Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 02:12:40 +0000
From: Darren C <daryncolemane@hotmail.com>
Subject: Life Starts Again - Chapter 1 Revised

                          Can't Tell You Everything

Justin Marlon was a new student at South District Rural High School
(SDRHS) and wasn't at all enjoying what little time he had spent there.
He was a short guy for his age, standing at 5'8" with hazel eyes and
lush chocolate hair, cut short all the way around. His classes had
already started a week before he arrived, today was Tuesday and his
schedule was B, C, D, and A or, Math, History, English, Free. He walked
slowly down the dingy hallway looking for room 109 where his math class
was, math, and such a boring and useless class for someone who would
never use algebra in his future. However, Justin was still very
disoriented with the design of the school, which made him a few minutes
late to class, not a good start to the school year. The teacher, a tall
young man with blond hair and blue eyes stared at him for a moment
curiously. The classroom was a yellowish beige room with a white-board at
the front and rear of room, and tall paneled windows gave a brilliant
view of the schoolyard. There were many desks in the classroom, probably
twenty-five or thirty; all but a few were full.

"Can I help you?" He asked as he strode over to the doorway. This guy
was powerful; he walked in a way that made Justin cringe, like the man
was a wall with legs.

"Uh- Is this Math 12 Academic?" Justin asked in almost a whimper.

"Yes, Did you just get transferred into the class?" He replied in more
compassionate voice, which thankfully eased Justin's apprehensions.

"Uh- yeah, sorry I'm late, I'm new here and didn't know exactly where
to go."

"Please take a seat and I'll issue a book and calculator in a moment. I
hope you've learned what we will be covering in class today, but if you
need any help, feel free to ask me or anyone else. By the way, I'm Mr.
Brannon"

"Thank you"

Justin walked over to an empty desk in the middle of a row besides a
window and took a seat, pulling out his binder from his backpack and
opening it to a fresh sheet of loose leaf. Mr. Brannon went about his
lesson, finishing up the information he has been covering before Justin
had appeared at his doorway, and after he had completed his tasks, Justin
was issued a book and calculator. He began the assigned work; nothing
special, just the first two pages of the text book, some simple things
that anyone who was eighteen should be able to do. The class was really
boring and no one spoke through the duration, which bugged him, as he
wanted to at least get to know a few people, But it couldn't be helped,
they were all focused on their work trying to impress the teacher and get
good grades...which would cease to happen after a few weeks and when the
students began to get lazy again. As first period came to a close, he
asked the teacher which way it was to the history room; Mr. Brannon had
pointed him down the hallway and gave a few quick directions before going
back into the class to prepare for the next round of students.

 Justin was still uneasy in this school and strode quickly through the
crowds, making it just in time to get a good seat near the front of
class. When the room had finished filling with people the teacher, Mrs.
Pick stood and began class; Justin and the teacher had been introduced
the day before when Justin picked his schedule up from Administration.



Mrs. Pick was a very beautiful young woman, tall and thin. She had long
blond hair with pink tips, a powerful face and yellow-brown eyes, any
guy's dream, well, everyone except him. She stood in the office chatting
it up with the secretary while making some photocopies of worksheets.

"Hello there, how may I help you?" Asked the secretary from behind the
desk.

"Uh...yeah, I'm here to get my schedule for classes, I start tomorrow"
Justin replied as he hopped a little closer to the desk.

"What's your name?"

"Marlon, Justin Marlon. Grade twelve, Homeroom 202"

"I only asked for your name," she laughed.

"But you did need the rest of that information, didn't you?" He
inquired.

"Yes, yes I did" She chuckled again as she opened the filing cabinet
and searched through the files. "Ah, here you are. Your classes are as
Follows; Free Period Monday, Then Math, History and English"

"Math 12 Regular?" Mrs. Pick interjected.

"Yes" Justin nodded.

