Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 14:58:46 -0700
From: edwine81@gmail.com
Subject: My Theory of Justice 3

My Theory of Justice
By: Edwin E.

Disclaimer: This story deals with male/male relationships in high school;
don't read if you're not supposed to. This story is complete fiction: the
people, places, situations, email addresses, etc, mentioned below never
existed.

Quick note: Though this story is chronological, it's not entirely
linear. But I'm sure that won't be a problem for y'all, right? :-)

Part III: Resilience

Tanya spent twenty minutes sitting next to Adrian on his bed, listening to
the details of all that had occurred in the past few days: the seduction of
Brad at the party over the weekend, and the resulting confrontation with
Philip just yesterday. As Adrian's best friend, she was the closest thing
he had to a confidante - someone with whom he could share at least a few of
his more deeper thoughts and secrets. However, just as with everything else
in Adrian's life, their relationship was rather complex.

For instance, her loyalty to him was beyond reproach; he would never have
to fear losing her to Philip or to anyone else. Though most people seemed
to align themselves with Adrian out of a mixture of fear and respect, she
actually liked him - despite her knowledge of his none-too-subtle
wickedness. It could not be denied that she liked the thrill of hanging
around the most popular man in school, especially when he flexed his
power. But more importantly, she saw some good in him; good that was hiding
behind the veneer of his projected persona (though, to be honest, some of
the goodness she saw may just have been in her imagination).

"So I was thinking of making Brad a regular fuck," Adrian said as he
munched on those little Cheese Puffs shaped like balls. "He's a bit of
moron. I mean, how does a closeted boy forget to erase the site history
after he uses the computers at school, especially when he travels to
gay-oriented websites? That's just plain stupid. But despite his penchant
for carelessness, I'd make an exception in his case since he was a pretty
damn good lay."

"What if he wants nothing to do with you?" Tanya asked with growing
discomfort as she sat up a bit on the bed.

"Like he has a fuckin' choice!" He laughed slightly. "The way I see it, he
doesn't want to be outed, and by keeping my mouth shut I'm providing a
service. In return, all I ask is that he put out."

"So you'd out him if he doesn't sleep with you again?" She asked carefully.

"In a heartbeat," he replied happily.

Tanya eyed him critically, unnerving him a bit. "Don't do that
Adrian. You'd be a horrible asshole if you do," she said.

Ahh, here was the complexity of their relationship making itself
known. Though Adrian knew no one as loyal as Tanya, she refused to become a
mindless follower. Though her threshold for accepting some of Adrian's
behavior was pretty high, she did have a limit. And where others would
criticize him and receive punches to the face in return, she could do the
same and yet suffer no consequences. She was the only person who could get
away with berating him... and he hated it, but still liked her immensely.

So he looked at her and just sighed. "Tanya, he's one of Philip's closest
friends. How can I possibly pass up this opportunity?"

"Normally I'd be right beside you Adrian," she said with more amiability in
her voice. "But if Brad is just barely coming to terms with his sexuality,
manipulating him like this would be so incredibly wrong. You do understand
that, right?"

"What I understand is that there are consequences to actions," he reasoned
as he got up from the bed and started pacing in his room. "Brad chose
Philip and he chose to go to my party. Those two facts alone make him fair
game - no matter what personal issues he's dealing with."

"Remember that you're the one that sent him an invitation to the party,
even if it was through someone else."

"Doesn't matter; he could've not gone. Now it's open season on him."

Tanya sighed as she reached into the bag of Cheese Puffs and put a few into
her mouth. She knew that when it came to advances against Philip's friends,
Adrian's mind was pretty one-track. But she also knew she had to at least
try and get him to view the situation from another perspective. You see,
Adrian had no conscience; unlike every other person around, there was no
little voice in his head telling him that something he was about to do was
wrong.

But perhaps that's being a bit unfair and overly critical. Adrian did have
the little voice in his head, but its nearly inaudible whisper was easily
drowned out under the weight of a bruised psyche. His pain, working
alongside his reason, was dictating his actions (especially when it came to
Philip). Tanya, for some reason or other, understood this. Until something
changed, SHE had to be his conscience; SHE had to try and wrestle his
faculties away from the fuming shouts of three year's worth of suffering.

"Adrian," she began as she took his hand to get him to stop pacing. "We're
so close to getting out of here and graduating. We're only nine months
away! Do you really want to make this year even harder than it already will
be? You, doing anything to Brad, are only going to escalate things with
Philip and his crew. And if you do that, I'll be pissed." She gave him a
smile.

