I LIKE IT

No, I do not mean the summer's smash hit by Enrique Iglesias (sp. ?)
THAT, I like. This trend, not so much.

I mean a bothersome trend that has popped up in my school, and possibly elsewhere.

The trend I speak of is the "I like it..." trend *shudder shudder*.
This is the trend of saying "I like it (insert prepositional phrase) (insert place)" in a status.

For example "I like it in sea caves!"

I noticed this trend a few days ago, and I had no idea what it had to with anything. I thought maybe it was an inside joke between a few friends. I then noticed that almost half of the girls I know had "I like it" statuses. I finally found out what it had to do with anything earlier today.

But first...
I call this a trend because it in no way achieves its purpose of "raising awareness" as the girls of my school (and others)claim it does.

What is it trying to raise awareness of you say?

Breast cancer.

Now you might ask "Andrew, why the hell would liking 'it' somewhere have anything to do with breast cancer?"

I would respond "Oh, it has to do with purses, you know, where you like to leave it!"

"What does that have to do with breast cancer?!" You might respond annoyedly.

My female friend explained to me that it was because people who started this believe that women should raise awareness for breast cancer, and women have purses. Women leave their purses places, so they should say that they "like it" wherever they leave their purse.

That makes sense right?
Yeah! Let's make a completely asinine joke that only the girls will understand, because men are icky and they can't get breast cancer! (My friend also explained to me that this is also the rationale behind this)

Here's the thing, men can get breast cancer too, and it is more fatal in men, albeit less common (I'm not comparing, merely stating a fact here).
If you want to actually raise awareness and fight breast cancer, don't make it a gender specific and ridiculous Facebook statement.

Send in some pink Yoplait tops.
Go on one of the many breast cancer walks and get some freaking pledges.
Volunteer at a center for cancer, and if possible one that helps specifically those with breast cancer.
just make a Facebook group for awareness for god sakes, and stop cluttering our news feeds!
That is if you actually really CARE about this cause, and aren't just buying in to some silly trend that does not really achieve its purpose.

I say this because when people talk of how ridiculous this trend is, some girls will defend it by saying "well we're raising awareness, so screw you"
I can safely say that half (or more of) the girls who have put up "Ilike it" statuses don't give a flying fart about the cause they are "supporting." There are tons of women who actually do care about the cause and have devoted large amounts of time and money to it; Girls, leave it to the women to fight the good fight.

So next time, girls, that you think about putting up your bra color (oh, don't think I wouldn't reference that either, girls) or where you "like it" on Facebook, please, dear god PLEASE, do not. Well, that is unless you plan to get up off of Facebook and go sign up for a pink ribbon walk, or at least go buy an "I <3 boobies" wristband.

Endnote: I have no real animosity towards girls who participate in this ridiculous trend, I have plenty of friends who have put up an "I like it" status whom I still love dearly. I merely do not like this trend thought it an interesting topic to discuss. I'm sorry if I offended someone who does actually support this cause, and I commend you for your service to fight breast cancer.

Orange Part 6

Once we arrived at our beach house, my heart was in my throat doing somersaults and a host of other uncomfortable gymnastic moves. I wanted to race right over to Rick's house, but my parents wanted me to unpack the car. I moaned a little in protest but I helped.

I bolted to Rick's house. I knew it was right before he got back from work and I wanted to surprise him, for I had told him we would be arriving a day later.
I was lucky, the door was unlocked. I snuck in to the house and I waited for Rick on the couch.

When he arrived he was looking at something outside. I did not make a sound and when he turned around and saw me I believe I surprised him a little more than I had planned.

"HOLY SHIT-...TOM!!!" Rick said before shooting over to the couch and tackling me. "OK, so I appreciate the surprise, but for an instant I thought you were a burglar or something; my heart skipped a freakin' beat there. It's OK though, because it's not a burglar, it's you."

Rick gave his award winning smile and I just could not resist, I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down in to a kiss. It lasted for a while longer than our first kiss, but then Rick ended it abruptly.

"Ummm, two things, what happened to 'I'm not gay' and aren't you with Elena?" Rick said a look of almost hurt confusion on his face.

"To answer those in order, I still don't know, and dear god no" I said trying to go in for another kiss.

"OK, I'm still a little confused here Tom, like a day after you kiss me you tell me you're not gay and you get back with Elena. Now you're back here and it's like everything is back where we started at the end of last summer" Rick said while pushing my my shoulder. I was not sure if that was to control me our to keep himself in check.

"Honestly I'm kind of confused too Rick. I hate to play this card again, but I dated someone for a full school year who I knew did not make me happy. I went back to a person who I knew I was not myself with. But this year when I talked to you, I was myself. I was happy. If there is only one thing I have figured out Rick it's that I really like you, and care about you"

Rick was still very close to me, so I went in for another kiss. It only lasted about a few seconds before he pushed me away. He looked very hurt, then he started to cry.

"How the hell do you expect me to just act like everything is OK, Tom? I was so happy when you kissed me last summer, and then you go and date that witch again. It's not as if I expected us to immediately have some sort of relationship, but you certainly crushed any hopes I had when you dated her again. I know that sounds very dramatic, but that's definitely how I felt...crushed"

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could get a word out, Rick continued.

"Then of course you kept talking to me on facebook like everything was fine, and I acted like it was. It was so confusing, you were all flirty, but you were Elena. You never mentioned her. I spent most of this year feeling guilty and stupid for still wanting you, and thinking we could still. have something. You've made me feel like absolute shit, you know that Tom?"

"I...I'm sorry, I guess I didn't even think about how you were feeling" I said while bowing my head. I really had not even thought of Tom. I had been using both him and Elena to feed my selfishness. I really felt ashamed of my actions, i had spent an entire school year being an absolute dick to Tom, and then I ended the year by breaking Elena's heart, merely for revenge.

I got up and started to walk out, muttering "I guess I'll just go, I'm really sorry..."

Rick wiped his eyes and firmly but softly said, "No, I don't want you to leave, I want to talk about this"


I sort of shuffled back to the couch, still very embarrassed. It probably would have been easier to just walk away, than face with how bad I felt for hurting Rick the way I had.


We sat and we talked for hours. He told me everything that had been on his mind for the past year, and I told him everything that had been on mine. He told me of how much he missed me, and how much it hurt for me to be with Elena again. I told him about how much I hated myself for getting back with her. I knew I had come back to her out of mere convenience, but for a while I was ashamed to admit it. I skirted around the issue until I told myself I just had to say it.


I said it, and Rick was silent.


"Oh, well it's very big of you to admit that" he said after a while, very coldly. It was very unlike Rick. A year had passed and I had not been good to him, so the emotional freeze was slightly expected.


"I don't know what else to say, it sucks, but it's true" I said while bowing my head.


"I know, I'm just feeling a lot, all at once" Rick said, looking very hurt once again. I was tired of trying to console him with my words, they did not do how sorry I was justice. I just moved over on the couch and hugged him as tight as possible. I started to cry, not sure if it was out of shame, or realizing just how I missed the boy I was now holding in my arms.


I took a large shuddering breath, and softly said, "I really am sorry, hopefully I can make it up to you this summer"


"Well, I don't think that's completely out of the question..." Rick said, his smile that I loved creeping its way on to his face.


"There it is" I chuckled softly, still not letting go.


I lay down and led Rick to lie down with me, I snuggled up to him. I was tired from the trip down, and I soon fell asleep.

Orange Part 5

"OK, so about a couple nights ago, I am so, so, so, so, so, SOOOOO, sorry. I have no idea what came over me. I really like you, and I guess maybe I should have just said something instead of making you feel extremely uncomfortable" Rick spat out.

"Wait, so are you, ya know..." I tried to ask, trailing off.

"Gay? Yes, I am. I thought this would have been obvious by now..." Rick said.

"OK, that's cool" I said, not sure of what else to say. Rick sort of looked at me in a funny way and gave me a hug.

"That's the first time I've ever heard someone call being gay 'cool'. Interesting. So we're OK?" Rick said. He seemed pretty desperate to make it all good.

"Well, I mean, you freaked me out a little Rick. I noticed you giving me looks before we watched the movies. I wasn't sure what to think of that, and that's why I was glued to the armchair for the entire first movie. When I got up I told myself I didn't care whether or not you were giving me 'looks', you are my friend and there's no reason I couldn't sit on the couch with you. Then I fell asleep and I guess I put my head on your shoulder, and I woke up and your arm was around me. I moved to the floor and fell asleep and apparently you followed me there. I woke with you right behind me, with your arm around me again. It's not how I expected to wake up, and it weirded me out a little, so I went home" I said calmly. I was not mad at Rick, and I did not want him to think so. I was just confused, up until now I was convinced Rick and I were just friends, but it was clear he wanted it to be more than that.

"Oh well, I- I'm sorry, I really am, it's just, I really like you Tom...and I guess I'll get over it. I still wanna hang out like we do, but I don't know if I'll slip up again, and I don't know how comfortable it will be for you" Rick said, he looked like he was on the verge of tears. I could not bare to see him like that, so I hugged him, I did not care that I was afraid of 'leading him on' or whatever.

"Rick, it's OK, really, like I said I was just wierded out by the suddenness of it all. We can still hang out. I'm not gonna ignore you because of one awkward encounter, you're by far the funnest and best friend I've ever had" I said while hugging Rick tightly. I thought giving him a hug after all this might be a little awkward, but it wasn't. It felt...nice.

"Thank you, you're being really good about this, most guys would flip a shit, call me a fag and leave" Rick said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, I know, I'm friends with those kind of guys back home" I said with a chuckle and a grimace.

"Well not everyone can be as awesome as us" Rick said, a smile finally appearing on his face.

"Oh, so true" I said, smiling back, "you wanna go play some video games or something?" I asked.