"Well then I look forward to seeing you in my class Justin. By the way,
I'm Mrs. Pick" She held out her hand until Justin took it and gave a
firm handshake.

"Its nice to meet you" he said with a smile.

"Here, take these sheets, you'll need them for class, and I'll bring
you the rest tomorrow" She said handing him the papers.

"Thank you"



 Half way through class the guy sitting next to Justin looked over and
asked if he knew where to find the map of Germany in the geography book.
The guy was very good looking, not a drop-dead hunk but had pleasant
features, he had relatively defined muscles with a smooth face, blue-gray
eyes and short chestnut brown hair, he had an innocence about him that
was appealing, Justin figured he had to be popular with those looks
alone. Stunned only for a moment Justin gathered himself, and spoke.

"Uh yeah, its right..." He flipped through a few pages quickly and
stopped at a page. "...Here, page sixty one" gesturing towards the
European section of the text.

"Thanks, I'm Drew by the way" He replied.

"I'm Justin, Nice to meet you" Justin looked back at his work, ready
to get back to work.

"So you're new to the area, aren't you?" Drew inquired.

"Yeah, my father just got a job transfer and we moved last week, though
today is my first day"

"Really? What are your next two classes?" Drew asked, cocking an
eyebrow.

"Umm, I have English and a Free. You?"

"Political Science and a Free" He said, looking at his schedule. "Hmm,
as you're new here, you probably didn't know that we have to stay in
the Cafeteria or Library during our frees, did you?"

"No, where is the best place to go?"

"Cafe definitely; as you're new here you are welcomed to join me if you
want. I don't have any frees with my friends, and could use the company,
besides, how else am I going to find Germany?" Drew chuckled.

Justin just gave a nod and smile. Drew had turned back to his work and
was writing something down, most likely related to the topic and Justin
just sat in his seat and stared at his paper in awe. His first day was
going well, not only had he slipped into both classes easily, but also he
made a friend, a cute one at that. He quickly shoved that thought to the
back of his mind. `None of that, that's how you got yourself into
trouble the last time' He thought to himself. It was hard to admit to
himself that he was gay, even his parents accepted it better then he did,
but it didn't matter, new school, new life.

When the bell rang for recess Justin walked slowly to the cafeteria to
see what the menu was, for such a vivacious school, their menu sucked,
and not seeing anything he liked, walked out into the huge; double-story
lobby and took a seat on a bench in a quiet corner and started to draw.
This was his pass time, he had always preferred the imaginative worlds
created in his mind over the harsh cold world of reality, at least in his
universe he could go back in time, or visit distant worlds, be anything
he wanted to be. What could be more fun then that? This created a barrier
between Justin and reality. When he wasn't engulfed in the daily tasks
of life, he would imagine himself somewhere else, somewhere better, and
sometimes he would even slip into those notions while working; as if
pushing hard enough would make reality fade away.

Next class was easy enough, though Justin didn't like English, he never
had any problems passing it, and so he simply did his work, stayed quiet
and waited for the bell to ring at lunch. They were told to read a book;
he didn't remember the title, only that, with every passing chapter,
Justin felt the urge to shoot himself to end the boredom. The English
teacher was a complete ass, not only to Justin; but also to the entire
class. He talked down to the students, enforced strict rules and left
very little freedoms for the students to enjoy. Justin could swear if
there was a theme to this class it was "Shut up or get out". The
English teacher... Mr. Johnson was an old man, wrinkly and very bitter. He
wore his pain like he wore his pants.

 Even lunch would be boring, he had no `groupies' to hang out with, and
he didn't want to track down Drew, for fear of looking like a puppy
without an owner and scaring him off. So he would sit alone again at the
bench and draw some more. He had always been told he had a talent for
drawing, but Justin didn't see it at all, in fact, he hated almost all
his pictures. No matter how hard he tried, none of them ever looked
exactly like he had imagined and it frustrated him that he couldn't even
draw one picture that resembled the image in his mind.

