Disclaimer: The usual rules apply here. If you aren't legal in your area to be reading material(non erotic, mind you) about homosexuals and the activities they may or may not participate in, then please don't read. This story has been copyrighted and is not to be used elsewhere in any way without the express permission of the author (that would be me). For everyone else, enjoy!
Wayward People
Chapter One "Here Comes the Storm"
All I could think was how much fun it would be. Hosting a foreign exchange student? What luck!
Of course, I had a good deal of nervousness inside me. Hosting a student meant meeting a new person. And I wasn't so good with people.
For as long as I could remember, which was pretty far back, I'd been like this. My mother told me that I used to talk to myself all the time when I was younger. And then one day, early in the morning, around 4am, me, my little brother Max, and my parents were taking a trip to Washington to visit family. She told me that my father had come home from working the graveyard shift at the local airport as an airline mechanic, and was already tired as it was. Yet, being the talkative four year old that I was, I didn't know there was a such thing as 'patience'. So I just talked. And talked. And talked. And talked. Until my dad pulled over the car, according to my mom, and just yelled at me "Shut up Micheal!"
I don't remember it happening, but there was no doubt in my mind that it hadn't. Because since then, I haven't really been as outgoing as I once was.
I don't want to call that a fault of my dads, but it certainly must have had something to do with why I was so shy now. 12 years later.
Now I was 16 and had been a junior in high school for two months now.
My life was a perfect textbook example of what it's like to be boring, normal, and live an average life.
Starting with myself, I was average. With my stupid brownish blond hair that hung over my head in a semi curly mess. Then there was my stupid boring brown eyes that made my face look like it was lost with the hair and eye color. Fortunately, I never needed braces or glasses which meant that I had perfect eyesight and perfectly straight teeth. Another plus for most people would be that I'd never had an acne problem which meant that my skin was as clear as a Californian day. Still though, I wasn't anything too special. I barely weighed 145 pounds, none of which I'd say was any type of muscle. Boring.
Then there was the town where I lived. Wayward, Nevada. It was actually a part of Las Vegas, or close enough to it to be considered a part of it. What's so boring about Las Vegas? Well for starters, I lived nowhere near a casino. No where near the 'heart' of Las Vegas. No, I couldn't be so lucky. I lived in the freaking middle of nowhere. Okay, so it wasn't nowhere. And it definitely wasn't hicksville, either. It's just, when you think of Nevada, you think of Las Vegas. Any other place just really doesn't exist.
Finally there were the so called 'residents' of Wayward. Everyone and I do mean everyone of it's 5,000 residents was religious. There were only two churches in the entire town. I just so happened to live within walking distance of the largest of the two. I'd gone to church every Sunday since I was born. Everyone believed the word of the church. It was considered a sin to do almost anything here. A lot of people I knew weren't allowed to do things as simple as listen to a radio unless it was on Sunday for church. I was lucky to have parents who cared what I was getting myself into, but not so much they didn't let me do much. I had a radio. A computer. Britney Spears cd's. All the things our preacher considered 'tools for corruption'
About that preacher. The guy scared me. His name was Reverend George Thomas. The guy was about as religious as they came. Every Sunday he'd preach just about the same thing. That everyone was going to hell except the members of his church. But there was one subject in particular that made me uncomfortable whenever he brought it up.
Homosexuality.
I wasn't sure exactly why it made me uncomfortable. It wasn't like I was gay or anything. At least, I never used to be.
When I turned 15 last year, that was when I started to see certain things in a whole new light. Members of the same sex, the most significant example. Usually, I'd always gone about my day, not really paying attention to guys or girls. But then I started to notice something. I was actually looking at people for a change. And not the way you look at a person to see what they're wearing and what they look like. No, I found myself studying guys, almost. Like I'd notice the usual, but then I'd find myself wondering what they'd look like naked. Or what it would feel like to have their lips locked with mine. Or what it would feel like to have their strong sexy arms wrapped around me in bed. Things that I should never be thinking.
