The Good Son - 8. Chapter 8: Unlikely Friendship

“Come on, Danial, move it!” Mr. Long, or Coach Long, called out, making Daniel run a little quicker to get the ball. Kaiden had it, and he was making damn sure that Daniel couldn’t get it.

It was just some practice, with Joe and Kaiden on a team together, and Daniel with some nobodies on the other. The floor was full of running bodies and squeaking shoes, and Kaiden taunting Daniel.

“You can’t try any harder?” he asked, bouncing the ball at half court. Daniel stood in front of him, blocking. He didn’t talk back, because he thought it would be stupid to exchange conversation with someone like Kaiden. So he just tried snagging the ball, but Kaiden moved and took it with him, limbs skinny and long like a spider.

He ran around Daniel, bouncing the ball and going to his team’s hoop. Daniel fell behind because he was tired and knew that Kaiden would get it in regardless.

The ball whisked in and Coach Long blew his whistle.

“Alright, kiddos, head on to the showers and get ready for your next class,” he said. Some students groaned because they wanted to play more, and others walked slowly to the locker rooms because they were tired. Daniel was a tired one, dragging his forearm across his forehead to wipe away sweat. He huffed and walked to the locker room, a hand on his hip because he needed to stretch, but he didn’t want to waste time for a shower.

Going to the room, he dodged the door being thrust open by a kid in a rush, and went inside to a shower.

There were two already occupied and running, curtains drawn; leaving three more empty. Since they were all freshmen and hygiene wasn’t on their top priority, most of the kids just left on to class, so the showers weren’t really at risk of being taken.

Daniel picked the farthest one, near the emergency exit, and started stripping his clothes. Pulling his shirt off, he stuffed it into his gym bag. Then he heard Kaiden.

“The girls made a dick list! Look who’s at the top,” he sounded, from where he was surrounded by other boys.

Daniel finished undressing, not caring for whatever they were doing. Stepping into the shower, he pulled the curtain shut and started washing up with the bar of soap.

While scrubbing his hair, the curtain was pulled open.

Looking at who it was, Daniel’s eyes found Kaiden and a few other students, Joe amongst them.

“What do you want?” Daniel asked, bringing his hands down to cover himself. It left the running water to assault the bubbles in his hair, making the suds drip down his face and try getting into his eyes.

Kaiden crossed his arms with a frown. “The girls made a list of who has the biggest dick- we want to see where you are.”

Daniel quirked an eyebrow, looking at the boys. “How silly. And what if I say no?” he asked, annoyed. Kaiden scoffed.

“You’re probably the smallest; we just want to prove them wrong,” he said, the list crumbled in his hand. Daniel almost laughed.

“Does that mean I’m high on it?”

Kaiden’s face got red and he threw the wad of paper at Daniel, hitting the teen in the face. Daniel gave him a look.

“Alright, show us- since you’re so high and mighty,” Kaiden said, and some other kid also spoke up. Daniel exhaled, watching them. He shook his head before moving his hands back to his hair, tilting his head underneath the water to wash away the soap.

Some kid started laughing and Kaiden yelled at them, so Daniel must have been high on the list. That mean t that Kaiden was probably lower, which also meant that the list was probably right.

Daniel looked at the boys while rinsing his hair, one boy’s cheeks pink while he looked away, and few others murmured to each other. Kaiden’s cheeks were red with frustration. One kid pointed and asked, “What’s that?”

Two scars on Daniel’s left hip bone, long and thin, but deep enough to leave raises on the skin from the process of healing. All of the kids seemed to be looking at it.

Daniel reached out to grab the shower curtain, watching the kids. Joe was the only one looking at his face, eyebrows furrowed with puzzlement on how the handsome teen could have such ugly scars.

Daniel pulled the curtain shut.

l.l

Again, Laura waited for him outside of the gym, holding a library book in her arms. She smiled.

“Hey!”

Daniel glanced at her, walking by. “Do you always greet people with “Hey”?”

Laura laughed and walked after him. She cleared her throat a little excessively, for dramatic effect. “I heard… you’re number one on the list.”

