There Once Was Love - 3. Chapter 3- Boy #1

There Once Was Love - Chapter 3
Boy #1

A few days after the party everything was going good. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. That said a lot, since my life is far from normal. I never get to see my friends that much, other than school and, well, being a sophomore, your time is filled to the brim with studying mostly. You get invited to parties every once in awhile, but nothing happens after that for a longer while. Yea, I know. This is high school. Someone is always throwing parties, but I’m not that kind of person.

That night Lacey and I talked more than usual. I didn’t get a chance to be near Keith. That was very good in my book, since things are kind of weird between us at the moment. Getting back to the party... Hanging out with Lacey, she told me that she had some friends that she would like me to meet. I thought she was crazy to think that I would meet any other gay guys, but apparently she wasn’t kidding. So I agreed that I would take a chance to get to know these other gay guys. With that said, we just b.s-ed. around. Just like in school, we were always having a blast and that’s what that night was supposed to be, too.

Once I got home from the party, I didn’t see any of my parent’s vehicles in the driveway, so I knew that they had gone somewhere. I like, my parents; they didn’t tell me shit anymore. What great parents... I guess. Whatever. That was the norm around here. I liked it that way - peace and quiet. I suppose I could always throw a party; my folks probably wouldn’t care anyways. But I won’t!

So sitting in the driveway, thinking about all the things I’d said and done; now I feel fucking stupid for mentioning that I’m gay to Lacey. She’ll probably be around a lot more. I wouldn’t say that Lacey is a problem, but this is big and, well, Lacey has a problem with keeping secrets. I can just see it now, or hear it getting around. The last person I want to know that I’m gay is Keith. Keith has always been there for me. He’s like my brother. I love him to death; I can’t ever imagine losing him. So yup hopefully he will never find out!

Getting out of the car, heading for the house, my phone starts to ring. I was about to let it go to voice mail, but my phone has the ringtone where it tells you who’s calling. Well guess who was calling just as I was about to go in my silent house? That’s right, Lacey. So instead, I picked up and I could clearly tell that she herself was leaving the party. I waited until she said something. It took a couple of moments before she realized that the phone stopped ringing and she was on the phone with me. As for me, I stood there on my porch, waiting for her to say something. I was getting very impatient with her.

“Hey Tom, are you busy at the moment?” She asked, clearly finding that I was on the phone with her. So I decided to play with her a little.

“Oh I’m sorry miss, I think you have the wrong phone number,” I said, in a very old man voice. I had to hold my breath so I wouldn’t crack up laughing.

“Oh I’m sorry. I must have pushed the wrong number!” She said, after that she went quiet and then she said, “YOU FUCKING DICK… I KNEW I HAD THE RIGHT NUMBER - ASSHOLE!”

I laughed hard and long. After a few seconds of laughing I calmed down and tried to speak regularly. It didn’t happen very quickly, but I had to get control. “I’m sorry Lacey, to what do I owe the pleasure of you calling?” I asked, smiling that I made her mad, or upset, that is.

“Well, I was just seeing if you were busy. I wanted to hang out with you some more and, well, I have a friend who is willing to meet you! So are you busy?” She sounded more like a little kid than anything.

Before I could reply I heard a different voice in the background.

“I don’t know this kid. Why are you making me go with you?” He sounded mad, but again, before I could say anything, Lacey came back with something smart.

“Well Eric, this kid, his name is Tom and I told him I want you to meet him. If you ain’t willing, then I’ll drag you over there by your hair! Which will it be, Eric?” She asked him, or told, or just ordered him is more like it.

“Alright! Fine, but it’s your funeral!” he retorted back to her.

“Well, I’m not doing anything worthwhile, so I guess you could c---!”

That’s all I could get out before she said, “That’s great… be there in 20 minutes! Bye!” And she hung up the phone before I could say bye. Oh well, I thought. Time for a shower, shave and brush my teeth. Before that though, I’ll leave a note on the door telling them that ‘I’m in the shower. Come in if you must.’ And that’s exactly what I put on the note, too, before heading for the bathroom.

