Worthington Manor - 21. Chapter 21

They four of them went to the store and stocked up on essentials including food, drinks, toiletries, and extras. They got back and stocked all of the cupboards and cabinets.

“So, who’s going to cook?” asked Trey
“My little brother of course.” said Kevin
“He knows how to cook?” asked Trey
“Oh yeah, he’s a great cook.” said Kevin.

Justin and Luke were in their room, not doing anything special. They were just watching television and enjoying each other’s presence while this conversation was taking place.

“So are you going to cook for me?” asked Luke looking up at Justin as he was cuddled into Justin’s body.
“I have to cook for everyone. You guys are so useless.” said Justin
“Hey!”
“You know, I just realized something.”
“What” asked Luke
“My brother is the only straight person here.” said Justin
“Well, he won’t be for long.” said Luke
“Ew, what do you mean?” asked Justin
“I mean Trey has the hots for him.” said Luke
“I doubt that Trey would turn Kevin gay.” said Justin
“Why not, you never know.” said Luke
“Let’s talk about something else.”
“Okay what are you going to make for dinner?” asked Luke
“I don’t know. Maybe some soup. It’s kind of cold tonight.” said Justin
“Ooh, what kind of soup?” asked Luke
“Do you like vegetable soup?”
“Oh yeah, I love it and so does Trey.”
“Then it’s a done deal. Vegetable soup it is, then.” said Justin

They sat at the table, eating their soup. Luke sat across from Justin and next to Trey and Justin was next to Trey. As they were eating Luke was using his foot to play with Justin’s. They were discreetly laughing as they were playing footsies.

“Do you think you guys could possibly not be so annoying for at last forty-five minutes while we eat dinner?” asked Kevin
“Come on guy, they’re in love.” said Trey.
“But they don’t have to be in love every second of everyday do they?” asked Kevin
“You can’t just turn it off, Kevin.” said Justin
“I’m sorry if I can’t really stomach this.” said Kevin
“Homophobe” said Trey
“It’s not that.”
“Sure it isn’t” said Trey, sarcastically.
“No, he’s telling the truth. He’s not offended by the relationship, he’s offended by how everything went down.” said Justin
“Why because you cheated on your relationships to be with each other?” asked Trey
“Yes”
“Why would he be offended by that?” asked Trey
“Because my dad did that to my mom and it practically killed her and he’s the oldest so he had to watch her go through that. The rest of us were to little to understand what was going on.” said Justin
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” said Trey
“Listen little bro, I don’t mean to rain down on your parade or anything it’s just that your whole situation puts a bad taste in my mouth.” said Kevin
“I know and at first it did the same thing to me because I thought that I really cared about Hunter, but I really didn’t. Because in the end I didn’t really have to make a choice, I chose Luke without even realizing that I did. So if you think about it, stringing him along and lying to him for any longer would have just hurt him even more.” said Justin
“Well, I guess none of that matters now that everyone knows and you guys are free to be with each other.”

Kevin smiled at the couple and they smiled back and then at each other.

“So what are we going to do tomorrow?” asked Trey
“Do you prefer skiing or snowboarding? Kevin and I have always been partial to snowboarding ourselves.” said Justin
“I never tried either of them.” said Trey
“Neither have I.” said Luke
“Well, we can ski tomorrow and then go snowboarding on Wednesday.” said Kevin
“That sounds cool,” said Trey, “but what about the other four days?”
“Well, we could always go horseback riding.” said Kevin
“In the middle of winter?” asked Justin. “You’re crazy.”
“Why not? They had to do it before cars. Why not now.” said Kevin
“Well, you can do what you want to do. We’re going to go to our room and spend some time alone.” said Justin
“What do you mean our room?” asked Kevin
“Well, I offered Luke his own room, but he wanted to stay in my room.”
“Are you sure that that’s a good idea?” asked Kevin
“It’s not like anyone’s going to get pregnant.” said Luke
“Good point.” said Trey.
“Go ahead, I guess.” said Kevin

The couple got out of their chairs. Luke took Justin’s hand and led him upstairs. They sat on the love seat that was in the room and right away began to passionately kiss.

