Disclaimer
You should know the drill by now, so I'm going to start leaving it out. As always I love feedback and I can be reached at: Danielsummers1219@gmail.com
I received lots of feedback! Thank you!! Several things were brought to my attention so I'll address them here. Some of my readers had a little difficulty determining who was speaking at a particular point in the story so from now on I will put a little note clarifying who is speaking. If there is no note then the main character (Peter) is speaking. Some felt they needed to point out my "terrible grammar and spelling" skills. I do ignore a lot of my grammar issues, but I'm a stickler for spelling! To all you American readers please know I am Canadian, so plenty of words are spelt differently; but they are correct.
November Update:
I wrote the above about... two months ago. It has taken me this long to write this chapter do to school, work and laziness. I did however go back and update all the previous chapters so for that reason and to refresh your memories, I suggest you go back and read all the previous chapters.
And now, Chapter 11!!
P.S. There is one part in here near the end that one of my friends got confused with as an incest reference. This is not so! Please read it carefully!!! :-)
----------------------------------------- Last Chapter
"Bryan," I began my questions as I switched to the other foot, "mind if I ask you something?"
"Anything you want."
"That Special Forces uniform in your closet, is it yours?" He sat up to look at me.
"Yes. They paid for Medical School. In return I have to serve for at least two years."
"So what do you have to do?" I was kind of scared to be honest.
"Well right now I'm working in the infirmary at Fort McCain Airbase. But I do whatever I am needed to do. I might even have to deploy to Afghanistan sometime." I looked at him. I don't think I'd even been this scared. Not even when I found out he was in a coma. This time I knew that if he went, he wouldn't return the same. If there was one thing I had learned, it was that war changes people. It changed my grandfather, he was never the same.
"I hope you don't ever have to go." I confessed.
"Come ere'." I crawled over to kneel down beside him. "Me too." His lips kissed mine. I felt safe again.
Chapter 11 – Surprise
Bam! Boom! Crackle! Pop! My body shot up off the mattress. Bam! The thunder rumbled as the storm raged on in the city. I glanced over at my clock; 6:45 am. What a wonderful start to my birthday eh? My birthday... dear lord I can't believe I had forgotten today was my birthday. September 15th had finally come. I laid my head back down, snuggling into my pillow. Crack! Another set of thunder rolled through the sky. My heart raced, beating faster and faster. My hands started to vibrate with fear. I am scared of many things, but the one thing that got me the worst was thunder storms.
I looked back at my clock. 6:47 am. No way in hell was I going to get back to sleep. Throwing the covers back, I got up and reached for my U of S sweater hanging on my chair. Slipping into the hallway and into the living room, I really realized how big this house was. My eyes swept the room, taking in everything. I felt so alone, all this space and no one to share it with. I know I had Bryan, almost losing him really brought things into perspective... but we have only been together for a little over a week. I was still trying to get used to this. I'd never been in a relationship; this was just all so new to me!
Hopping the stairs up to my office I settled at my PC. Facebook, no birthday wishes. Good I liked it that way. Email, message from my professor saying he needs to speak with me before class this morning. Wow did I do something wrong, I mean I expected at least a Happy Birthday from my lil' man, but nothing. Oh well, Welcome to My Life... right?
I left my computer and sped into the kitchen, what I really needed was some Java! Bam! The storm continued to rage hell in the atmosphere. Holy shit I hate storms. I turned on the TV in the kitchen, flipping to the weather channel I poured myself some coffee. Beep! My phone went off.
<Lisa: Pete, I'm out of town for a couple of days so I'll have to give you your present later.>
No I love you, no happy birthday. Boy was I ever feeling low today. I turned my attention to the Weather Network... just dandy, rain all day. I sighed to myself thinking at the long day I had in head of myself. I walked into my room to get dressed. After a long look in my closet and drawers, I decided upon a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt with a simple jacket. I looked over at my clock once more. 7:30 am. Half an hour until class started.
"Ahh Peter, just the person I wanted to talk to." My professor stood up from his desk. I smiled at him. "I was looking threw some of your records, and I see you have exceptional skills in breaching firewalls, decryption and the concept of K.I.S.S." I laughed at that.
"Yes sir, I try my best." I took a seat in the front row.
"Well I have something I need you to do in class; just don't be shocked when I ask." I looked at him, burrowing my eyebrows together. "Don't look so confused my friend. Everything will become clear shortly." He turned around and went to sit at his desk in the corner of the room. I really did love this classroom. A giant screen hung in the front to demonstrate various things, a big ass projector hung from the ceiling and rows of chairs with flip able arm tables for computers and such lined the back.
