Ch9. Part One: Birthday Kisses

WARNING: YAOI (boyxboy love)

What Happens in the Library?  

Chapter nine: Birthday Kisses

Part one

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‘♫ Salt, sweat, sugar on the asphalt. Our hearts littering the topsoil. Tune in and we can get the last call. Our lives, our coal. ♪’

“Damnit! Damnit!” Jaidyn scrambled through his bag looking for his cell that was going off on a very loud volume. He had forgotten to put it on vibrate before he came in so now everyone in the store was staring and glaring at him as he rushed to find it. Finally he got it out and without looking at the number flipped it open and spoke with an irritated growl to his voice. “Hello!?”

“Jaidyn?” He didn’t recognize the voice.

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“It’s Tyler. Did I call at a bad time?” Jaidyn’s eyes widened for a moment in realization, this was unexpected and he was suddenly nervous. He hadn’t spoken to anyone outside of his mother for the last four days. Cyprus had tried calling and texting him an obnoxious amount of times, but he never answer, hoping the man would get the hint. “Hello, Jy? Yea still there?”

“Yeah, sorry. What’s up?” Jaidyn’s voice was a little shaky as he tried not to acknowledge all the lingering eyes and ears on him. He glanced over his shoulder before stepping closer to the wall and tilted his head down and spoke softly, hoping this would give him a bit of privacy.

“Nothin’ much, just was hope’in to talk to yea about something.”

“If it’s…if it’s about ‘you know who’ then now isn’t a very good time.” He decided to ixnay Cyprus’s name because there were too many preying ears here. He still didn’t get good greetings when he went out and he didn’t want people to know who he was talking about. He shot a look over at a middle aged woman only a few feet from him, she hadn’t moved or placed anything in her cart since he got on the phone and her head was titled just enough towards him that it was obvious she was listening for gossip.

‘Probably looking for some juicy rumors about the goth kid for her book club meeting.’ He thought spitefully.

“Well, I just wanted to ask how you were holding up and apologize about what I did, it wasn’t right to do that to yea, so I’m sorry.” Jaidyn could clearly hear that regret in Tyler’s voice. To be honest he hadn’t really thought about Tyler’s part in what had happened. He had been so pissed at Cyprus that it hadn’t really even accord to him that Tyler had been the one to set it all up. He couldn’t be angry though, what had been done was, in the end, the best result for all of them.

“It’s fine, I’m not upset or anything.”

“Really? Well, I mean I know your pissed at Cy, but it was me who--”

“Really, Tyler, it’s all fine. Yes, I am livid with him, but you’re fine, I promise.” He ached, his whole body hurt with an incurable pain every time he thought of Cyprus, and to hear his name spoken so casually, it was beyond agony. He wanted to end this useless painful conversation. “So, you see, I’m fine. I’m over him.” He flat out lied through his teeth, he was not ok; hadn’t been for days. Crying all night and skipping school to hide his tear stained face. There was a long pause on the phone before Tyler spoke, not sounding like he totally believed Jaidyn’s lie, but willing to accept it for now.

“Ok, if you say so, yer doin better then Cy. He hasn’t been sober since that night. Man’s drunk himself stupid. He feels real bad. You’re kill’in him Jaidyn. I don’t expect you to forgive him or anything. Just letting yea know that he feels bad about what happened.” There was a pause, as if Tyler was trying to find the right words, Jaidyn heard a light chuckle and was eager to hear more. “I’ve never seen him like this Jy, I really think he’s bein’ serious, in his own fucked up way, for once in his life. It’s all for you, so I’m askin’ you, please, talk to him.”

Jaidyn was at a loss for words; hearing that Cyprus was this upset, or upset at all for that matter, was a surprise. He really hadn’t known what to expect out of Cyprus, but drinking was the last thing he thought would happen.

‘This explains all the weird texts.’ On one had he felt bad, but he couldn’t forgive him, so why call him at all only to end the conversation with ‘sorry, but I can’t see you ever again’? What good would that do? Calling him was pointless, bedsides; Jaidyn just wasn’t ready to speak to him.

‘Plus…he kissed me…’ The memory of that kiss caused him more grief than anything else that he had witnessed that day. He still didn’t understand why Cyprus had kissed him and he was even more afraid to find out the reason.

