It's a beautiful Friday morning, the birds are singing, the smell of fresh waffles is in the air and I've never been this excited to go to school in my life! It's a gorgeous day in spring and for once I won't be putting it to waste in front of a screen or doing homework. I got out of bed with every bit of sleep left behind on my pillow and got out one of my good outfits. For a second I had to think why I was in such a good mood, I dreamt that I went to bed with the current love of my life, Henry. That usually upsets me when I wake up and realize no one is really there, but then I remembered: Henry and I spent time alone together here in my house, and although nothing happened, we managed to get a little closer to each other. But there was something lingering in the back of my mind...for some reason I shouldn't be looking forward to the rest of the day. It wasn't the party he invited me to, I love parties. It's not that prom was coming up and I didn't have a date; Sandra and Hilda both said that if they couldn't find a date they'd go with me. And Drew...Oh, Drew. I forgot to call him and he gets really offended when I don't give him my full attention. He's very sensitive sometimes, and I could tell something was bothering him, but I had no idea what.
I'll be sure to explain that I was busy mas-um, cleaning my room after Henry left. After I was done getting dressed, I ran downstairs and took a seat next to my sister Tori while my mom made our plates. No, my father doesn't live with us; he just comes over whenever mom needs help with something. It's not such a bad thing though: my mom and dad only get along in small doses. My father has expressed to us over and over again that the simple married life just isn't for him; he wants to be a "swinger" for as long as possible. We all understand, my mother is happy as long as he's sending a big chunk of his paycheck every week and he keeps the problem child, Tori, in line. It's cool with us as long as no little brothers and sisters start popping up. But it would be nice if he spent a little more time with us.
"What are you day dreamin about Dare", Tori asked?
"I was thinking, mom, can I go to a party tonight"?
"Sure, as long as you're with your friends and you stay safe. That boy that was here yesterday seems friendly, is he going with you"?
"Yea, he invited me and Drew so I guess we'll be going to his house after school until the party starts", I needed to stop with the small talk so I could go outside and meet Hilda. She usually drives me to school but if I'm not outside when she passes, she just leaves without me. Trust me though, she's a lot nicer than she sounds. If I can count on anyone to beat someone up for me, it's her. "Okay, we'll see you later, and don't do anything I wouldn't do," Tori yelled out. Well that doesn't leave much out of the question. As soon as I walked outside, Hilda's car pulled up in front of my driveway. I got in and said wassup to her.
"So what's going on for today", she asked.
"A party, Henry invited me and Drew to something tonight, you wanna come"?
"Can't-work. But it's good ya two are hitting it off. You need somebody besides these other wacko friends you got.
"Yea, I think Henry's good for me too". After saying that, she gave me one of those looks that she always gives when questioning my sexuality. But this time, I didn't curse her out for doing it, or start with my denials. I was so close to telling her I might be in love with him, I wanted so bad to tell someone, but I held off because I knew it was likely that my love wouldn't be reciprocated. So I just nodded my head and turned up the radio so she wouldn't start asking me questions that I didn't want to answer. Once we got to school, the day dragged on horribly slow until finally, history class came! First things first though, I knew I was going to catch hell for not calling Drew when he expected me to. So when I went to sat next to him, he immediately gave me that evil look. "Okay, I know you're mad, sorry but my mother came home and made me clean up the house and cook so I didn't have time to call you".
"Oh, did Henry help you clean everything", he asked in a very sarcastic voice.
"What's your problem with him? It's not like he's taking your best friend or anything, you're still my best buddy here. Is there something you're not telling me", I asked him.
"Well there was something I thought you should know but I didn't want to say it in front of him, or everyone in this class. I'll tell you later, just promise me you won't go to that party with him".
"What? Why? I haven't gone out in weeks and this party sounds really fun". I wonder if he's jealous...or is it possible that he likes me the way I like Henry? Being the only gay or bi person I know, I have to assume that there's atleast one other gay person in this school. It seems unlikely that Drew would be the one; I was under the impression he was against homosexuality. His parents are those radical religious types and some of their assholeness probably rubbed off on him. But seriously, why wouldn't he want me to hang out with Henry?