Once in the shower letting the lukewarm water cascade down my shoulders, over my butt and into the drain, my body thanked me for letting it relax. I couldn’t complain. I heard Lacey knock on the bathroom door. Well, it was more like banging on the fucker, and yelling, “Hurry up in there! I have someone for you to meet!”

She didn’t say anything more; I could hear her walking away so I was once again thankful for the moment of silence. Turning off the shower, I grabbed the towel and dried myself off before heading to for the sink to make my mouth smell a bit better. After having that liquor and beer, your breath kind of kicks after a while. So I went to it, brushing my hair making myself look halfway decent for my two guests.

I opened the door to the bathroom, rushing from there to my room. I opened it and guess what I found? Lacey on the bed with my most secret dairy, the one where I kept all my juiciest feelings and thoughts. Forgetting that I was in a towel, I ran to her, yanking the dairy away from her. After placing it back in the place she found it, I looked at her and scowled. “What the fuck do you think you are doing in my room, Lacey? You’re my friend and all, but c’mon! Get out while I dress. Where’s this mystery guy at? I heard him on the phone!”

Just then the door opened up and I saw a clearly good looking guy standing there with his mouth open, just looking at me like I was a piece of meat. And believe me when I tell you I would have liked to see more of him, if you know what I mean (*wink *wink).

Looking between Eric and Lacey I had no problem deciding which one I would rather look at more, for me it would have been Eric. But since I didn’t know him that well, I reluctantly shifted my gaze to Lacey. I would say that the silence in my room was an awkward experience, but for some reason I couldn’t find a reason for it not to be. I know, that didn’t make sense. Lacey finally chose to speak as we all looked at each other.

“So. This is awkward. I didn’t mean to make it that way, you know!? I should have known that you don’t take long showers!” She laughed at herself; I fell right in behind her. The only person that didn’t laugh was none other than Eric. I didn’t know why this was awkward really. It didn’t have to be, but you never know people and their moods unless you grew up around them.

So here we were, just standing, shuffling our feet, waiting for another opportunity to laugh or make conversation. I had to lighten the mood in this room. It felt thick with guilt and shyness. I always hated awkward moments and, well, I’m going to change that right now. I walked over to my radio and turned it to my favorite station - 95.5. I always like listening to them, and they always seemed to play the right song at the right moment. So yea, I like that station!

Facing them again I asked, “Do you guys want something to drink?” They both shook their heads no and, well, after that, it just seemed like there was more awkwardness than what was really needed. So I decided to start a conversation about nothing important. I looked at Eric and spoke. “Well, nice to meet you, Eric. I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet. Since someone forgot how to be a good friend...” I stuck out my tongue towards Lacey, also sticking out my hand so I could shake Eric’s hand. But he didn’t take it. I looked at him a little bit confused.

“I don’t shake people’s hands. Isn’t that right, Lacey?” He looked at Lacey for some help, but she didn’t say anything. So I stood there waiting for Lacey or Eric to say something, but neither did.

“Will someone say or do something? It’s just that it’s a little uncomfortable standing around not doing anything!” I said.

“Well, Eric here goes to your school. I thought for sure you guys would know each other; he’s in at least ONE of your classes! But I guess I was wrong about that.” Lacey clarified while looking at me and Eric.

“Well that was a start, but I don’t remember ever meeting you, Eric. Have we ever, you know… talked at all?” I asked, looking at Eric still.

“I think we have, but I don’t ever think we really got to know each other!” He stated, but still didn’t do much but stand there.

“OK, well, I want to get to know you more, so c’mon, let’s get to talking or whatever,” I countered.

He raised both his eyebrows when I stated that I wanted to get to know him more, but clearly he wasn’t interested in that.

“You know, this can be a lot less awkward if you at least try to have a little bit of fun!” I said. But again he didn’t even try to make a move or anything. He just stood there waiting for the attention to get off him.