“I’ll think about it, I really can’t promise anything.”

“Nah, you ain’t gotta promise anything. Like I said, I just thought you should know is all. Thanks Jy. You really are the best thing to happen to him, even if it don’t feel like much right now. You’re important.”

‘Stop it, stop trying to make me feel special when I’m not.’

“Thanks, I got to go now.” He forced his voice to stay calm and indifferent, even though his throat was growing tighter and tighter with each passing exchange of words.

“Ok, take care of yourself Jy, see yea soon.”

“Yeah, same to you. Bye.”

“Bye.”

‘Click’

Oh Gods, how his chest hurt now. Jaidyn put his phone on silent and shoved it back in his bag. Blinking almost tears out of his eyes he turned back to continue shopping only to watch people’s eyes scatter away from him, and bodies began to move away and go about their shopping, as if they hadn’t been ease dropping.

‘Ugh! Really!? Damn gossiping chickens! The lot of them! Can’t go five freaking seconds without looking for juicy gossip! Seriously! I hate this place! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it!’

His mind began screaming and ranting as he continued down the allies, his face was a set glare as he grabbed the few items he came here for. A bag of salty chips, Coke, and strawberry gummies, and then he stomped his away to the checkout counter only to have to wait in line.

‘Cyprus, damnit! Why do you have to make me feel bad, you’re the one at fault! Not me! I didn’t do anything wrong and here you are punishing me with trying to drink yourself into a fucking comma! I told you I love you damnit! Doesn’t that mean anything to you!? You know what!? Fine! Punish yourself! Drown in your fucking guilt! I don’t care! I don’t! I don’t care anymore! I have to take care of my own heart now, and that’s all I have time to worry about now. I need to stop wasting my time looking for love where there’s never been any...’

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“Damn, I still feel bad. He sounded real hurt, poor kid.” Tyler flipped his phone shut and stuffed it into his back pocket. He was standing outside the grocery store with a few bags of miscellaneous items hanging from his left arm. A sigh of guilt and loss escaped his lips and he stared up at the bright blue sky for a moment.

Today was Sunday, a good day, nothing too special about it, but Sunday was a day that was always just nice in his family. Today sucked though. Just outright sucked.

“Damnit.” Everything was just wrong, bad, terrible, and now he had to go home and deal with the source of all this bad energy. Tyler gave the front left tire of his truck a good kick and climbed into it. He slung the bags onto the passenger seat and started her up. She was a 1987 W100 Dodge that he had built up and painted orange; homage to his favorite series of all time, “Dukes of Hazzard”. His real baby was his 1969 Dodge Charger that he was rebuilding from the ground up from scratch to look exactly like ‘The General Lee’. He kept her at his buddy Joe’s garage where he worked at part time as a mechanic when he wasn’t in class or working at the library. Old Dodge parts weren’t cheap and parts had to be paid for somehow.

Starting her up the radio came on, country station of course, that played a nice mixture of the old and the new. He drove to the apartments with the windows down, one hand on the wheel, and the other propped up out the window. As the music played he leaned his head back into the seat and fought the urge to close his eyes and relax against the breeze that pushed his hair out of his face. He was thinking of how to deal with the mess that awaited him back home, which was the only thing not making this drive relaxing.

“Jackass, I’m home!” Tyler called as he jiggled the keys out of the door handle and closed it behind him with a kick of his foot. The smell of beer and self-loathing hung in the air as he made his way around the corner and into the living room. Just as he had left him he found Cyprus sprawled on his back in nothing but his boxers; lying in the middle of the floor, passed out, with canes of beer scattered about. Tyler pushed some cans out of his way with his foot, mumbling insults to himself as he rounded into the kitchen, and laid the bags on the counter.

“Dude, wake up!” He called out again as he dug through the bag for the six pack of bottled water he had bought. Peeking over the counter he saw that Cyprus hadn’t stirred an inch. Lifting a brow, Tyler walked back into the small living room and stood over Cyprus’s sleeping form. “Cy!” He raised his voice a little and nudged Cyprus with his foot. Still having no effect Tyler unscrewed the cap on the bottled water and poured a small amount directly onto Cyprus’s face. As soon as the cold water hit him Cyprus frantically flailed his arms about and raised his head off the floor, yelling gibberish, and wiping his face with wide eyes.

