Stepping Into The Light With You - 2. Chapter 2

THE phone sitting on the bedside table buzzed more than once disrupting Kevin’s sleep. He rolled over to lay on his back and stayed in that position for a minute or two before reaching out to grab his phone.

It was his best friend Justin texting him good morning and asking if he was up and ready for school. “Dude!” He said out aloud before texting the same back. D bus dusnt leave 4 nother hour. He texted further. Wat r u doin up so early?

The phone showed Justin was already typing away. Will you stop killing the language already? It’s annoying.

Kevin rolled his eyes but didn’t comment.

And I was studying for the test we’ve got today. Not everyone’s as good as you are when it comes to Calculus.

LOL! I m gud coz I pay attn in class n not stare @ big mouth Kelly Byrnes.

Okay, one – people need to stop calling her that because she is not the one to blame for what happened with Oliver.

Yes she iz.

No she isn’t. Two – I don’t STARE at her ALL the time. I just need a break you know. You have no idea how complicated Calculus is.

Ryt!

And three – would it kill you to type GOOD? It’s a four letter word!

Kevin sent a laughing emoticon and typed back. Lisn man, I g2g. Wil c u @ skool latr. He put the phone away, almost certain that Justin would reply back instantly to correct his misspells. At times, Kevin did it on purpose just to piss the guy off.

As expected, the phone vibrated again and he laughed out loud.

He heard movement down the bed and went quiet. Kevin had forgotten there was another person sharing his room now.

Lucas slept on a foldable mattress spread out for him on the floor. It would have to do until they figured out something else. Kevin thought about how he would have to make a number of adjustments now to accommodate the new guy and that irritated him. He sighed and remembered the promise that he had made to his mom.

The guy looked serene as he slept. It was as if the sadness and grief had wiped off his face temporarily. Kevin liked seeing him like that. Lucas turned in his sleep giving Kevin a better view. His gaze moved down Lucas’ body thoughtlessly and fixed onto the bulge that had formed over his shorts.

Damn, is he …?

Kevin’s hand reached to touch himself beneath his sheets. He wondered what Lucas must be dreaming about … or rather who he was thinking about. Maybe he had a girlfriend back home. His train of thoughts went on. Did he really have a girlfriend? If he had, she would have at least called him once. Kevin didn’t remember Lucas’ phone ringing at all and it saddened him to know that there was no one in the entire world who’d check on him.

When Lucas shifted again, Kevin sprang out of his bed as if someone had put his butt on fire. In the process, he hit his knee on the side table and everything on it, including the lamp, shook noisily.

That woke Lucas up.

“Sorry! Sorry!”

Kevin watched as the guy sat up rubbing his eye. “What time is it?” Lucas sounded groggy.

“It’s six … ish. Way too early for you to get up. So, go back to sleep.” Kevin moved awkwardly around the room. “Don’t mind me.”

“Jesus!” He yawned. “I’m sorry I’m not a morning person. Why are you up?”

It was amusing to see Lucas’ efforts to keep his eyes open. “I’ve got school,” Kevin replied.

“At 6?”

“No, I mean not right now.” He laughed. Damn the nervousness! “I’ve got this test today at school so I thought I’d study for a bit before I leave.”

Lucas looked down and his body shook. Was he laughing at me?!

Kevin couldn’t help but smile. “What?”

“So you’re one of those nerds huh?”

“Hey!” He pointed a finger at him while Lucas continued to laugh. “Don’t call me a nerd. I just … don’t wanna flunk the class.” Despite himself, he laughed along.

Lucas nodded. “Sure.”

They shared a smile. “Okay man, you go back to sleep and then hang out around here. You can use my iPad or Kindle, if you are bored but don’t touch anything else okay?”

“Kay.” His smile dropped slowly.

“I’ll see you after school I guess.”

Lucas didn’t say anything, neither did he make any move to lie back down. Kevin took it as a cue for him to leave. He walked over to the washroom asking himself, did I say anything wrong?

*****

Lucas apparently couldn’t go back to sleep after Kevin had accidentally woken him up. So, Kevin invited him down to have breakfast with them. His mom had made pancakes for breakfast and was in the middle of getting their lunches ready – his and Spencer’s. She looked exhausted and Kevin realized she must have hardly slept after coming home late from the diner.

He looked at Spencer who was eating from his plate quietly. Kevin cleared his throat to get his attention. Lucas looked up and so did his mother but Kevin simply smiled and faked a cough.

