Disclaimer:
After a hiatus of sorts, I am back with another story! Yay! Anyway, due to personal problems, I've been unable/unwilling to write much of anything for a long time. Here is a new story from me to you. For those of you who know my style and enjoy it, you should really like this one. Like I said, though, I haven't written anything for a while, so I may be a bit rusty. For those who don't know my style, I tend to use a lot of build-up and "storyline". So, if you came on to find a story for a quick jack-off, then this probably ain't for you. However, if you want to take the time to read a beautiful tale of young love, then sit back, take a sip from your glass of wine, and enjoy!
And remember...Always stand up for what you think is right, don't listen to bullshit, no matter who is saying it, and always speak with your fists and swear a lot to be heard!
Part 29:
David stood at the pay phone a block down from the Palace for what seemed like a long time. He had grown to fear calling people on the phone. He was always afraid that they'd not be glad to hear from him, but this time he was totally sure of it. He didn't know what to say to Aaron or how to act. He didn't know where to begin to talk. He wanted to be insulted and put down, but he didn't want Aaron to do it, but he did. He just was totally unsure.
So, like taking a drink of bitter medicine, David picked up the phone, put in a quarter and quickly dialled the number. He stood there while it rang, thinking to himself, "Hang up, hang up, hang up, hang up, hang..." and finally he did and his quarter fell down to the coin slot.
"I can't do this!" He exclaimed out loud, walking away from the pay phone. After a few steps, he ran back to it, took the quarter out of the coin return and put it in the slot again. "I have to do this!" he said, then dialled Aaron's number and waited again.
"Hang up, hang up, hang up, hang up." He thought, but the more his desire to disconnect mounted, the tighter he held the receiver against his ear.
A million rings later, even though it was really only four, David heard the familiar voice of Aaron's father answer the phone. It hadn't changed one bit, and David's new concern was the swallow back the tears that were trying to make their presence felt in a big way.
"Hello?" Aaron's father said.
"Umm...Hi." David stuttered, praying that his voice wasn't recognized, "Is...is Aaron h...home from school y...yet?"
Apparently, his voice wasn't detected, or else Aaron's father's voice showed no indication, as he replied, "Yes, he just walked in a few minutes ago. He was about to jump in the shower, though, so I hope I can catch him. Who may I say is calling?"
David's body shivered and his palms were slick with sweat as he responded, as calmly as possible, "David."
"Okay then, lemme see if I can get him."
David waited on the phone and tried to rehearse a million different things he planned on saying to Aaron. How should he act? Should he goad Aaron into insulting him or let him do it on his own. Ultimately, though, it would just be spur of the moment, David assumed. The truth was, though, he was rehearsing fairy tale moments in his mind, whereas he was standing in the very hub of reality and things were, most likely, not going to turn out as la dee da as he prayed they would.
Again, after what seemed like forever, a voice that was almost unfamiliar came over the phone. "Yeah, what?"
David wanted to say and do many things. He wanted to squeal in pleasure, he wanted to sob in misery, but at this point he thought that the proper thing for an eighteen-year-old guy to do, would be to simply say hello, so he did.
"Hi, Aaron." He said, "It's...umm...David."
That was the wrong answer, as far as David was concerned. He could have said a million things, but now this conversation was headed to two, maybe three exchanged, before the inevitable hang-up that David had planned on the whole time.
There was a long pause, then Aaron replied, "Okay, which David?"
David couldn't help smile at that reply, but the smile quickly went as he took a deep breath and replied, "David Levine." then closed his eyes and listened for click.
There was another long pause, and then Aaron replied, "Oh...deep breath...Oh...Okay. Umm...Hi, David."
David opened his eyes. Aaron had said "Hi David." He hadn't said, "hi DAVID." to be insulting, or "Hi David" to be sarcastic. He had said, "Hi David" like this was just another conversation that they had and he was genuinely happy to hear his voice. David knew something was up.
"Hi, Aaron." He replied, "How are you?"
"O...kay, I guess. How's British Columbia?" Aaron responded.
David sighed quietly, then replied, "It was okay. I'm not there anymore."
"Oh. So, where are you?"
David smiled, "I'm back in Montreal, Aaron."
There was a long pause, and then Aaron asked the question that David had been waiting for, "David...Why are you calling me?"
David shrugged, then replied, "Umm...Because...I don't know, Aaron."
There was another pause and, even over the phone, David could feel the tension. He just wanted to hang up and cry.
"Where are you, David? I mean, the city?" Aaron asked.
David opened his mouth to reply, but instead of words, he just began to cry. He only managed to say, "Just outside the Palace." before he became incoherent.
"Okay." Aaron answered, "I'll be there in twenty minutes."
"You...you will?" David sobbed, but before he got the second "you" out, he heard the click and the connection ended.
David put down the phone and looked around. Was this some sick prank? Maybe it was a dream conjured up by David's cruel imagination? David didn't have the courage to call someone who, only two years ago, made his life totally miserable. He especially didn't have the courage to spend even five minutes talking to him. The only part that seemed even somewhat believable was when he burst into tears. Life was so unfair to do this to him.
