Between a Rock and a Hard Place - 1. Rock and a Hard Place Chapter 1

I watched Charlie cut across the grass from his house; he was running at full pelt, as he tried to keep pace with the school bus. We left him behind, and a few heads turned, including mine, to see if he would make it to the end of the road in time. He was late, but the driver must have seen him and he pulled up early to save him the final fifty yards. Charlie was a fast runner but he was handicapped by an oversized school bag, which he cradled in his arms as if it were a football. He boarded the bus, red-faced and out of breath, but with a gaping smile and one hand aloft to acknowledge the support of his many friends. He was good in the spotlight and I was his number one fan.

When he saw me, his smile broadened, and he moved along the aisle to claim his usual seat next to mine. I had reserved it for him as usual, and even though the bus was never more than half full, everyone knew that the seat next to me was for Charlie.

“Hey,” he said, as he pushed up against me, panting and sweating. I returned his greeting and smiled, then watched him push his long blond strands of hair off his beet colored face. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said turning towards the window and squinting into the bright sunlight. Then I braced myself for his weight as the bus swung sharp left. It happened every morning, and as always he made no attempt to stop himself from pressing hard against me. He got his kicks from stuff like that; squashing me up against the window. I think that he just enjoyed being close, especially when it came to me and he never missed an opportunity to show it.

I could smell his distinctive deodorant and feel his cold sweaty arm on mine before I pushed him off, just far enough away to be able to breathe. If I didn’t do that, then he would remain, unfazed, leaning into me for the remainder of the journey. It didn’t bother me as much as I pretended, but sometimes it felt as if we were attached.

I knew that boys were not supposed to show that kind of affection to other boys, even their best friends. There were strict rules and boundaries that you dare not cross, for fear of being labeled with the ‘G’ word. When that happened it usually signaled the end of any high school privileges and the beginning of a lonely, and sorry journey towards graduation. That’s if you didn’t kill yourself first. Everybody knew these rules and most would stay well within the accepted, but unwritten guidelines.

Charlie though, proved the exception, and openly flaunted those rules with abandon and somehow, without ever suffering the consequences. He was way too smart not to understand the protocols, but he was never concerned by what people thought of him, and his actions never seemed to affect his popularity rating. He was just Charlie. Boisterous, bubbly, cute, friendly and sometimes overbearing.

Definitely cute? Well, most of the girls at school thought so and I could understand why. He had the looks, in abundance, in fact, the whole package. Everything that a guy could possibly need to be successful with the opposite sex and more. The big blue eyes, rosy red cheeks, shiny white teeth, full red lips and a perfect round butt that Iooked good with whatever he wore and even better if he wore nothing at all.

Even his essential privates were nice to look at. His willy wasn’t huge or anything, but probably the best that I had seen and definitely worth a closer examination, which I did at every opportunity. That was quite often because unlike me, Charlie seemed to have no inhibitions at all and wouldn’t hesitate to remove his clothing at the slightest provocation. He enjoyed showing some skin and was always doing it. He even stripped off in school for a dare once and walked the length of the main corridor in only a pair of briefs. The girls loved it and a lot of the guys too, but it landed him in trouble and a misconduct warning from the principle.

His pranks got him in a lot of trouble, more than most, and his behavior was a constant worry for his long-suffering parents who found him difficult to control. They liked me because when I was there he was always a lot calmer and better behaved. Those were his mom’s words. Apparently, I could get the best out of him and that was always my plan.

“You’ve got a hard-on haven’t you?” he whispered.

“No,”

“Yes you have, I can tell,” he was leaning over me laughing with his head almost in my lap and I had to push him off me. Across the aisle, one of the girls from grade twelve was watching us, curious at his antics.

“Stoppit!” I said slapping his hand as he tried to grab my crotch. “What are you doing? Are you crazy?” It was a stupid question, of course, he was crazy and everybody knew that, especially me.

I got him under control and then casually arranged my tackle as he sniggered. “Told you,” he said and I gave him a look.

“Asshole,” I muttered.

“Do you wanna see it?”

“Later.”

“Yeah, I bet.” He smiled to himself. “Have you got your stuff for tonight?” he asked, looking inquisitively towards my rucksack on the floor between my legs.

“Yes, don’t worry, I didn’t forget.”

“Cool, and you told your folks?”

“No, I thought that I’d just go missing…of course, I told them, jerk.”

“Good, it’ll be fun. Oh, I’ve invited Jennifer Nichols over as well.” He beamed a toothy smile at me.

“Tell me you’re joking dude,” I said, turning on him. “Or I’m not going.”

“Relax man, I’m only kidding…I know you’re not into girls.” He elbowed me playfully in the ribs and laughed.

“I am into girls, just not Jennifer that’s all…she scares me.” I frowned at him, but it just made him laugh even more. “What?” I said.

“You’re scared of a girl?”

“No, I’m scared of Jennifer Nichols.” I laughed along with him, as the bus approached the school. Charlie was always the last pick-up in the morning, and the first to get off in the afternoon. He lived just far enough away to qualify for a bus ride, but he could have walked if he could ever get out of bed early enough.

