Gemini - 3. Encounters

"Well, look who we've got here." Parker said in a snarky tone. "What are you doing here, Adams?" He grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed me against the wall. I felt the back of my head hit the wall and for a moment I saw stars.

My clothes fell from my hands to the ground and I started shaking. His face came close to mine and I could feel his breath. "What about the money?" he hissed, while pressing me against the wall.

Before anything else could happen I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey! What's going on here? Leave him alone." At the end of the hallway stood the cute guy I had been watching all day. ‘So much for first impressions’, I thought, ashamed.

He walked down the hallway towards us. The panic I had felt before now turned into fright. Parker physically wouldn't have a problem with beating me to a pulp. I didn't want to imagine what he would do to this guy, who was even smaller than me.

Surprisingly, Parker’s face showed that he was as startled by this little guy just telling him what to do, as I was scared about what might happen. He took a few seconds to process what was happening before he turned to face his small challenger.

"This is none of your fucking business. He owes me money, so fuck off, or you want me to redecorate your face?" Parker said loudly. But the boy didn't seem to be fazed at all. He took another step towards Parker and got into his face, as far as that was possible with their size difference. It almost looked like David and Goliath.

"I don't give a fuck if he owes you money. Leave him alone and fuck off yourself. The pool attendant is right around the corner. You want your ass hauled off by the police? Go ahead." he hissed with a defiant voice.

Parker was totally out of his element and even if he was pretty stupid, he had probably seen that, in fact, if this little guy started to scream bloody murder, there would be other people here in no time. He looked irritated and turned back to me. Once again he pushed me back against the wall. I still felt dizzy from hitting my head before and when he let go of me I simply slid down the wall and tucked up my legs.

"Looks like your little girlfriend was able to protect you this time. I'll see you tomorrow morning in school. Can't wait for it." he said snidely, before he walked off.

As he walked away, I felt despair flooding me. The problem with him didn't seem to be going to be resolved any time soon. Who knew what would happen on Monday? Why couldn't my life be as easy and carefree as it seemed to be the case for others? Why didn't I have the balls to just say something, anything, to stand up for myself? It was just too much.

I felt choked up and tears started to form in my eyes. Oh no! Not now! I curled up and hid my head between my knees, trying to fight the tears.

"You alright?" My little savior asked gently. I wanted to reply but I was too choked up and I didn't want him to know that I was about to cry, so I just said nothing and continued to hide my face.

"Uhm, apparently not," he said, speaking more to himself than to me. He sat down next to me and laid his hand on my shoulder. "I'm Ethan. What’s your name?"

"Josh." I managed to press out together with a sob. And then I just lost it. Feeling his hand on my shoulder, feeling that he cared for me, made all the emotions that had been locked away for so long come free and I started to sob uncontrolledly. I tried my best to stop it, but it was a lost battle.

I had expected him to just walk away disgusted with me, or at least to just sit there and endure me without further comment, but then I felt his arm wrapped around me and he started to caress my shoulder with his hand. I kept sobbing for a bit longer, but with him holding me gently I calmed down eventually. I sniffed a bit and cleared my throat.

"Thanks," I said in a low voice looking at him shyly.

"No problem, man," he said and gave my shoulder a last squeeze before letting go of me. Suddenly the physical affection between us seemed awkward and I blushed.

His face showed similar feelings. After a few moments he cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the weird atmosphere.

"Is this guy always such an asshole? Do you really owe him money?" Ethan asked me.

"I don’t owe him any money," I replied. "He just makes it up to have a reason to bully me. He probably hopes I will give him money anyway." I sniffed again. Ethan opened his backpack, dug around for a bit and handed me a tissue. I took it with a grateful look and blew my nose.

"Thanks again," I said to him. "I still don't get how you had the courage to get into his face."

"You're welcome. You're lucky I forgot something in the locker and had to come back. As for what I did, I don't know. I just saw what was going on and stepped in. I didn't really think about it all that much. In retrospect it seems pretty suicidal to me." He grinned. "I guess I was just lucky."

After another minute he rose and offered me his hand. "C'mon, let’s get up." I took his hand and he pulled me up. He then picked up my stuff from the ground and handed it to me. We stood there for a moment, looking at each other, me being unsure of what I should do or say and him looking at my face lost in thoughts.