“T-Ty! What the hell?!”

“Wake up Sleeping Beauty.” Putting the cap back on, Tyler handed the bottle of water to Cyprus. “Drink some water. And please, take a shower, you smell and look like crap.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Wasn’t Sleeping Beauty woken with a kiss?” Cyprus reached up, squinting his achy eyes, and within the first three attempts was finally able to take the bottle from Tyler with a snatch. His face held a slight pout as he looked up at Tyler, upset with how rudely awakened he was. Cyprus’s eyes were bloodshot and he had grayish bags under them; clear signs that he was drinking more than he was sleeping. Cyprus took some small sips of the water before he gingerly laid his head back down on the floor, seeing as it was pounding with his hangover.

“Kissing you is the last thing I’d do. You’re lucky I’m even being nice to you.” Looking around Tyler noticed that there were no lights on in the room, hadn’t been for the last three days, this bothered him. He had ignored it up till now because he had been busy with school and work. Today he was putting his foot down though and going to try and clean up Cyprus’s mess. Marching over to the living room window Tyler threw open the curtains and grabbed the pull string for the blinds and yanked them open with aggravation. Sunlight flooded the room and straight into Cyprus’s sore eyes.

“Agh, noo! It burns us!” Cyprus yelled, half hissed, and covered his face while rolling over onto his side, and buried his face in the carpet. Shaking his head Tyler just rolled his eyes and walked around the pathetic display on the floor.

“Cut it with the “Lord of the Rings” quotes and get your lazy, guilty ass up off this floor. Go get cleaned up, put on some pants, and start getting your pathetic life in order. Damnit, Cy, I feel like I’m dealing with a child.  My little brother is more mature than you.” Tyler turned and looked down at Cyprus, rolling around on the floor like a damn five year old. He didn’t care if he had to kick Cyprus’s ass to get him back into shape, he was going to make Cy listen. All Cyprus had been doing for the last three days was drinking, and if he let him be today he would drink this day away too.

‘Really, I ain’t got a clue what the hell is going on in your head Cy, I’ve never seen you like this before…’

With a heavy sigh Tyler leaned his head as far back as he could and let out a loud grunt of irritation, as well as taking a deep breath and sliding the palm of his hand down his face.

‘I am so tired of fighting with you…’

Rolling his head over to the side Tyler stared down at Cyprus for a moment out of the corner of his eyes. Cyprus was trying to unscrew the cap on the bottle of water and failing. Again with a sigh of defeat Tyler leaned over to his friend and offered him a hand up.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” For a moment Cyprus just stared at the hand as if it was poisoned, and then up at him, probably surprised by Tyler’s suddenly sympathetic tone. Cyprus reached for Tyler’s hand and tried to pull himself up, but stumbled as he rose too quickly; the sudden motion of rising made his achy head dizzy and he sent them both falling back into the couch. Tyler landed roughly on the sofa, but Cyprus went right back to the floor. He sat there on his knees between Tyler legs and held his aching head in his hands.

“Oh man, I think I’m going to puke…”

“Cy, if you throw up on me I’ll knock your lights out, I swear!” Tyler grabbed Cyprus’s shoulders and tried to push him as far away from him as he could.

“Uggh…oh god, dude, you’re making it worse! Don’t move, don’t move, it’s gotta go back down.” Instead of moving away, Cyprus reached forward and wrapped his arms around Tyler’s waist and buried his face in Tyler’s stomach.

“Arrgh! Cy, don’t you dare get sick on me!” Tyler froze still as he felt his friends face against his stomach and a light blush rose to his cheeks in embarrassment.

“Just stay still, my head’s spinning.” Cyprus seriously sounded as if he was about to get sick and Tyler let out an irritated growl of defeat and relaxed back into the couch.
“You’re nothing but trouble, you know?” He laid his hands on top of Cyprus’s head and unconsciously started to stroke his hair as if he was a little kid. They stayed like this for several long minutes, neither talking. The room still reeked of booze, but there was an easy calmness brought on by the light that scattered over the room and the dust that he watch float through it.