It was weird for me because, I never thought about girls. Not even to see if they were girlfriend material. I never really thought about anyone sexually. But when I did, it just so happened to be guys that I thought about instead of girls.
At first I panicked. I started looking for a girlfriend. Anyone would have done for me. Even the ugliest of girls wouldn't have mattered to me. It wasn't like I had a say in who I wanted to date, as I was just another random face to most people. No one would find me sexually attractive. And before that never bothered me. But I found myself needing a girlfriend because I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't a sinner going to hell like the church taught.
I never had anyone. Not one friend. At all. In fact, my brother, who was a year younger than me, was more popular than I was. So for me to suddenly be trying to associate with the females at my school, seemed to be something completely out of character for me. Which was probably why people had finally started on me.
I guess I should explain that despite me being extremely shy, I'd never been picked on before. It wasn't like you see on t.v. when a nerd gets pushed into a locker or bullied by the jocks. Because I'd always kept to myself, people never really even noticed me. Even my own teachers would forget my name on a weekly basis, something you'd figure would have them eventually learn what my name was. Michael Carson.
But when I started trying to make friends with people, particularly the girls in my school, I guess you could say that the other guys started feeling threatened. Of what, I wasn't sure. I didn't look better than any of them. I wasn't stronger than any of them. And they knew it. Especially one stupid jock in particular, Evan Parker.
Evan was your typical jock. Tall, at a good six feet. Built, with a nice six pack and pecs that I'd had the pleasure of seeing once in gym class. And good looking. He had black hair that for as long as I'd known him, was always kept spiked. Green eyes and perfectly white teeth with a smooth white face. Perfect. Whether or not he was as brainless as t.v. made jocks seem........
Still though, once Evan noticed me, he never stopped.
It was probably because I had started trying to make friends with his girlfriend first. Of course, I didn't know that Sienna Carpenter was his girlfriend. I probably should have considering the fact that she was captain of the cheerleading team. Plus she was also the prettiest girl in school and with only 500 or so students in the high school, it wasn't hard to pick her out as being so.
She was a redhead, but her hair wasn't your typical shade of red. It was dark. So dark it almost looked a shade of brown. And it was long too. Hanging down past her shoulders. She had the most gorgeous blue eyes I'd ever seen and perfectly rosy cheeks, which were was clear and acne free as her boyfriends was.
I hadn't even been talking to her really. My locker happened to be next to hers. She was talking to one of her friends, turned sideways towards me, ignoring me like she and everyone else usually did, and I had been studying her for the longest time. Trying to make myself attracted to her. I don't know why I wasn't. Any other guy would love to go for her. She had nice sized tits, and because of the highly skin tight shirt she was wearing, it made them look particularly squeezable. Most people say two things about white people: they can't dance and the girls have flat butts. Well I could prove the not good at dancing thing myself but Sienna had the perfect apple sized ass that Evan, I'd noticed, loved to slap. I didn't know why I didn't want to slap it. It was so frustrating for me.
Except, I must have been staring a little too long because that was when the trouble started.
"Hey, cumwad!"
I didn't really respond to the comment because at the time, I hadn't known that it had been directed at me.
"Hey shit head, I'm talking to you!"
And that was about when I felt Evan's strong hands spin me around to face him.
And how close we were too. He was no less than two inches from my face. He looked pissed. Breath smelled like mint, but he looked pissed nonetheless.
"Uh....I'm sorry?" was my reply.
"You were checking out my girlfriend," Evan replied, hand still firmly clinched to my shoulder. "And don't think I didn't see you because I did."
It took me a moment to register that the guy was actually serious. We'd gone to school together since kindergarten, yet he'd never spoken a single word to me. And all year my locker had been right next to Sienna's. I'd actually 'checked her out' quite a few other times in his near presence too.
