Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2016 16:44:40 +0000
From: Chezdon <chezdon1997@gmail.com>
Subject: Innocence Waning Chapter 23

Chapter 23

After quickly gulping down yet another tumbler of scotch, Austin's father
grabs a bottle of wine from the rack and unscrews the Stelvin cap in one
fluid motion. He deftly fills Julie's empty wine glass and then shuffles
over to the glass coffee table and methodically refreshes my half-full
crystal glass nearly to the brim and proceeds to hand it to me with a wide
grin on his face. "Here you go Chezdon."

Julie enjoys a slow sip of the French cabernet sauvignon and crosses her
arms. With a thoughtful look on her face she begins to speak. "We have to
assume that Chezdon's mother has a living will which bequeaths her estate
in full to Chezdon. She would have executed her Power of Attorney just to
make things easier for him and so the estate would not be overrun by greedy
lawyers having their services being paid from it and also to save on tax."
Chloe drapes her arms over the side of the sofa and produces a hearty laugh
whilst staring at her mother, the greedy lawyer.

Setting the glass of wine back on the glass coffee table next to one of the
empty thick crystal tumblers, I feel a sense of melancholy begin to
overwhelm me as the adults begin to carve up assets. Assets that would be
mine if I gave a shit. Kevin returns to the cabinet and removes the last
clean glass off the shallow mirrored shelf. It seems that he likes to drink
from a clean glass every time he pours another round of scotch for
himself. "Thanks Kevin, but I am exhausted. I really should go home. It has
been one hell of a long day."

Julie continues to think out loud after swirling the red wine in the
glass. "Even if she has a living will, we can keep it tied up in the courts
with the Power of Attorney until Chezdon turns 18 at least and the estate
will pay the legal fees. What would be equitable is if in turn we agreed on
some sort of nominal payment to Chezdon in return for the transfer of
Kelly's estate since we don't know what else is part of it. That seems
fair."

"Do what you want, I really don't care. I am pretty tired." I yawn and walk
over to the sofa and pick up my phone.

Kevin jogs from one side of the living room to the other managing somehow
not to spill a drop of scotch. He pats my back and then squeezes my
shoulder. "Why don't you stay here tonight? There is no point in you going
back to Southbank if you are so tired. Hell, you can stay in Austin's
room."

Julie's mouth noticeably moves to the right side of her face and her blue
eyes protrude from her face. With her arms crossed and holding her wine
glass, she quickly turns around and walks into the kitchen. Chloe laughs
and continues to hang over the top of the sofa and scowls at her
father. "Dad..." She says thoughtfully and cocks her head which gets
Kevin's attention. "Twenty minutes ago you were telling Austin and Chezdon
not to disrespect this house or property by having sex here, but now you
are playing matchmaker. You are ridiculous." A shrill scream is heard by
one and all from the kitchen.

Austin crosses his arms and looks at me with vibrant eyes. "Dad, Chezdon
wants to go home. Chez, I will see you tomorrow." Austin looks at his
father and then over his shoulder into the kitchen where we can see his
mother with her head bent back pouring wine into her mouth direct from the
open wine bottle. "We are supposed to have a date night tomorrow, so he
should be fresh and ready for that." Austin winks at me and I feel blood
beginning to rush into my penis.

"Oh god." Julie slurs from the confines of the kitchen.

An errant thought suddenly comes to mind and a light bulb illuminates above
my head when Chloe reaches over and flicks on a switch on the
wall. "Austin, why don't you come home with me?" I smile and look down at
the beige carpet, taking a sudden interest in how fluffy it is and think
about how nice it would be to walk on with my bare soft feet.

Austin looks at his father with anticipation and Kevin immediately responds
to the question that Austin did not have an opportunity to ask. "Whatever
makes you happy." He drinks the last of the scotch in his tumbler as
rapidly as his wife drank the red wine from the bottle only seconds
prior. Austin unfolds his arms and begins to chew on his fingernail. "I
will give you a ride. Austin, get your things."

"Dad you are such a hypocrite, but whatever. You are ridiculous. You have
been drinking too so just call them an Uber." Chloe once again provides her
apt commentary and returns to watching a show that is seemingly just about
funny cat videos found on the Internet. She makes a perturbed scoffing
noise.

"Yeah that is probably best. I will order an Uber." Kevin scowls at
Chloe. I expect him to admonish her again and demand she stays silent, but
the order is surprisingly not barked.

"Don't worry about it Kevin." I start swiping at my phone and load the Uber
application.

Austin starts to jog toward the staircase. "Yeah, I will go with you, hold
on, let me get my things." I can't help but smile and intentionally look at
Julie who continues to scowl at Kevin from the doorway of the kitchen. She
puts the glass of wine down and retreats deeper into the comfort of her
realm, the kitchen yet again.