This wasn’t the first time he had petted Cyprus’s hair like this while he was drunk. Cyprus was such a sloppy baby drunk and Tyler had lost count of all the times he had had to calm him down just like this.

‘Never have I seen you like this over a boy though…’

“You’re warm.” The words came as a mumble and barely made it to Tyler’s ears.

“Am I?” Tyler chuckled a little and surprisingly smiled down as Cyprus nuzzled his face further into Tyler’s lap.

“Yeah, I could suck you off right here if you wanted me to.” Tyler fought the urge to knock Cyprus in the side of the head for that comment.

“I ain’t hot for you, you perv, I was running errands and it’s stupid warm and muggy out. Calm down.” He rattled off his explanation with gritted teeth and tugged a little on Cy’s hair as the man nuzzled his crotch more.

“Come on, it isn’t like I haven’t done it for you before.” Cyprus gave a light pout and glanced up at Tyler with curious tired eyes. Tyler just shook his head and leaned back into the couch. He closed his eyes and thought of memories that were long since gone.

“That was a long time ago Cyprus, we were just stupid kids back then.” They’d never been in a relationship, but Tyler was a late bloomer and Cyprus had confessed to Tyler that he liked boys at a very early age. So needless to say middle school was very confusing for Tyler. On a few occasions he had got Cyprus to mess around with him, just to see what it was like, nothing more than experimentation though. Turns out the gay thing wasn’t for Tyler and they had never done it since.

“Things were so much better back then.” Tyler could hear the plea for comfort in Cyprus’s voice and answered it with another run threw of his fingers threw his hair.

“Yup, it sure was.” He answered and stared down at Cy with a worried expression.  

“I love you Ty.”

“I love you too.”

“I love Jaidyn…” It was such a blunt confession that it took Tyler a moment to process it.

“I know.” Tyler sucked in a breath of air and blew it out roughly as he leaned his head back to try and stop the sting of tears in his eyes. They did not come out of sadness, but out of the full honesty that had just spilled from Cyprus’s lips. He felt Cyprus’s grip on him tighten and felt hot wet tears seep through his white T-shirt.

“I talked to Jaidyn today.” This caused Cyprus to jerk his head up and stare up at Tyler with pleading eyes that were glazed with tears.

“How is he?”

“Hurt, but I could tell he misses you.” The way that Cyprus’s eyes shifted from hopeful to sad caught Tyler off guard. Such sad, distant, and lost eyes, eyes that didn’t belong to his childhood friend.

“There is no way…he misses me…”

“Cy--”

“No Ty! What I did, I can’t ever make it up to him?”

“Stop your whining, ‘I can’t?’ Since when have you ever used the word ‘can’t’? You’ll make it up to him. I know he wants ta forgive your dumb ass, though I don’t know why; but for some reason that boy loves you. So try, do whatever it is you do best, and make him take you back. I know you can.” Tyler rested his arms on the back of the couch and stared down at Cyprus with a smile. He had wasted the last week being pissed at his best friend in the whole world and he was tired. It was about time they made up. Given the right time and circumstances it was easy to forgive Cyprus of his stupidity and selfishness. Drinking himself pitiful was a sad enough circumstance.

“You don’t really think that, do you?” Cyprus sounded and looked doubtful.

“Yeah, sad, but true, I do. You can get any piece of ass you want Cy, you’re like a sex God. And don’t you ever forget it! So channel some of that sex charm into being a real man and get Jaidyn back.” Tyler reached a hand down and flicked Cyprus in the forehead. “Go on, get cleaned up. I have an idea.” He smiled cheekily at his friend, looking very proud of himself. Cyprus just looked wide eyed up at him and rubbed the place on his forehead Tyler had flicked.

“Wow Ty, thanks. Uhh… what’s your idea?” Cyprus sounded a little dazed as he looked down at his fingers for blood.

“Weeeelll…” Tyler rolled his eyes as a huge grin spread across his face, truth be told he had been very excited to tell Cyprus about this for the last three days.

“What is it?”

“Jaidyn’s birthday is in four days.”

“What!?!?”

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“Kweeehhhh!…Kweeehhhh!…Kweeehhhh!...”