"I'll tell you as soon as nobody else is listening, but trust me, you'll be happy you didn't go when we get a chance to talk". Weird...I know Drew is my friend, and I do trust him, but he could be keeping me away from the person I want to be with for reasons that are insignificant.
"I don't know Drew, I'll think about it". With that I went back to my seat and realized that a quarter of the class had gone by and Henry hadn't shown up yet. Although I have no reason to be, I was starting to get worried. He was never late, but I don't know how often he's absent. So I sat there waiting, while everyone else paired up with their partners and finished their project. I've never felt so alone. It felt like everyone had a friend but me, and on top of that thoughts kept running through my mind that Henry could be in some kind of trouble. I knew his older brother was in a gang, and who knows, Henry could've gotten caught up with that somehow. I don't know what it was, but something in my heart was telling me that he wasn't okay. I think I'm seriously falling in love with him, more so than I was before. Several minutes later, the bell rang, everyone left, and still no Henry. When everyone finally left the room, I went up to Ms. Verona and asked her if she knew where "my partner" was.
"No Derek, he shouldn't have any meetings or anything today, maybe he's just sick. I'm sure he'll be back on Monday". She smiled and continued packing her supplies. I left the room and wandered aimlessly toward my next class when I realized I still had his phone number. Maybe I should call him...but he might think that was weird. We only just met yesterday, but I need to know that this feeling I have is just my imagination. So what if he thinks I'm gay...I am, aren't I!? I made up my mind to skip my last class and go to the office.
"Can I help you sir"?
"Yes, I need to um...call my brother. I have to make sure he's okay, it's really important". She didn't hesitate handing me the phone, now I got her worried.
"Press 6 and dial the number, I hope your brother is alright". I dialed the number as my hands began to sweat. It started ringing and I felt like I could be doing the wrong thing. Whatever was going on was none of my business, I should hang up-
"Hello"? Too late.
"Uhhh hi, is this Henry"?
"Yea, Derek"? It was good to hear his voice, even if I was still nervous.
"Uh-huh, you weren't in class today and I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I'm sorry for calling, it's just that the project"-
"No, thanks, I really appreciate it. I was out because...well...can I meet you after school? ...in the parking lot"?
"Definitely, no problem".
"Okay good, I'll see you there", he said and hung up. Now I feel better because he didn't call me freak and slam the phone down. But I wonder what he wanted to talk to me about? He had other friends, even though he seemed kind of distant from his male friends and all his female friends were just trying to get laid. Whores. I gave the phone back to the secretary and ran outside. The bell would ring in less than a half hour and school would be over. I went to stand under the light pole and only waited for about 5 minutes when Henry came walking up the street. It took everything I had not to run up to him and shove my tongue in his mouth. I could imagine the taste of him, the feel of his slim and muscular body pressed against mine. It was just so good to see him after waiting...but those thoughts flew out of my head when I saw he wasn't in a good mood, and he had a deep scratch under his left eye. I couldn't tell if it was from a punch or a knife or whatever but it looked painful.
"Oh man, Henry what happened"? He kept his head low, trying somewhat to hide the mark from me. After standing there for five seconds, he lifted his head and looked me square in the eye.
"Derek...can I trust you"? The way he asked me made me want to pull him into my arms and cradle him. I could tell he was hurt emotionally as well as physically, and I couldn't stand the site of anyone, a friend in pain.
"Sure you can, I promise if you need my help, I'm here for you". After I said that, his eyes began to tear up. He grabbed onto me and held me as tight as I wanted to hold him. I think he did it because he didn't want me to see him cry, because a second later I could hear him sobbing and trying to cover it up at the same time.
