I sat in Nick's hospital room staring blankly at the tv. Some nurse had just been in, giving him medicine for the pain. Nick was in the bed waiting for another doctor to come see him and Pat was sitting in a chair on the other side of Nick's bed. Pat and Nick were making fun of the idiots on some talk show. I was planning three murders. Every now and then one of them would say something to me and I would respond but I wanted no part of their conversation. They were pretending that everything was okay and I was incapable of doing that. I didn't understand how they could joke around when Eric and his friends were still free and neither the principal nor the police were going to do shit to them. Eric was a bastard, a sick bastard, and I wanted the whole world to know what he had done to Nick.
I closed my eyes for a minute and I pictured myself beating the shit out of Eric with my hockey stick. I picked up where John had left off. I kept hitting him until there was nothing left but a bloody mess of flesh and bone on the ground. I looked down at him and smiled at the pulp because nothing was moving besides the blood running on to the ground beneath him. He was dead. I spit on him and said, `That's for Nick.' Spitting on him in my mind made me smile.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Pat.
I opened my eyes, losing the image of Eric's mangled body and replacing it with the face of my handsome boyfriend. "Nothing," I told him.
"Yes you are," Nick said. "I bet you're plotting your revenge, but don't. Just leave this shit alone and hopefully things will start to calm down."
"Now come on Nick, when have you ever known me to pursue trouble?" I gave him a wicked grin.
"Well you are the same Loverboy who seduced Patrick Hughes," he responded.
"Hey, keep me out of this," Pat said trying to hold in his laughter.
"See, even his voice screams `I'm trouble'" Nick teased as he stuck his tongue out at Pat.
"No thanks, I get enough tongue from Kyle," Pat told him. I think Nick and I were both surprised that Pat was able to say it with a straight face. I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks and I knew the blush was coming.
"Aww, you made him blush," Nick said as he pointed to me. My eyes locked with Pat's and we gazed in to each other's eyes for a few seconds. I felt the urge to rip his clothes off of him. I wondered how I could be turned on at a time like that, but I didn't wonder for too long because I looked away from Pat, and thought about Eric so my excitement wouldn't show. "You two can go fuck in my bathroom, but I want twenty dollars before you go in. The hotel de Nick is a classy joint." I reached over and hit him upside his head without thinking. "Ouch," he screamed.
"Oh Nick, I'm so sorry, I" A smile crept across his lips. "You asshole, I thought I hurt you!" I hit him upside the head again and that time I didn't feel bad about it.
"So when are you two going to do it?" he asked.
"Can we not talk about that?"
"Oh come on. It's just sex."
"Gay sex?"
"I thought you'd never offer," he teased.
"Hey, he's mine," Pat reminded him. I didn't know Pat was still listening to the conversation.
"I know, but just remember that I've had him longer." Nick winked at Pat and then turned his attention back to me. "What are you two waiting for anyway?"
"We haven't been together that long," I told him.
"Hello. Ding ding, think who you're talking too. I know all about your relationship."
"Well if you know all about it then why are you asking questions?" Pat challenged.
"Because Kyle is petrified about having sex with you. He doesn't think he'll be good enough. He doesn't think he can compare to Drew. But hey, he's got to be better than a microphone, right?"
"Nick, shut up. It's not funny anymore," I told him. He knew that discussion was supposed to be private. He had never betrayed my trust before, but the part that bothered me most was him trying to make light of what had happened to him.
"I know it's not funny! It fucking hurts like hell! But I have to pretend it's funny so you don't flip out and do something everyone will regret tomorrow."
"What?" I asked.
His eyes were filling with tears. "I can't stand what they did to me. Its shit, I'm shit. What kind of a man gets raped? How will I ever fuck another girl, knowing what has happened to me? Huh? Can you tell me that? Huh Kyle? Can you?" His eyes were looking at me, but it felt as if he was looking straight through me.
`Something's wrong' I thought. "Pat" I looked up in enough time to see Pat's back as he walked out the room. He must have known something was wrong, too. Seconds later a team of nurses were running in. I wondered where the doctor was, but he strolled in after the crowd.
"I hear your friend is having some issues," the doctor said in an accent I didn't recognize.
"Yes, he's"
Nick cut me off, "I'm not having issues. I'm fine. I feel great. Never better. Well okay maybe not great. I was raped after all and that sucked, but sometimes like sucks, and when life sucks all you can do is hang on and pray the sucking stops before you disappear."
