The following is a work of fiction. Any similarities are completely coincidental. The story may contain profanity and references to gay sex. If such content offends you leave now. The author maintains all rights to the story. Do not copy or use without written consent from the author. Write Bobby at brokendreamboi@yahoo.com with your comments.
A Promise Kept 18
"If there is any cheating I will fail you automatically. If there is any talking I wall fail you without a second chance. If you move your head around I will fail you so fast it will make your head spin. Do I make myself clear?" Mr. Danforth warned everyone. He was a great teacher and person, but he can be very serious.
"Yes, Mr. Danforth." The class replied.
This history final would be a breeze for me. I may have been absent for some months, but history has always been somewhat of a strong point.
Throughout the entire two hour period the class was silent. It could kill a bat. Being silent wasn't one of my strong points, however. But thank God the class was over. This week is the last week of school. One day left. And two weeks until our marriage.
I still have not found a best man. I could ask Tommy, but I don't think he'd be very willing. We're on a great level as far as friends, but being a best man is something I doubt he'd do. And to top things off, I still have to create my vows and buy Jared's ring. I'm starting to push limits I didn't even know I had.
"So, do you think you passed?" I asked Jared.
"I hope so. You?" he replied.
"I'm sure I did as I am sure you did."
The entire week has been half days. Two periods of two hour testing then we are free. I guess it's a fair trade off. Either way I get to spend much more time with Jared. Which I love.
"Oh, I have to go back to Mr. Danforth really fast. I need to ask him something. Just wait at your car; it should only be a minute."
"Okay, babe, I'll be waiting." Jared shouted to me.
I continued waiting for Tyler. He had been gone for about ten minutes now. But my patience proved better as I saw a figure walking towards me. Quite a few students were still at school. It's only been fifteen minutes, but usually most of the students had abandoned the place. However, the figure that continued to draw closer I could see it wasn't someone I was looking forward to seeing.
"Hey, Jared, where's your hag?" Tyson said. This was the idiot that had threatened Tyler the first day he came back.
"Shut the hell up, Tyson!" I shouted at him. The students around us began to come in closer, probably sensing a fight coming on. And by the way I was feeling, I could sense it, too.
"What are you gonna do, Jared?" he said in an antagonistic tone.
Talking to Mr. Danforth had taken longer than I expected, but he can just talk and talk and talk. Once I had finally gotten out of the room I hurriedly went back to the parking lot. I saw a crowd around two people. One of them I noticed as Tyson. The big, ugly brute was trying to intimidate some poor soul. But as I got closer, I recognized that poor soul. It was Jared.
"Jared!" I said, pushing my way through the crowd.
"Oh, look who it is." Tyson said.
Jared had stepped back from Tyson, but only because I had pulled him away and stepped in front of him. "Jared, you don't have to do this. I don't care what he said, Jared, please." I tried begging him, but he wasn't budging. He still hadn't even looked me in the eyes yet.
"Aw, is little Jared gonna listen to his bitch?" Tyson smirked.
Jared suddenly stepped forward, but I again held him back. "Jared, please." This time he looked me in the eyes.
"You're not worth my time, Tyson. Just get the hell out of here." Jared hissed before turning around and walked to his side of his car. I stood at the same spot rubbing my forehead in frustration. Suddenly, I felt a surge of pain sweeping through my head.
I saw Jared lunge at someone, attacking him furiously. And soon enough I wasn't the only one on the ground. And even sooner, I was helped to my feet by the arms that needed to be around me.
"Tyler are you all right?" Jared asked worriedly.
"Yeah^Åyeah I'm fine, thank you." I groaned, holding the back of my head where Tyson had apparently hit me.
"Are you sure? Tyler I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just left you there. If there^Å" he started, but I hushed him by placing a finger over his mouth.
"I'm fine, thank you so much. This wasn't your fault, though. You couldn't have known he'd hit me."
"Mr. Young you engaged Tyson in a fight. In truth, you started it. I have no choice but to^×"
"Oh, for God's sake, just stop. First of all, Tyson got in my face to begin with. Second, he hit Tyler first. I was defending him." I angrily stated. I could tell Mr. Borland, our school's principal, wasn't pleased at my sudden burst.
"That is the case, but he struck Tyler, not you. So, you engaged in a fight with him. And like I said I have no choice but to suspend you." Mr. Borland said, flipping through a folder, which I'm guessing was my records.
"Yes, I know, but I can't just let him get away with that. Besides, my record has been clean, no? And his is filled with tons of black marks. Plus, there's only one day of school left." I pleaded with him. He studied me for a moment then looked back through my records.
