Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:38:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Sebastian Fforde <sebastianfforde@yahoo.com> Subject: Jonathan Casts a Spell Chapter 3 Jonathan Casts a Spell Copyright 2008 Sebastian Fforde (BB, teen, high school, romance) This story is completely fiction. Well, most of it is, anyway. If you aren't interested in reading sexually explicit love stories about high school age boys, then you can stop right now. But if you ARE interested, then read on. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Jonathan Casts a Spell Chapter 3 *** The two boys sat in the car, terrified. "I'm not going back in there," Alex shivered. "Let's just leave it in there!" "I don't know, Alex. I've got a feeling it would be bad luck to leave a Ouija board inside a haunted orphanage. I think we should go back and get it." "You can go - I'll stay here." "I'm not going in there by myself." ""Jonathan?" "Yes, Alex?" "A-a-about what happened in there. When Milo – I mean the Ouija board - kept saying that I was gay. A-a-and then when I asked you to hold me. I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm not gay or anything like that. I mean, I don't want you to think I'm gay. I tried to put a love spell on a girl. And I was asking if the spell was gonna work." Jonathan gave Alex a reassuring look. "I wouldn't worry about being gay or straight. I try not to label people. Sometimes you find yourself falling in love with someone – an individual- and you find out that someone's sex doesn't really matter." Alex looked at Jonathan with suspicion. "You're not gay, are you?" "Like I said, I try not to label people, including myself." "But I know I'm not gay. Why did Milo say that my love spell wasn't going to work and that I was going to fall in love with a boy?" Jonathan laughed. "Milo did say he was a trickster, didn't he? You can't trust everything that comes out of the Ouija board. A lot of it is just nonsense. It's those few times when it's dead-on accurate that make me shiver." "Well, if it's mostly garbage like you said, let's just leave the Ouija board in the damn orphanage and get the hell out of here!" "Okay, fine. We sell Ouija boards at the bookstore anyway. I can get another one. You want to get something to eat? We can go to Pasolini's and get some pizza." "Yeah, let's do that," Alex agreed. "Anything to get away from this place!" *** The two boys were sitting inside Pasolini's, enjoying their pizza. "So, Jankowski's a Polish name, right?" Jonathan asked, looking across the table at Alex. The pizza parlor was dark, and the candle on the table lit up the boys' faces like jack o' lanterns. "Yup, I'm one-hundred-percent Polish. Pierogis, kielbasa, the whole deal." "Catholic?" "Polish National Catholic. Which is different from Roman Catholic cuz I guess they don't follow the Pope and priests can marry. But I never liked going to church. Thankfully, my parents stopped bothering with that stuff when I was little." "Probably a good thing." "So what about you, Jonathan?" Alex asked. "What's your heritage?" "You'll never guess." Alex looked at the boy's face very carefully. It really was hard to tell what nationality Jonathan was. He appeared to be Caucasian, but his skin tone was somewhat dark, and there was something exotic about the boy's features. Alex ventured a guess. "South American? Columbian? Am I right?" "Try again!" "Greek, maybe? Middle-Eastern?" "Nah." "Well, it would help if I knew your last name. It's no fair because when I told you my last name you knew I had to be Polish! I mean, Jankowski? Come on! No trouble guessing that one!" "It's Drexler. But that won't help you too much." Alex continued to study Jonathan's face, looking for clues to the boy's heritage. He found himself gazing deeply into Jonathan's emerald-green eyes. "Sounds English. Is it English?" "It's Jewish. German-Jewish. But there's only a little Jewish in me. More English, actually. I'm really quite a mutt!" Jonathan laughed. "Okay, okay, I give up! Tell me what you gotta mix up to make a Jonathan Drexler!" "My dad's from Australia and my mom's from Thailand." "You're kidding!" "And my dad's a mutt to begin with, so I'm all mixed-up!" Jonathan laughed. "Yeah, I guess you are all mixed up!" Alex chuckled. "But I can make a pretty good Thai curry," Jonathan grinned. "I learned to cook from my mom." "Oh, I love Thai food!" Alex said eagerly. "You can cook for me anytime!" Jonathan noticed that the younger boy seemed to be in better spirits. "You feeling better, Alex?" "Yeah. I'm glad we're out of that orphanage. I didn't realize how hungry I was. And I like talking to you." "So Alex," Jonathan asked, gazing intently into the younger boy's eyes. "What made you come back to the bookstore?" Alex stared down at his pizza. "Oh, I dunno. I guess it's a cool store and I wanted to check out the other books you carried. And you seem like a cool guy to talk to. Why did you ask me to go to the orphanage on that ghost hunt?" "I guess you seeme like a cool guy to talk to also. You know, if you still want to get some answers about how the spell you cast is going to turn out, maybe we can go see a tarot card reader. Sometime next week. The lady who owns the bookstore knows a few good readers she can recommend. You interested?" "Maybe – I dunno, though. I think after today I've had enough spooky stuff for a while." "Well, I can do it Tuesday afternoon if you can make it." "What time do you get out at your school?" Alex asked. "I get out at 2:30." "Oh, I'm home-schooled, so I can go anytime." Alex was surprised. "Home-schooled! You mean