He let go after about a minute to compose himself and wipe his face with his shirt. "I'm so sorry, it's just...you called at the perfect time. I didn't know what to do, or who to go to and then...you called. I didn't even think you cared, no one else did, I guess it's cause you were meant for me". Come again, did he just say what I think he said, or was that me fantasizing again. Crap I've got to stop doing that, now I don't know what's real and what's all in my mind. He was looking straight into my eyes the whole time he said it though, but then he kinda turned away.
"Ummm, could you repeat that", I asked on impulse. Took him a while to answer me...
"Nah it's just...I don't feel like my friends are...my friends. Like they're just kind to my face and stabbing my back. You're the only person who ever truly seemed to give a shit about me. Ever"!
"That's probably just all in your head". But come to think of it, before I knew who `Henry' was, I had heard his name at the end of a lot of insults. I never paid much attention to it, nor did I think it was him because those same people would be all jolly to him the next day. Not everyone though, most people respected him and the faculty loved him, so it was probably a lot of jealousy. "Are you gonna tell me how you got that scratch on your face?"
"I don't really want to talk about it, maybe later. Right now I just want to...go to that party tonight. We're still on right"? Well gosh, after whatever he went through he still wants to go to a highschool party? I was hoping he wouldn't feel up to it since Drew told me explicitly not to go. But I already promised Henry I'd do whatever I can to help him. I couldn't just leave him like this, and Drew didn't offer any good reason to not go with him.
"Yea we can still go, but I haven't asked any of my friends to come so it might just be us two". Which is exactly how I want it. Actually I had forgot to ask Sandra because I was so busy being worried about Henry during class.
"That's okay, I'm not in the mood to make new friends anyway. I just need to let go for a while, get my mind off of things. But my brother can't take us anymore, do you mind walking"?
"Not really, time will fly if we're talking and stuff on the way". And I am soooo counting on the `and stuff'. Just then the bell rang, and already people started to make their way out of the building.
"Come on, I don't want any of the teachers to see me and think that I cut their class", he said. "And thanks again, you don't know how much I need a friend right now".
"Like I said, any friend of mine can have whatever I can give". After another friendly hug, we made our way out of the school grounds. I had completely forgotten how far away from the school I lived, and now I was stuck walking that distance instead of taking the bus. But being with Henry made it so much better. We talked about nothing and everything the whole time, while in the back of my mind I was wondering what the hell had happened to him and what was going on in his life. I could tell he didn't let his trust fly too far with anyone, and I can understand why. But between him not telling me much about his life, and Drew knowing something important that I didn't, I felt like I was in the dark about everything going on right in front of my face. Yesterday he told me his brother was in a dangerous gang, and that he would be taking us to the party. I wonder if his gang life spilled into the rest of the family; maybe Henry got into a fight because of it. I just hope nobody was seriously hurt.
It was still early by the time we reached my neighborhood, so we decided to stop at the pizza restaurant by my house and get something quick to eat. We sat down in the far corner of the restaurant because my sister sometimes came here after work and I didn't want her to think I was on a date or anything. "Can I have a small pepperoni pizza ma'am", I asked the waitress, the same woman who always waited on me.
"Wouldn't you rather have chicken pizza"? Henry suggested.
"No. I like pepperoni".
"But it's chicken, just try it, chicken goes good with everything".
"But pepperoni goes best with pizza".
"Come on Derek, trust me, it'll make me feel better, and you're going to love it", he said laughing.
"I've tried it, and I still like pepperoni better". I never eat anything BUT pepperoni.
"Come on please"? He grabbed my left hand and literally started caressing it with his thumbs like he knew how much I was in love with him. "Please? If you don't like it, I'll pay for all of it, AND buy you dinner next time". He had me as soon as he touched my hand. I didn't know how to react to it though, did he somehow know I was into him and he could get whatever he wanted by teasing me?
"Ummm, we can order chicken...if you give me my hand back". I didn't mean for it to come out like that, I wanted him to know that I liked him, but I didn't want him to go telling everybody he knew I was gay.
