Hi all!
Thanks to all who wrote to me. It's been so long that i've lost track of who has and who hasn't. I'll be sure to acknowledge you all in my next chapter if you remind me.
I am sorry for not posting in so long. It's been just about a year since I posted!
Gomen! I will try and be more punctual now i'm on holidays.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Please note, this copyright notice is retroactive to all stories I have previously posted on Nifty. They are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License, Copyright (C) 2008.
DISCLAIMER
This story involves relationships between males aged 17-19. If you do not approve of this, why the hell are you even reading it now? If you are a parent reading through the Internet logs of your young child, do not punish your child for reading these stories. He/she clearly has some questions about his development, and it is YOUR responsibility to answer those questions truthfully and honestly. If this material is illegal in your area, leave now. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. You know the drill. If you aren't supposed to be reading this, Don't (although some flames would be lovely to publicly dissect :)).
FEEDBACK
I absolutely love feedback. Please submit your feedback, good or bad, lengthy or brief, in Japanese or in English, (although preferably English) to:
sakurakangen@gmail.com
You may also add me on Google Talk at the same address. I love talking to you.
Doumo arigatou gozaimasu.
And now, without further adieu.....
========================================================================= FINDING YOU: CHAPTER SIX - The story of Callum and Jacob =========================================================================
Callum stayed up in his room for most of that night. He waited for the appointed time. Last time his father had shown up at the house, his mother went nuts and tried to attack him with a cricket bat. Callum was very young at that time, but he remembers it vividly. So he waited. And he was careful.
He had met his dad many times over the years, and they formed a bond of friendship rather than a bond of parenthood. Callum understood where he got his habit of filing away information from. Everything he got, information, papers, goods, carefully filed away in his filing cabinets. He wished he owned a computer, but his mum refused outright to buy him one - it wasn't fair - Chris got a laptop. Callum never got anything. He had no idea why.
His father worked as an information systems analyst. To most people, that sounds incredibly boring. To Callum, it was fascinating. When his mum would allow it, Callum would sometimes ride over to his dad's office after school just to poke around and see what they were doing. It was at those times that he really came to know and understand his dad.
As soon as his bedside alarm clock ticked over to 0:00, he, opened his door and snuck downstairs, carrying a backpack he had spent the last hour meticulously packing. His mum had fallen asleep in the lounge room, late night music TV shows still playing loudly. She looked a wreck. Callum realised that, even though she was loathe to show it, she missed Chris too. It just wasn't the same without Chris.
He heard his Dad's motorbike outside. The time had come. He swung the backpack over his shoulders and walked out the front door, closing and locking it behind him. He didn't say anything as he briskly walked over to the motorbike. Sitting behind him, wrapping his arms around his father's embrace in that familiar but exhilirating embrace, as they sped away to a distant Sydney suburb.
When the motorbike stopped, and the wind ceased its rush through Callum's short hair, he realised that he had no idea where he was. He has never been to his father's apartment before.
It was one of those new high-rise glass and steel contraptions that seemed to go up forever, with elevators that made it feel like you were about to throw up your intestines.
When they got to the ridiculously high floor, whatever it was, his father led him to the first door on the right. He pulled out a key card and just held it in front of a laser scanner thing to unlock the door. Cool!
When Callum walked in, he was greeted by a clean, neat apartment, with a HUGE flat screen TV mounted onto the far wall. Seated on the sofa in front of it was a man, looked to be about the same age as his dad. He had blonde hair and was holding a can of beer.
"Hey Mike. Is this your son?" the man said, he had an American (or Canadian?) accent.
Callum's dad smiled, "Yeah, this is Callum. Callum, this is Toby. He's a friend of mine, from Canada."
Callum was typically very shy, and this was no exception. He began to hide behind his father.
"Hey champ," Toby said, "I'll let you have a sip of my beer."
Before Callum could respond, his father intervened, "Er, Toby, Callum's not really old enough to drink alcohol."
