Even If We Tried

Re-Edited - Draft One

 The regular warnings apply as always. Consider charity for nifty's awesome service. Please don't alter or reproduce my work without first contacting me.

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 A SIDE NOTE; this is just an updated version of EIWT Draft 1. A full book, with new characters, scenes and plot is coming soon as an Ebook.

 Contact and find me on these sites. I’ll be posting daily updates on Tumblr.

Email - danny2017writing@outlook.com

Twitter - @author_daniels

Tumblr - dannywriting2017

 

For anyone who is interested, I have other stories on nifty. I will list them at the end of the story.

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Many thanks;

 

To my friend and editor Leo, who has spent a great number of hours revamping the face of EIWT.

 To my friend and fellow writer Hunter, for all the support he has shown during the course of my writing. Check out his story Open Hearts.

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 In The Last Chapter: The events of the last chapter ended on a cliff-hanger as Blake learned the identity of the sender. Sam and Austin share a moment of intimacy, but are unsure about whether to proceed or if they should.  Everything SAM believes will be tested in this chapter, let’s see how he handles himself.

 Songs in this chapter;

1. Rise - by Katy Perry
2. Heal - by Tom Odell
3. A World Without You – by Hudson Taylor

 Even If We Tried

By D.K. Daniels

Part 6

 Waking shortly before 9 am on Saturday morning, I tossed and turned as the contents of the phone call I had with Blake last night echoed through my brain. I didn’t want to believe what he had told me. But to say the least, I was happy that it wasn’t someone I thought it was. Turning onto my back I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Why would he do it? I had no answers to the questions I was asking. It did not make sense. They say to be cautious of the people around you and keep enemies closer. But it made no sense whatsoever. I now felt a moment of clarity, as I was not the cause of outing Austin. Well, it appeared that way; however, I made a grave error in my judgment. I had told this person a really scary piece of information about myself. So much so that it could be used as blackmail. In all the years I’d known him, he would have never struck me as being this sort of person, but after a little snooping around last night it appeared to have been true. Yet he did make a statement when I last saw him, that both of us were the same. Was he jealous, did I not treat him right, like a proper friend? Most importantly, did I hurt his feelings or something. Did he like me? That was highly unlikely. Even so, it still didn’t account for the badness of the deed he had committed. ‘Why would Nash do this?’ To his own family, for one. I felt scared - for myself, if he was a liar and slanderer, but I also felt scared for Austin. I felt that I would have to be cautious around Nash from now on. I also felt that I would have to possibly distance myself from Austin in case Nash was to spread a rumour about me. What’s the worst that could happen, I asked myself. ‘He tells the entire school that I am gay,’ which I am. Yes, but that would be social suicide. I found my mind wandering from scenario to scenario of the worst case imaginable. I started to get angry at myself, ‘Why did I have to be this way, and why did it have to turn out this way?’ Why was I being tested?

 Reaching over to my messy locker that had a mixture of personal effects, my headphones, loose money and a bottle of water. I felt for the flat glassy surface of my phone. Once I felt the familiar exterior, I grasped the sides of the phone and hovered it over my face in the bed.

 I scrolled to Facebook, and Snapchat, to see what people were saying. I felt myself starting to relax a little as my reputation seemed to be salvageable. I wondered how my day would turn out today. Austin would be here. He was the guy no one wanted to be around at the moment. Ethan didn’t seem to want to know for the most part. I think he cares more about his dignity than about anything else at the moment. Last but not least, Nash will be here. He seemed so casual when we last talked. It was like he didn’t even acknowledge that he outed his cousin. I’m going to find that extremely hard to let go; today is going to be hard to get through, I thought to myself. Placing my phone back on the locker, I lay still for a couple of minutes of uninterrupted silence.

 Just on cue, as if nothing else mattered, I got my morning wood. I could feel it rise to its full potential under the duvet. Pressing down the blankets were my crotch would have been I urged it to go away. But it just did not. It was persistent. Deciding to give into temptation, I pushed back my covers. Almost immediately I could see the spike emanate from my crotch. It pressed against the fabric of my underwear and DC comic pyjamas and felt like it was straining to get free.

