Disclaimer : If you here by now then you know the rules, if not go check chapter 1
Other stories by me : "Around My Way" High school/ Interracial last updated 2/1/05
AUTHORS NOTE: So I just want to thank all of you for your wonderful support. Especially Jo Jo, author of the wonderfully crafted tale, "Angst", in the high school section. I've have had the pleasure of getting to know you and I'm proud to call you my boy! I highly recommend his story and if you haven't read it, then go do that now. But, if you have read it...do it again! Right now! In fact, stop reading this right now and go check it out!! You heard me!! And I command you to bestow you wonderful comments about Jo Jo's story to his email after your finished. Are you still reading this? What did I tell you to do two sentences ago? I'm a girl so you have to listen to me! Oh and ...my birds are still lost!
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"I HATE ANTHONY"
By Maddy A. Dante
CHAPTER FIVE : JACKY'S METHOD
Everything felt like it was spinning out of control. The past couple of days for Brian had been beyond strange. First he gets partnered up on a writing assignment with the one person he would rather see drop off the face of the earth, then there was the whole incident on his porch. He wondered just what in the hell did Anthony think he was doing showing up that night and why he ran away once he saw him. Then there was that whole business with Jacky. For the life of him, Brian did not know what was wrong with him. The vibes he would feel around him left him both confused and feeling unsure of himself. Sometimes he would catch Jackson staring at him and that bemused and intrigued him. But, Jacky was his friend and that's all that he wanted him to be. Right? The level of Jacky's weirdness hit a high point when he called Brian early that Saturday morning. He told him that he forgot to invite all of their other friends over so it would have to be just the two of them. Brian tried to protest, saying that he could get still get everyone together, but Jacky told him not to. He said that he didn't really feel like hanging out with a group of people anyway and made up some story about his parents not wanting more than two of his friends over so that wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Brian thought about calling at least Riley anyway, but knew that he wasn't up for hanging out. Riley had been having a lot of problems at home and Brian didn't want to bother him. Brian knew that he should have been the one to invite all of their friends to hang out at Jacky's like he had planned, but he had been too busy with homework and never got around to it. That's when Jacky so valiantly volunteered to call everyone. Evidently, as he claimed, Jacky had also forgotten, but he still thought that the two of them should hang out anyway. Everything inside of Brian was telling him not to go, but he didn't want to offend his friend, so he went. Butterflies and all.
As Brian sat on the bus the lead him across town, the anxiety and nervousness that he was feeling only grew stronger and stronger with each passing minute. He had this feeling that something big was about to happen. Call it intuition, but he was sure that something was going to go down, he just didn't know if it was going to be something good...or bad. Brian hoped that he wouldn't run into Carlos, who lived in the house next door to Jackson. If it was one person in the world that he hated even more than Anthony, it had to be Carlos. Brian had never given anyone a reason not to like him, especially Carlos. It was Carlos who had been the one to steal Brian's best friend away from him, not the other way around. At the time Brian didn't think that anything or anyone could come between him and Anthony, how wrong he had been. It was like Carlos enjoyed making Brian suffer. No matter what he would do, Brian could never manage to avoid Carlos's wraith. If he saw Carlos walking down the hallway, he would cast his eyes down to the floor, not even daring to look his way. Carlos would laugh at him anyway and start in with the jokes. Jokes about his choice of clothes, his sneakers, his hair and whatever else minuscule flaw that he found. Carlos had always hated him, even when they were younger. Even when he had still been friends with Anthony, Carlos was mean to him, but it was always when Anthony wasn't around. Brian would always tell Anthony about it after each time it happened. He would always tell Brian not to worry about it and like a fool he believed him. He thought that his Beetle would never let anything bad happen to him. All the faith and hope that he had put into Anthony had been proved wrong that day he let Carlos and those other boys pick on him. Even now years later he could still remember the smile on Anthony's face as he walked past. He could remember the small trace of freckles that ran across Anthony's nose and how it crinkled as he smiled passing him. He never got the chance to ask Anthony why he didn't help him that day and he probably never would. Anthony was a part of his past, something that he should have long forgotten about. It was just every now and then thoughts of Anthony would surface inside of him and Brian never understood why they still would after all of the time that had past.