So for him to have been paying attention to me on that particular day must have meant that he was pissed about something, and I was unlucky enough to have to bear the blunt of his rage.
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about-"
"Hey Evan, don't waste your breath," came the voice of Evan's equally jocky and shit headed friend, Andrew Norris.
Andrew and Evan were always joined at the hip. And if you happened to just see them at the mall, you'd have thought they might have been brothers. They both had spiky hair, only Andrew's was longer and a bit wilder in fashion. They both were about the same build in terms of muscle and weight. While Evan had green eyes, Andrew had black. That was the only real difference between them.
Sadly, everything else, right down to their horrible personalities, was the same.
Andrew had came and stood beside Evan, making no moves to try and free me from his best friends grip. By now the people in the halls had turned their attention to the three of us, including Sienna, who had a somewhat puzzled look on her face.
One that looked like she was seeing me for the first time in her life, when we'd shared the same classes since ninth grade.
"What?" Evan asked. "Dude, the guy was seriously macking on Sienna."
Andrew seemed to find that statement amusing because he started laughing uncontrollably,
"Dude, what's so funny?" Evan asked, looking confused.
That was something I wanted to know the answer to myself.
It took Andrew a few more moments of laughing at something no one else seemed to find funny before he finally settled down, his eyes locked on me.
"The guys a total fag," he replied. "He wasn't checking out Sienna."
I was shocked. I didn't know that anyone else had seen that I was gay. I was still confused about the whole thing so I wasn't exactly sure what looking, acting, and being gay was. There were no gay people in my school or town. And if there were, they were in the closet. Because to be gay in this town meant one thing. Trouble.
Evan turned back to me, making sure to now keep his distance, if only moving somewhat away from me.
"So you're a fag huh?" he spoke. "No wonder you're such a freak."
I didn't know what to say. I'd never been picked on before and never really anticipated the day that I'd ever be picked on would ever come, let alone be today.
No doubt Evan scared the shit out of me. He was huge and could easily beat the shit out of me. And he was a jock, the most popular one in school, no less. Which meant that if he started going around telling people I was gay, not only would any and everyone believe it, but they would also make it their business to treat me as though I was diseased. Like I said, being straight was a big thing in this town. Everyone had to be just that. And it looked as though I was about to be labeled Waywards very first homosexual.
"Evan," came Sienna's voice.
It looked as though she wanted to interject, but she still made no moves to do so.
"Sienna the guys a fag," Evan replied. "I'm just gonna handle him like he should be handled."
I wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about but the only thing that was running through my mind was me getting smashed to a bloody fucking pulp!
"No wait, I'm not a fag. I swear!" I objected.
I'd finally found something to say in my defense.
People looked somewhat shocked. I never really talked at school and they all looked as though they'd just witnessed a miracle seeing me do so.
For a moment, it looked almost like Evan believed me. I mean, it made sense to ME that I was checking out his girl. I still had no idea how that idiot Andrew came to the conclusion that I was gay. But maybe Evan was willing to let it go. I hoped.
But when I saw a slow smile spread across his face, I knew, it didn't matter if Evan believed it or not. He was a jock and he'd started something. So to let it go would be against his little popularity code of ethics, I suppose.
"So what, then you were probably checking ME out," Evan spoke, looking in the direction of Sienna's locker, where there was a clearly visible picture of him and Sienna together, smiling.
I turned to see what he meant and was horrified. I couldn't believe this whole thing was happening. I'd gone 10 years and two months without getting so much as a 'hey Micheal. What's up?" from anyone, only to have someone like Andrew ruin everything with a single comment, regardless of whether or not it was true.
"Look, just let me go alright?" I spoke. "I wasn't checking you out."
"Why because I'm not hot enough for your little fagot ass?"
He went to my church. Matter of fact, so did most of the people in the hallway at this moment. So for them to be cussing and standing there watching Evan about to beat me down..........they were such hypocrites. Always go to church but never really follow it's 'teachings'
"Dude, that's gotta be it!" Andrew laughed.