“You know, I’ve waited for a long time to find someone like you.” said Justin
“And now you’ve found me. So let’s get back to what we were doing.” said Luke

Justin stopped Luke

“But you know, technically you found me.” said Justin
“Just shut up and kiss me.” said Luke.

This make out session left Kevin and Trey to clean up dinner.

“All of this money and you don’t have a dishwasher.” said Trey
“My mother always said that washing dishes by hand gives people time for bonding.” said Trey
“Well, I guess there’s truth to that.” said Trey
“So ah what do you like to do in your spare time?” asked Kevin
“I usually just like to chill with my friends, but since I moved in with my Aunt, I don’t really have that many friends.” said Trey
“Well, that’s a shame. What about a girlfriend?” asked Kevin
“Um…no; I don’t have a girlfriend. Actually, I’ve never had a girlfriend.” said Trey
“Wow, eighteen years old and you’ve never had a girlfriend.” said Kevin
“Well, I’ve never had a real girlfriend.” said Trey
“What do you mean?” asked Kevin
“I’m gay”
“What! Not you too! Isn’t anybody straight anymore?” asked Kevin
“Ha, I guess not. But why would you want more straight people. Gay people are just so much more interesting.” said Trey
“Yeah and they cause more trouble.” said Kevin,
“If you’re referring to the trouble Luke and Justin caused, straight people cause just as much of that kind of trouble as gay people do.” said Trey
“I guess you’re right. Listen, I’m sorry if that offended you.” said Kevin
“It’s no problem.” said Trey

* * *

Julia was sitting in the living room watching television when the doorbell rang. She got up to answer it and there was a girl on the other end.

“Hello, can I help you?” asked Julia
“Yes, is Justin here?” asked the girl

Julia never thought that such a pretty girl would ever be asking for Justin.

“Um, no he’s not.” said Julia. “May I ask whose calling?”
“Um, I’m Jessica. Do you know when he’s going to be back?”
“He went to our cabin in the Colorado with his boyfriend so he won’t be back in a while.” said Julia
“With Hunter?” asked Jessica
“No with Luke”

Jessica’s emotions all came flooding in at once. Anger at what had happened to her. She had hatred for Justin for betraying her. She had sadness because Luke fell in love with another boy. Was she so revolting that her boyfriend would fall for another boy; someone of the same sex.

“Are you okay Jessica?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Do you want me to tell Justin that you stopped by?” asked Julia
“No, no that’s okay.”

Jessica was originally going to go there to apologize to Justin for being so hysterical, but now that she knew that her pain and suffering didn’t affect him at all, she had even more hatred for him than before. She hated him even more than Luke. Luke, she could see maybe forgiving. Justin, she didn’t think that she could ever forgive him. Jessica left and Julia shut the door. She turned around and saw Craig.

“Oh, Craig, what’s up?”
“Ah, nothin’ I just never thought she’d show her face round here ever again.” said Craig
“Why not”
“That there were Luke’s girlfriend. I never thought she’d she show up here again after she saw her guy with your Justin.” said Craig.
“Oh my goodness that was her?” asked Julia
“Yeah”
“But how did you know? Did you let her in?”
“Of course I did. I let Luke in as well.”
“So, you knew that Luke and Justin were upstairs and you still sent her up there.”
“I was just tryin’ to help.” said Craig
“I don’t see how you could intentionally sabotage someone’s life. It doesn’t matter if you were just trying to help or not. I think that you should just go up to your room.”
“I’m sorry”

Julia didn’t know what to make of this. She went into her room to think it through. A knock came upon her door. It was Mark, he walked in.

