.” Chris bit his lip and stared off into space in a dreamy sort of way. Jonny watched him, a bit thrown off by Chris's invention of a nickname. No one had ever given him a nickname before. He liked it. “What would you pretend?”

 

Chris turned his luminescent eyes towards Jonny once more. Jonny stared back at him, thinking. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer. While he was preparing his reply, though, Chris seemed to have realized something.

 

“Oh! Well, I mean, you don't have to say if you don't want,” Chris quickly said, waving his hand about, “because, you know, I don't want to be nosy. You can tell me, but you don't have to.”

 

“I'm not sure what I would pretend,” Jonny politely told him, trying his hardest to indicate that he was not bothered by Chris's question.

 

“You could pretend that you are a famous artist,” Chris proposed with an obvious shrug. Jonny halfheartedly smiled at him.

 

“I told you, I don't have the talent for that.”

 

Chris shook his head. “I think you do.”

 

“And how would you know? We've known each other for all of twenty-four hours and you've never seen any of the things I've drawn or painted or anything.”

 

“I would love to see them,” Chris beamed. “I can tell just by-”

 

Chris abruptly stopped, closing his mouth and swallowing the rest of the sentence. “By what?” Jonny asked. Chris's cheeks grew a faint reddish tint.

 

“I know it sounds ridiculous,” he cautiously began, “but I can tell by your eyes. You have those artsy sort of eyes, you know? Some people say eyes are like windows to the soul. So you must have an artsy soul, too.” Chris shrugged a shoulder, then turned his gaze away from Jonny. “I'm sure the things you've done and could do are or would be great.”

 

“Maybe you're right,” Jonny quietly said. Chris didn't look back at him, but he smiled a little.

 

For the next two weeks Jonny and Chris met at the park every single day at four. They sat in the shade behind the building and talked for hours. They laughed at each other's jokes, even the ones that weren't funny, and they told each other little stories about their lives outside of the park.

 

They grew undoubtedly close over the fourteen days, despite only being around each other for those brief times. Chris said that his life was far too boring, and so he most often asked Jonny to tell him stories. Jonny told Chris every little detail he could think of, until there was really nothing else to say. Chris absorbed all of this information like a sponge and probably could have recounted the stories even better than Jonny could have.

 

One day, rather than meeting Chris at the park, Jonny showed up at Chris's doorstep. The mere fact that it was only three o'clock when Chris heard the knocking was troubling enough; Chris was absolutely astonished to see several dark blotches and deep scratches on Jonny's face. He had difficulty saying anything at all for a few moments, gaping as Jonny just stared back at him.

 

Chris seemed to regain some consciousness as he stepped forward and closed the door behind him. He wrapped an arm around Jonny's shoulder and they began to walk towards the road.

 

“Are you all right?” Chris gently asked. He didn't wait for an answer, but swallowed back some of his fear as he guessed what the answer to his following question might have been. “Did- did something happen at school, or...?”

 

Chris bit his lip as Jonny turned his head. “I didn't go to school today,” he said in a hoarse voice, and Chris knew then that his prediction had unfortunately been accurate. He let out a deep sigh and the rest of the walk was spent in silence.

 

 

A Rush

7-

 

 

Chris stared at Jonny. He sighed to break the silence, then spoke. “Do you want to talk about what happened?” Jonny looked up at him and shook his head. “All right.”

 

Chris sighed again, staring off into the distance. The faint sounds of other people happily existing could be heard around them. He plucked a few blades of grass from the ground and started playing with them.

 

In the following wordless minutes, Jonny realized exactly what the silence meant. It was unusual for Chris to sit still for long periods of time, let alone keep his mouth shut for more than ten seconds. Now, though, Chris was abdicating his leadership; he was letting Jonny take control instead. Why he was doing so was still unclear, but Jonny had a feeling he knew the reason.

 

So Jonny took advantage of the opportunity before him, grabbing Chris's wrist and turning his hand so his palm faced the sky. Chris let go of the grass in his fingers and threw a bewildered look at Jonny.