The doctor looked at me. "Son your friend is waiting in the hallway, why don't you go join him and the two of you can go to the waiting room until everything is under control."
I decided I hated the doctor's accent. "I'm not leaving." I protested.
"Are you his brother?"
"Well,"
"I didn't think so. Now please excuse us so we can do our job." I wasn't even out the room when I heard the doctor yell, "What the hell did you give this boy?" Someone mumbled an answer. "Why would you give him that?"
As soon as I walked out the door, I was wrapped in Pat's arms so I stopped listening. "Let's go to the waiting room," he whispered.
"Okay," I said, not wanting to let go but understanding that I didn't have a choice. We walked down the hallway with our shoulders touching but that was it for contact. The waiting room was empty so I sat next to him and put my head on his shoulder. "I hope he's okay."
"He will be. It was probably some combination of the drugs they gave him that caused the problem."
"What problem?" asked Jeremy as he walked in the room.
"Some drug they gave him had him running his damn mouth a little too much." I said.
"But he was just being honest," Pat said. I noticed the pointed look that Pat threw in my direction when he made his comment. If Jeremy wasn't there, I would have asked Pat what the problem was, but Jeremy was no member of the inner circle.
"Well I hope he feels better. I was on my way to his room to thank the two of you for getting me to my mother and I saw you guys sitting here."
"It's no problem, Jeremy. We were just bringing you along anyway, we didn't know your mother worked here until she told us who she was." I thought Pat was providing too much information and I wanted to tell him to chill on the info because he was diminishing what we actually did. If I couldn't be Nick's hero for that day, at least I could be somebody's. Pat cleared his throat. "So how are you feeling?" he asked.
"Like me again," Jeremy said. "I hate having those stupid attacks."
"It's okay Jeremy, it's not your fault. The attacks aren't a big deal," Pat told him.
"Yes they are, but we're not here to discuss me. How's Nick doing?"
"Besides flying high, he's doing well."
"What, who's flying high?" asked Drew as he walked through the door.
"Nick," Pat answered. I looked at the door hoping to find the `Come in and join the conversation' sign, but there was nothing there.
"That figures in a place like this." Drew said with a certainty that could only come from someone who had been through it before. Chris had walked in behind Drew, giving each of us the nod as Drew spoke.
"What are you doing here and where's John?" Pat asked Chris.
"I had to come. Besides Drew would have walked here if I didn't bring him. As for John, he's um, he's been arrested for assault. I'm sure his father will have him out by the end of the day, but you know what that means." The two exchanged a look and I had to mentally fight the jealous feeling I got when I realized I still wasn't in their intimate circle yet.
"So what happened to Eric and those other idiots?" asked Pat.
"What do you think happened?" I said.
Everyone glanced at me then Chris told him, "Well you know Eric is here. Nothing happened to Aaron and Kelso. They just let them walk."
"What!" Pat exclaimed. "Why would they do something like that?"
"The list of reasons is endless." Jeremy told him.
"But they raped another student."
"Well technically they sodomized him," Jeremy said.
"Nobody gives a shit about technicalities" Chris snapped. I guessed the day had us all on edge.
"Don't yell at him," Pat told Chris.
"I didn't mean to." Chris turned to Jeremy and said, "I'm sorry about my tone. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that my day has been fucked up since the first bell at school and it seems unrelenting."
"I know exactly what you mean." I told him.
"Nothing can fix this day except for a few dead bodies," Jeremy said. We turned to look at him. "Okay dead bodies can't fix it, they can only make it feel a little less awful, but damn if hurting them wouldn't feel good."
"Now you're talking." I said, sitting up in my seat. "We should go kick their asses right now!"
"Why, so you guys can be in jail tomorrow?" Pat asked us.
"You don't have to come with us." I stood up and he stood with me.
He rushed to the door and blocked it with his body. "You need to be here when the doctor is done with Nick."
"I'm doing this for Nick" I protested.
"Well you shouldn't."
"Get out of my way, Pat." He refused to move, so I bowled right through him, knocking him on his ass. He was a hockey player so I knew he could take it. I kept moving. I yelled an apology over my shoulder and I was halfway down the hallway when I realized I didn't have a car. "Shit! We don't have a car," I yelled to Jeremy, who was behind me trying to keep up as I zipped down the hallway and weaved in and out of people. I ran out the door and saw a familiar car pull in to the parking lot. My mother once told me, `Never go looking for trouble, because you'll always find it.' When I saw that car, I knew she was right. I ran towards the car. My mother got out of the driver's side. "Hey Mom!" I shouted.
