Hey all, here is another chapter to Returning to Tate. I hope that you enjoy it. I have appreciated all the e-mails. It is good to hear people enjoying the story. My apologies for taking so long to update, but things have been hectic here. I hope to get one more chapter before Christmas, but being in retail and getting myself prepared to go back to school things are busy this time of year. So enjoy.
Once again I would like to say that this story is copyrighted to the auther and cannot be reposted or copied without my permission. All the characters in this story are factious and created from the mind of the author. Any likeness to anyone is purely coincidental.
Returning to Tate
Chapter Four:
A New Beginning
Robert Jordan once wrote in his series of books that there were no beginnings, nor endings, but at the beginning of each of his books was a beginning. Right now in my life I felt the same way. As the new dawn awoke over Tate, it was not a beginning of my life, and it certainly was not an ending, but it was a beginning of a new part of my life. It was as if the dawn washed away the shadow that was the last four years.
Last night I had come back from the hospital in a more determined and relieved mood then I could remember. It seemed like that for the last four years I had carried a great many weights and now I was finally able to throw them off. The drive back to the Cross house was one that felt like it was almost a dream. The air seemed sweeter then I could remember and the cool air seemed to rejuvenate me. My body felt tired from the events of the day, but my mind felt alive with activity. There seemed so much to think about, but no good way to start. I just resolved to work on it tomorrow.
When I arrived at the Cross house, Mrs. Cross had been waiting up for me. She was always a good mother like that. She had asked me if everything was ok. I just looked at her and with a small smile I said, "Yeah I think for once everything is going to be ok." Then I told her that I was worn out and asked if it would be ok if we talked about it tomorrow. Mrs. Cross just gave a motherly smile and told me no problem. I think, no I know she was happy to see me look happier then I had been in a long time.
I had expected to hang out with Rick a little when I got back, but Mrs. Cross told me before I went upstairs that he had went out on a date tonight. I guess he had waited for like an hour and then just couldn't sit around anymore. Rick was not the type of person that was patient. It did remind me on how things still were not completely right between he and I. Tomorrow I had to make sure to have some time to spend with him one on one so that we could talk. I knew that once we talked for awhile we would work it out. That was the cool thing with Rick, in all the years I knew him and all the fights, there never was any grudges.
Once I arrived in my room the weariness of the day seemed to hit all at once. I barely got out of my, well I guess Ricks clothes before I was out like a light. The sleep that overtook me was a deep one. I know I dreamed, but it was one of those sleeps that was so heavy that nothing that happened in it would be remembered. The next thing I knew I opened my eyes to the sun coming through my window. I had not even closed the blinds last night to keep the sunlight out. I was never someone that liked to be woken with the bright light of the sun. This morning though it felt right.
The clock said that the time was twenty minutes until eleven in the morning. Usually when I woke up I was a groggy person, but not this morning. As soon as I opened my eyes I felt awake. I felt like I had slept forever and could sleep no more. I am sure that if I tried, I might have been able to go back to sleep, I always had that ability. Today I just wanted to be awake. Life was worth not sleeping away.
I didn't get out of the bed immediately. I just laid there and took in everything. The house was quite at this hour. The only noise was coming from birds outside and the occasional car. At this hour on a Friday morning I knew that Mrs. Cross would already be at work. I am sure that waiting downstairs for me was a breakfast just waiting for me to warm it up. She would not have left without doing that. I smiled at that thought. Rick would not be up yet; that much I was sure was a definite. The day he got up before eleven, or hell probably even noon would be a sign of the apocalypse. There was a thought at jumping on his bed to wake him up the same way he did me yesterday, but the thought of just enjoying the quiet was to tempting.
My mind reeled from last night. To be honest, I could not believe that I had managed to say those things out loud and even more so in front of my father. Yeah it sounds easy to say things to someone in a coma, but even in his weakened state I still could feel his imposing nature. Some fathers pass on some useful knowledge or insight, mine had left a mark of fear on me. Still I felt the relief of finally letting some of that out. Yeah I may not have made my point with my father, but more importantly I had made a point to myself. That was the important thing. I honestly did believe that today was a new beginning.