 

“What are you doing?” Chris asked, but despite his expression there was not even a hint of outrage in his tone. He sounded more curious and he didn't seem to actually mind that his hand was pinned to Jonny's leg, which Jonny was relieved for. He was certain that he was deciphering Chris properly, but there was always that tiny bit of paranoia in the back of his mind.

 

“Reading your palm.” In truth, Jonny didn't actually have any idea what he was doing. He was basically making it up as he went.

 

“You're gonna read my palm?” Chris skeptically laughed. Jonny gave him a look that said he meant serious business, and he nodded firmly. “Really.”

 

“I know what I'm doing, trust me. I took a class on this once.” Chris stared blankly at Jonny and blinked disbelievingly for a few moments. Jonny stared back diligently, until he gave up and rolled his eyes. “Fine. I looked it up online.”

 

Chris chuckled and grinned, then looked down at his captive hand. Jonny too moved his gaze, and with his index finger he began to trace a line through Chris's palm. He was trying to remember any bit of the subject that he had for some reason picked up over his years on Earth, but he was not very successful.

 

He picked a line at random and decided to run with it. “All right, so... your life line... Well, it's kinda...” Jonny absentmindedly licked his lips while he thought of what to say. “It's pretty long. You won't be kicking it anytime soon, anyway.”

 

“Good to know.”

 

“And then there's the health line...” Jonny traversed his finger to another line. “And... it looks like maybe you could have problems sometime in the future, but maybe not. Well, but who knows? Maybe you'll over-enthuse yourself into a heart attack.”

 

“That actually wouldn't surprise me,” Chris mumbled with a slight smile.

 

“And the love line...” Jonny slowly trailed down the middle of Chris's palm with his finger. The tension was building in the air, he could feel it. He said nothing for an exceptionally lengthy period of time, and then, “Yeah. 'S all right.”

 

Jonny pulled his hand back a bit. It seemed like Chris was frozen for a few seconds, until he made a quick move and did exactly as Jonny had done to him before. “OK, then, now I'll read yours!” Chris exclaimed in such a bright way that would have had Jonny doubtful that his plan was working had he not already been convinced that he was absolutely right.

 

“Yeah, good luck being as skilled at it as I am,” Jonny quipped. Chris made a challenging sort of face and began to study Jonny's hand.

 

“Uh huh.... Your life line,” Chris began with a trace of faux bitterness, “is not so long. But, I mean, you're not going to die young or anything. It's just that while I will live to be ninety-four- and yes, I do have that planned out- you'll only get to... eighty or so.” Chris quickly shrugged his shoulders. “That's not so bad. What the hell do you need to live until ninety-four for anyway?”

 

“Eighty, huh?” Jonny inhaled deeply, slowly nodding his head. “I think I can be finished with all my living by then.”

 

“Well, you're gonna have to be. Your health line looks a lot better than mine does, though, so at least you won't be suffering any over-enthused heart attacks.”

 

“I would certainly hope not.”

 

“And the love line,” Chris made sure to put an emphasis on the word 'love', “well...” Chris stared down in deep concentration. As his fingers slid up the surface of Jonny's hand, Jonny's own fingers began to curl, until they met in the middle and intertwined. Chris took a deep breath and slowly looked up at Jonny.

 

Jonny leaned forward and quickly caught Chris's lips with his own. Chris kissed him back with just as much swiftness, then as he pulled away he brought his right hand up and ran his thumb over Jonny's bottom lip.

 

“Jonny, you have a cut on your lip,” Chris quietly observed. “Doesn't it hurt?” Chris's eyes danced between Jonny's, briefly flickering over the dark circle growing under Jonny's left eye. He winced a little.

 

Jonny stared at him intensely. “Nothing hurts,” he breathed. Both boys leaned in again, this time with opened mouths. Jonny could feel Chris's thumb grazing over his stubbled jaw; it felt nice, but he tried not to focus too hard on it. He slid his free hand halfway between he and Chris before he decided that their positions were not as comfortable as they could be. He let go of Chris's left hand and let his arm fall until his fingers brushed against the little bit of skin exposed at the hem of Chris's shirt.