After a reluctant sigh he began to speak. "According to my records you have five A's and one B. These are exceptional grades. And it is true that you have no marks against you." he took a short breath then continued. "So, since tomorrow is that last day I will not suspend you. However, if there are any problems tomorrow I'll be forced to take action. Understood?"
"Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Borland. There will be no problems tomorrow, and that is a promise."
I shook his hand then left his office. Tyler was sitting in a chair with an ice pack on the back of his head. He decided he didn't want to take any actions against Tyson. But I can't understand why not.
"How you feeling?" I asked him.
"I just have a bit of a headache." he said in a hushed voice.
"Tyler I'm really sorry."
"Don't blame yourself, Jared. This was so not your fault." he said sympathetically. "Besides, now you get to wait on me hand and foot." He let out a small giggle, but stopped and held his head.
"Aw, babe, I feel so bad."
"Please don't. It's really not your fault." he said, looking at me intently, but I couldn't look him in the eye knowing he was in this much pain. "But if you really want to make me feel better then take me home and lie down with me."
"All right, that sounds good anyways. But what about your mom?" I anxiously asked.
"I called her and filled her in as best I could. She was livid. But I told her we're coming home and I'm just gonna rest. She said she'd probably be out shopping then talk to us later about all of it." Tyler said dully. I knew he was close to his parents, but I knew that he did not want to talk about this.
"Well, I guess we could've seen that one coming. Let's just go home and relax." I said as I helped him stand up.
The drive home seemed faster than usual. When we finally got home we went directly to his room and took a nap.
"Babe," I whispered into Jared's ear, "babe, wake up."
Jared grumbled, but didn't wake up. I tried several more times before finally coming to the conclusion that I'm gonna have to get down and dirty.
I crawled onto his waist and nuzzled into his crotch. I kept nuzzling and he kept grumbling, well, more like moaning. I again came to another conclusion: he isn't responding to this either. So, I had one last plan. I crawled up to his face and began to kiss him.
"Mmm," he moaned.
"Awake now?" I giggled.
"I've been awake for like five minutes. I just liked when you were nuzzling at me."
"You conniving^Ålittle boy." I giggled. He just smiled at me through his red eyes. "Mom's home. She didn't like the fact I had a small bruise on the back of my head, which I don't even know how the hell she spotted through all my hair."
"Oh, great. Well, at least I got a good nap in now, right? What time is it?" he yawned.
"It's about five."
"Wow, we slept forever."
"No, you slept forever. I've been up for a couple hours."
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I thought you needed sleep."
Jared got up and escorted me downstairs to my mom who was starting on her second glass of wine.
"Sit down you two." she ordered.
"Lynette, before you blow up I'm the one who got in the fight. If I wouldn't have moved, Tyler wouldn't be hurt right now. So, if you're going to blame anyone blame me." Jared said, releasing a sad sigh.
"Jared^Å" I started, but mom cut me off.
"I don't blame you, Jared. But next time this happens, just walk away, all right?" mom said calmly.
"Yes, I understand."
"Good, now this is all I want said about that. Grab yourselves a glass and we'll finish this bottle." mom smiled at us.
"Uh, no Lynette. I'm really tired still. I'm just going to go upstairs and sleep." That's all he said before walking upstairs slowly, defeated, and went to sleep.
"Mom, he feels so guilty, but it really wasn't his fault." I said quietly. Mom looked at me and just had a blank expression on her face.
"I wasn't blaming him, Tyler. I know it wasn't his fault at all." she said.
"I know." I replied simply. "Well, since he's asleep I have time to go buy his ring. I should be back in an hour or two."
"Okay, dear, have a fun time."
I drove to one of pour local jewelry dealers. I chose the best one out of the three in our town. My family also knew the owners. They were long time friends. However, I was going to try and not use that to my advantage.
"Hey, Mr. Gomez," I said as I walked in the shop.
"Ah, Mr. Delfino! It's so good to see you again." Mr. Gomez, the owner, said happily.
"You too," I replied happily as well. "I don't know if you've heard, but I am getting married and I need to find an exceptional ring."
"Yes, I talked to your parents a few days ago and they say you're getting married to Jared Young?"
"Yes, and I need a ring that'll knock his socks off. But I don't know his size."
"Well, compared to your hands how big are his?"
"Probably about the same."
