18 Weeks of Twoey - 93. Week Fourteen Tuesday, December 2, 2014: I Still Love Him

You'll forget it when you're dead, and so will I. When I'm dead...

Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

***

Twoey

On our way in this morning, I mentioned to Erik that I wanted to visit David after practice. He gave me just a momentary glance which was – uncomfortable. Then he regained his composure and was about to say something when I interrupted.

“Erik, I told you, don’t do this! You’re going to create an issue where there is none! David visited me every chance he got when I was shot. He gave up his whole Sundays to be with me, to help me heal. The least I can do is to visit him for half an hour on our way home from school! You know Alex will be there and we’ll be out quickly. I just can’t let him think he’s being forgotten. Please!”

“I guess you’re right. I’m being stupid.”

When we got to school, Eric escorted me to my homeroom. Already this has become our daily routine. He wants me to either meet him at his classroom or he meets me at mine when each class ends, whichever is more on the way. Then he escorts me to my next class and waits until I’m safely inside before heading to his.

He simply has got to be late for most of his classes, since these new routes make me almost late for mine. His teachers must be a lot less strict than mine though. I’m sure getting dirty looks from some of my teachers. Today I was nearly late for math.

I asked Elcher if he had any work for David but he told me Alex already got it this morning. I should have figured. Terri overheard our exchange and became all interested. She quizzed me when we got to our seats.

“What was that all about?”

“Oh that! It was nothing. I should have realized his girlfriend would get his work for him. She’s at his house all the time.”

“Wait! What? David has a girlfriend? Wasn’t he in the hospital?”

“Yes. You don’t know? She became his girlfriend the day he got home, I think.”

“What? How could that happen? Was she his nurse or something?”

“Hehe ...no. She’s a sophomore here too. Actually, she’s from the new class he got transferred into a week or so before he was assaulted. I think she visited him quite a bit in the hospital.”

“She goes to school here? Who is she?”

“Her name is Alex. I don’t know her last name. She’s cute with long blond hair and blue eyes.”

“Shit! That’s Alex Reich, the genius girl! Holy shit! And how long did this take to happen?”

“I don’t know. It couldn’t have been longer than a week or so. I think I was in the room when she first appeared with a lunch from Kory’s for him.”

“Wow! I never heard anything about that! You mean David, who takes four years to decide which pencil to use for math, made Alex his girlfriend in only a few days? That’s absofuckinglutely unbelievable!”

I guess David’s sudden romantic entanglement will be catching people by surprise. But with Terri knowing it, the high school grapevine will be humming tonight! ...hehe. I noticed Chuck was all ears, listening to our conversation too.

All during my gym shower, Erik kept yelling funny stuff at me, trying to hurry me up. He doesn’t take one because wrestling practice is right after gym. He takes his after practice. Anyway, he wouldn’t go to the upstairs gym without me. I kept telling him I’d be up in a couple minutes, but he insisted on walking up with me. He must think I can get lost going up the one flight of stairs between gyms.

After practice we did drop in to visit David. Just as the conversation was getting interesting, Erik remembered he had to pick up something for his mother. So we left sooner than I wanted.

You know, in a way, I miss those goodnight calls David and I used to have. I still do love him. I probably always will.

Anyway, Erik has asked me to turn off my phone after he wishes me goodnight. Something about wanting the last thing on my mind before sleep to be his voice.

He’s such a romantic!

David

I’m glad Tommy had time to shower me this morning. I had a busy day. It started when Gary, Sam and Nels paid a brief visit on their way to school. Gary said that with swimming season and Mel, this was the best time for him to check in on me. It was nice seeing the gang all together for a few minutes.

After meditating, I was working on my math when I heard knocking on the door downstairs. Aunt Sarah called up that I had a visitor. I hobbled downstairs to find Chuck!

“What are you doing here in the middle of the day?”

He held up his brown bag.

“I ran over from school to have lunch with you.”

Aunt Sarah made me a quick sandwich and poured us some milk. It was great eating with him. He brought me up to date with all the happenings on his freshman floor. It was fun seeing him so active in this social aspect of school. I suggested he get involved in the school government, but he gave me a frightened look. I guess he hasn’t completely broken out of his shyness yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that happen soon. We just kept talking until he had to run back.

“Thanks Chuck! This meant so much to me.”

He came over and grabbed my hand, looking me in the eyes.

“You’ll never know how much you’re responsible for changing my life!”

Wow, that caught me – off guard. I just smiled.

“Hey Chuck, whatever you think I did, just remember ...you did it.” He grinned, then flew out, on his way back to school.

That’s when I remembered Gary’s little card. It was still in the pocket of my shorts. Vixere – What could it possibly mean?

The Google results led me to all these Latin websites. So it was Latin. Shit! I don’t even know Spanish!

I went to the bottom of the page and read the related searches suggestions. The first one was ‘Vixere – Cicero.’ So I clicked on it. WOW! I spent the next hour discovering some interesting stuff about the ancient Romans.

It seems this Cicero dude was a Consul. That was sort of like our President. But the Romans were smart. They always elected two of these guys to share the office. Hmm. Smarter than us. Would we have invaded Iraq if Bush had to share his presidency with Gore?

Anyway, this Cicero had been given some greater powers because of a threat he discovered to overthrow the government and burn down Rome. I gather he was given these ‘emergency powers’ by the Senate. Sort of like what happened here after 9/11. I guess they really weren’t smarter than us, after all.