"Thanks, and um, sorry about your hand". He seemed embarrassed about it; I think I just mistakenly verified to him I was straight. I've got to change that and leave that window of opportunity open.
"Don't worry about it, it was all good with me". I would actually love for him to keep teasing me like that. But now I have to wonder if I could have a chance with him. There's always hope, and being that we became such good friends in a day, next week anything can happen. The waitress returned quickly with the pizza and Henry dug in first as if he were starving. "This isn't so bad", I told him, referring to the chicken topping.
"See, I told you".
"But pepperoni is still better. Way better, so save your money cause I eat like a horse at dinner".
"Haha, okay fine, I'll treat you this weekend".
"It's a date"! I took out my wallet and put five dollars on the table. "But we can split it this time". He smiled and added a five and we made our way out the door. By now, it was time to head to the party so we made our way there, which was only a couple blocks from my house.
"Listen Derek, I gotta thank you again for doing all this. This might sound weird and all, but in the past few hours I've had more fun with you than with any of my friends before".
"Thanks Henry, I'm happy I can cheer you up. I can tell already we're gonna be cool for a long time". We entered the building where the party was being held, and even though we were early, the dance floor was already half way full. The music bumped loud and heavy with some reggaeton that I couldn't understand, all the lights were dimmed, with colorful lasers lighting the room.
"Hey, I see a couple of my friends at the bar, come on", Henry said guiding me in that direction. We went and sat down and before anything else, they offered him a shot of some brown liquor. Two of them I recognized from school; they were sort of troublemakers that I would rather not hang out with. When I approached them with Henry, they didn't even acknowledge my presence. We didn't know each other well, but they probably had too much alcohol in their system to identify anyone else's face. Instead of turning it down like I thought he would do, Henry replied, "Thanks man, I've been needing this all day", and downed it in a second. Henry offered me one too, but I turned it down. One of us had to be sober enough to get the other back home.
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned around to see Jared from our history class. "What's up Jared"? He had two girls with him, one obviously related to him, and the other must've been his girlfriend.
"Just chillin, I didn't know you was into parties dog"?
"Well Henry begged me to come with him, but it was time for me to get out anyway", I said jokingly.
"Well let me help you out a little, my sister says she wants to dance with you". Jared had helped me out plenty already; to think that if he wasn't absent yesterday, I probably would've never gotten to know Henry. So I wasn't very interested in his sister, but I'd rather be dancing than watching Henry get drunk. Just then P-Diddy's latest song came on.
"Mmmm, this is my song, come on boy and lets dance", his sister said as she all but dragged me onto the dance floor. "I'm Candace, what's your name cutie"?
"I'm...Derek. Nice to...uh...meet you Candace".
She turned around and began grinding her butt into my dick, then whispered into my ear, "you can call me Candy". I couldn't help but get a little turned on, she wasn't that pretty, but girl had it going on below the neck. And just so you know, we weren't the only ones dancing like this, everybody was doing it. We danced through 3 or 4 songs, the whole time she was trying really hard to arouse me, but I couldn't stop thinking about all the crazy things that happened so far today. Furthermore, I was imagining myself with Henry instead of her. After the fifth song, when my woody had gone soft again, she decided to quit. "Look boy, if you don't know what to do with this then you don't need to back the hell up", she said louder than I was comfortable with, probably looking for attention.
"Hey, you were the one who asked to dance with me, you should've told me if you weren't able to keep up", quick thinking. By now a couple people were staring and I was not about to let her embarrass me.
"Whatever", she said flicking her hair and walked out, leaving me in the middle of the dance floor. More people were looking now, and apparently the DJ took notice too, because just then the lights went out and he changed to a fast Latin song. I started to walk away while the room was dark, but somebody pulled me to the side.