Mr. Gomez opened a drawer behind the counter and pulled out those finger widths measurer things. "Here, try this one on." I slid my ring finger into the measurer and the first one fit perfectly. "There you go, eleven and a half ring size. If the ring is to small or to big then bring it back and we'll resize it free of charge."
"Okay, thanks Mr. Gomez."
I spent the next twenty minutes looking at the various rings the small shop had to offer. Finally I came to the best ring in the entire store.
"Mr. Gomez! Can you give me details about this one, please?" I asked him excitedly.
"Certainly," he said, unlocking the glass showcase and taking it out. "This is a one carat total weighted, men's diamond platinum band. The price for this runs up at $3,299."
"Oh, ouch, it's so beautiful though." The money this ring required was way more than I was able to use. Even with a discount the price could run phenomenally high.
"However, since I am such great friends of your family I can run the price down to about a thousand."
"Mr. Gomez! That's so generous, but I'm not sure I can accept that offer."
"Please, Mr. Young, think of this as a wedding gift from me."
I thought about it for a few minutes then I told him I'd purchase it. He was pleased at my purchase and immediately put in a box and handed it to me gently.
"Thank you, Mr. Gomez."
"No problem, Mr. Delfino."
Perfect. I have Jared's ring. There are only two more things we both have to do: send out the invitations and create our vows.
When I arrived home almost an hour after I left, Jared and my mom were laughing in the kitchen.
"Hey, what's so funny?" I asked, intrigued by Jared's sudden liveliness.
"Oh, hey Tyler, we were just talking about you when you were younger." Jared laughed. I knew what was going on. Mom was sharing stories of us back in the nineties. That's exactly what she was doing.
"Sweetie, we weren't really talking about you. I was just telling him about when family came out and stories like that. I just got done telling him about when grandma and grandpa came out for Christmas a few years ago and your father's brother and his family was here.
"So, mom, dad, would you like anything to drink? Some eggnog perhaps?" Lynette asked her parents. They came out this year for Christmas. Mikes brother and his wife and twins babies were also visiting.
"Oh, no, your father can't eat eggs." Grandma Lillian replied to Jill as she walked into the dining room.
"I can eat eggs," Grandpa Fred argued, "I just don't know what the hell nog is! I'll take some water straight from the tap. None of that hippie-bottle stuff!"
"Oh, yeah, I remember that. Wasn't that the year dad fell off the roof putting up Christmas lights?" I asked mom. Jared laughed at the story again. It was actually a funny Christmas.
"That is every year, Tyler." mom replied. This caused more laughter from Jared. I even started to laugh.
"Well, on a more serious topic, we need to start sending out invitations. I think tomorrow we should go shopping for some." I said. Jared slowly stopped laughing and nodded his head. Mom continued to^Ådo what ever she was doing in the kitchen. Just then, dad walked in the door looking not so pleased.
"What the hell happened at school?" he shouted.
"Mike, I'll talk to you about it," mom said softly, "upstairs."
Ten minutes later they came back down in much happier moods. But dad still looked like he had to get something off of his chest.
"Look, Tyler, and Jared, the next time someone even threatens you like that I want you to call me and I'll be at your school with three lawyers. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Jared and I replied in unison.
"Good, now I'm taking us out to eat so go get ready."
While we were upstairs I wanted to talk to Jared about his guilt. "Jared you dot still feel guilty do you?"
"Yeah," he simply said.
"Well, please don't. I love you and I really don't blame you at all."
"I know, babe, but I feel responsible for you getting hurt." he sounded so sincere it was almost too much to bear.
"I didn't get hurt. I just had a headache." I giggled playfully, but Jared didn't seem to lighten up any.
"I'm sorry, okay?"
"Don't be sorry for anything. I love you and you didn't do anything wrong to me."
"All right, if you say I didn't then I guess I didn't." he finally smiled at me.
"Good, now, I can't wait for dessert when we get back." I winked at him. His smile seemed to brighten more once I said that. And I was glad.
Life is a journey, one that is much better traveled with a companion by our side. Of course, that companion can be just about anyone. A neighbor on the other side of the street or the man on the other side of the bed. The companion can be a mother with good intentions or a child who's up to no good. Still, despite our best intentions, some of us will lose our companion along the way. And then the journey becomes unbearable. You see, human beings are designed for many things. But loneliness isn't one of them.
Write me with your comments about this chapter. `A Promise Kept' is coming to an end very soon. I'll let you in on how soon: two more chapters. Please, keep the messages coming to me. They keep me inspired to write these chapters. Join my group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shades_of_Wisteria/. Thanks!