“What’s up Julia?” asked Mark
“We took in a boy, named Craig that tried to sabotage my son’s life.” said Julia
“What are you talking about?” asked Mark
“Craig, let Luke’s girlfriend Jessica go to Justin’s room upstairs, knowing that he was with Luke in there.” said Julia
“So”
“So! Who does something like that?” asked Julia
“You can’t say that it wouldn’t have happened anyway.” said Mark.
“Yeah, but he didn’t have to push it forward.” said Julia
“So what are you saying? Do you want to send him back home?” asked Mark
“No, I can’t do that. As tempting as it, I can’t do that.” said Julia
“Do you want me to talk to him?” asked Mark
“No, I’m going to talk to him.” said Julia
“Okay”

She went to Craig’s room. She entered without knocking.

“Hiya, ya alright?” asked Craig
“Hi Craig, I think we need to talk.”
“Yeah, I reckon we do.” said Craig
“I’m really disappointed in you.”
“Are you goin’ to send me home?” asked Craig
“No, I’m not.”
“I really appreciate that.” said Crag
“Don’t get me wrong. I thought about sending you home, but I decided not to.” said Julia
“If I may, why?”
“Don’t ask me why.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“I want you to know that you’re going to be on restriction until further notice. I explain restriction right?” asked Julia
“Yeah”
“Unless you go with Justin, you can’t go anywhere.”
“But Justin doesn’t want to see me.”
“Then I guess you’re not going anywhere.”
“Aw, this is rubbish!” yelled Craig
“Hey, you can take the punishment or you can go back home.” said Julia
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I know that I got me self into this mess.” said Craig

A knock came upon Craig’s door. It was Mark. He needed to talk to Julia. Julia left the room, with Craig still a little frustrated.

“Listen, Julia; my boss just called. He needs me to fly to Houston for business.” said Mark
“For how long?” asked Julia
“For about a month.” said Mark.
“What?”
“I know it’s long, but there have been some minor disasters at the Houston headquarters and I’m the one he wants to fix it.” said Mark
“Mark, it’s Christmas in a week!” complained Julia
“I know; I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you.” said Mark
“How can you make up not being here for Christmas?”
“I’m sorry, but I have to pack. My flight leaves in an hour.” said Mark

Julia would be in the house with only Craig for the rest of the week. John and Hunter had left to be with their family for Christmas and so had the maids. She barely even like Craig, much less wanted to spend six days alone with him. Mark came out from the bedroom with his bags. Julia put her head down in disappointment and sadness.

“I’m sorry, babe.” said Mark

He kissed her cheek. He tried to kiss her lips, but she turned her head away. He went down stairs and she stayed in the hallway and waited until she heard the front door open and then shut to go into her room. She wanted to cry, but she knew crying just because he wouldn’t be home for Christmas was ridiculous. She sat on her bed, closed her eyes, and rubbed the back of her neck trying to relieve her stress.

***2 Days Later***

“So, Kevin and Trey have become really good friends.” said Justin
“Yeah, I never would’ve thought that they would be close.” said Luke
“Well, they are almost the same age.” said Justin

Just then the phone rang. Justin got up to answer it. It was Craig on the other end.

“What do you want Craig? How did you get this number?” asked Justin
“Yeah, I’m just ringin’ to tell you that your mum’s in hospital.” said Craig
“What! What happened?” asked Justin
“Um I’m not sure. All I know is that I heard her from her bedroom, screamin’ her head off. I thought she’s gone mental, so I went round to see her and she were on the floor in a right manic state. I took called medical and I went with her to hospital. She were all bruised and cut up.” said Craig
“What did the doctors say?”
“I don’t know. I waitin’ for him now.” said Craig
“Well, we can’t just leave, our flight isn’t until Sunday.” said Justin
“Don’t you worry about a thing. I will take care of her.” said Craig
“Why you? Where’s Mark?” asked Justin
“He’s on a business trip.” said Craig
“Oh no, well, thank you for telling me. Please take care of her.” said Justin
“I will. I’ll give you another ring if I hear anything from the doctor.”
“Yes, please.” said Justin

