My friend Kevin - 6. Chapter 6

By now I was starting to doubt myself. There truly was not a signle reason for me to hold any grudges towards our new addition. Matthew seemed like a nice enough guy. He was open and talking to everyone, even with Eric quite a bit. I guess he noticed that Eric was a bit of an outcast in our class, and Kevin sure was impressed by this.

"Why don't you go talk to him, Kevvie?" Nora looked at him with a curious look, tipping her head to the side like a confused puppy, something she did quite often. Looking like a puppy, that is.

"I don't know what to say.."

"You, don't know, what to say? This is a first!" She laughed and leaned against him. We were sitting in one of the couches in a room that could be called the livingroom of the school. It had a tv, a few couches, a table and one computer that was at least six years old. No one ever really used it, it was only good for playing Achtung, or Zatacka, or whatever you'd like to call it. We were watching Matthew and Eric through the large windows that lined the entire wall to the livingroom. Even the door was mostly made out of glass, it was to make sure people couldn't do anything bad, or inapproriate in here.

"But I honestly don't know! It feels strange. I know nothing about him."

"I talked to him a bit. He's good looking." Philip rolled his eyes and pulled Nora closer to him with a chuckle.

"That has nothing to do with anything, babe."

"It totally has to do with everything." She leaned up to kiss with a smile, before sneaking her hand up in under Philip's t-shirt, humming contently as she petted his stomach. She had a thing for smooth skin, and especially bellies. I had seen Philip in the lockerroom, and I had to admit, his stomach was probably the best I've seen. But he didn't have that wow-factor in the rest of his appearance. Good looking, but he lacked that.. Unf that Matthew obviously had.

"Getting a bit nervous, Philip?" I smirked as I looked over at him and he leaned back in his seat with a confident look, Nora still playing with his stomach.

"Not at all. He may have the face, but I have the belly." We chuckled and then returned our attention to Matthew and.. Oh, Eric had gone by now. Matthew was talking to someone on his phone, but I noticed he looked over at me, giving me a slight smile before glancing at Kevin, and then he left. It felt as though a lump of ice formed in my stomach, but I convinced myself I was just being paranoid. Again. Perhaps I should talk to someone..

Nora suddenly got up to flop herself onto Kevin's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck with a smile.

"How's Spazzy? Isn't it boring for him to be at home all the time?"

"Hey, I take care of my dog." He chuckled lowly, playing with her hair. "Jessica walks him during the day."

Jessica was Kevin's landlord. Besides having a thing for Kevin, I think she absolutely adores Spazzrat. She was a few years older than us, 26 I think, but she was apparently quite successful. Kevin had told me that she has her own company, dealing with all kinds of little things that people always need but never remember buying, so she had a little internet empire where you could order everything from lighbulbs to dishwasher machine parts and shoelaces. You know, all those things that never quite make it onto the shopping list. And now, she was a landlord as well. I had only met her once or twice. She always used a crutch because of some illness that had caused quite a bit of stiffness in her left leg, and I was amazed when I once saw her walking Spazzrat.

Spazzrat had knocked me to the ground more than a few times, but he was always on his best behaviour when walked by Jessica. I guess he could feel that she was a bit more fragile. Dogs are amazing that way. I wonder if Spazzrat would notice that I'm not doing too good at the moment..

My mind had completely sucked wandered away and before I knew it Philip was giving my head a pat, telling me that we had to go to class.

Kevin had to leave fairly quickly after school. He worked whenever he was needed. He was working extra at a small company about an hour away from our school that offered various services to their customers, everything from cooking, cleaning, driving people to places, shopping, walking dogs and babysitting. I'm sure there were more things, but that's just off the top of my head.

Apparently it paid well enough, because it allowed him to be able to pay his rent on time each month. He prefered to be on time even though I doubted that Jessica was very picky with it. She just didn't seem like that kind of person, and besides, I'm pretty sure she's rich.

Walking down the road to my bus stop, I was fiddling with a new pack of cigarettes that I had quickly purchased at the gas station. I didn't smoke all that much, but lately, I had been so paranoid and stressed that I smoked a fair bit more. It wasn't good, I know, but I needed something to keep me calm.

"Hey." I blinked and turned my head when I heard a voice I didn't really recognize. Matthew was walking behind me with a slight smile, locking his eyes with me.

