Quarantine Bae Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Jared’s POV
“The pandemic has hit nationwide proportions…” my boss tells me, “I hope you understand but we’ll have to lay you off—-permanently.”
I go home after getting laid off to the the big red sign that says Sunnyside Hills. There was nothing Sunny about this place. Not this day and age. A huge shadow had swept through the country and by the time I get home everything hurts. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone or something. A part of me is hoping that somehow I wake up from this nightmare and I’m back to a world that this didn’t happen in. This plague had wiped out so many jobs. Over 50 percent unemployment had swept the nation.
In front of my building I see Ms. Jules. She’s unloading some groceries from her car. She’s an older lady that lived on the third floor of three story co-op housing unit. Everyone owns the building together. Because of the shared responsibility, there’s an interview process to become part of the community. It made us all real close for the most part. We had to looks our for each other.
“Hey Ms. J. Want me to take these to your door?”
“You’re the best sweetie.”
I grab all her bags in one go and head into the building without her. Ms J. liked to take her time. I turn my phone up and step into the elevator. It’s been on the news all week. Hell, all month. The Dark Fever. It was supposedly some strange new disease going around that was spreading in parts of Europe. It was causing this frenzy on the Internet.
Truth is I was the type of person to get caught up in tears. Already my anxiety was building up. All over the news I saw it. The virus that was spread through skin-to-skin contact. They didn’t know that much about it. Not with all their technology. Not with all their knowledge. It really was humbling at the end of the day that at the end of the day everyone was just...human…
“You know that Dark Fever is a hoax right?”
I turn to the elevator and see this him. He is in is early 30s I think or maybe even his late 20s. His hair has this right wave to it and it’s the same color brown as his skin. He is a little taller than I am. His chest is a little broader. He’s standing behind me and peaking over at my phone with these deep set eyes that were the color of fresh honey. He smiles when I look back at him showing off this dimple that was so deep that it was like someone took a pin and pressed right into it.
“Oh…”
“No really. It was on an episode of the Simpsons from like 20 years ago.”
I pause and let out a quick, short, awkward, “Ha…”
That’s all I say and I turn back to my phone in the most unwelcoming way ever. Good job, Jared. This is why you don’t have a boyfriend. This is why the only people I ever hung out with were people I was related to. The reason was you, Jared. But you knew that already. It was always you. Could you ever get more awkward?
Just then the elevator acts up. Great. The lights flicker on and off a little bit and then the elevator in our apartment complex goes to a halting stop.
Worst day ever.
The man with the dimples reaches past me saying a calm, “Excuse me…”
I almost hold my breath when I feel his body rub up against mine to get to the elevator button. Yeah, I would excuse you. Just give any excuse to rub up on me like that again.
After a few minutes he turns to me and says, “Guess it’s stuck. Maybe the Dark Fever got the
elevator fucking sick.”
He laughs and I just stand there. It isn’t until the moment passes that it occurs to me that he was trying to make small talk again. I stand there like a fuckin statue until he clears his throat.
“Not much of a talker, are you?” He asks me.
There it goes again. The anxiety. I want to open my mouth and say a million things to him. I want to talk about how I’d seen him every single day on the elevator when I was headed to work. He was usually headed to the gym. I didn’t know his name but I knew that he loved to go to the gym. I knew that he had a kid because sometimes he would FaceTime with a young boy. And I also knew that he worked in Finance. Those things were always very clear.
“Nothing much to say,” I respond.
That’s all I say. I say it with this sense of denial but the truth was I was socially awkward especially when it came to guys like him. Guys that were gorgeous and had this demeanor like he ruled the world. It was easy for guys like him. The confident strong kind of guys that could do whatever they put their minds to.
“We might as well have a conversation. The way I look at it the world could end tomorrow. Or today. It’s moments like this. Moments like this that we have to cherish. If only I could take the same energy and use it towards a kid.”
It’s powerful when he says those words. He had this coolness to him. It was as though everything he said was pulled out of a movie or something.