Justin hung up and went to sit back down with Luke, but was obviously distracted. This worried Luke

“What happened?”
“My mom’s in the hospital.” said Justin
“Oh my God, why?” asked Luke
“I don’t know. Craig said that he found her all cut up and bruised, so he took her to the hospital.” said Justin
“Oh no, I hope that everything is okay.” said Luke
“I have to call Kevin.” said Justin
“Well, they’ll be back from the store soon. You can wait until they get back.” said Luke

A few minutes later, Kevin and Trey walked into the house, coming back from the store. Justin got up and ran to the front door.

“What’s up Justin?” asked Kevin
“Mom’s in the hospital.” said Justin
“What! Why?” asked Kevin
“I don’t know. All I know is that Craig found her in her room all cut up and bruised. He called the ambulance, went to the hospital with her and then called here.” said Justin
“Crap, and we can’t even go see her.”
“I know, and Mark is on a business trip and you know how he can’t leave those for anything, but Craig said that he would take care of everything.” said Justin
“Okay”
“He said that he would call when he learned anything else from the doctor.”

As soon as Justin said that, the phone rang once more.

“That might be him.” said Justin as he picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Oy, Justin?”
“Yeah, how’s my mom? What did the doctor say?” asked Justin
“Your mum is in a coma. They said that it’s not permanent, but they don’t know when she’ll wake up.” said Craig.

Justin didn’t have the energy to say anything back. He just hung up the phone and went to Luke. Kevin was calling his name to find out what happened, but he couldn’t hear. He blocked it out of his head. He went to Luke and Luke embraced him. He laid his head on Luke’s shoulder. He could hear his named being called, but it was extremely muffled. Whoever was calling it, kept repeating and it got more and more clear and then it got louder and louder. Once he heard it full and clear, he lifted his head from Luke’s shoulder and looked at his face. It was Luke calling him.

“What did he say?” asked Luke
“My mother is in a coma.” said Justin.

Kevin heard this and walked slowly out of the living room, up the stairs and into his bedroom. Justin put his head back on Luke’s shoulder and Luke put his hand on the back of Justin’s head. Trey went upstairs to check on Kevin. He knocked on the door and when he didn’t answer he slowly opened the door and mentioned Kevin’s name.

“Can I come in?” asked Trey, softly.
“Do what you want.” said Kevin.

Trey walked in and shut the door behind him. Kevin was lying on his bed, on his side, facing opposite Trey with his legs curled up. Try sat at the foot of the bed.

“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.” said Kevin
“I’m here for you Kevin. If you want to talk that is.”

Kevin got up and sat next to Trey on the foot of the bed.

“I don’t even know how to take this. I don’t know what I’m going to do. What about Ashley? What about David? Is Craig taking care of them? Is he making sure that they eat? Is he making sure that they’re not scared? I don’t know.” explained David
“I’m sure that he is.” said Trey
“I can’t take this Trey.”

Kevin leaned his head on Trey’s shoulder. Trey’s eyes popped out of his head. What was happening? He didn’t know whether to just let him lean or stroke his head in an attempt to comfort him. He decided on just letting him lean. Then, Kevin scooted closer to Trey. Trey got a little uncomfortable. He was, after all, very attracted to Kevin. But that wasn’t what was making him uncomfortable. It was the fact that he knew that Kevin was straight; or at least he thought that Kevin was straight.
Kevin lifted his head off of Trey’s shoulder. They both turned their heads to face each other. Trey looked into Kevin’s deep amber eyes. Kevin lifted his hand and softly stroked Trey’s cheek. Then, he put his hand on the back of Trey’s neck and pulled Trey’s head towards his. Kevin placed his lips on Trey’s and Trey pulled away.

