Collin
"YOU ARE GOING TO FINISH YOUR DESSERT, AND YOU ARE GOING TO LIKE IT!!!!!!!!!!" I roared in Noah's face.
Noah, Alex & I were hanging out at Dade's for the day. We had gotten some things to snack on for a bit & were now just waiting for Noah to visit his smoothie-ice cream thing. But he was being slow about it & he had a pouty face on. Maybe it was a pouty face, I couldn't tell. He hardly smiled anymore, & it took a lot to get him to crack a smile. What better way to motivate somebody to eat their dessert than bellowing a line from Spongebob out in public?
He stared at me with his jaw cracked open, not that I could blame him. The entire store was looking over at us now, including Randy, who was working behind the counter. Noah was on his break.
"EAT!" Alex yelled at him. Noah's eyes snapped over to him, now completely confused with the onslaught of yells.
"What am I even doing?" he said.
"You're eating so SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLY!" I replied.
"So... what, you guys are timing me now?"
"No, but we wanna get out of here & you're holding us up."
"Ya know, you guys can LEAVE, I'm back to work any minute now anyway."
"Can't you ask your boss for the rest of the day off or something?" I whined.
"I can't just ask that, you know that," he said, taking a big spoonful of strawberry-watermelon & stuffing it in his mouth.
"That's right Collin, Noah can't do that. A goodie two shoes can't leave work just to have fun & enjoy spending time with friends," Alex said, rolling his eyes & knocking himself in the head with his fist.
Noah glared at him.
"I'm not a goodie two shoes," he said.
"Actually, I might believe you. I'm sure Jade's got some kinky stories between the two of you," I snickered.
Suddenly, Noah flicked his wrist & the rest of his smoothie splattered all over my shirt & lap. I sharply inhaled as the cold goo sunk through my clothes & froze my skin. I instantly stood up & glared angrily at Noah who had a nasty little sneer spread across his lips. Alex was stifling a giggle & when I looked over at Randy, I could see the same reaction. The people in the store were probably wondering the fuck was WRONG with these kids?
"You're a dick," I said as I reached for some napkins, not that they would do anything anyway.
"A dick? Ha, I thought I was a goodie two shoes. Alex?" he said, turning his head to our one-man audience.
"I heard 'dick' hahahaha," Alex traded up.
"Thanks pal," I shot him a dirty look.
"Thanks pal!" Noah said happily with a pat on the back.
"You should be fired. An employee throwing food all over a customer? Not very professional," I said, trying to wipe the crap off me.
"I'm on break, it doesn't count," Noah chuckled.
"Yes it does, shut the fuck up," I said.
"Well," he shrugged & stood up to gently wipe his mouth with a napkin, "whatever. I'm back to work now anyway."
"Good. Now maybe Alex & I can have a clean afternoon," I said, reaching for another napkin.
Just then, Alex grabbed his cup of Pepsi & threw it all over me, the brown cola splashing me coldly across my entire chest as I gasped.
"You prick!" I cried as I slapped him hard over the back of his head.
"All right all right, that's enough. Now I have to clean this up," Noah said.
"You deserve it," I said.
We said our goodbyes, grabbed some napkins & headed to the door, leaving Noah cleaning the floor & Randy still behind the counter requesting orders for people who wanted to know what was up with those weird kids.
As we left the store & started walking down the street, I gagged as I scrubbed fruity goodness off my clothes.
"Well, we got him to smile," Alex said to me.
"Yeah. But the Pepsi was so uncalled for," I said, shoving him into a building we were walking by. He laughed.
"Hey," I said as I sat down next to him as the previews started, the blackness of the theater wrapped around us.
"Hi."
"So Alex & I tried to get him to smile a bit earlier today at Dade's. I guess it worked but it's still hard to get anything out of him."
"He appreciates the attempts though, I guarantee it," Mark replied.
"What happened really affected him, huh. Remember, you promised not to tell anybody that I told you what happened to him. I promised not to tell & already I broke that by telling you & Alex, so if Noah or anyone else finds out-"
"I know Collin, relax. If I've told anyone, I promise you everything will be ok. And obviously what happened affects him. He's probably scared. Of what...I dunno, but that's my guess anyway."
"I can't believe his own possible future stepsister raped him. I mean...god, it's just like...it sounds like something out of some weird online fiction story," I shook my head.
"Well what's done is done. All that matters is what we can do to help him now. And as far as I know, there's not much we can do other than to show him we're always there for him without letting on that we know something's up. After all, a lot of people only thought he was out of school for a while because he had a family tragedy."
"I guess it was," I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
"Jaden is still with him a lot?" Mark asked.
"Yeah."
"Good. Friends provide different kinds of support than family."
