Chapter 18
St. Francis High School on Sunday Nov. 26th 2000 at 3:29 pm
RING RING RING RING.
Was the first sound he heard when he unlocked the door to his dormitory and stepped inside. Justin ran to the phone and picked it up before the machine could answer.
“Hello?”
“Justin?”
“Umm yes.”
“Where the fuck have you been?!”
He groaned, he wasn’t in the mood for a guilt trip.
“Ethan I-” But Ethan went on with his rant without letting him explain.
“I’ve been calling since Thursday night and no answer! I’ve been worried sick, I even called Gregg t0 check if he’d heard from you, but of course he hadn’t and I had to convince my parents that you were safely back in school, but I know they knew there was something wrong with me-“
“Ethan-” Justin tried to cut across him but to no avail.
“I didn’t want to get you in trouble if of course you decided to venture around Liberty avenue, but I was so damn worried, and days went by with not one single peep from you! I even went down to Liberty to check if someone had seen you, but of course, no one had and then I wondered what if all this time you had been murdered and dumped in some dumpster and here I was covering for the fucking murderer. On top of that I checked all the hospitals, contacted all the local morgues but that was obviously a dead end. And I mean can you even begin to imagine it, me, permanently traumatized looking at dead bodies for nothing!”
When Ethan stopped to take a breath, Justin took the chance to say, “I’m sorry, ok, I’m sorry for being such an unbelievably selfish ass but it’s not like I even had your number to begin with.”
Ethan snorted, “So, you’re telling me you don’t know how to use a phonebook?”
Justin rolled his eyes. “Ok, so I’m a lousy friend but I was-well distracted.”
“Oh yeah?” Another snort. “Where were you anyways?”
“So, what time are you coming back?” Justin asked with an obvious attempt to change the subject.
“I’m actually on my way already, I stopped by a telephone booth hoping beyond hope that you would pick up and tell me everything was fine.”
“Well everything is fine, I’m in one peace.”
Ethan scoffed and then the line went dead.
Justin sighed, great that’s all he needed, another person who now hated his guts. The ride up to school with Mr. Kinney had to be one of the tensest experiences of Justin’s life. The older man had successfully pretended he hadn’t been riding in the jeep next to him. Every time Justin had attempted to open his mouth, he would turn up the volume on the radio. It wasn’t until Brian stopped his jeep a couple of blocks away from the Academy that he finally acknowledged him by turning down the volume and saying, “Stay out of Liberty avenue.” Without even bothering to face him, his eyes still on the road ahead.
“I will not,” Justin had shout out at once.
“I wasn’t asking you,” he said in a threatening voice, still not looking at him, though he did notice how his knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.
“I don’t give a damn. You don’t have the right to tell me where or where not to go.”
Brian turned to him then, and the greens of his eyes seem to be alive with a fiery fury. Justin almost backed down, almost. “Look, you insolent little brat, you are too young, and not to mention too stupid to be venturing around there going home with the first guy that offers.”
“And what business is that of yours?”
“Unfortunately for me, if something happens to you it will come back around to me, and you are not worth the trouble.”
Justin had scoffed, arms tight around his chest in rebellion. “And how exactly are you planning on keeping me away, huh? Are you gonna report me?” He had huffed then as if calling his bluff.
The brunette practically growled at him. “Don’t test me Taylor.”
“Well, I’ll take my chances,” he had snapped and opening the passenger door had climbed out of the jeep banging the door shut behind him.
At that time, he had been pumping with adrenaline and anger at the tall brunette, now he was deeply regretting his show of bravado. Did he really want to test his much older professor? Did he really want to deal with the consequences?
Saturday, Dec. 16th 2000 at 9:36 a.m.
Making Justin’s heart go tachycardic the door of room S13 opened and he quickly extinguished his cigarette on his can of coke. However, he needn’t have worried because the figure that emerged through the door was none other than professor Kinney. Instantly their eyes met, and he saw the man freeze on the spot but then with an almost indistinguishable shake of his shoulder he closed and locked the door behind him. Justin swallowed much too aware that this was the first time they had been alone since he rode in his jeep over two weeks ago.
Without a word of greeting Mr. Kinney took a cigarette out of his pocket put it in between his lips and lit it with his overly fancy lighter. Justin watched without saying a word as the brunette let out a lung full of smoke while leaning against the wall on the other side of the window. Justin wasn’t sure if he should light up again, but he would have done about anything to break the palpable tension that filled the room, thus he placed his can of coke on the window sill and took another cig from his pocket and lit it.
“I heard Miss Peterson isn’t coming back, how come?” Justin inquired unable to handle the silence any longer.
Surprisingly Brian answered him, perhaps a little disdainfully but still it was an answer. “Some maternal shit about wanting to stay at home with the baby, so now I’m stuck coming in on Saturdays for a disclosed amount of time…yuppie.”
“Can’t say that I’m sorry,” Justin said without thinking.
Brian rolled his eyes and inhaled deeply from his cigarette, while Justin followed suit and took another puff out of his third cigarette. The two men stood in silence as they finished their cigarettes, and though Justin tried to ignore it he couldn’t help but appreciate the way Mr. Kinney looked in the tight black jeans.