“There’s nothing wrong with her, she likes you, man…and she’s got big tits.”

“She’s also got a big mouth, dude.”

He leaned into me. “All the better to blow you with,” he said, spitting into my ear. He was way too close again and his warm breath made me shiver.

“You’re disgusting…I meant she talks too much.” I pushed him away; trying once more to create some space between us, but the bus ride in, always allowed him this advantage and it was inevitable that I would end up trapped between him and the window. Between a rock and a hard place.

“What about that Lucy chick then?” he said.

“You mean Lucy Hamels, what about her?”

“She likes you man,” he said raising his eyebrows and smiling into my face.

“No, she doesn’t.”

“She does, and she always talking about you. ‘Roger said this, Roger did that’, it drives me up the frigging wall.”

“Are we getting off the bus or staying here all day?” We the last ones to shuffle down the aisle and the driver motioned for us to get a move on. “Why are you always trying to find me a girlfriend, anyway?” I said.

“Because it’s about time you got laid, dude,” he said, as we stepped off the bus, and joined the crowd of students walking towards the main entrance. “You don’t wanna be a virgin all your life, do you?”

“I’m only sixteen, you know?”

“That’s old enough to have sex,” he said, grinning and leaning into me. I flinched as his hair brushed against my face, leaving me with the now familiar scent of his shampoo. Then I pushed him away, unintentionally setting him up as a target for an opportunist attack. He had swerved into the path of an oncoming female student; an admirer who could barely believe her good fortune to have Charlie land in her lap. She was behaving as if she had just been reunited with a long-lost relative, but it was my guess that he hardly knew her. I looked back once, but kept walking, leaving my friend behind, captive and unable to escape.

Charlie was simply too nice for his own good; he lacked the ruthless touch that he needed to escape those kind of jams. There were others less worthy than him, who had it in abundance and used it regularly on anyone they deemed not deserving of their precious company. They treated people with contempt and got clean away with it because of their popularity, propped up by their sickly, college boy looks. Girls loved them, but they all looked the same. Deep set eyes, straight nose, and high cheekbones, set against a square jaw with tombstone teeth, and a smile that could blind you. Charlie though, had them all beat and everyone knew it, especially me.

He wasn’t always like that, but lately, he had been talking a lot about girls and sex and asking me a lot of questions, which I wasn’t at all comfortable answering. I thought about sex as much as any other teenager, but not with girls.

He had charm in abundance and could talk his way into the heart of any girl that he wanted. That alone would have seen him through, but he was ridiculously good-looking too, almost to the point where it insulted those around him, especially me. He would play it down in conversation, but used it to his advantage, whenever he deemed necessary. Flashing his wide smile at somebody, was enough to grab their attention, long enough for his electric blue eyes to lock in and finish the job, leaving them helpless. Girls were easy targets for him, but it seemed to work on guys too, even the ones who I knew for sure were definitely straight. It was a formidable weapon to have at your disposal, and he knew it.

* * * * *

It was Friday and although we shared a lot of classes, not the last one, so I waited as arranged, by our lockers after the final bell. He was late and I knew why, he was talking, and probably to a girl. When I saw him turn the corner and walk towards me, he was with Sharon Meyers. They were in history together; which was his last class, so it didn’t surprise me to see them together, but I was a little jealous when I heard him say that he would call her later. Did he mean later tonight? It was supposed to be our night; I was staying over at his house and I didn’t like the idea of him ignoring me to spend time on the phone to Sharon Meyers. She wasn’t even his girlfriend, or at least I didn’t think so. I didn’t know for sure; I couldn’t keep up, he had so many friends who were girls. They seemed to hang around him, like flies around the old proverbial.

“We’re gonna miss the bus, if you don’t hurry,” I said as he opened his locker, with Sharon still by his side. It wouldn’t have been the first time that had happened, but it was hot and humid, and I didn’t want to have to walk.

“What are you guys up to tonight?” asked Sharon.

“Roger’s staying over, we’re gonna have some fun, right buddy?” He reached over and put his arm around me, squeezing me just a little too tightly and I groaned as his fingers dug into my arm.

“Lucky Roger,” she said, but she was looking at Charlie when she said it, and it made me feel uncomfortable, as I prised myself from his grip and stepped backward. I had the feeling that she would have swapped places with me in an instant, and it bothered me. Maybe this will be the last time that I get to sleep over at Charlie’s house?

“Are you going out with Sharon?” I asked on the bus, as he shoved me into the seat first so that I was up against the window again.

“No of course not,” he said. Then he turned and smiled at me, moving closer than necessary. “Why are you jealous?”

I had to think about it quickly. Was I jealous? Probably. She was pretty and she clearly liked him a lot, he could have dated her if he had wanted to and most likely a lot more.

“I’m not jealous of you,” I said.

“Of her then?”