When his free period came around; and it was absolute hell waiting for
it, he headed back into the cafeteria and stood outside the double
glass-pained doors waiting for Drew to arrive. It took a few minutes, but
eventually he saw Drew slowly walking towards the doors, a sigh of relief
washed over Justin, it would have killed him had he been blown off by
someone on his first day at school. When he finally reached the cafeteria
Justin couldn't help but slap a huge grin on his face.

"Hey Drew." He said kind of shyly.

"Hey Jus' how are you?" Drew asked seriously.

"I'm fine, little bored. I see I've adopted a nick-name," He said as
they both walked over to a table and took a seat adjacent from each
other.

The cafeteria walls were a pale yellow with a waist-high burgundy border
wrapped gently around the room, and to either side of the room were
windows that allowed you to view different sections of the school, and
directly behind Drew lay the cafeteria kitchen, another bland room in a
bland school.

"You don't mind do you? I just tend to speak before I think"

Justin snapped back into the moment, and stopped criticizing the room
"Not at all, I have so many nick-names as it is." Justin laughed and
looked at Drew. "And what about you, how are you?"

"Not to bad, have a little Career & Life Management work to finish
before I go home, too bad I don't understand it..." He sighed.

"CALM? You're taking CALM? Let me take a look, I took the course last
year so I might be able to help."

"Really? Thanks." Drew replied as he opened the binder and slid it
across the table to Justin.

After skimming over the paper in the binder for a moment, Justin looked
up and smiled, "Its simple enough really, badly worded mind you, but
simple; you have to make a visual representation of a topic that is
uncommon in everyday life" He said. "Then you must write a page about
why you chose the topic and how the picture represents said topic"

"Wow, that was... err... is simple... I think" Drew weakly grinned.

"I did one of these before, actually, I still have it with me" Justin
dug through his backpack and found his old copy of the assignment; he
kept all his artwork with him. "Here it is, as you can see, the picture
can be anything you want, my topic was trust and on the back, is why I
chose to make my topic trust and how the picture represents that."

"That is an awesome picture! Impressive!" Drew exclaimed.

The picture was well done, it was a vast network of chains, small, large;
the chains seemed to be wrapped around a group of people, six to be
exact, as if they were all connected together, but one, the one in the
middle and the largest was broken. The picture was colorful and well
shaded; it displayed the complexity of Justin's thoughts in a simple and
easy-to-understand method.

After about thirty minutes of working on his assignment, and casually
talking with Justin, Drew put his work away and said he would finish the
drawing at home later that evening. Justin was becoming very comfortable
with Drew and unfortunately, attracted to him as well. The attraction was
not based on looks entirely; Drew had a magnetic personality that enticed
people to get to know him. Both the physical and emotional attraction was
unusual because Justin wasn't a very social person, and had restricted
his personal life to fantasies, where he was in complete control.

"So, what are you interested in?" Drew asked out of the blue.

"Huh?" Justin raised his head confused.

"What are you interested in? Hobbies?"

"Well, I like to draw and write. As well as bike, swim, dancing, music,
and photography, and you?"

"Wrestling, hiking, video games and occasionally I like to
rollerblade." He replied. "May I see some of your drawings? If they're
anything like that CALM one, you're very talented."

"I don't see why not. I have them all separated into categories,"
Justin sighed as he looked through the binder. "Its all here, all my
work since I was five" Justin handed him the binder of work with one
hand as he slipped a folder of art into his book bag with the other,
"I'm sorry Drew, you cant see this folder" Justin thought.

Drew flipped through the images admiring the skill and effort put into
each one. Not having this much talent, he was a little jealous. He set
the binder on the table and closed it. Justin must have practiced a lot
as a kid to become this adept with art, which made Drew wonder; just how
many friends has this guy had?

"This may sound weird after only knowing me for what, two hours and
twenty minutes, but do you want to come over to my place after school?"

