Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:34:28 -0800 (PST)
From: Lusty <lustyville@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Science of Us-Part 27. T is For Too Late (Pat)

     I was in my car with Kyle in the passenger seat and a
smile on my face. He didn't know he was saving me from my
bad thoughts, but he was. Every time I thought about my
parents and felt a twinge of sadness, he did something that
made me forget them for a second, or I thought about him and
everything seemed okay.
     "So what are you thinking about?"
     "Let's see. Waking up next to you this morning. Tasting
you. Wearing your clothes. Making out with you on your bed.
Taking a shower with you. Wearing your underwear and your
clothes."
     "Yeah, I was good to you this morning, wasn't I?"
     I could almost hear him smiling. I glanced over at him,
"Yeah, you were." He didn't know what he had done for me. I
was a complete wreck the night before and he handled me like
a pro. He was gentle and comforting and he didn't pressure
me to tell him everything. I knew I would have to go in to
more detail about my family because I owed him that and I
wanted to tell him one day, but I wasn't ready to talk about
it with anyone other than Chris and that was only because
Chris already knew everything. Thinking about Chris reminded
me that he and Jessica were having issues. "There's so much
going on," I said.
     He sighed, "I know."
     We listened to the radio the rest of the way. I didn't
want to get out of the car when we got to the hospital, but
I knew we had to go in there. I gave myself a mental pep
talk as we walked towards the entrance. We walked in Nick's
room and he was eating lunch. His mother was sitting on the
bed with him and Kyle's mother was sitting in a chair.
     "What took you two so long?" asked Kyle's mother.
     "Well hello, I'm fine. Thank you for asking." At first
I thought Kyle misheard his mother, but when I saw the grin
on his face, I knew he was avoiding the question. "Hey Nick
and Ms. Johnson." They both smiled at him.
  "Okay now you've spoken to everyone. What took you two so
long? I've been to your school, had a meeting with your
principal, talked to your father and I still beat the two of
you here."

     I thought about what we had been doing and I blushed.
Kyle seemed unfazed. "Mom, we talked for while, then we both
had to take showers and then I had to find Pat something to
wear."

    "Oh, so you two are sharing clothes now?" Nick asked.

     "Pat spent the night."

    "Oh and sleeping together, too? Wow! One night in the
hospital and the whole world changes." Nick smirked at us.

     "Shut up," Kyle told him. "So how are you feeling?"

  "Good and I'm sorry about yesterday. I lost it for a few
minutes."

     "It's okay. You were drugged."

     "Yeah, that's what they tell me." He scrunched his nose
and made a disgusted face then he took a few sniffs of the
air. "Do
you smell that?"

     "What?" Kyle asked.

     "Smells like a lawsuit to me." Nick and Kyle started

laughing and as usual, I wasn't amused. Nick could have been

seriously hurt and there they were making it in to a joke.

Their mothers shook their heads. When the laughter stopped,

Nick said, "I get out tomorrow."

     "You do?" Kyle asked.

     "Yep. The doctor said I can go home tomorrow."

     "That's great!" Kyle told him.

     Kyle's mother said, "You're going to help take care of
     him." When Kyle was talking to Nick, I felt left out,
     but when his
mother was talking to him, I felt invisible. "Okay," he
grabbed my hand, "Pat and I can take care of him." Something
in me jumped as my heart skipped a beat and I came in to
focus.

  "That's fine with me. You can both take care of him after
school."

     "School?" Kyle questioned.

     "Yes, school. I went to see your principal today and I
gave him a piece of my mind. When I was done with him, he
was willing to give me anything I wanted."

     "Really?" I asked, finally feeling as if I belonged in
the room.

     "Okay, I might be exaggerating a little. I did tell him
off, but it seems that John's father put in a good word for
all of you and you are free to return to school whenever you
like. I'm wondering who John's father is though. He seems to
have a lot of weight in this town and I never heard of him
before yesterday."