Andrew laughed at anything, I realized. And they both had way too much free time on their hands. Passing period was only ten minutes. So for them to be wasting it antagonizing me was just silly.
All of a sudden however, Evan just slammed me into the lockers nearest us and pinned me against them.
"Try not to cry like a little fag when I do this okay?" he spoke with a grin, and then with that he just punched me in the stomach.
Just up and did it. Out the blue. I hadn't done anything to bother him. And I definitely was no threat to him, everyone knew it. I'd yet to hear him or Andrew say my name while they had singled me out to be their little 'fag' experiment.
I keeled over in pain, grabbing my stomach. It was the worst feeling I'd ever felt in my entire life. I felt like every bone in and around my stomach had shattered and that one of my lungs, even both, had collapsed, leaving me with little room to breathe.
I'd fallen to the floor. It was still pretty much silent except for Andrew's insidious laughter and the slight chuckles emitting form Evan's mouth.
I didn't see him coming, but he was here now.
My brother.
And he was angry.
"What the fuck is up with you, huh?"
He and Evan were friends. My brother was MUCH MUCH more popular than me in the one fact that he actually had friends, plenty of them, and I didn't. He was two or three inches shorter than Evan, but he was also built. With a swimmers body which made sense seeing as though he was on the swim team. And though, he and I usually never saw much of each other at school, today, he happened to be around and seen what had happened. And now, he was pissed.
"Relax, Max, I was just having a little fun?" Evan replied.
"With my brother?" Max yelled, angrily.
I took that opportunity to get my ass off the ground, standing up about as best as I could under the circumstances.
"He was checking me out!" Evan replied.
"That's not true Evan and you know it!" Sienna shouted.
I wasn't expecting her to say anything let alone come to my defense, but she had. It was just a shame she hadn't done anything BEFORE I got the wind knocked out of me.
Evan's eyes shot over towards his girlfriend, who's arms were crossed in a defiant manner. It was obvious that she'd had enough of this entire ordeal.
But he quickly looked back to my brother who was still in his face huffing with anger.
"You wanna get the fuck outta my face Max?" Evan asked, his patience testing now. "I said I was sorry."
"No you didn't," Max replied.
Evan looked down at the ground.
"Well then what do you want me to do then huh?" he shouted.
"Apologize to him," Max replied, looking at me finally.
He had calmed down considerably, but I knew him, and he was still upset. I could tell.
Evan looked over at me while Andrew once again started his laughing.
Max made a move towards Andrew but he quickly shut up.
"Go ahead," Max said.
Evan looked partially humiliated. Like saying sorry to somebody so low as myself was such a bad thing to have to be doing.
And ordinarily he'd never be taking orders from someone not only shorter and slightly weaker than him, but a grade lower as well.
But he and Max had been friends for quite a while and he really wasn't looking to get on his bad side, not over something like what had happened, anyway.
"Look, man......I'm sorry alright," Evan said.
And he sounded sincere, I had to admit. Even looked it too. But with my brother and all the other people being around and me being as embarrassed as I was, I just wanted it all to be over. I wanted to go back to being the invisible loser who blended in with the walls for the rest of my high school, and real, life.
I looked around at everyone. First at Sienna who quickly looked away from me and down to the ground. She looked sorry for one thing. But she also looked like she wanted to do or say something, but didn't want to risk affecting her social status. She looked....uncomfortable.
Then I looked over at Andrew who was shooting me a look like 'this isn't over' when I wasn't even sure if the guy had even seen me before today. Then I finally looked at my brother who looked genuinely sorry to see what I'd just had to go through. But he also still looked on the defense, ready to fight if necessary.
"Come on," Evan said, talking to Andrew."Let's go."