A lump formed in Justin's throat, and he hesitated to answer for a
moment, "I cant, my parents are expecting me to unpack some of my boxes
tonight, maybe some other time?"

"Well, how about this, I come over to your place, help you unpack some
stuff, and then we can work on whatever homework we have...then maybe
play a few games?" Drew was determined to find out more about Justin, it
was rare that Drew got this curious about someone, but he felt a void in
Justin, like the pain of someone who had been inevitably let down at
every turn.

Justin was screaming an ungodly "YES" mentally, he hadn't had a friend
over in so long that he had forgotten what it was like, but not wanting
to sound desperate he simply replied, "Sure, sounds good" It was a
great day after all, he made a friend and was having him over the first
day they had known each other, could the day get any better?

Drew pulled out his cell phone and started clicking some buttons. "Just
sending my parents a text to let them know that I will be home late
tonight" He said to Justin, though he never took his eyes off the phone
until the message was sent.

"Ok, cool."

 Both of them walked out of the cafeteria and to the bus when the bell
rang, the ride being short was a blessing as the kids were rowdy and
irritating, this is why Justin was withdrawn, he couldn't tolerate
people who acted so immature, but at least he wasn't alone, even Drew
seemed to be in mental agony from the kids screaming, talking and
throwing things. When Drew and Justin stepped off the bus, Drew's jaw
dropped to the ground.

"You live here?!" Referring to the two story blue house that sat
between two fields.

"Yeah. I don't like it, too large for us, it'll be hard to furnish all
the rooms." Justin laughed. "Actually, its perfect for us as we have
too much stuff, hard to believe we crammed it all in our last home..." he
said as he opened the front door and led Drew in.

The entry way was large, painted white with coat hangers to the left and
a show rack directly underneath, there were two chairs near the door and
a table between them, the floor was layered in black tile and straight
ahead led to the kitchen.

"Who's there?" asked a voice coming form another room up ahead.

"Just me mom, oh, and someone from school." Justin replied, walking
past the kitchen into the dining room; his mother was setting up the
china cabinet carefully. A moment later Drew appeared behind Justin.

"Oh?" She said as she turned around to face them. "Its nice to meet
you, I'm Mrs. Marlon, but you can call me Beth." She held out her hand,
waiting for Drew to shake it.



He took her hand and gave her a polite yet strong handshake, "I'm
Andrew, but I prefer Drew, It's nice to meet you Mrs. Mar...err...Beth."

"I hope you will be joining us for dinner tonight" she said with a tone
that translated to "you're staying and I wont take no for an answer".

"Sure, that would be great..." Drew said before Justin started to push
him out of the room. Justin was so embarrassed; his parents were like
modern hippies without the drugs and sex... thankfully.

"Ok, time to go unpack my things now, come on Drew" he said in a weak
embarrassed laugh. This was going to be a long night, his mother was
already plotting something, he could tell. He gave her a grimacing look
before disappearing around the corner.

When they got upstairs to Justin's room, he closed the door and turned
back to his guest. "Sorry about that... She's just really...disturbingly
happy..."

"Not a problem, really." Drew looked around at the huge room and the
boxes upon boxes that surrounded the walls. "I suppose we should get
started then... there has to be at least thirty boxes here"

"Forty-two actually...but whose counting?"

Justin's room was large, adjacent to the doorway, which sat close to the
corner of the room, was a slide-open closet, near that was his bed with
an end table at both sides, all the furniture was metal, and the end
tables had glass tops, a little more grown-up then most teenagers
preferred. Parallel to the closet was a large window with a desk and
computer directly underneath it, again, very grown up. And on the last
wall was a stack of boxes ranging in size from large to small.

"There is a dresser in here, its just... buried under those boxes at the
moment" Justin said as he walked over to a box, looked over the
marker-inscription which read `posters' and began to open it. "I have
so much stuff, its insane sometimes"

"Well I have to admit, you have more here then I do" Drew replied as he
picked up a box, "Anime" He said aloud.