"Hey Kyle. How's Nick?"
"He's fine, but I need to borrow the car for a little while."
His mother got out of the passenger side. "You're not going to stay with him?"
"He's in with the doctor right now so I just want to make a quick run. I'll be right back."
"Well okay," my mother said, "but you get your butt back as soon as possible."
"Okay." She passed me the keys and I noticed the worried look in her eyes. "Everything will be fine," I said. She walked to the back of the car and I watched as my mother practically carried Nick's mother in to the hospital. I figured his mother was in no condition to drive herself, so my mother took over; it's what she did. I got in the car and Jeremy got in the other side.
"So what are we going to do?" Jeremy asked as we headed towards the school.
"I don't know, but they'll regret the day they ever laid a hand on Nick."
"So you're going to kill them?"
"As much as I would love to, I can't, but I can get a bat and beat their asses."
"I could kill them," Jeremy said.
I stopped the car. "We can't kill them. You can't kill them. Okay?"
"Whatever."
I pressed the gas and continued to the school. I came to a screeching halt as I parked. We both hopped out of the car and walked towards the school. I was almost to the door when I heard. "Hey faggot!" yelled from behind me. `Not him again,' I thought. I knew he would be back but I wasn't expecting it right then.
I turned and saw Matt running towards me. I expected him to stop when he got close, but he didn't. He sucker punched me. That was all I needed to unleash the fury I was saving for Aaron and Kelso. I hit him fast and hard, delivering several blows to his face and stomach, then I kneed him in his groin, just because I could. He fell over, grabbing his sore dick, but I didn't let up until two strong arms were pulling me back. "Let me at him!" I shouted.
"Young man you are in a lot of trouble," said the voice behind me.
"He attacked me. Ask anybody out here!"
"He doesn't look like he's doing much attacking." I felt my arms pulled behind me and I felt the handcuffs being put on.
Oh no,' I thought, how am I going to get the car back to my mother?' I looked over at Jeremy who had that glazed look in his eyes again. `Some help he was' I said to myself. "Jeremy! Jeremy!" He finally looked over at me. "Get the keys out of my pocket and take the car back to the hospital. And whatever you do, don't tell my mother where I am!" He looked at me like he understood, but he didn't move. "Jeremy!" He flinched, but this time he moved. Matt was still on the ground. He looked up at me and then he kicked me square in the family jewels. "Shit!" I screamed as I bent forward. The officer kept pushing me as if nothing happened. "Didn't you see that?"
"I saw an act of self-defense." The officer walked me to the front of the school and he was putting me in the backseat of the cruiser when I looked over and saw Aaron and Kelso standing outside snickering at me. I wished I could give them the finger, but my hands were already occupied. I tried to give them a look that would turn both of them in to stone.
I mouthed, "You're next."
I saw my mother's car pass us on the road and I put my head down in shame. Matt had gotten in my way. I figured I would be in trouble for what I did anyway, but I was pissed that I didn't get to do what I wanted to do. If I was going to be in trouble, I wanted to be in trouble for something I planned, like beating Kelso and Aaron. I wouldn't mind going to jail for that. They deserved it, well Matt deserved it too, but he was way after them on my list.
The officer walked me in to the station and booked me. Then he walked me to the back towards a cell. John was the only person in the cell. Shock was written all over his face when he saw me. The officer opened the cell and roughly shoved me in.
"What are you doing here?" John asked.
"We thought you could use some company." I smiled at him and he smiled back.
"You did something stupid didn't you?"
"Yes and no. I was stupid when I left the hospital and I was on my way to do something stupid but I ran in to an old friend and got caught up in something else."
"Something else that got you here?"
"I got in to a fight with Matt, alright? He started it, I finished it and now I'm here."
"Matt came to the hospital?"
"Weren't you listening? I said I left the hospital. Matt and I fought at school."
"Oh." I sat down next to him. "My father should be here soon. I'll have him bail you out, too."
"I watch tv, don't I need a bail hearing or something?"
"You obviously aren't familiar with my father."
Lustyville 2006 Please send comments to lustyville@yahoo.com and check out my yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lustyville.