Jaidyn lifted a hand and began to slam it around on his nightstand looking for his phone. The annoying, yet lovely, sound coming from it was the ‘Chocobo Wark’ from one of his favorite games “Final Fantasy”.

“Ugh…come on…” He grunted as he still hadn’t found it. Lifting his face from his black pillow he spotted it on the complete other side of the nightstand. Stretching for it with more sounds of irritation he finally got it. Flipping it open he quickly shut it off, but left it open as he stared at the screen with as a depressing knot formed in his stomach.

“May seventh…” The date slipped off his lips, but left his mouth feeling sticky and dry. Rolling over in his bed, pulling the comforter tighter around him, Jaidyn cradled the phone in his hand and laid there staring at it. His face was blank as he thought about what a horrible day it was going to be. It was six-thirty, which left him an hour to get dressed and ready for school. It only took him about ten minutes to get there; first bell rang at seven-forty five, classes started at eight.

Laying there in the quietness of his dark room he became aware that it was not as quiet as it should have been.

“Shit no!” Jaidyn lurched up and threw open the curtains beside his bed. Water raced down his window and the tree branches scrapped across the roof of the house by the force of the wind. It was pouring outside. The ground was soaked and it was darker than it should have been out by this time. “Shit shit shit!” He fell back down on his bed and stared up at the window. It was not that he hated rain, he loved the sound of it; he just hated having to walk to school in it. Any other day he would have loved nothing more than to get lost in his thought as he walked through its embrace; today though he didn’t like the idea of going to school in soaking wet clothes.

‘Happy Birthday to me…’

Sitting up Jaidyn scratched the back of his neck before he pushed himself off the bed and walked over to the light switch. Flicking it on he found that the power was still working which meant yes, he had to go the school.

“Maybe I’ll just skip.”

Thinking it over he decided that no matter how much he begged his mother wouldn’t allow it. Since they had moved she now kept a closer eye on his attendance and his grades. Needless to say his attendance in the city school had been less than outstanding.

Shuffling around the room he started the serious process of getting dressed. Despite the fact that this day was going to suck, he still wanted to look nice while sucking. So he put on his favorite pair of black jeans, complete with artistic rips and silver studs around the pockets. For the shirt he wore a purple and black striped tank; on the front it had sketchy black and white bleeding hearts. He wore his favorite black studded boots, over the pants; and then put on black and purple stripped arm wormers to match his shirt. He completed the outfit with miscellaneous jewelry; rings, necklaces, and bracelets to match. He did his hair and makeup too. His makeup he did a little heavier than usual to spite his fellow students, but not enough to look like he took Crayola crayons to his face.

Looking in the mirror for last looks he noticed that he looked like an image of his older self. He hadn’t dolled himself up like this for a while. It was still toned down compared to how he used to dress, but not too far a cry from it.

“I guess this will have to do.” Fluffing his bangs some more he gave a nod of approval. Jaidyn grabbed his bag and phone on the way out the room and flicked off the light. He also locked his door, if he didn’t Charles would go in and trash it if he got in a bad mood, he had a small metal piece he had cut off from a metal clothes hanger that he would use to unlock it later. As he made his way to the kitchen Jaidyn stopped in the middle of the hall; there was a scent in the air that tickled his nose and made his mouth water. It had been a very long time since he had woken to this smell.

‘Bacon?’

Rounding the corner Jaidyn peeked in and froze at the sight of his mother standing in front of the stove cooking bacon in a greasy skillet. Looking over at the small table, which was centered with the huge window, he saw a large serving plate. On the plate was a pile of eggs; they were sunny side up just the way he liked them.

“Jaidyn?” His attention snapped up and he looked at his mother as she turned away from the stove and walked over to the table where she placed three slices of bacon on the plates she had set out for them. “Come on in Sweetie! Surprise! Happy Birthday!” Her voice was low, but her tone and smile was full of excitement. She held her index finger up over her lips and then pointed past him into the dark living room. Turning his head he peered into the dark living room. The couch was facing away from the kitchen, but he saw Charles’s foot dangling over the arm of it and was sure the man was passed out. Noticing the beer bottles scattered across the coffee table was pretty much a guarantee that he would be asleep till well past noon. Jaidyn shook his head in irritation and then back over to his mother and cracked a small smile at her.

