Kyle and Kodi - 10. Chapter 10

The days flew past and it was the evening of Monday December 10th before Kodi and I knew it. I was sleeping round Kodi’s tonight.

“It’s our birthday tomorrow, Kodi.”

“I know, Kyle. I wonder what our parents have got planned for us this year?”

“Probably not a lot, since tomorrow is Tuesday and you have school. We’ll probably have to wait until the weekend.”

“I think it will be hard to beat last year; spending the whole weekend at Alton Towers.”

“I know. When do you find out your grade for your essay?”

“If they’ve all been marked then it should be tomorrow.”

“Want a kiss for good luck?”

“I don’t believe in luck. But I’ll take a kiss just the same.” I leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “You call that a kiss?”

“Well, you didn’t want my good luck kiss,” I pouted; Kodi just laughed.

“OK then. I do believe in luck.”

“Then close your eyes.”

Kodi closed his eyes and I leaned in just close enough so he could feel my breath. I allowed my hands to run through his hair and slowly licked his lips. A moan of pleasure escaped from Kodi, just as I pulled away from him. I leaned in again; this time plunging my hands deeper into his hair and giving him a small kiss on the lips, then kissed his cheek, and kissed slowly down every inch his neck finally reaching his sweet spot (just where his neck meets his clavicle). Kodi started moaning more and more as I nuzzled at his sweet spot. Then I slowly kissed back up his neck, nibbled on his earlobe, kissed him across his cheek and gave him one more kiss on the lips.

Kodi’s knees gave way, and I helped him collapse on the bed. “I definitely believe in good luck now. That was amazing.”

I got on the bed next to Kodi and smiled at him. “You feel lucky now?”

“Oh yeah.” Kodi then kissed me and we got under the covers.

I wrapped my arm around Kodi’s torso, pulled him close to me and kissed the back of his neck. Kodi snuggled into me and we fell asleep.

Eight o’clock the next morning Kodi left for school meeting Jessica outside (since their schools are right next door to each other), his parents went off to work and I headed off to meet Peter Rabbins to accompany him to his cricket training.

I actually did OK. I started off learning some of the rules about bowling and field settings, and by the time we left at eleven I was managing to get the ball close enough to the stumps; perhaps I’m not going to be as bad as I thought.

I got home a little before noon and got lunch ready. I was just sitting down to eat my ham and grilled cheese sandwich when there was a knock at the door. I was surprised by this; my boyfriend and friends are all at school, my parents have a door-key and I wasn’t expecting a parcel or anything. I opened the door with some trepidation.

“Yes, can I help you?” I asked my visitor.

“Is Mr Stuart McMichaels at home?”

“No, he’s at work. I’m his son Kyle, can I help?” I instinctively moved my foot behind the door just in case.

“I have a delivery for him. Can you sign for it?” My dad hadn’t told me he was expecting anything; but this wasn’t the first time a parcel has arrived for dad without him telling me in advance – he’s always ordering stuff from his catalogues and of course delivery dates are never guaranteed.

“Sure.”

The delivery guy handed me an envelope and his pad to sign; as Kodi would say ‘my intuition sucks’. After I signed for the envelope, I closed the door and left it in dad’s mail slot in the kitchen. I finally got to eat my toasted sandwich which by now was verging on the cold and clammy stage.

I sat down, switched on the TV and picked up Stephen King’s It – I always have the TV on when I’m reading, I need to have background noise, especially when I’m on my own.

There was the sound of a key turning in the lock, I glanced up at the clock and couldn’t believe it was nearly four o’clock; had I really been reading for nearly four hours?

I glanced out of the living room and saw it was my dad.

“Hey, dad.”

“Hey, son. Happy birthday.”

“Thanks dad. There’s an envelope for you in your mail slot, it came earlier today.”

“You didn’t open it, did you?” he asked me cautiously.

“No dad, of course not. I know the rules as well anyone; you never open someone else’s mail without their permission.” I wonder what my dad doesn’t want me knowing. “So what are the plans for our birthday dinner?”

“We’ve reserved a table at that new Italian restaurant.”

“Wow, that place is expensive.”

“To a kid who gets £15 a week pocket money I’m sure it does.”

Our doorbell rang at six, and there was the entire Waughrin family all suited and booted. I felt slightly underdressed in my jeans and Ben Sherman shirt, but it’s the best I’ve got.

“Hi Kyle, happy birthday.”

“Thanks guys. Come on in.” I looked at Kodi who seemed on the verge of tears. “What’s up Kodi?”

“That damned history teacher of mine!” And with that he ran into the kitchen.

I followed him and asked, “What about her?”

When he didn’t answer I looked at his mum. “Janet?”

“He got his grade back on history essay.”

“It can’t be that bad. I read it, and I’d be happy handing it in myself.”

“It must have been bad. Kodi hasn’t even told us what he got and he’s been really moody since getting home from school.”

I walked over to my boyfriend and took him in my arms. “Kodi, please tell me.”

He mumbled something which I didn’t catch. “Pardon?”

He broke away from arms and a huge smile crossed his face. “I said I got a bloody A plus.”

I hugged him tightly and kissed him passionately; I would have gone further but I don’t think our parents are quite ready for that yet.

“Well done Kodi. I knew you could it. Looks like we have a double celebration tonight.”

Kodi’s dad playfully smacked him across the head. “That’s for worrying me and your mother. And congratulations on the A plus.”

We left for the restaurant at six thirty and arrived just before seven. We were sat near the back at one of the large six-seat tables.

We had a pleasant dinner and then our parents brought out our presents. In spite of the number of times Kodi and I have told our parents that there is no need for them to buy for the other, we still get gifts; it’s not like our own parents don’t spend enough money on us.