He smiled back, a little more at ease with the conversation. He sat back
down for a moment and ran his hands through his dark wavy hair. He shook
his head a few times, as if trying to make sense of competing thoughts from
competing voices. Fortunately for everyone involved, Tanya was having an
affect on him. At last his countenance softened and he sighed while
grabbing some more Cheese Puffs.

"What if I told you that it wasn't just about making Philip angry or
getting my rocks off?" He said with a half-full mouth.

"What do you mean?" She asked a bit confused. The thought of an ulterior
motive - a motive not based on antagonizing Philip - was completely unheard
of.

Adrian bit his lower lip, a nervous habit he developed when deciding
whether or not to let go of a secret, or when he said something he hadn't
planned on saying. But as often happened in this situation, he erred on the
side of caution. "Never mind," he said quickly. After thinking a moment, he
continued: "Tell you what, I'll try to make sure to not be too much of a
dick, no matter what actions I take."

Tanya smiled. She was glad that he was at least willing to listen to
her. "That's all I ask," she replied. "But this may all be moot anyway."

"And why is that?" He asked, somewhat surprised.

"I heard the coach talking in the office today. Apparently Philip isn't
going to be playing in the Big Game this Friday."

"You're fuckin' kidding me, right?" Adrian exclaimed in disbelief. Tanya
just shook her head and smiled.

"That son of a bitch," was all he could say.

****Meanwhile****

"Did you come up with a plan for Brad?" Amanda asked Philip once they got
their ice cream and began walking to the park after an uneventful school
day.

"Sort of," he answered. "But to be honest, Brad's gonna need a whole lot of
luck to get out of this."

"How so?"

"What Adrian is holding over his head, he's willing to use cuz he considers
Brad weak or of little consequence," Philip began. "Just like a bully picks
on the weak nerds, Adrian will go after those he figures can't stand up to
him."

"I wouldn't consider Brad weak, though," Amanda interrupted.

"Me neither," Philip agreed as they took a seat on a park bench. "I love
Brad to death; he's one of my favorites. But Adrian knows that right now,
when it comes to this school, Brad's voice carries little weight."

"So this is all pretty serious?"

"For Brad? Yeah."

"God! Adrian must be heartless to mess around like this," Amanda said.

"Yup," Philip agreed. A couple of squirrels scurried to and fro near the
seated friends. Philip smiled and snapped a piece of his waffle cone off
and held it toward the squirrels that were about five yards away. These
particular squirrels always shied away from humans. But with Philip it was
different: they stopped running all over the place and hopped right up to
him and took the piece of waffle cone from his hand. Even more remarkable
was that they didn't run bac k to the tree with their prize; they stayed
near him and let him pet them.

"But he's always been like that, to a certain extent," Philip continued as
he fed the squirrels more of his dessert. "Even in the Old Time, it took
him longer than most to understand why some things were right and some
wrong. The fine line between right and wrong was always blurry to him so he
had to think harder than others did when it came to his actions. Back then,
though, he always ended up making the right choice. But now, I doubt he
even takes the time to think about it anymore. He just does what he wants,
for whatever reason he wants."

"And now he wants to screw Brad over," Amanda stated.

"Yeah," Philip said, nodding inwardly at the apt choice of words.

"And that's why you're not playing this Friday?"

"Pretty much. If I don't play then Brad starts as QB. And if he beats our
rivals... Adrian won't dare to start anything: Brad will have instant
clout."

"You sure about that?"

"Positive," Philip answered with a smile, a small drop of his mint
chocolate chip ice cream gathered at the corner of his mouth. "Adrian's
hard to understand, but he's bound by his ambition. He will NEVER do
anything to jeopardize his status here, especially during senior year. All
Brad has to do is win on Friday and he'll be safe. But even with my help at
practice this week, I don't know if he can do it."

"I'm sure it will all work out in the end," Amanda said
reassuringly. Philip smiled, handed the squirrel the rest of his cone, and
hoped Amanda was right.

********

Back at Adrian's house, Tanya and Adrian had finally gotten around to
studying after their initial conversation. It was clear that he was still
upset at the news of Philip's decision to not play in the Big Game. Adrian
was no idiot: after spending a lifetime with Philip, he knew how his former
friend thought (which is what made the two such formidable
opponents). Adrian had already predicted Philip's plan - a plan that was
pretty much left out of his hands.