He, Andrew, and Sienna had all walked off, and as soon as they were out of sight did the other people in the halls start back to life. Most of them had started power-walking, as they realized they'd just wasted most of their passing period watching a stupid confrontation rather that getting to class like they were supposed to.
But after what had happened, I didn't feel like I was up to going to class. I literally felt like I was going to die. Sure, I may have been over-dramatizing the situation, but having never experienced being punched by anyone, I felt like my insides were on fire.
I had since bent down with me hands on my knees to keep me up and felt a hand rub my back.
"Hey, are you okay?" Max asked me.
No. The answer to that question was no. For more than one reason. Only, that wasn't the reply I'd given my brother.
"Sure...it's not that bad."
I'd never really lied to my brother before. We were really close and I considered him my only friend. I could tell him anything and feel like he was listening. And he'd prove it by later recanting things I'd told him at a later date. I loved my brother and would do anything for him just like he showed me that he'd do anything for me.
But because we were so close, he could also tell when I wasn't being upfront with him.
"Mike-"
"Max, I'm fine," I replied.
"Well, at least promise me that you'll go to the nurse and get checked out."
Actually, my body seemed to be suggesting the very same thing.
"Max-"
"Just go, Mike."
I didn't want to argue mainly because it hurt enough as it was just trying to talk so I silently obliged and headed in the direction of the office.
Once there, I was directed to the waiting room, where I'd have to wait for the nurse to come and get me.
I didn't mind that so much. If it was gonna be the school's fault that I was missing class, then so be it.
It just so happened that on this particular day, I'd be the one person the principal finally noticed as well.
"Oh.....hello," our school principal, Mr. Vanderholt greeted.
He'd just come from out of his office and nearly doubled back when he saw me.
He actually looked suspicious.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm just waiting for the nurse," I replied.
"Oh.......everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. Pretty much. My brother insisted I come here so here I am," I replied.
Things grew quiet and then I noticed that he seemed to be studying me. Sizing me up for something. After a good couple of minutes which I felt was even more unbearable than my throbbing chest and stomach, he finally spoke.
"What's your name son?"
"Uh...Michael Carson. Sir," I replied.
I had to admit, the guy made me nervous, no doubt. He looked down at his watch.
"Okay, come into my office will you?"
He left no room for objections as he turned around and headed right back into his office.
I sighed with annoyance and followed, shutting the door behind me once inside.
I watched as Mr. Vanderholt took a seat behind his large oak desk, making a motion inviting me to have a seat.
So I did.
He reached over to a tall file cabinet next to him and started going through it.
"Ah, here we go," he replied, after a minute of searching "Carson, Michael."
I couldn't help but feel nervous around him. And slightly curious as to what his sudden interest in me was.
"It says here that you're a straight A student who's never missed a day of school, never been late to class, never been suspended or expelled, and never been written up. Correct, no?"
Realizing that he actually wanted an answer I replied.
"Ah, yes sir," I replied.
I watched as he continued to look over the file.
"But.....no extracurricular activities whatsoever," he replied.
That was true. Everything required associating with new people, something I wasn't ready to do. Ever.
It was pathetic really. I was sixteen years old and didn't have a job. The only reason I drove to school was because my parents wanted me to take my brother, who was still 15 and actually had a job.
I spent most of my time on my computer at home, writing stories. Or reading books. It was much better for me to imagine worlds with popular pretty people rather than live in one. In all my stories, I'd made myself the popular guy. Handsome and charming athlete who was completely straight. And in the books, I'd always pick ones about teenagers. Teenagers who were everything I wasn't.
"Is that a bad thing?" I asked.
"Well, it's just that colleges look at two things really. SAT scores and extracurricular activities," Mr. Vanderholt replied. "Grades aren't the only thing."
And I was fully aware of that. I planned on going to Harvard or Yale to get a degree that would require that I not have to interact with a lot of people, while working on writing whenever I got the chance. Besides book signing, I'd heard that writers were pretty antisocial people, something
I could completely live with if it came to that. If I ever hit it big becoming a writer.