"Actually, I'd rather go surfing, it's a beautiful day and the waves are just begging for us to ride them" Rick said.

"Well maybe begging for YOU to ride them, they're more begging to eat me alive" I chuckled, "yeah, that sounds good to me"

Rick went back to his house, I went back to mine, we both got changed and then we met out in front of his house. Rick was beaming at me as he ran towards me with our surfboards.
Despite the awkward talk before, that day was great.
And so was the rest of the vacation in Florida, but the end of July came around, and I had to go home.

Rick and I were hanging out on my porch as my parents packed the car. We both had offered to help but my mom and dad said that they would take care of it. My parents really liked Rick and they liked that he was different from most of my friends.

"This has definitely been my best vacation here yet" I said as we sat on my porch swing and slowly swayed back and forth, just like the waves I had become so familiar with thanks to Rick.

"Well I am very happy to have made it that way" Rick said quietly. It was clear that he was sad about my leaving. I was sad I was leaving too. I had to wonder if his moodiness had something to do with his crush on me. We had not really talked about it since he had apologized for that one awkward evening.

"But really, thank you for an awesome summer. Promise you'll stay in touch?" I said.

"Of course. I'll facebook chat you everyday, whether you like it or not" Rick chuckled half-heartedly. Rick looked so sad, and I did not know what to do.

Then without thinking, I did something.
I put a hand on Rick's shoulder, and another hand on the back of his head, and I kissed him.
I kissed him for a very long time.
I kissed him until I heard my parents coming out the back door.
I kissed him and it felt right.

"I, uhm, I- I'm gonna miss you" I said, desperately trying to recover from what I had just done.

Rick was dumbstruck.

"Tommy, it's time to leave honey" My mom said as she approached me from behind.

My mom and dad both gave Rick a hug before we left. I did too. It was like a hug between two zombies. We were both still very taken aback by what I had done.
Then, before I could really make sense of it, me and my family were in the car and I was waving to Rick, a smile on my face.

About ten minutes later I got a text message from Rick saying, "You kissed me = )"

I responded with, "Yeah, I did..."

"and?"

"I dunno Rick, I gotta say that was not good timing on my part"

"oh so you're saying you had thought about it before? ; )"

"No, that's not what I'm saying, Rick"

"Tom calm down, I was just kidding"

"Oh, ok...I'm sorry, just really confused right now"

"Well discovering you're gay is confusing"

"Rick, I'm not gay"

"then what was with that kiss?"

"I don't know, you just looked so sad, and I didn't know what to do, then I sot of just did, and without really thinking I just, kissed you"

"but you're not gay?"

"not everyone is gay who kisses a guy Rick"

"I know that, it's just that kiss, it felt like a little more than 'just a kiss'"

"I know, I kind of felt that, but...I'm not gay"

"Ok Tom...you're not gay, I have to go to work, if you want to talk about this some more, I'll be on facebook later"

I didn't respond to Rick's last text, I was too freaked out. I could not stop asking myself "Am I gay?". Then I thought about Rick, and how I would not be seeing him for a whole year. Then out of nowhere I began to cry. They were not loud tears, not sobs. Just small sniffles. I did not want to let my parents see me crying, so I went to the back seat and turn my head in to the seats and cried. I then fell asleep.

When I woke up, we were at our hotel for our halfway stop. It was somewhere in nowheresville West Virginia. When we got to our room, I pulled out my bathing suit, changed, and went for a swim. After swimming around in the blue chlorinated water and wishing it had waves in it, I went over to the hot tub. I sat in the hot tube for about ten minutes before my phone buzzed with a text message on the glass table near the hot tub.

It was from Elena.
It was a simple three word text.
"I miss you" it said.

Like a fool I texted back, "I miss you too."

The next day after we had gotten home, I went to meet Elena at a coffee shop we always went when we could not think of anywhere else to go.

"I'm sorry, I was really stupid to break up with you. Once I had broken up with you, and you were gone at Florida, I realized how much I missed you and needed you"

That was enough to get me back. I do not know why, but she was able to get me back with just an apology and an 'I need you'.

I went back in to the person I was when I was with her, pretentious, quick to judge, cold and calculating.

Except for when I talked to Rick online, when I talked to him, I was myself and I was happy.

When the end of the year came around, it was my turn to dump Elena. My turn to break a heart. Because of the person Elena made me in to when I was with her, I was able to just tell her we were done with no explanation. I was not really happy with her anyway. I did tell her that, and that I was not myself with her. I did not like who I was with her, and it had taken me another year to realize that, again.

This did not matter though, because I was on my way back to Florida, where i would be able to talk to Rick in person again, and possibly pick up where we left off.

Orange Part 4

After I had left Rick's house I did not have much to do. I tried reading a book I had brought with me, but I could not focus. I wanted so badly to know what the adventure was that Rick and I were going on later. I was so distracted that I ended up asking my mom if she had any chores that she needed done. I figured that I should schmooze her before I asked her if I could sleep over at Rick's for a second night.

I'd say that was a mistake, if it had not worked exactly how I wanted it to.
My mother gave me a veritable mountain of chores. I miraculously finished them just a little after three.
Rick came in as I was vacuuming.

"You ready?" Rick asked, still in his work clothes.

"Not exactly, I gotta get some stuff from my room. I'll meet you at your house OK?" I shouted over the screaming vacuum.

"That's fine, I should probably change out of my work clothes anyway." Rick said.

I grabbed a change of clothes, a pillow, my backpack, a flashlight and lighter. I had no idea what our 'adventure' entailed, hence the flashlight and lighter.
Eager to find out what was going on I bolted out the door and in to Rick's house.
When I entered, Rick was nearly ready to go. He seemed to be searching around for something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"A flashlight" Rick answered.

"Already got one, I figured it would be useful" I said.

"Perfect! Let's go then" Rick said, grabbing my hand.

"But where the hell are we going?" I asked.

"Some place only stupid teenagers would go" Rick said smirking.

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" was all I said before I decided to just go with the flow and not question Rick.

After jogging for about 5 minutes behind Rick we arrived at a very old, large, and decrepit building.

"Riiiiiiiiiick. I do not like where this adventure is going, more specifically I do not like the looks of that building. What is- what was it?" I said stopping in my tracks thinking that maybe I did not like where the flow was going.

"Well it used to an old insane asylum, like one of those buildings where they'd do 'experiments', if you follow." Rick said getting an odd look of wonder in his eyes.

"Yeah I do, why would you want to go in there?" I asked.

"Adventure my friend, adventure. I hear it's crazy haunted. Don't worry though, it's probably just urban legend or whatever" Rick said with a playful grin.

"I'd rather not take my chances" I said.

"Oh come on Tom, what are you, chicken?" Rick said jokingly.

I wanted to say something along the lines of "what are we five? You gonna triple dog dare me next?", but like the legendary Marty McFly, I felt the need to prove that I in fact was NOT a chicken.

"Fine" I said as I took a couple steps towards the building.

I let Rick be the first to enter the creepy building, I turned on my mammoth of a flashlight and tip-toed in behind him.

"This place is awesome!" Rick shouted.

"Yeah that's a word for it..." I mumbled.

I took a look around with my flashlight and immediately wished I hadn't, the interior of the building looked exactly like a B horror movie set. I was convinced something with a hideous face that wanted to eat my soul was going to pop out any second. All of a sudden, I heard something moving and I stopped in my tracks.

"Rick, did you hear that?" I asked, grabbing my flashlight as if it were my first born child.

"Hear what?" He asked.

"That sound, it sounded like-" was all I could get out before a large something came down on my head. Everything went black.

Next thing I knew I was looking up at an orange sky and at Rick. I had the start of a very large bump on my head.

"Thank god, I thought you were dead or something..." Rick said, rubbing his eyes, they were a little red and his face seemed to be lined with worry and shining tracks. I was too confused at the moment to realize what he had been doing while everything had been black.

"What. The hell. Happened " I asked, thoroughly confused.

"Ummm, from what I can tell a piece of the ceiling fell on your head. Maybe it was loosened by something scurrying around up there...but whatever...just happy you're OK" Rick said with a sniffle.

"Rick, are you OK?" I asked. Now that I had really come to, I was pretty sure Rick had been crying. Scratch that, I knew Rick had been crying; it was quite obvious.

"Yeah, I'm fine the dust just got me is all, allergies, you know" Rick said. Something in the back of my head told me otherwise, but I did not press, maybe it really just had been allergies. I always looked a mess when mine acted up.

"OK. Hmmmm well since our 'adventure' sort of literally fell through, what do you say we scare ourselves silly a different way?" I asked, trying to cheer Rick up a little. He looked like a kicked puppy, and no one likes wounded baby animals.

"Oh?" Rick responded, immediately perking up a little.

"How about I go grab a couple of horror flicks from my house, we make some popcorn, and scream like little girls until we fall asleep. That sound good to you?" I asked while lightly touching the bump on my head. It was not as large as it felt, but it hurt twice as much as I thought it would.

"I'd like that" Rick said with a smile. Then I smiled. That kid's smile is 100 percent infectious.

So we went quickly to my house and away from that. I told my mom I was sleeping over at Rick's. She gave me a face that said "well, I'd hoped you stay for dinner, but fine" as she nodded her head. I grabbed 'Stephen King's IT' and Pet Cemetery. Two of the most ridiculously scary Stephen King movies by far in my opinion.
This was saying a lot, because I can fall asleep while watching most horror movies.

As I perused through our collection of horror movies Rick chuckled a little and said, "It's funny how you have an entire library of horror movies and you were scared to go in some silly old building"

"Aaaah but that is exactly why I didn't want to go in to the building, I've seen several different groups of teenagers meet their untimely death by doing exactly what we did. Getting torn apart by some maniac left in the building or having my soul stolen by an ancient evil is NOT how I plan to go" I said with a stony expression on my face. When it came to my paranoia spurred by my vast horror knowledge, I was dead serious. Pun intended.