“OK fine, whatever. Lacey and I will just talk like always… Right Lacey?” I looked from Eric to Lacey for a nod or something and I got it. I went over towards her sitting on my bed still watching Eric. I started to sit and then I had an idea!

“Well, I’ll be right back; I’m going downstairs to get a drink. Are you guys sure you don’t want anything?” I queried.

With the shaking of their heads I wanted out of there! So I went for the door, stepping around Eric. As I passed, I whispered in his ear “You know… You’re really cute, I would love to get to know you all of you. You know?” After that I just kept walking out of the room so they could talk about me.

As soon as I left and shut the door, I heard talking. Most likely it was about me. I hate eaves dropping on people’s conversations, but you know as well as I do they are talking about me. Right or wrong?! For sure they were.

“I don’t see why you brought me here, Lacey, the guy’s a joke?!” he stated and that statement hurt a little.

“I don’t see why you’re acting like you don’t want to be here. Eric. You know he’s cute as hell. You’re never like this with any other guy, so why him?” she asked.

He countered by saying, “Lacey, you don’t get it. It’s not that I don’t like him or think he’s cute or whatever, but I’m not me when I’m in a different place... a place that I don’t know!” I could clearly see him roll his eyes, even if I wasn’t in the room. After that though no sound was coming from my room, I took it as my queue to leave for something to drink.

I walked down those stairs and into the kitchen, I opened the fridge to grab something. Only before I grabbed the Tea, I heard the front door open and close. If the house wasn’t as quiet as it was, I would have never heard a thing. After that, in came Lacey telling me, “Well, I’m sorry about Eric, he’s just you know...” She tried to defend him I wasn’t having it.

“You know, I heard what he said. You don’t have to lie for him!” I stated with an upset look. Meaning that I didn’t care really, I really didn’t want to meet him anyway.

“Look. I’m sorry that he wasn’t, as you put it, ‘Helping much with the awkwardness’! So I’m sorry that he had to be sooo not like him at all. But give him a chance to make it up to you. You might like it afterwards,” she said with a wink, giving me a hug good night. I gave her a kiss on the cheek, she left after that.

The next couple of days after the meeting with Eric, Lacey didn’t try to hook me up with anyone. I might have been grateful, but this is Lacey we’re talking about, she will never give up until I have at least a fling for a week. So instead of complaining I went along with it. Keith still didn’t know that I’m gay, so Lacey didn’t blab yet!

Every day that I saw Keith, it seemed like we didn’t click anymore, but that didn’t stop me from at least trying to hang out with him, no matter how awkward it might have been. The third day after the incident of falling down the waterfall, I had enough of the awkward moments with Keith. So when I woke, the first person I thought of was Keith. I made a plan the night before to talk to him and find out what the hell happened to our perfect friendship.

It seemed that Keith and I were growing apart and that confused me, if only I could have told him something else other than what I did that night at the hospital. I know that I was stupid for bringing it up, but I needed the answer to what I thought heard leave his lips that night. But he didn’t give me a chance, he fled the car before he even tried to answer it. It could have been that he didn’t know what to say, but still, that was stupid on my part for speaking it up when the repeating in my head wouldn’t stop. I know now that when it comes to Keith, I can’t live my life without him. I just need to find something that would get us back on regular speaking terms without the awkward moments; I just needed to find some way that we could click again. But that would have to wait until I find him at school. Today might prove to be too much for me, but I won’t give up until Keith and I are speaking like we used too. So here goes something.

Getting to school that morning was hell. The traffic wanted to be stupid; the cars were bumper to bumper. I have extreme road rage when people don’t know how to drive their fucking cars! But that didn’t matter now. I had to get to Keith before school started, or I would chicken out for sure at the end of the day. I sat in my car thinking about what I really wanted to say to Keith when I found him; there I was sitting and thinking of things that might go good or bad. I didn’t get far though- guess who knocked on my window scaring the shit out of me? You’re wrong, it was Eric who did it! The one person who I never expected to care for me or whatever. Rolling down my window I looked at Eric like he lost his mind.