Still, he was here anyway and he didn't have anything better to do, so he stood in front of the Subway and simply waited. He was sort of hungry, but he didn't have enough money for a tuna sub, which was the only kind of sub that he's eat.
The twenty minutes went by really slowly, as far as David was concerned, and he felt like such an idiot. Why did he actually wait? Did he really expect someone like Aaron to come see him? Even if he did, it would only be to insult him and make him feel bad. To top off the wonderful day that David was having, it looked like it was going to snow and, as well, David was probably going miss American Pie, because he was standing there waiting for some former love, with dried tears on his fat, ugly stupid face. He looked like such a fucking moron. No, scratch that! He was a fucking moron! Nothing but a stupid fucking idiotic moron! He wanted to kill himself. No more worries of pain. He deserved the pain. He felt no fear, he could toss himself off a building, or cut off his own head. No more stupid medication overdose. He needed something more sure. He needed something more final. He needed....
"David?"
David spun around and his eyes met the eyes of a guy standing behind him.
"Yeah? What?" He sniffled and replied, not knowing how this guy knew his name, but knowing it couldn't be good.
The guy smiled and looked at David with his dark green eyes and David knew who it was even before he said anything.
"You don't recognize me? It's me...It's Aaron." The guy responded.
David wiped his moist eyes with his hand and looked at him. The guy standing before him looked almost nothing like the Aaron Sternzus that he remembered. The black clothing, with the purplish-gray sweater were gone, and replaced with blue jeans and a yellow and green ski jacket, with a red T-shirt visible underneath. The slight overhanging of his stomach was gone and replaced with a very flat looking belly and some slight pectoral definition visible beneath his T-shirt. The youthful, smug face was gone and replaced with a mature-looking appearance. Instead of pubescent whiskers, he now had a somewhat unshaven look and appeared to be trying to grow a goatee. The braces from his teeth were gone and his forest-green eyes that David loved so much were now beneath a pair of eye-glasses. His pale skin was now tanned slightly to a more bronzed look. That beautiful, long black hair with the blond streaks that had gone down to the middle of his back was gone too, and was now a more neat, middle-of-the-neck length.
As David stared at this person who claimed to be the Aaron with whom he had spent two weeks, back when they were fourteen, the Aaron who had been the first person he ever truly loved, and the Aaron who he had shed enough tears over and because of that he could have filled a small lake, David was struck with how old he truly was. This was Aaron, all right, but it wasn't the childish, sixteen-year-old Aaron who he had loved and who had made him feel miserable. This was a very adult Aaron who had spent two years growing up and, by the look of him, had gone through many changes.
"Hi, Aaron." David replied, finally, "It's good to see you again."
He didn't know whether to shake his hand, smile, hug, kiss, or what, but Aaron answered that quickly, by replying, "Nice to see you too, David." and extended his hand.
David took it and, for the first time in his life, actually shook hands with Aaron. He was pleased with how well this was going. He was also confused.
"What's been going on?" Aaron asked.
David released Aaron's hand and stepped back. He shrugged and said, "I dunno. I got back from British Columbia, then moved back with my mom. School didn't work out so good, so now I'm basically got nothing to do."
Aaron smiled and shrugged, "I see. Well, I'm going to Dawson."
David nodded, wanting to say many things, but holding back. "So, how are things with you?"
Aaron shrugged, then took off his glasses and put them in his pocket. "David?" He said, a look of seriousness coming over his face.
David began to fear Aaron would say, but he still replied, "What?"
Aaron shrugged again and, looking down at the ground like the Aaron that David remembered, he said, "It's been bugging me for a few months now and I was really sorry I didn't have a chance to tell you before...I mean, before you left. I never thought I'd ever get the chance, but...well...Dave...deep breath...I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, okay?"
"You're sorry?" David replied, running over those two words in his head like they were a delicate tapestry, "For what?"
Aaron stepped forward and put his hands in his pocket, "For everything, Dave. For MIND, mostly. Things just started going downhill from there, I guess."
"Downhill?" David asked.
Aaron shook his head, "It seemed like such a good idea, but it wasn't supposed to be the way it was. You weren't supposed to feel as bad as I made you feel. You weren't supposed to...to...to..."
Aaron's voice trailed off, and he closed his eyes and put his hand over his face. David shrugged and replied, "I wasn't supposed to leave?"
Aaron uncovered his eyes and looked at David for a few seconds, then nodded, "No, you weren't. I was...I was just...just so...so cruel. I mean, I had you and you loved me and I threw it away for something so...so..." His voice trailed off again and he pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and David could see the red brand of Queen Elizabeth still burnt into his arm.
Aaron looked at the mark on his forearm and finished, "...For something so wrong. I look at this sometimes and it makes me remember, you know? I was hurt and I was crying and nobody cared. Sharon didn't care and Mike sure as fuck didn't care! But, dammit David, you cared! I saw you looking at me when I sat there on the floor! I told you I hated you and I made of you, but when I was hurt, you still cared! And what did I do? I hurt you again and again and I kept hurting you until you left. Even when you left, you told me you loved me and I still told you off!"
David stood there, a tingling mass of flesh. "You...you remember all that?" David stuttered.