"I know," I said. Suddenly, a light went off in my head. "Heeeeyyy...what if he had a boyfriend?"
Mark turned to me with a shocked look on his face.
"You're kidding right? You're gonna try & set him up with a guy while he's trying to get through just having been raped recently?"
"Well...Jade pulled me aside the other day & told me something. But you have to PROMISE not to tell anyone."
"Ok."
"Apparently..." I looked around to make sure no one could hear & leaned in to whisper to him "she's pregnant now."
Mark's eyes bulged at the news.
"Holy shit."
"Yeah."
"Then setting him up with a guy is even LESS of a good idea."
"I'm, not talking about 'a guy', I'm talking about Jade," I spread my hands.
Mark gave me a weird look.
"You know what I mean."
"Collin..." he said, shaking his head, "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not? We all know how happy they were together & that they're GOING to get back together, so why not put those works in gear?"
"Because Noah is fragile as a dead leaf now & to be playing with his heart like that isn't fair to him."
"Look, it's bound to happen. You can't deny that, can you. CAN YOU?" I said, pointing at Mark's face. He shrugged & rolled his eyes in reluctant agreement.
"So then all we do is get them close again & somehow find a way to get them back together. With Jade around again, it'll at least give Noah a bit of a distraction while he can sort everything else out."
"So Jade's temporary," Mark said as-a-matter-of-fact.
"No, that's not what I mean-"
"Then what DO you mean Collin?" Mark snapped quietly. "That using Jade to calm Noah's nerves will fix everything? It won't. If anything, it'll make everything worse than it already is. You can't play the Dating Game on Survivor ok? You need to let time do it's job & heal things. Hell, we'd be LUCKY if things get healed. There's a reason we can't control time, & this is why."
We sat quietly for a bit & watched the screen until I started again.
"All I'm saying is that Jade is what Noah needs. They're my best friends Mark, so I'm kinda obligated to help my friends in any way I can. And if that means to make-them-up & have them happy with each other again, like we all know is gonna happen anyway, then I'm gonna do that."
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mark sigh & shake his head.
"I hope you know what you're doing."
"Trust me," I sure as hell hope I do too.
"Good god do you ever stop glaring?" I said to Janie, who was staring at me like she were trying to make my head explode just by looking at it.
"You know she doesn't really like men," Ruby smiled at me.
I had gotten in touch with Ruby & Janie, the lesbian couple, to go over how they could help me with my mission. The three of us were at Dade's sitting by the windows having brunch together.
"Anyway," I said, giving Janie once last look & turning to Ruby, "what do you think I should do?"
"I think you should listen to Mark & ya know, NOT fuck around with people like this," Janie said smugly.
I turned my head back to her & said with a grin, "You know what? I'm sorry you don't have the dick you always dreamed of having. B. Maybe then you'll finally be happy." That shut her up.
"Actually Collin," Ruby said slowly, putting her hand on my leg before I bitch slapped that bitch, "I agree. Maybe you shouldn't be doing this."
"What's wrong with helping my friends?"
"Nothing, but it's-"
"The WAY I do it, I get it," I said angrily, tired of hearing that over & over again.
"Right. Figure something else out."
"Are you gonna help me or not?" I said, ignoring them for the last time.
Ruby & Janie looked at each other.
"Fine."
I'll admit, just seeing this place made me want to turn gay.
I had brought Noah, Jade, Mark, Ruby & Janie, along with Alex to a club Ruby had told me about somewhere in Augusta & was amazed at the sight. From the outside, it looked like any other club in a city, but inside, it was spectacular. Once we were through the doorway, the club seemed to go on for miles, strobe lights coming down from the ceiling, which was at least 30 feet high, pouring rainbows all over the walls & the crowd. The crowd. I'm not going to lie, I expected it to be full of a zillion hunky gay guys dancing with their shirts off & swinging their shirts around their heads while grinding some stranger's ass. But instead, it was full of people more our age dancing as if it were prom, but without the formal attire. There was a bar far off to the side, but since it was an underage club, there was no alcohol. Which sucked, because that could make things SO much easier but oh well.
Word by word or not, the place didn't really come off as a "gay club" so much as an LGBT dance party. Either way though, the place was incredible. The place was packed with people & I had no idea where to start the night.
"Holy crap," Jade exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as he glanced around the club.
"You guys should really join us more often," Mark said as he put on a pair of goofy sunglasses they must have been hanging out.
"Oh I will for now on," Alex said.
"Alex, is there something you'd like t'tell us?" I poked at him.
"Har har har."
Just then, a song came on & everybody went nuts. We all recognized the song & knew it was time to get on the dance floor.
"WOOO!"