“You have a kid?”
“Yeah hes upstairs in the apartment asleep. Was gonna run to the store and get us some milk and bread.”
“You leaving him alone?” I raise an eyebrow.
“He’s with my brother,” he grunts, and when I give him the side eye he gives me a guilty half smile, “Ok I’ll admit. I’m not father of the year but I’m not the absolute worse. His mother lived across the country. She’s been sick. She has the Dark Fever...”
“Damn I’m sorry to hear that.”
He crosses his arms, “It’s Ok. l had go out and get him. Said that she didn’t want him getting sick from her.”
“Wait...all the flights have been grounded.”
“Yeah.”
My mouth drops a little bit, “You drove. Across country. Sounds like your father of the year to me.”
“Tell him that. He hasn’t said two words to me,” he explains with this heaviness in his tone, “Any idea how to get a five year old to open up?”
He seemed out of his depth. Even the way he talks about this five year old made it seem like he was so far removed. I had a feeling there was more to the story but who knew how deep this went.
“Paw patrol.”
“What?”
I give him a smile and say, ”Get him a tablet and load it with Paw Patrol. All the kids are into it. He’ll eat it up.”
He gives me an interested look and his interested look is sexier than most looks that I had in his arsenal. He has these dark eyebrows that lift up and when he even slightly smirks he has these deep dimples that curl up on his cheek. He puts his hand on his hair and brushes the beautiful brown curls at the top of his head.
“You got kids?”
“I’m a cartoonist. It’s my job. Or was. Got laid off today.”
All of a sudden a wave of embarrassment falls over me. G’dam it Jared. Why the hell did I have to have such a big mouth.
He was probably thinking at this moment that I was such a nerd. Regular people didn’t grow up and say they were cartoonists. That wasn’t the sexiest job in the world and definitely not one that was going to get a lot of attention.
“A cartoonist?”
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“Do you now?” His deep eyebrows raise up even more.
“You’re wondering why I never grew up. You think I’m a weirdo and you think Im probably even weirder because for some reason I won’t stop talking. And now your wondering how big the foot is that I have in my mouth.”
Just at that moment the elevator starts moving. By now I’m sweating. It rolls down the side of my neck and rolls down my spine. The cold sweat trickles down like some wet shower. There’s a reason I don’t talk much. There is a reason I stay quiet. When I do talk it’s almost as though mid sentence sometimes so forget where I was going with the conversation and I’m just left blabbering.
And it just happened again with a guy who I’ve literally been crushing on since the moment I met him.
The elevator finally opens up and I’m sure he can’t just wait to get off. He steps out and turns to me. The look on his face seems as though he was just overwhelmed by the conversation.
“You should say you’re an artist,” is what he says.
“What?”
“You call yourself a cartoonist. Don’t downplay what you do. You’re an artist. Celebrate that.”
I’m shocked when he says those words to me. I let them settle in. When I explained what I did people always looked at me like I had a big ass kid. People didn’t take the profession of a Cartoonist seriously. But for some reason when he looks at me I don’t think he’s one of those people.
He called me an artist...
“Ok—-ok sure,” I stutter a nervous reply.
“Well you stay safe—-uh—-“
”Jared,” I reply.
“Saint,” he replies, “I’m new to the building...”
Saint. His name matches his appeal. He looks back at me with these bright eyes. He had the kind of eyes that make you think you are the only person in the world. That’s when he reaches his hand out to shake my hand. I reach out as well but stop short when I remember hearing about something on the news.
“The news says we shouldn’t touch,” I remember.
He bites his lower lip and slowly withdraw his hand. Instead of a handshake he offers me this smile that was full of clean white teeth.
“You’re right. Nice to meet you Jared.”
Saint and I get off the elevator, drop off the bags and we start heading to the doors. As we get to the doors of the building it seems something is off. Our building was pretty decent. It was a nice building with a few floors.
I’m not quite sure until I open the door just how bad things are. Just as I open the door I see military tanks outside. The tanks patrol the streets outside. I’m hypnotized by them when I start hearing coughing.