Aaron nodded, "Of course! I...I mean, it just stuck with me and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I did so much to make you hurt and, for what it's worth now, I'm sorry. Do you forgive me, Dave?
David stood there for several seconds. Aaron was standing before him, saying the things that David had wanted to hear, ever since Aaron had walked out of the metro, without telling David what he said after Mike had told him that he loved him. Still, though, the words filled David with a chill colder than the winter winds that blew around him and David could not even begin to explain to this guy what grief his actions had caused him.
"No." David replied, sadly shaking his head.
Aaron stepped back and looked at David, his bottom lip quivering slightly. David could see the tears glistening in eighteen-year-old's eyes. Abruptly, Aaron turned around and quickly began walking away. David just simply stood and watched him go. When he reached the video arcade a few metres down, he stopped, turned around and walked back toward David again. The wind was beginning to pick up and strands of Aaron's hair flew about his face and stuck to the wetness of the tears that flowed down his cheeks.
When he was within about six feet of David, he stopped and wiped his eyes with his hand, then said, "My bubby died on Sunday morning."
David stepped toward him and shook his head, "I...I'm sorry."
Aaron took a deep breath and let it out in a sob, then wiped his eyes again and said, "She was really going off her gourd by the end, but the last thing she said to me, the day before she died, when I visited her at her house, was...well...She wanted to know when that nice David boy was going to come visit. I...I mentioned you to her once. I mean, when we were still friends, and...and I guess she never forgot you."
David swallowed hard and shrugged, trying to change the subject. "Wanna see American Pie? It starts in two minutes."
Aaron sniffled and nodded, "Okay."
The two of them paid the $2.99 and went inside to see the movie. They both sat in the back row and talked a bit before the movie started. David was hungry, but he was afraid to go get popcorn, because maybe Aaron would be gone when he came back.
Just as the previews started, Aaron turned to David and said, "I understand."
David turned to him and asked, "You understand what?"
Aaron shrugged, "Why you don't forgive me. I mean, I know."
"Okay." David replied, "Just so you understand."
After a few more seconds, Aaron turned to David and asked, "So, why did you call me, Dave? I mean, really?"
David turned to him and shrugged. He didn't want to go into a whole thing about how depressing life is for him now, because of how Aaron always said that he was so depressing, so he simply smiled and said, "I just wanted to see how things were."
Aaron nodded, then turned back to the movie.
The two of them watched it and laughed. American Pie was actually a pretty funny movie. The three guys were in the middle of making the pact, when David turned to Aaron. He didn't know why he said it or what brought it on. Maybe it was the movie, or what Aaron said before, or maybe it was just God.
"Aaron?" David asked.
Aaron wiped his eyes again and smiled at David, "What? I'm trying to watch here."
David didn't smile back as he asked, "Do you...ummm...Do you want to be my boyfriend again?"
Aaron's smiled dropped and he repeated, "Do I want to be your boyfriend again?"
David shrugged, "Yeah."
Aaron took a deep breath and tears began to flow down his face again, "After everything I put you through...After all that I did to you...After the misery I caused you...You still want me to be your boyfriend?"
David leaned in closer and whispered what he had wanted to tell Aaron for the last two years, "Aaron, I love you more than anything in the whole world. I can't live without you. When you're not around, I'm miserable. When you're not around, I cry myself to sleep at night, because I can't hold you. I miss you."
Aaron shrugged then opened his mouth and closed it again. Finally, he opened his mouth and whispered back, "But I'm not the same Aaron you remember. I'm not a young kid anymore and we can't have a corny kiddie romance anymore."
David shook his head and sobbed, "But I don't want a kiddie romance! I want you, Aaron! I always only wanted you!"
Aaron took a deep breath, "I don't know why I came here today. I wanted to apologize, that's it. I didn't want for this to happen, but I sort of knew it would. I don't know if I can be your boyfriend, David."
David shrugged, "So, you're just not going to try?"
Aaron looked at David and replied, "Dave, I lied when I told you that I used you in Bialik. I was a scared, horny, fucking brat and I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I did love you...in a childish, puberty sort of way, I loved you. I never loved Mike or anybody else since then. I've tried to, but I can't. I was hoping that by apologizing to you today, I could clear my conscience and finally be free to go out and meet people. But, you went and acted like you act and decided not to forgive me. That's so unfair, David, but you want to know what's even more unfair?"
"What?" David asked.
Aaron smiled, "After seeing you today, I don't think I'll ever love anybody else like I love you. Yes, David, I'll be your boyfriend, but only because it seems that fate has the sick idea that we should be together."
David leaned quickly over and wrapped his arms around Aaron's body. "I missed you so much." He sobbed on his shoulder.
Aaron patted his back and said, "Want me to suck you off?"
David looked up again and smiled, "Okay."
Aaron smiled back and slid down from the chair. As he reached for David's zipper, he looked up at him again and asked, "Do you think you'll ever forgive me?"
David shrugged, "I dunno. It could take some time."
Aaron smiled, "It's okay. I love you, even if you never forgive me."
David leaned back in his chair, "I love you too, Aaron." He whispered.
And so began their relationship again....