As They Say - (Revised) - 17. Entry 25

21st May 1991:

Best Friday ever!

Okay, so I have some news.

My Mam roused early this morning, and she also woke me up. Which, to be frank, I was a little bit grumpy because she woke me up. I had no intention of getting up early to meet anyone. So, I decided I'd have a lay-in for the first time in the better part of a week. So, my Mam came in and woke me up.

Mam said, "How’d you like to go out today?”

Of course, grumbling, I was like, "To where?"

She was a little bit secretive. Mam wouldn't tell me exactly where she was thinking of bringing me, but I kept prodding to get information out of her. Though Mam seemed to resist because she kept it tiptop secret until we got there. She held the cat in the bag, more or less. I'll get to where she brought me in a minute, but first, let me take a moment to wallow in this awesome feeling.

Directly after, Mam asked me if I wanted to go, and I said, "To where...?"

Mam said, “You can bring your friend Ross with you.”

And I was like, what really?

Oh my God, are you serious? For some reason, she didn't mention Carl's name; she didn't say any of the other boys’ names I hang out with. The first name that came to her head was Ross. Funny, right?

I hope I did not look goofy or retarded this morning. Because I'm pretty sure I got a little too excited when Mam said that I could bring Ross. I mean, like nearly fangirling it sort of shit. So, I nodded my head in agreement, and while I was showering, I was contemplating and secretly hoping that whatever Ross had to do today could be put on the back burner so he'd spend the day with me. Whatever it was going to be, I never put so much deodorant on my body. I stank out the room.

Afterwards, I picked out a couple of cute threads from the wardrobe and threw them on before going next door to knock for prince charming. I was taken aback when Ross opened the door personally. He only had his tracksuit bottoms on. He was shirtless. The sight sent a surge of electricity through my body. It was just hot. I can't quite explain it, but the smoothness of his torso, its unblemished appearance and softness, which presumably resembled a baby’s smooth skin, made me shudder on the spot. Ross is perfect in every little way. I never imagined I would see him face-to-face shirtless.

I know when Ross first arrived, I got a chance to see him topless. I thought it was enough. Though standing right next to him felt, I don't know, strange. I felt self-conscious. I didn’t want to look at his chest, and I couldn’t exactly figure out where to look other than his eyes.

Oh boy, are his eyes beautiful.

Moreover, I found myself starting to get completely mushy inside, and my heart rate accelerate.

I told Ross that my mam had arranged to bring me somewhere. "She said that I could bring YOU."

The first words out of Ross's mouth were, "Really? I'd love to go."

Ross seemed bashful for some weird reason. I can't explain it, but he appeared to be extra radiant after I asked. Ross invited me in, but I chose to stand on the doorstep. I don't know why. I could've been upstairs perving on him, watching him change, but Ross went upstairs and got dressed and came back down with a new T-shirt and a pair of shorts, but those little ankle socks and a set of Nike shoes made his appearance inconceivable. Something about the way Ross dressed put me on edge.

I was like, Oh god, he's adorable.

No, I didn't want to betray Ross's trust. Eventually, we asked Ross's grandmother, and she agreed to it as long as my two folks were coming along for the drive. His grandmother seemed happy enough when I said that my Mam and Dad are supposedly going.

Mrs. O'Sullivan did not hesitate; she said, "Sure, you can take my grandson.”

Funny, I wouldn't mind taking Ross away to like a secret island with just the two of us, to live there for the rest of our lives. I wonder what it would be like to live on a remote island with Ross. He'd be my king or something, then I'd be his king or something. And while we're away from civilisation, we could, I don't know, experiment, I guess—do kingly things. Because it would only be the two of us on the island, and we'd need to keep each other entertained, if you get my drift. The vivid image seems almost intoxicating. I can spear for fish in fresh reserves of salty water, and he can crack open coconuts and cook the stuff I hunt. It almost sounds too good to be real.

Yeah, that'll never come true. I do have a tendency to let my mind wander. I should stop setting myself up for some disappointments. If I'm always going to be dreaming, I'll never get my head out of the clouds. No, I don't think Ross is doing it deliberately. He seems to be just going about his own life without actually knowing he's making some sort of weird advances to me in some way. Maybe, I don’t know.