"Uh yeah, I'm into anime. Though in my old town, it was so difficult to
access that I don't have much of a collection."

"Where would you like this stuff to be put?"

"I'll put it on my shelf once its set up. For now I'm just going to
put some posters up, then rummage a little to see what else I can do that
doesn't require me using power tools"

"Why is that?"

"Because every time I use power tools, something gets broken" Justin
said seriously.

"Oh come on, you cant be that bad" Drew replied.

"Oh, but I am... I am"

Justin and Drew unpacked as many boxes as possible in an hour before
finally taking a break; they had managed to unpack two boxes of
sketchbooks, the posters some clothes, board games, the external hard
drives for the computer and a few trinkets. Justin was surprised how
easily things went with someone else there to help him, after testing the
computer to make sure it didn't explode they both took a seat on the bed
and looked at each other quizzically, as both knew they still had
homework to start and were getting hungry. Neither had to say a word, it
was almost telepathically transmitted that they were both dreading
homework. Taking his binder from his backpack Justin looked over at Drew
and set some of his work across the bed.

"We had better get started, or we'll never get anything done. Have you
finished the History assignment?" Justin asked.

"Uh, no...I'm almost done but I'm still having problems with the maps"
He replied, embarrassment almost choking him.

"Not a problem. I'm not great with maps, but I'm sure I can help. How
many questions do you have left?"

"Just the last one, what are the co-ordinates for the city of Berlin,
and give a brief timeline of the region."

The questions were very odd questions to be handed out so early in the
school year, and a lot really didn't make sense, but it was the assigned
work so they had to do it. They both opened up their textbooks and began
reading through the chapters. This history class was boring, it covered
none of the major events to happen, and according to the course outline,
and there wasn't much focus on the nations history. All the same, the
work would have been mundane and pointless, recorded history is written
by those who win or succeed; so none of it is truly accurate.

With both of them working at it, they were able to quickly find the
answer to the question and get their History homework out of the way,
they were about to start on other homework when Beth knocked on the door
and asked them to come downstairs for dinner. As long as Justin could
remember, Beth had made the best food he had ever ate, she never took
cooking lessons, but she had a great memory and had an entire cookbook
memorized. Along the way she explained that Justin's father would be
late once again getting home from work and that she wasn't finished
unpacking the kitchen and dining room, her tone had suggested an apology
to Drew, who really didn't mind at all, he was too laid back of a person
to worry about such diminutive details.

When all three of them got downstairs Beth informed them of what they
were having for supper. Tonight's menu was a boneless chicken breast
with fried green peppers and Italian dressing on top.

"Wow, sounds fancy, my mom just usually cooks a breast of chicken and
potatoes" Drew vociferated as he took the seat Beth ushered him to.

"No, not really fancy, but we've all traveled a lot and I just kept all
the recipes we've came across that pique our interest" Beth replied
happily as she sat down.

Dinner was long and mind numbing as Justin's mom interrogated his new
friend and chatted his ear off with stories of the places they had
visited on vacation and the occasion business trip, though Justin never
went on those trips. As the conversation progressed Justin noted that his
mother was steering the conversation towards Drew's personal life,
knowing that she was trying to find out if he was gay or not,
irritatingly Justin said nothing hoping she had enough self-control not
to mention that her son was gay, but she hadn't been known to have self
control in the past, so what would make this situation any different? He
wasn't going to lose his friends again, not like the last time and
before Beth had a chance to get him into the compromising position of
`what's your sexuality' Justin interrupted them both.

"Mom, I don't mean to interrupt, but as both Drew and I are finished,
we should really get back to our homework, still a little more to do..."



"Oh my, I'm sorry sweetie... You two go do your homework," She said
before turning to Drew. "I'm sorry for chatting your ear off Hun, It's
just we don't have company very often and I tend to ramble when we do."