 

 

A Rush

8-

 

 

“This is a little weird, isn't it?” Chris asked, swinging his left leg over his right and inching his hand down the seat of the bench. He laughed shortly and nervously as he examined Jonny's expression. It had been four days since Jonny had shown up at his house, covered in bruises and scratches; four days since they had gone past the normal boundaries of friendship.

 

It seemed that Jonny was staring at Chris with bafflement. “What's weird?” He slid his own hand closer to Chris's.

 

“Um... us,” Chris replied, biting his lip with a tiny smile. His fingertips brushed against the skin on Jonny's hand. It had been four days, but they hadn't actually spoken about what had happened, what was happening, or what was to happen.

 

“I guess so.” Jonny picked up Chris's hand and laced their fingers together. He looked down as he ran his thumb over Chris's, hesitant to continue. “Is- Is weird bad?”

 

Chris took his hand back, raising it as he scooted closer to Jonny, and he ran his fingers through the hair around Jonny's ear. In a very soft, very reassuring voice he said, “No, it's not bad at all.” Jonny looked up at him. The bruise under his left eye was still visible, though just barely. Chris leaned forward and pressed his closed lips against Jonny's cheek. His hand rested at the nape of Jonny's neck.

 

“I never thought that something like this would happen,” Jonny said in a quiet voice. His eyes danced between Chris's, so vivid and so close to his own. His touch alone confirmed, but Jonny could see in Chris's eyes that Chris was going to agree with whatever he said. “No one else has ever made me feel this way.”

 

“What way?” Chris was somehow even closer now, though Jonny couldn't tell if he had actually moved or if it was just an illusion projected by his interest. The tone he had used suggested that Chris needed to hear Jonny say it. Jonny smiled.

 

“Happy.”

 

Chris beamed, slipping his arm around Jonny's shoulder and turning so their sides touched. “You make me happy, too,” he said, sincere though it was obvious that he was slightly embarrassed by his own honesty. Having been right in his prediction, Jonny smiled in a smug sort of manner.

 

Then, with nothing better to do, he brought his hand over to Chris's thigh and let it rest. He waited for some sort of reaction from Chris, but there didn't seem to be an obvious one. He tentatively slide his gaze over, and he saw that Chris was staring at Jonny's hand, his face a bit pale.

 

“Jonny,” he started with clear concern, “I'm not really what you would call... experienced.” He brought his free hand up to his lips, fearfully biting his fingernails. Jonny laughed; it was by no means a consoling reaction, proved by Chris's increase in eye size.

 

“It's all right, Chris. There's no rush with any of this. And... I wouldn't say that I'm proud of it, but I think I have enough experience for the both of us.”

 

Chris took a deep breath and halfheartedly smiled. But he seemed to be finished with that topic. “Jonny, are you going to tell your parents about us?” he asked, ending with an eyebrow raise.

 

Jonny thought for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head. “I don't think that's such a good idea.”

 

“Me neither,” Chris sadly agreed. “Do you mind if I tell my parents?”

 

“No, not if you think they'll be fine with it. If you want to tell them, go ahead.”

 

“Good, because I kinda already did.” Chris grinned with hope that Jonny wouldn't be angry at him. Judging by the lack of aggression in Jonny's expression, it was safe to assume that he wasn't angry at all.

 

“You did? How did that go?”

 

Chris quickly breathed a sigh of relief, then began to tell Jonny almost every single detail about the discussion that had taken place between he and his mother. Jonny listened intently with his eyes on Chris's as Chris rambled on for several minutes, telling Jonny that overall his mother was completely fine, though she had expressed some concern in regards to Chris's father.

 

“But I think that if she tells him, he will be totally fine with it, too,” Chris said, shrugging his shoulders a little. “I don't think there's any reason for him not to be.”

 

Silence quickly fell as Chris ran out of words to spew. For a long time they just stared at each other. Then Jonny sighed and frowned.