Kevin shouts in the direction of his son before he is out of
sight. "Austin! If you are going out tomorrow night, stay with Chezdon then
also. Whatever makes you happy! Whatever is easiest." Austin continues his
journey up the stairs and disappears once he reaches the top level of the
house. Kevin sets his tumbler down and pulls his wallet out of his rear
pocket. Without considering how much currency is in it, he yanks it all out
and hands it to me. "Go have fun with my son tomorrow on me." I take the
wad of cash from him, fold it up and quickly shove it into my pocket.

"Thanks, you are too kind." I am nearly at a loss for words either from
fatigue or shock, but probably both as the wad of cash pushes against my
thigh inside my pocket.

Chloe again pauses the live television and walks over and puts one hand on
my shoulder and another hand on Kevin's shoulder after he picks up his
tumbler again and sips from it. "Chez, I am sure that my father would have
taken just a mere million dollars to pimp out his only son. You could have
saved yourself a few million bucks."

Kevin quickly swats Chloe's hand and arm away and in the process a small
amount of scotch spits out of the tumbler and onto his white shirt. "Don't
say things like that girl!" Kevin raises his voice. "Don't ruin a happy
night." Julie quietly returns into the living room with a cordless vacuum
cleaner and begins to hoover up the glass fragments that are spread over
the carpet in the corner of the room, the result of Kevin's tantrum
earlier. Austin's father then takes the phone out of his pocket. "OK, I
will order an Uber. Chezdon, put your phone away, I will take care of
it. Also, if you don't have any plans on Sunday, why don't you come over
for Sunday roast? Unless of course, you and Austin are doing something
else, that is fine." Kevin begins swiping at his phone whilst deftly
holding the tumbler in the palm of his hand.

 "I will let you know. My father might have something planned and I do have
a fair amount of schoolwork to do." I shift my weight from one of my aching
feet to the other and watch Julie methodically suck up the shards of
glass. The light reflecting off the shards reminds me of the vase that I
tossed into the rock garden in front of my mother's home as I purse my lips
and become circumspect. I ponder what happened just hours ago seems like it
happened a lifetime ago as I cover my mouth and yawn again.

After Kevin swipes at his phone a few more times and issues it
instructions, he inserts the phone back into his pocket and then pats me on
the shoulder again. "No worries. You are always welcome here Chezdon."
Chloe laughs and because there is an advertisement for shampoo being
screened on the television, I know she is cackling at her father's comment
and not a funny cat video.

"I had better see how Austin is going. I will be right back." Without
waiting for a response, I suddenly turn and quickly walk to the staircase
and after finding what feels to be my second wind, I bound up the stairs
and arrive on the fourth floor quickly. I throw Austin's door open only to
find him on his back, laying on his bed with his feet in the air trying to
pull on a pair of skinny jeans.

"Jesus. Can you please knock next time?" Austin laughs and then grunts as
he pulls the jeans up on to his arse. "I could have been jerking off in
here."

"I never would have thought packing a bag would be classified a
mature-rated lurid event." I sit next to Austin who struggles to pull the
black skinny jeans over his red Aussiebum boxer briefs and then I suddenly
take an active interest in looking through the contents of his bag. "Are
you going on holidays or something? How much shit are you bringing with
you?" I let out a loud yawn but do not cover my mouth this time.

"Do you think I want to come back to this crazy lunatic-filled house any
time soon? I will stay with you until your parentals kick me out if that is
okay." Austin stops to make a dramatic pause after the question that seemed
more like a statement before letting out an audible sigh. "They all need
pills, anti-psychotic pills or even some Valium!" I smile and pick up the
nearly empty tube of Clearasil that Austin packed and he quickly knocks it
out of my hand. "We really need to talk about everything that happened here
soon, but not tonight, we should sleep on it. I also want to know what
happened with your mother." Austin then starts shoving shirts and more
pairs of Aussiebum underwear into his bag and drags it towards him and zips
it shut. He quickly puts his arm around my neck and pulls me toward his
armpit. "You are pretty amazing. But I am sure you know that already, you
narcissistic fucker."

"Yeah I do, and you stink." Austin forcefully pulls my head into his armpit
and keeps it there as I shout. "No, gross!" My legs end up peddling
hopelessly in the air in my desperate attempt to break free from Austin's
grasp which results me in falling off the bed, causing a loud thump that
would have been heard throughout the house. Resting on the floor gives me
the opportunity to catch my breath and look under Austin's bed and at the
collection of discoloured used tissues, wads of toilet paper and bunched-up
underwear. In amongst the spent dry life-force and deceased sperm, I pull
out a sheet of paper that has a photo printed on it. "Oh Jesus! You still
have this. Oh my god!"