Before he could say anything, I blurted out: "You must think I'm one big pussy. Crying here and all. I don't know why I did that."

He shrugged. "If I were you, I would probably do the same; don't worry about it." I didn't really believe he meant what he said, but I still gave him a small smile to show him I appreciated that he tried to pretend it wasn’t a big deal.

"You remind me of someone I know," he stated, apropos of nothing.

"I don't know anyone who looks like me," I replied.

"You'll pro’lly see him when you see me here next time. You're gonna come back here, right? I have never seen you here before."

"Yea," I said, still flushed from embarrassment. "I guess so."

"Uhm," he started. "I gotta get going, but before I leave, what's your number?”

I gave him my number and he punched it into his cell and called me so I had his. After that, he smiled at me. What a killer smile! "It was nice to meet you, I'm sorry I have to leave now. My mom's gonna kill me if I come late for dinner again." He grinned and took off after we said goodbye.

After I changed, I made my way home. When I arrived, my parents were still out and Philip wasn’t there since he usually had Sundays off. I couldn't stop thinking about Ethan. Now he had a name. Even better, he had smiled at me. I was so happy I was about to burst.

I started my computer and listened to some music while reading a book. After about an hour my phone announced a new message. When I saw that it was from Ethan; I got excited.

hey josh u gonna b @ the pool wednsday?

A big smile spread across my face. I typed a quick reply: fo sho, what time?

Not even a minute later the jingle went off again.

3pm. u sure u'll be ok at school tmro? I'm a bit worried bout u.

How cute! He was worried about me! Knowing that he cared made the thought of probably getting beaten up on Monday almost forgotten. It wouldn’t make it hurt less but at least I had something to hold on to.

I guess... I'll just stay close to the teachers. Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday!

His reply came almost immediately: That's a good idea! Looking forward to seeing u too!

Just then, my stomach growled loudly. I put the phone aside and went to the kitchen to grab a couple of sandwiches. The rest of the evening was an endless emotional roller coaster with my feelings alternating between being excited about seeing Ethan again and being scared about meeting Parker at school.

♊

I had thought about telling my parents I was sick, but I was a bad actor and my father would just tell me to be a man and go, and that I didn't look sick. Also, it would mean that Philip would hang around me all day, and I would have to face Parker eventually, if not today then tomorrow or the day after.

Until the end of 2nd period everything went fine. Our school was pretty big, so to some degree it was possible to avoid another person, especially since Parker was a grade above me. But when I wanted to leave the classroom, I saw Parker waiting in the hallway. I immediately turned around and went back to my table, pretending I had forgotten something.

After the classroom had cleared out and only I and Mr. Fisher were left, I tried to gain time.

"This was a really interesting lesson, Mr. Fisher," I said.

"Thank you," He said. We had had a discussion about the history of slavery in America. "It's interesting how back then slavery was completely normal and now nobody can understand how most people didn't see how wrong it was, don't you think?"

"Well, it makes sense to me. I guess everyone is just a product of their surroundings and what they grow up with. Who knows what people will think about our time in a hundred years?" I replied, being a sage. 'Maybe they will look the same way at all those anti-gay activists, like my father.' I added in my thoughts.

Mr. Fisher looked at me with appreciation and nodded. He made his way to leave the room and I followed him. Luckily my next class was just down the hallway and the break was almost over, so I stuck close to him, said goodbye when we passed the door and went into the room.

I sighed, glad to have escaped Parker. After that, I didn't see him at lunch hour or during the other breaks. First I thought I was just lucky with escaping him, but while packing my stuff after my last class I overheard two of my classmates talking about him.

"You know what's with Parker, I haven't seen him all day?" Ryan asked. He was one of those other people who made my life difficult. Not as much as Parker, but some.

Parker was the only one who openly hated me, god knows why. Then there were his friends, like Ryan, who I usually managed to avoid when Parker was not around. Everyone else treated me like a pariah because they were scared of Parker, but they were mostly indifferent and didn’t bother to recognize me enough to give me any trouble. They didn't talk to me but they didn't hassle me either.

"You didn't hear what happened?" Caleb replied. He was one of the indifferent ones. "He got caught vandalizing some lockers. He's suspended for the rest of the week."

Ryan made a face, grabbed his backpack, and bumped hard into my shoulder while he was leaving. "Look where the fuck you're standing," he hissed at me before he went on. I didn't react to him at all. It would only cause more problems.