"Come on, I'll teach you how to dance bachata", Henry said trying to save me the embarrassment. He started dancing to the rhythm of the song with surprisingly good moves. I wasn't up for learning a new style of dance, but it was almost too dark for anyone to see so, what the heck. I tried to copy his amazingly swift moves without tripping over my own feet, but I wasn't nearly as good as he was at it. He moved closer so he could see if I was doing it right; when he saw I wasn't, he took my hands and guided me through the steps. Normally I wouldn't be seen holding hands with another boy like this in public, but this was different, I couldn't resist his touch, and he was only teaching me how to dance so no one should suspect anything. And even if it did look kind of gay, only a couple people were able to see us in the dark anyway.
After I got the steps down packed, he let go and moved around me so that I was in front of him. Just when I thought I looked silly dancing weirdly by myself, the song changed to a slow `love making' ballad; one I couldn't believe they were playing at a party like this. Through the laser lights I could see people getting really close, and if they weren't dancing nastily before, they were definitely doing it now. I was about to stop dancing when I felt a hand come around from my back and hold me in place by my stomach. I knew it was Henry's hand, but it got odder when I felt him move closer to me; so close our bodies were pressed together. He wrapped both his arms around me, much like all the other couples were doing, and started slow dancing with his front to my back, breathing on the back of my neck with a slow and sensual pace.
"Henry, what are you"-
"Shhh", he said as he placed his finger over my mouth. A million thoughts flew through my head at once, but I completely lost track of every one of them when I felt him nibble on my left ear a little. I melted in his arms, oh my gosh it was like Heaven. He gently pulled on the tip of my ear with his teeth, while his hands roamed over the front of my body, eventually finding their way under my shirt and over my chest and abs. I felt his hand stop at my nipples and lightly caress them. By now my little soldier was at full attention, which he took full advantage of by sliding his hand over the huge bulge in my jeans. I couldn't believe this, why was he doing this now? Why here? I wanted to stop because this was practically sexual harassment to anyone who could see us, but it felt so good that I couldn't. The way he touched my body: holding me so close I feel hear his heartbeat, pulling me even closer with his right hand over my bare chest, and his left hand exploring every inch of my body it could get to, his warm breaths gliding down my neck, and very slowly kissing me under my ear.
I began to feel his cock rising and he grinded it into me, nearly taking my asshole virginity on the dance floor. At that moment, I didn't care who knew I was gay, whether or not anyone saw. I have no idea how we got from dancing bachata to this, but I'm done asking questions. I want to savor every single moment of this. To hide my erection, I turned around to face him. I liked it better this way anyway, so my hands can do some exploring as well. He kept eye contact with me, with a dreary and wanting look in them staring deep into my soul. Then he put his face closer to mine, and when our mouths were close enough together, I realized something: Henry was totally drunk! The smell of strong alcohol filled my nostrils each time he exhaled, so much so that I can't believe I didn't realize it before. Now my conscience was coming back to me, at the worst time possible.
Should I continue...should I kiss him? How far should I take it knowing I might be taking advantage of him? Surly someone would see, and when he sobered up he might be mad enough to hurt me or something, plus I would be outing myself and harming him at the same time. But he wouldn't even have gotten this close to me if he didn't want to do something before he was drunk...right? While all these thoughts are flowing through my head, an otherwise occupied portion of my attention told me that something seriously wrong was going on behind me. A person...but I couldn't take my attention away from Henry. Just a peck away from my face, still in my arms, holding me like he never wanted to let go. I returned to reality when the lights undimmed just a bit, and it allowed me to see a horrified look on Henry's face. Before I could turn around to see who was yelling behind me, Henry flung me to the side just before a fist flew past my head and landed square into Henry's jaw. I stumbled to catch my balance, while Henry entirely lost consciousness in my arms. Who the hell...
Hope all of you liked that one, it was definitely my favorite so far. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed their comments, keep up the support! And I've tried to make it easier to read for you guys by changing the format, let me know if it's better or not. Chapter 4 is called "no more Hiding", and it'll be here in about a week. ..Till next time everybody..