 Doing the next best thing I lifted my skinny ass off the bed slightly and slid down the underwear and Pjs in one motion to my knees. My young cock strung straight out and bobbed for a second as I took ahold of it and started to softly push it up and down in my hand. Each time I pushed it up and down, the feeling of my skin retracting made me feel sexy. For a brief moment in time I was forgetting all the drama that was going on around me. Placing my head back on my pillow I looked up at the lattes of the top bunk bed and kept moving my right hand to wank myself. I was getting into a good rhythm thinking of Austin and then I found I myself shifting between Ethan and Austin. It was the second time that this had happened and it was becoming uncomfortable, so I just focused on Austin. After a couple of firm strokes I found my mind becoming mixed with undealt emotions and feelings, and soon I felt that I was losing the will to masturbate. I started to gradually become flaccid. I did try to keep going but I felt that it was no use and gave up.

 Sighing to myself, I said quietly to myself. ‘It’s my birthday.’ and chuckled at the thought.

 Because the room was so silent, I became aware of the faint whispering coming from the beyond the door. That’s when I decided to pull the blankets back up over me.  At just that time my mom bashed in the door singing “Happy birthday.”

 “Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you

Happy BIRTHDAY DEAR SAAMM.

Happy Birthday to YOU.”

 And with that she ended her sing-song; my little sister had followed behind her, and also sang partly but, as you know, my sister is not really the singing type.

 Mom was all smiles and full of energy this morning. She held a small, colourful fairy cake with a candle in it under my chin. I looked from the two smiling women in my life down to the fairy cake and blew out the candle. Just then, mom started to ramble on about how important today was going to be for me. She said for me to take the bun from her, and doing so I took it from her open palm, pulled the paper cup off and chomped down on the sugary treat.

 After they left, I finished off the cake and then tossed my blankets off me and leaned out of bed. Pulling up my pyjamas and underwear I went over toward the toilet. Stopping directly outside the doorframe, I noticed my journal. I said to myself that I had not drawn in it much over the last week. I felt I was having withdrawal symptoms from not doing my much-needed escape from reality. Pressing forward, I headed into the bathroom and pulled up the toilet seat and let a geyser flow. Once I had finished, I shook myself, got undressed and showered. I felt myself being more generous with the body wash and shampoo. I lathered every part on my young body and washed away the suds and then dried quickly.

 Standing in front of my wardrobe in my American appeal underwear, I looked and pulled various clothes out. But I found nothing that I considered cute. I wanted to dress like Austin. I had never found myself worrying about what I should wear, so this was a first to me. I found myself trying on clothes and looking at them in the full length mirror on the back of the wardrobe door. Everything I tried on I found myself being very critical of what I put on. ‘Just because he has money to spend, doesn’t mean I have to have expensive clothes; he noticed me in normal clothes!, I assured myself.’

 Deciding on tan chinos, a plain white t-shirt and a sky-blue denim shirt. I dressed quickly and looked at myself yet again in the mirror. This time I was happy enough to say I looked cute, well... almost. I headed into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and styled my hair. I took extra longer than usual because I actually took the time to floss and use mouthwash. I also styled my hair, about which I became very picky, because it wouldn’t sit the right way for me at the start.

 As I ate breakfast I pondered how I was going to get through today. I had three boys that each had emotional turmoil going on with them. I sighed, but as much as the other two lads were worrisome, I found myself back to thinking of Austin. He was just so goddamn confusing and at the same time so distracting! I had never felt this way about anyone before and I looked forward to him turning up at my party more than anyone else. I’d be lying if I said that I’d be happy with a party full of people. I think if I just had Austin on his own, it would still turn out to be a fine day for me.

 While I watched the hours pass on the clock, I helped my mom set up some of the food and other miscellaneous items that she had bought for the entertainment.

I set up the junk food table, as she started cooking some of the finger food that was to be served cold. Not long after 5 pm, Ethan was the first to arrive. He was all smiles and happy compared to yesterday. He seemed to have got out on the right side of the bed this morning. But, was that subject to change?

He handed me the colourful gift-wrapped present he had bought for me and gave me a brotherly hug.

 “Happy birthday Sam,” He wished me, as he smiled a radiant smile.

 “Ah man, thanks,” I offered as I took the gift from him and put it in the living room area away from people.