"Oh, well I'll be sure to not doubt you in the future. I also hope to not die a gruesome death plotted by a nasty screenwriter" Rick chuckled. I just chuckled back as we left the room.

"Oooooh good choices" both my mom and dad said as they noticed the two movies I had in my hand as Rick and I headed for the door. I got my morbid fascination for horror from them.

"Oh mom, Dad, do we have any popcorn?"

"Yeah honey, it's in the cupboard to the left of the sink" my mom said as she pointed to the cupboard.

I grabbed it, gave my mom and dad both hugs, and Rick and I left. As Rick I walked back to his house I noticed the moon. Big, bright, and orange, it looked like a a giant glowing pumpkin in the sky.

"The moon's beautiful tonight" Rick said. As I looked up at the moon I caught him staring at me a couple of times. I did not think much of it, but I saw something familiar in the way he looked at me. I could think of what exactly it was, but I knew it looked familiar. I tried not to think too much of it as we went in to his house.

"Pop one of the movies in and I'll start the popcorn" I said as I did just so. Rick chose IT and a smile creeped on to my face. It was the longer of the two movies, but also the better of the two movies in my opinion.

Ricks smiled back at me and gave me that look again. I stared at the popcorn in the microwave and tried to think of where I had seen that look.

My eyes widened as I realized why that look was familiar. I say familiar because I realize that I had not actually seen that look, I had had that look on my face before. It was the look I got on my face when I looked at Elena and I first had my crush on her.

Did Rick like me like that? Did I give off a vibe that I liked guys? Did I give off a vibe that I liked Rick more than as a friend?

BEEP BEEP

The microwave broke what could have been an endless chain of panicked questions. I calmed down and realized I was probably just over analyzing things. Still uneasy I sat in the armchair, away from the couch where Rick was sitting. I sat there, quite stiff, for all of the first movie.

Once the movie was over I walked over to put in the second movie. I decided to stop being stupid and sat down on the couch next to Rick. He was my friend, maybe he did 'like' me, maybe he did not. Either way he had been a better friend to me than any of my friends back in New York, so I did not care.
I was not about to be one of those guys who even cringed at the thought of a guy liking another guy. It happened, and there is nothing wrong with it.

As these thoughts buzzed through my mind I started to feel my eyelids get heavy. I fell asleep before the kid had even bit the dust in Pet Cemetery.

When I awoke, the TV was glowing blue and my head was up against Rick's shoulder. Rick's arm was around me. I sat up, half out of surprise, and half just to get myself up. I went over to my backpack and got my pillow. I put myself on the floor and fell back asleep.

I awoke the next morning with Rick behind me, his arm around me. I wanted to be cool with it I really did, but I guess waking up with him holding me sort of freaked me out because I got up and went over to my house. Rick did not wake up as I left, he was still sound asleep with smile on his face.

I did not go to see Rick again that day, I figured he would be busy with work anyway. The next day Rick showed up at the door in his work clothes.

"Tom, can we talk?" he asked. Rick looked really troubled.

"Yes" I responded without really thinking. I felt a giant lump form in my throat. I had a good idea of what Rick wanted to talk about, and I was not sure if I really wanted to discuss that.

Rick took a deep breath as we started to walk down the beach, then he began.

Orange Part 3

"This entire story starts from my very birth. Both of my parents have a complete addiction to several drugs, none of them even close to legal. My mother's drug of choice during her nine months carrying me was heroin, due to this I was born addicted to heroin. It took a while for me to get healthy after my birth and my parents came very close to not keeping me. By some fluke of the justice system I stayed in their care. They both moved from the small town in North Carolina I was born in to Miami. We stayed there until I was about six when child services finally found them. After that run in, we moved to Orlando. We lived close enough to my aunt that I could walk over to house; I spent as much time there as possible. It was thanks to my aunt Rena that I actually knew what normal people were supposed to be like. One day while I was at my aunt Rena's house my parents came and said that we had to move again. My aunt Rena went up to my mom, smacked her and said 'Get out, now. Goddammit Julie you and that lump of a husband are not making this child suffer any more. I'm not letting my little brat of a sister get away with her idiocy anymore. Go, NOW, before I call the cops on you'. I will never be able to thank my aunt Rena enough for that. I was about fourteen when she set me free from my parents. I have not seen them again and I don't plan to. My aunt Rena treated me just like one of her kids, yet I never felt quite at home. This year when I turned sixteen she asked me if I wanted to get emancipated. By this time I had already gotten a job and I was making some money. She told me about Daniel, the landlord who lets me stay here at the house, and how he needed someone to look after this house. He had decided to stop trying to sell it because of something along the lines of not turning a profit. My aunt Rena comes to check in on me every day, and when she can't come in person she calls. Due to my emancipation and an agreement I have with my employer at the restaurant I wait tables at, I am able to work hours like that of an adult. The customers usually tip very well so on top of my pay, which is also quite nice, I make a good amount of money from tips. It is enough to feed me, pay my few bills, and occasionally get me things like Guitar Hero. But yeah, I've been semi-independent for about seven months now. I kind of miss living with my aunt Rena, but I know this is a better option for me. I still get to see Rena very often, especially during the school year when she helps me with my math and other schoolwork; she's really smart. Anyhow, my whole experience with life itself has made me in to who I am today...and yeah." Rick said. He tripped a lot while he was telling me this. It was clear he was not used to telling his story.

I understood him a lot better now.

He had been deeply hurt and had seen the darker sides of the world, so that is why he was so sunny all the time. Rick wanted to be that change we all strive to see in the world.

I did not know how to respond so I just hugged him, and surprisingly it was not awkward.

I was not used to hugging guys, or getting close with them.

All me and my guy friends back at home talked about was sports, music, or girls. Also we never dared hug each other; my friends were the kind of guys who would not hesitate to call you a fag just for even mentioning emotion.

All this went through my mind as I was hugging him.


"Alright, I'm OK. I'll be fine. I guess talking about it just brings back very bad memories for me. Can we just play Guitar Hero or something? It always gets my mind off of things." Rick said rubbing the back of his head, almost looking embarrassed for being sad.


"Sure man, but first I just want you to know you can talk about this any time you want with me. You listened to me gripe about my stupid problems. Not saying what you just told is stupid, or that they're problems or-...let's just rock our faces off." I said, ever so slightly failing at trying to be helpful. Rick grinned, so I knew he understood what I was trying to say.


We played for about three straight hours. I did not want to have to leave for the day so I went quickly over to my house to ask my mom if I could sleepover at Rick's. She said yes but gave me a look that sort of said 'Since when do you have sleepovers?'. I just hugged her, said thank you and that I loved her, grabbed my stuff for the night and headed back over to Rick's.


I had the best night of my life. We talked for hours about the most random things. That is pretty much all we did, we just talked, for hours upon hours. It was great. Eventually we both agreed that although we most likely could keep talking, we definitely needed to get to sleep; Rick did have work in the morning after all.


When I awoke the sun had just peered out from the horizon. Rick was already up cooking an omelet.


"Dude, how are you already cooking breakfast?" I asked, almost jumping at the resurgence of my use of the word 'dude'.


"I'm an early riser plus I gotta get to work at seven. I work seven to three as opposed to the usual nine to five. Not sure why that is, I guess it was the only shift open when I first asked for a job, and now I've just sort of stuck to it." Rick said as he expertly flipped the omelet.


I was not sure how to respond to Rick, he just continued to show me how great people could be. Despite everything he had been through he had become this completely amazing individual who worked hard, was the sunniest person I had ever met, and apparently an excellent cook.


"What's up man? You look like you have something on your mind." Rick said as he divided the omelet in to two and put them on two plates that already had toast and home fries ready.


"Oh never-mind, it's nothing; let's eat!" I said politely brushing off Rick's well intended curiosity. I'm not sure why I felt the need to hide that thought from Rick.


"So when I get back from work later we have to go on an adventure." Rick said through a mouthful of potatoes.


"An adventure? How do you mean?" I asked raising an eyebrow.


"Oh you'll find out later; for now just eat and I shall explain what I am talking about when I get back from work. My aunt Rena should be here soon to bring me to work so I'm gonna go out to the road and wait for her, but you can stay here and finish up. Please just make sure you lock up when you leave and turn any lights off or whatever else is on. See ya later, Tom!" Rick said as he grabbed a pair of sunglasses and went out the door.
Once again Rick perplexed me.
I could not wait to see what our 'adventure' would be.

Orange Part 2

Learning to surf wore me out in a way I had never experienced before. I slept like a rock that had taken three Valiums that night. I had a couple interesting dreams though, one I recall had a gray bunny with quite an odd mask fixed to its face. It would not shut up about the fourth dimension, or some ancient block of cheese that would destroy the world. I have very odd dreams.

When I met Rick at the beach I told him all about the odd dream and he just started to laugh.

"So you're telling me you dreamt of a rabbit wearing a mask talking about the fourth dimension and killer cheddar? What the hell did you eat before going to bed?"Rick said while gasping for breath. Clearly the inner workings of my subconscious were comedy gold. After a while I found myself laughing along with Rick, I just could not help it. I cannot say why, but up until talking to Rick, I took my ominous bunny time cheese dream very seriously.
I hate to keep coming back to her but I blame Elena 100%. I knew how to kid around before her. I knew what was funny. Everything had been so goddamn serious with that harpy; there was never any time for fun with her. When she was not teaching me something she was talking about what our relationship meant to me, and what it meant to her.
Thinking about it afterwords made me absolutely sick.
I realized while laughing along with Rick for almost the entire school year, I had been some person I so clearly was not. I had become a person who could not laugh in the face of the sheer ridiculousness of a time bending bunny in a masquerade talking about the muenster of doom.

While this was going on in my head I just hugged Rick. I can see no other reason for this other than his help to bring my sense of humor back.
The weirder part was him hugging me back.