"Adrian?" Tanya said, knocking her host out of his thoughts. "Did you hear
what I said?"

"Huh? Oh, uh... sorry. I guess I spaced out for a second."

"I said I don't know why this statement is incomplete: 'The essence of
American Democracy is the rule of the majority.' Cuz it looks right to me."

Adrian had to shake his head again to clear out of his fog. "Uh, it should
be 'rule of the majority with respect to the rights of the minority,'" he
said with his mind still unable to fully focus.

"Hey. Focus. You're no use to me when you can't give me the answers all the
time," she said playfully.

"Sorry," he smiled. "But I just know Philip's gonna ruin this for me. I can
feel it."

"So what? We'll find some other way for you to have fun," she tried to
reassure.

"How?"

Tanya perked up a bit and put down her textbook. "Actually, now that you
mention it, I do have some other news. Apparently we're going to have a new
student coming in sometime this week or next week: Jude... something or
other. I had to file his transfer papers this morning in the office during
my free period. I'm telling you Adrian, he's FINE!"

"How fine?" He asked with renewed energy.

"Damn fine! I swear, he could give you and Philip a run for your money. I
really think you should try to befriend him. Shit, if you can't hook up
with him, then I might as well try."

"Hmm," he said, sinking back into a chair to think (while trying to not
show his disapproval at being compared with Philip). When making any
decision, Adrian would look ten miles down the road at the possible future
benefits he could cull from them. "Nah. There's no point in getting to know
anyone new. Even if he's hot, he's coming in so late. By the time he
establishes any sort of rep around here, he'll be of little use to me."

"What if I told you that Philip's signed up to get him acquainted with the
school?"

"Really?" He asked with more interest. He took another moment to
think. "No, it doesn't matter. There'd still be no point. Besides, with all
the proposals coming into the council in the next few weeks, I'm gonna be
swamped. I won't have time to make new friends, shit I'm already falling
behind in AP Comp & Lit."

"Okay, but just so you know, I'm gonna try to get in his pants."

"Go for it girl," he said with a huge grin on his face. After they studied
some more for another hour, Tanya left to make it to her house before
dinner.

Despite Tanya's obvious reservations, Adrian was desperate to get Brad into
the fold. But he was sincere when he mentioned the possibility of a more
benign motive for remaining rather obsessed with him. This too was true of
Adrian: every once in a great while, his malevolence would crack amid a
brilliant flash of...lesser malevolence. Now, since he knew Friday's game
would decide the level to which he could control Brad in the future,
inroads had to be made within the next few days.

********

Brad had two goals for Wednesday and Thursday: practice as much as possible
to prepare for the game, and avoid Adrian at all costs. When Philip told
him he was ducking out of the Big Game, Brad felt overwhelmed. On the one
hand, he was ecstatic at finally being given the chance to prove himself to
the team and to the school. On the other hand, however, he knew his talent
was less than that of Phillip. What if they lost again? This time it would
be on his trembling hands. But above all, Brad was moved at Philip's
generosity in stepping aside to help him deal with Adrian.

As part of this counter-plan, Philip instructed Brad to stay away from
Adrian the entire week. "He can't bother you if he can't find you," Philip
had said. So Brad made sure to seclude himself during breaks and at
lunch. After football practice, he would get a ride with Philip, ensuring
that Adrian wouldn't confront him.

Wednesday passed without a hitch in the plan. By the end of practice on
Thursday, Brad had yet to even see Adrian at school. When Philip dropped
him off in front of his house, Brad was confident that he could put on a
good showing the next day. He was all-smiles as he opened the front door of
his house.

But there was Adrian, sitting on the couch in the living room with legs
crossed, thumbing through one of the decorative books on the coffee table.

"Well, hello there Bradley," Adrian said courteously as he stood up.

"Oh, Brad, thank goodness you're home!" His mom exclaimed cheerfully as she
came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. "Your poor friend
has been here for the last half hour waiting for you to get back from
practice."

"He's not my friend," Brad responded rather instinctively.

"Bradley don't be rude," his mother chided. "Did you want anything else to
drink Adrian?"

"Oh, no thank you ma'am," he answered with unparalleled charm. "Once again
thank you so very much for the hospitality."

"You're very welcome," she smiled. Brad could tell his mom was fond of the
bastard. "Well I'll let you two 'hang out,' as you kids would say."

"Thank you ma'am," Adrian said as she made her way back to the kitchen. The
two boys just stood in the living room, staring at each other.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me to your room?" Adrian asked in a low
and sarcastic voice.