Finally after lying around for twenty minutes I got up and took a shower. One thing I always had to have in the morning was a hot shower. If there was not a fog bank in the shower by the time I was done then I had failed to properly shower. Rick and Patrick always hated when I would take a shower before them because when I was done there was not much, if any hot water left. That was the best part about living in the dorms was the seemingly limitless hot water in the showers.
I think I must have been in the shower for about fifteen minutes when I heard the sounds of a toilet flushing. That was a moment that I realized I had been gone too long, because I had forgotten the one bad thing about the shower in this house, when a toilet was flushed the water would get horribly cold, kind of like Titanic sinking cold water. I yelped in annoyance and pretty much leapt out of the shower trying to escape the cold water. As I slid on the bathroom linoleum covered in soapy water I could hear Rick laughing hard.
"Hey bitch," He had trouble speaking with the fits of laughter. "Didn't we have a rule that you never could have the first shower of the day since you were a hot water hog!"
I looked over and wiped soap out of my eyes to see Rick sitting up against the wall, using the towel rack to hold himself up from his fits of laughter. There was no way to even think about trying not to look ridiculous in front of him. All I could do was make sure to bring him down to my level. In a quick fashion I leapt over to him and grabbed him. Rick was not prepared for this. He obviously thought that I would scramble for a towel or something, but growing up like brothers we had seen each other naked many times, besides there was a time for vengeance and a time for modesty. He tried to get out of my grip, but with me covered in soapy water he had no hope. In a quick move I flipped him into the still running shower and turned and flush the toilet on him.
Rick tried his best to get out before the cold water came out, but I quickly pushed him back in it. Yeah I got hit with some more cold water, but I already had been hit by it. I had to make sure that Rick got his fair share. After a couple of minutes I let him get out of the shower.
We both took a moment to laugh at each other. Neither of us could say that we were the definition of dignity. I was naked with soapy cold water all over me and while I looked ridiculous, I think Rick looked even more. He sat on the floor soaked in cold water. All he had on was his boxers again. They were white ones that once they got wet clung to him and showed everything through. I had to laugh staring at Rick, I knew I was seeing a wet dream of any other gay guy or even any straight woman. Rick though was just a bud.
"Well I guess we just played out a fantasy for you," Rick said slyly after we both calmed down from our mutual laughter.
"Hey it was not me that started it, or you hiding some subconscious feeling for me?" I replied back seductively. "I mean you did get me out of the shower this morning after leaping into my bed yesterday." We both laughed again.
"Right, god this is going to suck to clean up," Rick stood up and looked around the mess we had made in the bathroom. "Go ahead and finish your shower, I guess I will wait thirty minutes for mine, or hell I guess I have had mine," Rick looked down at himself. "I promise no more toilet flushing."
"Cool, I'll be quick. I forgot about the lack of infinite hot water here. I'm too used to the dorms." I got up and started to step back into the shower.
"Oh one more thing," Rick yelled at me as I was moving to get in the shower. As I turned around I got hit in the face with a set of wet white boxers. "Here is one more thing for a fantasy." Rick moved into his room grabbing a towel but not worrying about covering up.
Once out of the shower I borrowed some more of Rick's clothes for the day. He joked about charging me for them and about how he already loaned me a pair of boxers for the day. I wished now that I had thought to bring extra clothes with me from Burke, but it was not like I had thought I would be staying this long. Oh well, it was not a big deal to share clothes with Rick for a couple more days and then I would get back to my clothes at Burke.
I got down to the kitchen and noted with satisfaction that I had been right. Mrs. Cross had left me some pancakes that just needed to be warmed up. You had to love her. Rick commented when he got down there that he thought his Mom liked me better because she never left him breakfast in the morning. I just commented that she probably figured I would eat it and not just walk out of the house wasting it. Rick had to admit that it was true.
Rick and I joked around for a little bit more and then he said he had to go to a class. I was a little disappointed with that because I did want to talk with him, but there was a lot to do today. The irony of him going to class was that he would not skip classes on the day that he had one class. He said that it felt like he was skipping on a vacation day and that one class was not worth having a skip day. Four though, those were the days you wanted to skip. That was Rick logic for you.
