-------------------------------------- About this story:
This is my first try at putting a story up on this nifty web site. Please Email me at Romangenesis@hotmail.com with your reaction to this story and any questions or comments you have. Special thanks to all of you who have written. It makes my writing seem worthwhile. So now, without further ado...
The Dreamer - Chapter 6
I walked into work on Saturday morning and went straight for the schedule. I wanted to see if Tina or Tim were scheduled to work. Sure enough, the schedule said Tina was running the front today and I looked around, but didn't see her. I went in the back room and clocked in and came back out onto the sales floor.
I saw Bill, one of the other baggers my age, and walked over to him. "Hey, Bill," I said cheerfully.
"Hey, Alex. How's it going?" He looked up to see who it was, but went right back to bagging.
"Where's Tina?" I asked as casually as I could.
He looked up at me and his eyes got really wide. "You didn't hear?"
"Hear what?"
Bill looked up at the cashier and saw that she was watching us and he whispered, "I'll tell you in a second." I went over to the register next to his and started bagging. I couldn't wait to hear what happened to Tina and her little Romeo, Tim.
Bill did the next carry out and so did I and I met him out in the parking lot. "What's going on?" I asked with interest, unable to contain my excitement.
"You won't believe this. You know the bagger Tim? Well, Tina was sleeping with him and it got out. His mom like pulled him out of work and Tina is now on a leave-of-absence. She might even get charged for having sex with a minor."
A giant grin crossed my face and it took all I had to laugh. "Oh my god," I blurted out.
"Look," Bill said. "Just don't go spreading it around."
"I won't," I said. I'll leave that for you, I thought. Bill pushed his cart back inside, but I went out to get more carts off the parking lot. A triumphant smile graced my face that wasn't going to go away anytime soon. I practically ran to the next cart. I felt more powerful than I had ever felt before. This was better than drugs I thought. This was better than sex.
I was on that emotional plateau for about ten minutes when I started to feel bad for Tina which was odd for me. I usually don't usually go around feeling sympathy for people. She was a casualty of war, I figured. Tim had to be brought down. He was the bunny running through the thick snow and I was the fox in hot pursuit. My success or failure would have meant survival or extinction for me and in the end I had won. There was no other way. I was justified.
I continued bagging groceries in a good mood, but more and more uneasiness was leaking into my emotions. Justin had said something that had hit a little bit to close to home.
"I know what you did to Tim McDaniel," he had said. "Just because you hate yourself is no reason to hurt others." Was it true? Was I doing this out of some sort of self-loathing. I dismissed the idea. There was no way. How could Justin know more about me that I did?
I continued on this emotional roller coaster until I got off of work at 5. When I got home my mom told me that someone named Steve had called. I was surprised when she told me. I had totally forgotten that Steve and I were supposed to study this weekend for English.
I went into my room and got Steve's number out of my book bag. I started to get a little nervous as I dialed his number. The thought of me and Steve alone studying was giving me a mixture of excitement and nervousness.
"Hello?"
I cleared my throat and tried to lower my voice. "Hey, Steve. This is Alex. Did you call?"
"Oh, hey, Alex. How are you?" He seemed really pleased that I returned his call. Like he wasn't expecting it or something.
"I'm fine. Kind of tired from work actually."
"I hear that," he replied. "I had to work today also. So, did you want to get together today and study for English?"
"Yeah, sure. You want to come over here?"
"Sure. I can be there in about an hour."
"All right. Do you know where I live?" Right after I asked I remembered the day he had followed me home.
"Yeah. You live down by my friend. By the water, right?"
"Uh huh. I guess I'll see you in an hour then." He said good-bye and we both hung up. I sat there looking around my room for a moment and realized that it looked like shit. There were clothes and books everywhere. I was sure Steve wouldn't care, but I wanted to straighten up the place anyway. This just gave me an excuse.
After an hour I started getting worried that he wouldn't come. I kept looking out the front window every three minutes to see if he was here yet. My mom noticed and asked if I was expecting someone.
"Yeah. My friend Steve is coming over to study English with me." She went back in the kitchen and continued making dinner. As she did, I heard a car pull up in the driveway and I looked out the window and saw Steve stepping out of a white Boneville. It was already getting dark out.
I walked outside to meet him and saw that he was wearing shorts and a flowery surfer shirt. He had sandals on and I could see his hairy, tan legs. He looked really good. "What's up," he said walking up to me.
"Hello," I said. "Did you bring your books?"
"Oh shit. I left them in the car." He rushed back out to the car and I walked out there with him.
"I didn't know you had a car," I said looking in the window.
"It's my parents." He slammed the door shut and threw his pack over his shoulder. "All right, I'm ready." We walked inside and I introduced him to my mom. My mom was always being over-friendly with my friends, so of course she had to invite him to dinner with us. He reluctantly accepted and I lead him to my room.
"Wow, clean room," he mentioned as we stepped inside and I closed the door.
"Oh, I just cleaned up a little before you came," I said shyly.
"Aww, just for me?" he said. I wasn't sure if he was joking so I smiled weakly. I sat down on the bed and got out my review sheet that Croon had handed out to the class. Steve sat down on the other end of the bed and laid back. I pretended to look down at the review sheet, but I was really looking him over.
He had really sexy legs. They were really tan and covered with thick black hair. "So, you want to start with the study guide?" I looked up and saw he was looking right after me. The soft orange light of my lamp made him look even tanner than he really was.