My thoughts returned to Parker. 'What an idiot!' I thought to myself while I left the classroom, grinning. 'I hope he made a big mess with something permanent on that locker and they make him clean it up himself.'

This meant one week without Parker. I couldn't believe my luck. My parents would be on a business trip until Wednesday, it probably couldn't get any better, well, except for Philip. When my parents were on business trips he was the most annoying. He would find an excuse to go into my room every other hour, but I tried to ignore him as well as I could. Without my parents and Parker to worry about, time flew, and before I knew it, it was Wednesday.

♊

I arrived at the pool just at 3:00 pm. When I checked my cell for the time I saw that I had a new message.

Yo, we’re running a bit late, just so u know - Ethan.

I decided to wait for him, and whoever else was meant with ‘we’. I secured my bike to the fence and leaned against the wall at the entrance to the pool. After about 15 minutes of waiting, Ethan arrived with another boy. Ethan secured his bike and walked over to me. The guy who was with him took his time with his bike before he strolled over to us slowly.

“Hey, it’s nice to see you again, Josh.” Ethan said as he shook my hand.

“Hey Ethan,” I replied shyly.

My eyes turned to the guy behind him. I don’t think my parents would approve of me hanging out with him. His clothes clearly looked like they had been handed down over several siblings. His jeans had been patched several times and looked a bit washed out. He didn’t look like he was a homeless or unkempt, his clothes were clean, but it was obvious his family didn’t have enough money.

Ethan didn’t wear the high-end labels I was wearing, but his clothes still looked new and good enough that they wouldn’t be an obvious difference between us. His friend, however, came from a whole different world.

When I got close to his face, I gasped. I could have been looking into a mirror. His eyes had the same glaucous color that mine had and our noses and mouths looked exactly alike. His hair was longer than mine but it had the same color and just like mine it was slightly tousled. He stared back at me with the same expression of surprise on his face that I must have had on mine.

I felt surreal, like I was dreaming. “Hey, uh, I’m Josh, but my friends call me J,“ I stammered.

“Uh… yea,” he started. “I’m Jacob, but my friends call me J, too.” So, that was him yesterday! How did I miss seeing him among the other teens last Sunday? I must have been really fixated on Ethan.

“We kind of look alike,” I blurted out the obvious.

“Yea, it feels pretty weird, doesn’t it? Jacob seemed to have finally recovered from the initial shock.

Ethan stood aside and watched us with his shit-eating grin. “Told ya I had a surprise, think it was worth coming today?”

“Well you’re still paying for me, doesn’t change that I’m broke,” Jacob shot back and stuck his tongue out at him.

We got our tickets and went in to change. When we emerged from the changing cubicles and walked towards the pool in only our swimming trunks, the differences from before changing had vanished together with our clothes and the status they symbolized. It was scary how much we looked alike now, being just in swimming trunks.

I noticed that he had a few more muscles than I did, but I was a bit taller than him, maybe a little less than half an inch. We actually checked by standing back to back, after Ethan suggested it. And he was just as pale as I was.

“You even walk alike,” Ethan noted, looking at us from the side. We turned towards each other in exactly the same way and moment to look if he was right. We had to laugh and agreed that, in fact, he was right.

“Where are the other guys you hung out with last weekend?” I asked, as we sat down on the lawn.

“They’re not coming today,” Ethan informed me. “We only hang out here on weekends. To be honest I pretty much set this up only so you two would meet each other.” He grinned at that.

“Speaking of that,” Jacob started. “We are too similar for it to be a coincidence. That’s at least what I think. Are we related maybe? What’s your family name? Maybe we’re cousins or something? Sometimes cousins are very similar.”

“My family name is Adams, but I don’t think I have any cousins I haven’t met yet.” I replied. ‘And definitely none that come from a poor family,’ I added in thoughts. I didn’t mean that in a negative way, but I still didn’t say it because it would have sounded offensive, no matter how I meant it.

I thought about how we could be related and it just didn’t fit. The few relatives we had were all pretty loaded. Old money ran my family, and my father was an only child while my mother had only one sister.

“Mine’s Baker, I have lots of relatives, so I wouldn’t know.” He said. “I guess I’ll just have to ask my mom about it tonight.”