After Rick was out the door I got on the computer and logged into the Burke College website. I had to call my professors today. Next week was finals and I was supposed to have a paper due today. I knew I had good teachers but I was not sure how cool they would be with me due to the situation. It was a relief to talk to them all. Basically I got out of the paper even though I actually already had it done. The professor said he figured it was A' work anyway like my others. As for the finals, I basically got out of taking all but two of them. The others said they would just grade me on the work I had already done, which was A' material. The other two offered to let me do the finals later and give me an incomplete, but I was going to have to go back anyway and so I worked out taking both of the tests on Monday. That way I could just get them out of the way. I was already prepared for them anyway. That was the good thing about always being ahead of the curve.
Just after twelve thirty the house phone rang. I did not bother to pick up the phone. I knew that it might be Mrs. Cross and while she preferred if I answered the phone while I was here, I just did not feel comfortable doing it yet. For part of me this did feel like home, but another part of me I felt like a guest, besides there was an answering machine. If it was Mrs. Cross she would ask for me over the machine. To my surprise it was the voice of Eric. "Hey, I am calling for Justin. I hope that I got the right number, but he said that he was staying there," I know I had a stupid grin listening to his nervous voice over the answering machine. Just hearing his voice, my thoughts went to how cute he was and how his hand felt. I may have been alone in the house, but I knew that I was blushing. God, I had never been like this before.
I leapt and got the phone before the message ended. "Hey Eric, how goes it. It is Justin." I felt just goofy being this excited.
"Sweet, I was worried I got the wrong number," He sounded relieved that I answered. "Dude you need to get a cell phone so that nobody will get that confused..besides it is easier to get a hold of you."
"Yeah several people have told me that before.maybe I will soon," I couldn't believe that I was saying that. I had always avoided getting a phone because well people tend to call when you have one. Now that I was talking to Eric, I wanted to talk on the phone, besides I know that both the Cross family and Patrick would be excited for me to get a phone. "Anyway what's up? Are you home from the hospital?"
"Yeah man, I got home like ten minutes ago. My Mom wanted me to go lay down but I couldn't. I told her I have been lying down for four days now and that I had had enough of that crap. So what are you up too? Are you ready to get your ass kicked in Halo yet?" God he sounded excited. I so wanted to just go over to his house and start hanging out, but there was only about ninety minutes before I needed to be at the high school to talk to Mr. Culpepper. I could not just duck out of that, no matter how much I wanted to just run over to Eric's. I knew too that once I was over there, I will not be able to get out in just under ninety minutes. No time has a way of being lost while I was around him.
"Hey I can't just yet," Over the phone I could just hear the disappointment that Eric just in his breathing on the line. "I have to be somewhere at two, but I can hang out right after that. It probably will only take an hour or so."
"Sweet, I guess I can wait," Eric's excitement rose again. "Besides it gives you more times to dread the ass whopping I am about to give you in Halo!"
"Yeah yeah, like hell you will. I'll see you in a couple of hours." I then got off the phone. I almost started to switch subjects, but I did not want to get off task for the day. I knew that if I did that with Eric, I would either talk to him forever or end up over at his house. I have come to realize I was weak when it came to Eric. Patience, I kept saying to myself. If anything I didn't want to come off as too weird trying to be around him as quick as I could.
I was outside of Mr. Culpepper's office just before two. I remembered when I was in his class, one of the life lessons he always tried to impress upon us was the importance of being always punctual. He used to always say, "Tardiness will get you no where in life except behind those that are always on time. Those are the people that will be a success in life. So chose to be punctual and be a success or be tardy and always be in the shadow of success." Rick would always revel how he like being in the shadow because you didn't have to worry about sunburn.
