The next days went by in anticipation of my date. The karate trainings were cool. I often stayed a bit longer to train more. Gion Sensei sometimes watched and he said he was really looking forward to me beating Dylan - that was the boxer's name - which he was sure of.
"Is there rivalry between you and Coach Ellington?" I asked Gion Sensei Wednesday after training.
He grinned. "Since High school."
"Wow. You know each other since then."
"Yes. We fought about everything. Even the same girls."
"Ah... and who won?"
"Me, of course." He said. I wondered about that.
I also went to buy some new clothes. A little foolish since Joey wouldn't be able to see them. But still...
"Picked up a nice chick?" Nate asked when I stood before the mirror.
"No."
"Oh, come on. Why else would you stand before the mirror for half an hour?"
I just grinned, said bye and went to pick up Joey. He was already waiting.
"Hey Andrew."
"Hi. Wow, you look great."
"Thanks. You must look great, too."
"You okay with Italian?"
"Sure."
I knew an Italian restaurant that was really good. I remembered going there when I was younger and my mother was still alive and had called beforehand and reserved a table.
"This is my first date ever." I said when we drove to the restaurant.
He grinned. "So I got myself an innocent, inexperienced guy."
"You aren't?"
"I dated a few girls."
"Really?"
"Yes. But I stopped after the accident. And I never really liked it. I mean girls can be fun and all. But it never was as exciting as today."
That made my heart beat faster. We didn't talk much after that and soon arrived at the restaurant. We sat down and ordered our food. I looked at Joey and thought...
"What are you thinking?" He asked.
"How little I know about you."
"Same for me. But that's what dates are for."
"Right."
"So... ask me something. But I get to ask too, ok?"
"Sounds cool. What's your biggest wish?"
"Oh, good question. For a while I wanted to see. But it doesn't matter much now. I dealt with my blindness pretty good and discovered... oh, that's not the question." He grinned. "I want to find true love and live with that person happily until death do us apart."
"Oh wow. Like in a fairy tale."
"Right. What's your whole name?"
"Andrew Killian Clifford."
For a moment he had an unreadable expression.
"Sounds cool." He then said.
"Thanks. Who was your first love?"
"Oh, why do you pick questions where I have to reveal so much? My first love, huh. It was a long time ago. A guy. He was in my class but we weren't exactly friends. I didn't even realize I loved him but he was constantly on my mind. I never told him how I felt. I was still really confused and all. I had learned that homosexuality was bad. But when he was gone I missed him so bad and was angry with myself."
"Angry?"
"Hey, my time to ask a question."
The waiter brought the food. We both took some bites.
"Wow, that's great." I said.
"Ever gave someone a blowjob?" He asked. I almost chocked.
"You! You're incredible! But, yes."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. With two guys actually. The first was the dog guy."
"Oh my gosh. Dog guy?"
"Ah, no. I mean... he was chased by a dog and I rescued him."
"And then you gave him a blowjob?"
"Hell, no! We met again by accident and I helped him and his friends. It was the third time we met that I gave him one. The other was a guy on the cruise ship. It was a little like a summer fling but we're still friends."
"Cool. You were on a cruise ship?" He asked.
"My turn!"
"Oh, right."
"Is your relationship with your parents bad?"
"Oh, that's a tricky question. Our relationship surely isn't very close. They are both very hard working people and never spent much time with me except for going to church. But it got a lot better since the accident and they'd do anything for me to feel better. I sometimes think they are trying to feel less guilty about my blindness by doing everything I want. I know they love me and I love them but I'd go to Shane first if I had a problem. Yours?"
"It changed a lot these last few months. When my mother died four years ago my father became obsessed with work and I practically lived on my own. There was Tanya of course."
"Who's Tanya?"
"Our maid. Well, not anymore. She cooked for me and helped me a lot. But then my father told me he wanted to marry some woman with a child and we began to talk and we are now a lot closer."
"That's cool."
"Yes. And Julian, my bro, he's just soooooooooo cute!"
"You are, too."
"Huh... what?"
He grinned. "Time to order dessert."
I had real trouble not to jump him when we ate dessert. He ate the ice cream so... seductive. He probably knew it because there was a constant grin on his face.
"So, what are we doing now?" He asked when we left the restaurant.
"Don't know. Any ideas?"
"Hmm, we could go shopping. I need some new shirts. You can help me choose."
"Cool."
We went to the mall and went into the first shop.
"See anything good ones?" Joey asked. I looked around and held up some shirts.
"This one could work." I put one shirt in his hand.
"Oh, yes. This looks nice." I wondered how he could know it. He tried it on and it fit perfectly. He bought two more and I bought one, too. We wandered around some more, talked about every possible thing and time just passed incredibly fast.
When we drove back he said: "Andrew, I really loved spending time with you today."
"But?"