Jacky lived in a large house in the nicer section of the city. Although the city as a whole could be classified as a ghetto, Jacky's neighborhood was rather pleasant. Brian was a little envious of the life that Jackson had. He wasn't jealous, he just wished that he had the family that Jacky had. Jackson's parents had been together for close to twenty-five years and Jackson may have been their only child, but he had a large amount of cousins and other relatives whom he was close to. Brian often longed to be apart of a close-knit family, instead of it just being him and his mother. Brian walked up the walkway towards Jacky's house, pausing at the foot of the porch steps. Something was telling him to turn right back around and go home, but he couldn't do that. He couldn't just ditch his friend like that, it wasn't in his nature. He tentatively reached out a brown hand and rung the bell. He waited a few minutes before ringing the bell again. No one was answering and relief washed over him. He took that as a sign to go home, but decided to ring the bell one last time. There was still no answer. Brian had just turned around to head down the steps when the front door was thrown open. There stood Jacky, with a small white towel wrapped around his waist in all of his glory. Jackson may have been half black, but his skin was a lightly olive tone and held a pinkish glow to it giving the appearance of a full Italian heritage. His round dark brown eyes had an almost girlish appearance with his long curly eyelashes, but there was nothing feminine about him. It just slightly softened his looks. Brian tried not to stare at Jackson's well-formed body, but it was hard not to. He stood tall at a little over six feet and his body was muscularly cut without looking overdone. Brian's eyes followed the droplets of water that trickled down Jackson's chest, slowly passing his brightly rose colored nipples. The chill from the late fall weather had hardened them and Brian had to turn away so he wouldn't stare. He tried not to think the thoughts that he once had, but he was fighting a losing battle. He and Jacky were friends and only friends, but that didn't stop Brian from daydreaming.
"Hey man! Sorry bout that, I was in the shower." Jackson said as he moved a little to the left so Brian could come in. Brian had been to Jackson's house only a handful of times so he was a little unsure if he should just go and sit in the living room while Jackson went upstairs to change. He just stood at the entrance of the living room watching as Jacky jogged up the stairs towards his bedroom. Each tightly muscled calf flexed up and down with the pressure of Jackson's movements. `Stop that!' Brian scolded to himself. Jackson called for him to come up to his room and what Brian saw when he got there made him turn his back away shyly. There stood Jackson, naked as the day he was born grinning widely at Brian. Brian's face suddenly became consumed with heat and if he had been a few shades lighter, the awkwardness he was feeling would have shown on his face.
"Umm... My bad. I didn't know that you were...um..." Brian mumbled. It was hard for him to complete a sentence. Jackson laughed at his discomfort, wrapped the towel back around himself and took a step closer to him. Brian didn't know what Jackson's was doing, but whatever it was it freaked him out. Jacky's body pushed up closely on Brian's and a thrill ran through both of them. Jacky stood back and wrapped the towel back around him in hopes of hiding his oncoming excitement. He leaned over him with his shoulder pushing into Brian's. He did it in such a manner that if anyone had been watching them from a far, it would have looked like an intimate embrace. Brian thought that he was leaning in for a kiss and he panicked. He wondered if he was ready for that. He could smell the fresh soap, Ivory Spring he thought, radiating of Jacky's body. The nape of his neck glistened with little translucent soap bubbles that slid down his back and onto his legs. The hairs on his legs looked extremely dark as the water made each follicle shine. Brian's body tensed up as Jackson's continued to press up closely to his. They weren't touching, but close to it. Jacky could feel the short puffs of breath coming from Brian and onto his skin. Brian could feel his hot breath bouncing off of Jacky's shoulder and back onto his face. Jacky's bare chest gilded over Brian's jacketed front. His face was at eye level with the pulse point of his neck and Brian fought the urge to lean up and kiss it. `Stop that!' He yelled at himself again. Brian could see, as well as feel Jackson's very long and semi erect penis that was resting against his thigh imprinted through the small towel. Jackson's strong olive toned arm reached just past Brian's neck and both of them tensed. Jackson's hand reached up and...pushed... his bedroom door closed. Brian let out a small sigh of relief and Jackson pulled back and looked at him questionably.