 By 6 pm most of my friends had arrived, and everything was going okay so far. For the most part I was enjoying myself. I was not worrying about who was around or what was going to happen. Ethan seemed more interactive with me today, and he didn’t seem to hold anything against me. We played a couple of party games like charades, and fooled around with a balloon bursting game, that separated us into two groups.

 I felt my cheer start to dwindle around 6:45, when Nash arrived. I couldn’t look at him the same way, and I think Blake could feel that. Because he noticed me looking at him with a sort of betrayed look. I didn’t really have anything to say to him right then. I was pacing myself for what to say. I knew I was going to say something, but I didn’t know how to start. A part of me felt a little disappointed that Austin hadn’t showed; I guess he was running late, I kept assuring myself.

Because when the door bell rung around 7:15, I raced through the house to open the door. I wanted Austin be able to see me all dressed up: I made all this effort for him. Pressing down on the handle of the door I swung it open, but instead of looking at someone my size, I had to gander up a little to see the face of the person.

 “Hey doofus,” A nonchalant voice said in a manly but soft voice. It was Jonathan. Everything about Austin went out the window momentarily. My big brother had come home for my fourteenth birthday! I felt everything else slip away, and I reached out for a hug and kind of tensed up for a moment before he placed his hand around my back.

 “I missed you,” I murmured as I pressed against his side just under one of his arms.

 He gave a warm hearty chuckle, “I missed you too.” Then, just like that, he broke the close embrace and leaned down to my level. “How are things with you?”, he asked as he looked through my soul with his old and wise eyes.

 “Everything’s good…, I’m so glad that you came home,” I said feeling a little emotional.

 “Yeah...” he whispered. “God, you’ve gotten so tall”, he remarked. Smiling at his statement, I latched onto his wrist and dragged him through the house toward the kitchen.

 You should have seen my mom’s face light up; it was such a happy moment to see her like that. It was almost like she was proud that Jonathan had come home. He had turned up without making arrangements. The only downside was that he couldn’t stay the night. But he gave me my present, which he pulled from a large gym bag. Being my brother and all, I naturally could not wait to open the present and so I did as everyone else gathered around the table as the sound of Ed Sheeran’s, Castle on a hill played in the background.

 Tearing the paper away from the present, I looked around at all the faces looking down at me as I sat at the kitchen table and unwrapped the present.

 When I finally got down to the product box, it was the best present I could have asked for. My brother had gotten me a drawing tablet with a stylus. Looking up at him I beamed an appreciative smile and even showed my teeth a little.

 That’s another thing. I never really liked smiling all that much because I have braces on my top set of teeth and it always made me feel aware that they were there. But as time went on everyone started to have a bit of cake, once the cake was cut. I knew I had to sit through another embarrassing ‘happy birthday’. Only this time, the entire room’s attention was on me. I ate some cake and mom asked me to get a spare chair from the shed for Jonathan. He did offer to go and get it himself, but I wanted to get it on my own, to show how thankful I was. Headed out the patio door, I felt a slight temperature drop. It’s not summer yet, but the weather had been relatively good for this time of year.

 Reaching the shed, I pulled at the deadbolt and opened the door. Scouring around in the dimly-lit shed I looked for what appeared to be a chair. I noticed the familiar shape of one protruding from behind a tarp and my bike. I just lifted my bike out of the shed and placed it against the wall in the backyard. Headed back into the shed I plucked up the chair and walked with a bounce in my stride back to the house.

 Giving him the chair, he pulled it up toward the kitchen table and thanked me, as he was going to try some of my birthday cake. I also took this moment to try and get a few pictures with my friends. Going around I asked a couple for a picture and sure enough they stopped eating or dancing and posed for a picture with me. I finally got to Ethan, and he was happy enough to be completely original and try something berserk. Taking a photo beside this clown was always a laughing show. Of course, Nash saw the fun and wanted to join in. I had secretly tried to avoid him all night. But I guess this was it, I was to finally be in close proximity with him. He slung his arm around me and asked Ethan to take a picture of us. I felt a little intimidated. I’m not sure if he noticed it, I sure hope not. That would show a weakness on my part. But with all that said, I don’t think he clued in on how I was feeling. He didn’t even seem like he had anything to say other than asking for a picture with me.

