William's Love - 9. Chapter 9

A New Reality

We move our hind ends quickly, Mom is no mood. I’m not sure how much trouble we’re in but I really am not in the mood for a chewing out. If this is what it will be like for us I think I’ll lie about my age and join the Marine’s. Ha! Who am I kidding Dad would kill me before I make to basic training. After having I shower I get a start on my homework then catch up work from when we were on the road trip.

This is where Liam come to me from behind and wraps me in his loving arms and kisses my neck, I rest my head against his and sigh. He turns the chair around and kneels in front of me and moves his arms around my waist.

“Are you okay Babe?” he looks directly into my eyes waiting for an answer, “have you changed your mind about us?” I could see his eyes pool with water.

“You know me better than that I hope, I love you Baby.” I hesitate before I continue and he patiently waits, “I just don’t want every single day to be a fight for us. I want to love you and be left alone to be a normal teenager. It’s not too much to ask is it?” I whine and my eyes pool with tears this time and one escapes.

Liam wipes away my tear with his thumb, then kisses me on the lips chastely. “It won’t be I promise we will get over this speed bump and people will either accept us or ignore us. I’m happy with either but it will settle down.” He kisses me again, “Dinner’s ready you better change because we have a guest.”

“It better not be the bigotry bullshit of Babette,” I spit out violently.

Liam chuckles, “Nope, you’ll see.” Liam leaves the room and I change into jeans and a polo shirt.

When I come down the stairs I can hear them all laughing, I poke my head round the corner and see it’s Mr Wright. I walk into the kitchen to see if I can help Mom.

“Yeah, could you please take the meat and gravy boat love. Thank you!” Mom hands me the meat and gravy.

“Umm… Mom, I’m sorry if we upset you today. It wasn’t intentional and I promise it wasn’t started by either one of us. Liam got protective over me and couldn’t see straight.” I say with contrition.

“Oh baby boy, I am not and was not upset with either of you. I am however upset over the situation and that little cow in the office. You won’t be getting anymore crap from her I assure you. Go and I’m following with the vegies.” She assures me smiling warmly. I sometimes wish my mom was like Kitt, but if she was I probably wouldn’t appreciate her as much as I do. She’s a wonderful woman and loves me as if I were her own.

Dinner was a flurry of conversation; I mostly keep to myself and concentrate on the plate in front of me. I heard them throwing around words like Petition, Superintendent and Dept of Education. Liam squeezes my leg, and he gives me my love smile. I rest my head on his shoulder and have a couple mouthfuls of food. After draining some energy from him I sit back up and keep eating. He rubs my back a couple of times and continues eating.

Mr Wright is observing us and smiles warmly, “You two remind me of me at your age, my best friend and I were very much in love. It’s so nice to see.”

“Are you still together?” I ask.

His face got sullen and his eyes sad, “Unfortunately we only lasted through College and Grad School. Sadly he was ill and passed away just after graduation. But it lifts my heart and makes me happy when I see young couples like yourselves. We had a wonderful twelve years together as a couple and twenty three years as best friends, he will always be a part of me and the man I compare every other too.” He finishes with a smile remembering his one and only love.

“I’d say I’m sorry but it sounds like there wouldn’t be one moment of regret. I hope Will and I are as happy as you were when we finish our schooling.” Liam says.

“You’d be right about that, I’m thankful for every moment we spent together, he was the most wonderfully kind, supportive and loving man I’ve ever met. Still to this day I haven’t met anyone that could even hold a candle to him.” He says affectionately.

“Maybe one day when it’s appropriate you could tell Liam, and I all about him?” I ask trying to spark good memories.

“I would really like that, I really think you boys would have been a couple of his favourite people.” He says grinning.

“Hmpff! These two rat bags are going to send me and Kitt, to an early grave.” Dad states laughing.

“See Liam, if you held the pillow down longer we wouldn’t have to put up with this nonsense. He’s old he won’t be able to fight back.” Liam and I snicker.

“You two are pretty cocky, when Kitt and I hold the fate of your education in our hands,” Dad says chuckling.

“Ah! Yes but we hold the fate of where you will spend your Golden Years. So… when you think about it, it’s in your best interest to make sure we’re educated and can afford a nice place.” Liam says laughing, we high five and get up to clear the table.

