I got lost in my head before Nick interrupted my thoughts.
"I hope everything is okay with Drew."
"So do I," I said.
"Do you really?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"You know how you feel about him."
"But that doesn't mean I want him to be hurt. I may not like him, but I don't hate him anymore."
"You don't hate who?" Greta asked as she walked in with Paul and Hope. I looked over at them, surprised they came, and wondering why I hadn't spoken to any of them in so long. One day I was spending a little time with Pat and the next day I was a member of his group with my old friends on the periphery, barely warranting a glance. Nick still talked to them, but even he didn't talk to them as much as he once did. They used to be our world and some where along the line they became pieces left over from a previous life. I realized Greta was standing over me with a worried expression. "I didn't think you would be here."
"Where else would I be?" I asked curtly.
"I didn't mean it like that. I meant. Never mind. I don't know. I heard you were arrested."
"I was." She must have heard the `drop it' tone in my voice because she sat down on the bed and stroked Nick's cheek.
"How have you been Nicky?"
"I'm fine and I'm not contagious," he said, directing his focus to Paul and Hope, who were standing near the door.
"Sorry," they said in unison. They slowly walked in the room. Paul sat in the seat on the other side of the bed and Hope sat on the bed.
"It's okay guys. I know I look bad," Nick told them.
"Oh shush. You're still as cute as a button," Greta said while she grabbed his nose.
He pushed her hand away. "Nice to see you still can't keep your hands to yourself," he joked.
She blushed. "It's only with you."
Everyone in the room knew that Greta had been in love with
Nick for years. When he hooked up with Britney, she finally got
it through her head that he was never going to like her that way
so she moved on, but her feelings for him didn't go away. She had
a boyfriend and even he knew that she would leave him in a
heartbeat if Nick asked her out.
"Okay, that's enough flirting," I told them.
"I'm not flirting," Nick protested.
"Sure you're not." Nick kicked me in the shoulder.
He grimaced and shouted, "Shit!"
"Serves you right." I told him. My shoulder was stinging from his toenails. "And somebody needs to cut that mess. I think you stabbed me."
"You're so mean," Greta quipped.
"He kicked me!"
"You were being an ass!" She rubbed Nick's chest. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he said. He smiled at me and I couldn't stifle my laughter.
"I almost forgot how silly the two of you are."
"Wow, Greta! Has it been that long?" Nick asked.
"Yes," she said simply. "We used to hang out all the time but now you guys are too good for us." She laughed but she couldn't mask the bitterness in her voice.
"Greta we didn't"
"Don't worry about it Nicky. I know you've been busy making new friends and Kyle has been busy having a boyfriend."
I realized I hadn't spoken directly to any of them except Matt since my sexual orientation was exposed. "I meant to tell you in person," I blurted out. I looked at Paul and Hope. "I meant to tell all of you in person."
"It's okay. I figured you were gay a while ago," Greta said.
"What? How?"
"I'm not an idiot. I saw how you and Pat were together. I thought you would at least tell me, but I guess that option was taken away from you. I hope you didn't keep it from us because you thought the rest of us were like Matt."
"Matt's homophobic," Paul stated.
"Matt's in denial," Hope said.
That comment got everyone's attention. "In denial about what?" I asked.
"You don't think he overreacted to you being gay? Let's say for the sake of argument that he doesn't like gay people. It takes a lot more than not liking someone to attack them the way he's attacked you since he found out. If you ask my opinion, I think he's jealous."
"Of what?"
"Of you and Pat. I think he likes you more than he cares to admit. When you started hanging out with Pat, Matt was constantly talking about it. I personally got sick of hearing your name come out of that boy's mouth."
I laughed. "Yeah right, Matt hates my guts because he secretly loves me. That makes perfect sense."
"It's just crazy enough to be true," Nick said.
"Oh, not you too! You were there yesterday morning. You saw
how he was and he was even angrier when I saw him later."
"You never wondered why he was so angry?" Hope asked.
"I'm gay. He's homophobic. I think that's enough ammo."
"For Matt?"
"Hope, let it go! You're wrong on this one. Matt is a homophobe so me being gay is enough to push him over the edge."
"Stop being sarcastic and take a second to seriously think about it. Matt knows you can kick his ass, why would he start a fight with you?"
"Pride, revenge, hatred, take your pick."
"I'm telling you"
"Okay you two. This is my room and I hereby declare this topic closed for discussion. I don't care what's wrong with Matt."