"Its alright, I mean, I learned a lot tonight. Not only about you but
the places you've all been to. And thank you for supper, it was
delicious"

Justin and Drew cleared their plates and glasses from the table and put
them in the sink in the kitchen before heading back upstairs to Justin's
room to do homework. It was starting to get late, and Drew figured he'd
have to leave soon if he were going to make it home at a decent hour, but
one problem at a time, first homework, then home.

"Jus', I have a big favor to ask you" Drew said as he closed the door
behind them. "Uh...would you help me draw my picture for my CALM
assignment?"

"Shouldn't you attempt it on your own first?" Justin implored.

"Well I was hoping that maybe you could teach me to draw also..." Drew
blushed; making Justin aware that it was difficult for Drew to admit he
couldn't draw, and this was his way of saying it.

"Ok, if I teach you to draw," Justin said "however, lets see what you
can do on your own now. Alright?"

"Deal"

Justin sat down on the bed, Drew in front of him and pulled out a
sketchbook and his art pencils, both had been gifts from the family,
that's all Justin ever got from anyone was art supplies. The sketchbook
was expendable as there was such an accumulation of them in storage. Drew
opened to the first page and just stared at it, not knowing what to draw
at all.

"What should I draw?"

"Whatever you want to draw, its all about your imagination" Justin
responded. "Remember, this is just practice, so you don't have to draw
anything in particular, just let your mind wander and your hand guide
you"

A smile came across Drew's face.

"That's just sick, Drew" Justin replied, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know, I thought it was funny"

"Get to work you" Justin chuckled.

Drew set the sketchbook on his lap still staring at the page before
picking up a pencil and placing it on the paper. Let my mind wander he
thought to himself; Let my mind wander...

He slowly took the pencil and began to move it across the page, line
after line was drawn, and an image began to take shape. Justin sat on the
bed with his back braced against the wall, watching Drew as he sketched
out an image, he made no attempt to see what it was, just allowed Drew to
draw peacefully until he was ready to show his work. This moment gave
Justin ample time to think about the past few weeks of his life, and how
terribly turbulent they had been. Being forced to move to a new town
where he knew no one, leaving all his old friends behind, saying goodbye
to his old room, so much of his things packed away, and the loneliness of
the first few days in this new town. Remembering when he first arrived at
this house, it was impressively huge, but it wasn't his home, not the
one he knew, located in one of the more remote areas of the district. The
only good thing about the move was getting away from his family, whom he
never managed to get along with, no matter how hard he tried; then again,
that's the reason he stopped trying.

"...Justin? Hello... Earth to Justin!" Drew shouted.

"Huh? What? Sorry, was lost in thought" Justin answered.

"So I guessed. I was just telling you that I finished the picture; did
you want to see it? It's not great, but I like it"

"Sure, let's see" Drew held up the sketchbook with the drawing facing
Justin. "That's a good picture, nicely done, I don't see where you
really need my help" Justin said looking the picture over from top to
bottom.

"Well... I need to learn a lot more, anatomy, shading, texturing, that
sort of thing"

"That's why you practice, I'm serious, you really don't need my help
at all with drawing" Justin paused, "How `bout this, you can keep that
sketchpad and the pencils, I have tons as it is and you can use them to
practice your work in whenever you want to. If you need another
sketchbook, feel free to ask me, I have lots; as you've seen."

"You serious?" Drew questioned.

"Completely. What's one less sketchbook in my life?" He snickered.

"Thanks man, I appreciate it"

"Anytime"

There was a short awkward silence for a instant, and then Drew spoke up,
"So what were you thinking about?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't play dumb with me, boy" Drew joked, "What were you thinking
while I was drawing?"

"Oh, I was just thinking about friends, family, my old house. It's a
big change for me, I've visited many places, but I've never actually
moved"

"You'll get used to it here, I'm sure you'll like it once you're
settled in"

"Maybe..." Justin whispered.

"Why did your parents decide to move?" Drew inquired.