 

“You're lucky,” he hoarsely said. “I never even told my parents that I met you. I thought they'd try to keep me away from you. And I didn't want that at all.” Slowly, the corners of Jonny's mouth turned upwards. “Chris, you're, like, my best friend. I couldn't stand not being allowed to see you.”

 

Chris sympathetically shook his head. “I couldn't stand not seeing you, too. This,” he waved his hand around to incorporate as much of that point in time as he could in his meaning, “is always the highlight of my day. Spending time with you.”

 

Jonny stared at Chris for a few seconds, then gently placed a kiss by Chris's ear. “Thank you for being so understanding,” he practically whispered. “You have no idea how much it means to me.”

 

“Of course, Jonny.” Chris brought his arm back and once again ran his hand through Jonny's hair. “I would love it if you could tell them, but I just want you to be... safe. If that means being really, really careful, to the point of being silent, then so be it. As long as nothing comes between us.”

 

He pressed his forehead to Jonny's, then briefly brought their lips together. He brushed his fingers around the edge of Jonny's ear, then shifted his position and laid his head on Jonny's shoulder. Jonny looked down at Chris and he smiled, because everything was working exactly as he wanted it to. It was almost too perfect.

 

 

A Rush

9-

 

 

Jonny tapped his foot on the ground. He was waiting for Chris at the park as he usually did, but Chris had to have been at least fifteen minutes late. He didn't doubt that Chris would eventually show, but he was becoming so impatient that he almost decided to just walk to Chris's house and see what was taking him so long.

 

A few yellowing leaves fell around Jonny. He shivered involuntarily; the breeze that had brought the leaves down crawled against his arm, and he had forgotten to bring a jacket. Of course, he hadn't expected for it to be so cool outside. It was no big deal, though. As soon as Chris arrived, he would just suggest that they go somewhere warmer. Whenever that was going to be.

 

He eyed the bench beside the spot he stood on, deeply considering sitting down while he waited. Another breeze rolled by and he finally came to the conclusion that it was no longer worth it to wait for Chris, who was obviously too busy to show up on time.

 

He waited until the wind had settled before he pulled his arms away from his abdomen and started to trudge down the path to the road.

 

“Jonny!!” Chris's voice called from behind him. He spun around to see Chris rushing towards him, carrying a decent-sized white envelope in his hands. Chris sounded almost out of breath as he stopped in front of Jonny. “Hey.”

 

“Hey,” Jonny repeated, his eyes stuck on the envelope.

 

“Sorry I was late.” Chris stepped forward and quickly embraced Jonny, leaving a sloppy kiss on the side of his mouth.

 

Jonny shrugged. “It's all right. But what took you so long?”

 

Chris looked stunned for a second, then he beamed and held up the white envelope. “I did something... huge today,” he began, “and it took a lot longer than I expected it to. I mean, I went as soon as school ended, and that was two hours ago. But, you know... huge things like this take time.”

 

“What did you do?” Jonny asked, skeptically narrowing his eyes at Chris. He knew that Chris was always exaggerating the greatness of his actions, but he had a sneaking suspicion that this time it was not an overstatement.

 

Chris stared at Jonny for a few moments. “Come on,” he said, grabbing Jonny's hand and leading him to the building behind which they so often met. When they were away from the public he let go and turned to face Jonny. He took a deep breath, though it seemed he was about to say something then abruptly changed his mind and asked, “Jonny, how was your day?”

 

“It was fine,” Jonny quickly answered. “Will you please explain to me what's-”

 

“I will, I just want to make sure that you're doing well. That you don't have anymore,” Chris winced slightly,“bruises or anything.”

 

Jonny smiled briefly at Chris's concern. “I'm fine.”

 

“Good.” Chris looked down at his hands and messed with a corner of the envelope. “So, last night I was trying to go to sleep, but I just kept thinking about how I really wish there was something I could do for you- in regards to your parents and such. Because I just feel so useless.” Chris frowned and lifted his sad eyes once more.