 Escaping from Nash, I headed inside to the living room where Ethan and Blake, as well as a couple of others sat around cracking jokes. Sitting down to join in I heard Ethan saying sarcastically to Blake, “Oh yeah, well, your mother is like an oven, any nob turns her on.” Just like that everyone’s face turned red and they all erupted and laughed about Ethan’s classic come back. But it was all well, and everything was going according to plan. Only Austin hadn’t shown up. I guess I wasted my time dressing up to impress him, I thought to myself. Nash was still conscious on my mind though; he was snake, I thought. How could I have respected him for so long, when he’d do something like this? But just as I felt my hopes dwindling, the doorbell rang again; this time, though, I didn’t get up to open the door. It was my mom who went to answer it for me instead.

 “So, any jokes?”, Ethan said as he turned to me for an answer to his question. Smiling nervously at me he turned back and shot another joke at the group and everyone started to laugh like always. But I felt myself growing distant from everyone else and from everything in the room when I saw Austin standing in the living room door.

 My mom had her hand on his shoulder, and I just became fixated looking directly at him. I was in a trance. The sound around me became muffled. I could feel my heartbeat race in my head. My ears began to ring a little. I’m getting faint, I thought.

 Just then my hearing came back, just as it would if you had surfaced from swimming under water. The laughing soon stopped and I could feel the glances looking my way. It put me on the spot. It put Austin on the spot. I could not bring myself to actually say anything, but there he was. He actually does care. He came for me, to my birthday. And my friends were sizing him up as if he shouldn’t be here. I knew it was wrong for them to look at him this way, as if he was a disease.

 Despite all the glances he was getting from his peers, he still pushed through the awkwardness and intimidation that came from the boys behind me. They didn’t want him here. I could sense it. But I was almost as if it wasn’t intentional either though.

 “Hey..., Hey Sam,” he said breaking the silence everyone was giving him. My mother could sense something was wrong and encouraged him to take a seat with a gentle push forward to head on into the living.  But then she turned to head back out to the kitchen and talk to Jonathan. Austin just stood there in the doorframe, with a small wrapped present in his hands.

 He wore black Skinny jeans, and a black/khaki leather jacket with a smart blue shirt on underneath. He looked handsome; I found myself admiring his presence. There was just something about his appearance in that moment that made him special, more special than before, although I couldn’t quite figure out what that was.

 “Hey,” I finally got myself to say. He walked forward shyly and handed me the present. I could feel the heat in the room. People had an awful lot to say, but just didn’t want to say it. Glancing down at the present he had given me, I looked around the room to see if there was a spare seat and there was. It was on the three-seater sofa, between Ethan and Nash.

 “You can take a seat if you want,” I nervously said as I was waiting for the rest of the room to ridicule me for inviting him. But nobody so far dared open their mouth or usher a word. I knew he could sense the unwelcomeness but none the less he made his way to the seat as he stepped over Ethan’s sprawled legs and sat down on the sofa in between the two.

 He didn’t belong here, I thought. Look at him, he’s nervous, he’s out of his comfort zone. He looked so small and fragile, just holding his knees for support as he sat forward with a hump to his posture.

 I have to say, I really had to admire Ethan for his skill and bravery, because he looked over at me and then turned to Austin and offered his hand to him. “How’s things?”, he said in a nonchalant way. “Good,” Austin managed as he rubbed his palms against his knees.

 That’s when Jake, one of my friends of two years abruptly said, “I gotta go. I don’t feel comfortable with him here.”

 He looked around the room for support from anyone else who was willing to give it. That’s when Blake stood up and said, “Yeah man, why did you invite him,” in a hurt tone.

 I felt myself starting to lose control of the situation. Before I knew it another person stood up and joined the little protest in my living room. Ethan and Nash just sat through the little demonstration as if nothing was happening. I swear, I could have leapt off the chair and broke Nash’s jaw at this moment because I felt the pressure building. I was becoming a laughing stock for choosing whom I wanted to be friends with.

 Austin looked like he was on the verge of crying, but I had nothing to cover the trio that was standing in the middle of the room making a scene. Nash didn’t even bother to stand up for his cousin. That’s not family, that’s just evil. I sure as hell would stand up for my cousin - like it was my brother. But what really stabbed me was when Ethan stood up.

 “I’m going to go Sam. I don’t want to be here when a fight breaks out,” he said in a soft voice.