I didn’t need to answer that question and he knew it. “If anything, she’s the jealous one, because it’s me who’s sleeping over tonight, not her,” I said.

“You’re right about that dude,” he said, and he laughed excitedly, before leaning into me again. “And I prefer sleeping with you, over her, any day.”

“Shush, don’t say that,” I said, but I was already blushing and he must have noticed. “People will think that we’re…well, you know?”

“What?” he asked, as I used my elbow to create some more room between us.

“That we’re up to something.”

“What do mean?”

“You know what I mean,” I said.

“No, tell me dude, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“They’ll think that we’re gay,” I said, looking out of the window.

“Oh that,” he said.

“Yes.”

“That worries you?”

“Of course it does. Doesn’t it worry you?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I don’t give a shit what people think about me.”

“Well, I don’t want anyone thinking that,” I mumbled, but as I turned to look away, his eyes stayed on me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing dude…it’s just that….”

“What?”

“Forget it…it’s not important,” he said, but as I glanced back, expecting him to elaborate, he just smiled annoyingly and offered me a gummy bear.

“How long have you known me, Charlie?”

“Since third grade, I think,” he said.

“Fourth grade,” I corrected him, “and in all those years, have you ever seen me eat one of those?”

“No,” he said, “you hate them.”

“Exactly,” I said and smiled at him as I shook my head. “So why do you always frigging ask me if I want one?”

“I’m just being polite,” he said.

“But I hate them…they get stuck in my teeth.”

“That’s not my fault.”

“I didn’t say it was.”

He turned away and put the small bag of multi-coloured bears back into his bag. “Geez, bite my head off for offering you candy, why don’t you,” he mumbled as he bowed his head to search for something else. His long strands of wispy, almost transparent hair fell into his face, and I smiled and shook my head as he tried to blow them out of his eyes so that he could see what he was doing.

We were almost at his house and I stared out of the window as the bus turned the corner, knowing full well that his little sulk wouldn’t last longer than the time it took to switch his attention to something else. I was right; I knew him so well.

“Do you still love me?” he asked, with a sideways glance and a cheeky smile. It’s no wonder that girls would fall at his feet, sometimes even I wanted to mother him.

“Yes, of course.”

“Good, because I’ve got a flashlight in my bag.”

It made me laugh. “What’s that got to do with it?”

“I thought you might like it; it’s one of those super cool, high powered, military grade things.”

“No shit.”

“Yes shit,” he said, as he pulled it from his bag and handed it to me. “You can’t buy these in any fucking store man.”

“How did you get it then?” I asked, as I examined it and then switched it on, shining it onto the roof of the bus.

“Don’t turn it on dude, you could seriously blind somebody or something.” He grabbed it from me and switched it off as I laughed.

“It won’t blind anyone,” I said, “but it is pretty cool.”

“I knew you’d like it,” he said, “we can have some fun with it tonight when it gets dark. You know, annoy the neighbors and shit.” I returned his smile with my own slightly less radiant one and then had to almost push him off the seat to get him to stand up. The bus had already stopped opposite his house, and the driver was looking back at us.

“Are you getting off here, or not?” he asked.

“Sorry mister,” said Charlie as we ran to the front and jumped off.

“And don’t be late on Monday, I’m not waiting for you anymore.”

“I won’t be,” said Charlie, but we all knew that he would. “Geez, that man is so grumpy.”

“He has a job to do.”

“So do I.”

“Like what?” I said.

“My job is annoying him every day; come on I’ll race you to the house.”

It was a waste of my already depleted energy and left us both hot and breathless as he held onto me and attempted to push me out of the way so that he could win. I grabbed hold of his t-shirt to keep my balance and ended up with my leg hooked around his as stumbled and then fell into the screen door.

“Charlie! What the fuck are you doing?” It was his sister and she stood for a second watching us as we fought and wrestled each other in the doorway. The first one across the threshold would be the winner and after making it that far, neither of us was prepared to concede. We had reached deadlock as we grunted and strained, but held firm, each keeping the other from claiming victory. At that point, it was clearly unwinnable and the honors would have been shared if his sister had not tipped the balance in his favor.

It was her ass that proved to be my undoing. It was hot, and I wasn’t expecting her to be dressed in a raincoat, but the shorts that she wore, were the tightest that I had ever seen on anyone. She looked at me and smiled, before turning to walk away. I was in shock as I watched open-mouthed until she disappeared from view. I stopped struggling and relaxed my grip, leaving me defenseless, and Charlie was able to prise himself away and win at a canter, leaving me on my knees in the doorway.

“She did that on purpose,” I said, and he laughed as he pulled me into the house by my arms so that he could close the screen door.

“It’s not my fault,” he said, “you were staring at her ass.” He thought it was funny and I knew that I had given him another golden tool to batter me with, but I was always putty in the hands of his sister and they both knew it.

Perhaps she enjoyed watching me squirm, knowing what power she wielded over a teenage boy, three years her junior, but it was more shock than desire because as hard as I tried to fit into the accepted pattern, it was her brother who had always interested me the most.