Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:21:48 +0100
From: Roman Numeral <icha_wright@hotmail.com>
Subject: Middle Man- Ch.2 (beginnings)

Disclaimer:

This story contains homosexual themes. If you are offended by such topics
or not of legal age to read such stories, please do not read on.

The names of characters and their engagements are fictitious. Any
resemblances to real life are completely coincidental.

The author asserts all legal and moral rights to this work and it may not
be copied or transmitted in any way except in its entirety along with this
disclaimer.



MIDDLE MAN
Chapter 2


"I uh... think I forgot them" Derek was sitting on the park bench, his
elbows resting on his knees and his hands rubbing back and forth over his
tired eyes. The girl and her lollypop were casting a shadow over his
shoeless feet. He looked down at them for a moment and returned to
searching his face with his hands. 'I have bigger things to worry about',
he thought.

The events of that morning were creating a crevice of guilt inside him,
leaving Derek with a sour taste in his mouth. With each nuance of his hips,
his ass ached from the earlier presence of another man inside him. He
stopped moving the lower part of his body and fought the memory of thick
hair, the smell of vanilla and sesame seed oil and eyes that could question
him whilst putting him in his place.

Derek couldn't remember ever being intentionally cruel to anyone. The look
on George's face after seeing the two of them was now indelible on his
memory. But Derek was also sure that those eyes would always be on his
mind, no matter how much he tried to rub them from his thoughts.

"Are you lost? Is that why your shoes are gone?" asked the little
girl. Derek had almost forgotten that she still stood before him, but
noticed that she continued to speak from behind sweet.  The swirls of green
and white on the lollypop, went with the white and red dotted dress the
girl was wearing.

Derek wanted to say 'Go away' maybe even with a 'please' added at the end,
whichWould have been childish, not to mention mean.

Instead he went with "Yeah, I think so."

He wanted to be alone. Quietly.

"You think a lot." The girl was still standing in front of him, frowning at
him and tugging at her hair.

Derek began to wonder if he had walked into the park that was familiar to
him, or a realm unknown to him. It was at that moment his head started
pounding, the way it usually did when he was too wound up.

"Not lately. Where are your parents? Maybe you should get back to them."
Derek spoke to her calmly.

"When I think too much I'm sleepy. Are you sleepy? You look sleepy. Maybe
you should sleep an' after you won't be lost an' you can find your shoes."
The girl looked behind her and pointed, to where she thought her mother was
located. "Mom's over there."

Instead her eyes widened, when she saw a woman walking over tothem, in
awkward, fast pace.

"Oh oh."

Despite looking slightly scared, the little girl still kept chewing on her
lollypop.

Before the woman had reached them, she whispered loudly, "Connie!"



"Hi Mom" the girl said in her best mock shy fashion. Derek breathed an
inaudible sigh of relief.

Panting, the woman ran one hand through her hair and took Connie's
hand. She bent down to look sternly into her daughter's eyes "What have I
told you about running off? We've talked about this." Her tone was
intimidating,but Derek could hear the panic in her voice, which Connie
wouldn't pick on until years later.

"I'm sorry but..." Connie attempted.

"No, no sorries." The mother continued looking into her daughter's eyes,
sending her what Derek guessed was some telepathic message parents have
with their kids. Derek looked at the two of them whilst he was still bent
over, holding on to the sides of his head and wondering if he should leave.

"What about strangers?" the mother went on, "You're dad and I talked to you
about this."

'I'm right here' Derek thought to himself, as noted how alike the pair of
them looked. He could almost see how the mother's facial features were once
arranged and how her daughter's would be one day. She looked a little
younger than Derek, maybe late twenties, he thought. They both had auburn
hair, hazel eyes, strong noses and chins. Judging from the mother's height,
the little girl was going to be quite tall. Even sitting down, Derek saw
that the mother was taller than his own 5'9 height.

"I'm sorry, I am. But..." the girl paused for a second, now genuinely close
to tears and looked at Derek before returning her eyes back at her
mother. After mentally making a decision, the girl pulled on her mother's
arm, despite the fact that the woman was already straining from bending
over.

It then appeared as if Connie was secretly telling her mother's ear
something. Something, Derek guessed about him. His assumption aided by the
fact that after whatever Connie had said, both mother and daughter were
then perusing him intently.

'Seriously' he thought to himself, 'where am I?'

After absorbing whatever had been divulged to her the woman returned her
gaze back to her daughter. "Then just tell me and I'll go with you. Not on
your own." She said.

"Ok" Connie replied solemnly.

"Ok" the mother said in agreement, in a lighter tone bending back up. Derek
suddenly felt really small.

"This is my mom." Connie said proudly, her mood also clearly better. She
leaned against her mother, using one hand to hold hers whilst returning her
attention to her lollypop.

The woman turned to him and reached out her hand "I'm..." she began
introducing herself, but was soon stopped.

"No, let me." Connie grinned up at her mother.

"And running away?" asked her mother, returning to reason.

"I have to let you know where I am at all times." Connie repeated in a tone
that suggested she had had those words said to her many times before.

"Go ahead." The woman said whilst shaking her head and pulling her
daughter's head against her hip.

"This is Sandrona Thermopolis Richards," Connie declared as if standing in
front of a huge array of people.

"I'm Rona and this walking heart attack is Constance." Derek shook her
proffered hand.

"Mom's gonna have a babies" Connie almost squealed.

"Baby?" Derek asked, still dazed.

"No." Connie said, putting up a peace sign "Babies."

"Oh, congratulations." His tone not convincing anyone, even as he noted the
Rather round bump attached to the middle of Connie's mother. 'Why didn't I
see that before?' Derek asked himself.