For example, I can't explain the underwear. True, Ross could've put them down after he got changed, or he forgot to take them back up. Though not asking for them by now, it's a whole different story. Secondly, it is kind of weird that Ross doesn't want to be around any of my friends; he just wants to be around me. I guess it's okay considering he's cute and all, and I'd love to do naughty things to him. Although, as much as that sounds tempting, I'll have to kind of refrain. Yeah, I know my friends are a bit unusual— yeah, normally weird. Even if they are weirdos, I still like hanging around with them. Anybody who has ever joined our group would understand that we give everyone the same chance, unless you’re Johnathan King. Though it's like Ross just wants me all to himself, which is cool, I guess. But I want to try to have time for my friends.

When we got in the car, Mam kept it all hush-hush. We sat in the back of the vehicle, utterly clueless as to where we were going, as my dad headed out of town. As we passed the town limits, I started to get a little apprehensive as to where we were going. We were, after all, leaving town, and we don't exactly do that daily. Instead, we headed into Killarney, which is not far from where we live. It's about a twenty-minute drive to the south. The last time I was there was like... I don't know, six months ago— if that means anything. Though during the summer, the place is swarming with tourists. I think most of them are from Europe. Though you'd probably run into an American now and then. Over the years, I have grown a little accustomed to tourists being so close to home. They are, of course, here for the exquisite Killarney National Park. Which, oddly enough, is where we went.

I hadn't been there since my last birthday. It was good just walking around in the park again. Something so simple turned out to be a good day out in town. I missed the small things that I didn't exactly know I needed. We just strolled around and chatted in a relaxed manner under the afternoon sun. All the trees were in fresh bloom, and the grass was excellently kept. There were so many tourists, though.

We stopped by Ross castle, which I found a little bit funny when you think about it— considering earlier. I was contemplating about Ross, an uncharted island, and him being king. All kings need a castle, and well, Ross likes the castle at the lake, and his name is Ross… Okay, you get the picture. I'll name our castle... Ross's Castle.

We decided to take a little break beside the castle in Killarney, and we sat out on the pier. I guess you could call it that. Dad went to get some ice cream, and when we each had a 99 cone with a flake, we chose to sit there and look off into the lake to enjoy it. It was cool, just the four of us sitting there on the quay, dangling our legs over the wall directly below was the water, which wasn't far of a drop. The funny part is that Ross and I started playfully shoving each other somewhere along the way. I've no idea exactly why, but we were talking about how Ross would climb up the side of the tower-like King Kong, and when he got to the top, he would pound his chest. I mentioned that Ross probably wouldn't make it to the top, and that's how we started shoving each other.

Eventually, the playful shoving and pushing took on a competitive role and out of nowhere, while I had my ice cream held out in front of me to avoid it melting, Ross hunched over and took the whole top off my ice cream. He kind of did it a little seductively; he wrapped his mouth around my cone, sucked in his jaws and took half of my ice cream off the cone. Of course, I threw a bit of a wobble because, after all, he ate my ice cream, and you don't fuck with another man's ice cream.

Okay, that looks a little weird.

Now that I wrote it, maybe I'll rub it out. No, I can't be bothered to do that, so I’ll just leave it.

Anyway, when we came back, there was this new surge of energy, and when I asked him if he wanted to have a sleepover with my friends tomorrow, Ross said, "Yes."

It made no sense to me, but now suddenly he’d changed his mind. I’m not going to argue with it, and now I’m happy. Though still, I wonder why he made such a big thing about it.

Let's just hope that when Ross wakes up in the morning, he doesn't bail out.

Anyway, I think I should go to bed. I'm getting a little tired, and I want to be well-rested if we're going to have a sleepover tomorrow night. I'm going to have a lot of running around to do to round up the boys. Plus, I have a nightly deed to perform because of the way Ross sucked the ice cream off the top of my cone… which was... well, hot.

Night,

Adam