"Uh...sorry. I uhm... I'm just really happy I could have a good laugh. Being with Elena sort of made everything pretty serious. The future was serious, our relationship was serious, our choice of movie from Blockbuster was serious, my choice of meat at a restaurant was serious. If I had told Elena about that dream she would have gotten out some stupid dream journal to find out what they dream meant because they are 'serious messages from your subconscious'. Hell she'd probably even have asked me what kind of cheese it was for further meaning. I guess it was nice to just laugh at something and not get all serious about it." I said rather solemnly.

"Woah dude, this Elena girl really fucked you up didn't she? I knew it was a nasty breakup, but this is serious. I've never seen a dude in such a funk over one chick." Rick said, his green eyes staring intensely at me. Once again Rick showed a quality I had never seen in any of my friends, he looked you straight in the eye when he talked to you.

"I don't really wanna talk about it now. I'd rather get my mind of it for a while and keep learning to ride the waves. I think I'd like to talk about it later though, maybe over lunch or something." I said drawing indeterminate shapes in the sand with my foot.

"Yeah that's fine, but I hope you're willing to talk about it later. It sounds like it's really getting you down, and I don't wanna see my new friend down in the dumps!" Rick said with a huge grin.

This kid was too surreal for me. I was so used to kids being superficial or moody. I just assumed all teenagers were like that and we would grow out of it or something, but Rick seemed as if he had never heard of 'the moody teenager'. His very aura made me forget that I even had any kind of woes. It must have been growing up with all that Florida sun or something that made him so, well to put it simply, sunny. I had to find out though; I wanted to know how to be more like him. I was tired of moping and treating life like some great problem that constantly needed to be solved.

Rick helped me say 'no more!' with a simple dip into the salty surf as the waves grew higher and a couple of 'choice' waves came in and tested what I learned so far.
According to Rick the fact that I even stayed on for 5 seconds showed how quick I was learning. If it were anyone else I would think that they sparing my feelings or something, but Rick looked me straight in the eye when he said it with a huge smile that no one could deny.

"Well I'm starving and it's clear you're coming along really good. I think we should go to my house, make some lunch, have a heart to heart, and then melt some faces with a couple of choice songs from Guitar Hero. I'm a big fan of grilled cheese accompanied by Misirlou, how about you?" Rick asked as we paddled back to shore.

We headed back to Rick's house, a small comfortable looking house. It was smaller than most beach houses I had seen, but it still looked very nice. We went inside and I was surprised by how quiet it was. It was fairly neat. No one was there which struck me as odd so I asked,

"Hey Rick where are your parents at?"

"I'll explain later." He said in a rather different tone; it was not quite right. I could not quite figure out what was missing from it.

"How does sharp cheddar and mozzarella sound to you?" Rick asked.

"It's cheese, in my opinion you cannot go wrong. Plus I'm so hungry you could put a rotting boar in front of me and I would most likely eat it with the help of some salt" I responded whilst rubbing my stomach.

"Perfect!" Rick explained while buttering the bread for our sandwiches. It smelled heavenly as it sizzled in the cast iron pan Rick was using. Rick came back with two perfectly golden brown sandwiches with the cheese oozing out just enough to make one want to immediately snatch up the sandwich in his jaws. Rick also handed me a bright green colored thick liquid.

"What is that?" I inquired.

"I call it Awesomejuice. Just try it. I dare you not to love it. I also ask you now to please kindly spill your guts. I do not care if it involves the girliest of tears, spill it." Rick said as he stared intensely at me.
I took a sip of Awesomejuice and I did just as Rick asked. It felt great.
"The worst thing is I worked so hard to be the guy she wanted and after all of that she goes and blames me for something being wrong with the relationship. I worked so hard, but I guess it didn't matter for I so clearly was not the person she wanted me to be." I sighed.

"So screw her! Plenty of girls would kill to be with you my friend! you are clearly very emotional, which girls dig. Plus, while I may not be a perfect judge of this, you are quite a 'hunk'." Rick said the last word in the girliest voice possible to avoid any awkwardness from what was admittedly a very nice compliment, "If she didn't like you for who you were and are, what's the point? You should be someone who sees you for exactly who you are and loves you for it. At least that's how I see it" Rick said while once again looking me in the eye. This time he was making large gestures of righteous anger.

I nodded and said,
"Yeah, you do have a point. Alright so now that I've given you my story, what's yours? What do your parents-"

"They don't live here." Rick interjected, "I didn't want to bring it up earlier because we were here to talk about your problems, but yeah I don't live with my parents. For all I know they're somewhere in California." Rick said in that same tone from before.

"Oh. Then how-"

"Can I live on my own? I'm emancipated. I take care of this house as a favor for the landlord and I work for my food, electric, plumbing etc. Oh jeez this is a long story find a comfortable spot to sit, you'll be there for a while." Rick said running his hands through his hair. He looked pained by telling me this news.
I felt very scared for Rick.

Orange Part 1

Driving in a car from upstate New York heading down to a small beach house in Orange County gives one a lot of time to think about things.
Until her I had not given a lot of thought to anything, I was very absent-minded.
But Elena changed it all for me my sophomore year. I just sort of noticed how she talked and how it made me think of things.
I really started to notice her ways in English.
She said something about motifs and how they applied to Shakespeare's Macbeth.
I had no idea what motifs were, or what she was talking about. I asked he later what she was talking about.
At first Elena thought I was making fun of her but then I said,
"No really, what is a motif? What you said sounded interesting but I had no idea what you were saying"
Later that day Elena and I headed down to a coffee shop near the school to talk about Macbeth and all the stuff in it I did not get that she did.
She was so witty and at times very funny.
She was so adorable, I could not get enough of her and her mind.
We started dating a week after that coffee stop and we dated until the end of school when she told me,

"Tom I cannot keep this going.You are so sweet, but I cannot be your teacher anymore. I do not feel like we have an actual relationship, I feel as if this year has just been me teaching everything from Motifs to the Quadratic formula. I do not want to be your tutor forever. I know that is not all I am to you but that is all I feel like now. I cannot do this anymore Tom, so I'm ending it."
Elena could not have better broken my heart then if she had ripped it out and put it in a blender.It was one shitty way for her to greet me after I had just finished my last final.
Now two weeks later I was on my way to Orange county. Just me and my parents spending a stunningly boring and long car ride to go to a long and at times very monotonous vacation.


I must admit I do like our beach house but I was in no mood at the time to be in car with my mother pointing out every single thing that she thought was pretty or interesting. On most car rides I found this quite amusing, but unluckily for me and my mother my mood was soured by my mending heart. I eventually snapped and told my mother to shut up, which did not go over well at all. Feeling defeated by myself and my bad mood I tried to sleep.
I dreamt of Elena. This helped me none. I awoke even more surly than before, but luckily I had also awoken just as we arrived at our beach home.

"Help your mother with the bags Tom." my father said.

"eh, yeah, whatever." I responded half-heartedly.
After I had done my task I slumped on to my bed.

"Tommy your Dad and I are going down to the beach, you want to come?" my Mom called up to me from the kitchen.
I contemplated not responding and pretending to sleep, but a little part of me told me to get up and go to the beach with my parents. I listened to it, slathered on some sunblock, put on a bathing suit, grabbed a towel, gathered my sunglasses and rushed out the door with my parents.
As we went out the door I noticed I left my cell phone by the door and put it in one of the pockets of my bathing suit.


The sound of the waves immediately calmed me down. The sun seemed to ebb away the sorrow I had been harboring in me. The beach was just the cure I needed for the woes of my recent breakup. Its salty spray making Elena a distant memory.

After a half our of lying in the hot sun I jumped into the water. I swam around for a couple of minutes quite enjoying myself until an awful fact dawned on me. MY PHONE WAS STILL IN MY LEFT POCKET. I yelled every expletive I knew as I raised my phone as high out of the water as possible and rushed out of the water. It was quite a display, I think I heard a kid or two running to their parents in fear of my rampage.

"Shit Doreen he's done it AGAIN" my father exclaimed as he smacked himself on the forehead.

"IMSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRY" I said. This was half to my parents and half to my phone.

"Don't worry champ, you know we've got insurance on that thing now." My dad sighed.

"Oh, really? I thought you said we couldn't afford it..." I said looking quite confused.

"It was going to be a surprise for your birthday next week Tommy." Mom said as she toweled off my phone.

"Oh, well I'm as relieved as I would have been surprised!" I said while plopping down into the sand. My parents just sort of grumbled. The new phone would be my fifth replacement in three years.
It then hit me that I would be without phone for a few days. This not the worst of all things, but I was already starting to feel withdrawal. My parents did not want me to start griping about my phone so they sent me on what they liked to call one of their 'Social Adventures'.
These started when we first started coming to our beach house. Their only purpose for me to walk down the beach and play with strange kids.
The condition of the Adventures were that I introduce myself to two kids on the beach and bring them back to my parents. This was just fine when I was five, especially because it kept me as an only child from becoming a socially awkward kid. It did not seem so awkward when I was younger. This was before embarrassment even existed in my mind.
Now as an angsty teen it was ever present, so I negotiated with my parents to find one other teenager and walk and talk with them and simply walk by my parents as we walked down the beach.

It took me a while to find a kid who looked my age, 16. Eventually I found a kid who was diving into the surf. I had been searching for about a half hour so I desperately jumped in after him and yelled,

"HI I'M TOM!"

"uh, hi, I'm Rick..." he responded.

"YEAH I KNOW IT'S AWKWARD. I'LL EXPLAIN ON LAND" I yelled once more.

"haha, sure" He said, a smile now on his face.

I explained the whole 'Social Adventure' idea my parents had for me, and why they had reinstated it.