“Whoa, what are you doing?” asked Trey
“I thought that you were into me like that?” asked Kevin
“Um, I guess you can say that, but that’s still doesn’t answer my question.” said Trey
“You’ve been so good to me, I just thought that I’d give you what you wanted.” said Kevin
“I don’t even know how to respond to something like that.” said Trey
“Just let me give.” said Kevin

He tried to once again kiss Trey, but Trey once again pushed him away.

“Kevin, you can’t do this. You’re not even gay.” said Trey
“Maybe I’m a little bit confused. Maybe I do like guys.” said Kevin
“No you don’t. You’re just going through a very rough time right now and you’re not thinking clearly.” said Trey
“You can’t tell me how I think.” said Kevin.
“No, I can’t but I can make a guess and I would bet my life that my guess was right.” said Trey
“Just leave Trey.” said Kevin
“Yeah, I think that that’s a good idea.”

Trey left the room and Kevin plopped back down on the bed.

“What in the hell was I thinking!” Kevin yelled to himself. “I knew he didn’t like me like that. I’m such an idiot!”

* * *

Craig was walking down the upstairs hallway and heard noises coming from Julia’s bedroom. He walked inside and spotted little David in the, laying on his mother’s bed.

“Hiya D, are you lyin’ on your own?” asked Craig. “You shouldn’t be in here ya know.”
“I miss my mom.” said David

Craig walked in and sat at the foot of the bed.

“I know love, but ya mum’ll wake up soon. She won’t be able to stay away from you lot for long.” said Craig
“Really, you promise.”
“Well…”
“Promise me Craig!”
“I promise. Now, it’s late, you have school tomorrow. You need to go to sleep. In your own bed.” said Craig

When David didn’t answer, Craig lifted the blankets that were over his face and saw that he was asleep. So, Craig carefully lifted him and carried him to his room and gently placed him on his bed. He walked to the doorway, stopped to look at him and make sure that he was asleep and then turned the light switch to off. He shut the door, quietly and then walked back down the hall to his room. He walked over to the lamp on his night stand and switched it on. He threw himself on his bed, rubbed his hands down his face and let out a sigh.
Craig felt that he was getting closer and closer to the other kids; to David and to Ashley. He realized this and extreme guilt came over him as he thought of what he did to Justin. He was about to reach for the light switch to turn it off when his door opened. It was David

“Craig, there are monsters in my room.” said David.
“Monsters yeah; well, let’s have a look yeah.” said Craig

Craig got up lackadaisically and followed little David to his room.

“So where are these monsters, eh?” asked Craig
“In the corner, that’s where I saw him.” said David
“Him?”
“The little boy, but he looked like a monster.” said David.

He took David and led him back into his bed. He covered David with the blanket and tucked him. He sat on the edge of the side of the bed.

“Listen D, there’s no such thing as monsters.” said Craig
“But he only looked like a monster. He was just a little boy.”
“What made him look like a monster?” asked Craig
“He had cut and bruises all over his body. Kind of like mommy.” said David

Craig found this to be very suspicious. However, he brushed it off in order to comfort David.

“D, there’s nothing to worry about. The little boy won’t hurt you.” said Craig
“I know, but she will. She’s only in mommy and Kevin’s room.” said David.
“Oy, you need to stop this rubbish. Now go to sleep.” said Craig
“Will you stay with me?” asked David
“That’s highly inappropriate.” said Craig
“Pleeeaaase” pleaded David.
“Okay, but your small bed isn’t big enough for the pair of us. You’re going to have to sleep on my bed.” said Craig
“Yeay!”

David followed Craig to his room and jumped onto Craig’s queen sized bed before Craig had a chance to properly enter the room. He climbed underneath the blankets and, slowly, so did Craig. David, unexpectedly to Craig, crawled between Craig’s arm and his chest and before Craig could say anything, the boy was asleep. Craig switched off the light and closed his eyes.