‘Wonder if Cyprus is drinking today too.’

“Wow…mom…this is, amazing, thank you.” He couldn’t even remember the last time she made him breakfast.

‘When was the last time she even cooked a meal?’

“Come here, sit sit, we don’t have much time before I have to drive you to school.” She nearly lost her balance and dropped the skittle as she tried to pull the stool out for him with her foot.

“You’re going to drive me?”

“Yeah, I already called into work and told them I was going to be a little late. I don’t want you to have to walk in the rain on your birthday.” She said all this as she made herself a plate and Jaidyn made himself comfortable at the table. There was a napkin and fork already set out for him along with a glass of…

“Grape juice…” He whispered to himself in hushed surprise.

‘She remembered.’

It had been a very long time since she had made anything for him and he was surprised to see that she still remembered how he liked his eggs and what his favorite juice was.

“You still like grape right? If not we have orange juice, or I think we have Kool-Aid packets.”

“No, it’s ok, grape is still my favorite.” Lifting the chilled glass up to his lips he smiled softly at her, her efforts to start this day out nicely were working. He was so surprised he couldn’t even think of a proper ‘thank you’. “Thank you, this is all great. You didn’t have to do this for me.” He sat the glass back down just as she was sitting herself on the other side of the table.

“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. This is your first birthday here and I wanted it to be nice. I know this isn’t much; still I just wanted to do something for you. I got you presents too and a cake, you’ll get that stuff later though.” She reached across the table and took his right hand with her left and squeezed it. “Seventeen and you’re going to be a senior in the fall. Oh gosh Jaidyn, I can’t believe it. I feel like you’ve grown up so fast and I don’t know where all the time’s gone.”

He knew where it had gone. Locked behind closed doors where they hid everything from each other. Lying to each other about how their days had gone and that they all just pretended Charles wasn’t an alcoholic with an anger problem. Even now, they hardly knew anything about each other.

“I know.”

“It’s going to get better. Someday, I promise.” Jaidyn watched as she bit at her lips and nodded her head, probably saying the words more to herself then him. Though, this was the first time she had ever said those words to him. “I love you Sweetie.”

“I love you too.” He squeezed her hand back before letting it go. He picked up his fork and began eating. It was the best breakfast he had had in a long time. He had learned to cook for himself a long time ago, but nothing ever beats a mother’s cooking. He found himself unconsciously smiling and forgetting about the rain and the drunken man on the couch. They chatted and laughed together until it was time for school.

“So, any plans today?” His mother asked as they pulled out of the drive way. Jaidyn shrugged as he buckled his seatbelt and wiped some rain drops off his face. He hadn’t really thought about what he was going to do. He honestly had planned to just lie in bed and watch movies all day or read. They never did anything special on his birthday. If he was telling the truth, back in the city, Alex’s idea of celebrating his birthday was getting high, drinking, and fucking until they passed out. He couldn’t remember the last sober birthday he had had.

“Not really. I was just going to laze around once I got home from school. Do I really have to go?” The last words came out as a groan and he looked over at her with a sarcastic expression, knowing she was going to say yes.

“Yes, sorry, but yes you have to go.” She looked over at him and smiled a smile that scrunched up her nose and squinted her eyes.

She allowed him to switch on the radio and listen to his favorite station, though it didn’t last long because the drive to school was short. She pulled up to the sidewalk in front of the school and put the car in park.

“Now, Jaidyn, I know you hate it here and I know things haven’t been good for you lately and I know it’s raining, but don’t allow those things to make you think that today is going to be horrible. I promise you, this is going to be a great birthday for you. Just you wait and see.” Her voice was so full of excitement and determination that is made him begin to worry.

‘What is she up to?’

“Mom? What are you planning?” He raised an eyebrow at her smile, which reached from ear to ear, as she reached over and hugged him awkwardly with one arm.

“Nothing, we are just going to have a great day ok?”

“We?” He pushed her away gently and stared wide eyed at her. He was extremely nervous now.

“Yes, now get in there before the bell rings and you are late.” She reached down next to her seat and pulled out a navy blue umbrella that she then pushed into his hands. “Here, take this and stay dry.”