"Yeah that's fine, you seem like a pretty chill dude anyhow, and I was as bored as hell. The waves are hella suckish today." he said while wiping off his blond mop of hair with his towel.
I almost scoffed at his usage of 'chill dude' and 'hella suckish', but I realized that was the Elena part of me speaking, the part I had to forget. I used to talk like that all the time.

So we went on and Rick told me all about his family and growing up with three siblings. I talked about being an only child. We talked about our school's. Rick gave me permission to talk about Elena and how she tore out my heart. He agreed with how I felt on the issue. I enjoyed talking to Rick so much I almost forgot to wave to my parents. I guess it was because unlike most of my guy friends he was very willing to listen. He seemed like he actually cared. This struck me as quite odd for we had just met, but none the less it seemed very genuine.
Rick and I eventually ran out of things to talk about, and we were quite silent for a while.

"You want me to teach you how to surf?" Rick offered, breaking the silence.

"Sure, but I gotta get back before sundown. I know my parents will give me hell if I don't get back before then" I responded.

"That gives us approximately an hour and a half. I can't promise you'll be fully steady by that time, but I can give you all the tools you'll need to figure it out on your own" Rick said smiling at me again like he had when I awkwardly approached him.

"Well I've got about four weeks to learn so I think our time today will be just fine." I said smiling back at Rick. His smiley demeanor was pretty contagious.
My lesson was interesting, for I was falling off my surfboard more than I was standing on it. Rick assured me this was how it was supposed to be when you first started. I was ready to give up until Rick offered to demonstrate as a large wave came in.
The way he ripped across that wave looked effortless. It was very awe inspiring, and it got me heading towards the very next wave after Rick's. He noticed what I was doing and cheered me on. As the wave came in I got up on the board and placed my feet how Rick had shown me to.
I miraculously rode the wave.
Despite all my clumsiness and all that was on my mind, I rode that force of mother nature, and I was flying.
I was free.
If just for a second.
Just in time too because as I came to shore the sun was reaching the horizon forming a blazing orange disc.

"This was really fun Tom, it's nice to find someone down here who is actually worth hanging out with" Rick said while rubbing the top of his head.

"Likewise. Hey do you want to come over for dinner? We're having mahi mahi tonight, it should be pretty good, my dad has a way with fish." I found myself saying. It was odd for I liked hanging out with people, but I had never really been social enough to take the initiative to invite someone over for dinner.

"That sounds really good, but I don't think I can, I promised my family I'd eat dinner with them tonight." Rick responded, "But how about we meet here tomorrow at eleven and have lunch at my house? If we get tired of the sun maybe we can play some Guitar Hero or something."

"Sounds like a plan man!" I said, once again smiling.

yet another story...

Ok so I do like what I have so far for Between, but I would like to start another story. I am most likely going to switch back and forth between the two. Just thought I would tell all of you so there is not any confusion.

Between Part 2

We went straight up to the apartment and I broke down the door. I figured that our patrons would not mind or notice due to their current predicament.
We discovered chaos in the apartment; chairs flying around, dishes smashing themselves and precious crystal glasses exploding.
The poor couple's apartment became a supernatural war zone.

"BAT!" I shouted over all the noise as I saw a bluish cloud of energy go into the bathroom. James handed me the bat as he aimed at a fuchsia cloud hovering in the kitchenette.
For some reason the blue poltergeist was hovering in front of the bathroom mirror, it must have been quite vain in its life for most ghosts do not care what they look like.
It was quite a stupid ghost because it did not notice the human coming up behind it with a spectral bat.
After a few hits the bastard was reduced to a simple goop.
"JAMES I NEED A JAR BEFORE THIS FUCKER REFORMS!" I screamed.

The 'jar' I am referring to is a jar made of plasm infused glass. They are standard issue for those who do work like James and I. These jars are used for cleaning up the remains of our few nasty foes that we come across in our job. We have to label them with the correct notation later and send them to a government facility for disposal. The reason for this is if a dispatched ghost is left just sitting it does one of three things:
1. stink up the household
2.burn through the floor
3.come back even more angry than before

Our customers hate all of the above choices. James and I do not really care about the first two options, but the third one means we have to come back for a free job which we hate doing. Because of this hatred we made sure we were thorough.
BANG!

"You got it James?" I shouted out of the bathroom door.

"Yep, I'll scoop him up and I think we can -" James responded without finishing.

"We can what? What is it James?" I asked stepping out of the bathroom with a full and slightly glowing jar of ghost goo, "Oh. Dear. God."
There was a gigantic mass of debris from the apartment that had formed into a sort of golem like structure moving right towards James.

"Ronnie get this thing away from me!" James screamed as he moved into a corner.

"You have the gun you idiot! It should go right through all the shit around whatever is in there. Aim for the part that looks most like the head!" I shouted at James. He did exactly what I told him and all of the things from the apartment fell into a pile as a yellow colored goo leaked from the bottom.
"Way to keep you head on your shoulders James" I chuckled as I helped him past the pile of what had been the contents of the apartment.

"Hello, is anyone here?" James called as we searched the apartment. We heard a muffled sound coming from the bedroom. Soon the closet door opened and our clients appeared.

"Is it gone?" Asked the man I assumed was the man I had talked to on the on the phone.

"Yup, all taken care of sir." James said with a sort of goofy satisfied smile.

"That will be $250 for our labor and $50 for each of the bullets we had to use." I said. James never really liked to mention the money.
The man's wife raised her eyebrows at him but he just said,

"Well that's fine I guess, we were really scared there. Poltergeists don't usually do that right?"

"True. Clearly those were not poltergeists. I am sorry to say that I don't know what they were, I'll have to look through my government handbook again. Thank you for your patronage sir and ma'am. My partner and I will take the ghosts with us and we'll send you the bill later." I said as James cleaned up the last of the yellow goop that was leaking out of an antique chair.

"Jesus H. Christ that was too close. What the hell was that thing Ronnie?!" James exclaimed as we got back in to the car.

"I honestly have no idea James, I was not just bullshitting our customers back there. Like I said, maybe I should take a second look at the handbook." I responded running my hands through my hair. It is a nervous habit of mine.

"Yeah ya should" James responded as he put the keys into the ignition.
When we both got home I discovered that what we had handled was considered a class 5 poltergeist, more commonly known as a "Spectral Golem". It sure was not commonly known by anyone I had talked with.
One thing concerned me greatly,
the handbook said "An appearance of this identity almost always signifies a positive fluctuation of spectral energy in the surrounding area",
which in plain English means "oh and by the way, things are about to get a lot worse for you"

Between Part 1

I live in a world where the dead do not like to stay that way. It is truly a bitch and I would probably complain about it more, but if it were not true I would be out of a job.

One might say, "What are you talking about, the dead stay dead, this is ridiculous"

In your world you would be mostly correct, in my world you would be mostly wrong. In your world, the world of the Norm most of the dead stay dead no ghosts no nothing with the exception of a nasty specter or two here and there. In my world, the realm of Between, the dead come back and visit if they forgot to get their morning paper right before they died on the crapper. In my realm death is not so clear cut, most likely because we have never had a concept of a God to fear like you may have, so peoples spirits have no idea of where to go. Most just stick around, the smart ones go to your world, haunt for a little while, find out about that nifty little thing called the afterlife from some other and jump on that train to redemption or punishment. It all depends on the life they lived, but you know this.

The point is, in Between we do not have Heaven, Hell, or anything like it, because of this ghosts sometimes roam entirely too free. They crowd the world of Between at times.

My job is crowd control, or at least most of the time. I remove spirits caught in Between, most o f the time it is a breeze. Someone calls complaining about some old guy moaning in their kitchen and it turns out he is just really confused about where he is. I point him in the right direction and before I know it he has skipped of on to some other plane of existence and I charge my nice little flat rate of 250 bucks.


It is quite lucrative to make a living off the dead.


Unluckily some cases are particularly grueling, like when a nasty spirit gets a little feisty and gets a couple of friends to torment some nice couple in their loft apartment.
This is why us Between folk invented Plasm, a substance that can be applied to anything and make it tangible to a ghost.
This is what makes it possible to reduce an evil spirit to a driveling pile of goo.


My preferred Plasm imbibed weapon is a baseball bat, but for some spirits who just will not die (again) I have to whip out the Plasm gun. I hate it when I have to use it because Plasm bullets are costly little suckers.

But yeah, I guess you could consider my job to be a mix of a supernatural private eye and an exterminator.
I do not do this all alone though, I have a partner to help me out with some of the tougher cases. James is not the brightest of sorts, but he gets the job done. Also it is kind of nice to have a pretty face around the office to fool around with when things get slow.

Luckily for me things had just gotten slow and James decided to stop by the office. The minute he got in I just kissed him, it's what I did sometimes. Plus this particular time I was very horny and also very bored.

"Haha, hello to you too Ronnie. How 'bout you let me get my coat off first, huh? Any new cases? I'm guessing no, but I figured I should ask..." James said peaking over on to my desk.
I did not really reply, I just kissed him again and he giggled in that cute way he does when he is horny.

"You know you really are gorgeous? I'm serious, I have never seen a guy with better features than yours James." I said after an hour or so of fooling around.

For once I was telling the truth to a guy, I had said stuff like that before just to get in a guys pants, but I was serious about James. He really is gorgeous. Those locks of golden hair, those beautiful amber eyes, his toned tanned body, soft skin, and phenomenal lips.

But enough about my gorgeous partner, for I heard the phone ringing.
"Hold that thought" I said as I got up to get the phone and James stared in awe at me actually being sentimental.
"Spectre Incorporated, how can I help you tonight?" I said in my best professional voice, which made me vomit a little in my mouth every time I used it.

"Oh thank god you were up at this late hour! I have a couple of poltergeists mucking about my house and my wife and I just cannot get to sleep. Can you come over?" He asked over speaker phone.