“Cheeky bastards,” Dad mutters under his breath and Mom scoffs. I could see Mr Wright trying not to bust out laughing.

We finish clearing the table and kiss Mom and Dad goodnight. We have so much homework and catch up I feel it is all we will be doing for the next month. Work also has to fit in so we can make some money and keep our jobs. At about ten thirty I hear Mr Wright leave, I’m feeling weary so I go to Liam and kiss the side of his neck.

“Come on baby, it’s late and I need to be close to you for a little while before we sleep.” Liam twists his head to see me and nods, smiling.

We undress and slide between the sheets and hold each other face to face. Liam eventually lies on his back with my head on his chest and his arms around me. Once we are comfortable I pull the blankets back and let my hand drift down to where we keep Liam’s package. He is rock hard; I wipe my fingers over the top of his cock and wipe the pre-cum down his penis to lubricate it. Then I grip his erection and slide my hand up and down, changing speed and direction of twist at the end, every now and then I wipe more pre-cum over him. His breathing starts to get shallow and I feel his lips on top of my head. I pump faster and his breathing turns to panting and I feel him launch his rocket missiles with a growl. I quickly stretch upwards and put our lips together, sliding my tongue in.

I get up and quietly sneak to the bathroom to get a warm washcloth and clean him up. Throw the cloth and get back into bed. He grabs me and we spoon to fall asleep and he whispers his love in my ear and kisses the back of my head and neck until the night takes us. This is how I know everything we will go through together will be worth it. God, I love him.

<>-<>-<>

Liam woke me my favourite way in the morning, he runs his finger down my forehead to the tip of my nose. Once my eyes open he smooths my hair back out of my eyes and kisses me. It always makes me feel loved. He smiles and kisses me again. He pulls me from the bed and we pee and shower together. Then dress and have breakfast with Mom, which she made for us while we were getting ready.

We didn’t stop for coffee this morning only straight to school. The bell rings as soon as we exit the truck and have to book it to homeroom, we really need to get up earlier. Everything is normal until I get to Woodshop. Mr Stewart stops me at the door and hands me a slip.

“You need to take this to the office and choose a new elective, unfortunately this class is full.” He says derivatively.

“But it wasn’t full yesterday or the first two weeks of classes.” What the hell, this is so fucked up.

“I don’t know what to tell you, there’s nothing I can do. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a class to teach.” He shuts the door in my face.

I can’t believe this shit, it can’t be happening. It doesn’t seem to be happening to Liam, was I the only one that bitch outed after lunch. Although Liam’s a big guy I wouldn’t mess with him. I’m holding the slip in my hand so tight it’s all screwed up. I hope Ms Abrahams still accepts it. Once I reach the office I give it to her she opens it up and looks at me suspiciously.

“Please don’t tell Liam? I have enough dramas already.” I’m surly toward her.

She nods and gives me the list of electives available for that timeslot. There isn’t much there, American History, done it, Cooking, yuck no thank you, Chemistry already taking it, Sign Language and Speech Pathology, well that sounds interesting at least.

“Ms Abrahams, this sign language class, is it just a semester or year course and can it be taken further?”

“Well, let me see… If you complete the course this year you have another advanced speech pathology lab and classes next year and it can be used as credit toward college if you pursue it further.” She reads out a quick overview.

“Can I please enrol in this class?” I ask.

“Are you sure? It sounds like it might be a lot of work.” She looks at me like I’m the laziest student in the school, yet I have one of the highest GPA’s.

I shrug my shoulders and wait for her to fix the paperwork, “Get your folks to sign this slip and return it to the office tomorrow morning. You will go to the library for the remainder of this lesson.” Ms Abrahams almost manages a smile and gives me my paperwork which included a slip to be out of class.

Crap! Dad is going to kill me, he built me the workshop out the back so I could tinker and continue with my schooling for woodwork. Maybe I can see if the guys at the man shed will let me join there, I want to make furniture for a living so who better to teach me I guess than the old guys who’ve been doing it their whole lives. I wonder if they have an age requirement, I’ll ask Dad to come with me so he can plead my case. Shit! What if they find out I’m gay, will they still let me join. Maybe it will be better if I’m up front at least I’ll know.

