Yes, this is a short one. I have a reason but would prefer not to explain. I don't know when the next one will be out either. But please enjoy what little of the chapter there is. Comments/Suggestions are always welcome at JSmithAuthor@yahoo.com. Thanks!
About half way home Kevin couldn't take it anymore.
"Alright, Bry, tell me what went on back there. And don't give me any of that `I don't want to talk about it' bulls**t."
Bryan refused to acknowledge Kevin. He sat with his arms folded across his chest and tears in his eyes. The car started slowing down and eventually stopped in the middle of the road. Bryan looked at Kevin with a mix of curiosity and anger.
"What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed?" he asked in a panic.
The road wasn't busy so Kevin wasn't worried about getting hit as long as his emergency directionals were on.
"Are you going to tell me now, or are we going to sit here until morning?" Kevin asked while turning to Bryan.
"You can be such a dick sometimes, you know that?" Bryan said stubbornly.
Kevin placed his hand on Bryan's shoulder and looked into his eyes. "Bryan, will you please tell me what happened? You know I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't love you."
Bryan started bawling as Kevin brought him to his chest. Between sobs Bryan started to explain what happened.
"Well, when I went... to talk to him. He...was, you know... taking care of his business. And... when I saw what he was looking... at, I ran," Bryan spat between sobs.
"Calm down Bryan. Take a deep breath," Kevin said. "Alright, now what was he looking at?"
"GIRLS!"
Josh stood on the front lawn in his boxers for at least five minutes before the cold got to him. When he walked in the house his parents were waiting by the front door with worried looks on their faces.
"What's wrong, honey? Where did Bryan go?" Mrs. Stevens asked.
Josh didn't break his stride. As he started up the stairs his mom started to say something, but thought better of it when he turned and gave her an annoyed look.
When he got in his room, Josh shut and locked the door behind him. As he stepped over to his computer, he noticed he still had some of the websites up. He closed them all and turned off his computer. After what just happened with Bryan, he wasn't in the mood for anything anymore.
Josh had just closed his eyes when his room phone started to chirp. He was tempted to let it ring, but answered it just incase it was Bryan.
"Hello?" Josh answered.
"Hey Josh, it's me"
"Oh, hey about earlier..." Josh got cut off in mid-sentence.
"Save it. Meet me outside your house in ten minutes."
"Ok," Josh said reluctantly, "where are we going?"
"Either be there in ten minutes, or I'm leaving." With that call was ended.
Josh set the phone down in its cradle and thought about what was just said. Why did he sound so angry? He thought to himself. Guess I'll find out soon enough. He'll be here in a few minutes. Josh grabbed a pair of pants and a long-sleeve shirt out of his closet and threw them on the bed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josh walked out the door when he saw headlights coming down the street. He hadn't told his parents he was going out so he shut the door lightly behind him. By the time he reached the end of the sidewalk the car pulled to an abrupt stop in front of him. Josh opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going now?" Josh asked as they drove out of his neighborhood.
"No. You'll see soon enough."
Josh started to get a little tense when they turned onto a dirt road and continued for about half a mile. Up to this point there had been no talking, the radio wasn't on, and neither of the boys looked at each other.
The awkward silence was broken when the car pulled to a stop and both of the boys got out.
"We're here."
"It's beautiful," Josh whispered as he gazed across the view before him. The city lights were bright enough to be seen from atop the hill, yet dim enough so the stars could be seen shining in the sky. "Well, what do you think?"
"I think it's beautiful, but why are we here?" Josh asked as he sat on the hood of the car.
"Because there's something you need to know." Kevin walked over to his car and sat on the hood next to Josh. "It's about Bryan. He's..."
Kevin didn't get a chance to answer as Josh cut him off. "Gay?"
Kevin was caught off-guard by Josh's interruption. "Uh, what?"
"That's what you were going to say weren't you?"
"Well, no. I was..."