“You’re going to burn your finger twat," Brian said a little amused as Justin looked down at his fingers to see that indeed his cigarette was down to the bud. With a sheepish smile, he dropped the bud into his can of coke and said, “Well, guess I’ll see you in class.”
Justin turned to leave half wishing that Brian would try to stop him, but he didn’t. It wasn’t like Justin had actually expected him to, but perhaps that naïve, hopeful part of him hope that Brian had thought of him at least half as much as he had thought of him.
The colors that reverberated in Justin’s painting reflected his dark mood and unquenched longing, a mix of black, cobalt blue, and ruby red stood out at him, taunting him. And it wasn’t until he heard a couch right behind him that he realized that he was the only student left in the room. He had been so distracted with his painting that he hadn’t noticed that the others had filed out of the room. Justin turned to look at the only other person in the art room, Mr. Kinney, who had a tongue in cheek expression with his arms folded across his chest.
“What?"
“Are you staying here all day or am I going to get to go home?”
“You could have left. I’m not going to apologize for being in the zone."
For the second time that day Brian rolled his eyes. "Should I be speaking to a counselor on your behalf."
“What?” Justin said again.
“Your painting, that’s some dark shit.”
Now it was Justin’s turn to roll his eyes as he got off his stool to rinse out his paintbrushes. While he placed his brushes under hot water he realized that Brian was still standing in the same place he had left him. Justin was about to open his mouth to say something biting but thought better of it and kept his mouth shut instead. He did, however, watch Brian from the corner of his eye as the latter stared down at his painting with a shrewd expression.
“So, what else do you think of it?” Justin asked unable to help himself as he moved to stand next to Brian, whom was still looking down at his painting.
“Does it matter what I fucking think?"
“Well, you are the substitute art teacher after all."
Unaware of himself Mr. Kinney grinned, and rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger as if in thought. "Not bad." He said still grinning.
“I’ll take that as the compliment I’m sure you meant it to be.” Justin said unable to hide his own grin as he began to place his paintbrushes into his satchel.
Still Mr. Kinney hadn’t left the room. Pretending he was still putting away his paintbrushes Justin asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you Mr. Kinney?"
“Yeah, you can hurry the fuck up, so I can get the fuck out of here."
“What, you have to lock up the art room now? Who the hell is going to want to steal art supplies?”
“Don’t ask me kid, I’m not the one who made the dumbass rule."
Justin didn’t completely buy the excuse, because it just so happened that the brunette was simply standing much too close. It wasn’t like Justin minded the closeness, yet it did put him in mind of jumping the very attractive older man. But he quelled that instinct. Well, at least until Brian took a step backward, and for whatever reason he just could not handle that minute distance. In less than a second, his pale arms were around the bronze neck and his lips were pressed against soft lips. The kiss went on for a minute or maybe an hour, Justin wasn’t sure, all he knew was that he was disappointed when they broke apart.
“Are you fucking insane?! Anybody could have walked in.” Brian snapped distancing himself from the blonde.
“Unlikely. Again, who is going to want to hang out in the art room at noon on a Saturday?”
Mr. Kinney didn’t reply instead he signaled towards the door, but Justin refused to move. “So that’s it then, we’re just student and teacher just like that?”
Brian made a frustrated sound and said, “What the hell else did you expect?”
“I don’t expect anything from you, except, maybe for the truth." And shaking his head Justin walked out of the room feeling even more disappointed than he did when Brian broke the kiss.
Things with Ethan were weird…to say the least. He hadn’t totally bought Justin’s story about his whereabouts that Thanksgiving weekend, and it wasn’t like Justin wanted to lie to him. Even though he trusted him he wasn’t about to risk Brian’s job or more selfishly, the chance of seeing him in school again. Gregg on the other hand couldn’t have cared less and was constantly observed mocking Ethan for giving Justin a hard time. So naturally, one uneventful night he snapped not at all too kindly, “What the fuck business is it of yours? He has a secret lover that he rather not tell you about. So fucking what?! Stop being such a prissy bitch.”
Needless to say, the musical PrimaDona and the St. Joseph’s soccer star were no longer on speaking terms. At one-point Justin had tried to intervene (“They just lost their first game of the season and you know that his whole future depends on that soccer scholarship.”) but that only led to more uncomfortable silences accompanied by accusing glares, and a three day long dry spell! Of course, that led him to keep his big mouth shut, which alas, seemed to benefit him. Since neither of the boys wanted to be in the same room for more than a few minutes (which was absurd, considering they had the same classes and shared the same dorm), it meant less bickering which led to better study time (mostly time spent daydreaming about Mr. Kinney’s generous anatomy), and believe it or not eventually to more sex. It was like he could never do it enough and since neither Ethan nor Gregg were complaining he wasn’t likely to stop. Though admittedly he was seeing less of Ethan than he would like, all thanks to the New York symphony and Ethan’s uncanny talent. Instead he found himself alone more times than he was comfortable with, making a lot of phone calls to Daphne, whom like him seemed to have no life.
