Date: Fri, 1 May 2015 21:58:42 -0500
From: Kit Darling <kittykatdarling989@gmail.com>
Subject: A Rose Among Thorns Part 9

*DISCLAIMER* This story contains depictions of male on male, graphic sexual
interactions. The characters are high school aged and sometimes have unsafe
sex. ALWAYS USE A CONDOM! This is a complete work of fiction and any
similarities to persons or events is purely coincidental. Enjoy the story
and any feedback is welcome.

Remember that Nifty needs your generous donations to continue on, Dears. So
make sure to toss a few dollars their way so they can keep tossing great
stories your way. Love ya!


CHAPTER 9


On the night of my birthday, it was tradition to invite friends over and
eat cake. I, of course, asked Nolan and Logan. Mom had put up streamers and
Dad had set out the nice china. We all sat at the dining room table.

"Did you have a good day?" Mom asked as she served me a slice of
double-decker, yellow cake smothered in rich chocolate frosting.

"Oh it was lovely," I replied sticking my finger in the frosting and
licking it off, "Logan put together the cutest picnic ever."

"What are you gonna be for Halloween?" Nolan asked, changing the subject.

I shrug, "I'm not sure. I was thinking of doing a gender bender of
sorts. Like, maybe I could go as Sherry Birkin or Wednesday Addams or Snow
White."

"Where does one find a gender bender costume?" Logan asked around a bite of
cake.

"Well, I'll have to sew it myself," I said eating more of the moist treat
in front of me, "It shouldn't be too difficult."

"Well I'll go as Jake Muller or Pugsly or Prince Ferdinand," Logan winked.

"Oh, we'd be so cute as Jake and Sherry!" I said excitedly.

"Halloween isn't for a few more weeks, let's not get over- zealous
already," Nolan hissed as he stuffed more cake into his mouth. I looked up
abruptly, shocked by his bitterness. Mom and Dad looked at each other
cautiously. Logan raised his eyebrow.

"So, Nolan, have you decided where you wanna go for college?" I asked
trying to lighten the mood.

"I... Uh... I was thinking Nebraska. Maybe I'll go to Pennsylvania," he
wanted to be an engineer. I was still trying to figure my shit out. I was
thinking of going to school for fashion design but I also wanted to be an
artist.

"I heard Nebraska is really nice," Mom chipped in.

"Daddy went to Nebraska," I said with a smile.

"Go Huskers," Dad said with his mouth full of chocolate frosting. I giggled
at him. Nolan remained quiet. I wondered why he was being so weird. I
decided not to bring it up until he and I could get a second alone.



At the end of the night I walked Logan out to his truck.

"Thanks again for everything, Logan," I smiled.

"It was nothing," he said running his hands down my arms. He gripped me
gently and pulled me up onto my tiptoes. He met me halfway and pushed his
lips onto mine. I lost my breath as I kissed him back.

When he pulled back, he brushed a lock of my hair from my face, "We really
should collaborate our Halloween costumes so we can win the costume contest
as cutest couple."

"I really want go as Jake and Sherry but it would be incredibly annoying to
explain to everyone who doesn't play Resident Evil who we are. We need to
come up with a more popular couple."

"Fred and Daphne? Audrey Hepburn and James Dean? Cinderella and the
Prince?" Logan offered.

"Oh my God! What if we went as Marshall Lee and Prince Gumball?"  I said
excitedly but Logan stared blankly, "Adventure Time with Fiona and Cake?"

Still no response from Logan, "Okay," I said, "Obviously that's not a good
idea... How about Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask? Link and Zelda? Mario and
Peach?"

"Oh there's a couple I know!" Logan exclaimed, "That would be cute... But I
still really like the Jake and Sherry idea."

"But no one will know who we are," I said with a huff.

"We'll know who we are."

"They carry weapons, obviously we can't bring weapons- even fake ones- to
school with us. It will completely defeat the purpose.  We can figure it
out later," I said with a smile.

"Let's each come up with a list of ten couple's costumes, tomorrow after
school we can go get fabric and start working on them," Logan offered as he
rubbed my arms.

"Sounds like a plan. My list will slay yours," I stated before kissing his
cheek, "See you in the morning."


"See you in the morning," Logan climbed into his pick-up and drove off. I
returned inside. I walked into the kitchen where

Nolan was standing over the sink, washing dishes. Mom and Dad were cleaning
up but I silently waved for them to leave. Mom nodded and grabbed Dad's
hand and they left.

"What's up, Buttercup?" I asked, booty bumping Nolan as I brought another
plate to the sink.

"Just washing dishes," he answered flatly.