My fellow students started flooding in the room, quickly taking their seats in anticipation of today's lesson. Professor Girn always made out lessons exciting, but valuable. "Good morning." He greeted the room with a warm smile. "For our next subject, you will have a different teacher, someone with more... talents, in this field." He made sure to look at everyone's faces. His eyes passed mine and gave me a little wink. Oh God no, I can't do this! I'm a terrible teacher, public speaker and I hate being in front of people. "Encryption Algorithms, firewalls and breaching is our next task. Peter, come up here please." Without realizing it, I found my feet towards the front of the room. My whole body turned to address the class.
"Umm... Well I'm not exactly prepared." This elicited a chuckle from each of the students. I looked at everyone one of them. Everyone was looking at me, but one girl caught my attention. She wasn't just looking at me; she was plain out staring at me. I looked to my left; Professor Girn turned and walked over to his desk. "Does everyone know the basics of each thing? It would make things so much easier if you did. –But if you don't I can try my best to teach you." I quickly added. The girl who was still staring at me raised her hand. "Yes miss?"
"Angela. Since you're the expert, I was just wondering who taught you." She questioned.
"Well Angela, no one. I guess you could call me a natural." Shit, my ego was kicking in. At least I could feel the nervousness leaving my body. "Is there any other questions?" I asked the room. "OK then let's begin!" I smiled.
"Hey Peter can I ask you something?" I turned to see Angela walking down the steps of the room.
"Umm, sure go ahead."
"I'm just going to come right out and say this. You're like really cute." She made sure to emphasize cute. "And a really great teacher, I was wondering if you wanted to grab a coffee some time." She asked with a big smile on her face. This caught me totally off guard! No one had ever asked me out, I mean not counting my current love of my life. Am I even allowed to call him the love of my life? We've only known each other a few weeks, and been dating for a little over one week. "Peter?" Her voice brought me back to reality.
"What? Oh yeah. Like a date?" I asked wearily.
"Yes, exactly like a date." I looked at her for a second. How could I break this to her?
"Listen Angela, you seem to be a great girl, but I already belong to someone else." I turned to pick up my book bag.
"Belong to someone else? Well who ever she is, she is really lucky. I've never heard a guy say they belong to someone else." She smiled at me and left.
I walked out of the doors to the university. The storm still raged on with plenty of thunder and lightning. I quickly glanced at my watch, 11:30am. I didn't have class for the rest of the day. I took of running towards my car, not wanting to get totally soaked. Within seconds I found my car, just as I was about to reach the door I slipped and fell backwards on the pavement. "Ouch." I moaned quietly. Zzt, zzt. Sparking noises emanated from my back pocket. I got up and reached into my pocket with my hand to pull out what was left of my crumpled up phone. Shit. I threw my bags in the passenger seat of my car and hopped in. Turning on the car, and spiking the heat, I drove off towards the mall to buy a new phone.
"Hi can I help you?" The clerk behind the till asked.
"Yes please. I kind of fell running to my car, and well my phone got squished in the process." We had a little laugh.
"Well what kind of phone are you interested in buying today?" He asked, intent on selling something.
"I'm interested in a 4G phone." We browsed through the available phones. In the end I bought a 16GB iPhone.
I walked the halls of the mall, paying no attention to the people around me. I really hated my birthday; it didn't mean anything to me. People celebrated it, but to me it was just 365 more days that I was alive. But finally, finally I was not alone! My mind was lost is constant thoughts, I didn't even notice the warm hands that enveloped me from behind. "Hello Birthday boy." And they kissed the side of my head. I smiled big.
"And hello to you Matt!" I turned around to give him a huge hug. My eyes settled on the shorter guy he was with. "Oh I'm sorry Jesse." My cheeks flushed all color from them. He really seemed to hate me, and I felt guilty because some part of me felt like I had stolen some small part of his head. I was ok with that, I don't think Jesse was. Matt hugged me tight and close.
"It's been what, a week buddy? That's too long if you ask me!" I had to laugh at that.
"Well I do have a life bud. Now to the big question, how the hell do you know it's my birthday, it's not exactly the type of thing I advertise." I raised one eyes and stared at him.
"Umm..." He stammered, "Facebook? Yeah Facebook." He smiled nervously at me.
"Yeah, Facebook alright." I sarcastically commented. He stepped a pace back and took Jesse in his arms. If you saw them, you could not resist but smile.
"Oh crap!" He suddenly exclaimed throwing his hands in the air! "You two go get a seat at Starbucks or something, I have to run for a second."