I knocked on the door and I heard Mr. Culpepper's familiar voice tell me to come in. His office had not changed a whole lot. It was packed with books, old and new. There were always new ones laying around in his office. I was always amazed that for a man as busy as him, he was such a vivacious reader. He once told the class he read at least one book a week, I could not imagine having time to do that. On the far wall was a double window that overlooked the front grounds of the school. Being on the third floor, his window almost matched that of the flag pole. In front of the window was his desk. It was an old wooden desk. One thing about Old Tate High, they never seemed to replace the desks or chairs unless they feel apart and then only if they could not jury-rig it. There never seemed to be enough money in the school board to do everything and the furniture certainly suffered, although I suspect that Mr. Culpepper would hate to lose his desk. It had several piles of papers that were in different stages of grading and a computer that did not looked used much. Mr. Culpepper was from an era before the computer age. He always said that until the technology was twenty years old or out of date, then it did not fall into a history course or profession. On the left wall was a twenty inch television, vcr, and low and behold a DVD player. More then that, there were DVD's, it was obvious that he had embraced DVD technology. Looking at the DVD's I suspect that it was the history channel that brought him into the twenty first century since a great deal of them were programs from the history channel's collection. On the opposite wall was a leather couch that looked like it had seen many better days in the era of the seventies. You had to admit that there was a certain charm about this room. Honestly it was almost exactly like I remembered it.
"Mr. Caldwell, how are you doing," Mr. Culpepper got up and shook my hand. I then plopped into an old wooden chair in front of his desk. I felt like I was back in high school visiting his office again. "How is your father doing?"
"Well pretty much the same as yesterday. I am not a hundred percent sure but I suspect that my sister talked my Mom into keeping him alive on machines. I would be surprised if he ever got up again."
Mr. Culpepper's lips tightened as he gave me a sympathetic look. "That's tough. I never understood the religious people that demand to keep people alive by machines and then say that it is god's choice to let them go. I guess I have always felt that if you leave it to God, then you don't need the machines. I know though that it is also hard to just let go."
"Yeah I know. I guess though no matter whose decision it is, there is one thing that I know, it is not my decision. To be honest, I don't know how long he will last, but I doubt I am going to go back to the hospital. Last night I guess I said to him all I needed too. In a way, I know that while he was unconscious and probably could not hear me, it felt good to tell him everything finally. It was sort of a release of everything I have been holding in. It is weird isn't it?"
He gave me a smile. "No, no it is not. You have needed to do that for four years. I suspect like it or not, he heard you. It is good that you have got to say what you needed too, maybe now you will be able to stop running from him."
I looked at him in surprise. "You know I realized that last night. I never realized I was doing that. How did you know?" I know I looked dumbfounded.
Mr. Culpepper just laughed at me. "Son, I have been around three times your lifetime and some change and I know when someone is running. It is the type of running that only you could stop on your own. We all here just had to wait for you to stop and try to help you every chance we could. I am glad to see that you finally have realized it and it looks like you have stopped running." He gave me a look that said he was proud of me. "So how your classes and what are your plans this summer? I believe if I am correct next week is your finals week."
Damn, he always seemed to know everything. "Yeah it is. I am doing pretty well. I have two finals to do Monday and then I am done. I think I should have a four point oh." I know I said it with more pride then intended, but my grades the last couple of years really have been a source of pride in a world that nothing else seemed to be.
"Great, I always knew you had it in you. You know I always thought of you as one of my brightest students even when you were not giving you full potential," I blushed at his compliment. I knew from someone like him, it really meant something. He was a kind of a mentor to me. "Of course.maybe I am losing it because I always thought Mr. Cross was also someone of great potential." We both laughed at that. "So what are your plans this summer?"
I sat back a pondered that for a second. I had not really thought that out a whole lot. "You know I am not sure. I was thinking about summer classes. It would get me through college quicker, but you know after yesterday, I think I might want to come back to Tate, at least if the Cross's would have me." That was a stupid comment because I knew that they would always do that. Mrs. Cross had tried hard last summer to get me to come back to Tate for the summer, but then I just couldn't bring myself to return.
"Well I say you deserve a summer break. I know when I was in school I never took summer classes. Your only young once and you shouldn't waste it all the time with work. There is plenty of time for that, besides if I had done that, I never would have met the wife. I am sure they will let you stay and if not I think I could convince Martha to let you stay with us."