I reach the library and find a table out of the way and do some of the catch up work I have to complete. Because the library is quiet I got a fair bit done which is cool, I can take a breather since I have to work tonight. Chemistry class went by without any problems a few whispers but who gives a shit right, I can handle that. I meet Liam outside the cafeteria and we get our lunch together and sit at our normal table. I see Michael by himself eating his lunch and point him out to Liam as the kid who put Babette in her place. Liam goes over and thanks him and then invites him to sit at our table. We introduce him to Katherine and Oliver, lunch starts pleasantly but here comes Jennifer. I can’t believe this bitch. She sits next to Oliver, I ignore her and I have no intention of ever acknowledging her existence ever again. I know I don’t like her and I may have played my fair share of pranks but none of them were to the extent of what she has done to me in the past two days. Bitch!

Oh great! Here comes Trent and Stephen. Trent saunters up to the table as if he owns the world, before he even gets to open his mouth Liam is all over him.

“I’m in no mood for your shit today, so get lost asshole!” Liam says without looking at him and keeps eating his sandwich.

“Oh, but your girlfriend Jen here,” he says pointing to her, “tells me I was wrong about you but not your best friend. It seems you are living with this fag. How can that be? But then again I guess free blow jobs right.” He laughs stating rhetorically.

“What’s it to you? Jennifer is not my girlfriend, we are not even friends. And call Will another name and you’ll be gumming your food until you can afford new teeth.” Liam says through his gritted teeth. Trent cackles and walks off. Stephen hangs back a second.

“Umm… Sorry about your Dad Liam,” He says looking at his feet and then took off after Trent.

What the fuck, I look at Liam he didn’t say anything about us being in a relationship. I thought we weren’t going to deny it, we’re supposed to be in this together. Jen only told the world I’m gay not Liam. He also basically agreed I was a fag and give him blow jobs, just because we live together. Ever feel like you’ve been punched in the guts and kicked in the balls at the same time. I can feel my self-confidence dwindling by the second. He supposed to love me. I can’t breathe, I need to get out of here. I pick up my tray and chuck the remains of my lunch and leave the cafeteria in a hurry.

As I round the corner through the doors, the biggest of our football players ‘Gator’ is there with his goons and he shoves me into a locker hard. Calls me a few derogatory names and walks on laughing. The lock on the handle catches my eye, as well as the bottom locker handle and lock smash into my ribs. I can feel the tears coming. What the hell am I supposed to do now?. I’m not going to put up with this shit for the rest of my school life. I put my hands on the back of my head and blow out a breath harshly. I need to think, I head toward the car park. There’s the feeling of a trickle down my face like it is sweat. Wiping at it I pull my hand back and it’s blood. That’s just great. Don’t pass out, don’t pass out Will, don’t pass out, I look around and I’m walking past the gym so I duck in to quickly clean up my eye. Don’t pass out.

I grab the first aid kit from my locker and head for the sink and mirror. Stupidly I didn’t check if anyone else was in there. Looking in the mirror I can see that I already have the beginning of a black eye and have cut the skin off to the side. This can’t be my new reality, it just can’t. Liam just ignored what’s happening, lucky him hey, it’s not happening to him. Fuck! How could he do this to me. I could hear footsteps behind me. My stomach drops, then I see in the mirror it’s Coach Ferrige. I sigh with relief.

“What happened Will?” he asks sternly.

I look at him through the mirror and shake my head, “It doesn’t matter, what’s the point. Don’t worry I’m just leaving.”

I hastily start packing my first aid kit back up as I’ve stopped the bleeding, I turn to go to my locker and the Coach puts his hand on my shoulder and diverts me to his office. Geez he’s strong, he’s hands are like monster claws. “Sit!” he says pushing me into a seat, I hear someone else walk into the office. Great another circus, this really is too much for me.

“So what happened?” he asks again. I sit there looking at my hands willing myself not to cry.

“Nothing it doesn’t matter, I won’t let it happen again.” I say angrily.

“We can’t help you if you don’t tell us. So tell us what’s going on. Is it Liam?”