"Ok babe, hurry back!" Jesse turned around and kissed the side of his face.
"K, behave you two." He smiled and Jesse and stuck his tongue out at me. Quickly he turned around and bolted down the floor. I glanced nervously at Jesse, I knew from previous experience that he didn't like me too much.
"So umm Jesse how you've be-" I didn't even get to finish my sentence before he grabbed my forearm and squeezed.
"Listen, I'm going to tell you this again. Stay away from Matthew; you have your own boyfriend so stop trying to get with mine!" He spat the last words from his mouth.
"Let go of me..... Now!" His grip only tightened. "I'll give you one more chance, I've had to fight off bigger guys then you." He glared angrily at me. "Alright you asked for it." I wound my other arm back and swung forward! Just as it was about to make contact with his face, he caught my fist with his hand. I smiled and snapped my head backwards then quickly forwards, head butting him square in the face. Jesse let go immediately to cradle the pain in his face with his hands.
"Now listen to me. You guys found me here, not the other way around. My boyfriend is none of your concern, and Matt is just my friend. You can either deal with that or fuck right off!" I bent down, grabbed both of his arms and heaved him up. "Come one; let's go before he gets back and finds out about this little fight."
"Here you go." Matt slid a receipt across the table.
"What's this?" I asked picking it up.
"Just read it." I looked at the paper in my hands, reading each line.
"Oh my god, thank you Matt!" I got up and gave him a hug. "How did you know I love Assassin's Creed?" I looked at the receipt for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.
"A little birdy told me." He smiled slyly at me.
"Hey. Surrreee." I looked down at my watch. "Crap guys, I got to go. I'm having dinner at my parent's house." I got up and gave Matthew another hug. "Thank you again."
"It was no problem." We released each other and stepped back.
"Bye guys!" I waved and turned to leave. After finding the exiting the mall and running to my car to avoid getting soaked I dialled my parents.
"Hey were not in right now, please leave us a message." My mother's voiced sounded over the phone.
"Hey mom, I am just about to leave so see your guys in an hour and a half." I started the car and began my journey home. As I drove through the city, my mind began to wonder. Had it been a weird day? Yes it had been. I tuned my radio into my favourite station and relaxed in my seat. My eyes drifted to the sideways motion of the wiper blades, brushing the rain of the windows.
I turned my head to look at my new phone sitting in the seat behind me. The black screen might as well have said `looser', no messages had been displayed. I mean it was my birthday, you would think someone might wish me a happy one! My mind drifted to the thought of Bryan. Picturing him in my mind made my heart skip a couple beats.
A solid hour and a half later I pulled into my hometown of Gorgeville Saskatchewan. As I drove down the streets I noticed nothing had really changed in these last few months. Mr. Parker's Jewelry shop still held its place on Main Street, the post office still held its brick outside and the streets still held their rough pavement. I pulled into the driveway of my home, and shut the car off. The rain had slowed a little, but it still poured. I got out and ran to the door, trying not to get soaked by the never ending supply of rain that fell from the sky.
I opened the door to a dark house. "Mom?" I called out. "Dad?" I ventured again. "Anybody home?" I took off my wet coat and hung it on a hook beside out door. Thank god I was wearing a bunny hug, for it kept me very warm. Being naturally cold really can suck! I dropped my keys on the kitchen table and began to explore the house. Where the hell was ever body today? I walked into the living room, and flipped on a light to illuminate the pitch black.
"Surprise!!"
"Ahh!" I screamed and fell backwards. I looked around the room and noticed all the faces.
"Happy Birthday!" A big smile formed on my face.
"I hate every single one of you." I said half laughing. Everyone in my family was here! Aunts, uncles, brothers, nephews, and most importantly... Bryan. Bryan walked over to my and helped me up. I reached for his hand and he heaved me off the ground. His head leaned over and into the side of mine.
"Happy Birthday baby." He leaned back and winked at me. My big smile got even bigger.
"I knew something was up!" I went over and gave Lisa an elbow to her side. "When everyone is either not answering or telling me something has come up, see you later, it is kind of hard not to get suspicious!" My brothers converged on me. I looked and the expressions on their faces. Behind them my older cousins followed with the same look. "Oh no you don't!" My face dropped and I took off running down the hall.
"Get back here!" They all yelled. Just as I reached the one room in the upstairs that was lockable, their hands grabbed my from behind and dragged me into the open area of the living.
"No please don't!" I begged. My oldest brothers Kevin got a devilish smile on his face.