Wow that was something I never thought I would hear. All this time I felt like I really was not wanted at Tate and here was my old teacher offering to let me stay if necessary. It was just a good feeling, even if I did not have to take him up on that. I had to admit that it would be a little weird staying with him for the summer. "Yeah that is true, besides there is some things I really need to do here. Thanks for the offer of letting me stay with you, but I doubt you have to worry about me taking you up on it. I know Mrs. Cross would be happy to have me over the summer. She is awesome."
"Good, well I guess that brings me to one of the points I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted your help in something. It is nothing major, but it is something I think you could relate too and help. Remember when you had such a hard time here the last two years of high school?" He had shifted to a serious tone.
"Yeah, those were not fun years at all. I sort of have tried to suppress those memory unsuccessfully." That was true. I hated those years.
"Yeah, well we have a student this year that has had more problems then even you had to deal with back then. He was a new student this year and one that was more comfortable with his sexuality at least in the beginning when he arrived here. Here was from the east coast where people were more accepting of differences. Unfortunately several of the students, and even worse some of the faculty did not take too kindly to his sexuality and his comfort with it. I have tried to help him like I did you, but I think he is wary to trust anyone in this high school and truth be told I don't blame him. All year has been pretty much hell for him, but last week it got a whole lot worse as he got the ever living crap beat out of him by some students. It was pretty bad. If someone had not found him and called an ambulance when they did he probably would have died."
He took a deep breath and had a disgusted look just talking about the attack. "To make matters worse, he refused to names of who did it. He told the police he didn't know, but I doubt that is true. I think he was afraid to tell them who did it. It makes me mad that there would be students in this school that would do that. No student or person for that matter should have to live in fear."
Mr. Culpepper took a moment to calm him down. I could not remember seeing him so riled up. I understood why though. It had to do with his son. Twenty years ago his son had come out to being gay and actually had been beaten to death. No one had ever been arrested for it or even suspects found. The police just seemed to let it go. Mr. Culpepper had never been able to let go of that. I could not blame him, everyone deserved justice. When he had told me that four years ago, I actually knew that he did understand. He had always been a fighter of justice, but even more so after that. If you needed a moral compass, there was no finer man then Mr. Culpepper.
"Sorry, I just get riled up when I talk about it," He continued. "What I was hoping you could do was talk to him. He needs a friend and since you both share a certain commonality in the fact of your sexuality, your closeness in age, and the fact that he is a lot like you were in class, I figured you would do well. Besides unless I am not mistaken, I bet you are still in need of a friend that can understand that aspect of you."
I blushed. It really amazed me how well Mr. Culpepper knew me. He should have been a psychic. He took my silence as a yes and continued. "Anyway his name is Eric Greene and I believe that he was just released from the hospital today. I have his address."
I know the surprise on my face had to show because Mr. Culpepper stopped looking for the paper with his address on it and gave me a quizzical look. "You say Eric? He would not have red hair and was in room 206 in the hospital would he and live on Dunhurst Ave?"
Mr. Culpepper raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you don't happen to already know him do you?"
As strange as it sounds I felt sort of embarrassed. "Actually.yeah I do. When I was in the hospital yesterday I happened to come across his room while I was thinking. We started talking. I didn't realize that he was.well gay. To be honest I was scared he might find out I was. We hit it off so well and he had helped me out over the last day or so when I needed to talk to someone."
He just laughed at me. "I guess you do not have a very good, gaydar, I guess that is what it is called. I guess you would be willing to talk to him then?"
"Yeah I guess I can," I chuckled. "Actually I am supposed to go over to his house to hang out for a little while after talking to you. God this is weird." I paused for a minute to ponder the situation. I began to feel like fate had drawn me back with everything that was happening. "I can't promise anything though. I am not even sure how to breach the subject. He has not wanted to talk about it, but I haven't pushed the matter. Neither of us has said anything about why we were at the hospital. We just avoided those subjects."
"Well don't try to be pushy about it. Be a friend to him and then when he is ready, he will talk about it. He is just like you in that way. When I first talked to you, you did not want to talk about anything, now look at you. Besides he may help you through the problems you have had too."