“What list?”

“The list- why do you always act so clueless?”

Daniel smiled. “I am clueless.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “The dick list. Look,” she elbowed him and he looked at her before looking around. There were girls talking and giggling, looking at the two. He rolled his eyes.

“Whoever made such a list needs something to do in life.”

“Hey, don’t say that- she could end up a politician!”

“I didn’t know you were into politics.”

“Eh, my parents are.”

Laura followed Daniel to his art class before parting to go to the office, where she went every seventh hour to help out.

Daniel typically had Morrison in Science, Kaiden and Joe in PE, and Joe again in Art. That meant that stepping into class now, he would be stuck with Joe.

The teen walked inside, where he sat at one of the tables. Mrs. Gayle, the teacher, spoke up from the front of the room.

“We all know that Morrison is still in the hospital, yes? Because this is my most talented class of the day, we’re going to send a Get Well card to his family. You can draw on it if you want, or you can sign it- just remember your manners.”

It was a giant piece of poster board at the front of the room that everyone was signing, but Daniel decided to just wait for it to be passed back instead of getting up and going over. Not that he would sign it.

Instead, he opened his sketchbook to… sketch. He was working on the anatomy of hands, something that no one would really take his book to look at. Because he had other things in there that he didn’t want to be seen.

The kid sitting beside him stood up to go to the card, and someone else sat down in their stead. Daniel didn’t look or anything, because he had a feeling of who it could be.

“Hey,” said Joe, to prove Daniel right. The brunette didn’t reply, running his pencil lightly over the line of a wrist. “Dan, hey,” Joe nudged Daniel’s arm, making the teen mess up his line. Now he looked at him.

“What?” he asked.

“I just… want to apologize.” Joe watched Daniel, who gave him a look.

“You have. Yesterday.” Daniel looked back down at his paper. He started erasing the mistake.

“Well, I don’t think you’re accepting it.”

“Because I’m not, to be frank with you.”

“Well… why?”

“Because my name is Daniel, not Dan or Danny. And because I don’t want your apologies,” Daniel glanced back at Joe, who was pressing his lips together in thought.

“...Why, though?” he asked. Daniel put his pencil down to give Joe his full attention.

“Because as I mentioned yesterday: you’ll just forget it all when Morrison comes back. Besides, I don’t want any friends.”

“What do you want? Like, a cheat sheet for a test? Do you want me to hit Kaiden?”

Daniel raised his eyebrows, watching Joe, who just kept looking at him. “What is this, a game? Joe, I don’t want anything from you. Maybe for you to go away. Will you go away?”

Joe reached over the table to grab Daniel’s sketchbook, where he pulled it into his own lap. Daniel sat up straight in his chair, looking at Joe’s hands before looking back at his blue eyes.

“Give me my book.”

“Just accept my apology, first.”

“Joe-”

“I’ll give it back, I promise. Just like, what do you want? To talk to me, what do you want so that you’ll talk to me?”

Daniel crossed his arms, staring at Joe. “Your phone.”

Joe blinked, tilting his head. “Huh?”

“Your phone,” Daniel held out his hand to the teen. “Let me borrow it.”

Joe slowly, confusedly, reached into his pants pocket for his phone, pulling it out and handing it to Daniel. “What for?”

“A phone call.” Putting the phone on the table, Daniel reached into his own pocket and pulled out Arty’s necklace, opening it. Inside, he had crammed the phone number, and there were still a few pills of Ambien inside. He took the note out and closed the necklace before Joe could see the pills, and then he took the phone again to dial the number in.

The phone was locked, so Daniel looked at Joe for the password. The noirette cleared his throat.

“...It’s 102418.” His lunch number.

Daniel put the numbers in and once given access to call, dialed the number from the paper. Looking around, Mrs. Gayle was busy chatting with some preppy students.

Daniel suddenly handed the phone to Joe while it rang, the noirette giving him a look.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"They'll notice my accent; Just ask who it is, and give them a fake name if they ask,” Daniel said, and Joe nodded despite looking deeply confused.