"I mean what's up with you? What's wrong?" I asked putting a hand on his
shoulder. He shrugged my hand off and backed away.  It felt like I'd been
slapped.

"Ever since you and that- that barbarian started dating you never have time
for me," Nolan blurted with a low, angry tone.

"Nolan, he's not a barbarian! I sit with you almost every day at lunch," I
said getting fed up with Nolan accusing me of being a bad friend all the
time.


"Whatever. We used to spend, like, every night together. Now you're off on
dates and doing, God knows, what else," he was flailing his arms around
wildly.

"What about you? You know you could always invite me to hang out," I said
crossing my arms.

"I DO!" he shouted, "I always ask you to hang! Whatever. Glad you had a
good birthday," Nolan said, exasperated. He grabbed his jacket from the
back of a chair and stomped out of the kitchen. I followed him.

"It WAS a good day till you had to go and ruin it," I said getting
frustrated with his bad attitude.

"That's right, it's always my fault. I'm always the problem, huh? Well, you
and your boyfriend have fun being little fags together," Nolan growled. My
eyes widened in shock. I'd never heard him use that word in all the years
I'd been friends with him. With a mind of it's own, the back of my left
hand swung and hit Nolan's right cheek, hard.

I'd never hit Nolan. This was the first time. His face burned from where my
hand connected with his face. He glared down at me, then turned and left,
this time I didn't follow him. Tears burned my eyes and I raced up to my
room and threw myself on the bed and sobbed.




The next morning Logan and I were in his truck on the way to school. It was
silent. I didn't feel like talking; I was still really upset about the
events from the night before.

"So I have my list," Logan said glancing over at me.

"Oh I totally forgot," I said, not very good at keeping my sadness from my
voice, "I'll make one and we can share them at lunch time."

"What's the problem?" Logan's hand grabbed mine.

"Nothing," I lied.

"I think I'll ask you again, what's bothering you, Corrigan?"  Logan's
voice was filled with genuine concern. I wasn't used to him not calling me
that ridiculous nickname "Igan" and the fact that he called me by my real
names showed me he really wanted to know.

"Promise you won't do anything stupid if I tell you?" I asked, biting my
nails.

"Why would I- sure, I promise."

"Last night, Nolan and I got into a fight... he called us...  faggots." As
soon as I said it, Logan nearly crashed the car. He pulled over and turned
to me, "He said what?"

"Never mind it," I said. Logan gripped the steering wheel hard and sped
toward the school. He parked in the first spot available and like a lion
searching for its prey he rushed toward the building. I quickly unbuckled
my seat belt and grabbed his keys from the ignition. I raced after him but
he was way too fast. By the time I was inside there was already shouting
and the sound of fists on faces. I pushed my way through the crowd to see
Logan wailing on Nolan.

Nolan was strong, but Logan was stronger. Logan beat his ass like a drum. I
rushed forward as Logan was about to smash his fist into Nolan's face once
more. I grabbed his arm and shouted, "Logan Black, STOP!" He looked at me
and then down at the bloody mess that was now Nolan's face. He spit on him,
"You're lucky Corrigan is more forgiving than me, Parker."

Logan stood up and yanked his arm from my grip before storming away. I
stood there as Nolan got up from the ground and went the opposite way. I
figured Logan needed to cool down so I followed Nolan into the boy's
bathroom.

"Nolan?" I whispered coming forward. He was hunched over the sink his
shoulders heaving. It was clear that he was crying. I'd never in my life
seen Nolan cry before.

"Why did you stop him?" Nolan asked looking up at me, blood running from
his nose and over his soft, pink lips. I grabbed a paper towel and got it a
little wet before dabbing at his face.  I cleaned the blood from his nose
and lips, and wiped it off the cut that was in his left eyebrow.

"Because," I said while I wiped his eyes, "You're my best friend. No matter
what you say. I'm sorry I-"

"No, I'm sorry I've been such a jerk. I guess I'm just...  jealous that you
don't spend all your time with me anymore," He put his forehead against
mine.

"I miss you too, Nolan, I just never get any time-" I was interrupted by
his mouth on mine. Shock, fear, confusion, anger, joy, and amazement
combined inside me. The moment was over as quick as it happened and Nolan
was backing up from me. I turned and dashed out of there.

What the hell had just happened? Why the hell would he do that?  I ran and
ran and didn't stop till I was by the old oak tree outside the school. I
couldn't breathe. I gasped for air and it felt like nothing was going into
my lungs. My face was hot and I couldn't concentrate. I was thinking at a
million miles a minute.