The look on his face was anything but pleasant, so I had to consider that Lacey made him come over here. Looking around him I saw none other than Lacey standing there waiting for Eric to say whatever he had to, I guess. I didn’t mind though, anything to take my mind off the uncomfortable talk I wanted to have with Keith...

“What can I do for you, Eric?” I asked in a sarcastic voice with a sneer.

“Oh. Well I didn’t want to come over here, but Lacey made, me so yea, here I am trying to talk to you!” he stated with a fake smile

“Right. Whatever… Do you uhm… want to sit in the car with me or do you have something better to do?!” I asked, with a straight face, pointing to the passenger side door. He followed my finger until it got to the door. I didn’t think it was ridiculous, but I think he might have.

“I… uhm... have to do something!” he stated, turning around and walking towards Lacey. One look at her face told you exactly what she was thinking right then. It was anything but pretty. If I could have heard what she was saying to Eric, I would have run away or laughed. It depends really.

Opening the door to my car, I grabbed my books and walked towards Lacey and Eric. They were still talking. They didn’t see me yet so I knew I was in the clear, or at least I thought I was. Walking up behind Lacey I tried to scare her, but she beat me to the punch. Lacey turned around and smiled at me. I gave her hug because you couldn’t stay mad at her forever.

“Hey you, what’s up?” Lacey asked me with her contagious grin.

“Oh nothing, Lacey, though I would like to know why Eric came over to my car, knowing that he doesn’t like me,” I said after looking at Eric for a moment or two.

“Well I would love to answer that question, but have you heard of the bees and bees?” she asked.

I looked at her like she had lost her mind. What the fuck does that have to do with anything? I didn’t have a clue, but I think Lacey and Eric did, they didn’t want to tell me yet. Yea, weird couple, those two. “Whatever! So are you telling me that you have no clue and I should ask sweet Eric over there!?” I asked, with a finger pointed at Eric with a smile to top it off.

“I… hmmm… OK, OK, maybe you are cute and I would like get to know you! God! I never knew being nice to someone could be so… Whatever,” he said, walking away from Lacey and me, throwing his hands up in defeat.

“Hmmm… Weird, but he is cute as hell. Hahaha,” I said laughing.

“I do have to agree with you, but hey you can’t pick your friends. Well you can, but I like Eric a lot, just not like that though!” she laughed at her own expense.

“Right, well I have to go. Catch you later, Lacey.” I smiled at her walking backwards away from her.

“Well have fun, bye!” she waved back.

Going to school is one thing that I always disliked, but you can’t do anything about it. Every school day I have classes with the person who is acting weird. Just like Lacey said, you can’t choose your friends and if you can, please help me try to figure out Keith. He’s the one person who confuses me the most.

I remember when we were younger and played in the back yard of Keith’s house. I loved it over there; it was better than my house. I remember the summer before we went into middle school; it started out with Keith and me kicking the ball in the backyard. He kicked it into my gut and came running to see if I was okay, as he came over I tripped him just for fun. Though now if I did that, he’d most likely kick my ass, hehehe. I’d like to see that though. I miss those days when everything wasn’t complicated by sex or sexual orientation, just simple days being guys, hanging out like we used too. Now though, we don’t, especially after the incident with me and the river, I don’t know why it has to be this way; it just happened and I wish that it never did. Keith and I would still be buddy-buddy. I just miss those days, that’s all!

After first hour I went to my second hour and that class is with Lacey, Eric and Keith. I can see it now... the awkwardness between Keith and me. With Lacey and Eric being there, it’ll make it more than I could possibly handle. You would think that I have always been in these situations, but I have never had to be in class with three people that I really didn’t want to be around right now. But I know my parents and once they get wind of me running out on this class they would probably shit a fucking cow. So NO, I have to go and suck it up for my parents, not just me anymore.