"Birthday Bumps!" He roared. The guys grabbed each of me limps and heaved my body into the air.
"One!" They chanted as my body was flung into the air and brought back down again.
"Two!" The continued on.
"He- lp!" I heaved out while my altitude changed. I looked over at Bryan to see him laughing. "I'm going to kill you guys!"
"Ten!" And finally after a few more seconds of torture they made it to eighteen. They gently set me down and scurried in fear that I was retaliate against them. I simply laid on the ground, trying to catch my breath and let the blood on my body settle.
"You ok?" My cousin Lucy asked.
"Just peachy." I half whispered.
"Here, let me help you up." She offered her hand. I took it and dragged her to the floor. I maneuverer myself on my side and gave her a giant hug! "Peter!" She screamed!
"What?" I defended myself. "Can't a guy hug his absolute favourite cousin in the whole wide world?" I hugged her tighter for a quick second longer and let her go.
"Love you too Pete."
"So where's the husband of yours?" I asked getting back up on my feet.
"Jackson is..." She paused to look around the room, "over by the closet."
"Oh cool, so wh-"
"Come on guys, supper is ready!" My mother announced to the crowd.
"Wait!" I yelled, "birthday boy first!" Everyone groaned. "Actually..." I said to no one in particular. I roamed the crowd looking for my target, and finally found her. "Grandma, come on I was you to eat first." She smiled at me and took my arm. We crossed the living room into the kitchen to eat.
I sat down on the couch beside Bryan and began to eat. He still hadn't gotten anything so I teased him. "Look at all this good food. Yumm! Tastes so nummy." I smiled at him. His fingers came over and stole my piece of chicken. "Hey I complained!"
"Love means sacrifice, not selfishness." He stuck his tongue out and popped the food in his mouth. "Oh so good! Nummy." He tried imitating my voice. I offered my plate in his direction for him to steal from, I actually liked having someone to steal from me, made me feel important or something.
I finished eating and set my plate in the sink. "Mom?" I asked walking back into the living room. "I left a couple sweaters at home, any idea where they are?"
"Probably in your room sweetheart."
"Thanks mom." I walked into the kitchen just in time to see my father trying to sneak out of the house.
"Dad," I started, "if you want to go out into the garage and drink with your buddies it's ok, you don't have to sneak out."
"Derek is out for a couple days."
"It's fine. You don't need to defend yourself." I walked past him and started down the stairs. After years of my dad letting me down, I expected as much to happen today. The worst part was, I barely the sting of hurt anymore. I opened the door to my room, to old memories, to tear stained pillows, to the old me. I searched my drawers for my warm sweaters. The city was cold compared to home. There was nothing there to keep me warm. I turned around and jumped! Bryan stood in the doorway.
"Jesus Christ! You scared me!"
"Sorry." He apologized.
"What are-" I didn't even get to finish before his lips were attacking mine! He devoured my lips with a hunger I had never seen. He pulled back just a second to speak.
"Happy Birthday Peter." And his lips were on mine again. My pulse raced, and my brain blacked out.
"Bryan please stop." Those words brought back some not to pleasant memories. He pulled back with a hurt look on his face. "No it's not because I don't want to. Everyone is upstairs and I don't want them to know yet."
"Ok." He leaned in and gave me a less passionate peck on the lips. The brush of skin left me wanting more. "Let's go upstairs, I think they are about to serve cake!" We ran back upstairs and into the living room.
"I was told we were almost ready for cake?" I said in a demanding tone. Everyone laughed. A few minutes later my brothers brought in a huge cake smothered in icing.
"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!" Everyone began to sing. "Happy Birthday dear Peter, Happy Birthday to you." I drew in a huge breath and released, trying to extinguish each candle. My lungs heaved out their last breath, and one candle remained lit.
"Looks like you have one girlfriend!" Jayden laughed. They really had no idea!
"Oh har har. As tradition goes, the birthday person gets to cut the cake. My mother and I took the cake into the kitchen to begin cutting.
"Peter..." She paused.
"Yes mom?" I grabbed a knife from the drawer.
"There's something I need to tell you."
"Ok, shoot." I traveled over to the cupboard and retrieved the plates.
"You know how your uncle Michael didn't send you anything at your graduation?" Now that she had mentioned it, I didn't receive anything from him. My Uncle Mike had always been my favorite. I spent many summers with him, his wife Lori and their daughter Tessa in London. We weren't related by blood, I just grew up calling them uncle and auntie; our families were just the close. "They actually did."
"Ok?" I questioned. I started cutting the cake into even squares.