Strenous painful coughing.
I jump back realizing that it’s coming from Ms. Jules who just walked into the building. She starts falling over but catches herself.
I make a step towards her, “Ms. Jules are you OK?”
“Stay back!” She warns me, “Social distancing. 6 feet.”
She didn’t look so good. He face was flushed red. It was hot outside...the middle of July and that would explain her sweating but it wouldn’t explain the color of her sweat. Her sweat was black. It was a thick tarnished brown.
“Should I fall someone?” I ask feeling concerned.
“No I’ll be fine. It’s just the year of no hugs. That’s all.”
The way she says it sends shivers down my spine. I don’t know it then but I’d learn it soon that this was going to be the craziest year of my life.
-
I head inside desperate to get away. I walk into my apartment and all I hear is the sound of straight up sex. On the couch I see dark chocolate muscular cheeks stroking up and down.
The shorter light skinned man was Ken - and he was standing on something to make up for the difference in their height as my roommate Tivonte stood behind him, humping hard while the skinny light Ken stood with a wide stance, bracing his hands against the wall of my living room and grunting with every savage thrust that made his entire body lurch upward. If I hadn’t known it was Tivonte I would have thought that this was some sort of rape.
The more I watched though, the more I realized that this was no rape. Ken was there screaming his brains out because he wanted to be. A red bandanna was stuffed in his mouth to likely silence him, and his yellow face was strained and nearly as crimson as the kerchief, but Ken was being taken willingly.
Ken’s eyes were first bugging out and then rolling back in his head, as jets of cum erupted from my Ken’s dick.
“Really guys? In the living room?” I ask.
Tivonte turns around. His eyes going wide as ever. Tivonte tried desperately to hide his huge dick but he wasn’t doing much of a job doing it.
“I thought you were at work...”
I remained where I stood, watching Tivonte pick up his underwear, his hard muscled body drenched with sweat. Tivonte was right, I noted. I should have been at work. I’d heard rumors about the size of his dick but he was my best friend so I never really wondered. The rumors were true. That wrinkled black tube looked like an elephant's trunk as it swung between his legs
“This is exactly what I was talking about earlier,” Ken runs to Tivontes room blushing red with
embarrassment.
“What were you guys talking about earlier?” I ask Tivonte.
He carefully puts on his underwear, grabs a beer out of the fridge and passes me one as we sit at the island in the kitchen. My apartment was a decent size. I’ve lived here with Tivonte for years now. It was easy to live with him. He was an easy roommate and an easy friend. We got along and even though Tivonte had a wild side to him, he somehow managed to always keep me on my toes. From Ken’s reaction I had a feeling that daytime sex in the living room was Tivontes idea.
“Same old thing,” Tivonte whispers, “He thinks we’re too old to be roommates. Thinks Me and him should get our own place.”
I wasn’t surprised. Ken has mentioned this before. Several times. He was over all the time. Things were getting serious between the two. Sometimes he gave me these weird looks that came out of no where as though I was the reason Tivonte hasn’t moved out.
“Maybe it’s a good idea...”
“You serious? I wouldn’t even know how to live with anyone else but you.”
I sigh, “Well things might change. I just lost my job.”
Tivonte sighs a little bit. He gets up, I think to hug me, but either remembers the social distancing rules that the government recently enforced or remembers he ’s in his underwear because she sit right back down.
“Yeah, no ones hiring right now in the pandemic. I might have to move back in with my parents.”
“We’ll figures it out. You know you’re like my lil’ bro. I got you.”
I sigh. I knew that he was trying to put on a brave face but the truth was Tivonte didn’t make enough at his telemarketing job to pay for this place on his own. I can see that hes trying though.
“Well good news is I just met HIM...”
“Oh god. The boy you’ve been obsessing about?” Tivonte states.
“His name is Saint.”
Tivonte rolls his eyes but then I hear Ken coming out the room and commenting, “You should be happy for him. Maybe Jared will find someone for himself and go settle down. Outside of this apartment... just playing.”