Despite the recognition of her state Rona could see that the handsome man
before her had other things on his mind. His brown eyes carried confusion,
anger and something else, she couldn't pick up on. He looked like he had
some muscle to his frame,even with the coat on. However, he also seemed to
be caving into himself.

"Well, feel better" Rona told him as she tugged on her daughter's hand,
turning away "Come on sweetie, the...?"

"Derek."

"Derek, looks like he wants to be alone right now." Rona continued. 'Thank
God for grown ups' Derek thought.

"Oh ok" Connie said looking disappointed, before smiling again. "Maybe he
wants us to sit with him."

"Maybe later" Rona, frowned apologetically and at Derek, silently mouthing
"I'm sorry."

Watching them retreat, Derek decided to forgo past tendencies towards
normal behaviour and laid down on his back, with his right arm cushioning
his head, whilst his left relaxed across his stomach. The sky above his
supine body was clear of any clouds, a perfect blue. Somewhere around him
birds were chirping. His bare feet were cooling from the right amount of
breeze floating around.

Moving his head to the right, Derek looked beyond the horizontal unblocked
gaps on the bench and spied a squirrel, which was looking around
suspiciously at the possibility of anything stealing its nuts. A little
further back ducklings were sitting around their mother.

Derek shut his eyes from the scene, only to find that the images emerging
were even worse. Two beautiful men, one with whom he had shared his life
and the other whose name was still unknown to him. When he came back that
morning all he wanted to do was surprise George, 'maybe get laid' Derek
thought, a sardonic smile spreading across his face. Maybe reconnect with
him a little.

He can see himself walking into his bedroom that morning and seeing the two
of them, the scent of the room as he stood in the doorway was all the
evidence he had, but he knew. It felt like so long ago, like a wound he'd
had for a long time, despite having only happened that morning.

Then Derek remembered sweat, moaning, morning breath twisting around coffee
breath, clinging to a stranger for dear life and the oddest green eyes
keeping him afloat.

Derek opened his eyes and sat up too quickly, needing to hold his head as a
result. At that moment he wished for the comfort of privacy as he was
falling apart. He knew that a few people must have been staring at him. A
grown man in a winter coat in the heat, close to tears with no shoes, was
not a sight easily overlooked.

"You look suicidal. Come sit with us" a cautious face was staring back at
him. The mother: Rona. Bluntness must be genetic, Derek thought, he could
understand where the daughter got it from.

"Umm."

"You shouldn't be alone right now, whatever it is" Rona continued, looking
a bit tired, her hair shining under the afternoon sun.

"Do I look that bad?" Derek asked. He was only half joking and half hoping
to hear the expected white lie in response.

"Kinda, yeah" Rona replied truthfully. She watched as Derek's gaze moved
behind her. Her eyes followed, stopping at a couple dozing on the grass
nearby. At that moment Derek was asking himself if his bed would be
comfortable with only his weight to handle. When Rona returned her
attention back to him, she caught Derektrying to crush the possibility of
crying in public.

"You need some tea, come on" Rona said, talking in that voice, which made
you feel comforted but with no doubt that the words were an order.

Soon Derek found himself sitting with Rona and her daughter drinking
chamomile tea.He had never warmed to the drink, however, he reconciled that
since his senses weren't as sharp, he might as well. In truth he was glad,
humbled almost that a stranger would want to pay attention to him. He had
three cups in all.



"Here, try this" Rona instructed, handing Derek a plate filled with
sandwiches, fried chicken, potato salad and tomatoes. It was only when the
food appeared on his plate that he noticed two baskets filled with food,
some of it laid out on the yellow checkered blanket.

"Do you always bring this much food with you to the park?" Derek asked,
only to hear his stomach rumble. He ate and then ate, stopping once he
realized that he was attempting to feel as full as possible.

"That was really good, thanks. Thank you both."



"You're welcome" Rona smiled at him.



"Yeah, welcome" Connie echoed.



Derek sat quietly, cross legged, his elbows on his knees. He looked around
him again, feeling like a single thorn on an award winning rose. Looked at
everything he wanted to appreciate but couldn't. Then thought about
everything he wanted to change and came to the same effect. Then he gave in
to everything that had happened, which is how he found himself
crying. Crying in the middle of the perfect day.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Connie cling to her mother.

"I'm usually more stable than this, especially around people." Derek tried
to hide his tears, to no avail.

Rona watched him, and then went back to trying to feed her daughter. But
she spoke to Derek as she was working.



"Hey...the first time I met my husband I puked on him...a lot. There was a
hideousamount of vomit involved." Her face was frowning from the
memory. "The first time we saw Connie here; she looked awful until they
cleaned her up"

Connie nodded in agreement with a sandwich her mother was feeding her and
her lollypop held casually in her hand.

"Everyone's a mess at some point" Rona said, pausing to pull some hair out
of her daughter's face "so you're gonna be ok." She looked back at him, her
hazel eyes telling his that he should believe her.

Derek really wanted to. Three hours later he said goodbye to the mother
daughter pair.Taking with him the food Rona insisted he have and her words.

 'Your going to be ok' became his new mantra. Those words got him back to
his house. They kept him calm as he surveyed the missing items inside his
home. They reminded him to shower, eat, change his sheets, and take out the
garbage.

'You're going to be ok' was what he clung to in order to get through the
week that followed. When his working week started he knew that the word
'OK' wasn't mediocre, it was unaccredited. Derek would be the firstto admit
that it had probably saved his life.


TBC

Comments, criticisms, collusions, recipes for general happiness can be
e-mailed to: icha_wright@hotmail.com