 

“I wish there was something, too,” Jonny quietly said. “But you don't have to feel like that, Chris. You're very useful.”

 

“Well, yeah.” Chris nodded, beginning to smile. “I found a way to help.”

 

Jonny's wary look returned again. “How?”

 

Chris returned his attention to the envelope's now slightly bent corner. “Ever since I was little- like, ten or something- my parents tried to get me to save up as much money as I could. For, like, university or whatever. So, I've been saving for quite a while and I have quite a lot saved. Well, I had quite a lot saved...”

 

“Chris, I'm not sure I follow,” Jonny slowly said, though in truth he was almost positive he knew where Chris was going with this. Still, he thought it best to act cautiously.

 

With a most innocent look on his face, Chris handed the envelope to Jonny. Jonny took it, but held it in his hands without even attempting to discover its contents. He merely stared at Chris, waiting for more of an explanation.

 

“There's about four or five thousand pounds in there,” Chris told him. “I figured that you could use it to get away from your parents. Maybe you could find a place of your own or whatever. Then you don't have to worry so much. And I don't have to worry so much, either,” he added with a chuckle.

 

Jonny took a deep breath. “That's... very generous of you.”

 

“I'm not going to take it back, Jonny. Even if you try to force it into my hands. I'm not taking it back. So don't even think about it.”

 

Jonny opened his mouth to further protest, but he decided against it. “Thank you,” he quietly said, and Chris smiled at him.

 

“You should probably go now, then, and try to, I don't know, get a flat somewhere. I'm sure there's something out there for you. But, uh, before you do leave, Jonny, there's something else I want you to know...” Nervously, Chris wrapped his arms around Jonny as tightly as he could, his hands trembling just a little. “I love you.”

 

“I love you, too.” Jonny placed his hands on Chris's back, and for a minute they stayed like that. Then Chris began to pull away and Jonny let his arms drop to his sides.

 

“So... call me when everything's set. There's a paper in there with my number on it,” Chris said, pointing to the envelope. Jonny shortly nodded. “Good luck.”

 

“Thanks.” He took another deep breath and smiled at Chris before turning and walking away. He glanced back once to see Chris wave at him, then kept going with his eyes forward and his heart racing.

 

 

A Rush

10-

 

 

Chris sighed. He was sat at the kitchen table, mindlessly staring at the napkin holder placed in the center. He was so out of it that he had not even seen his mother walking into the room, let alone sitting down beside him. In fact, she watched him for several long minutes and the only reason he ever noticed her was because she spoke to him.

 

“What's wrong, Chris?” she asked, startling him by placing her hand on his arm.

 

Chris alertly looked up at her, then sighed once more. “I'm just worried about Jonny.” He returned his gaze to the napkins on the table. “I haven't heard from him in, like, two weeks.”

 

“Two weeks?”

 

Chris slowly nodded. “I gave him my number, but he hasn't called yet. And I don't have his.”

 

“And you two haven't been meeting after school.” Chris frowned as his mother swirled a paper that was under her hands. He glanced at it, but couldn't quite tell what it was. “Was everything all right between you both?”

 

“Everything was fine with us. But I don't know if- if his parents...” Chris bit his lip and lifted his eyes towards his mother. She was staring intently at him.

 

“Chris, I wanted to ask you about something,” she began. Her hand dragged the paper closer to the edge of the table, where she flipped it over so he could see it properly. “The other day I went in your room to get your laundry, and this was lying on the floor.”

 

As he observed the paper more closely, he realized that it was a bank statement regarding his savings account. “Yeah.”

 

“You took out all that money?”

 

“Yeah,” he repeated, ineffectively. After a few moments of awkward silence, he came to the conclusion that he should explain further. “I gave it to Jonny.”

 

Chris's mother blinked pointedly at him several times. “May I ask why?”

 

Chris shrugged and said, “Because I wanted to help him get away from his parents. They're not good people, mum. They hurt him. I gave him the money so he could get out of there, and I told him to call me when things were set.”