"Before you read it, there is something I want you to know."
"What is it mom?" I asked getting a little frustrated
"Your Uncle Mike is your real father!"
"Son of a bitch!" I cursed as the knife slit my finger wide open. "God dammit!" I rushed to grab a towel to soak up the blood that was pouring from my finger.
"What's wrong?" asked several people as they crowded into the kitchen. Bryan took one look at my finger and went into doctor mode.
"What happened?"
"Sliced my finger open on the knife."
"Here let me see." He grabbed my hand and removed the towel. Blood soaked my skin again.
"Crap. That's going to need stitches." He covered my hand back up. "Lisa, go out to my car and grab my med kit please." She took off running outside. Bryan led me to the bathroom to tend to my wound. "Do you have any alcohol wipes?"
"Left drawer." I answered quickly. My finger was pulsing in pain. "Frick it hurts!" I had never been good with any kind of pain.
"I'll get it all fixed up for you." Lisa returned a couple minutes later.
"You ok hun?" She asked worriedly.
"Fuckin' peachy." I answered flatly.
"This is going to sting, a lot." Bryan warned and closed the door to the bathroom. He cracked the seal on one of the alcohol wipes, took out the cloth and swabbed my bloody wound. I screamed out as the cleansing sting rung through my hand. He retrieved a needle and some thread from his kit and stitched up my finger one swipe at a time.
"All done." His hand came to my chin and lifted it up. "Feel any better?" I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Yes, thank you." He smiled and leaned in to kiss my forehead.
"Peter how did you manage to cut yourself? You are like pro at using knives." Lisa asked from her position on the toilet seat. My mind kicked in, finally realizing what my mother had said. My uncle Michael was my father? I jumped off the edge of the counter and ran for outside. Slipping into my shoes I ran for the garage. I threw open the door and began my yelling streak.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me `dad'? " I sarcastically spoke his title.
"What the hell are you talking about?" His two drinking buddies stared at me.
"Oh gee, let me see... how about the fact that you're not my real father!" I screamed.
"Wow Jay. Your boy wines like a queer." I looked at the man that had spoken.
"You know what? Maybe I am queer, did you ever think about that. Yeah dad, did you hear that? Your son is a homo!" I lashed out. He walked over to me, raised his hand and brought it down across my face.
"Get the fuck out!" He roared in a drunken anger!
"With pleasure!" I left and went back to the house. I opened the door and shook off the excess water in my hair, I was soaked.
"Peter I am so-" My mother tried to speak.
"Don't you even dare!" I interrupted her before she could even finish. "Eighteen years. You lied to me for eighteen years. Did you once ever think I might want to know something like this?!" I screamed.
"Peter, I'm-"
"Sorry? What about all those times that man out there made me feel like crap? What about all those times I felt like I was just a burden to you guys. Least now I know why he hates me, now I know why Keith is the favorite." She reached out to grab my hand. "Don't touch me!" I pushed past her to grab my keys on the table. A crowd had gathered to see what the yelling was about. They all looked at me with shock in their eyes.
"Peter, I'll drive you home." He said as he placed his hand over top of mine and my keys on the table. I looked up at him and gave a tiny nod. His head turned to look at Lisa and she gave a little nod. We grabbed out coats, started my car and starting our drive home. "Are you ok?"
"Fucking perfect." I said with mock enthusiasm. I turned my head away from him and closed my eyes. This actually made perfect sense! Uncle Mike had treated me more like a son that my own father had. I mean Justin, I mean- god this was so confusing.
I walked in the door to my apartment, Bryan set the car keys on the counter. "Good night." And he turned to leave.
"Wait!" I said rather loudly. "Please," I spoke nervously, "stay." He looked at me for a second.
"OK." I led him to my bedroom, dressed in pyjamas and climbed into bed. He stripped down to his underwear and wore a pair of sleep pants I gave him. He slowly crawled into bed next to me.
"Bryan could you um," I hesitated, "could you please hold me. I really need someone to do that after tonight." His body crept closer to mine, and finally he wrapped his arms around me. I sighed and pulled him in closer to my back. Tears lightly crept from my eyes, I brushed them away just as quickly as they appeared. I grabbed into Bryan's arms, for comfort, for stability, I don't know. "Bryan?" I spoke again. "I love you."
He kissed the back of my head. "I love you too." I closed my eyes and drifted into the blissful unawareness of my subconscious.
Kk guys, I'm seriously so sorry this took so long! But here it is, next chapter is going to be an important one and hopefully it won't take me another 3 months.