Chapter 11:
It was over. It was REALLY over! All my finals worries had come to an end with my US history final... I could not believe that all the stress and worrying and shit was finally OVER! Now I could go to my last class of the YEAR and watch a movie and chill out... with Chris.
Oh man, what was I going to do? How could I return it? How could I respond to him and not mess it up? My heart was in turmoil as I sat down at my table and waited for class to begin. I closed my eyes and tried to relax.
"Don't think too hard. You might smash the pea." Chris said as he sat down next to me. My heart damn near jumped into my throat.
"That's funny. Since when do you sit here?"
"Didn't you see the board? It says we can sit wherever we want. That is... if you don't want me to sit here, then I understand."
"No, it's ok. No. I just don't want you to get in trouble." I almost fainted looking into his eyes.
"That's cool. Are you doing anything after school?" Oh lord, this can't be happening. This is a dream...
"Not really," I heard myself answer, "I'm just gonna go home and chill out. Maybe watch a movie or something."
"Cool, man. My brother dropped me off but I think he's ditching class to go make out with his girlfriend."
"So... do you need a ride home?"
"I can walk it." Damn it, playing hard to get.
"No, it's ok. I can give you a ride. As long as you aren't in a hurry to get home or anything. I want to take my time when I drive home." Easy, Josh. Reel him in easy...
"I'm not in a hurry to get home. It's lonely there."
"Do you wanna come hang out at my house?"
"Sure," His eyes lit up, "That'll be great."
Right at the worst moment, the teacher walked into the room and got the projector started. I had to tear my eyes away from Chris so I wouldn't look TOO interested. Thank god for the dark lights, they could hide my private areas.
As I watched the movie, several times I felt his leg brush against mine. He was wearing shorts that day, giving me a completely edible view of his smooth legs and as I felt the silky skin brush against me, I had to close my eyes to keep from losing control. How was I going to survive having him in my house? I fought to keep from laughing, I felt so good at that moment.
RIIIIIIIIIIIING
The bell rang, ending my sophomore year and everything else that came after September. I took a deep breath and picked up my backpack, knowing that sooner or later, I'd have to face the picture of beauty and perfection sitting next to me.
"Well, we're juniors." Chris said, smiling.
"Oh yeah, 11th grade, baby." I rolled my eyes, "Well, are you ready to go or do you have to say bye bye to all your little girlfriends?"
"Ha ha ha. I'm ready if you are." He winked... OH GOD, he winked at me. Then he smiled, and my knees felt weak. I cleared my throat and we walked out of the room and into the hall.
The hooting and hollering in the hallway was almost defeaning and we found the quickest way out to the parking lot. As we stepped out into the bright, hot June sunlight, I was almost blinded by the glow off his hair. It made it look so golden and... and... perfect. It was so silky and soft... I just wanted to run my fingers through it. Smell it. Feel his bangs brush againt my thigh--
"Hey, big time. You ready to go?" Chris broke me out of my trance and we walked over to my car. It was rather warm inside and after a few minutes, his clean soapy scent bounced off the insides of the car. God, he smelled so good. I started the engine and managed to get us out of the parking lot and away from all the reckless drivers.
We drove through the nice, sunny LA afternoon and I glanced over at Chris a few times. Peeking at his golden hair, his perfect tan, his muscular legs... but I had to keep my mind on the road and all too soon, I pulled into my driveway and shut the car off.
"Well, we're here." Oh yeah. Real cool, Josh.
"I guess so. Are we gonna sit here in the car?"
"Let's go inside. Doesn't that sound fun?"
"Oh my yes."
We stepped out of the car into the sun and went over to the back door which was by the driveway. It took me a second to find the key and as I fiddled with the chain, Chris stood rather close to me. I could smell him. Soon enough, I managed to get us inside the dark, cool house and I dropped my backpack on a chair at the kitchen table. Chris watched me and followed suit. And we stood there.
"So... this is your house, huh?" God, he was so cute. "It seems so much more... lived in than mine."
"I'll take that as a backhanded compliment. Let's go in the living room. We can raid my dad's video collection. He has like every damn movie from the last four years." That's the ticket. Don't let him talk. Just keep talking...
We walked into the living room, and I tried not to look at him because I knew I'd lose every ounce of self control left in my body. He collapsed onto the couch while I picked through the rack of movies. Each one seemed so... not good enough. Starship Troopers, already saw it. RoboCop, too violent. Joy Luck Club, too... nice. Forrest Gump...ummm, no. I felt myself get red in the face as I frantically tried to find something suitable.
"Hey Josh," Oh god! He was getting impatient, "We don't have to watch a movie. We could just, you know...watch TV or do something else. It's not a big deal."
"TV. Good idea." I grabbed the remote, sat at the far end of the couch, and flipped the tv on, to my luck, MTV was playing a BSB video. I hurriedly changed the channel.
"Hey! I like the Backstreet Boys."
"Well, there's something better on." I kept changing the channels, sweat running down my brow.
"Josh, man. Are you ok? You look kinda... ripe."
"Huh? No. It's kinda hot out. I'm just... glad that school is over." I turned away to hide my disgust in myself.
"Oh man, I hear that. If I had to do any more algebra I was gonna go postal. But at least I had 6th period to look forward to."
I didn't know what to do. I felt like my vocal cords had been cut. This beautiful guy was sitting here on my couch and I was helpless. I felt lightheaded and dizzy, so I closed my eyes for a few seconds. Then I felt a hand on my knee...
"Josh? Are you ok? For real..." He was sitting right next to me on the couch, I could smell the gum that he was chewing.
"Yeah, I'm ok. I'm all right."
"You don't look like it. Maybe I should go..."
"No! It's not you. It's just this house. It's like that movie about the hotel. Do you want go for a walk?" Please say yes...