“Hello?” Joe asked when the phone was answered. Daniel watched him.

“...Uh, no? Who is this?” Joe looked at Daniel, looking even more confused. He hung up the phone, raising an eyebrow at the teen.

“His name is Richard. I guess he’s a lawyer.”

“Hm.”

“...That’s it? You’re not gonna tell me what that was about?”

“No. Can I have my book back?”

Joe put Daniel’s book back on the table and the teen shut it, putting it in his bag. There was a long moment of silence before Daniel looked at Joe again, who was messing around on his phone.

“...Joe,” Daniel said, getting the teen’s attention. “Do you want to come to my house after school?”

l.l

“You kids aren’t very talkative, are you?” Arty asked while driving, Daniel in the front seat and Joe in the back with Geil.

Joe was too awkward to talk. To talk, he would have to talk loud so that Daniel could hear him. That meant that Arty could hear. And, Arty was gay, right? Joe was a little uncomfortable in the car, especially with Geil trying to talk to him about nonsense.

“So, how’d you two meet? Basketball team?” Arty asked, looking at Joe through the rear view mirror. Joe looked at Daniel, who just watched the road ahead.

“No, he’s in my art class. Now we’re in basketball together,” Daniel spoke up and Arty nodded.

“Ah- well, we have an art room if you want to mess around in there. My husband has a lot of paintings in there, though, so you might be careful.”

“We won’t go in there,” Daniel said.

When they got home, Arty took Geil inside to give him some medicine because he still had a little bit of a cough. Daniel waited until the two were in the house before motioning to Joe.

“Come,” he said, walking around the house to the woods. Joe followed him, his hands in his pockets and looking around.

“...You live here?” he asked, glancing at Daniel, who walked ahead of him.

“Yes,” Daniel said like it was obvious. It sort of was.

“Uh, why’d you come here? Like, from the UK.”

“I was transferred here from the orphanage. I was too old.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Not particularly.”

“...Do you… like having two dads?”

Daniel paused in the snow and looked at Joe. “It’s normal.”

Joe looked away, at the trees. “...Where are we going?” he finally thought to ask. Daniel shrugged.

“I found something here the other day. Hurry up, it’s cold.” He started walking again, his legs long and thin. Joe continued after him.

They walked until they got to the abandoned shed Daniel had found a few days ago, stopping just before it. Joe looked at Daniel. “...This?”

The ceiling had large holes in it, where snow was no doubt collecting inside. The windowpanes were missing their glasses, and the front door was rotten with holes in it from the moist snow.

Daniel nodded. “Yeah.” He pressed on, pushing the door open and going inside. After a small moment, he peeked back out at Joe. “Come on, don’t puss.”

Joe blinked, completely taken back by Daniel… being normal. Wasn’t he just some wimp?

“Joe!”

Joe followed Daniel inside, closing the door behind him. It didn’t have a doorknob, so he had to grab it by the wood, which was soft and damp from the snow. Once inside, the place was empty. There were piles of snow from the holes in the roof, and there were spots where some of the floor had been pulled away; dead grass sticking up in some places. The place was small, with an old gas stove and sink, and a short hallway off to the side.

He couldn’t see Daniel.

“Daniel,” Joe called out, looking around. He was really… nervous. Walking down the hall, it was only long enough for two doors, one being an empty bathroom with only a toilet and sink, and the other being a bedroom with a rusty metal box spring. Daniel wasn’t in there, either.

“...Daniel?” Joe walked further into the room, looking around. It was very bright because of the glassless windows and missing ceiling that allowed the sky to shine in.

“Boo.”

Joe jumped and quickly turned around, where Daniel was standing with his hands in his pockets, breath puffing out like smoke from the cold. Joe pushed him.

“Dude!”

“You scare too easy,” Daniel said after catching himself, stumbling back some. He looked around with his dark eyes, cheeks pink from the biting cold. ‘What do you think of the place?”

Joe huffed and looked around. “...It looks like a shit hole.”

“Do you think they would find a body in here?”

“...Probably.” Joe looked at Daniel, who was looking at him. The brunette broke into a smile.