 ‘Fight? What fight? No one’s going to be fighting.’ I felt my heart melt for Austin when he stood up and said, “I’ll go Sam”. The way he said it was so casual; he looked hurt but… he seemed to have been doing this for me. That was not right.

 “No, you’re staying,” I insisted.

 Just like that, he pushed past me and left me standing in the living room with the angry mob. “You’re all assholes,” I said angrily before turning to follow Austin, who was on the small pathway leading out onto the curb by the time I got to the front door.

 “Hunny what’s wrong?”, Mom asked as I rushed through the kitchen and ran down the driveway after the slumped and delicate silhouette that was being shrouded by the night.

 “Please stay,” I said as I clung to his leather jacket.

 He turned to look at me and I noticed his cheeks looked slightly wet. I felt dizzy trying to figure out what to say to him. I was trying to figure out what he wanted to say to me. I wanted to know what he was thinking. I knew that was a dumb question because I knew what he was thinking. He had just got chucked out of a party.

 “Your friends don’t want me here,” he said lowly. He was so small at that moment that I felt if anyone shouted at him he’d just fall apart and start crying. God, he was so perfect, but so insecure, and mistreated by people like me.

 That’s when I noticed the white car behind him. Just like a camera would do, I looked over his shoulder and looked into the distance. A man sat in the car, looking out toward us.

 “Maybe it’s not a good idea for you to hang out with me,” he sniffled and turned and pulled away from my grip. He walked the remainder of the distance to the car and got it.

 While I watched him put on his seatbelt I stood frozen on the spot, I HATED myself, I HATED THE PEOPLE THAT WERE INSIDE MY HOUSE. Well, not my mom or Jonathan. Just like I knew, I had words to say to Nash now. In fact, I had words to say to all of them. Before I could decide what I wanted to do, Austin’s car pulled away and drove off up the street. By the time I realized I had something to say, I ran out onto  the middle of street, looking at the car until its tail lights disappeared.

 “FUCK!” I shouted.

 I then heard some laughter coming from my house. The boys all came out as a group, happy as they could be, except Ethan. By this time my mom was out in the front garden too. She looked on, not knowing what was wrong but she didn’t want to interfere until she knew what she was dealing with.

 Then everything else stopped mattering. I saw Nash smugly laughing at Blake who was talking about a fucking video game. ‘A game, are you serious, you just hurt someone’s feelings and you’re talking about games. What is wrong you, what’s wrong with them?’ Ethan veered off from the main group as he saw me closing fast toward Nash. “Sam!”, Ethan called out, worried.

 Just like that I shoved Nash so hard that he fell backward on the red brick walkway that ran up the centre of our lawn from the sidewalk. “What the fuck?”, he said as he looked back up at me. He angrily got back up quickly and shoved me back.

 “You’re a bastard, you know that!”, I shouted at him.

 “Pff…, says the one without a dad.”

 Just like that I lost it and was about to punch him in the face, when Ethan grabbed my punch and my mom got in between us.

 “Okay boys, I think it’s time to head home”, she said with authority.

 “You’re dead”, Nash coldly stated as two others held onto him as they walked him up the path toward the sidewalk.

 I knew I wasn’t finished and pushed away from Ethan, to get my last words in. I half shouted out of breath, “You prick, how could you do that to your own cousin?” To that he had nothing to say; he just kept walking. I watched as the yard cleared out rather quickly. Ethan was still by my side. He didn’t leave.

 “Are we cool?”, he asked, looking at me in earnest.

 I just couldn’t look at him now, but I did manage to say “I guess so”, because of the long history we had together, and with that I started heading for the door. What a wonderful night this was, I thought to myself.

 Ethan must have started to walk home, because that’s when my mom said to him “Ethan wait, I’ll drive you home.”

She wouldn’t take no for an answer and he just accepted finally, after a couple of moments of awkward silence. She got her coat and keys, and drove off with him.

 Back inside, the messy leftovers of the party were everywhere. Sitting at the kitchen table with nothing much to say, Jonathan just looked on.

 “Samster”, he cooed stupidly, but he meant it in a genuine way.

 “What?”, I croaked, as I felt the effects from screaming making my voice hoarse.

 “Anything on your mind, little man?”, he asked.

 “Just trouble”, I said dryly.

 “Really!”, he said, appearing to want to know more.