     "You don't want to know him. He has a lot of money, a
little dirt on some influential people and a short fuse."

     "You've met him before?" she asked.

     "Yes, but it wasn't a good experience."

     "What happened?" I must have had a look of horror on my
face because she quickly said, "Forget I asked. It's none of
my business."

     I felt Kyle let go of my hand and I wanted to pass out
until his arm went around my shoulder and he leaned close to
me and whispered, "Relax." He kissed my cheek.

     "Ewww!" Nick teased.

     "Shut up." I told him as I rolled my eyes. I relaxed in
to Kyle, allowing myself to almost melt in to his body. I
had to admit that holding hands felt good, but being pressed
against him like we were joined at the hip felt even better.

   "Are you boys going to sit down?" asked Nick's mother.

     We smiled and started walking towards Nick's bed.
"Don't sit
yet Kyle. I need to talk to you in the hallway," his mother
said.

     They walked in the hallway and I was left in the room
with Nick and his mother. I sat down on the edge of the bed,
opposite his mother and tried to pretend I wasn't there. My
mind quickly ran to the thought of going back to school
after all that happened. The idea seemed overwhelming. I
wondered how people would treat us and I worried about the
way the principal and the vice-principal would act. I wasn't
ready to go back so soon, but I wouldn't let Kyle go through
that alone. John's father was cruel to force him to go back
to school so soon while everything was still fresh and
Kyle's mother, well she wasn't cruel, but she had to be ill-
informed to think we could just go back to school and resume
our regular lives. Nothing would be the same because
everything had gone too far.

     Nick interrupted my thoughts when he slammed his fork
on his tray. "That food tasted like shit," he announced.

     "Well you ate it all," I told him.

     "I was hungry."

  I laughed and his mother stood up. "I'm going to give you
two some privacy," she said. "I'm going to the cafeteria,
then I'm going to check my messages and then I'll be back."

     "Okay," Nick responded with utter disinterest laced in
his tone. She got up and left and then he looked at me and
made a face. "That woman is working my last nerve. She tried
to feed me like I was a fucking baby." I laughed at him as
he demonstrated with his spoon. He sat his spoon down. "I'm
not use to seeing her every time I open my eyes. It's
driving me crazy."

     "You should be happy she cares."

     "I am. I just wish she didn't care so much sometimes.
Ever since my father died, she looks at me like I'm all she
has left in this world and I'm afraid it's going to kill her
when I go to New York."

     "You're going to New York?"

     "Yep, when you guys go off to college I'm going to pack
up and move to New York to become a famous rock star or pop
idol or whatever some producer or manager wants to mold me
in to. As long as I get to perform, I'll be happy."

     "You're leaving Kyle? Does he know?"

     "Of course he knows. It has never been a question about

whether I'm going to New York, our only issue has been when.

I was going to go after I went to college, but I don't feel

like going through four more years of trying to be a social

person and caring what every one thinks. I'm sick of it and

I'm sick of school. I just want to go somewhere and start

over."

     "Kyle's going to be devastated."

     "No he won't."

     "How can you say that? He's going to miss you so much."

   "Can we not talk about this anymore?" he asked. "You're
starting to make me feel bad and I need to be in a good mood
when the doctor comes back to check on me."

     "I'm sorry, it's just hard picturing the two of you
separated."

     "We're all going to be separated anyway when we go to
college and it's not like we're losing each other. He'll
always be my best friend and no amount of distance can
change that."

     I wanted to believe him, but my experience with
distance was that it made it easier to live separate lives
and lose touch with each other to the point where you rarely
talked, if ever. "I hope you're right," I told him.

     "I am. I always am." He started laughing and I laughed
with him.

     "What's so funny?" Kyle asked as he walked through the
door.

  "He was telling me how you whimpered like a girl when he
gave you a blowjob this morning," Nick said.

     "You told him about that?" Kyle asked.