“Boys, this came today.” I saw the envelope in dad’s hand that I recognised as the one that I had signed for. “It contains your birthday treat. Now I know normally we go to one of the theme parks or something, but we thought we’d do something different this year. We’ve booked a long weekend at Muncaster Castle in the Lake District. We’re going up as soon as school lets out on Friday, so since we’ll be picking Kodi up from school you’ll both have to be packed on Thursday night.” Both Kodi and I were really looking forward to this. We had read up on Muncaster Castle earlier in the year when Kodi was doing an essay on haunted England, and I’d mentioned I’d really like to go there for a weekend – guess dad stored that away in that place parents do.

Kodi tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Kyle, this is from me.” He handed me a small wrapped box.

“Kodi, we never buy each other; we agreed on that years ago.”

“Just open it.”

“I feel bad now Kodi because I don’t have anything to give you.”

“Kyle, you give more than anyone deserves. You’ve been there for me through the good times and the bad. You’re always there for me and you’ve never asked for anything in return; now I want to do this for you. Just open it.”

I unwrapped the box and my heart skipped a beat; it contained a silver heart-shaped cariad locket. There was also a small rose gold heart attached to it made from rare Welsh gold from the Clogau mine in Snowdonia; it was on an eighteen inch silver chain. When I opened the locket there was a photo of Kodi smiling and showing all of his teeth in one half and a lock of his hair in the other. A tear slipped silently down my cheek as I ran a finger over the photograph; this was the last thing I had expected from Kodi.

“It’s so that wherever you are, wherever you go and wherever life takes you, I will always be close to your heart.”

I didn’t care that we were in public; I got out of my chair, walked over to Kodi and kissed him on the lips. I said, “I will always love you my cariad; and promise to spend the rest of my life with you.” I put the locket on around my neck and sat back down.

“Hey Kyle, look it’s karaoke night. Let’s see what choices they’ve got.” Kodi has by far the better singing voice of the two us, but I’m not too shabby as to embarrass myself.

I looked through the book of songs and found the perfect choice – the big question was what kind of what reaction Kodi and I will get from singing it.

“Kyle, you’re crazy. I’m not getting on stage singing that.”

“Come on Kodi, I’m game. Anyway, it’s about the only song on the list that I know all the words to.”

“We’re going to start a riot here, you know that?”

“Shit Kodi, you wanna live forever?”

“God help me. Let’s do it.”

We got a really weird look from the manager when we told her of our selection, but she shrugged her shoulders and said nothing. We got up on stage, and the lights dimmed.

The music started, and although we couldn’t see them we knew our parents had to be rolling their eyes at our choice.

I started singing, “I’ve got chills, they’re multiplyin’, and I’m losing control . . . .” The restaurant erupted in applause and I noticed the people sitting closest the stage were singing along as well.

Kodi looked into my eyes and smiled as he starting Olivia Newton-John’s lines. “You better shape up, ’cause I need a man, and my heart is set on you . . . .”

We both finished the last chorus with our arms wrapped around each other’s neck to a standing ovation from the entire restaurant. “The one that I want, you are the one for, ooh, ooh, ooh, the one I need, oh, yes indeed.”

As we finished someone in the front yelled, “Encore!”

I looked over at Kodi who smiled and nodded. “Your turn to pick this time Kodi, and pick something I know.” He ran over to the manager and made his choice.

“You better be ready for this one Kyle.” The grin on Kodi’s face told me to be afraid, to be very afraid.

As soon as the music started I knew what song he had chosen, and I loved him for it – it was my all time favourite song and I was surprised I’d missed it when looking through the selection book. And he was worried about my choice of song causing a riot.

We both started singing at the same time, “Well, he walked up to me and he asked me if I wanted to dance. He looked kinda nice and so I said I might take a chance.”

We both really got into it and started dancing around the stage like Elizabeth Shue did in that film; what these nice people who were looking for a nice evening out thought of the two of us I don’t know.

“I didn't know just what to do so I whispered ‘I love you’ . . .” we both looked into each other’s eyes as we sang that part “. . . and he said that he loved me too and then he kissed me.” Kodi and I being too wrapped in the song to remember where we were, kissed each other on the lips. We were brought back to reality by a few wolf-whistles from the front, and we both blushed.

“Then he asked me to be his bride and always be right by his side. I felt so happy I almost cried and then he kissed me.” There were a few shouts from the restaurant of “kiss him again”; Kodi and I couldn’t help but smile.

We both held hands, took a bow, kissed again and jogged back to our seats; my heart racing. As we both sat down my mum said, “I can’t believe you two just did that.”

“What? You know we both love Grease,” I said, with a big grin on my face.

“You know exactly what I mean. I can’t believe you two just sang those two songs and kissed in front of a packed restaurant. I didn’t think you two wanted to be ‘out’ in public.”

“We talked about it a few days ago mum. We decided that we love each other and we want to tell the world.”

“You two promised me you wouldn’t do stuff like that,” said Jessica and she started to cry.

I got out of my seat, knelt in front of her, looked her in the eyes and said, “Jessica, I’m so sorry. We got so wrapped up in the moment. You know I’d never do anything to deliberately hurt you.” I cuddled her and returned to my seat.

She got out of her seat and sat on my lap. I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed the back of her head.

I looked around the table at my parents, at Kodi’s parents, at my Kodi and looked down at Jessica wrapped in my arms; I could feel the love we all felt for each other. In that moment I knew that Kodi and I would be together forever; come what may. Whether we will be happy together, sad together, miserable together or deeply madly passionately in love together I don’t know, that is in the lap of the gods; but I can say this much, we will be together.

God willing we will know half the happiness our parents have known.

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