 

“But you haven't heard from him since.” Chris sadly shook his head. His mother took an incredibly deep breath. “Chris... I don't know how to say this. I don't think you will ever hear from him again.”

 

Chris's eyes widened and his expression morphed from upset to terrified. “Y-You don't think something happened, do you? Because if something serious had happened, we would have heard about it, right? If something serious had happened, it would have been in, like, the newspaper or something. You don't think anything bad happened to him, do you?”

 

“Oh, I'm sure he's just fine, wherever he is,” she calmly told him. Chris stared at her, eyebrows scrunched together.

 

“Then what are you talking about? Why wouldn't I hear from him again?” Chris asked, with more fear in his voice than confusion. Perhaps somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew.

 

“I don't think that he is who he told you he was.”

 

“I don't understand.”

 

“The boy you knew as Jonny,” she slowly explained, “does not actually exist. His name probably isn't even close to Jonny.” Chris stared at her with a blank expression, not from a lack of understanding but from a lack of wanting to understand. His hands began to shake. “Chris, he's a con artist.”

 

Chris felt like his head had been smashed in by a pillowcase full of bricks. Momentarily his breathing ceased, but he had just enough air left in him to croak out, “No...”

 

His mother warmly placed a hand on his shoulder. “Chris-”

 

“No!” he said again, this time with a stronger voice and eyes clouded by tears. “No. Jonny... he...”

 

“He lied to you.”

 

“No, he said... he said that he l-loves me,” Chris cried, and his mother brought him into her arms, burying his head in her shoulder. “How could he have been lying?”

 

“That's what he does for a living, Chris. Clearly he's very good at it.” A new burst of sobs emerged from Chris, matched by his mother rubbing her hand over his back like she used to when he was a baby. “I'm so sorry, honey.”

 

Chris inhaled sharply; he was trying very hard to find a way to argue that his mother was wrong, and therefore he would be able to calm himself and not feel like his heart had shattered into a million tiny pieces and lodged into every nerve of his body. Unfortunately, he had no luck whatsoever.

 

“How could I be so stupid?” he quietly voiced. His mother pulled back and looked at him sternly, holding his face in between her hands.

 

“Chris, you are not stupid.”

 

“Then how come I believed him?”

 

“I'll admit he was very convincing. We all believed him.” Chris stared at her unblinkingly, clearly in disbelief. “You're not stupid. But you're young, and very trusting, because nothing bad has ever happened to you before. That's the sort of thing people like that target.”

 

“I'm sorry... about the money,” Chris told her. “I... I shouldn't have...”

 

Chris cut his statement short, as he didn't want to start bawling again, and his mother shook her head and embraced him again. “Don't worry about that, Chris. It's not like your father and I don't have enough money to help you out. I'm more worried about you right now.”

 

They sat in silence for several minutes. Chris was thinking everything over, every second he had spent with Jonny and everything he had been told by Jonny and every feeling he had ever felt for Jonny. It was almost as if his own feelings had been a lie in light of this revelation. “He told me he loved me... I loved him.” Despite his best efforts, Chris felt another teardrop roll down his cheek.

 

“Oh, Chris, you barely even knew him anyway,” his mother said. “If he had been telling you the truth, a few weeks is not enough to decide something that big. Especially not at your age.”

 

“But I felt it...”

 

“I'm sure you thought you felt it.” Chris frowned into her should as she ran a hand over his hair. “Listen, Chris, you have your whole life ahead of you, all right? You should learn from this experience, but don't keep yourself stuck on it. There are plenty of other people in the world out there who will actually love you. Don't fuss over the ones who didn't.”

 

He knew she was right, but a tiny part of him wished she wasn't. Even when he was busy fretting over Jonny's well-being he was much happier. He would have given anything to go back to that. “Thanks, mum.”

 

 

 

 

the end :cry:

 

 

 

slam.

part one.

 

 

 

"Where are the others? Where are Will and Guy?" Chris asked, staggering down the street, the street lights blinding down on the empty street which consisted of only the two of them.