Getting to the class I peeked around the corner to see what people were there. I could already see Keith sitting in his regular seat and mine right next to his, where everyone thinks that’s how it’s supposed to be, what a bunch of bull. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t imagine my life without Keith in it; I would most likely die from not seeing him. I don’t think he knows and that’s how it’s going to stay… for now, that is! Looking around the class room I couldn’t see Lacey or Eric yet, so that was a plus. Yea, I know, I didn’t have anything against them, but c’mon, in this class gossip gets around a lot faster. In this class everyone has a cell and once they get wind of me, my life is so over. It probably won’t end until way after I graduate... and that’s being honest.

I took the first step into the room, letting everyone watch as I moved by them. I put my head down, making my way over to my desk, just so I wouldn’t draw any attention to myself. You could say that life just got better, or whatever. But you know what they say, it can only get worse before it even trys to get better. Right? Wrong! It just got worse when I tried to talk to Keith before Ms. Greensward came in. I tried asking him a simple question, “Hey Keith what’s up?” He totally just ignored me like I wasn’t even there beside him.

That hit like a ton bricks being thrown at my chest. My eyes dropped down to my desk. Not trying to cry, I don't cry in front of people. I don’t do that ever. I learned my lesson when my dad kept beating that simple saying in my head. “Son you’re a man… Men don’t cry... ever!” True statement.

You could say that I was being a girl or a pussy, but when your best friend just ignores you like you ain’t worth his time, it fucking hurts... really fucking bad. Before the teacher started her lecture I raised my hand and asked, “Can I be excused? I don’t feel so well!” I made a gagging sound for good measure, it totally worked.

Within two minutes I made it to the nurse’s office, still complaining that my stomach felt like it was being pulled apart and asked her if I could go home. She told me yea. Before I left she also told me, “Get better, Hun. We wouldn’t want you to miss your soccer practice.” I nodded my head and walked the halls. Before I could get any further, my hand touched the wall and I slumped down to the floor. My breathing wasn’t what you’d call normal, I sobbed quietly. It only lasted maybe 2 minutes. I didn’t want people to think that I was a weak person, so I sucked it up and went on home.

On the way home I barely missed hitting a couple of people and a telephone pole. With your eyes watering, it’s kind of hard to pay attention. It wouldn’t have mattered anyways, Keith didn’t care about me anymore and I couldn’t blame him for it. I don’t even know why he is being this way… Unless… unless Lacey or someone told him that I’m gay. That would give him some reasons to be mad at me, or even hate me to where he doesn’t want anything to do with me. Keith has never been the one to call people gay or queer or even a faggot. Hopefully he never has; I mean, I haven’t heard him call anyone any of those names while I was around him. Maybe he does call people that when I’m not around. Yea, that’s it, he probably does!

The car behind me honked it’s horn telling me that it was my turn to go. I didn’t care. Really, what’s the point of caring when nothing ever goes the way you want? Once I turned on my street I could see my house. As well, I saw one of my parents’ cars - my mother’s. I thought, ‘Oh great. Just what I need, more problems!’ Turning into my driveway I parked the car and let it idle. There on my porch sat Eric. Before getting out of my car I wondered, ‘What the fuck is he doing here and for what price, I might add!’

I didn’t have to go far. Eric met me halfway to the porch. Cocking my head to the side, still wondering what he wanted, I opened my mouth to say something. Eric put his hand up to signal that he wanted to talk first. That’s OK with me.

“I… Uhm… I don’t know why I’m here really. You said last night that you… ah… wanted to get to know me more. So here I am. I want to get to know you more too,” he said, with his head hung close to his chest. I didn’t know what to say to him especially the way he treated me last night, and today for that matter.

I grabbed his hand and lead him to his car. Don’t ask me where I was taking him; I just didn’t need to be home right now, especially if my mother caught me here. So leading him by the arm to my car, he resisted some at first, but that didn’t matter until I couldn’t pull him anymore. I turned around asking him with my eyes rather than by speaking. What I was shooting for was, “Can we just go without anymore arguing, please?”