Toby shrugged, "Okay, well, you want some shortbread?", he pointed to a plate of biscuits on the low-set table in front of the sofa, "I made these myself."
Callum didn't respond at first, so his dad gave him a nudge towards the shortbread. He ran over, took a shortbread, and then ran back to his dad, before eating it.
"Well, I know when I'm not wanted," Toby said, "I'll go for a walk for about an hour or so. See you soon."
He picked up a shortbread and walked past Callum, who quickly shied away from him, and out the still-open door. Callum's dad nodded his appreciation as he left.
After Toby had gone, Callum sat down on the sofa and took another shortbread, watching whatever stupid sports program was on TV at the time.
His father sensed something was wrong, and sat down next to him.
"Are you just going to sit there eating shortbread all night? Or are you going to tell me why I had to come and get you in the middle of the night?"
Callum put his backpack on the table.
"It's in there, C-19 subsection 2."
His dad opened the backpack, and pulled out one of those big portable filing suitcases. He found the relevant paper immediately - he was quite familiar with his son's filing system. It was an old letter - the letter that Chris had written to his mother.
"Oh my God... Chris is gay?" His father exclaimed, "Oh no, your mother would not have taken that well at all."
"I knew she wouldn't..." Callum muttered, "Cos you're gay too. That's why you broke up with Mum. That's why she hates you now."
His father looked at him wide eyed, "How did you know?"
Callum smiled, "I just figured it out now. Why else would you have a blonde guy about your age eating shortbread in your apartment at one in the morning?"
His dad stopped for a moment, then began laughing. He half-hugged his son saying, "Ah, you got me again. You and your attention to detail."
Callum closed his eyes. His dad was the only person in the world who knew how he worked.
His dad looked at him for a moment, then said, "But.. why would that make you have to leave and come fetch me?"
Callum was about to answer, but his dad continued, "Wait.. don't tell me. You're gay too, and you're worried your mum will find out?"
Callum paused for a moment, then shook his head - "Close, but no cigar. I made a friend at school the other day. And I tried to call him tonight..."
His dad shrugged, "Yeah.. so what?"
Callum seemed to be forcing out the words, "Well, um, I was kinda only.. well.. I only wanted to call him so that I could hear the sound of his voice.."
His dad looked at him bemusedly.
"I mean, not in a gay way.. like, I mean, just cos his voice sounds really nice, and he's a really friendly person, and I like the way his cheeks move when he talks... and.. he's really sweet.. and.."
His dad didn't say anything.
Callum sighed. "I'm gay, aren't I?"
"Hi, is this Leo?"
"Speaking! Who am I talking to?"
"It's Jacob. William's brother."
"Oh, Hi! Jakey! How have you been man?"
"I'm fine. Listen, I'm ringing to tell you -"
"Hey, hold on a second."
Jacob could hear Leo talking in Japanese to someone in the background. He wished he could understand what he was saying.
"Okay, what's up?" He heard Leo return eventually.
"Well, I am ringing to tell you not to come back from Japan just yet."
"What?? Why not?" He replied.
"Because Will has flown over there with no way for us to contact him, try- ing to find you."
"He WHAT?", Leo sounded genuinely concerned, "Is anyone with him at all?"
"Well, I think his best friend Chris has flown over with him but I don't know for certain."
"Best friend? Hey, I'll always be Will's best friend."
"No, you're his boyfriend."
Leo didn't say anything for a while.
"Hey, sure, look, I gotta go real quick. Sorry to cut this so short. We'll catch up when I get back. Bye!"
"But my mum wants to speak to you too -"
"Sorry, gotta run, Seeya! "
And that's all for this chapter. I will try and update around once a week. Promise!
I absolutely love feedback. Please submit your feedback, good or bad, lengthy or brief, in Japanese or in English, (although preferably English) to:
sakurakangen@gmail.com
You may also add me on Google Talk at the same address. I love talking to you.
Doumo arigatou gozaimashita.
-SK (written in vi improved 7.2.. beats emacs any day)