"Oh, sh*t. You mean he's not?" Josh said in a panicked tone as he cut Kevin off again.
"Well if you would let me..."
"God, how can I be so stupid!" Josh said as he jumped off the car and started pacing back and forth in front of him. "I mean, I couldn't tell at first. But after the way he looked at me, I knew for sure he was. How the hell could I have messed that up?" After a slight pause he looked over at Kevin who was waiting patiently on the car. "Oh, sorry. What was it you wanted to say?"
"Well if you would learn to stop cutting people off in mid-sentence. But I wasn't going to talk about anything like that. I just wanted to..."
"Wait, so you're saying he is gay then?"
"Damn it Josh! Would you shut the hell up for two minutes!"
"Sorry," Josh said sheepishly as he sat down on the hood again.
"Thank you. Now as I was saying, I just wanted to say sorry for the way Bryan acted to you. He's not always the perfect person, but you have to get to know him first. He wanted to tell you he was sorry, but every time he picked up his phone he started to sob again." Kevin said as he walked to the edge of the hill and looked over the edge.
Josh got up and followed him over. "So what was wrong with him? I mean, I can't think of what I did wrong. He saw me... um... well, you know. Then he just looked at me and took off."
"It's complicated. And I'm not going to tell you anything other then that's not how Bryan usually acts. He's a great friend and he deserves a chance to explain himself."
"I understand that. I still want to be his friend too." Josh said as he sat on a nearby boulder. He paused for a bit as he looked up at the stars. "So, is Bryan, you know... gay?"
When Kevin opened his mouth to respond, another car pulled up. He immediately recognized it. Oh s**t.
"Josh, get in the car. Now" Kevin shouted as he ran towards his car.
"Why what's going on?" Josh asked as he walked towards Kevin's Xterra and watched the car that just pulled up.
"Don't worry about it. Just get in."
When Josh climbed in the car and shut the door, Kevin slammed the car in reverse and hit the gas. When all four tires hit the dirt road, he put it in drive and pushed the accelerator. F**K! Kevin hit the brakes. Three guys were standing in front of the car with guns in their hands.
"What the hell is this?" Josh screamed when he saw the guns.
"Just sit there and shut up and maybe we can get out of this alive."
Kevin and Josh's eyes got big when one of the guys in front of the car pointed a 9mm semi-automatic Glock at them. "Screw this!" Kevin thought as he threw the car in reverse and floored it. They didn't get far, as a fourth gang member brought their Avalanche behind Kevin. He tossed Josh his cell phone and told him to call the Police and tell them they were at Dropoff Point.
As Josh dialed and waited for the operator as Kevin once again put the car in drive and hit the gas. He spun the wheel far to the left and avoided the three gang members coming towards them. "Duck!" Kevin yelled when he looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the fourth gang member pointing a shotgun with a sawed off barrel at them.
After the shot rang out, the Xterra's back window shattered and rear-left tire blew causing Josh to drop the phone. As Kevin struggled to keep control of the car, Josh was frantically searching for the dropped phone. Both attempts failed. The phone was lost under the seat and Kevin couldn't get a good grip on the wheel.
When Josh brought his head up, he caught a glimpse of the trees in front of him. Not good. The car was slowed some from the blown tire and Kevin pushing the brakes, but was still going down the heat at a frightening pace.
The crash was deafening. The front and side airbags deployed when the Xterra hit the tree and sent both of the boys into the dashboard. The side airbags helped keep most of the glass away from their faces and bodies. When Josh was able to open his eyes and look out the window, he saw the barrel of a gun pointing towards him. He started silently crying and let the tears flow freely down his face. Josh closed his eyes and waited for his death to come to him. He heard the cock of a pistol and the ratchet of a shotgun.
Bryan sat quietly on his front porch listening to his parents fight inside. They had been yelling back and forth for at least an hour. Bryan had a long day and was looking forward to the comfort of his bed and a good night's sleep. He had calmed down significantly after Kevin had talked with him, but every time he thought about the incident he started to get upset again.
