Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 17:29:50 +0000 From: Herman Smitty <wideeyedone@hotmail.com> Subject: Never is a Promise Chapter 1 Disclaimer: The author of this work of fiction does not assume any responsibility for your viewing of this document. By reading below these lines, you consent that you are a.) above the age of 18 or of legal age to view adult content in your state/country/province and b.) you agree that any consequences that may result from this fiction are not the author's responsibility, c.) that you will not reproduce, copy, sell or distribute this fiction without author's expressed permission. In the following story you will witness two consenting individuals who may engage in sexual activity. If you do not approve or like to read such material, don't move on. Adults: Protect your children from such content and make this world a better place. All comments are welcome at wideeyedone@hotmail.com NEVER IS A PROMISE Chapter 1 July is a beautiful time of the year in Michigan, it really is. Usually. Unfortunately on this day in 1994 it looks like a monsoon. "What are you doing? Daydreaming?" "Move your ass man, you are soaked!" Aaron bumps into me on his way past, heading to my car parked 100 yards away. We were swimming at "the pit" we called it. It is actually some man made lake that had been abandoned years ago. It was now surrounded by weeds and bushes, and if you didn't know it was there you probably never see it. A huge oak tree stood on one side of it and had a tire swing that sat low so it couldn't be seen over the brush. Aaron and I believed that at one point it must have been immaculate and circled by beautiful landscaping. We would make up stories to tell each other about how it was and how it came about. Those are the kind of things that you do when you're sixteen, at least that is what we did. Aaron was actually older than me and would turn seventeen in another month, but for a few months out of the year we were the same age and I relished that. It made me feel as though I caught up, at least for a short time. Aaron was my best friend, I had met him a year earlier when we both were in a summer youth work program for underprivileged youth (read: poor). I hated it. I wouldn't have gone had my mother not forced me. I was only fourteen and wanted to play not work. My mother didn't seem to care what I wanted at the time. I got stuck working on a crew that was doing Landscaping for the Chelsea school district. On my first day, I tried to stay home, hoping my mother would forget about it and I wouldn't have to go, but my mom wasn't fucking around and literally dragged me out of bed and dropped me off at the school. When I arrived there was a group of kids standing there, ages ranging from 13-15. Each one looked about as happy to be there as I did. The group leader's name was Steve. He called us over and had us wait until he had finished gathering the materials we would need to landscape. I leaned back against the concrete wall and closed my eyes. I was silently hoping I would open my eyes and realize that this was a nightmare when I felt a shoulder against mine. I opened my eyes to see a hand outstretched in front of me. "Hi, I'm Aaron" I begrudgingly shook his hand. "Tucker, most people just call me Tuck" Aaron was slender, pale and tall. His black hair seemed to grow wild on top of his head and fell in chunks like pineapple leaves. His body was well toned for his slender form. "Then Tuck it is" "Ok Tuck, here's the deal" I looked at him quizzically. "I will give you a buck six..." "A buck six?" What the hell was this kid talking about? "Yeah, a buck six, I will even pay your tax, but you have to go over there and tell Steve that you have Leprosy and that you are afraid you have infected us all and now we have to go home." "You are a dumbass!" I choked out between laughs. "Absolutely!" He said with a wide toothy grin. And so it began. I still hated the work program, but for some reason it became bearable with Aaron around to keep me entertained with his sarcasm or ridiculous "buck six" nonsense. He seemed to have a never ending supply of these and would pull them out unexpectedly, usually in situations where laughter was not appropriate. I of course would always laugh and get in trouble while he sat there looking like the little angel. We became inseparable. If he wasn't at my house, I was at his. We called each other's mother "mom", and his little brother became like my own. We did everything together. My mother called us "The Terrible Twosome" because we were always getting into trouble. Not real trouble mind you, just small things like soaking the entire kitchen because my mom made us do dishes and we got into a water fight, etc. You get the picture. We were mischievous. My friends didn't