"Well, I never had anything with a guy. So... could we go slow? I really like you."
"Of course. You know I'm inexperienced. And... I like you, too. It feels as if I know you."
"Really? Is it a good feeling?"
Now that I thought about it... was it a good feeling? "...I think so." I said. I stopped the car before his dorm.
"May I... touch you?" He asked.
"Wh... what?"
"Your face. I want to know what it looks like, now."
"Oh, sure."
When his fingers touched my cheeks I felt a jolt through my whole body. His fingers traced my forehead, jaw, my chin, my cheekbones, my nose and my lips. I don't know why I did it but I opened my mouth and licked his fingers. He jerked them away.
"Sorry." I said.
"I've got to go. Bye." He just said and left the car. His voice sounded a bit strange. Did he tremble? Did I just screw up? Because I licked his finger? I had no idea.
I felt really down when I came back to our room. I was relieved the others weren't here. It was still early but I crawled into my bed and thought about the day. I really didn't understand why Joey reacted that way. Should I have followed him after he got out of my car?
And then there was his question about me feeling good about him. Something about that bothered me.
The thoughts whirled around in my head and I couldn't get any sleep at all. Much later I heard the door open.
"Oh, he's already back." I heard Nate's voice.
"Probably didn't go well." Bo said. I didn't move and waited until they went to bed.
Finally I couldn't lay still anymore. I took my gi and went to the martial arts room. I changed and began to do my katas. It really cleared my head.
An hour later I lay on the ground and closed my eyes. There were no more annoying thoughts. Only me, my body and... Off I was into dream land.
---oOo---
It was uncomfortable. My bed was so hard and different. And I was cold. Where was my blanket?
"Hey!"
I jumped when I heard the voice of a woman. I opened my eyes and saw an... angel?
"You okay?" She asked.
"Where..."
"This is the karate dojo."
I looked around. Oh, right. I fell asleep after...
"What's the time?" I asked.
"7am."
"Oh. Thanks for waking me up. Why are you here?"
"I'm here for early training."
"I see." I got up and then I saw that she really looked like an angel. She had a pretty face, long, blonde hair and friendly eyes. From what I could see through the gi she had a good figure.
"I'm Laura. What's your name?" She asked.
"I'm Andrew."
"Nice to meet you. I think I saw you a few times in lessons. So, what were you doing here?"
"I fell asleep after training."
"Interesting. In all my years I never saw someone who - fell asleep."
"Sorry."
"Hey, you don't have to be. I just think it's interesting. Want to train some more?"
"With you?"
"Who else?"
"Erm..."
"Aw, come on. It's better when there are two. Or are you afraid you might lose?" She grinned and punched my gut really hard. Luckily I could react.
"Gosh, your muscles are hard as steel!" She said.
"Still want to fight?"
"Of course!" Her spirit was really high. We did kumite for a while then took a shower. Not together of course. There were changing rooms for guys and girls.
"We should do that again some time." She said when we left the rooms.
"Sure. It was fun."
"Yes. Man, I'm really hungry now! Want to get some food?"
"Okay. But I have to get some new clothes first. Meet you here in ten?"
"Yes. See you."
My roommates were still sleeping. I put on some new clothes and then met Laura again. We went to the canteen and got our food.
"Are you a senior?" I asked.
"Do I look that old?" She asked.
"Don't know. You said years..."
"Kidding. You're right. It's my last year."
"What's your major?"
"English lit."
"Cool."
"Ah, I can see you don't like it!"
I grinned. "You're right. It's not really my thing."
"So what's your thing?"
"I want to go to medical school later."
"Wow. You want to be a gynaecologist?"
I laughed. "What kind of guy do you think I am?"
She grinned. "They are important!"
"Sure..."
"So, how do you like campus life?"
"It's cool."
"Oh gosh, that doesn't sound excited at all! Did you go to a party yet?"
"No..."
"Want to join a fraternity?"
"I don't think so."
"Had a date yet?"
"Hey, it's only my second month here!"
"Hm, you're a handsome guy. I could set you up..."
"No. I..."
"Hm... ok. If you don't want to..." She pouted.
"Are you always like this?" I asked. But there was a smile on my face. Laura was nice. She grinned.
"Worse."
"Oh gosh."
"Well, you're stuck with me now!"
"What?"
"I like you."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't think I..."
"Don't worry. I can see that you're not interested in me." This girl! I couldn't figure her out at all.
"Wanna be friends?" She asked when I didn't answer.
"Sure."
"Cool. Now I have to go. See you!"
She stood up and I could see how she joined a group of girls. It seemed that Laura loved to be surrounded by others. She sure was popular.
---oOo---
"Did something happen between you and Joey?" Shane asked after lunch. The atmosphere was strange. I didn't really know why Joey reacted the way he did. He practically ignored me the whole time and excused himself as soon as he finished eating.