"Are you okay?" He asked Brian who had turned his gaze outward toward the open bedroom window. It was late fall and the weather was frigidly chill. At that moment a gust of cold wind came fluttering through and the curtains blew up almost as if they were warning Brian to leave. Jackson rubbed his hands up and down his arms trying to warm himself up, but made no attempts to cover up right away. Brian looked over at the window across the way and into the bedroom that was next door. You could clearly make out who was in there since the distance between the two houses wasn't great. There is where he saw Carlos and his former best friend and current enemy, engaging in what looked like a battle of wits in a video game. Brian moved out of sight of the window so in case Anthony happened to look over, he wouldn't see him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's a little cold in here though. Aren't you cold?" He asked Jackson who smirked in reply and went to close the window. Just as it was halfway to the point of closure, the annoying voice of Carlos could be heard.
"AYE YO! WHAT'S UP KID? YOU WANT TO COME OVER AND HELP ME WHOPP ANT'S ASS IN GRAND TURISMO?" Carlos yelled from his bedroom window. Jackson looked back at Brian and rolled his eyes. He didn't care too much for Carlos either, but they had managed to always get along fine. Brian pulled his eyes away from the bare, firm, tan colored cheeks of Jackson's backside just in the nick of time before getting caught. Or so he thought.
"I CAN'T! I HAVE A FRIEND OVER! Jackson replied.
"WHO?" He was unsure of how to answer that question. Jackson was aware that Carlos and Brian didn't get along and he didn't want to alert Carlos of Brian's presence so he bypassed the question.
"JUST A BUDDY FROM SCHOOL. I GOTTA GET DRESSED NOW, I'LL HOLLA AT YOU LADA".
"A'IGHT! LADA KID!" Carlos replied. Jackson closed the window, but left it open just a crack. He loved how the cool afternoon's air would dry his skin. He had invited Brian over because he wanted to get him alone. He wanted to talk to him about how he was feeling, but he was too afraid to admit his thoughts to anyone, let alone someone who he was friends with. The trick was, getting the courage to follow through with his plan. His plan was to see how Brian would react to certain things that he would do. Already things were going just the way he had hoped. He knew that Brian thought that he was about to kiss him. He took the fact that Brian hadn't move away as a good sign. If anything, Brian just stood there waiting to see if it would happen. He caught Brian staring at his body more than once and he thought that maybe Brian was `curious' too. Jacky would have to find a way to make him make the first move. That way if anything went wrong, the blame wouldn't be on his shoulders.
Jacky threw on a pair pajama bottoms and nothing else. It was a Saturday so why bother with getting dressed he thought to himself. He turned to face Brian who stood close to the door with his eyes glued on the floor. Brian hadn't took more than three steps into the bedroom since walking in. This wasn't the first time that he had been in there, but it felt like it. All of a sudden everything that was old just appeared to be new. Brian was staring at things that he had seen a thousand times and never took an interest in before that day. Jackson could plainly see the discomfort of his friend and felt bad about it. He knew he was deliberately causing it and he knew that he should stop. Jackson wasn't the manipulative type as it was and he especially didn't want to be that way towards someone he considered a good friend. It was just he HAD to see how things would play out. Jacky sat on his bed and patted the space next to him for Brian to sit down. Brian still had on his army surplus jacket and sat down uncomfortable next to him. The feeling of weirdness and awkwardness that he had felt all morning had only deepened. Brian's intuition kicked in high gear and he just knew that something wasn't all together right.