"Yeah, sure!" He liked that idea alot, "Let's go.."
Something felt so much better as we walked down the sidewalk in the afternoon sun. I felt less cramped and boxed in and alot less freaked out. As we strolled down the sidewalk, I decided to try and salvage the conversation.
"Are you doing anything this summer?"
"Nah, not really. I sort of feel like this is my last summer where I can goof off and not have to worry about "my future." Wow, give this kid a subject and he could TALK. God, that's sexy.
"I know how you feel. My dad hasn't brought up the "j" word but I know it's coming. I'm gonna have to pay for my car insurance somehow and that's gonna be rough." We stopped at a crosswalk.
"You could be a stripper!" He laughed.
"Yeah, sure. A bunch of creepy old... women, staring at me and trying to stuff money in my thong." We crossed the street and walked along a row of flowerbeds outside an elementary school. the last straggling youngsters were leaving. I smiled..
"--not have much room in there." Chris finished talking. Huh?
"What did you say?" Did he say...
"Nevermind, it's not important. Anyway.. where do we go from here?" We stopped at the corner and looked around.
"Well... why don't we go find someplace to sit? We can go over to the park and chill out there."
"That sounds great." He smiled and nudged me with his elbow.
We walked over to the local park place thing and picked out a nice shady spot on the grass. He sat down and layed back in the grass and after marvelling in his beauty, I followed suit. As I layed down next to him, I saw that his white t-shirt had pulled up a bit and I could see the waistband of his boxers peeking out above his shorts. I closed my eyes and tried to take my mind off of it.
"So..." He said, "Tell me about your brother. When does he come home?"
"Jason gets back from college in a week and a half. Then he has a few months before he starts working for the LAPD. My dad kinda pushed him into it."
"Is Jason the one who burned your teddy bear?"
"Oh GOD! Why did I tell you that?"
"Hey, man. I'm just asking." He laughed and rolled onto his side and rested his head on his hand. "Was Jason the one that did that or was that Jeremy? All those J's get me confused."
"Jason was the one who put my hand in warm water. Jeremy locked me in the car trunk. Jake put the ex-lax in my school lunches, Jamie told everyone at school I had rabies and Joel was the one that burned my teddy bear when I was 5."
"I remember Jamie. God, he was such a jerk to you."
I felt a lump in my throat. Oh God, not now. "Yeah... it's hard for me to talk about."
"Oh man. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something that would hurt you. Believe me, I know how you feel. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm ok. It's just that stuff is a sensitive thing for me."
"I understand totally. It's like when people talk about my mom. It just brings back so many emotions and stuff like that." He looked down for a second, "Let's make a deal."
That got my attention.
"I won't talk about your touchy stuff if you won't talk about mine... at least not yet. I mean, it can be healing but after a while. Ok?"
"Yeah, thats fine. It's a deal."
He smiled and rolled back and looked up at the leaves hanging over us, "I hope some bird doesn't shit all over us. This is my designer Wal Mart outfit."
I laughed and had to look away to keep from losing it totally.
"I'm serious! It isn't every day that a poor white kid like me can get some fancy shit from the Mart." His "white trash" accent was to funny to be believed.
"The Mart! Oh my God... you're so insane."
"I know. I should stop smoking kitty litter, huh?"
"Ok ok, stop." I was laughing so hard I thought I might pee myself. I didn't want to look THAT cool in front of him. I decided to approach things from a different angle, "So I bet you'll be hanging out with some hot babes this summer, huh?"
He chuckled and said, "Not really. Unless you count my grandma who I see when my dad takes me and Kevin to visit her. Other than that, there ain't no hot babes in my life."
I nodded. I had to be sure that these "signals" weren't just some delusional hormone induced false alarm. If I made a move and he didn't... it was too scary to even consider.
"Hey Josh, my brother is going out of town with his football buddies this weekend and my dad promised to take me camping. I know that if we actually do go, he'll spend all of his time on the phone or doing some kind of work."
"Yeah, and...?" I held my breath, this was too good to be true.
"This campground kicks ASS. Crystal Lake is the name of it and there's all sorts of stuff to do. But if we go, I'll have no one to do it with." He kind of emphasized 'do it' but thats neither here nor there, "Do you want to come with me? Keep me company?"
My heart jumped into my throat but I did a good job of keeping it under wraps. "That'd be great. I'll have to ask my parents but I'm pretty sure that they'll say yes. They'll be glad to get me out of the house while Jason is here, minimize the risk of fighting."
"So... you'll come?" His face lit up and it felt so good to see.
"Yeah. Is your dad ok with it?"
"Sure. I already asked him. He really likes you, Josh."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Hell yeah. My dad is a real proud guy. He has high standards."
"That's cool. How long are we going to be gone?"
"From Friday night until Sunday afternoon. Maybe Sunday night. We're bringing the food and two tents. All you need is a sleeping bag and clothes. T-shirts, shorts, swimsuit, stuff like that." He bit his lower lip and fiddled with the grass under his hand.
The thought of sharing a tent with-- "What's the sleeping arrangement?"
"Well," He smiled sheepishly, "My dad snores like a bastard. You and I would share a tent unless you REALLY want to be by yourself."
"No. It's ok. As long as it doesn't stink too badly."
"Hey man... no promises." He smiled, "It's gonna be really cool. We'll have lots of fun."
I smiled and looked at my watch. It was getting late. "It's kinda late, what do you say we head back to my house?"
He smiled and we got up and made the glorious walk back home and I thanked God that there wasn't anyone home. I leaned against the counter, "I'll call you tommorow?"
"Awesome. Are you going to give me a ride home or should I hitch?" He laughed, the most perfect laugh I'd ever heard.
"Well, let's go.."
Could life get any better than this?
To Be Continued...