really like Aaron, he wasn't exactly the most clean cut kid you would ever meet, and most of my friends fell into the preppy category. They tolerated him though because he was my friend. By the end of the summer Jimmy and Scott actually got along really well with him, Tobey on the other hand couldn't stand him. Always making fun of his hair (his hair was long and shaggy, I hated this also) or his braces and those glasses that he would wear. I actually liked his glasses. They were the "Father Knows Best" glasses that people like Elvis Costello wore. He was ahead of his time that's all. A month before school started in the fall, I talked him into getting a haircut. He was getting his braces off the day before, so I told him we were going to go all Pygmalion on him. He showed up at my door that day wearing a green polo and khaki's which was very fashion forward for him. He also wasn't wearing his glasses and for the first time I remember noticing his eyes. They were green, like a cat, and they were beautiful. I couldn't believe I never noticed them before. I must have been staring at him and I know that I wasn't breathing because those eyes just took my breath away. Aaron looked over at me smiled and said "Don't my teeth look great?!". I told him that they did and that we were running late. On the way to the stylist he told my mom and I about how his dad finally broke down and got him contacts. When I asked him if they were colored contacts he looked oddly at me and said "No! I can't believe you don't know what color my eyes are, I know yours are brown". I told him the only reason he knew that is because he was looking at me and he flatly stated "Maybe". While Aaron got his haircut, my mom and I went to the local independent record store, which was only a few blocks down from the stylist. I had convinced my mother that it was imperative that I get some new music if she was going to force me to endure another year of school. She agreed (my mom can be cool...sometimes) and I decided on "They Might Be Giants" and "Guided by Voices". When we got back Aaron was done with his haircut and for the second time in the same day I couldn't breathe again. He looked like an entirely different person. He looked better than he ever had. I was very quiet on the ride home, wondering what the hell was wrong with me. Why was I looking at him like that? Why couldn't I stop stealing glances at him? What does it mean? I told myself that I was acting this way because of the newness of his look and eventually stopped looking at him. After we got home we biked down to the mall that was only a few blocks away and decided to do some early school shopping. We both had money saved up from last summer that our parents wouldn't let us spend until now. I told my mom all I wanted was a few things and the car that I was buying the next day. Jimmy and Scott were already there so Aaron and I joined them and caroused around the mall. I must not have been paying attention because I walked right into Molly McCullough. "Nice going Jensen!!" Jimmy laughed as I picked myself up off the floor. "I'm sorry Molly, I wasn't paying attention." "It's ok Tuck" Molly wasn't paying attention either, at least to me. Her eyes were glued to someone standing behind me. Aaron. "Aaron James, I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it with my own eyes" Molly was smiling, but she looked distant like she was in a trance. "What are you talking about?" Aaron didn't know how to take that. He was getting defensive, which is how he gets sometimes "Nothing... Just that you look... really good!" "Oh, Thanks Moll" Aaron was blushing. He looks so cute when he...wait what the hell am I thinking. I could feel the blood rush up to my head and my lip curl. For some reason I wanted to kill her and I couldn't really understand why. Was it jealousy? No it couldn't be..could it? Oh my god what is going on with me? I tried to shake it from my head and enjoy the rest of my day, but I couldn't. It sat there in the back of my mind stalking me. I realized that I was watching how people were looking at him and it was eating me up inside "Dude, what is your deal?" Scott asked me with a mouthful of french fries, which I found to be utterly disgusting. "Nothing! Jesus, do you have to talk when you eat? It's repulsive" "Pull the stick out of your ass Jensen" Jimmy looked irritated and I took that as a sign that I was finished hanging at the mall. "Sorry, I don't know what my problem is. Are you ready to go Aaron?" "Yep, but first. I will give you a buck six.." "Aaron. I honestly am not in the mood." Jimmy and Scott just looked at each other with that "he's pissed about something" look and decided that it was time to leave. "Fie on you Satan!" Jimmy yelled with his fingers in a cross as he left walking backwards