 “I mean, why did Nash have to out Austin. I like him and I won’t be able to tell him that now because no one wants to be associated with him now.” I caught myself before I said anymore and looked away embarrassed.

 “Sounds deep”, he offered. He looked across the table as our eyes met. In the warmest tone I have ever heard my brother use, he offered what he thought he knew about love.

 “Look little bro, I can only speak from experience with girls, but if you love someone, you should let them know. It’s not every day you get a chance to tell them that. If you love this guy, then what are you doing sitting here with my ugly ass.”

 I pondered what he had said. Was he telling me to sneak out? I had so many thoughts running through my head. Tears had started to flow the minute I sat down at the table and I was unaware of how miserable I looked. I had no idea I was crying, until now.

 “You think?”, I asked, looking for insurance from my role model.

 “Tell you what”, he said with a charming ring to his voice.

 “How about you go and clean your ugly face up,” as he smiled and gently wiped the wetness from under my eyes with his palm.

 “And I’ll clean up the house. I won’t tell mom you took a late night adventure to the fridge, if you get my drift.”

 Giving him a grateful nod, I got up from the table and made my way to the toilet. Leaving the room, I could hear him start to do some of the cleaning. Locking the door behind me I let a breath of relief out as I held onto the sink for support.

 Looking directly into the mirror, I wiped some of the tears away from under my eyes. I felt myself so pressured and backed into a corner. Dropping the toilet lid, I sat down and placed my hands on my knees as I thought of what to say, to Austin, I mean.

 If I was him, I wouldn’t want anything to do with me, I was so messed up. I ran my fingers through my messy hair, to try and relieve some pressure that was building up in me. That’s when I heard the door front door open and mom holler, “I’m back.” She hastily ran up the stairs. I could hair every step she took above me, since the bathroom was under the stairs. Sighing as I stood up, I turned on the cold facet and placed my hands together just under it. I felt the coldness of the water the moment I put my hands under the flow. Pacing myself for what was to come next, I splashed the water over my face. That moment was so mesmerising that I felt like I was free for a moment. But then I felt my misery returning. Looking back up in the mirror, I assured myself, this is it. I have to tell him; I have to stand for him. I’m no longer a baby -- maybe a coward sometimes but not a baby.

 Grabbing the towel, I dried my face, looked through the contacts on my phone and clicked on Austin’s name. I wrote an entire paragraph worth of an apology. But apologies have never been my strong point. I erased it all and started again. I thought for a couple of moments. I decided that I’d just keep it simple; I didn’t want to complicate anything. ‘Yes, Sam, keep it simple, the little voice inside me agreed. But life is not simple, the other part of me said.’

 I typed slowly, “Can we meet? I’m really sorry.” and hesitated for a moment. Giving myself a boost of confidence, I hit ‘send’ and put the phone back into my pocket as quick as I had sent it. I was half afraid that he would message me back right away and I did not want to have to see the words ‘no’ as his answer. That would crush me. Nevertheless, I wanted to see what his answer was going to be, if I got one, that is.

 Unlocking the door, I slowly backed out into the hallway as mom was coming back down the stairs. “Kitchen! Now!”, +she said with annoyance in her voice, when she saw me.

 Afraid of what was to come next I took a seat at the head of the table. Jonathan was still cleaning up a little in the sitting room when mom sat down at the table with me. I was waiting for my corporal punishment to be handed out; I was waiting to hear how I was going to be grounded. I wondered what form of torture I was going to get. Was she going to cut the internet off, take my PlayStation, not let me see my friends for a day or two, providing I have any left after tonight.

 “Sam, you know I don’t like you fighting”, she said with a disappointed gaze.

 I felt disappointed too but I couldn’t just say that. But it irritated me. It hurt me. Drawing up what to say I said,

 “I know…, he’s a bully though.”

 “So, if he’s a bully it’s okay to fight?  That doesn’t make it okay to lash out, Sam. You know better than that.”

 “I know, but I was protecting myself, and Austin”, I said, more or less talking to myself because I didn’t feel confident discussing this with her.

 “Austin...?”, she asked. “The boy that left before everyone else?”

 With the nod of my head she understood. A moment of silence was heard and I just started to crave the silence. It was so nice.

 “Okay hunny. Go on, head on up and get ready for bed.” She still showed a small bit of authority but let her guard down ever so slightly.

