The Tide Began to Rise - 6. Chapter 6

“What do you wana talk about?”

“Well the other day I saw your back and it was covered in bruises. It has me very concerned.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Tyler how did you get those bruises?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“If this is happening at home, I can help get it stopped.”

What he said got me thinking. Is he the savior that I have been praying for? IS he the one that will get my dad to treat me like a son again? It’s too good to be true. Then I started to think, what if he can’t help me. What if he makes it worse? I changed from what if’s, to statements. He is just going to cause dad to beat me more. I’m going to get treated worse.

“No, I’m not going to talk about it.” Then I walked out of the room.

I didn’t feel like going to my classes. I went and sat on the benches in front of the school. I put my face in my hands and I started to cry. I want out of my hell more than anything. I’m 18 I could move out. But where would I go? I have no money, no car, and no job.
Through my thinking and my sobs, I must have missed the bell ring. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped when I felt it. I looked at who it was. I was Brent. “Great, the man of my dreams caught me crying.” I wiped the tears from my eyes.

“Hi Brent”

“Hey. Is everything ok?”

“Yeah”

“Then why were you crying?”

“It’s nothing”

“Ok then, well, I was thinking that since you my math tutor, we should get a head start on it. I stopped by Snodgrass’s and he gave me a packet that we can work with. So what do u say? Want to get started today?”

“Umm……” Was all I could say. Brent was talking to me. Am I dreaming? Then I remembered that I made plans to hang out with Brad. But now I have a choice to hang with the man of my dreams. What the hell am I going to do? Brad is one of my best friends, and he did make plans with me first. Then again Brent is fucking HOT. He is the only thing that I dream about. Would Brad understand if I decided to hang out with Brent instead? I mean I may never get this chance again. I guess I will since I am his tutor in all, but….I don’t know what to do.

After thinking about it for a while I decided that my heart and lust would hold out for just one more day.

“I kind of already made plans with someone. How about we get together tomorrow?”

“Yeah, that works……………….. Here’s my number, call me if anything changes tonight, or call me tomorrow when you’re ready for me to pick you up.”

“Ok here’s my number.” I gave him my number. Brent said good bye and walked out to his car. After a while brad came outside. We went to his car and drove to his house.

“Oh crap I never called my dad.”

“Call him now.”

I pulled out my phone and called home. Nobody picked up, so I left a message saying that I’m over at Brad’s house.

“Why weren’t you in the last two classes? Brie and I worried about you.”

“Oh Snodgrass asked me to stay behind also to ask me something and it took a while.”

“Sure…………………Whatever.”

The rest of the drive was silent. When we got to Brad’s house there were a few other people there. David Cox (my cousin), Rob Jennings, and Steve Jenkins. All three of them have made it their sole mission to make my life hell. David is ok; Rod and Steve are as mean as they can be without breaking bones. On more than one occasion they have brought me to tears.

“What the fuck Brad? What in the hell are they doing here?”

“What? I thought we could make it a party, so I invited a few other guys over. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Dude you know those guys hate me. Every chance they get they make me life hell. How could you forget what they did last year………They stole all of my clothes after gym and I had to walk to the office covering myself with two wash cloths.”

“Dude that was a Joke.”

“No dude, it wasn’t, and it was funny if it was……..I’m not going to stay here and hang out with people that want to make me miserable. I can make other plans.”

“No, I will send them home; I made plans with you first.”

I didn’t say anything. I got out of the car and started walking down the street. “How could my best friend do that to me? There is no way he forgot that they hate me.” I continued to walk.

<Brad’s POV>

I didn’t say a word as Tyler got out of my car. I couldn’t say anything. He was right. I should have thought. These guys did hate him. The Jokes they pulled on Tyler were cruel.

“Some friend I am” I said. I got out of the car and went over and greeted my other guests.

“Hey guys”

“Hey Brad, was that cock getting out of your car?” asked Rod

“Yeah, he had to go home and told me to stay here with you guys.”

“Yeah right, he probably saw us and ran home crying.” Steve said and they all started laughing.

This made me feel even worse about what I did. I’m the worst friend ever. Tyler probably hates me.