"Well, I'm not really interested in any of the extracurricular stuff the school has to offer, I suppose," I lied, straight up.
Mr. Vanderholt frowned at me.
"You know, you're not that different than I was at your age," he started. "I was a pretty shy kid too. Great grades, but that was it."
I dreaded the thought that he and I were alike. Then I'd end up stuck in high school all over again like him as a principal.
"But you wanna know what it was that caused me to change?" he asked.
Actually, not in particular, no.
"What was that, sir?" I asked.
"Being forced to mingle with others," he replied. "See before then, I'd never actually HAD to talk with others. So I didn't whenever I didn't have to. Until one day, my counselor suggested I try something new."
He looked me dead in the eyes now.
"And that's what I'm suggesting to you son. Something new."
How did I wind up in here anyway? I just came to see the damn nurse!
"Ah, sir, that's great and all, but I don't really think-"
"You don't think what Michael? That you're ever going to have to associate with other people?"
Actually, yes.
"Sadly, that's not how the real world functions," he replied. "You'll be eaten alive if you don't"
The thought scared me.
But at the same time it got me thinking. I hated being lonely. As much as I told myself that I didn't, I did. The only reason I was alone was because I'd never taken any risk. I always blamed others for my not having friends reasoning that if they wanted to, they could always start a conversation with me first. But at the same time, I was now realizing that it took two to tango. If I wanted friends and no one was speaking to me, then I should take it upon myself to make some.
"Would you be interested in trying something new the school is offering?" he asked.
To be honest I was still afraid, but this was a new school year that had only been on two months. It was time for change I guess.
"Sure," I found myself replying.
"Great," Mr. Vanderholt smiled. "Because I think it'd be perfect for you."
"What is it?" I asked, curiously.
"A foreign exchange program," he replied. "Where given the permission of your parents, you'd take in a student from another part of the world for the rest of the school year."
An exchange program? I guess this had to be some kind of luck for him to be offering it to me out of all the other kids in school.
And because of that was the reason why I didn't want to turn him down. It would be completely rude to do so now, anyway.
I suppose it could be fun. It was the meeting someone new part that had me worried.
"So what are we talking about here?" I asked.
Meaning give me the specifics.
"Well," Mr. Vanderholt started. placing his specs on his face and picking up a few papers to examine. "The student would come from Canada. Since you're a male in the eleventh grade, the student would also be male in the eleventh grade so there would be more room for a learning experience."
Uh oh. Male. My age. I was just starting to realize that I might have been gay and now we were talking getting a guy to come stay at my house. A guy who could very well be just as bad as Evan or Andrew. Or just as hot for that matter.
What would I do were I to get attracted to him? And what about my brother? What would he think of this?
Max was the only one I was really worried about. I was sure that my parents would be all for this, seeing as though they wished I was more outgoing as well. They wouldn't tell me no, which meant that this was actually going to happen. I was actually going to have a Canadian guy in my home for an entire school year.
"Granted nothings set in stone yet," Mr. Vanderholt spoke, jolting me out of my thoughts.
"Of course," I replied.
Yes it was. This was going to happen alright. Now I was feeling excited for some reason. Excited to be meeting someone new.
"Just, talk about it with your parents. See what they say, and then get back to me tomorrow."
Hosting someone from Canada. Meeting someone new. It felt good to say that.
All of that happened a week ago. As expected, my parents had agreed to the whole situation right off the bat. Max even seemed okay with it, although he seemed to be concerned with the type of guy they might have been sending us.
I had formed my own opinion based on the information I'd gotten. His name was Troy Hamilton. He was 16 and in the same grade as me. I had no idea what he looked like. We weren't supposed to send or receive any pictures. And as far as what type of person he was school wise or personality wise, that was a mystery to me as well, as all I knew was that in less than ten minutes, I would be hosting an exchange student.