"So what do you want to do today?" Brian asked him, looking at the posters of rappers and athletes in the bedroom rather than at Jacky himself. Jackson smirked at the thoughts that were running through his head, but tried to push them away.
"Oh, I don't know, what did you have in mind?" He replied and Brian looked into his eyes briefly before looking away. Familiar feelings were coming back and Brian didn't want them to. He was happy with how things were between them and he didn't want things to get complicated. If his crush returned that would cause too much conflict and confusion for him and that was something that he did not want nor need. Jackson placed his hand on Brian's thigh for a moment causing him to jump up and off the bed startled. From the outside, Jackson looked at Brian questionably, but from the inside he was smiling. He knew what he was doing and despite his resolve not to, he just couldn't pass up the opportunity. His guilt began to fade as anticipation of what could happen consumed him. Embarrassed by his reaction, Brian quickly thought of something to divert attention away from his actions.
"Hey, when did you get this?" Brian asked as he picked up a small white sea shell of the window sill. It was one of those shells that people always put up to their ear, pretending they could hear the ocean, but knowing they weren't really hearing anything. It was a stupid thing to do, but it was the only thing he could think of. Jackson smirked as he walked over and took the sea shell out of his hands. Their fingers touched at that moment and lingered before Brian pulled them back and put them inside of his army jacket pockets. Brian had a nervous habit of twiddling his fingers when he was anxious about something and everyone who was close to him knew that. Although Jacky couldn't see if he was doing that for sure, he just knew that he was. Jackson stepped closer to Brian and they were just inches away from each other. Brian looked away and then back into Jacky's dark black eyes. They were close enough to be kissing.
"The shore." Jackson replied. He knew that Brian could care less about some stupid sea shell. It was his lame attempt at a diversion that Jackson didn't buy. Brian could feel and smell Jacky's freshly mint scented breath blow down into his face. A deep stirring inside of his pants could be felt. Timidly, at first Brian brought his gaze up. Towards Jackson's well defined stomach and past his dark pink nipples and into the coal black eyes that at one time set of a fire inside of him that he never thought could be put out...but it did go out. He just didn't feel that way anymore. True, old habits die hard, but eventually they did go away. That didn't stop Brian from wanting to kiss him though. He was after all a sixteen year old male, he would have kissed almost anything just for the affection. Jackson rested the shell back down on the window sill and inched his way closer. Brian made no attempt to move away. His eyes never left Jackson's. `Should I just do it?' Jacky asked himself. Closer his face leaned down to meet Brian's who's face was unconsciously leaning upwards. Slowly their faces inched closer and closer until their lips had touched. Both of their eyes stayed open. Looks of confusion and fear ran across both of their faces. Neither was sure who's tongue ventured into the others mouth first, but it didn't stay long. The kiss wasn't passionate or anything that would be considered sexy, but it was still a kiss. It was over too fast for either to fully understand what the true meaning of their kiss meant. As they broke apart from the kiss, the smacking of their departing lips could be heard as everything else in the room was silent. Neither knew what to say to the other and neither knew what they wanted to hear. Everything had happened to quickly to process.
"What just happened?" Brian asked. His body was hot to the touch and he took of his dark green army jacket leaving him a white cotton polo shirt and sweat pants. The heavy denim of the jacket was constricting. He began to pace around the bedroom with his eyes locked onto Jackson's. He couldn't believe that they had just kissed. `Why did that just happen?' He asked himself. With each passing day, things just were getting stranger and stranger around him.
"I don't know! Shit! What just happened?" Jackson replied. He was elated by what had happened, but also bothered because Brian didn't seem to feel the same way. He didn't look happy. If anything Brian looked worried. The anxiety on his face was etched only with unease. Jacky only hoped that he hadn't just messed up one of the best friendships that he had, but he knew that things had changed.