"Think you got a fag for me?" I froze up until I realized that he meant a cigarette, not a fag as in a gay person.

"Uhm, yeah, sure." I tossed the plastic in a garbage bin, fishing out a cigarette and offering it to him. He looked at the label (red LM's, my favourites, the cheapest ones), cocked his head with an indifferent shrug before putting it to his lips. He has nice lips, I wonder what it'd be like to.. No! Stop thinking about things like that! I hadn't talked to him before, but it felt kind of casual, like I had talked to him tons of times. Even if it didn't really show on my face. God damn it, why don't I dislike him?

"Thanks mate." He lit his cigarette with a lighter of his own. Strangely enough it was a candle lighter, but with a stiff, strong flame, like it was made for lighting bonfires with less risk of burning yourself. I had to admit, it looked kind of cool. It was unique. Noticing that I was staring as his lighter, I shrugged in response to his comment and I proceeded to light mine as well.

"Didn't take you for a smoker, got kinda surprised." He chuckled, pulling out a free newspaper from the metal stand beside the bus station, spreading it out over the bus station bench whichwas covered in ice, sitting down on it with his legs spread out, and yes I admit, I did throw a glance at his crotch, but only because he had an interesting belt. It was an airplane belt. Unique, again.

"Most people don't." I smiled and looked down at him, damn it, he looked even better close up. I sighed out some smoke, watching him.

"So you're.. Who?"

"I'm Timothy." I held out my free hand and he shook it before letting go, and I shoved my hand back into my pocket.

"I guess you know I'm Matthew."

"Yeah, sort of hard to not know. What do you think of the school so far?"

"Seems nice, a bit smaller than my old one, but it's more.. Cosy, I guess. Not as much bullshit floating around if you get what I mean." I chuckled and gave him a nod, from what I had heard from people in other schools, rumours, gossip and bullshit was a daily occurance.

"Yeah, I like it here, especially our class."

"It seems really nice mate, people are real friendly. Easy to talk to, most of 'em." I nodded and took another drag of my cigarette, not sure what to say. My mind was drawing a black, damn it.

"How come you haven't said hello before, Timothy?"

"Just Tim, or Timmy. TImothy sounds so.. Weird. Uh, I don't know, I guess.." I had to think for a bit, I didn't want to say I think you're handsome and if you're gay I'll really not like you, that sounded a bit too rude. "I've been busy.. Plus you're always talking to someone."

"Hey, there's enough of me for everyone." That instantly sent less than appropriate images into my mind. "It's not a one-person policy, I can talk to loads of people at once." He puffed out some smoke, crossing one leg over the other, leaning back in his seat.

"Well, I guess I'll talk to you from now on, you're not a stranger anymore." I couldn't really think of anything else to say. He just smiled at me and nodded, taking another deep breath, exhaling the thick, white smoke. It was almost hypnotizing to watch, his breathing was so even, in, and out, in a slow, rhythmic way. Like a watch being swung in front of your face as you drift off. Back, and forth, back, and forth..

"Where do you live, hm?" He glanced at me and I frowned slightly, brought back from my fairly strange trail of thought to reality.

"About three stops from here." There was only one bus that used this particular station,and I hoped he was going much, much further than me. Please, let him..

"Really? Me too. Just moved into a house there. Well, I guess it's half a house, semi-detached." Who moves into a house when they move out? I mean, he can't live with someone else. Or did he? Perhaps he had a girlfriend, or a fiancé.

"Oh, you got a tenant or something?"

"Nah, I got money." He laughed amusedly and threw the bum of the cigarette onto the ground, grinding it into the snow with his foot.

"And I like space."

We continued our chat when the bus arrived. It's not like I had a choice, I couldn't just reject him, that'd be weird. Like I was some kind of antisocial nuthead... We parted ways once we arrived at our stop, he went down the street and I went straight into the neighbourhood, seeing how my house was the second one from the road. Apparently he lived two streets down from me, in one of the many rows of semi-detached chain houses. Quite a big place to move to when first moving out, but I guess if you had the cash, why not.

It was constantly taunting my mind, the fact that he was nice, he was perfectly nice, he had nothing I could really complain about. Not a single flaw, not yet at least. Now I just had to wish that he was straight.