My family and I were all at the airport waiting for Troy. I had a sign with his name on it and was standing near the gate terminal while Max was next to me. My parents were waiting outside in the car for when Troy showed up.
"I still can't believe you actually agreed to this," Max mumbled.
He seemed to still be wary about the whole situation. He'd always been more like an older brother to me rather than younger, always looking out for me. Especially when it came to people.
"Max, just chill alright," I replied.
I had a week to come to terms with it all and realize that it was in fact happening. It was the first step towards becoming more outgoing. I'd always wanted it before. Now I was just going after it.
Max sighed and crossed his arms as people started coming off the plane.
I hadn't really been nervous before but now I was especially nervous. Just realizing that this was ACTUALLY happening was tying my stomach up in knots.
More people filled out of the plane. I noticed a few younger kids that may have been around my age get off, but none of them must have been Troy as they all seemed to move on.
"Where's this guy sitting, the very back?" Max rhetorically asked.
I just wished he'd hurry up and get off the plane so I could meet him already.
Even more people had gotten of the plane. Max and I waited until there was literally no one left and we watched as the flight attendants and pilots filled out one by one.
"Excuse me," Max asked one of the pilots. "Was there anyone else on the plane?"
"No, we're it son," the pilot replied.
Max looked over at me and my eyes sunk to the floor. He didn't show up? He changed his mind?
Or what did he get stuck somewhere and was at an airport waiting for the next flight out?
All these thoughts and more raced through my head as Max and I looked around.
Sensing my discouragement, Max took it upon himself to start calling Troy's name, just in case he missed us or we had missed him.
But it was no use. The guy just wasn't here.
"Come on," Max said, pushing me forward slightly.
We had walked over to the ticket counter to ask the two ladies there if Troy was supposed to be on the flight. They checked but they said that there records weren't showing anything about any Troy Hamilton's.
I didn't want to walk. I suddenly felt very vulnerable and introverted just like I'd been before this talk of Troy had popped up. I didn't want to look at anyone and went out of my way to make sure that I didn't as Max led me back to where our parents were waiting. There was nothing we could do about Troy really. The school hadn't given us all the information we needed. We didn't even have a number to call. At least, not with us. We really weren't expecting a problem.
And it was over. Troy hadn't showed up and I was left disappointed.
As soon as we had gotten back into the car with my parents, it had started to rain. Not just a little bit, but a lot, complete with thunder, lightning and all. It rained the whole 45 minute car ride home, which was pretty much silent after I had told my parents what happened.
And it had been raining since then.
It was just over 11pm and I had been waiting up. For some reason, I was half expecting Troy to show up at my doorstep any minute now. But if he hadn't showed up all day, he wasn't gonna show up now.
"Come on," Max said, nudging me slightly. "He's not coming. Let's go to bed."
As much as I wanted to tell myself that I wasn't tired, the fact was that I actually was tired. I felt drained for some reason. Like Troy not showing up drained all my energy. I knew that wasn't the case but that's what it felt like.
I slowly got up and turned the light off to the downstairs living room and allowed myself to follow my brother upstairs to my room.
Max and I parted ways upstairs as he went into his room and I went into mine.
Once inside I just fell in my bed. I didn't get on slowly at all. Just fell. I felt like crying for some reason, but didn't. Thinking about Troy not showing up was upsetting me. So I closed my eyes in an attempt to forget about him.
Even with the still raging storm, I'd still managed to fall asleep. Despite it being very loud, I'd slept. So I found it surprising that I'd awoke with hearing a loud banging sound coming from downstairs.
Looking over at my clock, I saw that it was almost 2:30 in the morning.
Either the banging was a tree knocking up against something outside, or someone was trying to break into my house!
I waited, listening for the sound again before I made any moves. When I heard it repeat, only louder, I jumped out of bed, turning on my light.