“But, mom…”

“Goooo Birthday Boy!” She shoved his arm lightly as he pulled up the hood on his hoodie.

“You’re making me very nervous, you know that?”

“Gooooo!” She laughed and nudged him more as he opened the door and gave her one more sympathetic look, pleading that he really didn’t want to go. “Have a good day! I’ll see you when you get home!” She rolled her eyes and chuckled out the words, finding his expression all too funny.

“Byyyeeeee.” His tone was sarcastic as he shut the door and his mother drove off. The rain hit him hard before he had the chance to open up the umbrella. He fumbled with it for a moment as the rain drenched through his hoodie. It finally flung open and he raised it quickly over his head before he was too wet. Shoving his free hand in his jacket pocket he turned and started the long trek up to the school. Kids ran passed him and he heard the first bell ring which meant he had fifteen minutes to get to class before he was late.

‘What the hell is she planning?’
This was almost scary now that he thought about it. His mother hadn’t done anything for his birthday since he was in elementary school. It was just weird and really nerve racking.

‘Like hell I am going to be able to concentrate now. Ugh!’

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The day went by at an agonizingly slow pace. On top of the mind numbing thoughts about what his mother had in store for him, he had to endure the elementary school level of torment of having his birthday announced over the school intercom as soon as home room started. This was one of those towns were everyone knew everyone, so birthdays at school were a big deal. The student council president read out his name with all the sweetness that she probably could muster. To his embarrassment his home room teacher forced the whole class to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. She even forced him to come up and pick a candy out of her jar and gave him a hug. It was utter torture.

It didn’t stop there though, no, not by a long shot. In every class after that the teachers that usually ignore him and left him be called out his name with excitement and made it known to everyone in class that today was ‘his’ birthday. It wasn’t out of the ordinary, they did it for everyone’s birthday.

‘But why did they have to do it for me? They could just ignore me and been politely distant as usual.’

Because of this attention the teachers gave him he got shoved more in the halls and got called ‘freak’ and ‘faggot’ with harsher tones. What was it about his birthday that made people hate him more? Was it because the teachers were being nice to him?

“This just sucks, yeah mom, this day has been great.” Jaidyn slammed his locker shut with a loud bang. He slung his shoulder bag higher up and stood there adjusting the strap. The bell had just rung so students were still running about, screaming, laughing, and their only thoughts were on getting up out of there. Jaidyn always held back at his locker and waited till the halls quieted down. He hated fighting the crowds and he wasn’t as eager to go home as they were.

‘Usually I would go to the library…’ He hadn’t been there since that day.

Jaidyn let out a sigh and dug his hands into his pockets and just leaned against his locker. He had his ear buds in already and just switched the volume on his iPod up higher to drown out his thoughts. Closing his eyes he leaned his head back against the locker; getting lost in the music that was “Linkin Park”. The peace was short lived through. Out of nowhere something hard hit him in the shoulder, shoving him over and onto the floor. As his ear buds fell out all he heard yelled was:  

“Move it faggot!”

Looking up, a little dazed in surprise, the hall was still full of people and his assailant was lost in the crowed.

‘Fucking bulldozer…’ Jaidyn stayed there for a moment on his knees, staring at the floor. He was so angry and so hurt, he just wanted this day to be over already.

“Hey kid, are you ok? I saw what Tommy-Joe did to you, that fucking alpha dog shit.” Jaidyn heard the angry girls’ voice, but it scared him because it seemed to be in his defense. Glancing up he saw the girl standing next to him. He slowly got to his feet and for a moment just stared in amazement; he had never seen this girl before. She had long brown hair and greenish brown eyes. She wasn’t dressed like the others, but not quite to his level either. Kind of like a less depressed version of ‘Alice’ from “Breakfast Club”. She had on a long-sleeved black button down with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. She wore a crotchet black skirt over her faded blue jeans, and black boots, only her pants legs fell over her boots. She was pretty, not beautiful, just a natural kind of beauty. She didn’t have any piercings, except for one in each ear, or makeup, or any heavy jewelry.

‘Where have you been all this time?’

“Did he knock your speech out of you?” She eyed him in worry and stepped a little closer, getting a little too close for comfort, but he didn’t flinch.