He must have known what I asked, he said “Let’s go!”, and we resumed walking to my car.

Driving with Eric in the car seemed surreal, like he wasn’t even there; I have never had these thoughts before. Well, that might be because Eric is gay or whatever. I really don’t know and, well, I feel something for him, like his eye’s - I love his eyes. They remind me of someone. ‘Who do those eyes remind me of, just who?’ I asked myself. I know I must sound like I’m losing my mind, so give me a break already. My brain has been working overtime. Just once I would like to have my head clear of all problems. I gave up on the eyes and who they remind me of; I’ll probably remember when the time comes.

Now onto the more interesting parts of Eric that I like so much, I know it’s not very wise to be driving and fantasizing about the cute boy next to you. Am I right or am I right? Well, I didn’t care at the moment, only if it gets me into an accident or something. Looking over at Eric every once in awhile, seeing him sitting there looking straight ahead sometimes, then out the window, I wonder what he’s thinking; I had to ask.

“Eric?”

“Yea.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Well, for one, I’m thinking, where are you taking me? The second thing is, what is it you want from me?!” He answered in a semi serious voice, with a smirk to add as a mystery.

“Well, to answer the first, it’s a surprise; the second is I don’t know what I really want from you. From here on out, maybe I just want to get to know you, and after that hopefully something will change,” I told him, still looking between him and the road, with a smirk to match his.

“What you do mean, ‘It’s a surprise?’ You’re confusing me over here. I do want to get to know you and, well, it would be great to start something, but it might be too early to tell. Wouldn’t you agree?” he asked me, fully looking at me now for an answer that I guess I could give him.

“That’s what the surprise is about. I’m not suppose to tell you now, am I? And I do agree with you that it might be too early to tell about anything that might come from this.”

After that we didn’t really have anything else to talk about; we just drove in silence. That really irritated me to no end. So I turned on the radio, but apparently Eric doesn’t like the kind of music that I like so I looked over at him. He looked back with a sad but somewhat contented smile plastered on his face. I could tell it wasn’t real enough to matter, so I told him, “You know, if you don’t like my music then turn the fucking channel, just turn it to something that might be consider music. OK?”

He turned the station to something kind of like metal or rock; I didn’t mind though. I actually like this genre, too. As we drove along with nothing but the music to keep us entertained and with me stealing glances at Eric from the side, I liked the way his eyes sparkled with the sun. It made me catch my breath sometimes. Oh yea, his lips... have I ever mentioned how attractive they look in the sun? With him wetting them with his tongue, I have never been more intrigued by him before. Even though we never really hung out together, I had to stop every time I looked at him. I looked at him for too long, I guess, and forgot that I was driving. I caught myself doing that a lot, so when we neared our destination I had to keep my eyes on the road.

I just had to pretend that there wasn’t an attractive person next to me. Right. That only worked for the next 2 minutes before I caught myself watching him again. This thing is getting dangerously close to me just wanting to kiss him, even though I’m driving. That didn’t mean more to me than those lips on that almost too hot of a guy named Eric. I sighed. Well, I thought I did it in my mind, but it must have been out loud, loud enough to be heard by Eric anyway, because he looked at me with a confused expression and then looked back at the road. I felt relieved that he didn’t ask me what that was about. I know, you think I must be stupid and, well, I might have to agree with you on that one.

We arrived at our destination. I pulled the car into a tiny spot that I don’t think I could manage to do again if I tried. I looked over at Eric before leaving the car. I asked, “Are you ready for the ‘getting to know each other more’ part?” I added a smile that was suppose to be genuine, but I don’t think I pulled it off that well.

He smiled back and replied, “Ready as I’ll ever be!” And with that we left the car and walked towards the giant lake in front of us...

TBC---Please Comment, I would love feedback! ((Hugz**Kizzes)) ^Remijay^ ‘til next time!