I scoff, “I don’t think Liam gives a shit either. He’s always been overprotective since we got together and today he basically denied our relationship – to Trent of all people. When I left the cafeteria a couple of your goons thought it was funny to push me into the lockers and I cut my eye. I’m not living like this, I can’t, I won’t. If you want to help me, you’ll tell me where the best self-defence classes are and which gym I can get some boxing training at. Otherwise there is nothing you can do for me.” I’m so past the point of angry, I get up and leave.

As I’m leaving the gym I can hear the coaches calling after me. I don’t give a shit anymore, this is only the beginning and I can see it getting worse. I storm into the car park of the school and I forgot we came to school in the Mustang. I start walking home, yes I’ll get a detention or two but I don’t care. My phone is going ballistic, Liam is ringing and sending text after text so I turn it off. I don’t even have keys to get in the house, as luck would have it Mom is home when I get there.

“Will! What are you doing… Oh your eye what happened?” I can tell she’s worried, as she reaches up to look at it. I duck out of the way and make it up to the bedroom. I do some catch up work until I have enough time to shower and dress for work, grab my wallet and keys and take the truck down to the bowling alley. I passed Liam on the way to work, and he is coming home from school I may have left early, I’m not due to work for another half an hour. But I can’t handle being at home. Because they won’t let me start work early I grab a drink and some French Fries from the shop.

Liam sits across from me at the table, he looks angry.

“What do you want Liam?” I ask hostilely.

“What the hell happened today? And what the hell happened to your eye?” he’s glowering at me.

“It’s not like it matters, I’m just the fag who lives at your address and gives you free blow jobs. You might want to be careful who sees you they might think your one as well.” I say grimly and throw my trash away walking toward the front counter to start work.

He catches up to me and grabs my arm and spins me to face him. I push his hand away, “Now’s not the time, I’ve got work to do.” He looks wounded as I walk off leaving him standing there, I didn’t even look back.

<>-<>-<>

The next few days were a foggy haze of nothingness. Dad signed my slip to change from Woodshop. Not without an argument of course, but he gave in. He came with me to see the guys at the Men’s Shed and explained my predicament, weirdly enough they didn’t give a crap about me being gay. I’m sure a couple of them did but they kept it to themselves. It was okay for me to join and work with them on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings whenever I had the time.

Coach Campbell called me out of Biology on Thursday and gave me the information I had angrily asked for earlier regarding self-defence classes and a gym to train for boxing. I signed up for the self-defence class and joined the gym for boxing and gave my new availability to my boss. He wasn’t too happy about it but in the end agreed. I’ll be working less hours but I only need money for gas and insurance. Thursday night there was a big meeting for the school district and it was decided the Principal would be relieved of his duties immediately pending termination. There were mini celebrations all over school, mine was an internal freakin’ festival.

I found out on Friday, Mr Stewart my Woodshop teacher had suffered the same fate. Goes to show don’t piss off Mom. It dawned on me Friday the football goons had left me alone for the rest of the week I guess Coach Ferrige took care of that for me. I still haven’t spoken with Liam all week, it’s been hard to avoid him but I’ve managed so far. I saw him in class once or twice a day but we didn’t speak. He would look at me and I just look away. At home I usually make sure I’m asleep before he gets to bed and up earlier than him in the morning. I’ve barely spoken with Mom and Dad.

Friday afternoon and part of the night was my first boxing lesson. I say boxing I mean muscle killing fitness training. We did mostly fitness exercises, which included some boxing or hitting bags if you will. I’m glad I chose boxing the level of fitness needed to maintain this sport is crazy, so it should improve my baseball as well. Even though it’s hard I enjoyed it.

<>-<>-<>

It’s Saturday, and I’m off to the Men’s Shed. I go for about three hours. The men are great, they didn’t mind helping me, or offering advice. Some even showed me ways to get a better finish. It’s awesome, I haven’t enjoyed doing my wood work like this in a long time.

I got home and heading upstairs for a shower, just before I got to mine and Liam’s room I hear him crying. I stop and lean against the wall, should I go in there or leave him be. But there is someone with him. I wait outside the room leaning against the wall frozen.

“I’ve lost him Momma,” he sobs, “how could I have messed up this badly. He thinks I don’t love him, my chest hurts so much I feel like my heart is breaking, I swear. That day with Trent, I didn’t say anything because it was all I could do to not flatten the guy. Will thinks I denied our relationship that I denied my love for him. But I swear I didn’t Mom, I wouldn’t do that to him.” He fully breaks down. I can hear Mom shushing him, she must be hugging him.