"I can definitely be a friend. I already consider him a friend and I think he already does me too."
"Possible boyfriend," Mr. Culpepper gave me a sly smile. He knew that would make me blush.
"Hey, hey, just a friend. I maybe able to talk to you about almost anything, but I don't think I am even ready to talk about that with myself, let alone you." He laughed and I could not help but follow suit. I couldn't imagine having a boyfriend. It was kind of a cool thought though.
It was just about a quarter after three when I got out of Mr. Culpepper's office. I have to say that I felt good. The day had been going pretty well. That was not really true, no it felt like it was the best day that I could remember in several years. That was saying a lot because I still felt that the best part of the day had not even happened yet, at least that was what I hoped.
Walking to my car I realized that I was both nervous and scared at going to see Eric. It might sound weird to have those thoughts but deep down I could feel them wrestling in my stomach. I wanted to see Eric. He made me feel good about myself and that was not something I could remember feeling for a very long time. That though was also what scared me. I never have felt that way about anyone else. I suspected that I was developing deeper feelings for him then just friendship, ok I knew I was. Mr. Culpepper had not helped this fear by telling me that Eric was gay, instead it had only heightened those feelings. Most people would say that it was good because that opened up more possibilities, but it was those possibilities that scared the hell out of me. I never have had a boyfriend and wouldn't know what to do if I had one. The only time I ever got close to someone and did anything was on my sixteenth birthday and that did not work out well at all.
Growing up in my family and even my community, I had suppressed all those feelings that normal teenagers go through. I fought to not have those feelings. There were guys that I knew I was attracted to, but the fear of them ever knowing my secret or really even admitting it to myself was too much. The fear was able to keep those feelings in check. The only exception had been on my sixteenth birthday, but that did not have the intensity of the feelings I felt now. Those feeling, at least in retrospect, were no where close to the level I was feeling now. Now though things seemed so different. It was possibilities that scared the hell out of me. Possibilities that maybe there could be more then friendship between us. Possibilities that maybe he liked me too. These things should have excited me, but they scared me as much as losing his friendship. I knew about friendships. I knew how people should act in them and what to do to be a good friend. To be honest I didn't have a clue what to do if anything more developed.
As I drove to his house though, I shoved those thoughts to the back of my head. I decided that at least for now friendship was all that was going to happen. Eric was the best thing to happen to me for a long time, and I was not going to risk losing his friendship. There were also more important things then that to worry about. Eric needed a good friend right now after what Mr. Culpepper told me. I didn't know how I would get around to talking to him about it but I knew that somehow I needed too. There was no need to clutter the situation by worrying about the feelings I was developing for him. Besides I was sure that he could not develop those same feeling for someone like me.
Upon reaching the address I realized I knew the house that Eric lived in. It had been Robert McDougal's house when I lived in Tate. I had attended school with him and he was in the same class as I. I had not been good friends with him but I had hung out with him a few times in grammar school. When we began middle school he had started hanging out with other kids of a cooler click. The one thing that I remembered was that he had a really cool in ground swimming pool in the back. He was my only friend in grammar school that had one.
The house itself was a white two story house. The front of the house had a porch overhang that was supported by four round pillars that were about two feet in diameter. There were two huge elm trees in the front yard that seemed to tower over the yard and a small three foot high hedge that was along the front of the house. The yard was well maintained, even more then when the McDougal's lived there. A wooden privacy fence that was covered by ivy surrounded the backyard. The house had connected to it a large two car garage.
The driveway was empty, but I suspected that his mother might be home so I parked along the street. As I stopped the car I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. All my life I never had felt like this going over to see a friend. I think now it was even worse then seeing him in the hospital. To be honest I did not know what to do. I had hoped that he might be gay, but now that it was true it was even scarier to think about it. Oh well there would be plenty of time to worry about that. I figured go in there and just hang out. Just work on the friendship.