"Well your Majesty, what do you want to talk about?" Hope asked.
"For starters, shouldn't you guys be in school?"
I glanced at my watch. "Yeah, you guys still have another hour."
"We went for the first half of the day, but then we decided to skip and come see you," Greta said.
"You could have done that after school," Nick told her.
"School wasn't too much fun. Everyone was in a bad mood and then the principal called us in to his office to talk about our friendships with you guys. I told him I hadn't talked much to either of you in the past month or so, but he still asked me a lot of questions."
"Questions about what?" I asked.
"What type of people you were. If I thought you started any of the fights yesterday. How long we've been friends. Why we stopped hanging out. Things like that."
"Why would he care?"
"I think he wanted to get his facts straight about what went
on in the detention room yesterday."
"Really?"
"Yes, Kyle, really. We may have a new vice-principal soon."
"What?"
"He was trying to do a review of the incident but he seemed eager to get any information to condemn his right hand man. I don't know what's going on with that, but I think John Charleston may have something to do with it."
"John?"
"He was in the office sitting in a chair all day. He was there when Hope was called in this morning and when Paul and I were called in this afternoon."
Nick's room phone started ringing. "Who's calling you?" I asked.
"Probably my mother calling from the cafeteria. I swear that woman is ridiculous." Greta handed him the phone. "Hello." He smiled when he heard the voice. "Well speak of the devil! We were just talking about" The person must have cut him off because he stopped talking and his smile quickly left his face. "No, he's not here. He went to check on Drew." I could tell the person on the other end must have been frantic. "Drew called him so he called him back." He paused. "I don't know, maybe thirty minutes." He put his hand over the phone and asked me, "Pat's been gone for about thirty minutes right?" I nodded my head. "Okay, call me when you see him." Nick handed Greta the phone and she hung it up.
"What's going on?"
"Something's really wrong with Drew. He talked to John and now John is just as freaked out as Pat."
I immediately began to worry about Pat. "Oh no, I hope nothing's wrong. I should go call Pat and see if he's talked to Drew."
"You should," Nick agreed.
I stood up and ran out of the room. I was down the hallway
and out the main door in a matter of seconds. I called Pat five
times, but he didn't answer and that only made me worry more. I
wondered if Drew's father had gone off on both of them and images
of my boyfriend being smacked around popped in my head. I
panicked and called John. He answered.
"Pat?"
"No, it's Kyle. Have you talked to Pat?"
"I just left him a message."
"What's going on? Why isn't he answering his phone?"
"I don't know. I'm not there yet." John sounded angry.
"Are you okay?"
"It's been a long, long day and I have a feeling it's about to get longer."
I thought I heard sirens in the background. "Are you being pulled over?"
"They're trying to, but I have to stop for that to happen."
"John, what the hell is wrong with you? Pull over! Why aren't you stopping?"
"I'll talk to you later." He hung up and I was left wondering what in the world was going on at Drew's place.
I stopped to take a few deep breaths and calm myself down. I was on my way back in the building when someone tapped me on my right shoulder. "Hey Kyle."
"Hey Jeremy," I said as he fell in line next to me.
"Look man, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I only made the situation worse."
"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault. I would have fought with someone at some point yesterday."
"I didn't help though."
"Neither of us was thinking straight."
"So how is Nick doing?"
"He's doing much better. The doctor says he can go home tomorrow."
"That's good. I thought about stopping by to say hello."
"You should. He'll be happy that other people thought about him."
"Okay. I'll stop by in a few minutes. I have to go see someone first."
"Tell your mother I said hello."
"She's not working today."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just assumed."
"It's okay. I'm here to finish a conversation with someone and then I'll come down to talk to you for a minute."
"Alright." I walked back to Nick's room and our old friends were gone. His mother and my mother were sitting next to the bed. "Where did everyone go?" I asked.
"The mothers cleared the room," Nick explained.
"Nick says Pat went to visit one of your other friends. Is he coming back soon?" My mother's eyes were drilling a hole in to me.
"I'm not sure. I haven't talked to him since he left." She kept staring at me but she didn't say a word. I knew she was trying to read my mind. I didn't feel like sitting so I paced the floor with a renewed feeling of worry.
"Honey you're making me nervous. Sit down," she ordered.
"Yes Mom." I sat down on the edge of Nick's bed and nervously waited for Pat.
Lustyville 2006 Please send comments to lustyville@yahoo.com and check out my yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lustyville.