We jumped right into the fun & started dancing. With the lights flashing everywhere, people jumping everywhere, it was easy to make a fool of yourself dancing and have nobody notice, or if they did notice, care.
For the next 10 minutes or so, we were all ablaze with the energy the place was feeding us through our eyes & ears, as if fun could be poured into the bloodstream & flow through every part of us. I for one left all my cares & worries at the door, & I'm assuming the others did too. It certainly looked it. I had a few strangers grind up against me from time to time. I laughed each time at the silliness of it all & told them I was straight. One of them said to me "I didn't know dancing had a preference" & from then on, I didn't really care if someone rubbed up against me. I'd probably be doing the same thing in a straight club, so why should it be any different? This was a place that didn't glorify gays, it glorified EVERYTHING. Too often we stereotype people, usually guys, for being gay if they are at all involved in the gay world. But here I was, here Alex was, dancing like there was no tomorrow at a gay club & we weren't gay. Damn world.
"And you thought this was a bad idea," I said to Mark with a smirk.
"A VERY bad idea," he laughed as a guy who looked to be a couple years older slapped his butt & walked on. I giggled & made my way through the sea of bodies & over to the bar. When I got there, I sat at a stool.
"Can I get a Coke?" I ordered.
As I started to get my wallet out, a boy sitting a couple seats down spoke up. "On me," he said. I looked over at him. He was a good looking guy, short dark brown hair which was spiked forward, a nice smile & a slightly darker color skin. I guessed maybe Italian, I don't know. Portuguese? One of those ones. He seemed tall & overall, if I had to say it, was pretty hot.
"Thanks," I smiled.
"No problem. I'm Jared," he introduced himself, moving closer to me & extending his hand.
"I'm straight," I zipped, shaking his hand.
"Hahahaha you're quick. All right then. Why are you here then?" he smiled.
"Some friends. We're trying to get one of our friends out of a slump so I thought it'd be a good idea to come here & start helping him get better."
"Sounds like you're a pretty good friend."
"I'd like to think so. Thank you," I said as the bar tender handed me my drink. "But my other friends are kind of against what I'm doing."
"Why's that?"
"They think I'm rushing things. He's been through a lot & they keep telling me it's not a good idea."
Moving to the seat next to me, Jared put his hand on my shoulder.
"There's nothing wrong with a friend helping a friend. Just keep telling yourself that."
"Speaking of that friend..." I said, as I saw Noah making his way toward Jared & me.
"That's him?"
"Yup."
Noah reached us, almost tripping over something & then pulling himself together.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"Watcha up to?" he said with a huge grin on his face.
"Just having a drink with Jared here," I said, nodding toward Jared.
"Oh cool."
"Hi, I'm Jared," Jared repeated, extending his hand.
"Hey, I'm Noah," he said, carefully shaking Jared's hand.
"Nice to meet you," Jared replied, his eyes looking directly at Noah.
"So um, do you guys know each other?"
"Nope," I said, putting my glass down. "We JUST met. What are you doing over here? Go back & have fun."
"I AM having fun, I just came over to say hey."
"You said hey, now bye bye," I said, waving my closed fingers up & down.
He squinted at me & moved past me to lean on the bar.
"Can I have a Pepsi?" Noah asked the bartender with a very evil grin, reminding both of us of somewhat RECENT events involving Pepsi.
I stood up quickly. "Oh no, you're not doing that to me again."
"Then let me get a drink, geez."
He got his drink as I started to push him back towards the dance floor.
"Collin, I have to pay, hold on!" he laughed as he started digging for his wallet, but I ignored him as I pushed with both hands on his head & chest.
"Ya know what?"
We both looked over to Jared, who had a couple bills out in his hand already.
"Don't worry about it," he said, giving the bartender the money.
I stopped pushing Noah.
"Oh no, you don't have to do that, really," Noah said, flustered.
"Don't worry about it," the boy grinned. "It's my pleasure."
I glanced at Noah, who was blushing slightly at the random act of kindness.
"Thanks."
The song changed then & we noticed the mood of the dancing changed from jumpy to more...grindy. I looked over at Jade who was casually dancing with Mark, while Ruby & Janie were together. Alex was borderline humping some blonde chick he had apparently just met. Typical.
"Mind if I join you guys?" Jared asked.
I shrugged, letting him know I didn't care. I looked to Noah.
"Uh, yeah. I mean, no, no we don't mind...well I don't mind. NOT saying that Collin would-or wouldn't, er...I don't care if you do...or don't. It's up to you..." Noah babbled. Jared smiled at his nervousness. I rolled my eyes.
We made our way to the dance floor & joined in the mega orgasm. I made my way to Alex, seeing as the girl he pretty much fucked on the dance floor had walked off. He didn't care, which was obvious by the way he & I danced somewhat casually.