“Maybe you’re his clone or something,” Ethan joked.

“Yea right,” Jacob commented wryly.

We sat there for a while longer and gazed thoughtfully into the sky. After a while Ethan got restless. He really seemed to have something like ADHD. “Let’s get into the water,” he suggested.

We got into the shallow part of the pool and started playing with a ball, but it quickly turned into a lot of dunking and other horseplay. Ethan was most fun. Him being smaller made it really easy to pick him up and then throw him, or just to slam back into the water together with him.

I really enjoyed the contact of naked skin against naked skin, something I hadn’t had since I was a kid, and even then not much. I had to be careful now and then, because I felt I was starting to get a boner, but I just slid back into the water and pretended I was trying to escape from them until I calmed down again. Imagining old naked grandmas helped a lot. You know, it’s the best way to get rid of a problem like that.

After playing around for a while, we were exhausted and went back to our towels to relax. I lay side by side with Jacob, and Ethan was on his other side. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sun and the moment. I had almost dozed off when suddenly a female voice from behind us ripped me back to reality.

“Hey guys. Ethan, J, what’s up?”

I sat up and turned around. There was an attractive girl around our age, with long blonde hair and a beautiful face. Even as a gay guy, I noticed that much. She looked at me, then at Jacob and then back at me. “Wow, that’s scary. J, did you finally blow up the school lab to create a clone?”

Jacob laughed at that. “Nah, Ethan found him. Name’s Josh, but you can also call him J.” He grinned at that.

He turned to me. “That’s Sarah, she’s a friend of ours.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sarah.” I said to her shyly, feeling awkward. I cursed myself for always being so self-conscious around people I didn’t know.

“Hey Josh. Nice to meet you, too.” She replied with a friendly smile. “Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. I gotta get back to my little sister. I’m trying to teach her how to swim. See you in school.” We said goodbye and she ran back to her sister, who was waiting for her by the pool.

We decided to call it a day then. It was already late and Philip had told me about a thousand times to be on time for dinner tonight, because my parents would be returning from their business trip. Jacob and I exchanged our phone numbers and he promised he would let me know if he learned anything about us being related or if he had any other ideas.

♊

My father seemed to have had an awful trip. After saying grace, he went into a monologue on how the moral in this country was crumbling. Currently there was some big court case about gay rights and he didn’t understand how they could even think of ruling in favor of them. I pretended to listen to him when I really was somewhere else with my thoughts.

Jacob. Why did he look so similar to me? Coincidence? That was an easy explanation, but not a likely one. I didn’t know much about my family, but I couldn’t see any possible connections there. My mother’s sister lived on the other side of the country and as far as I knew, her children were already grown up.

My imagination started to run wild. Maybe he was an illegitimate son of my father. Maybe he had cheated on my mother back when she was pregnant because he wasn’t getting any. I grinned at that thought. With my father’s religious beliefs, it didn’t seem likely that he had had any sex with someone else at all. Then again, don’t they say that super-religious people have more skeletons in their closets than anyone else?

‘That would make him my half-brother,’ I mused. The thought excited me a lot. I always wished I had a brother. Someone my age who understood me and who had my back, and who cared for me, and who I cared for as well. Ever since I was a small boy, I’ve read many books and whenever I would read something about brothers and the bond they shared, I would long to have a brother, too.

I remember asking my parents once, when I was way younger, why I didn’t have a brother. They had simply changed the topic and ignored the question. I looked at my father. Besides our hair color, we didn’t have much in common. Nothing actually, I realized.

Maybe they made a mistake back in the hospital when I was a baby? I’ve read a news report about something like that once. They confused two babies and put them in the wrong beds. So the parents took the wrong baby home and it was noticed only much later.

Might that be what happened? The thought that maybe my parents really weren’t my parents gave me a weird feeling. On the one hand, it would destroy my world as I knew it, and if my parents found out... Who knows what they would do about this? On the other hand, it really seemed like an interesting thought that there was someone else out there who I might be related to. Maybe someone who wasn’t as intolerant and bigoted as my parents.

With these thoughts I went to my room and spent the evening pondering over all these things. When I was about to head to bed I got an sms.

Hey Josh, it’s Jacob. Have you got time tomorrow afternoon? I need to talk to you. Let’s meet in the city park at the big fountain, 3pm or later, whenever you can.