 

"Back at that club" Jonny replied, collapsing on the curb, and pulling himself up. Chris sat beside him and they just both paused for a few moments and listened to the silence. Their ears were still ringing from the music in the clubs.

 

"Your ears still ringing?" Chris asked.

 

"Yes" Jonny replied, confirming Chris' theory.

 

Chris leant into Jonny and kissed him. Jonny quickly pulled away.

 

"Don't Chris" Jonny pleaded. "Please don't"

 

"What's wrong?" Chris asked, his face looking sad.

 

"Chris! We can't do this" Jonny exclaimed. "Maybe we should just go get Will and Guy and head home!"

 

"No"

 

"What?" Jonny exclaimed. "Why the fuck not?"

 

"Don't swear Jonny, It's not very attractive!" Chris snarled, demoralised.

 

"Grow up!" Jonny replied. “Now are you coming or what?”

 

“No” Chris replied, looking down.

 

“Seeya, then” Jonny said, walking off into the darkness. Chris spat on the floor before being violently sick. Looking down on his vomit, Chris could see his reflection. He was disgusted by himself and threw his phone on the floor, it smashed into pieces.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Hey, mate, you seen the two guys I was with earlier?” Jonny asked, smiling at the strange looking man who had been propping up the bar all night.

 

“They went off with these two girls not too long ago” the man replied, showing very few teeth.

 

Sighing, Jonny walked off without a word, straight out of the bar and back onto the street where Chris was. Was. Not anymore. Staggering to the door of the car, Jonny managed to open it and get in. Starting up the car- he began to drive. As he drove he saw Chris in his rear view mirror, adjusting the mirror so he could no longer see him.

 

The main road was quiet- well, I was Friday night, most people were at home or out drinking. The road was very dark and very long. In the space of about 10 minutes, as little as two cars passed Jonny as he made his way down the road. Glancing at the time, Jonny yawned before his eyes slowly started to close, careering of the road, Jonny crashed through a fencing and the car rolled down the embankment. The left side window smashed and the majority of the car received damage as it rolled down. Landing at the bottom, Jonny jerked forward, his head smashing on the steering wheel.

 

Slam.

 

 

 

All Hallows Eve Part One

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The 3 men sat around the studio conversing about Oct.31st and what Chris would come up with this year. Will was looking thru a costume magazine and said "Ah, now that's something I might want to be." Guy looked up from the newspaper and said, "Ok, let's have a look." Will jumped up and held the magazine in front of Guy's face and pointed. Guy looked up and smiled, "Oh cool, I really liked that movie, that's a great one." Will gave a unexpected grin, one might rarely ever see. Jonny got up from the piano seat and took a look. He looked at it and then said, "Will, you don't need that Jason mask, you already look scary with just your face." "Oh go on Jon, what do you want to go as this year?", Will asked.

 

Jonny shrugged his shoulders and thought about last year how he wanted to go as Darth Vader, and Chris had already bought the Darth Vader Costume, so he went as Captain Hook, "I dunno, I am gonna wait until Chris gets here, he always steals my ideas, but between you and me, I kinda want to be Elvis this year."

 

Guy spoke up and said, "Guess what I am gonna be." Will turned away from the magazine and said, "Oh let me guess, Captain Jack Sparrow?" Guy rolled his eyes, "How did you guess that one?" "Because you go as him every single year", exclaimed Jonny.

"Well he does make a good Jack, said Will, "Yeah, he's got the drunk swagger down really well too" Jonny laughed.

 

About an hour later, the 3 guy's started talking about lunch, when they heard the front door slam shut. Chris was yelling out, "Are you guy's here?" Jonny yelled back, "We're upstairs" Chris excited as usual sprinted up the stairs only to stop short of the room the guy's were in. Chris cleared his throat as if he needed some attention, and said "Are you all ready to see my costume?" "Here we go" claimed Will, "Yes we are ready". Chris jumped into the room and Guy and Will fell off the couch laughing, pointing to Jon.