I realized it wasn't a tree but knocking. Or banging more like. Someone was actually banging on our door!
When I'd opened the door to my room, I realized that my family heard the sounds too, as all of them had come out of their rooms as well.
"What the hell is that?" my dad asked, sounding annoyed.
"Tom, get your gun," my mother said, sounding afraid.
"No, I'll just go see what it is," My very brave younger brother spoke, heading down the stairs.
"Maxwell wait," My mother replied. "Tom. Michael, go with him," she replied.
My father, Max and I all made our way down the stairs, turning in a few lights, including the porch light, which had interrupted whoever was banging on the door from doing so again.
Looking out the peephole, I couldn't see much, as it was pretty waterlogged. But I could make out something. A guy maybe......
"Here," Max said, bypassing me to open the door.
"No Max, honey, wait!" my mother called form the top of the stairs.
But he didn't.
He opened the door, and all of us stood staring at a completely soaked male, about my height and age standing directly in front of us.
"Uh, hi," the guy spoke "This is the Carson house right?"
"Troy?" I asked.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Oh dear god!" my mother shrieked.
She wasted no time in rushing down the twenty steps that led up stairs and to the front door, pulling Troy inside. Max, dad, and I grabbed his bags and shut the door before any more water than what Troy's clothes and stuff had brought in could get inside.
"God, don't tell me you walked here in all this?" My mother asked.
"No, I took a cab," Troy replied.
"Max, go and get some towels from upstairs," my dad spoke.
"I don't understand," I said. "What happened?"
"My flight was delayed," Troy replied. "Because of the rain."
Rain we weren't expecting since no one bothered to check the news apparently.
"We're so sorry honey," my mother spoke. "We didn't know."
Max handed Troy a couple of towels which he used to dry himself off starting with his hair.
Appearance wise, the guy was better than I could have ever hoped for. He was exactly the same height as me. He had dirty blond hair, which at the moment was a wet mess. From all the lights that were on I could see that he had light brown eyes. His right ear was pierced and he was wearing an outfit I'd seen some of the more popular kids wearing at school. Without jumping to conclusions, the guy seemed perfect.
"Yeah, I had the address so I'd figure I'd take a cab instead of waking you guys up to come get me," Troy replied.
"Well that was very thoughtful of you," my mother replied.
Yes. That was considerate of him.
"Well it's late and you're soaked," my dad stated. "So why don't you go upstairs and get dried off, change, and then Michale can show you to the guest room. We can all talk in the morning."
"Okay," Troy replied.
Everyone gave him final looks and said goodbye before each grabbing one of Troy's six bags and taking them upstairs.
"Bet you though I wasn't gonna show up huh?" he asked.
"The thought did cross my mind, yeah," I replied, smiling at him.
"Okay, so where's this guest room at?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah," I said.
I took two of Troy's three remaining bags while he took the last one and I led him the the guest room, which was right next door to my own room.
"Nice place," he spoke. "By the way, I mean."
"Oh, thanks," I replied.
I didn't know why, but I was having a seriously weird reaction to seeing Troy. And by that I mean a stirring in THAT section of my pants, especially when he peeled off his soaked shirt and folded it up, followed by his soaked shoes and jeans.
I turned away so as not to lose it and get a total hard on.
"We'll talk in the morning?" he spoke, peeling back the covers to the guest bed.
"Yeah," I replied. "In the morning."
I had a good feeling about Troy.
"Night," I said, turning to leave.
"Night," Troy replied.
This was gonna be good for me. Really good.
A/N
My second story, the first being Angst, I finally got around to getting it up on Nifty. I've been really lazy lately, but decided to clean up my act. Anyway, even though this is the first chapter available on Nifty, it's not the only one. I have three(soon to be four) more on my YahooGroup, and if you like the story and want to check them out, the link is at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/. Angst is on there as well and another story by me not on Nifty at all called This World.
Copyright 2005