After a couple of minutes Mom says, “Have you told him any of this? Does he know?”

“It’s not that simple, Momma. That Jen I was seeing, she only told half the story to the school. She only outed Will, not me. How do I fix that? I feel so guilty, especially after I hear what’s been happening to him. Did you know the football goons have been hurting him. I saw his chest the other day when he thought I was sleeping he has big black bruises Momma, that’s my doing, my fault. I can’t get close enough to talk to him, he either walks away or makes sure I’m asleep before he comes to bed. He’s even sleeping up in the bunk and not with me. Please Momma help me fix this, I need him back, Will is all I’ve ever wanted. I’ve already lost Dad, I can’t lose him to. Please Momma help me I love him so much. I will do anything , anything…” he’s sobbing, it’s breaking my heart. I feel my own tears falling, I don’t know what to do. I know I love him so very badly but my heart was torn into a million pieces that day.

“Come on Baby, we will figure something out, that boy loves you. I’m sure we will find a way to show him how much you love him. Come on settle down. Maybe John can help us, okay, there will be something we can do. Shush now!” His Mom consoles him.

I’m about to turn and leave when Mom comes out of the room, she stops and looks at me with compassion. I thought she’d be mad at me for hurting Liam but I guess not. I stare at her for a minute, as she reaches for me I slide across the wall, down the stairs and out the back to my workshop. I’m already grimy from the Men’s shed I might as well continue. At least I can think while I hit and cut things.

<>-<>-<>

I manage to sneak away early to school again this morning, being that it’s Monday the gym should be empty from the football guys. I go to the office of Coach Campbell.

“Hi Coach I want to thank for the information and tell you I’ve joined the gym and started boxing training. I’ve also enrolled for the self-defence classes for the next four Wednesday evenings.” I inform him.

“That’s great to hear Will, how are things with Liam going?” he asks.

I look away, “I haven’t spoken with him for about a week.” I say sheepishly.

“Oh is it really that bad?”

“I don’t know Coach, he denied our relationship and me publicly. I’ve found out since then it wasn’t intentional but I still feel betrayed, I don’t know how to handle it I guess.” I lower my head, “Also it is only me that was outed not him and with all the shit, sorry Coach, crap I’ve been copping I kind of resent it a little. This makes me feel a little guilty. I don’t know it’s a lot of things. I can feel my self-confidence slipping a little at a time.”

Coach chuckles lightly, “Well that’s one thing you usually have in abundance. But you have already made a start to turn it around, with training in boxing which will give you great discipline and a great boost for your fitness. The self-defence course will also help you, not that you need a little help with your self-confidence. I know for a fact Coach Ferrige should have taken care of your bullying problem from his as you quote ‘Football Goons’.” He got up from his chair and shut the office door.

“Now I’m going to tell you this once, if I hear any rumours about this I will know where it came from. Can I have your trust not to repeat it.” He says seriously. I nod my head. “Okay, Coach Ferrige and I have been together since we were sixteen so your age. We’ve been married five years, well as married as we can be. As far as we’re concerned we are. I certainly hope that changes for you. Anyway, as far as I’m aware the only two people in the school who can confirm we are in a relationship is you and Liam.

“As you can imagine, when we were in school there was no way in hell anyone could find out about us. In the eleventh grade somebody had seen us together at a fair in another county and told the entire school. Coach Ferrige comes from a very strict religious family so he denied it, which in turn denied me. We broke up and wind got back to my parents about the relationship. I was lucky my parents are basically hippies and embraced it. We were separated for about a year, we didn’t even talk, when his parents found out about me they went ballistic. He couldn’t take it so he came clean about himself and told them everything. His father is a bible thumper of the worst kind, he beat him and kicked him out. He came to my folks house and he was in the worst way.

“My parents took him to the hospital, and then he came home and lived with us. It took a week for us to get back together, the love never went away and to this day we kick ourselves for the year we waisted. We were young and stupid and had no one to talk to or help us. You’re lucky there is a great deal more acceptance and people to help. I know you’ve had a hard week but it about to get easier for you. The rest of my high school days were hell, and hell with a broken heart is hard to take. Now if you love him as I suspect you do, you need to get over it and find a way to forgive him. Now get out of here before you end up late for homeroom.” He smiled warmly at me.