Justin thought for a moment, how should he answer this? Truthfully? In a
way it was best to be honest and let Drew know he was gay, tell him that
the reason for the move is because of school troubles, but Drew was the
only one he had in his life right now to talk to, and it could jeopardize
any possibility of friendship between the two. After weighing the risks,
Justin decided that for now, a lie was better then the truth, swallowing
his guilt he spoke, "We moved because my father got a transfer at work,
it was either commute to work everyday or move, and he thought it was
just best that we move"

Drew didn't believe that that was the true reason why the Marlon family
had moved, but he did believe that it might have been a part of it. What
was Justin hiding from him, and why did it seem so important to keep it
out of discussion?

"Oh I see" Drew replied.

"Yeah, dad and his job. Its like it's the most important thing in the
world, but I cant really complain, he does keep his promises when he
makes them, and he does take interest in my life, I just wish he were
around more"

"My father is like that too, except I don't want mine around" Drew
chuckled. "He always has these speeches about drugs, alcohol and sex
prepared, kind of weird having to listen to them over and over again"

"You get the sex talk? My parents never gave me that talk, and they
never will."

"Why is that?" Drew asked curiously

"Because they taught me about sex when I was young, and figured I was
smart enough to know what to do and what not to do. They put a lot of
trust in me"

"You make it sound like a bad thing"

"No, not a bad thing, but if I were any other person, it might be a bad
thing"

"Wait... am I hearing you correctly? You are still a virgin?"

"Yep. I still hold my V-card high and proud"

"Nothing wrong with that, not many people can say that they are a
virgin"

"Lets not talk about this anymore, its just... odd" Justin said as he
stood up from the bed and stretched.

"Alright then. Oh shit its getting late" Drew gestured towards the
clock on the end table. "Nine-thirty already? How did the time fly by so
quickly?"

"Time flies when you're having fun?" Justin jested.

"I should get going, I mean, I'll be home really late but at least my
parents will know I'm ok"

"Just spend the night then, call them up and let them know that you lost
track of time and will be staying over here tonight."

"Spend the night? Are you sure?"

"Tell me... how long of a walk would it be to get home?"

"A very long one, but I've done it before"

"Yeah well, mom and dad wont mind if someone spends the night, so just
call home and tell them you'll be home after school tomorrow"

"I don't mind walking"

"Then its settled, you're staying over, I'll go get the blankets"

"Are you even listening to me?" Drew beamed.

"Of course you can sleep on the bed if you want to! I can take the
floor" Justin said as he opened his bedroom door and walked down the
hallway.

"That's not what I said Jus'!" Drew yelled from the room.

Justin returned a moment later with a few blankets in hand and some
pillows, he stood in the middle of the room and turned himself so he
could see Drew.

"Where would you like to sleep? You can take the couch downstairs, my
bedroom floor or if you want, you can have my bed for the night"

"With or without you?" Drew chuckled.

"Which do you prefer?" Justin turned bright red, not cluing in to what
he had said until it was too late. Great way to hide your sexuality
Justin, flirt with the guy, oh yeah, good job he thought sarcastically to
himself.

"Well, you are cute!" Drew rolled his eyes and smiled.

What? WHAT? Say again? Justin couldn't believe what he had just heard.
Did you just say I was cute? Did you mean that, or were you really
joking? Please don't let that be a joke, are you gay? Maybe you're
bi-curious? Thoughts flooded Justin's head and he couldn't make sense
of them all, so to cover up his blatantly obvious interest in Drew, he
took the blankets and pillows and threw them at Drew's face.

"There you go smart-ass, you get the floor tonight!" He said, trying to
be serious.

"Ok then, just let me go call my parents and I'll be right back," Drew
acknowledged. He knew he wasn't getting out of this now.