 I stood up from the kitchen able when Jonathan announced he needed to head back to the university, because he had a music event to attend to tomorrow. With a kiss from my mom and a hug from me, we both walked him to the front door. Standing on the doorsteps we watched him get into his small beat up car. I watched as he backed out of the driveway and onto the road, but then he pulled up against the curb before rolling down his window. “Sam”, he called, and with that I looked up to mom and out to him. With a nod from mom I ran down the driveway toward the open window. Slowing as I got to the car I saw him smile at me the only way I knew only he could.

 “I’m proud of you, man. For sticking up for someone. Just call if you need advice… ever!”, he said in an enthusiastic but nurturing tone.

 Holding his hand out the window, he waited for me to slap his hand as he always used to do when I was younger.  I smiled at him coyly and slapped his hand, as he pressed down on the gas and drove off down the street with two honks of the horn. Then everything became silent again.

 Finding myself back upstairs, I sat on the edge of my bed. I knew mom had told me to get ready for bed, but something told me not to get ready for some untold reason. I paced around my room as I waited for a message from Austin. The message was opened about fifteen minutes ago and I started to fear the worst.

I felt like I had lost him.

 Mom had said goodnight and retired early, and so did Lauran. It was just me and my thoughts that kept me up. I moved from place to place, getting impatient. Then I heard the DING! OMG, I thought, he messaged me, he messaged my stupid ass back. With that I shot from my desk and grabbed my phone which was lying on my bed. I felt so happy when I read the contents of the message. I knew I had stayed up for the right reason. The message said,

 “Sent at 12:21 am” “Where and When?”

 Just like that I became love-struck again and I felt all the feelings of guilt and remorse turn into ones that meant well. I wanted to mend this; I wanted to make it work!

 Running through the locations in my head I thought of what would be a good halfway point. Every place I thought of seemed stupid, but then I thought of the school, which was halfway. But where would we go after that? I thought for a couple of minutes and felt I had the ideal place to go.

 Thumbing then “The School, at 1 am” into the text log, I sent it and after a few seconds he replied, “okay.” Nothing else was said and after a couple of minutes of silence, I took that as a hint. It was all he had to say to me at that moment. Rushing into my bathroom, I fixed my hair, brushed my teeth and headed downstairs quietly. Standing the dark kitchen, I picked up my schoolbag and put the contents of the bag on the kitchen table and went to the fridge. I wanted Austin to have some of my cake; at least he could have said he came to my party. ‘That’s crappy’, I scolded myself. Anyway, I packed the cake into a lunch box and put it in the bag with two cans of coca cola. I made my way toward the patio door, grabbed my blue parka off the chair, unlocked the door and headed out onto the patio. I ran the small distance to the bottom of the garden and pulled my BMX away from the wall outside the shed. Thank God, mom did not put the bike back in. I found myself thankful for that.

 I wheeled the bike down the side entrance and hitched the side door open and propped it up as I headed out to the front yard. Looking around the misty silent street, I got on my bike and pushed away, avoiding mom’s car in the driveway.

 As I pedalled, I felt a surge of adrenaline kick in that I had never really felt before. I had snuck out. I can’t believe it but I actually did it. I couldn’t wait to see Austin as I pedalled the deserted streets at 12:45 am. I was love-struck.

 The End Of Part 6

 If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading.

Please, comments are welcome. Actually needed, lol.

 Regards

Danny (Your Writerly Friend)

 

Contact and find me on these sites. I’ll be posting daily updates on Tumblr 

Email - danny2017writing@outlook.com

Twitter - @author_daniels

Tumblr - dannywriting2017

 

 Bibliography; of LGBTQ stories by D.K. Daniels, on Nifty

 Even If We Tried (First Draft) - Gay Male, Young friends

Spring Tide (Unfinished)- Gay Male, Young friends

As They Say (On-going) - Gay Male, Young friends

Our Little Darlings (Stand-Alone Edit)- Gay Male, High School

Ghouls, Goblins & Ghastly Boys (Mini-Series)- Gay Male, Young Friends

Light The Night (Mini-Series) - Gay Male, Young Friends

 Bibliography; of LGBTQ stories by D.K. Daniels, on Iomfats

 Who We Are (Listed under D.K. Daniels Author)