<Tyler's POV>

As I walked down the street to god only knows where, I remembered that Brent told me that if my plans changed at all to give him a call. So I pulled my phone out my pocket and pushed 2 for Brent’s speed dial. Not even 2 hours from getting his number and he has made it to number 2 on my phone.

“Hello?” Brent said answering his phone.

“Hi Brent, its Tyler. I was wondering if that offer was still standing for me to come over and help you? My plans fell through.”

“Yeah sure. Do you need a ride?”

“Yeah I do. I don’t have a car. Right now I’m walking down 275. I can see the cemetery just as you get within city limits.”

“Ok, I will be there to pick you up in a few minutes.”

Just as I was hanging up with Brent, my phone rang. At first I thought it was Brad calling. If it is then I would press ignore? I don’t want to talk to him. I looked down at the screen and saw that it was “HOME”. My dad was calling me to tell me to get my ass home, calling to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to have a life. I sighed then took in a deep breath and pressed “END” to ignore the call. I am going to pay for that. I couldn’t just let my dad ruin the chance to hang out with the man of my dreams.

About 3 minutes later Brent showed up. He pulled alongside me, I got in the car.

“Hey Brent, thanks for the ride. I hope that I didn’t pull you away from anything.”

“Nah, I was sitting at home doing nothing. I was thinking what I wanted to do for dinner.”

“I heard that that New Mexican restaurant, El Portal, just opened. I haven’t eaten there yet.”

“That sounds good.”

So Brent drove to the restaurant. We didn’t talk much on the drive. Well it is a short drive so there wasn’t much time to talk. When we parked that car, we went inside and were seated at a booth. We gave our drink order to the waitress and red over the menu. When the waitress came back with our drinks, we gave her our order. When she left we started talking again.

“Can I ask you a question?” Brent asked.

“Yeah sure.” I said

“Why do you wear those clothes? I mean you always wear long pants and long sleeve shirts. It’s like 90 degrees out right now. You have to be burning up.”

“Umm…………” I gave a long pause. I was hoping that he would see that his was uncomfortable for me to talk about. I hoped that he would change that subject and talk about something else. He didn’t. He just sat there and waited for me to answer.

“I wear them just because I want to.”

“OK, I can tell you don’t want to tell me. Its fine……..I just wanted to get to know and understand you a little better.”

“It’s ok. Maybe if we become better friends I can tell you.”

Our food came out. We didn’t say a word as we ate. We just looked at each other. The waitress brought that check.

“Can we get it spl………” I began

“Here” Brent said handing her his credit card. Then he looked at me said “It’s on me. You’re helping me with math, so this is how I can pay you back.”

“So you’re just going to keep buying me food. I don’t want to get fat.”

“Don’t worry I won’t feed you enough to make you fat.”

The waitress brought the card back and some mints. We told her thanks then went out to the car. Then we drove to Brent’s house. That’s when it hit me. I finally get to see where he lives. We went into the rich part of town. Why do all the people that I talk to turn out to be wealthy. I am the poorest person from, my group of friends. It’s kind of annoying really.

We pulled into his driveway and I got out of the car. I was in shock. His house was huge.

We walked inside and my jaw nearly hit the floor. The house was beautiful. Everything was white. Everything was clean. I wasn’t used to this kind of clean. Yeah I had to clean my house, but it never got this clean. No matter what there was always a mess.

“I love your house.”

“You do? I hate all the white. So I had my room painted black. Lets head up there and get started.”

He led me up to his room. He wasn’t kidding when he said that he had his room painted black. Even the carpet was black. He has one wall covered in his soccer trophies. The rest of his room looked like any other teenagers room. Posters on the walls, and stuff everywhere.

“Do you want something to drink?”

“Yeah, a coke would be great.”

Brent went over to his computer desk. That’s when I noticed that there was a mini fridge under it. When he bent over I couldn’t help but stare at his butt. Oh my god, the shape of it. It’s perfect roundness. I started to get a hard on. Then he stood back up. I looked away as fast as I could. Brent walked over to me and handed me my drink.

“OK you ready to get started?” Brent said as he grabbed his bag.

“Yeah I guess so…………….let’s see what Teach put in that packet for you.”

He handed me the packet and I looked at the first page. When I saw what was on it, I looked up at Brent’s face. I was confused.