 

Jon jumped up and pointed and gestured his hands about in the air, "See didn't I tell you"

"He does this every year".

 

Chris was dressed in a white jumpsuit, fake sideburns, fake hair, big sunglasses, a white cape and white shoes, "Thank-You, Thank-You very Much", came out of Chris's mouth trying to imitate the King. "Isn't this cool" Chris cried out. He pranced around the room, doing Elvis's famous moves, and then grabbed the microphone and started singing "You ain't nothing but a Houndog, just crying all the time, you ain't never been a rebel and you ain't no friend of mine."

 

Guy, his eyes wide open laughs, "Chris, please spare us the howling that's coming out of your mouth, let the poor man rest in peace, he's turning over in his grave right now."

 

Chris stopped, head hanging, "You don't like my costume?"

 

Guy said, "I think Jon would have made a better Elvis, your too, well too, what's the phrase I'm looking for?"

"A totem pole", exclaimed Will.

Guy slapped the table "That's it, a Totem pole, a Totem Pole dressed as Elvis."

 

All Hallows Eve Part 2

 

 

 

The sounds of a piano and guitar play in harmony together this Thursday afternoon at the studio, and as Chris finishes his part, he whipped around and asked Jon "Was it Ok?"

 

Jon nodded yes with a smile, and reached into the halloween pumpkin and tossed Chris a snicker bar. With a wink and a grin, Chris tore open the chocolate and popped it in his mouth.

 

Trying to talk, but with difficulty due to the carmel, Chris asked Jon if he was going to Phils Spook house again this year, you see Phil rents this big old mansion at the top of a very long hill every year with a creepy cemetery below. He hires local volunteers to help build the rooms into spooky scenes, and local theater actors to help out for the 29th, 30th and 31st. All proceeds go to the Childrens hospitals.

 

"I can go on the 30th with you this year, but on the 31st I'm afraid I have plans."

 

"Plans?" asked Chris

 

"Yeah, I've got a......", Jon stopped and strummed his guitar "You've got a?" as Chris's voice trailed off.

 

At that moment Jon was relieved to hear Guy and Will coming back from lunch, as they walked in, Chris abruptly got up and brushed past them and left the room.

 

"What's wrong with Princess today?" asked Will as he plopped down on the couch.

 

"I told him I could go to The spook house on the 30th, but not on the 31st due to the plans."

"Oh Jon, you didn't tell him about "THE PLANS" did you?" Guy asked

 

"No, but if you hadn't of come in, I think he would have broke me." Jon said as he put his guitar down.

 

2 Hours later

 

Chris was rummaging thru the racks of costumes, when the sales lady came up to him.

 

"Excuse me, didn't you buy the Elvis costume yesterday?"

 

"Yep" as Chris kept looking.

 

"Looking for something else, for a friend or something," the Lady asked

 

"Well my friend wanted to be Elvis, so I was looking for something else, ya know, something that won't make me look like a......

 

"A what, the Lady inquired."

 

"My friends said I looked like a Totem Pole!" The Lady snickered, "Perhaps it's because your so Tall and skinny," replied the Lady

 

"So what do you suggest I be, a stalk of celery?" an angry Chris retorted

 

"Come on, lets go over to this other rack." She led Chris around the corner and took a look thru some racks, "How about Superman?" she asked

 

"I didn't like Superman growing up..... I would like something with a cape tho, and scary."

 

"Did you ever think about being Count Dracula, he has the cape, and he is very scary."

 

Chris paused a minute in deep thought, crossed his arms, made weird faces, tilted his head to one side, let out a sigh, and said, "Fangs, Cape, hmm, yeah I think that could work."

 

The Lady gathered the cape, and make-up and fake blood, some odd cross jewlery.

"The fangs, don't forget the fangs, Chris cried out."

 

"You need a white long sleeve dress shirt, do you have one?"

 

"No, I have some cool T Shirts tho."

"That won't do" she said

"What about black pants?" she asked

"Do, I have black pants, Chris jokingly replied, "Yeah, I think I have a pair or 2"

 

-