I walked up to the front door. My nerves only got worse as I walked towards the door. Every step was harder then the last one. As I got to the door, I reached to push the doorbell when the door swung open. I was startled by it, hell I almost jumped, but felt comfortable to see a smiling Eric in the doorway. Apparently he had been watching for me.
Damn Eric looked good. He was wearing a loose fitting black jogging shorts and a white Old Navy tee shirt. He looked hot even with his injuries. The smile on his face made my heart beat faster. The bruises on his face look a little better and he was now just wearing an eye patch over his eye. This was the first time I had seen him standing and I had to fight my urge to gawk at him. He was slender with the athletic build of a swimmer. He was a couple inches shorter then me. I imagined myself just grabbing him and kissing those beautiful lips.
"Hey how goes it Justin?" Eric said excitedly. "I have been so bored today and I really want to kick your ass in Halo." He grabbed my arm and drug me into the house before I could reply.
"Damn you are excited to get beat by me," I laughed. "How goes it? Have you started to miss the hospital yet?"
"Screw that, the hospital sucks. If I see jello ever again, that would be too soon. I am feeling pretty good, and now that you are here, things are going awesome."
I know I blushed infront of him, but he did not say anything. Although I know he noticed because I could see a big grin form on his face. "Thanks, don't worry though, you'll get pretty bored of me soon enough. I am not that exciting of a person."
"Nah, I doubt that. You are cooler then you give yourself credit. " We went into his bedroom. I have to say that it was a good size bedroom. Growing up, my parents had a twenty-seven inch television in the living room and that was the largest one in the house, Eric had a forty-two inch plasma television in his room. I know that my mouth dropped open when I saw it. "Damn, that is a fucking awesome television!"
Eric laughed at me. "Yeah it is a great tv. My parents got it for me when we moved here. I think it was a peace offering for having to move before my senior year. I didn't ask for it, but I won't complain. It is kind of my pride and joy why I have been in Tate."
"I know I wouldn't complain! I don't think I have ever met anyone with a television that big." I looked back over to Eric and saw him grinning and blushing at once. God he was cute.
The rest of the room was pretty nice. On the wall with the television was a series of shelves that held a surround sound system, DVD player, VCR, X-Box, and a Playstation 2. It looked like he had about sixty or so DVD's and maybe four dozen video games. He had two large windows and a deck that looked like it overlooked the pool. Robert's room in the house was not that big. He had a nice wooden desk with a desktop computer and a seventeen inch monitor. On the wall opposite the television he had a queen size bed with sheets that were a messed up. He had a walk in closet that looked packed with clothes. I suspected that he easily had more clothes then Rick and that was a scary thought. The walls were painted a light blue and he had a soft thick blue carpet on the floor that was nice enough that I felt bad about wearing shoes on. It was the type of carpet I expected in the Cross household.
"Wow this is a nice room. I am impressed," I patted Eric on the back.
"Stop it," He laughed while he kept blushing. "It's ok, I didn't ask for it, but it is nice. Do you want anything to drink? My Mom isn't home, so it is just you and I."
That comment sort of made me nervous. "Nah I am fine. I might want something to drink later, but not now."
"Well you up for playing some Halo?" Eric grabbed a couple of wireless X-Box controllers and leapt onto his bed. "Kick off your shoes and lets get to killing," He patted the part of the bed beside him. I paused for a moment to stare at him lying in his bed. I felt nervous sitting in the same bed even if we were just playing a video game, but I composed myself and kicked off my shoes and leapt on the bed. It really was not that big of a deal. I don't know while I was so worried about it. If it had been Patrick or Rick I would not have given that a second thought.
"Time to kill," Eric declared. He then turned and reached over to me to get the television remote control on the bedside table that was on my side. He had to stretch across me to get to it. I could tell that he was enjoying this. Hell, I was too. He had to lean up against me to reach it. His body was warm up against me. I wish it would have taken him forever to get it, but alas it only lasted a few seconds. After he grabbed the remote he stayed sitting right beside me. I think that he might have been waiting for me to say something, but I was not about to do that. It felt could to feel his leg against mine and his arm against mine. The only thing I was nervous about was something in my pants springing to life. Thankfully I managed to retain control of myself.