"I heard you went on a date yesterday." Shane continued.
"You heard?"
"Joey tells me almost everything. But I wasn't that surprised. Considering how you stared at him all the time."
"Guess I was obvious. But you should ask him. I don't really know what happened. Everything went so well and we talked about going slow when he suddenly got out."
"I think you should talk to him. This is probably just a misunderstanding."
"I don't know. You saw how he didn't even look at me."
"He's blind." Shane said and I could have hit myself for saying something so stupid.
"I mean, he ignored me, didn't turn his face into my direction, you saw it."
"Yes, I know. But I really want to see him happy and he was really looking forward to the date. I haven't seen him that excited since the accident. But if you don't like him you should just back off. I don't want to see him hurt!"
"I like him. It's not me that acts stupid."
"I know. Noone's perfect. Joey made some mistaked in his life. But he deserves to be happy."
I looked at Shane for a few seconds.
"What?" He asked and squirmed a bit as if my looking at him made him feel uncomfortable.
"You're a great friend! You really care about him."
"Of ourse I do. See you later."
---oOo---
"Our first interdisciplinary fight with the boxers is in two weeks." Gion Sensei said. "So, everyone who wants to attend has to work really hard. I will chose ten to fight."
"How does it work?" George, one of the other freshmen, asked.
"I'll give the fighters a number. The first karateka fights against the first boxer. Whoever wins fights against the next number of the opponents."
"Wow. This is so cool." Whispered Shane in my ear.
"Mmh."
"You don't sound very enthusiasic."
"I am."
He nodded and then asked. "Who is that girl?"
"Where?"
He pointed at Laura. She was staring at us and when her eyes met mine she waved her hand.
"Oh, that's Laura. I met her today."
Shane just nodded and then looked back at Gion Sensei who just explained that the key to win against a boxer was a low kick.
"Ok. We'll make a simulation of the fight. Build two groups." He said. Today there were 18 students so we built groups of nine. Laura immediately came to Shane and me.
"Hey Andrew. And..."
"Shane."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Laura. We're so gonna beat them." She said with a huge smile on her lips and a few seconds later there were two groups.
Sensei pointed at each person and gave them a number. Laura was three, Shane five and I was number nine, which earned me some stares from the others. Seniors and juniors mostly. They wondered why I got the last number. I didn't really stand out during the trainings.
"Each fight is three minutes. Number one! Bow! Begin!"
The number one of the other group was George. He won the first fight but lost against our number two. Our number two lost against their number two. Laura won us one fight. Our number four lost, Shane won two fights. Their number five won against Shane and our number six, then lost. In the end our number eight lost to their number seven. So I had to defeat three guys to win.
I won the first fight. The second one was a little harder. The guy was really fast but I could keep up with him and my last punch got him really hard. Then came their number nine.
"Bow! Begin!" Gion Sensei said. I could feel that the others were really excited now. Each group wanted their number nine to win.
My opponent was a senior. Compared to me he was huge and much more built. I think they all thought the outcome was clear.
I could block his heavy punches with ease and my kicks hurt him bad. I think he was really surprised by the weight behind my attacks. After three minutes the fight was over and I won.
"Wow. I didn't know you were that strong." Shane said. Some others congratulated me as well and I felt a little strange to suddenly be in the spotlight.
---oOo---
"Hello?" I entered the house. Noone here. Strange. They should know... I was quiet for a second and sensed three people and also smelled something delicious from the kitchen. Were they hiding? I heard a snicker.
"Jules?" I asked.
"Surprise!" Julian cried and jumped me. I caught him.
"Hello, little man."
"I'm not little!" He pouted. Aww, he was so cute! I already mentioned that fact, didn't I?
"You'll grow!" I assured him.
"Hey Andrew." My father and Jessica greeted me.
"Hello."
"Are you hungry?"
"Yes."
We soon sat around the table and Jessica's food was as delicious as it smelled.
"How are you?" My father asked.
"I'm fine." That didn't sound as enthusiastic as I wanted but my father nodded.
"I want to go there, too!" Julian said.
"You can come and visit me sometime."
"Cool! Oh... Andy?"
"What?"
Julian leaned over and whispered in my ear: "I have... a... girlfriend!"
"What? Aren't you... a bit young?" I asked.
"Psst!"
"Oh... sorry."
Dad and Jessica looked at us. They hadn't heard what Julian said.
"I'll talk to you later." I promised him.
After some training with Julian I took him to my room to have a serious 'man-to-man-talk'.
"So, Jules..."
"Are you angry?" He asked.
"What? No! Of course not. It just surprised me. And... well, I think you're a bit young for a girlfriend. Tell me about her."
"Her name is Annie and she goes to my class. We often play together and then she asked if I wanted to be her boyfriend."