These days the gay district was out of the question due to the increased security after that sophomore girl almost OD. Making the past few weeks drearier than they have ever been at St. Josephs. It wasn’t like Gregg wasn’t fun (and amazingly tight) but he normally came with baggage named, Emily, Ceci, Rob, Chris, and sometimes even Maya. Yet, he had to admit that finding ways to ditch them for a quickie had its merits. Unfortunately, he was smoking more than usual and masturbating so often to the memory of Brian that he thought he might have developed a problem.
And then there was his parents, whom still hadn’t called him or the Academy with plans for the Holiday break. He was alone too often, unwanted by his parents, and rejected at every turn by Brian Kinney. So, it wasn’t all that surprising when he received detention after being a smartass to his calculus teacher, Ms. Weaver. It wasn’t like the bitch didn’t deserve it, she was a hateful sanctimonious bigot, that believed her life was a special mission from God. As if.
The worst part was having to miss his afternoon art group, and with it his extra dose of the tall Adonis. Nonetheless, meeting tall and shy Tommy Malkovich did somewhat makeup for his dismay.
Justin had been prepared for three solid hours of undeterred boredom but instead found the staring gaze of the very cute boy. At first, he was weary of approaching or of even acknowledging the watchful gaze but after seventeen minutes and thirty-five seconds of scraping gum out of the bottom of pews Justin let out a huff and turned around to face him.
The kid practically jumped out of his skin aware that he had been caught staring and quickly ducked his head down, pretending to be absorbed in the degumming of the church benches.
“So, what’s your name?” Justin asked removing his latex gloves and throwing them carelessly aside.
“T-T-Thomas, but everyone calls me Tommy.”
“Well Tommy, what you do to get stuck scraping gunk from under benches?” He leaned against the backrest of the bench and towards the younger boy.
“I-Well, I-it’s not important.” Tommy replied his freckled face reddening to match the red hair on his head.
Justin eyed the younger boy with skeptical amusement and succeeded in only making his face turn redder as the latter continued to refuse to meet his eyes.
“How about you?” he asked after a solid minute, his attention on gum scraping unwavering.
“Told Ms. Weaver what a raging bitch she is.”
“What? No way!” Tommy gasped looking up at the pretty grinning blonde from his kneeling position.
“Well, she is a bitch.”
“Yeah but to say it aloud,” he said quietly but impressed.
Justin shrugged. “What year you’re in?”
“I’m a sophomore.”
“Aww bitty baby.”
Affronted the kid scoffed. “I’m no baby, plus I’m only two years younger than you.”
“Exactly, a baby.”
The red headed kid huffed and stood up making his wavy hair fall over his left eye, and it was honestly one of the most adorable things Justin had ever seen. So, of course he couldn’t help but tuck the loose strands back behind the kid’s ear. Tommy’s eyes grew big like saucers, but he didn’t pull away when Justin caressed his freckled face nor when he ran his thumb over his beauty marked lips. To maintain balance Justin gripped the back of the bench with his left hand, the other caressing the freckled cheek as he leaned forward for a kiss. But he found nothing but air as Tommy backed up against the bench in his pew.
“Umm, I’m sorry. I guess I read that wrong,” said Justin nonchalantly as he flopped down on the bench, looking bored but not at all apologetic.
“No, I-I-I mean…”
“What, what do you mean Tommy?” said the older teen looking the younger one square in the face. He gulped and unable to hold the blonde’s gaze he looked down.
Almost inaudibly he said, “Well, it’s just…we’re like in a church.”
Justin couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing. Something that didn’t bode well with the young teen. Though he stood there quietly pouting with his arms around his chest as Justin’s giggles subsided.
“Oh, are you finally done?”
“Yeah, I think I am.” He was still grinning when he turned his back on Tommy Malkovich and again took on the tedious task of degumming the bottom of the benches, not once acknowledging the kid’s presence. He did, however, catch him from the corner of his eyes looking longingly in his direction.
It seemed a century before Ms. Weaver came in to dismiss them. Without glancing once at his detention partner, he walked out of the small chapel, though he did flip-off the vapid bitch who put him in detention in the first place as he went.
He almost reached the building that housed his dorm room when he heard someone call out, “Hey Justin, wait!”
Slowly, and with a shit-eating-grin he turned to face his caller.
Both teens stood face to face, one self-assured and the other out of breath and visibly trembling.
“I well, can I see you around?”
“I don’t see why not. We’re in the same fucking prison, now aren’t we.”
Tommy half glared, half pouted at the blonde. “Not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant.”
“So?” he asked and Justin could tell that even attempting to approach him took a lot out of the redhead so he decided to take pity on him and said, (almost without a trace of mockery) “Sure, we can hang.”
Tommy smiled widely and said, “Okay cool.”
Justin smiled back and turned to walk away but noticed he had a shadow, he turned to his left and found that he had a tail. “Oh, you meant now.”
There was that pout again, it was kind of endearing. What the hell, thought Justin. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do, and he needed new material to draw anyways.
“Come on, then.” And he was followed merrily.