I gave a look to James that said 'well that is sort of the point of the business' but I told the customer "Of course sir. My partner and I will be right over." He gave us his location and we got in my car.

"Bat?" I asked.

"Check"James responded.

"Notepad?"

"Double check"

"Gun?"

"Yup."

"Keys?" I asked while James searched his person.

"Shit, one sec'. I'll be right back" James said as he rushed back up in to the office. Like I said, he is not the brightest guy around, but oh well. He is cute and does pretty well with a gun, so I keep him around.

"Alright, crisis averted, they were in my back pocket." James said. I just chuckled and we went off to the job site.

"I'm feeling lazy James, what do you say we just take the bat to these bastards and be done with it?" I asked James. To be fully I honest, I am not lazy ever, but I was incredibly horny and our client had interrupted my time with James.

"Sure, why not. I like the bat better anyhow, I'm not so good with negotiating with the stiffs. they always laugh at me, or yell." James agreed, "Oh I know we've got the address and all, but I have no idea where that part of town is, how will we know when we're there?"

"It's that one" I said while I pointed to a glowing green window with a few object being thrown out of it, "This is not good, it's gone psychokinetic."

"Um right...that, I'm guessing we should bring the gun?" James asked.

"Yes James I believe we should"

gay cowboys break my heart everytime...oh also...

So yeah, watched Brokeback Mountain today. It was amazing. Sentimental at times but most definitely not mushy gushy. This is one of the first movies to get legitimate tears from me, and I am NOT a crier.

I'm happy I read the story first though because I would have a harder time understanding Ennis. Heath Ledger may be cute but when he plays gay cowboys apparently he cannot enunciate. In his wonderful method actor mind or apparently gay cowboys must only use vowels and a low dulcet tone at all times. Mind you when I could understand what he was saying, he was absolutely wonderful, he was still wonderful even when you could not understand what he was saying.

Jake Gylenhall was also phenomenal. Even though I knew what was going to happen to him at the end, I still cried when Jack Twist died. I do not know if it was his awesome acting that got me, or his stunning blue eyes, or both. All I know is that dude seriously struck a chord with me.

Anyhow since I'm on the topic of awesome gay stories, I shall be writing a new story! Many more parts, a little more out there, and a little more gritty.
I decided to write another story because well...
"I 'AINT QUITTIN' YOU!"

(sorry to those of you who have no idea of what I'm talking about)

What Came to Be...Part 8

I did not focus in class at all, but who could blame me? I had just had the happiest moment in my high school career, screw Algebra. All I could think about was lunch and what Johnny had to say to me. I assumed it would be good, but somehow I was still nervous.
It's funny how three words can mess with your psyche so much.

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. I had never been so excited to see our school's dismal cafeteria.

"Over here!" Johnny shouted at me from across the room. I just sort of smiled and floated over to him. I noticed he had already gotten me a lunch.

"It's chicken patty today, don't worry I wouldn't have bought you one if it weren't, the rest of this shit in the cafeteria is nasty" He said grinning.

"Yup. So we definitely have to talk. Where do we stand here? I mean I know what we both said, and I know I mean it, and I'm pretty sure you mean it, but then you said you had more you wanted to say and so I got nervous and I really wish you'd stop me now..." I said as I eventually started talking into my lunch.

"Gladly. Now here's the thing. I did mean what I said. The only reason I have more to say is I want to explain all of what that means like you did, but maybe with a couple more breaths and a little slower" he said with a giggle, "You've given me the courage to not care about what anyone thinks about me, you've shown me just what it is to care for someone, you've shown me a side of myself I've neglected since I was a kid, sometimes to me you are the only person in the world, you're crazy talented, you've shown me what it's like for someone to actually care about you, you've helped me discover who I actually am. Because of all this and so much more this is why I love you Alex Harting"

"Kiss me. Now." I responded.

And we did. And we did not care about all the dirty looks we got from passers by or the buzz that came afterwards. As usual there was no one else in the world but us, but now we could have that feeling in public because Johnny had had the courage to stand up for himself and be honest.
The rest of that school year was bliss.
But then, Johnny had graduation.
He had gotten full ride at a great school, in California.
A little far from our resident upstate New York.
So the summer before he left, Johnny and I made the most of what we had left.
We had so much fun we almost forgot he was going across the country when it was all said and done.
Almost...
Then I had my senior year.
Johnny told me he would keep in touch, that we'd stay friends and see each other on the holidays.
For the most part we did, which hurt even more.
I didn't date anyone that year, I focused on my schoolwork and my extra-curriculars. Practically poured my everything in to them.
I had to find a way to get past the past and move on.
Then graduation came around for me.
Riley and I both got into an awesome college in Massachusetts. Her for forensics and me for Neuropsychology.
Once again I just focused on school and other things, Johnny was less on my mind, but ever present in the back of it.
I did not know if he would ever leave.

Guys had flirted with me at college, but I did not pay them much mind. If I ever got really lonely I might kiss one or two, just to make the loneliness go away.
There was one guy who I dated for about half a year who was quite nice. He was a sociology major named Jason. He had jet black hair, black rimmed glasses, chiseled features and icy blue eyes.
He was very nice to me.
But I could never explain to him why I was so distant all the time until one day Riley came up to me as I was staring out a window and said,
"What the HELL is wrong with you Alex? Jason says you've been ignoring him! I set you up with a great guy and this is how you repay me, you ignore him? You know you've been so different since high school. I know we're supposed to change and all that, but you have been so different since our Senior year...oh god, Alex, don't tell me you're hung up on who I think you are!" Riley said in disbelief.

"No it's not him, or at least I don't think it's him. It can't be, I'm stronger than that. I should be over him anyway, we both agreed that it was only logical to go our separate ways. There was no drama, it was plain and simple..." I said not fully convincing myself.

"Alex get your shit together and go talk to Jason, he thinks you're gonna break up with him or something. Believe it or not it is possible that you can have a new person who means something to you. You surely mean something to him cause he's stuck by you during all you incessant sulking. So at least show him some respect by talking this out. You're a big boy Alex, you're a junior in college, I really think you can handle your boy issues without me." Riley said while impatiently fiddling with her fiery hair.

I did not say anything. I knew Riley was right so I nodded and went to Jason's room.
When I arrived I heard Jason playing Cobra Starship, it was the band he always played when he wanted to be in a better mood. He was currently playing one of my favorites of theirs, "Hot Mess". I came in and Jason was determinedly rocking along to the beat.

"Oh! Hello there! I uh, I ummm." Jason squeaked.

"Haha, calm down Jason, I know you're upset, Riley told me. Also, you're playing Cobra which is a sure sign your mood needs improving." I said grinning despite myself.

"Oh, I didn't know you knew that about me...but that's beside the point. I am upset, you've been way to aloof for my liking. I feel like you're off on some distant planet, well that is when you're not buried in your schoolwork or off rehearsing for something. I hate to sound so needy Alex, but I'd like a little more attention." Jason said calmly. The Cobra had clearly helped his mood.

"No you're not being needy at all, you're completely right. I've been disgustingly moody. I've been too stuck in myself to realize it until now. I'm sorry. You've been a great boyfriend, better than I deserve by the way I've been treating you. I'm gonna be better I promise" I said.

"Oh, well that's very mature of you to say Alex. Thank you." Jason said.

Then I kissed him, just to see if I could feel that spark again, and also because Jason was adorable.
I surprised myself and him because I ignited our spark that day.
The rest of our time together was great.
Jason got me hooked on Cobra Starship,
I introduced him to Spring Awakening and some of Queen's less known, but still just as good songs.
We had a lot of fun together.
We spent whole nights just singing like idiots along with our favorite songs.
We also spent whole nights doing other things...that were quite nice. Jason was my first guy who I did 'those other things' with, and I was actually happy about that. He taught me a lot. No not just about 'those other things', but also about myself and how to have fun again.
I had forgotten what real fun was like for so long before Jason.
Maybe I had just lost it, and Jason had helped me find it.
But before we really decided to be very serious with our relationship, it was time for both of us to graduate.
It was not a sad parting.
I was happy for the time I had with Jason. He had brought me back from letting some of the more exciting years of my life slip away.

When I was in graduate school I got more into the club scene.
I do not mean the part of the club scene that involved lots of drugs and sex. I mean the part that was full of flashing lights, sweat and dancing.
I had never really tried anything except for the occasional sip of alcohol, and I never really wanted to try them.

And I was no slut, never was, never planned to be. There plenty of nice guys I knew who were into the whole casual sex thing, but I just did not want to bother with getting into that.

I wanted to know who it was I would be sleeping next to.

I did not date during graduate school at all, but it was because I was too busy. Not because I made myself too busy to forget Johnny. I was perfectly emotionally available, just not physically available.
I was too busy working at my school's master's/doctorate program to worry about a guy.

I was starting to understand what my parents had meant when they said the years go faster as you get older because before I knew it I had a job at a well respected practice in Boston and a decent apartment.

I did not go clubbing anymore, but I still had fun.

Riley stayed in Boston as well and she was doing quite well for herself as well.
She had a partner of two years who was the sweetest girl I had ever met.
She had beautiful brown hair and the kindest brown eyes.
Grace was perfect for Riley.
A couple years later they got married. I had my own practice and loft apartment in the same building.
I was so happy for Riley.
I was also lonely.
I was 33 and I had no one besides my Great Dane Dashel, Riley and Grace.


So I signed myself up for a gay dating site.
The first one was not for me, it was all about the sex.
I then tried a dating site that allowed me to specify who I wanted to date, it was not strictly gay.
I got matched up with some great guys, or so they seemed on paper.
When I met them in person they just were not for me.
I was old enough and experienced to just know if we could work out something good.

Now I know this sounds very businesslike, but to be fair at this point all I had really cared about was work and close friends. So I was used to a strictly business kind of lifestyle. You might think that a person who listens to people for a living and helps them with their problems would have more of a heart after practically mastering his craft, but I guess at that point I was just too emotionally worn out by my job to really be able to give past my psychological career.