The bottom line is, he used secret agents to infiltrate the conspirators’ little plot and then used this evidence to round them up. He hadn’t done anything wrong up to this point. What he did next was not smart. He killed every one of them. Each was thrown into a hole with a rope around his neck until he got strangled. What was the problem with this? They were Roman citizens. You couldn’t execute a Roman citizen without a trial. But he used his emergency powers to do it. Hmmm. Sounds familiar. Homeland Security vs. Civil Liberties. I guess the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Anyway, when he went out to meet the Roman crowd, which had gathered, he knew he couldn’t say he killed them. That would have been a terrible violation of Roman law. They probably would have thrown him down that hole.

Now, I guess this Cicero dude was famous for his long speeches. But at that moment, in front of that crowd, his speech only consisted of one word. “Vixere!”

It meant: They have lived! So he was telling them that the Roman citizens in question were dead, but he never used the ‘D’ word. I guess politicians have always been a slippery bunch.

This made me begin thinking. Why did Uncle John send that note to Gary and why wasn’t Gary surprised Burch was dead? The obvious answer is, he knew it from the note.

But ‘vixere’ means they have lived. Burch is only one guy and the other two are alive. Something doesn’t exactly jibe. I decided to let my subconscious work on this little enigma. Maybe tomorrow it will be clearer to me.

Soon after, Alex appeared with a few assignments. We spent time downstairs, working on Adv. Prep together.

A little after 4:30, Twoey and Erik appeared at my door. As they came in, Erik grabbed Twoey’s hand, like he was broadcasting to me they were together. I just smiled. I never took Erik to be the jealous type. I mean he’s handsome, strong, a little older, and owns a car. Why the hell does he have to be jealous? But I guess it’s just in Erik’s canine nature to mark his territory. Don’t worry Erik, I’m certainly never gonna kiss Twoey again ...haha.

Other than his little alpha-display, the visit was a pleasant one. They stayed about fifteen minutes until Erik found an excuse for them to leave.

Naturally, Alex stayed for dinner, with Tommy sitting on the other side of her. I'm not convinced he doesn't have a little crush going there. But it’s cute, and Alex seems to have fun with him, so it makes me happy.

After she left, I was able to finish my math for the entire week before going to bed and making our goodnight call.

I hate to admit it, but it’s at that time of night I always think of Twoey and our old calls.

I told you I still love him.

I probably always will.

Twoey, if you can read my mind tonight, know that losing you was too easy but still loving you is too hard.

Chuck

I walked by David’s locker this morning and suddenly was overwhelmed with the fact that if he hadn’t picked me up from the hall floor to carry me into the lunchroom that day, I would still be a lonely little freshman in all those sophomore classes where people just looked through me. Instead, I have great friends, people I can rely on to have my back or answer my questions, and an actual sex life!

Then I got to thinking that I never really thanked the guy for any of that. And now he’s all alone while his friends are in school. So I decided I had to repay him at least a visit. I can’t stop after school cuz I have to take the stupid bus, but I can have lunch with him. I can get to his house in 5 minutes if I run. So I grabbed the lunch from my locker and rocketed out of school.

I think David really enjoyed my visit, and was happy to actually be able to talk with someone over lunch. I mentioned how that Jack guy talks to me every morning at my locker and how he’s sort of becoming the policeman of the freshman floor. Anyway, things are a lot nicer up there than they were at the start of the school year.

There is this guy who has been sort of talking to me a lot. His name is Donny and I think he likes me. I mean likes me in ‘that’ way. Of course, I didn’t mention him to David. I’m certain he doesn’t want to hear about stuff like that. I’m not quite sure what to do about Donny. Even though Matty is teaching me all sorts of sex stuff, I’m still basically shy. That is, except around Matty. There’s something about Matty that breaks down all my timidity. I think it’s because he’s such a basically good guy. I feel safe around him. Maybe someday I’ll be able to flirt, but I’m not nearly ready for it yet. So Donny will only be a friend. He told me he’s on the JV swim team. He definitely has a slim swimmer’s body. No one will ever know, but I’ve jacked off to him a few times. You know, I want to attend some swim meets to see him almost naked. I would even take some pictures. That would give me enough wanking material for a year. But I live out in the sticks! Damn my luck!

Toward the end of our lunch, I simply had to thank David for liberating me. I’m not sure he understood just how much he did, but I had to thank him anyway.

I wonder if Matty would invite Donny over one weekend? I can just imagine the combinations!

OK, I Know. I’m getting totally out of control

But still ...

Lanni

That was easy! All I had to do was smile at him and chuckle at a few of his jokes. Cal convinced Billy to switch partners with him for today’s bio lab. Suddenly, Cal was my partner. He was all full of complements too.

“Are you sure you’re not going with anyone?”

“Nope. Just a lonely old frumpy girl.”

“You can’t possible believe that. You’re beautiful! I love your long hair too.”

“You’re just saying that, Cal!”

“No! I’ll prove it.” He pulled poor Ben Dolson over.

“What do you think Ben? Isn’t Lanni beautiful?”

“Of course you are Lanni! I love your eyes with those mysterious red streaks.”

Cal pushed Ben back to his station.

“That’s enough Benny. I didn’t say to hit on her!”

“There, see!” He had this smug look on his face.

“What’s your point, Cal?”

“My point is, let’s stop in at the rink after school tomorrow. What do you say?”

I chuckled. “Hmmm. I guess I’ll be safe there.”

Cal smiled ear to ear and nudged against me. Then we had to get on with the experiment.

Ugh, cutting up dead things!