“No, he didn’t.”

“So you’re alright?”

“Seems so.” He answered her as he went about tucking his iPod back into his pocket, along with his ear buds.

“Jaidyn? Right?” Her voice now seemed a little nervous and all he could think about was what her motive was for talking with him. No one had spoken a single kind word to him since he had gotten here.

“Yeah.”

“Oh good, cool, I mean, I was lookin’ for you, not that you’re hard to miss.” She stared at him now, as he had stared at her, taking in all the detail. “Wow, you really are an oddball.”

‘And there it is.’

“Yeah, thanks for pointing it out, see ya.” Jaidyn made to step around her, but she jumped in his way.

“Whoo there pretty boy, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Calm down.” She smiled and held her hands up defensively. “I just meant that you’re different that’all, and that ain’t a bad thing neither. I’m different too. The only thing that’s keeping me safe is my older bro is on the football team.” She smiled a little sheepishly and held her arms crossed behind her back. “I actually like the way you look, I don’t mind it, it suits you.”

“Thanks?” Jaidyn still didn’t trust this, so she wore black, big deal. What made her think they were the same?

“My names Etta. Nice to meet you.” She held out her hand and for a moment Jaidyn stared at it. “Oh come on, shake it! It ain’t no wild hound dog about to bite you.” Reaching over she took Jaidyn’s left hand and shook it warmly.

This was strange, like crazy strange. First the thing with his mom making him breakfast and now some nice weird girl was shaking his hand. Oh, this made him feel sick with nervousness.

“Uhh, nice to meet you…Etta.” His words were shaky and his eyes began to notice that the halls were clearing.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” She let go of his hand and they stood there for a moment. She just smiled at him and he of course cracked a smile back and shifted his gaze around her. “Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday.”

Jaidyn’s head snapped back around to face her. Her words had caught him off guard and he was frozen still as him mind raced with overjoy and astonishment.

‘Did she just…oh yeah she did!’

“Th-thank you.” A happy smile spread over Jaidyn’s face and he fought it at first because it was real, but still she saw it. Instead of pointing it out she continued to smile and rock back and forth on the heels of her boots.  
“Come on.” She motioned for him to walk with her. He hesitated for a moment, but caught up with her with surprised eagerness in his pace. It was so strange walking down the school halls with someone, someone who really wanted to be around him. Etta talked about the weather and how it sucked to have it rain on his birthday. She asked him questions about how old he was turning, what grade he was, what his favorite classes were. He found himself answering her and laughing along with her comments and jokes on the weather and teachers.

Once they got to the entrance Etta crossed her arms over her chest and smiled at him. They stood just outside the entrance under the overhang.  The rain still poured and the students scattered like ants into cars, making mad dashes for home, or grabbing their bikes. It was weird because he felt time had gone by fast and he didn’t want this to end moment with Etta.

“Well, from here I got to make a run for it, my house ain’t far, but it’s raining p
pretty hard. I’m going to be soaked.”

“Probably, it’s gonna suck for you.”

“Oh yeah! Major suck. See ya around ok? Have a great birthday Jaidyn.”

“Thanks. S-see you around.” Etta gave Jaidyn a toothy smile and skipped down the steps, giving a light yelp as the rain hit her. He watched her run down the path, make a left at the gate and he lost her amongst the students and rain.

‘A friend? Can I even call her that? Here? At school? For real?’

The thought made him smile, over and over again, a friend! One that wasn’t older, or a prostitute, or a thug, or drop out, or stoner of any of that bad stuff from his past! Oh dear, it felt so nice to think about it! He feared though getting his hopes up, so even though he was grinning shyly on the outside, he held his heart close in his hands on the inside and waited till he might see her again.

He skipped, he freaking skipped down the school steps, following in Etta’s joyfulness, and when he made it to level ground Jaidyn tilted his head back and let the rain pour down his face. He felt the rain slither through his hair and race down his neck like kisses. He opened his mouth and caught the drops on his tongue. He didn’t care that he was getting soaked clean through.

“Don’t do that, the rain will make your pretty makeup run.” He heard a voice and out of nowhere the rain stopped falling on his willing skin.