After several more months of monotony and mediocre dates I told myself I needed a vacation. And I did, badly.
I originally thought Fire Island, partially for laughs but also because deep down I'm kind of a gay stereotype sometimes.
I eventually compromised on a gay singles cruise to Fiji
At this time I did not have have any particular needy patients so going on vacation was not a hassle at all. Also it was the first vacation I had ever taken in my career, my patients did not complain. The cruise was a very needed escape and Fiji was beautiful. But the beauty was not just in Fiji, but also in the hand that fate had dealt to me when I stepped on that boat.

Johnny was there, on the cruise. I saw him as we were boarding the ship but I did not say hi. I had no idea why I did not call to him. I wanted to but I just could not bring myself to do it. Maybe I did not want to seem like a fool or something. But fate would shove us even closer. At the "Romantic Evening" night we were partnered at a table.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me, this is just too surreal...Alex?" Johnny said with that same enchanting smile of his. He was dressed simply but beautifully, he had on a black shirt with an electric blue tie with a black jacket over it.

"Johnny!" was all I could manage. Even though I had known he was on the cruise, the fact that we were at the same table just made him all the more real again to me. I think my mind just sort of wanted me to pretend he had never even existed, but this instance brought everything back, all the feelings flooding all at once.

Before Johnny or I could say anymore I threw up.

"Jesus H. Christ! Are you OK Alex?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just...*urp*...feeling a little seasick." I said as I ran to the bathroom. I believe the rerun of my lunch was partially caused by my nerves and also by the wonderful flighty ocean. As I washed my face off Johnny stepped in.

"Are you sure you're OK? You seemed to get seasick right about when you saw me...I'm not sure whether I should be offended or the cooks." He said while tilting his head and chuckling ever so slightly. He was just like the boy I had fallen in love with so many years ago, but more refined and no longer a boy.

"I say we blame the cooks." I chuckled back.
"Right then, you up to dinner, or would you rather me walk you back to your room?" He said sounding like a perfect gentleman.

"Well why not both?" I said grinning at him. He made me feel like a horny teenager again.

"If I didn't know you better I'd think you were coming on to me!" Johnny said with bemused disbelief.

"Well apparently you have some more knowing to do, cause buddy your instincts were right." I said grinning even wider than before, "But dinner first"

It was miraculous, Johnny and I just sort of picked up where we left off in high school, sort of. We of course had tons of catching up to do. We talked a lot about school. A little about guys, but it seemed almost like Johnny had done something similar to me, he had focused heavily on his career and neglected to date very much. I kind of liked that. Johnny had studied pharmaceuticals and business and was now a pharmaceutical rep. We talked about so much more I'm not going to even bother listing it all.

"God you look great" Johnny said with an amazing smile. I just giggled and continued on with our small talk.

The dinner was great, it started with oysters went on to a truly amazing lobster bisque, then a fillet Mignon that was literally like butter. There was champagne that seemed to never end and chocolate covered strawberries at the very end. It was like the cooks we just waiting for everyone at their respective tables to start making out. Johnny and I clearly had that on our minds for we both were giving each other the very same look as on that fateful day up in his garage.

"How about I walk you back to your room hmm?" Johnny said still sounding like a perfect gentleman.

"I would love nothing more." I said. It was like he brought back all that odd teenage confidence that anything could happen and it was showing through. I had not felt so great for a long while. "Here we are, my humble abode." I said as I went in to my room and went to close my door in a teasing manner.

"You think I'm gonna let you get rid of me that fast?" Johnny said in a steamy voice.

"Well I hoped you wouldn't." I said in an equally steamy voice. I then flopped down on the bed of my room. Johnny flopped down next to me and looked straight into my eyes and said,

"You are so beautiful in so many ways, I will never understand why we lost touch, well other than the obscene distance between us." Johnny said quietly and sweetly.

I could not come up with words to describe how I felt at that moment so I used my actions instead. I kissed him just like that day when we were working out when we were kids, with just as much passion and emotion. It was bliss. then johnny was taking of his shoes and his jacket. I was doing the same. Before we got any farther Johnny asked,

"Wait do you have a..."

"Of course I do. Are you kidding me? They have them by the dozens in the droors. It's a gay singles cruise, what do you expect?" I said as I took off his tie and ripped off his shirt, "Sorry about that, I've wanted to do that since high school."

"Likewise" Johnny said mimicking me.

Then:

Belts.

Pants.

Push.

Pull.

Sweat.

Groan.

Fireworks.

I woke up the next day with Johnny spooning me. I would have squeaked out of joy but I was a little too old for that and I did not want to wake up Johnny. Instead I just sat and felt his warmth mingling with mine as I saw out of the window a beautiful green island approaching our ship. Then a familiar sound,

GROOOWWWWWMMMMNNNNNAAAAAA "Huh? Oh Jesus I'm hungry, can we please get room service?" Johnny asked as he rubbed his stomach and the sleep out of his eyes.

"Of course" I responded. We enjoyed some wonderful croissants with exotic jams. Also some chocolate covered strawberries that looked leftover from the previous night. We did not care they were delightful all the same.

We spent the entire day on the beach and the entire night in my room. We did not sleep much that night.

There was a swing dance on the last day. Johnny and I learned some basic steps which we were able to do quite well. We tried some more complicated and just ended up on our butts. We laughed a lot. They gave the crowd some time for a slow dance or two. That night we discussed what we were to do after the cruise was over. Johnny of course had the best solution ever.

"I know what I can do, my company is opening up a new branch out in Boston. I can ask if I can get transferred. They need at least 20 people to leave my company anyhow for the Boston branch." Johnny said with a cute and determined smile.

"Yes! Absolutely! I know this is all so sudden, but would you like to skip the trouble of finding a place and just move in with me?" I asked sheepishly.

"That's kind of what I hoped to do." Johnny said grinning.

"Isn't this all a little too sudden?" I said, doubting myself.

"No Alex, it's not, I was miserable without you. I buried myself in my schoolwork business so I could forget you. For a time it worked and I thought I could find someone new, but then you showed up and it was all so clear. It's always been you Johnny." He said as he grabbed my hands.

"My god I love you, your a prince you know that?" I said.

Johnny made an eeping sound that one would never expect to hear from a very suave looking 30 year old.

A month later Johnny had moved in. We had so much fun and so much, oh, well you know.

Then before we knew it a year had passed, and another. Then Johnny was waiting for me in his suit. A little black box in his hand with a note in it that said "Be mine? Oh also, you'll have to find me."

I kissed and him screamed, "YES! Now where is the ring?!"

"Briefcase, I hid it there earlier, I hoped you might find it during the day with the note attached, but I knew you were busy today so I had a perfectly awesome plan B" Johnny said with a grin.

We are getting married tomorrow on some distant shore. I could not be happier.

What Came to Be...Part 7

Lyssa King was the Queen of all bitches, and up until three months or so before Johnny and I were together Johnny was under her lock and key.
He followed her around like a wounded animal, it had been a painful sight to see.
I like to think that Johnny had been with her because he saw some good in her, but could have also been because she was the self proclaimed hottest girl in the school.
All the girls wanted to be her, and everyone hated her including the boys.

To imagine how exponentially awful this she-devil was, imagine the Queen Bitch at your high school, multiply her bitchiness by itself, and you roughly have the amount of bitchiness Lyssa had on a good day.

If you have not gathered this yet, she was absolutely rotten to the very core.
She ruled the school with and iron, well manicured fist.
At the point Johnny and I were together, she was still griping about him breaking up with her to all who would bother to hear.
And one day she saw Johnny and I kiss in his car as we left school, but neither of us were aware until it was altogether to late.

A week later after Lyssa had spotted us people at the school kept giving me and Johnny dirty looks.
"Did you say anything to anyone?" Johnny asked me during Glee rehearsal. I did not want to lie to him, so I said,

"Yes. Riley Gagne and Miss Madeline, but I already talked to both and they said haven't told a soul."

"Are you sure, because some one clearly knows. One of the guys on the team called me a faggot for no reason today, it sucked. Also we both have been getting looks from everyone here in the room if you haven't noticed." Johnny said with a slight edge.

"First of all I can tell you're mad I didn't say anything to you about Riley or Miss Madeline and I'm sorry, I was gonna say something. They are both very trustworthy, you don't have to worry about them, I know they didn't say anything. Also maybe someone just started a rumor, we have been hanging out a lot, leaving school together, you haven't dated anyone lately and also we made out in the parking lot." I explained.

"Yeah, you've got a point, We haven't been as careful as I had planned. I just don't know what to do, what if someone saw us in the parking lot last week? I swore it was empty, but who knows...ugh I feel sick." Johnny said.

"Boys, are you even practicing the routine?" Miss Madeline shouted at us from the other side of the chorus room.

"Sorry!" We both said at the same time. Everyone was looking at us for some reason, they weren't even trying to hide the looks they were giving us.

And that is when I realized who was behind it all as I saw Lyssa whispering to another Glee member and then glaring at Johnny and me. I realized she must have seen us the week we kissed in the parking lot. I did not know how she had seen it, but I just knew it was her. Only someone as unnaturally evil as her could have pulled that.

"Johnny, it's Lyssa, she must have seen us somehow, I don't know how, but she did. This is exactly something that bitch would do." I said with venom I did not know I possessed.

"Shit. shit...SHIT. Alex! This is not good! That makes so much sense too. She's the only one with the kind of pure unadulterated evil in her heart to spread a rumor to the entire school in such a short period of time." Johnny said. He sounded as if he had just come down with the flu.

"We've just gotta stay calm and play dumb. If we don't act guilty the rumor will just die off. I've seen it work thousands of times." I said in my calmest voice possible.