I stand to leave, when I reach the door I turn to coach and say, “Thanks Coach, but as far as this school goes you should speak with Mr Wright he is a cool guy and would never judge. I won’t tell you his story I’ll leave that for him but if you ever wanted an ally in the school I would start with him. Also you and Coach Ferrige could come and have dinner with my Dad and Liam’s Mom. I can set that up for a night when us young ones aren’t home so you old farts can talk.” I laugh and make a quick exit. I heard him yell ‘Cheeky Shit’.

I run past Coach Ferrige and quickly stop and run back.

“Coach! Coach! I just want to thank you for getting the football guys off of my back.” I say appreciatively.

“Don’t sweat it, I won’t have that crap going on in my teams, you better hurry bells about to go.” He says.

“Thanks again,” I call out as I run for homeroom.

The morning went quickly I didn’t really pay attention, everything Coach Campbell said is running through my brain. Yes I love Liam, no I don’t want to waste a year of our life not being together, but I can’t seem to get past my anger and the feeling of betrayal from lunch last week. Then it isn’t really is it, I heard what he said to Mom. I certainly don’t want to live like this forever; we are stronger together than we are alone. I’ve been shown that this last week. I doubt I would have copped as much crap if we had been outed together and that wasn’t his doing. My heart hurts all the time without him. Maybe I’ll talk to him at lunch time if he’ll let me. I hope he hasn’t given up on us.

I walk into the cafeteria at lunch as I round through tables I see Liam coming toward me he is talking with Jennifer. I stop and my heart drops and my eyes fill with water. I can’t stop looking at him, he’s so gorgeous. All of a sudden he steps on a chair and then the table and puts his hands in the air.

“Can I get everyone’s attention please?” He yells. I saw one of the history teachers walk in his direction and Coach Ferrige stops him, said something in his ear and the man stops and stands with Coach.

“EVERYBODY SHUT UP, I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!!” Liam yells even louder, the entire cafeteria goes dead silent. The lunch line even stops.

“YOU ALL KNOW JENNIFER, PRETTY GIRL, SO-SO PERSONALITY,” she smiles like it’s a joke and people kind of pseudo clap for her, “WELL LAST WEEK THIS YOUNG LADY TOOK IT UPON HERSELF TO OUT MY BEST FRIEND AS GAY, NO POINT HIDING IT. DUE TO HER SPITEFUL NATURE AND BY THE LOOK OF THE BRUISES HE’S BEEN COMING HOME WITH EVERYONE KNOWS AND THERE ARE SOME THAT DON’T APPROVE OR HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT.

“WHAT THIS SPITEFUL YOUNG LADY DIDN’T TELL YOU IS, SHE FOUND OUT HE WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH ANOTHER GUY AND ONLY DECIDED TO OUT WILL. I AM THE OTHER GUY, I AM IN LOVE WITH MY BEST FRIEND. WE ARE A SAME SEX COUPLE, WE ARE GAY, WE ARE STRAIGHT A STUDENTS, WE ARE STAR ATHLETE’S, WE HAVE JOBS AND WE LOVE EACH OTHER, GET OVER IT. IT’S NOT A NEW PHEONOMENON, 10% OF THE POPULATION IS GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL OR TRANSGENDER. YOUR OPINION IS YOUR OPINION YOUR ENTITLED TO IT, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF THIS IS A PUBLIC SCHOOL AND WE ARE ENTITLED TO AN EDUCATION WHICH IS ALL WE WANT AND TO BE LEFT ALONE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.”

Liam hops off of the table and walks directly up to me, cups my face and kisses me so passionately it’s almost indecent. There isn’t any applause or booing, no name calling the entire lunch crowd went back to their own lives. He breaks the kiss and rests our foreheads together and he quietly says “I’m so sorry, I love you so much.” I tilt my face toward him and kiss him, with every bit of love and passion I could come up with. I move my hands around his waist and pull him to me. He runs his hands through my hair holding my head in place. Eventually I feel a hand separating us.

We got suspended for three days.

Like we give a shit!