Everything was much simpler when I was just in the middle of one big,
fucked up love triangle. Just me and Blake and Logan. But how dare Nolan
mix himself into that equation. My heart was beating fast, I didn't even
know if I was happy that he'd kissed me or pissed that I had to factor in
one more thing I'd done to betray Logan.

I fell to my knees and all the emotions inside me boiled up.  Tears
streamed down my face and the world was spinning out of control. I leaned
against the tree and put my head in my lap.



That evening I lay in my bedroom. I was doing nothing, just laying there,
staring at the ceiling. Nolan had called once and sent me a text message
asking if we could talk. Logan had texted me asking where I'd vanished
to. Blake asked if we were gonna hang out on Sunday.

Eventually I'd turned off my cell phone and tossed it on my desk across the
room. I lay there in silence wondering what in the world I was going to
do. Suddenly I got an idea to go see Grand- mère. She'd know what to
do. I remember she'd slipped me a little business card with the name of her
shop on it. I dug through my wallet and finally found it.

I pulled on a jacket and my little brown satchel and got in my car and
drove over to New Orleans. It was dark when I pulled into the city. The
streets were bustling with people. I found a place to park that was only
five dollars and got out. Walking briskly, I made my way to the street
where Grand-mère's business was.

At one point I passed a homeless man. I was reaching into my satchel to
pull out a ten dollar bill for him when he sneered and did this hideous
cackle, "Nice purse," he said to me. I looked him dead in the eyes. I was
not in any mood to take this crude man's nonsense.

"Nice house," I spat at him. I shoved the ten deep into my "purse" and took
off. At last I was standing in front of the store that Grand-mère
owned. In beautiful curly letters the sign read "The Curious Cabinet". I
reached for the door knob and turned it. The door opened and a little bell
tinkled, warning anyone inside that someone was entering.

"Come in, Come in, Cher, I've been expecting you," Grand-mère was
stirring a miniature cauldron over a little hot plate. She tapped the
wooden spoon on the edge of the bubbling concoction and laid it on the
counter, "No one left to turn to, Dear?"

Suddenly I felt like she was Ursula and I had made a mistake because next
she would ask me for my voice, "I shouldn't have come." I turned and made
for the door.

"Wait, I don't mean to poke fun, Corrigan. I was just making an
assumption," the frail little woman came around the counter and pulled her
shawl tighter on her shoulders. "Come on back, I'll brew you some tea." She
lead me through a doorway where beads hung down. We walked down a short
hallway and came into a room decorated in antiques and velvet and gold. It
was so lavish back here. She gestured to the red velvet chaise and I sat
down on it carefully, worried that I might break it because of how old it
looked.

"You're here because you are having boy trouble," Grand-mère stated. She
took the kettle and filled it with water and hung it over the fire. I felt
like we were back in the Victorian era.

"Your heart is tied up by three men. Those knights from before, yes?"

"That's right," I said quietly, ashamed at how she had figured me out in
seconds.

"What you need is a dream spell. It will reveal your heart of hearts and
tell you who you should pick," slowly, she poured the now boiling water
into a tea pot and brought it over to a little table between us.

"Tell me, Corrigan, who do you think you want?"

I thought very carefully. Obviously I wanted Nolan, I'd been in love with
him since forever. Then I remembered how Logan had been changing so
much. How he put together a special picnic for my birthday and how he
wanted to wear couples costumes with me for Halloween. Lastly, there was
Blake. He genuinely liked me, without a shadow of a doubt.

All three boys had their flaws. Logan was so hot and cold when it came to
genuine emotion. Blake was cocky. Nolan, as far as I knew, was still
straight for Christ's sake. It was difficult to make a decision.

"I- I don't know," I hung my head in defeat.

"You're young. You don't have to know just yet, Cher. You do, however, need
to make a decision before someone's heart gets broken," She said as she
poured the tea into cups and handed me one.  I took it and watched the
steam rise off of the transparent brown liquid.

How could I chose? No matter what, I was going to hurt someone.  Maybe I
just wouldn't make a decision. Not until after Christmas, maybe. I could
keep just trying to figure my shit out. Was I going to try and stay with
Logan? Was I going to end up with Blake? Was there ever going to be
anything between Nolan and I? I had no idea. I knew I was making a huge
mistake by putting the decision off, but I figured, at this rate, it didn't
really matter.


*AUTHOR'S NOTE* Sorry this is a tad bit late you guys. I got super busy
this week! Anyways, my normal appreciation to Robbie for his outstanding
ability to edit for me and still have a life. I hope you all like what's
going on. I have a few more twists and turns in store for you yet! E-mail
me and tell me what you think darlings! -Kit =^.^=