you don't go to school at all?" "That's right." "You're so lucky!" Alex laughed. "I'll give you a call on Monday and let you know if I decide to go or not." *** It took Alex a day to calm down from the adventure at the haunted orphanage. The experience had really traumatized him. He was looking forward to seeing Jonathan again, but he really didn't want go see a spooky tarot card reader. He would have rather just gone to a movie with the older boy. Alex didn't know why, but he really wanted to spend more time with Jonathan. He was actually disappointed when his parents wouldn't let him get out of his chores – he had been thinking about Jonathan all weekend. Alex called Jonathan early Tuesday afternoon. "Bad news," he said. "You can't make it today?" Jonathan asked. "That's okay." "I really wanted to, Jonathan. But my dad said I had to rake the yard. All these leaves, you know. He won't let me go anywhere until it's done." "Say Alex," Jonathan said. "Do you think your dad would mind if you had some help? It's a nice autumn day, and I don't mind the exercise. And it'll be more fun if we do it together." Alex was pleased with the suggestion. "I'm sure Dad won't care if you help me. Why don't you come on over?" The two boys had fun raking leaves together. That afternoon, Alex slowly found himself becoming more comfortable with Jonathan. Alex's mood changed from shy to gregarious, and he had become quite playful with his new friend. By the time the sun was hanging low in the sky, the two friends had raked all of the leaves in Alex's yard into one giant pile, ready to be bagged. The boys looked admiringly at what they had accomplished. "You know," Jonathan said, turning to Alex, "I love the smell of autumn leaves." "Me too," Alex agreed, inhaling the crisp air and enjoying the scents of fall. He also couldn't help smelling Jonathan, who was standing right next to him. What on earth was in that cologne? Alex wanted to move closer to Jonathan, but was too shy to do so. "Hey Jonathan, now that we got this big pile of leaves, why don't we jump in it?" Alex suggested playfully. "Jump in it?" Jonathan was perplexed. "Yeah! Jump in it! Don't tell me you never jumped into a pile of leaves before! It's fun!" "Well, I kind of don't see the point. We spent all afternoon raking them into this pile. If we jump in it, we're just going to have to rake it up again." "Oh, you don't know how to have fun! I used to always jump in the leaves when I was a little kid! Everyone does it! Or maybe you don't know how to have any fun cuz you were home-schooled!" "Okay, Alex!" Jonathan laughed. "You joined me on the trip to the haunted orphanage, so I might as well join you for a roll in the leaves!" "Woo hoo! Here I go!" Alex dove into the leaf pile head first. Jonathan joined him a few seconds afterward. The two boys fell together into a giggling heap, tossing leaves in the air. They had a frantic leaf fight that lasted for about five minutes. Then they fell back and let themselves sink partially into the leaf pile. "You're right Alex, this is fun," Jonathan said, looking very relaxed as he stretched out in the pile of leaves. "Comfortable, too!" "More fun than a haunted orphanage, right?" Jonathan turned to Alex and smiled. He noticed there were leaves stuck in the younger boy's mussed-up hair. Gently, he began to pick the leaves out of Alex's hair. As he was doing so, their eyes met. Suddenly, Alex pulled Jonathan very close and kissed the older boy on the lips. He could feel Jonathan's soft, warm lips against his, and he could also feel Jonathan's lip ring pressing against his own bottom lip. The feeling was electric. And also very startling. Alex pulled away quickly. He looked ashamed. Jonathan just smiled. "I-I-I-I'm really sorry, Jonathan," Alex mumbled, looking away. "I don't know why I did that. I shouldn't have. I mean, I don't want you to think, well, you know." "Did you want to do it again?" Jonathan asked quietly. He gently held Alex by the arm and pulled the boy closer to him. Alex didn't reply. At least not with words. He ventured to give Jonathan another kiss. This time Jonathan was prepared, and when Alex kissed him he opened his mouth slightly. Alex held Jonathan closely as he felt the boy's tongue gently part his lips and slip inside. Alex gasped. Then he froze. Could his parents see him from the window? he wondered. Alex broke the kiss and nervously glanced towards the house. Good - his parents were in the living room watching TV. He grabbed a hold of Jonathan, ready to give the older boy a third kiss. As the boys were locked together in a furious embrace, Jonathan pulled Alex deeper into the leaf pile. The leaves covered the boys like a blanket. With his free arm, Alex piled more leaves on top of them. The boys snuggled together in the leaf pile, kissing passionately. Alex had never known such a thrill in his life! He pulled Jonathan closer and closer. Their tongues dueled. Alex felt Jonathan's heart beating when he held the older boy close – and he felt his own heart beating faster. Alex's nostrils were filled with the heady mixture of fallen leaves, boy sweat and Jonathan's mysteriously alluring cologne. The sun began to set. To Be Continued Are you enjoying my story? I hope you did. If you like, you can check out my other stories on Nifty: Tanner's Talent in the Adult/Youth section, Where's Willy? in the Encounters section, and Smelly Sneakers for Skyler in the Young Friends section. If you want to get to know me a little better, feel free to email or chat with me, or check out my MySpace page. My Yahoo ID and MySpace page are both sebastianfforde.