"Who's that?" he asked, nodding toward Jared.
"That's Jared. We met him over at the bar."
"'We met him'? NOW who's got something to say?" Alex giggled.
"Funny."
For most of the remainder of the night, we danced. Every now & then, one of us or a couple of us would make it to the bar to get a drink. Every song had a different beat to it. Some made you dance wildly, some made you air-play an instrument, some made you jump up & down. Alex & I had managed to dance with a few girls who magically appeared in front of us every now & then. Were some of them lesbians? Probably. But I couldn't always tell. Hell, there were some guys who dropped by every now & then to dance with us, not that we cared. Fun doesn't prefer one group over another group. Here, there were people from all over the spectrum. From butches to fags, from hags to drags. Shame. If only the world could get a glimpse of this place & see that not all gay guys are flamboyant sissies, or that not all lesbians were buffed up tomboys. There were gay guys who were the stereotypical jocks who played sports. "Lipstick lesbians" who filled the image of any prissy girl in high school with their long soft hair & stylish clothes. To imagine an entire culture with just one or two images was ignorant & just plain stupid.
At one point, a song came over the speakers which had a slow beat to it. People danced much closer together, which I didn't even think was possible, & swayed to the warm melodies of the music. Strangers had their arms & hands around each other even if they had no idea who that person was. I had my hands on the hips of a girl whose girlfriend was dancing with Alex. Jade & Mark were goofing around & acting as though they were a couple, with Jade's arms around Mark's chest from behind as they swayed slowly. Ruby & Janie, already being an actual couple, were dancing with each other.
I looked over at Noah.
He was dancing close to Jared. Granted, EVERYBODY was dancing close to someone else, but this just seemed...different somehow. They were ACTUALLY dancing together. Noah kept his head down most of the time, probably blushing from dancing with some hottie. My eyes jumped to Jade who was maybe 10 feet away from them. He was watching them, but had a very neutral expression on his face.
I caught a glimpse of Mark who was eying me, letting me know that he knew what I was thinking. I looked away.
On our way to the bus stop to take us back home, nobody could keep quiet about the club.
"That was so cool," Alex was beaming.
"Of course YOU liked it, you found an excuse to practically bang girls without getting in trouble," I said.
"Oh and YOU didn't?" Janie said to me pointedly.
"Bite me," I shot back.
"All right, enough you two," Ruby said, putting her arm around Janie's waist. "Mark's right though, you guys SHOULD join us more often."
"It WAS pretty fun," Jade said.
"Those kinds of places are everywhere. I mean maybe they're not THAT big, but still," Mark explained.
"See guys? I knew going there tonight would be a good idea. I...am a genius," I boasted.
"Hey genius, it was the place I suggested to you," Janie said.
"Yeah but it was my idea to even go somewhere. Besides, you still came," I matched her.
"I only came to help...whatever, just shut up," she covered nicely.
"Aww, see you DO care! I knew you cared, I knew it, yes you care, yes you care," I said in a high pitched voice as I stuck my finger closely in her face. She slapped my hand away.
"Help what?" Jade asked, unsure of what we were talking about.
"Help Noah smile," I said. It was the truth. Just not all of it...
"Yeah dude, you never smile anymore. It's boring. I mean you were ALWAYS a party-pooper anyway, but this is different," Alex said with a crooked smile.
"You're a bastard" Janie said, somewhat defending Noah. "I'm sure Noah is plenty of fun."
"How would YOU know?" I joked.
Suddenly, she jumped out of Ruby's arms & faced me.
"You know WHAT?!" Janie snapped at me.
"Whoa, easy there," I grinned as I held my hands up in front of me.
"Fight fight fight fight fight," Alex chuckled, shaking his fists up & down until Jade lightly punched him in the arm.
"SO NOAH," Mark said loudly, "what did you think?"
We all glanced at Noah, who had been quiet this whole time. He had a content little smile on his face, which was pointed at the ground as we walked.
"I had fun."
"Yeah?" I said.
"Yeah."
"Who was that guy you were dancing with for a while?" Alex asked. Mental face-palm.
"Uh, that was Jared. He bought me a drink at the bar," Noah said, looking up at us.
"How come?" Jade asked.
"I dunno. Maybe he was just being nice."
The rest of the walk to the bus stop & on our way back home was filled with the events at the club. I couldn't help but think about Jared. Deep deep down, I was scared he might somehow interfere with my plan for getting Noah & Jade back together. Sorry Jared, you only get once dance with Noah. After that, beat it.
I glanced at Mark ,who was sitting on the seat across from me on the bus, out of the corner of my eye. He had his arms crossed & could tell he was looking back at me. Again, I looked away.
Maybe this wouldn't be as easy as I thought.
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