     "No, but you just did," Nick told him.  Kyle flipped

him the bird and went and sat in the seat formerly occupied

by his mother. "So where's your mother?"

     "She went to meet your mother at the cafeteria."

  "Oh good, maybe she can keep her there for a long time."

     "Sick of her already?" Kyle asked.

     "Yes. It's awful."

     Kyle chuckled and then we found something on tv to
watch. The show was almost over when Kyle blurted out,
"We're supposed to go to hockey practice tonight."


     "Huh?"


     "My mother ran in to Coach at school and he wants us
there, same as usual."


   "That's good to hear because I need to clear my head."


     "There's more," Kyle said with his smile shrinking away

to nothing.

     "What?"

     "She said I have to go back to school tomorrow."

     "Didn't she basically say that before you went out
     there?" "Yes, but she didn't explain that I had to go
     by myself. I
don't want to go without you."

     "We can meet at school. It's no"

     His phone started ringing, "Shit! I forgot to cut it
off," he said as he reached in his pocket and turned it off.

     Nick hit Kyle, "Thanks for trying to kill me, asshole."
Kyle glared at Nick and then they laughed.

     "I'll check my messages later," Kyle said. "I hope that
was John."

   I remembered turning my phone off while I sat on Kyle's
porch and waited for him. I took out my phone and turned it
on. "What are you doing?" Nick shouted.

     "I just want to see who called real quick."

     "You're supposed to do that outside. What if I start
flatlining?" I looked up at him and at first his face had a
really serious expression on it but he couldn't maintain it
and soon he was giving me a cheesy grin.

     "For a moment there I thought you were serious." I
started looking at who called. I saw Drew's name and I stood
up. "I'll be back." I told them.

     I'm not sure why I was panicking, but I felt like I had

to call Drew right away. I pushed the call button as I was

walking out the entrance. I exhaled the breath I was

holding, the second I heard his voice.

     "Hello."

     "Hey Drew. Are you okay?"

     "Not really."

     "Did you father hit you again?"

 "No, he just reminded me that I was a failure and I
                         was
going to hell sooner or later, I'm hoping for
sooner."

     "What?"

     He let out a fake laugh and said, "Just
joking." He sighed, "I had a rough night. I didn't
sleep well."

 I felt guilty for having slept like a baby, but it
                         was
because of Kyle. I was sure if I had been at home, I
wouldn't have slept well either. "Have you talked to
John?"

     "Yes. I talked to him last night and he told me
his father was going to fix the whole school mess
this morning. He didn't sound too good though. I
think his father had gotten to him."

     "I'm going to check on him later."

     "You should."

     There was a pause. "So you didn't feel like

going to school today, huh?"

     "I'm never going to school again."

     "What?"

     "Um, I mean I don't know when I'm going back."

     "Oh, well Kyle's mother is making him go back
tomorrow so I guess I'll be going back with him." I
thought I heard him sniffling. "Are you crying?"


     "No," his voice cracked and I knew he was
lying.


     "What's wrong?"


     "Nothing, I'm fine."


     "Don't lie to me. I know something's wrong. I
can hear it in your voice."


     "Tell Nick I'm sorry."


     "For what?"


"They wouldn't have messed with him if it wasn't for
                         me.
It's my fault."

  "Is that what you're freaking out about? It's not
                        your
fault."

     "Yes it is, but thanks for saying it's not. You

were always a good friend to me."

     "What do you mean were? Are you going

somewhere?"

     "Haha, that's not what I meant."

     "Then what did you mean?"

     "I don't know. I'm just talking."

     He sounded depressed and confused and in
desperate need of a friend. "Look, I'm on my way
over."


     "No! Don't come here. My father will flip out if
someone sees you. Just stay where you are and I'll
talk to you later."


     "Fine I'll come get you and you can go home with

me that way it won't matter who sees us."

 "No, I need to stay here. They need to look at me."

     "Why?"