"Ok I trust you, but we gotta lay low for a little while OK? So maybe your parents could drive you to my house or something, and we keep our kissing strictly to my house." Johnny said with a tremor in his voice.

"Yeah of course." I said without really listening. My mind was on Lyssa and how to keep Johnny safe from her. It kept me up all night, and Johnny too. We just texted each other while we waited for the night to become early morning which despite the circumstances was quite nice. It showed me that we could talk anytime about anything.

I came into school the next morning feeling quite good despite Lyssa's adversity.
Until I spotted the fliers all over the floor.
They had no words on them,
just one picture.
It was of me and Johnny kissing in his car.
It was then I realized Lyssa was not the spawn of Satan, she was the second coming of the Beelzebub himself.
She did not write a thing on the fliers so she could not get her in trouble with the for saying something negative about us and there was no way to prove it was her.
I then remembered my friends in high places. More specifically Riley who was an avid member of the 'Future CSI's' club.

before I could open up my phone to text her and ask her if I could borrow her fingerprinting equipment I received a text from Johnny

"Have you seen the fliers?" he asked

"Yes I responded. Are you OK?" I asked

"I don't know..." He responded.

I grabbed a couple of fliers and headed over to the Chem labs. I was in luck for that particular day was also the day that the 'Future CSI's' club had its meeting.

"I need you guys to do something for me..." I asked.

When I told Riley of the situation and she explained it to the club, and they went to work. They printed me, matched them up with the ones on the fliers and found one other set of prints. Then Riley quickly sprinted to the girls locker room and pulled the prints off of Lyssa's gym locker.

"It's a match" Riley told me with a wonderful little grin.

"Yeah, but how do we make her pay?" I asked.

"Well it's pretty simple actually, whoever spread the sheets around the school was littering, vandalizing, because she had pasted some to the wall and did not get permission from the school to put up fliers. You can at the least get her a week of detentions." said a more Law minded FCSI.

"Good job Hank." Riley said with the same venom that was in my voice the previous night.
"Alright now go Alex, and find him, Johnny probably needs you more than he needs you to get back at Lyssa. We'll take care of it, Hank will have the administration on that bitches ass like white on fucking rice." Riley said with increased venom.

"I've said this before, and I will most likely say it again. Riley Gagne, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH" I said over my shoulder as I ran out the door and texted Johnny a hurried "Where R U?"

"My homeroom, room 316. Please get here fast..." he texted back

I ran faster than I had ever ran before because for once my stupid high school drama for once actually meant something to me. Then I saw him waiting for me in the halls. He said everyone had been asking him about the fliers
I then explained what I had Riley do for us.

"Oh, Alex, that wasn't necessary." Johnny said, keeping his modesty, even when he was at his lowest.

"It was Johnny. It was for you. You deserve the world and more. Despite our odd arrangement, you've been the best boyfriend I've ever had. You mean so much to me, you always say good morning and goodnight, you look at me as if I am the only person on this earth, you have awesome taste in movies, music and clothes, you are quite possibly the most attractive guy I have ever kissed and you treat as if I'm the same way, you hug me close and tight, and I...I love you Johnny Tracer. Goddammit I told myself I wouldn't let that happen, but I love you so goddamn much and I don't give a shit who knows and I hope you feel the same, but in some ways that doesn't even matter because it won't change how I feel about you, no matter how messed up that is..." I said entirely too loudly.

"FUCKING QUEERS!" a jock yelled at us from two feet away.

"Go away now Tommy, this has nothing to do with you..." Johnny said in the most icy tone I had ever heard in my life.

"What the fuck are you gonna do about it ya fairy?" Tommy spat back.

"This." Johnny said while grabbing Tommy's neck and slamming his head into a locker. Lucky for Johnny, there were no teachers around to see his assault or the few kicks that followed and Tommy was too proud to admit he had just gotten his ass handed to him by a gay guy.

Then amidst the gasps from the crowd in the hallway, Johnny kissed me right there, in front of everyone. He then gave me one of the best hugs ever. It was as if he said I love you a thousand times with those three quick actions, yet while everyone in the hallway was buzzing about us Johnny whispered into my ear, "I love you too Alex, and I don't care what anyone thinks about it."

I cried my first real tears of joy that day, all because of Johnny.

"I'll talk to you at lunch OK? I've still got a lot to say and explain. Text me if you like but I'm saving most of what I have to say for lunch." He said with a smile.

"OK" was all I could manage to say without getting overly emotional.

The boy I had been secret dating for months, was no longer a secret anymore, he didn't care, and also, he loved me. I was on top of the world.

What Came to Be...Part 6

I ran to the soccer field as fast as I ever had. I was not quite sure why I had the need for the urgency, but I guess we all have to run as if we believe we are in an epic romance sometimes. Then, there he was striding up and down the soccer field, practically glowing. I watched whatever drill it was he and the team were doing and when they were done I called to him. Johnny came over and asked me, "What's up man?"


"Not much I kind of just anted to watch you at practice. I know it's weird, but yeah...also I just want you to know I really am OK with our whole 'arrangement' and that I really do understand where you're coming from. I'm only saying this because I'm pretty sure I was not very convincing when I first said this to you. I didn't really believe it myself, but I didn't want to upset you. You're an awesome guy, so I didn't want to leave you with my half-hearted response from the other day." I said, with a surprisingly good pace for myself.


"Oh, thank you Alex. That means a lot, cause I was kind of feeling bad about it. I just can't really see any other option right now. I'm sure I'll be able to ease into something else now, but for now I think I'd more like to go on with what we're doing. Yeah, so that makes me feel a lot better. OK, now I can't kiss you right here for obvious reasons even though I kind of want to, but would a bro-hug suffice until later tonight?" He said with a smile that kind of grew with every sentence.


"That sounds great, I'd love one." I said.


We hugged and then he went back to practice.
Later that night we got a lot more rehearsing in than I thought we would.
By this I mean that we matched each hour of talking or making out with an hour of rehearsal. We would have many awesome nights like this thanks to duets from Glee, but I am getting ahead of myself.
Once it got to be around eight that night Johnny said, "Woah dude, you hear that?"


"Hear what?" I asked.


"My stomach, I'm mad hungry." Johnny said.
I then heard a sound that went something like "GROOOWWWWMMMMNNAAAAA" coming from the vicinity of Johnny's digestive tract.


"Woah, so we need food, like, now" I said.


"I think pizza is what I crave, and a movie. They are quite a good coupling. We luckily have one of those awesome freezer pizza things ready to go. I'll go put that in the oven and you pick out a movie from the cabinet over there" he said while gesturing over to a large black wood cabinet.


I opened it. It was like a library of every awesome movie you have ever seen, and have not seen. I wanted to pick a Disney movie to be all cute, but then something much more important caught my eye.
Mean Girls, my absolute favorite.
It was smack dab in the middle of all the movies.
Johnny came out to see what I had picked and the moment he saw what I picked, he kissed me.
DING!
"You're awesome. This movie is my absolute favorite. Dude, it's like you're in my head sometimes." he said after a wonderful kiss.


"Likewise" I replied. The oven's noise making could not have conveyed my feelings any better.


"The oven's ready. I'll go put in the pizza and then we'll start the movie." He said.

"You got it." I said as I just lied on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. It was not quite like me, but Johnny sort of just made me feel so surreal. He brought out the more relaxed side of myself that I would usually rarely let out. I loved that about him.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Johnny asked me, tilting his head ever so slightly.

"Oh nothing." I said.

"Oh come on, there is something on your mind. No one just stares up at a ceiling for no reason, well except for maybe me, but that's because I can be kind of an airhead sometimes..." Johnny said.

"Fine, you're right. I was just wondering, why are you're parents never here Johnny? Not that I mind, I was just wondering." I asked. I was only half lying. It had been on my mind, simply not at that specific moment.

"Oh well...they just work a lot. It's kind of always been that way. I guess I'm just used to it so I kind of forgot to explain." He responded with a very despondent look on his face.

"Oh Johnny, I'm sorry, that must really suck." I said. I grabbed his hand.

"I won't lie. It does, but I guess I've gotten used to it. They've pretty much been workaholics ever since I was born. I was closer with my nanny than I was them..." He said. He looked as if he were about to say more but then he changed where he was going. "Can I have a hug?"

"Of course"
Then he held me so tight, and I returned the gesture. We stayed that way for a while. We stayed like that long enough for the pizza to be done. During that period I could swear I heard him sniffle a couple of times, but I just held him. He need me that moment, and I was ready to take him with open arms. I felt as if the world had just melted away and it was just me and him and no one else.
Once the pizza went off I just softly whispered, "I'm pretty hungry. We probably shouldn't let that pizza burn."

He chuckled, sounding relieved, wiped his eyes and went to get the pizza.
That boy never failed to surprise me. He seemed so macho and like such a bro at school but when we were alone, he was just himself.
Johnny brought out two gigantic slices of pizza. They smelled heavenly. Then we started the movie and Johnny surprised me once more.

He was lying down on the couch and I looked quite confused for I was not quite sure of where I should sit. Johnny then said, "What are looking around for, come over here and sit with me!"

Johnny wanted me to cuddle with him. I was blown away. It is really a small gesture, but then it meant the world to me. I never wanted to eat pizza anywhere else except in his arms.

We had many nights like this that week. Rehearsing, kissing, talking, rehearsing some more, making dinner, watching a movie and cuddling until my parents called for me to come home.
When we performed "Somebody to Love" we knocked it out of the park. Everyone was clapping including the people who realized they should have rehearsed more.
We both got in to the Glee Club and we had many more nights like those during that wonderful week.
It would have been perfect if it were not for one thing.
I say thing because I cannot possibly call her a person for what she did Johnny. If there has ever been one person I have ever hated in my life, it was that spawn of Satan bitch Lyssa.

What she did was unspeakable and vindictive to the very core.