He wasn’t just playing. He strolls into the room like he is the Queen of Sheba. Ken was all about his appearance. It wasn’t just his physical appearance even though several cosmetic surgeries had allowed him to attain his Ken doll look. He wanted the appearance of a happy household...a perfect household. Maybe that’s why he got an attractive guy like Tivonte. He always made comments about molding Tivonte as if my best friend was some sort of clay. There was nothing more that Ken would want then for him and Tivonte to have the apartment alone. And they might just be getting their wish.
“Nows not the time for my best friend to go anywhere,” Tivonte says clearly arguing against the point, “It’s a pandemic out there. People are sweating black sweat and dying a few days later...”
“Is that one of the symptoms?” I ask.
“Yeah. Thats why they call it the Dark Fever,” Tivonte says, “And what’s worse is the government isn’t providing any relief. They are shutting people in. There’s martial law out there.”
“I saw military trucks earlier,” I tell them.
Ken rolls his eyes highly as though he is highly annoyed, “Isnt that the point of quarantine?”
“Not if people aren’t getting food, supplies, or medical care,” Tivonte states, “Tonight I hear people are going out to do something about it...”
“What?” I ask.
Tivonte raises an eyebrow, “Come tonight and find out...”
This is how I always get in trouble with him. A part of me knew that Tivonte was a wild child. A lot of guys had tried to tame him and failed. Ken so far was just the only persistent one. But tonight Ken didn’t have much of a say because before I knew it we were in the middle of the street protesting.
——-
The entire neighborhood of Sunnyside was out there it seemed like protesting. Hundreds of people were lined up, signs waving above their heads, donned face masks or bandanas. Some stood about six feet away from each other during the demonstration but for the most part the rules of separation were being broken.
“Here, I got you guys some masks,” Tivonte says.
It was rare to find masks these days. Two months ago the grocery stores ran out of mask, gloves Lysol, and tissue paper for the most part. A month ago people started the raids of stores after a deep depression hit. Everyone was expecting for it to get bad but no one expected it to get this bad. No one expected us to be facing such an economic and emotional downturn.
“We shouldn’t be out here,” Ken urges.
Tivonte looks over at me, “You good, Jared?”
“Yeah.”
If anything I was curious about what was going on. People were holding up signs that read “GIVE US RESOURCES” and “End the Quarantine!” One guy has a huge sign that just has an arrow pointing down ward to him with the words “This guy was fucked by the Dark Fever.” And honestly I feel for him. His face just tells the story. It’s so hopeless. People were getting desperate and that wasn’t a good thing. Society had been breaking down forever. And now I wasn’t sure what was worse. The disease that was killing millions across America or the quarantine that left people hungry, starving and distraught.
Further down I see cop cars lining up pushing against the protestors. Almost immediately I wonder if I should take back the comment about me being good but Tivonte already has drafted his arm over me as though hed won some sort of victory over Ken’s complaining.
“See if Jared is good then what’s your problem,” Tivonte tells his boyfriend.
Ken gives me a look before shutting up. I think bringing in how “easy” I was compared to how high maintenance Ken was Tivontes secret weapon. I’m highly irritated when he does it. He does it often. I always had a feeling that Ken didn’t like me and times like this just helped to feed the dragon that was Ken.
That’s when I see him. In the crowd. It’s Saint.
“I’ll be right back.”
Tivonte tries to stop me and normally I wouldn’t walk off in that way but I’m really irritated with him using me to check his boyfriend. So I walk off. The last thing I wanted to do was be a third wheel.
And I knew Saint now. It was the best time to break my awkwardness and speak.
“Hey you!” I say approaching him in the crowd seeing the bandana he has wrapped around his
mouth.
He pauses.
“Do I know you?”
Awkwardness ensues when the man takes off his mask. My face flushed red. He takes off his bandana and I realize that I don’t know this man at all. For a moment I think it looks like I might as well have had the Dark Fever. It’s not Saint. He looks a lot like Saint though. Except he was a bit slimmer in the face then Saint, his eyes were also black and he had for Cornrows in his hair that were braided back.