Bryan yawned and laid his head down on the ground. As he struggled to stay awake, he heard the whines of several police sirens in the distance. It was an unusual for him to hear that many that close. Living so close to the hills, there were very few reasons for a cop to be out this far; and when he did hear them, it was usually only one and for a short period of time. These sirens, however, didn't die down.
Bryan stood and looked in the distance trying to tell where they were coming from. When he grabbed a chair to stand on, the front door slammed open with enough force to make the porch tremble. He lost his balance and fell on his ass with the chair tipping over on top of him.
"What the hell were you doing?" Bryan's father asked with a red face.
"I was..."
"Save it. I don't give a sh*t," Mr. Anderson said and stomped off towards his car carrying a suitcase.
As Mr. Anderson opened the trunk to put the suitcase in, Bryan's mom came out and watched. Her face was streaked with tears as she laid her hands on her son's shoulders. They watched together as he started the car and drove off down the road.
"Come on, honey. Let's go inside." Mrs. Anderson said as she led Bryan towards the open door.
They walked in the kitchen and Bryan collapsed at the table and put his head in his hands. "What else can go wrong today," he thought to himself. When Bryan looked up, his mom was getting a bottle of Blue Sky vodka down from the cabinet. He looked at her for a minute until his eyes started to get big. The Party!
With everything going on, Bryan forgot about the party he was supposed to help Kevin with. He grabbed his mom's car keys off the table and kissed her on the cheek as he made his way towards the front door.
"Where are you going?" She yelled in a slightly slurred speech. She was a very light-weight drinker.
"Out! I'll be back later!"
"Bryan, wait! We need to talk!"
"Later. Please mom. I forgot I have to help Kevin with something," Bryan pleaded.
"Fine. If you're going over there you might as well spend the night." Mrs. Anderson said as she took another drink.
"I don't know if there'll be room." Bryan said without thinking.
"What do you mean no room? Who else is going to be there?"
"Uh," Bryan paused for a brief moment, "I think his cousins are going to be there too." It was a lame attempt at an excuse.
"Well, I'm going to bed soon, so be quiet if you do come home. And be careful and don't do anything stupid. Call me if you need to."
"Mom, you're almost drunk. Why would I call you?"
"Good point. Just be careful and call someone if you need a ride," his mom finished saying as she stumbled towards the master bedroom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Bryan pulled his mom's Honda Civic on Kevin's street, he saw five cars already in front. He stopped behind the last car the he knew belonged to his good friend Ron. Bryan could hear music playing from inside the house as he crossed the front lawn.
As Bryan opened the front door, he was greeted with the smell of beer and alcohol. He looked around at the 12 people in the house and started searching for Kevin. When he couldn't find him, he walked over to Ron and yelled over the music, "Have you seen Kevin?"
"No, man. By the time I got here, all of these guys were into the second case of beer. Where the hell have you been?" Ron replied as he continued dancing to the music.
Bryan ignored the question and walked over to the stereo and hit the off button. Everyone turned towards him and looked at him with bloodshot eyes. He got a round of, "What the hell's", "Aw come on", and "Turn it back on!"
"Who was the first one here?" He asked the group
"I guess I was. The front door was open so I figured you guys were just late. So I got the party started without you," someone said.
"Has anyone seen Kevin?"
Everyone shook their heads. He hit the power button on the stereo again and the music came to life. Bryan walked back out of the house and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket. He dialed Kevin's number and waited.
The phone rang 4 times before he got Kevin's voicemail. Bryan left a message, "Hey, it's me. Your house is being trashed already. Call me back as soon as you get this."
I told you it was a short one. This was en-edited (and it showed. sorry) but I wanted to get it to Nifty to let others read it. I promise the next chapter will be longer. Comments please! JSmithAuthor@yahoo.com