“You scare too easy.”

“Are we here for a reason? I thought you didn’t like me.”

“You’re right. I don’t.” Daniel turned from Joe to start walking down the hall. “But I can tolerate you.”

Joe rolled his eyes, walking after Daniel. “So what are we here for?” he asked, putting his hands in his coat pockets because his fingers were getting cold. Daniel shrugged.

“...A change of place is always nice.” Turning, he looked at Joe again. “Do you smoke?”

“..Not really.”

“You don’t have to lie, I don’t care about telling.”

“Well, why do you want to know?”

“Because I want to know. Do you smoke?”

Joe sighed. “Kind of. I mean, I have a pack.”

“Could I have a fag?”

Joe gave Daniel a look. “...What?”

Daniel held out a hand. “A fag- hand me one?”

“...Are you calling me a fag?”

“Ugh, a fag: cigarette. Could I have a cigarette?” Daniel waved his hand. “Please?”

Joe started pulling the pack from his pants pocket, watching Daniel. “...What do you call them?”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Fags, we call them fags. I forgot you’re very simpleminded.”

Joe held the pack out but pulled it away just when Daniel reached for it. The brunette raised an eyebrow.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you acting different?” Joe asked.

“This is how all the other boys at your school would act. What’s wrong? Do you see how unappealing it is, now?”

“...Is this some kind of test?”

“It could be. We’re all alone out here; you can tell me what you really want from me, now.” Daniel reached out, taking the pack of cigarettes from Joe. Pulling the cap open, there was a lighter crammed in with four cigarettes. He slipped one out, putting it between his lips before getting the lighter. He flicked the lighter to a flame, watching Joe to wait for his response.

Joe pressed his lips together, watching Daniel as he lit the cigarette and took a puff. He followed that with three quick drags before pulling the stick from his lips and holding it between his fingers at his side. He quirked an eyebrow at Joe, exhaling the smoke.

“Well?” he asked, forcing more smoke to glide from his lips, some coming out of his nose. Joe crossed his arms.

“Back in the locker room, you have some scars or something. What are they from?” he asked. Daniel held the cigarette out to the teen.

“What do you really want from me? Are you gay? Do you just not know how to say it?” the brunette asked, watching Joe. Joe glared at Daniel and crossed his arms.

“No. I’m not a fag.”

“You watched me dress," Daniel said, to which Joe looked away. "It isn't a bad thing. Maybe it is depending on your friends. Is that why you want to apologize? For Kaiden spreading that I’m a "faggot" at school, with gay parents? Because you’re gay?”

Joe didn’t say anything, and he didn’t take the cigarette, so Daniel brought it back to his lips to take another drag.

“You asked me what you had to do to be my friend. I have something in mind now, if you’re interested.”

l.l

Arty looked at the side door when it slid open, Daniel and Joe stepping inside. The man waved from where he sat on the couch, a laptop in his lap.

“Hey, you guys hungry? I’m thinking omelets- yeah?”

Daniel looked at Joe. “Do you want to stay for dinner?” he asked. Joe pressed his lips together.

“...Yeah, I’ll take an omelet.”

“Sweet," Arty shut the laptop and put it on the coffee table before heading to the kitchen. Daniel walked to the stairs, motioning for Joe to follow him. He did.

The two went to Daniel’s room, where they took off their coats and shoes.

“Are you cold?” Daniel asked Joe, who nodded, because they had been out there for a long time. Daniel pointed at his closet. “You can change your pants if they’re wet, there may be a pair to fit you.”

“It’s okay.”

“Alright.” Daniel walked to his bed before climbing onto it and laying down, pulling the blanket over himself to get warm. He looked at Joe. “Come on if you’re cold.”

Joe hesitated for a long time before going over, climbing in and laying down beside Daniel. Daniel tossed the blanket over Joe so that he was also covered, and then he rolled so that his back was to the teen.

“...I sort of like Kaiden. As a friend,” Joe said. Daniel turned to looked at him.

“No you don’t.” He turned back around. Joe scoffed.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. Because you wouldn’t have agreed otherwise.”