The little kid didn’t look at him until very later. Kevin gestured toward Lucas with his eyes hoping Spencer would take the hint and apologize for the previous night. Spencer turned to Lucas with his most innocent eyes and stared. Lucas didn’t notice it at first but when he did, he gave the sweetest smile Kevin had ever seen. With that, Spencer beamed. “Are you going to school too?”

“Nope, I get to stay home and watch cartoon all day.”

The kid’s mouth fell open in sheer excitement. “Mum, can I stay home with him?”

Gwen laughed. “No, honey, you have to go to school or else Miss Chanel will get very upset, won’t she?”

“She will.” Spencer sighed dramatically. “But I wanna watch cartoon with him too.”

“Well, we can watch cartoons when you are back, kay?” Lucas promised.

“Okay.” He ate small pieces of his pancakes one by one, then looked up again. “Mum, can he come to my school with me? He can sit with Miss Chanel like Brad does.”

“Brad’s the assistant.” Kevin explained and Lucas smiled.

Gwen put the wrapped food inside a paper bag. “No, munchkin. He can’t go with you.”

Spencer pouted. “You never say yes to anything!”

Lucas placed his hand over his mouth and laughed uncontrollably. Kevin grinned. “Told you he isn’t as innocent as you think he is.”

He nodded. “I see that.”

Spencer smiled mischievously at both of them. Kevin knocked on his head playfully. “Brat!”

“Ow!”

“Kevin.” His mother called out.

“What?”

She shook her head and came to stand behind Spencer’s chair. “Lucas, sweetie, I am going to speak to your old school and have them send all the documents to us. Once we have them, I’ll start looking at schools around here.”

“He can come to my school.” Kevin shrugged.

“No, they said your class is full this year. They can’t accommodate anymore.” She watched Lucas considerately. “I would have loved it for you both to be in the same school because then he will at least know someone in the crowd.”

“It’s ‘kay, Aunt Gwen,” Lucas said, “I’ll be fine anywhere you put me.”

She gave it a thought. “Let me talk to Mr. Gomez this time. I’ll go meet him personally or…” Suddenly, excitement filled up inside her and her face lit up. “Better, I’ll talk to Mrs. Gomez. You’ve met his wife at the church, haven’t you, Kev? She is a good lady, I’m sure she will understand and talk to her husband about it. I mean, he’s the dean … he can do something, right? And it’s just a matter of one student more.”

Kevin listened as he finished the milk from his glass and nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I mean. No biggie.”

“Let me go call her!” She headed over to the counter to get her phone.

“Now? Are you sure?” Kevin asked, amused at her renewed energy. “Spencer has to be at school, you know?”

“Oh, right!” She laughed. “I get carried away easily. Sorry munchkin.”

“It’s ‘kay, mum. I’ll skip school today.” He gave her a toothy grin. Kevin found it funnier that he had just mimicked Lucas saying just ‘K’ to okay. But their mother wasn’t amused by either that or his suggestion. She sternly asked him to get his backpack.

Gwen turned to Lucas. “Sweetie, do you wanna come with me to drop Spencer off? Or do you wanna stay in and get some sleep?”

He gulped down his milk and stood up taking the dish in his hand. “Let me get that for you.” Kevin offered.

Lucas hesitantly handed it over to him and said to Gwen, “Nah, I’ll come with you. I’ll go get my jacket from upstairs.”

When he left the room, Gwen asked Kevin what he planned to do after school as she loaded up the dishwasher. “Gonna go over to Justin’s with Frank. Why?”

“Why don’t you take Lucas with you? I think it’ll do him good to meet new people.”

“Woah mom!” He threw his backpack over his right shoulder and laughed sardonically. “Let’s not do that. They’re my friends, what will he do there?”

“I don’t know. Spend some quality time with you all?”

“No, mom. Just no!” He shook his head. “Besides, I haven’t even told them about him. It would be so weird to introduce him to them suddenly.”

“But …”

“Bye, mom,” he said, waving at her with finality. “I’m gonna miss my bus if I stay longer.”

He watched his mother give him a smile half-heartedly. Of course, she was concerned about Lucas but Kevin needed his space somewhere.

As he was about to step out the door, Lucas walked back into the kitchen and said, “Bye Kevin, have a good day.”

He smiled. “You too. Bye!”

*****

Kevin hated himself.

He hated himself because he would always be all defensive to his mother and yet end up doing what she wanted him to do. Part of the reason could have been because she was so easy on him with everything that he’d feel guilty going against her word.