"I don't know...this is too weird, man too weird!" Brian said as he kept pacing back and forth in the bedroom, his feet leaving prints on the carpet. Jackson stood by his window resting his hands on the window sill unsure of what had just occurred. He thought that if he kissed Brian all the answers would come, but he was only left with more questions. He ran his hands through his closely cropped dark curly hair and closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. None came to mind. He suddenly felt hot and the air in his room was constricting. He threw open his bedroom window in search of fresh air. The cold air rushing on to him, hardening his nipples once again. He stared off in space hoping that would help him find the clarity that he needed to think. The wind speed had picked up and his dark royal blue curtains blew wildly past him. He looked down into his backyard at the browning grass trying to think of a way to clean things up. The silence in the room was quiet...deafening almost.
"I think you kissed me." Jacky said. Brian turned around and glared at him. He would take shit from people that he didn't care too much for, but he would never take crap from a friend.
"I KISSED YOU? NO...WE KISSED, BUT I DEFINETLY DID NOT KISS YOU!" He yelled using hand motions pointing rapidly between Jacky and then himself. Jackson looked away. He knew that there was no point in denying it.
"Well, maybe we did kiss, but what does that mean? Are we gay?" He asked. To Brian, he looked beautiful standing by the open window, dark royal blue curtains flowing past Jackson who stood only in pajama bottoms. Hunched over and his face turned away from Brian, Jackson was in a panic. He squeezed his bare toes into the carpet to help relieve the some of the tension that he felt, but it didn't help. His darkly colored eyebrows furrowed in confusion and fear. `I can't tell him that.' Brian said to himself as he prayed that the familiar feelings would stay away. He walked over to Jackson and looked into his eyes and smiled.
"One half ass kiss doesn't make you gay." Brian told him. He didn't want to admit to Jacky that he was gay so he danced around the question by making a joke out of it. Jackson turned around and looked gratefully at him. He couldn't help but to notice Brian's beauty once again. Jacky didn't feel altogether "gay", but at that moment there was no one, boy nor girl, who were as beautiful as Brian was to him, no one. It was Brian's dark brown skin that Jacky thought held the most beauty. The rich and smoothness of it's texture drove him crazy to the point where Jacky couldn't resist touching him again. He reached out one hand and stroked Brian's cheek slowly. Brian looked up at him frightened only to be greeted with Jacky's broad grin.
"Half ass? I'll have you know that I'm a great kisser." Jackson said teasingly. Brian instantly felt at ease again and was in the mood for some witty banter. He was glad that some of the tension was gone and they could go back to being playful.
"Sure you're right...you're the best!" Brian said with false enthusiasm as he began to laugh. His laughter was cut off when Jackson came out of no where and embraced him a tight squeeze and laid the most passionate of kisses on him. Brian was too stunned to immediately respond so he didn't at first. He was afraid at what kissing Jacky again meant, but curiosity as to what it could lead to got to him. It was the first kiss for both with another boy and it was...it was...beyond words. Before they knew it, they were making out, full fledged making out. Hands roaming, tongues stroking, they were consumed with each other. Jackson was in heaven. He felt total happiness and peace with Brian. Brian didn't know what he felt. A part of him was thrilled with what was happening. But, another part was telling him that it was wrong. Jackson was his friend and that's how things should have stayed, but now things had changed . Things were different now and not necessarily for the better. The apprehension that Brian had felt was slowly pushed aside to feelings of lust that lay inside of every sixteen year old male. Jackson and Brian didn't think about what the ramifications of their actions would be. They didn't think about how their friendship would be affected. They would think of that later. Their only thoughts were of the desire that at that moment they were consumed in. Confusion lay in the air, present with every wondering hand and stroking tongue, but both of them ignored that fact. Now was not a time for worries, only the enjoyment of their kisses were felt. The wind blew the curtains past both of their faces as they were oblivious to the world around them. Oblivious to two dark green eyes glaring at them with heart-ache and longing from a window across the way, in the house next door. A single tear threatened to fall from one of those evergreen eyes, but that urge was suppressed along with other desires that should never be brought out in the open. Things had changed and not necessarily for the better....
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