     "So they can see what they've done to me."

  That didn't sound right to me. "Drew! I'm coming

                       over."

     "No! Don't! Please! Just leave me alone!"

     "Drew!"

     "Pat! Trust me. Drop it. Don't worry about me.
I'm going to be fine. Okay?"


     "No, it's not okay."


     "Promise you won't come."


     My heart ached as I heard him begging me not to
come over and my mind told me I should ignore his
pleas. "I can't make that promise. Why would you want
me to?"


  "Because I don't want you to come here and see me
                        like
this!"

For a second I thought I understood. "Your father did
                         hit
you again, didn't he?"

     "That's not it."

     "Then what is it because you're scaring me."

"I can't tell you, just promise you won't come to see
                         me
until tomorrow."

   I was afraid that I was stressing him out, so I
                       caved.
"Okay, I promise, but I'll be at your doorstep first
thing tomorrow morning before I go to school."

     "Fair enough," he said. "Well I have to go.
There are a few other people I would like to call.
Tell Chris I said hello and um, take care, okay?"

     "Yeah sure."

"Thanks for calling me back. I really wanted to hear
                        your
voice."

     "You're" he hung up the phone before I could
finish. I felt queasy. Something wasn't right and I
knew it in my gut. I turned off my phone and walked
back in the hospital. Nick and Kyle were in the room
laughing about something, probably something stupid
knowing them.

 "Is everything okay?" Kyle asked when he looked up
                         and
noticed me standing there.

     "Yeah."

     "You sure everything's alright? You look like
you might need this bed more than me." Nick told me.

"It's just some things Drew said rubbed me the wrong
                        way.
I'm really worried about him."

     "Go check on him," Kyle said.

     "I can't."

 "Why not? Nick doesn't need you here and I guess I
                         can
manage a few hours without you, so"

     "It's not that. I promised Drew that I wouldn't
check on him until tomorrow."

     "I'm sure he won't mind if you check on him
today. Just go and I'll see you when you get back."

     The truth was that I was kicking myself for not
going, so I didn't need much motivation to leave.
"Yeah, you're right. I got this really weird vibe
from him while we were talking and I'm not going to
feel better until I see him for myself. I should go.
I can apologize for breaking my promise when I see
him." I sighed. "Alright guys I'll be back later."

 I turned around and walked back out of the room. I
                       wasn't
sure why I was in a hurry, but I felt a sense of
urgency as I left. I was in my car and speeding
towards Drew's house as different scenarios flew
through my head. I came to a screeching halt in front
of his house and that's when the fear set in. I was
afraid to go in, so I decided to call him. I took out
my cell and dialed his number. No one answered. I
told myself not to panic because he was probably in
the bathroom. I checked my voicemail and listened to
a message from John.

     "Hey, this is John. I just got off the phone
with Drew and he sounded strange. He said something
about talking to you and just calling me to hear my
voice and then he told me I was the best friend he
could ask for and he hung up. I called the hospital
and Nick said you had already left. I'm on my way to
Drew's house now, but I thought you might be closer,
so I would appreciate it if you hurry and check on
him. I should be there soon."

John sounded frantic in his message and I immediately
                         got
out of my car. I walked to the door and knocked on
it. No one answered. I used my phone and called Drew
again, but he didn't answer. I walked around to the
back door which was usually unlocked during the day
and I opened it. The cold air rushed past me as it
tried to escape the house. My feet seemed heavier
with each step I took, like I somehow knew that
whatever I was going to find was something I didn't
want.

     "Drew!" I shouted. "Where are you?" No answer. I
went to his bedroom but there was nobody there.
"Drew!" I called out as I ran around his house trying
to find him. I was about to give up when I thought of
one last room to check. I walked towards his parents'
room and noticed that the door was shut. I knocked,
but I received no response. I took a deep breath as I
turned the knob and opened the door. The first thing
I saw was Drew.

Lustyville 2006
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