"NO!" Brad quietly yelled, not even trying to hide his contempt.

"I guess we can talk here," Adrian said while giving the living room a
thorough look-over. "But what's your mom going to think when she hears the
words 'cock,' 'balls,' and 'ass' during our conversation?"

Brad's eyes widened as he glanced around to make sure his mom hadn't
overheard anything. "Fine! Follow me upstairs."

As they made it to the room, Brad immediately locked the door and spun
around. "What the hell do you want?"

"I just want to talk. That's all," Adrian answered with mock surprise at
Brad's hostility. "Well maybe not 'all,'" he continued with a deeply carnal
look in his eyes. Adrian took a few steps toward Brad.

"No," Brad said as he stepped back. "I want you out of my house. NOW!"

"Lower your voice," Adrian snapped with a chilling severity that gave Brad
a brief startle. "Don't forget who the hell you're talking to."

"Get out," Brad reiterated with less int ensity (though none left his
eyes).

"I don't want a confrontation, Brad. I have a proposition for you."

"I don't want to hear it," Brad said, the anger beginning to give rise to
confidence. Unfortunately, Adrian was damn near incapable of being
intimidated.

"Hmmm. Ballsy," he responded with a smile and a steely look in his
eyes. "Apparently Philip's been teaching you how to grow a spine. No
matter." In two lightning quick (yet limp-laden) steps Adrian had moved
close enough to Brad to deal a severe punch into his stomach. Having been
caught off guard, and now with the wind knocked out of him, Brad stumbled
to his knees, coughing uncontrollably.

"As I was saying," Adrian continued as he grabbed Brad by the shoulders and
sat him on the edge of the bed. "You're obviously not out to anyone;
neither am I. Of course you're in a much more vulnerable position seeing as
how you haven't spent the last few years placing safeguards to ensure that
secret is kept, unlike me."

"Get to the point," Brad managed to say, trying to regain his composure.

"The point, my friend, is that you must feel frustrated - in more ways than
one. I can help you with that."

"So you want to be friends?" Brad asked confusedly as he stood up, the pain
only beginning to subside.

Adrian just laughed. "Definitely not. Believe me, my standards aren't that
low," he answered with unabashed cruelty. Brad's eyes fell to the floor; he
hated feeling impotent in his own house with Adrian still calling all the
shots.

Then, all of a sudden, a dramatic shift took place in Adrian's demeanor: he
looked rather... friendly. His green eyes took on a light hue and didn't
seem quite so menacing. So when he slowly took steps forward, there were no
impulsive steps back on Brad's part.

"Brad, we all need someone to talk to - someone of the same ilk," Adrian
said, taking another step. "You've gotta be needing to unload somehow; to
vent your thoughts and feelings and frustrations; to share and compare
experiences of being young...and hot... and gay," he continued in a
remarkably seductive manner.

One would think that given the current circumstances, Brad would be able to
easily brush off such babble from this enemy. But Adrian's ability to
persuade cannot be emphasized enough. First and foremost, he knew what
people wanted to hear, and used that to his advantage: Brad DID feel
frustrated; he DID want to unload; he DID want to talk to someone.

Adrian was well aware of the fact that people could be so easily drawn to
what they know they're supposed to stay away from. So he kept on with the
seduction: the unrelenting eye contact, the sultry voice, the sexy
half-smile, the ever so delicate touching of Brad's forearm with his
fingertips. They were so close now they could kiss - their mouths just a
few centimeters apart. But Adrian held back. Anticipation sounds the death
knell of resilience. He let his breath warm Brad's mouth, nose, and
cheeks. He gently moved his head to the right, letting his hair sweep
across the side of Brad's face, whispering: "I can help you Brad."

After moving his face back in front, Adrian decided to put all this to an
end: he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his victim. At first it was
simple, just their lips briefly touching and separating. But then he moved
in again, opening Brad's lips with his tongue. It was fair to assume Brad
didn't have much experience, if any, kissing other guys, so Adrian made
sure to make it as passionate as possible - perhaps trying to remind him of
the fun they had last weekend.

If Adrian had stuck only to making out, Brad would have easily been in his
pocket. Unfortunately for Adrian, his ambition got the best of him as he
reached out front and started fondling Brad's crotch. That action woke Brad
up, so to speak: his eyes pierced through the emotional illusion Adrian had
created and his resilience ran to the fore. He gave Adrian a hard push.