"Yeah, I thought that would be a good place to start." I looked back down at my study guide and pretended to study it. There was no way I was going to remember all these vocabulary words, so I wasn't even going to try.
"Do you have the definition for 'Delectation?'" Steve asked me. I looked up at him and once again he was looking deep into me with his shiny amber eyes.
I looked down at my list and found the word. "Yeah, it's right here," I said, pointing down to the list. Steve sat up and scooted over toward me. He was inches from me looking down at my list. I didn't move a muscle. I didn't even breath. My heart began pounding in my chest. The paper was on my knee and he put his finger down on the word 'delectation' and I could feel his finger on my knee through the paper.
"Delectation, a feeling of extreme gratification aroused by something good or desired," he read the definition off the list. I was starting to get hard and couldn't take the torture any more. I stood up and walked over to the stereo.
"What do you want to listen to?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
"What do you have?" I didn't get a chance to answer because there was a knock on the door.
"Dinner's ready," my mom said. Steve got up and we went out to eat dinner with my parents. I'm always nervous when my friends eat with me and my family because I'm afraid they'll slip up and say something stupid like 'shit' or 'fuck,' but I learned I didn't have to worry with Steve. He was as good at bull-shiting as I was.
He and my parents talked about school and everything else. He was the perfect charmer. I basically stayed quiet during dinner. My parents were finding out more about Steve tonight than I had learned in all of eleventh grade. I found out he was an avid surfer and even played on a local soccer team
During their conversation Steve looked out the sliding glass doors and noticed our beach and dock for the first time. "Oh cool. I didn't know you had a dock on the water."
"Oh yes," my mom chirped away. "Alex just loves the dock. He's always out there at night. Alex, you should take Steve out there after dinner." I got kind of embarrassed when my mom talked about me with my friends, even when it was something stupid like that. I blushed and said, okay.
Dinner was finally over and Steve wanted to see the dock so we both went out there. My mom was right that I did like to come out here to think at night. It was such a lovely place with the sea air blowing in your face and the reflection of the lights on the water. I had never been out here with anyone else though.
"This is really cool," Steve said, looking up and down the waterway. We sat down and he started asking me questions about my life. At first I was kind of nervous about talking to him, but after a while I opened up and starting asking him stuff about his life. It turned out he lived in one of the big houses in the next neighborhood over that me and Michelle used to dream about owning when we were older. We talked about everything from Mrs. Croon's English class to our childhood. The more I talked to him the better the impression of him I got in my mind. I used to just be attracted to his looks, but I started to find that his mind was just as beautiful as he was.
After a while Steve asked me what time it was and I looked down at my watch. "Twelve past midnight," I told him. I hoped that he wouldn't have to go home.
He said, "Cool," and we sat there for a while in silence, just letting the cool air blow against out faces. It was really fun hanging out with Steve, but I wanted to see more of him. If he was a surfer and soccer player, he probably had a great body.
I looked at him and asked, "Do you want to go swimming?"
"In here?" he asked, indicating the water in front of us.
"Nah, we can go down to the pool at the club house that's on the other side of the neighborhood."
"It's open this late?"
"No, but we can just jump the fence. Me and my friend used to do it all the time." He said he would love to go swimming and we went back inside. I offered him one of my swim suits, but he said he would just go in his boxers. I went to the bathroom to change and came back. I went out to the family room and told my mom I was going over to Steve's house and she told me not to stay out to late.
"We can take my car over there if it's to far to walk," Steve said. We got in his car and he drove us to the other side of the neighborhood. At the fence that was supposed to keep people out we looked around jumped over. The pool was a huge Olympic sized pool that the whole neighborhood used.
"You don't think we'll get caught do you?" he asked.
"I doubt it. Everyone in the neighborhood is probably asleep by now." We walked over to one of the tables and put our stuff down. An awkward silence fell over us as we got ready to get in. I pulled my shirt over my head and kicked my sandals off.
He kicked his sandals off and I tried to make it look like I wasn't staring, but I was. Then, he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it on the lawn chair. I couldn't believe what I saw. I thought this guy had been cute before, but I had never seen his body. He was a fucking Greek god without his shirt on. He had about the same small frame as I did, but his muscles were much more developed than mine. He also had a thick trail of dark hair running from his belly button down into his pants. Next, he pulled his shorts off, and there he was in front of me with nothing but boxers on. The lights in the pool seemed to make the water glow and sent rippling waves of light across Steve's body.
I pulled my eyes away from him. I had no idea what I was doing. This was crazy. This guy was driving me crazy and I was about to go swimming with him. I walked over to the edge of the pool and made one last prayer. What I was about to do I did against everything I had ever stood for.
I was embarking upon something that I had only dreamed about in my darkest private dreams, the ones that I stayed in denial about having. I found myself breaking down barriers in my mind that I never knew I had created, the ones that blocked off that lost section of my mind... The one that contained my darkest fantasies and desires. I wanted Steve so bad. I wanted every single inch of this boy-god.
I took one last breath and plunged into the cold watery grave below me.
End of Chapter 6
Email me and tell me what you think of my story. Questions or comments are welcome. I'm writing this for you all, so feel free to give me some suggestions or whatever. Chapter 7 and the event that will change our Anti-hero's life forever is coming in a few. (I think you know what it is)