"And you said yes."
He nodded.
"Do you like her?"
"Yes."
"And... did you do anything?" I asked.
He blushed. "We... kissed. But only on the cheek."
I smiled. Sooo damned cute!
---oOo---
A little after nine I brought Julian to bed and then went to the living room where dad and Jessica were sitting.
"Had a nice talk?" Dad asked.
"Yes. Did you know that he has a girlfriend?"
"Oh, really?" Jessica looked at me with a surprised look.
"What did you tell him?" My father asked.
"I explained to him that he is still very young and that it was probably too early to really fall in love. Not much more."
"I think that's okay. He'll have more than just one girlfriend in his life."
I nodded.
"What about you?" Jessica asked.
"Oh... I'm not very interested in..." I almost said girls! "In dating, right now." Well, I was. But not the right gender. I had no idea what the two of them thought about gays and I wasn't really in the mood to tell them.
"But you already had a girlfriend?" Jessica asked.
I shook my head. "I had other concerns!"
"I see." She said. I wasn't sure if my father had told her about my beatings. Jessica's face was really hard to read. But she was nice and I came to like her. After all she gave birth to the cutest, most adorable boy on earth.
"Is something wrong?" My father asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You seem a bit down."
"Oh... it's just... well... actually, I had a date. My first one to be honest. But it went wrong."
"What happened?"
"I have no idea."
I didn't want to explain more so I excused myself and went to bed.
The weekend went by fast as always. We went out had a lot of fun. Everytime it felt more like we were one big, happy family. Sunday evening I drove back. My roommates were all in the room.
"Hey guys." I said.
"Hi Andrew. Had a good weekend?"
"Yes. You too?" I asked and then I noticed that Bo and Tyler both had bruised faces. Bo had a black eye and Tyler had a few small scratches. "What happened?"
"They won't tell!" Nate said.
"Did you get into a fight?"
"No." Bo said.
"It looks like it."
"It wasn't a fight." Tyler said.
"Then what?"
"Not telling." Bo and Tyler said. I looked into their eyes and thought they looked a little embarassed but not angry like they'd been in a fight. I shrugged my shoulders and thought they'd tell me when they wanted to. And perhaps it was better that I didn't know...
---oOo---
"Hey Joey!" Shane said. Joey looked pale and it seemed like he was really down - just like me.
"Hey. I can't eat with you guys today. I have something to do. Bye, see you." He said and turned away. I stared at his back. What had I done wrong? I looked at Shane.
"Has he said anything about...?" I asked. He shook his head.
"I'll be right back." I said and ran after Joey. I stopped before him.
"What do you want?" He asked and once again I wondered a bit how he managed to know it was me without seeing me.
"I want to know what I did wrong! What happened? Why are you ignoring me?"
"I'm not."
"Don't be ridiculous. You've been avoiding me since thursday. Could you at least explain my mistakes?"
"It's just me. I... can't. The date was a mistake." He went past me and I felt like crying, my heart ached. I didn't know him very well yet but I really thought, we could probably be more than friends. And now we weren't even friends. I felt Shane's hand on my arm.
"We should go get something to eat. There is training later." He said. I nodded and followed him like a zombie.
I was happy for practice because it got my thoughts on other things. But as soon as I was back to the room and finished my homework I again felt depressed. The first person I really liked and wanted to get to know just cut me off!
And I didn't know what the reason was. His behaviour wasn't really normal. I mean what could be a reason for him to ignore me after just one date that was actually really great. Except when he just got out of the car, after touching my face and after I licked his finger. I really couldn't think of something I had done wrong.
Perhaps it wasn't me. Perhaps it really wasn't my fault and there was something that held Joey back, made it impossible to have a boyfriend. Like having aids or...
I shook my head. No, that couldn't be the reason, right? I shuddered and put the awful thought away.
The rest of the week I didn't see a lot of Joey. Shane had no idea what was going on in his head. But I did see Laura at least once a day. She was really motivated for karate training and I ate breakfast with her two times. She was really okay but still tried to set me up with some of her girlfriends.
One day I stopped Joey when he passed me and I stopped him because he never ate lunch with us anymore.
"Joey, I could eat with someone else if it stops you from being with Shane. I don't want to be the reason for you guys to be apart."
"No. It's okay. I'll eat with you." He said.
When he ate with us on friday the atmosphere was a bit tense but he talked just normally with Shane. I was being ignored. I decided that if this continued I wouldn't eat with them the next week anymore. I hated to see Joey talking to others happily but ignoring me. And I still couldn't figure out what his problem was. And since he didn't seem to want to have anything to do with me anymore, it was probably better to just stop running after him and accept it, right?
---oOo---
That was chapter seven. Joey's behaviour sure is strange, ne? I'd love to hear your opinion. You can contact me at azulasn@yahoo.com
Azula