away from me. He was laughing. I was rolling my eyes. Aaron and I biked silently to my house. My mind was wandering all over the place and I almost ran into a phone pole on the way. When we got to the house I asked my mom to give Aaron a ride home. "Hey, are you alright? I didn't do anything did I?" Aaron's eyes were pleading. They were so beautiful. "No, I just don't feel good that's all" "Ok, do you still want me to go with you tomorrow to get the car?" "Yeah, of course. I'll see you tomorrow" Aaron nodded, winked and walked out to my mom's car. I couldn't sleep at all that night. My mind was filled with images of Aaron. His face, his smile, the way he talked and laughed, and those eyes. When I did finally fall asleep I dreamed that he was holding me close to him. I could almost feel his breath on my neck. I broke out into cold sweat and sat straight up when I realized. Oh my god. I was in falling in love with him. The next day he showed up on my doorstep at 11:30 sharp. The exact time we had planned, yet his arrival startled me. I felt so odd around him now. My belly was all fluttery and all I wanted to do was look at him. "You ready compadre?" I forced myself to act natural. "Yep let me go get mi Madre" As I walked into the other room to get my mom I heard him yell "Me gusta del queso". Did he just say that he likes cheese? He was such a goofball. An hour later we were driving back in my brand new (new to me) 1987 Chevrolet Cavalier. It was my first car and I was so proud. We decided to go swimming at the pit to celebrate my brand new purchase. The pit was off an old dirt road and about 200 yards away from where the road ended. I parked the car in the sandy area right off of the road. We stripped down to our shorts and jumped in. I was only wearing my shorts and a tee, but Aaron was fully dressed so it took him a few seconds. We were having a great time, each taking turns dunking the other under the water and playing Tarzan on the tire swing. The sun started to become hidden behind some clouds and the temperature began to drop but we really didn't think anything of it and continued to play in the water. I climbed up on the branch that hung over the water and decided to take a breather. Aaron swam up to the end of the branch and I reached over to help him up. As he climbed up the branch I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Aaron sat next to me and we started laughing for no apparent reason. Enjoying the moment and swinging our legs back and forth making the branch shake. "You have mud all over your neck young man!" Aaron said in his best Catholic Nun impersonation "Where?" I asked, as I pawed at the right side of my neck "On the other side silly" Aaron began laughing at my apparent ineptitude. I reached my hand up toward the left side of my neck and then stopped abruptly. "You know what? I don't believe you Aaron." I said, "You are so full of shit." Aaron looked exasperated. "I'm serious, I can't believe that you don't believe me" I began laughing hysterically and exclaimed, "You can't be serious Aaron, that's why I don't believe you." "You are always pulling some shit and then you get offended when someone doesn't believe you" "You are like the boy who cried fucking wolf for Christ's sake!" "Whatever..." Aaron said with mock irritation. "Come here and I will get it off of you myself." I scooted down toward the end of the branch where he was sitting and nearly lost my balance at least twice. Aaron reached over and began wiping off the left side of my neck, which indeed did have mud all over it after all. Aaron's face was inches away from my own as he cleaned the mud off of my neck. I could feel the touch of his soft fingers and the warmth of his breath on the nape of my neck. "And that about does it..." he said, but he didn't move away. Instead he looked up at me with his head tilted downward and met my eyes. I looked down at him and met his eyes with my own. I started to open my mouth to say something, but I couldn't speak. I couldn't breathe. It seemed as though we were trapped in this moment for minutes, when in reality it was mere seconds. I moved closer to Aaron coming centimeters from him and then... Splash. Aaron lost his balance first and grabbed my arm to drag me down with me. I scolded him for pulling me down with him, but we were both laughing too hard to really be upset. We forgot all about what almost happened on the branch and continued to play in the "pit". Out of nowhere a few sprinkles landed on the water. I stuck my tongue out as to catch them and in a flash it was a torrential downpour. I crept out of the water first, threw on my shirt and began to walk up toward the car. "Tuck!! Did you hear me? Seriously you are going to get sick come on!!" I snapped out of my trance and headed for the car.