"Get out," Brad let out, a bit breathless.

"What did you say?" Adrian asked, not having expected this turn of events.

"I said I want you out."

"Brad, you better think this over. I'm being reasonable here," Adrian said
with a hint of fury beginning to shimmer in his cold eyes. "I highly
recommend you take advantage of the opportunity I'm affording you."

"Reasonable?! Tell me, what are you going to do when I say no."

"Don't say 'no' and we won't have to find out," Adrian threatened.

The confidence Brad desperately needed had finally made itself known. He
just smiled. "I want you out of my fuckin' house. Adrian, don't kid
yourself: I may be 'frustrated,' but I'm not so far gone as to want to have
anything to do with a monstrous asshole like you."

"Careful Brad," Adrian said coolly as his eyes darkened two shades.

"Whatever happened between us last weekend was a mistake - a product of
liquor induced mood swings. I'm taking a page out of Philip's book and
getting the hell away from you," Brad continued without missing a beat.

Adrian had had enough: remember, no one was ever allowed to speak to him
like that. So he quickly reached out his arms and clasped the front of
Brad's collared shirt, dragging Brad to him. With venom seething in his
voice and his powerful arms holding him in check, Adrian whispered quickly
in Brad's ear: "Remember your place Brad; you're beneath me. And you better
pray to GOD that you win tomorrow. Otherwise, that's exactly where you're
gonna spend the rest of the year: beneath me. You lose, and you're
MINE. Philip won't be able to help you: he knows it, and I know it."

Adrian let go and headed for the door. Just as he was about to step out he
turned to Brad and said, "You've accomplished nothing here. You just made
me an even worse enemy." He quickly made his way down the stairs, said
farewell to Brad's mother, and left the house. Brad remained upstairs, not
really knowing how to feel.

Adrian knew exactly what to feel: utter rage. Of course he was pissed at
the way Brad had spoken to him, but there was another reason for feeling so
incredibly angry. Though it may not seem so to an outside observer, Adrian
had tried his best to live up to his promise to Tanya: to not be too much
of a dick. In his mind, Adrian truly saw his proposition as reasonable. He
wasn't blackmailing Brad per se, more like "excessively encouraging"
him. Yet he was rebuffed.

As he continued the walk back to his house, Adrian stopped at a park to
rest. Though his leg didn't cause him pain, it sometimes provided
discomfort when walking long distances. So he sat down on a park bench and
stared out into the darkening sky, recalling the showdown with Brad. Adrian
was hurt.

Do you remember when I mentioned that his pain dictated his actions? Well,
when it came to Philip, those actions were generally vindictive in
nature. But that's not to say that that's all Adrian thought about. The
secret he had almost slipped to Tanya a few days prior, and the secret that
had caused him to go to outlandish lengths to control Brad, was also a
product of his pain: Adrian was lonely.

I'm not talking about a simple loneliness of not having friends with whom
to hang out. His loneliness was much deeper - existential in nature. He had
lots of friends who wanted to be like him, and lots of admirers (male and
female) that wanted to be with him. But the loneliness was always there,
gnawing at his core. Since that night three years ago, he had undergone a
drastic freefall. In some way he saw Brad as a means to stop the
descent. In the end, Adrian was the one frustrated, the one needing to
vent, the one needing to talk to someone about his feelings, thoughts, and
ideas. He was hoping Brad would be able to at least fill some of the role
that Philip had once held.

Of course Adrian is a bit more raw and coarse in his forms of expression,
but he's not beyond vulnerability.

Suddenly, there was movement at his feet: a squirrel was inching closer and
closer. Brad stared for a moment and smiled. The squirrel was rather
cute. He remembered how he and Philip used to spend their younger days
chasing these squirrels around. Now there was no time to chase. In one fell
swoop, Adrian stepped on the squirrel's bushy tail, ca using it to yelp and
to try to get away. He smiled as he had the squirrel pinned.

Then his smile faded, he shook his head violently and released the poor
creature. He sighed with a pained expression on his face, and headed
home. He had to prepare for tomorrow.


TO BE CONTINUED...

**********

Author's notes: I hope y'all are enjoying this story. Remember that I write
for fun, not out of passion or anything like that. So your comments are the
impetus I need to continue. If you like this story, or have any thoughts as
to the direction the story should take, then write me! :) What can I say?
I'm a praise whore. LOL.

edwine81@gmail.com

AIM: edtimoria