“I’m sorry I had you confused for someone I thought I knew...”
“Saint?” He asks.
“Yeah....”
I’m even more confused now when he smiles and shakes his head, “Naw...I’m his brother Soul. He’s at home with his son. My brothers definitely not the type to come out to something like this.”
I sigh, “Oh ok... well I apologize.”
“Wait,” he says, “You can get to know me... if you want...”
I think must be imagining it but he licks his lips. The reason I’m sure I am imagining it is because guys didn’t flirt with me. That wasn’t something that happened. Guys flirt with guys like Ken. Ken was this perfect dream doll who got everything he wanted. Guys like me—-like Jared, I just get whatever is left over.
So I shrug it off. Maybe his lips were dry. Maybe he is just trying to find some company since he was out here on his own.
Yeah. That made a lot more sense.
“This is kind of crazy isn’t it?” I ask, “That it is getting this bad, huh?”
I was attempting to make small talk. This Soul guy seemed cool. Maybe it was his motorcycle jacket or the ton of tattoos streaming across his neck that I didn’t notice before that made him stand out. Saint was a lot more clean cut. Soul smelled like weed and felt like bad intentions. I figured he would get along with Tivonte in that way. No wonder they were both at the same sort of event.
He laughs, “Well you know that’s because the Dark Fever originated in Sunnyside?”
“You Fuckin’ around right?”
“Nope. That’s what everyone is saying. A chemical lab just a few blocks down from where my brother lives.”
“I live in the same building,” I tell Soul.
“You shouldn’t,” Soul responds, “The outbreak is so bad here. I’m trying to convince my brother to move away this weekend.”
I get nervous in my stomach. Soul doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that scares easily. If he was nervous about this then something was definitely going down. Something that we all should be nervous about.
I watch in the distance as a cop gets on a cop car with a loud speaker.
“Look at this guy...” Soul says to me.
“He doesn’t look so good to me,” I tell Soul.
“He’s probably just a fat government pig. You can’t trust them...”
I wasn’t talking about his weight. I am talking about how he struggling to get on top of the car. He calls out a few times getting everyone’s attention.
“Clear out from this area. This city is under quarantine. Anyone caught under curfew will be under threat of martial law...”
The response is a clear wave of boos from the crowd. Sunnyside was feeling it a lot worse because we were ground zero but I could imagine so many other cities in the country feeling the same sort of tension that people were feeling here.
“Clear out or —-erfff! Or Erfff! Erfff!!!”
Just then the cop who was struggling to get on top of the car starts coughing uncontrollably. He isn’t wearing a mask. The cough goes from severe to something else. Something that scares me half to death. The cop starts to spray blood out of his mouth into the crowd below.
“He has it! He has the Dark Fever!” Soul shouts, “Move—-“
Soul tried to say something else to me but I don’t hear it. It’s impossible to hear what Soul is saying when people are beginning to panic as the people closer to the cop are being sprayed with his blood!
There is a massive push back as people begin to run in every direction. Some people are running away from the cop car but others who are closer and have felt the impact of being spit on are angrily attacking the cops.
Chaos breaks out.
People are running everywhere. I struggle to maintain my footing knowing if I lose myself that I could be trampled any moment by the the large crowd.
“Soul!”
There is no sign of him. We’ve gotten separated. People brush past me tossing my body from side to side. There is a glaring light from one of the cop cars as the chaos reaches fever pitch and panic grows. So many people bumping into each other. So much coughing. I could almost feel the disease spreading through the crowd.
I push my way through the crowd coming out to an end that I think is the way out. But instead of seeing a clear exit I see something else.
I see cops. That’s when I hear it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gunshots break out and I feel a coldness in my body.
“Jared. Oh fuck. It’s Jared!” I hear Tivonte scream out.
He find me laying on the ground bleeding. Almost immediately I know I’ve been shot...
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