"You know I am about to define to you a whole new meaning of slaughter when we start playing." I joked to him.
"Like hell you will," He playfully punched me. "I am an expert in ass kicking and you are about to have you first lesson."
For the next hour we played Halo. I could tell that I was out of practice. Eric won the first couple of games but then I started to get into my old form and started to win. Although I am not sure if it was because I was actually getting better or if Eric was just letting me win. My playing was not helped by the fact that my concentration could not be focused on the game. Every time Eric move his arm or leg or even worse when he turned left and leaned his whole body on me I focused on him. Then there was the fact that every so often my eyes shifted from the television to his bare legs. I so wanted to reach over and feel them. I never really thought about it but I guess I was a leg man. I just worked to push those thoughts back into my head.
As we played we talked. For the most part we just trash talked each other about who was better at Halo, but we did shift topics a few times. We talked about Eric's parents. I found out that both of them worked. His father was the chief engineer at the auto plant in town. That was the reason they had moved here, he had got a transfer to his current position. I guess it was an opportunity that he could not pass up. His Mother was a college professor at Tate Community College. That was where she was at now. She had a late afternoon class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She had been hesitant to go to work, but Eric had said that he had finally convinced her that he did not need mothering. I managed to avoid talking about my family and to Eric's credit he did not ask me about them.
After we had finished playing Halo, Eric asked me if I wanted to watch a movie. I was more then willing too. To be honest, I was not ready to leave anytime soon. If I could lay here beside Eric forever, I think I would be happy. Alas though he got up and put the movie High Fidelity in. He then leapt back into the bed. I figured he might sit farther apart from me, but no he plopped down in the same spot he was in when we were playing Halo. He didn't say anything when he took his spot again and I was not going to mention it.
"I love this movie. Jack Black is just hilarious in it," Eric looked excited to share it with me. "Besides it is one of those movies that makes want to not waste life away and make my own way."
"Really, I haven't seen it, but I love the other movie Cusack is in, Gross Pointe Blank. Now that was hilarious."
"Yeah, it is, but it doesn't have the message in it. To be honest I have missed watching a movie with someone. The friends I hang out with do not really like sitting around watching movies. It is not that I don't like to do active things, but sometimes I just want to sit and watch a movie."
"I know the feeling. I watch movies all the time," I replied. "I see that sharing movies with friends is also sharing something of yourself when it is a movie that you really like."
Eric grinned and put his arm around me for a minute. It felt really good to feel his arm around me. His hand was soft but with a firm grip. "Wow, I feel the same way. I have not met anyone else here in Tate that sees things like that. Next time over here you need to bring or rent a movie that you like." He slipped his arm off me.
"Yeah I could do that. I think I am going to be here for the summer, so after I go back to school on Monday to take a couple of tests, I will have my DVD's here. There are a few movies you would like I think."
"You are going to be here this summer!" Eric's face lit up. "That is awesome. I thought this was going to be a boring summer here, but not anymore." It felt good to be wanted. I guess there was no way I could back out of staying in Tate for the summer now. I could not let that cute face down.
When the main menu came up on the DVD he once again reached over me to get the DVD remote control. He seemed to linger over me while he did that. There was a part of me that really wanted to make a move on him, but I was terrified to do anything. It was one of those times that I wish I was more experienced in this type of situation. Instead I just sat there and took the whole experience in. He had a cologne on that I could not place the smell, but it was driving me crazy. At one point he slipped forward and feel against my chest.
We settled into watching the movie. I know that I kept glancing over at Eric. About twenty minutes into the movie, he seemed to have fallen asleep. He looked so cute sleeping. I did not think it could get any better then this, but I was wrong. After about another fifteen minutes he rolled over and placed his arm over me. His body was warm against me. I could stay like this forever. He made me feel safe. I think I had that effect on him too because he seemed to snuggle up to me.
I slowly placed my arm around Eric. It felt good to hold him. It seemed like the world was all good. I knew I could hold him forever. While I held him I pondered everything and with Eric here, I thought I could be comfortable with who I was. It was a good feeling. This day seemed perfect as sleep soon overcame me.