Drew stood up and walked out the door and down the stairs to the patio
door in the dinning room, he slid it open slowly with one hand and pulled
his cell phone out of his pocket with the other, flipping it open in one
graceful hand movement. He dialed home slowly, wondering if he really
should stay the night. He pressed talk and waited for the ring; one ring,
two ring, there someone picked up.

"Hello?" The female voice queried.

"Hey mom, just me calling. Wanted to let you know that I'm spending the
night at a friends house, we were working on some school work and lost
track of time."

"Alright sweetie, but please try and give us more notice next time,
ok?" She requested.

"I promise, mom. What are you and dad doing?"

"Not much, we sat down and had some dinner, watched a movie and then he
went into his office and started working, so I wont see him again until
about eleven, when we go to bed" She said softly yawning.

"You sound tired, why not go to bed now?"

"Have some work to do around the house first"

"Ok then. Well I had better get going, have to get my things packed away
for tomorrow, make sure all my homework is done"

"Alright then, love you Andrew"

"Love you too mom" Drew said with a wave of embarrassment washing over
him.

Drew pressed the end button and closed the phone, placing it once again
in his pocket. He stood on the patio for a bit to think. What are you
hiding Justin, what exactly wont you tell me? I will find out, that's
for sure. Why must you block everyone out, stay so solitary? You're such
a private person, but at the same time you scream out for attention and
help... argh, its so irritating trying to figure you out Drew
contemplated. He shook his head and turned around, heading back inside
the house.

Justin was in his room and it was getting hot in there now, so he went
over to the window and opened it; it was a nice cool night out, pitch
black across the landscape and the stars brightly lit the sky. He
remembered when he was a kid; how he used to play connect the dots with
his teddy bear, which was his only real friend at the time. That's not
true he deliberated, he did have one friend, but he only ever got to see
her at school. Justin yawned and continued to stare out at the darkness,
the cool breeze flooding the room; he stood back for a moment and booted
his computer up, brought up his music selection and started one of his
playlists. The soft beat of the music played throughout the room with a
beautiful female voice leading the chorus, of course he didn't know
exactly what she was saying, as it was all in Japanese, but he had looked
up the lyrics online and understood what she was singing about, how funny
it is that the music we like is the music that reflects our lifestyle.
She sang about the losses she suffered in life, her broken heart, and so
on. Justin could relate to this, his soul echoing the pain and sorrow
that she transmitted through her voice. It gave him a sense of peace and
contentment to know that he wasn't the only one to face those problems
and for a time, it would cheer him up.

"Cool song" Drew interrupted.

Justin spun around quickly, startled "How long have you been there?"

"Just for a moment" He replied, "But still, cool song."

"Thanks, I don't really know what she's saying, but I have a good
idea"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, and it has a good beat, makes it fun to listen to"

"You didn't have to make my bed for me, I could have done it myself"
Drew changed the subject.

"Then what type of host would I be?"

"Hmm, Thank you"

"Welcome" Justin thought for a moment, "Would you mind if I let my
music play all night? I'm used to listening to something as I sleep"

"No problem. We should get to bed now anyways, it's getting late and we
have to be up early"

"Yeah, another rockin' day of classes, woo friggin' hoo" Justin
remarked sarcastically.

Justin rummaged through a few boxes until he found a shirt he thought
would be large enough for Drew. "Here, you can wear this tonight"

"Thanks" Drew ripped his shirt off over his head and tossed it to the
floor, and put the other shirt on, Justin not being used to stripping in
front of people had turned around and done the same until all either of
them were wearing was their boxer briefs and a t-shirt. Drew had turned
off the light and made his was to his bed on the floor while Justin went
over to the computer and shut the screen off.

Though Drew fell asleep quickly, Justin didn't; his mind raced with the
days events. This was his chance to start over, start a new life and he
would do just that. This time things will be different, I wont make the
same mistakes again. I wont fall into the same traps. Justin looked down
at drew who slept calmly. I wish I weren't gay, and I wish I didn't
feel anything for you, but I wont mess this friendship up, I promise