Right now, he was back home right after school to get Lucas and then head over to Justin’s. He had to explain a lot over lunch to his friends – the deal with Lucas and why he had to come live with his family. Kevin was sure they’d be cool with letting him hang out with them. However, he had some personal qualms considering how awkward he acted around the guy. Justin wouldn’t even notice any of it probably but he was afraid that Frank would tease him about it till the end of time. The guy was a trip – you can’t live with him but hell, you can’t even live without him.

Eventually Kevin decided he’d have to man up and stop letting Lucas affect him that way. Only if he knew what was it about the guy that made him act all weirdo…

He noticed his mother’s car wasn’t in the driveway and assumed she wasn’t home yet after picking Spencer up from his school. It was odd considering his school dismissed the kids an hour before Kevin’s school did. Mulling over it, he let himself in with the spare key he carried and went straight to the kitchen. As he’d expected, there was a note left over the counter for him.

“Going to the supermarket and then to visit Mrs. Gomez. Be back soon. Love, Mom.” He read aloud.

“Guess I don’t have to tell you she isn’t home.” Lucas’ voice came from behind him.

Kevin turned swiftly. “Oh hey… I’d assumed you’d gone with her.”

He nodded. “She asked me if I wanted to come, but I was in the middle of reading a book and I really couldn’t put it down.”

“That good, huh?” Kevin smiled. A bookaholic, just like me.

“You’ve no idea!”

“Which one is it? Was it on my kindle?” he asked.

Lucas shook his head, smiling slyly. “I’ve got my own paperbacks. It’s Raine O’Tierney’s I’ll Always Miss You.”

“Hmm, that’s a first I am hearing of that author. Sounds like a title of a Romance Novel though?”

“Kinda, yeah. It’s Young Adult.” Lucas laughed. “I am sure you wouldn’t know of her.” Kevin got a feeling that there was more to it than he let on.

But he shrugged. “I don’t do Romance. I’m more of a Stephen King fan.” For some reason, Lucas continued to giggle. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said and yet giggled some more.

“Okay, well,” Kevin said, looking suspiciously at him, “I’m gonna head out to meet up with my friends. Would you like to come too?”

Lucas went standstill and looked back at him, surprised. “Me?” he stuttered. Kevin nodded. “You wanna hang out with me?”

“Yea, man, that’s why I asked.” He chuckled.

“I dunno… Kay I guess.” He whispered, then hurried to ask. “Won’t your friends mind?”

Kevin waved his hand. “Oh, they’re cool. I asked them if I could bring you and they were fine with it. So yea, man.”

Lucas shifted his weight and looked down. Kevin wondered if the guy was feeling pressured into coming. But before he could say anything, Lucas spoke. “I’d love to meet your friends. You’ve been so amazing to me. Thank you so much, Kevin.”

Kevin felt warm within and smiled. “Don’t mention it.”

“So, when do we go?”

“Right away. Let me put this bag in my room and go pee. I really, badly wanna pee right now.” They both laughed. “I’ll be back in a moment. Meanwhile, can you write a note for my mom that we’re off to Justin’s and will be back like around dinner time?”

“Sure.”

Kevin dashed upstairs and felt his bladder bursting. With his backpack still hanging over his shoulders, he went straight to the toilet to relieve himself first. He sighed feeling so much better. He quickly washed his hands and splashed some water on his face. When he got back to his room, he threw the backpack across the room, caring less about where it fell and went to check his image in the mirror. His dark hair looked dull and all over the place, so he grabbed the bottle of hairspray and sprayed some on. He was sort of obsessed with his hair and especially now that they were growing out and he loved the skater-guy look it gave him.

As he was turning to leave, the book lying on the bed caught his eye. It was the same book Lucas said he was reading, however, the cover on it intrigued him. There were two young boys placed on that cover and Kevin wondered why there’d be two guys portrayed in a romance novel? He was about to shrug it off but then another paperback caught his eyes. It sat on the table to the other side of the bed. He thought he was imagining it looking from a distance, but no … when he went to check it out, the book cover indeed displayed boys on it – not one, not two … but three young boys. One guy in the middle, the other hugging him quite intimately and the third one bent down on the other side … Us three, the book read on the cover, Mia Kerick.

Kevin swallowed and turned it over to read the back of the book.

He heard the footsteps approaching his room and within a second, Lucas appeared at the door. Kevin looked at him with disbelief and he almost looked frightened. “Kevin,” he said out of breath, “I can explain.”

“Dude, are you gay?”