Austin rolls off his bed and leans down next to my head and quickly grabs
the sheet of paper from my hand. The photo printed on it was taken of us
last year at a party where a group of boys, Austin and I included, thought
it would be a good idea to wear lime green mankinis, mimicking what Sacha
Baron Cohen wore in the movie Borat. Jayden is the only one that managed to
take a photo before I put an oversized hoodie on and I really thought after
the incriminating evidence was deleted from Jayden's phone that this
shocking photo would never surface again. I never wanted to see such an
exposing and embarrassing photo with me in it again that could haunt me for
the rest of my life. I stand up and inspect the ridiculous photo once again
over Austin's shoulder and silently blame such a bad decision on being
young at the time.

 "Jayden sent it to me. Don't worry you fool, I didn't forward it on. It
makes good wanking material though." Austin studies the nearly naked photo
which is revealing enough to show the top millimetre of the head of my
penis if you really look closely and then proceeds to cast his eyes over my
body, making me feel self-conscious as he undresses me with his big eyes. I
quickly grab the piece of paper from his hand and in one motion throw it on
the floor. "You shit!" Austin shouts and pushes his body into me, making me
fall back onto his bed. He quickly mounts me, sitting on my crotch and as I
attempt to struggle, he forces my arms back above my head and uses his body
weight to keep me pinned down on his bed.

My dick begins to swell under the pressure of Austin's arse and I quickly
learn that even pretending to struggle is futile. "Don't start something
you will not be able to stop." I warn Austin and my eyes lock onto his
dilated pupils. He yanks his right hand off of my wrist without warning,
freeing it, however seconds later his hand substitutes its grasp, this time
taking hold of my crotch and my engorged cock that is trapped in solitary
confinement within his grasp within the purgatory of my skinny jeans. I
slowly reach up and lightly brush my free hand against his small ear and
then his soft flushed cheek, moving his blond hair off of his face in the
process. "Goddamn! I want you."

Austin continues to massage my noticeable bulge and smiles. "I can tell." I
take a deep breath and close my eyes, silently willing him to free my willy
and suck on it.

"Oh, Jesus Christ!" I hear Austin's mother shout with a noticeable
inflection of disgust when she utters the name of our supposed lord and
saviour but I can't see her until Austin slides off of my body. "Jesus!"
Julie shouts as she walks off quickly and Austin rediscovers his motivation
to collect his things and begins shoving items into his backpack whilst I
stare at the ceiling, willing myself to calm down by taking long deep
breaths.

"What a laugh. Let's get out of here." Austin seemingly demands as I wipe
sweat from my forehead using one of his bed pillows. Austin continues to
shove personal effects into his backpack, finalising the process by sliding
his laptop and the power cord into it. He is distracted long enough so I
can shove my hand down my jeans and adjust myself so I can actually sit up
and move without feeling too uncomfortable without any threat of scorn. I
can't help but smell my hand after liberating it from the musty jail cell
of my trousers and wince at the sharp stench of sweat and dead skin cells.

Before following Austin from his room, when his back is turned zipping his
backpack closed, I stealthily retrieve the revealing photo of us dressed in
the lime green mankinis from the floor near his bed, quickly fold it up and
slide it into my rear pocket. Like stoking fire with the bellows, Austin
shouts my name and announces that the Uber car has arrived just as I pick
up my pace descending the staircase and I am greeted at the bottom by Julie
McGuire who is not only leering at me but swirling the red wine in her
glass. "I would normally say 'be good' but I will not bother." Julie
quickly consumes the last of the red wine and walks away from us and toward
the kitchen after making the snide comment.

"Don't mind her." Kevin slaps my shoulder with some force. "Ring me if you
need anything."

Austin picks up his backpack and tosses the strap of the duffel bag over
his shoulder. "Don't worry, I will. Let's go Chez." He quickly opens the
door and disappears into the night whilst I am left scratching my head and
looking at Kevin quizzically. I can't fight back another yawn.

"The same goes for you, Chezdon. Ring me if you need anything." Kevin slaps
my shoulder again and then extends his hand and I shake it vigorously. "Let
me know if you will be coming to Sunday roast too when you can."

"I will. Don't worry, I will." My eyes finally break free from Kevin's
stare and I follow the path that Austin previously walked into the night,
where a black Mercedes C200 is waiting with its engine running. I quickly
lunge into the back seat and knock into Austin in the process. "If you
would be so kind as to take us to Eureka tower in Southbank, we would be
grateful." The driver simply nods his head in the affirmative and the car
accelerates away from the McGuire household.

Austin begins to speak rapidly in verbose sentences about what transpired
and after yawning again and attempting to give him my undivided attention,
I am then being pat on the shoulder repeatedly and I feel dazed. My eyes
quickly open and I blurt out, "where am I?" Memories of the mysterious cab
ride with Shaun to Malvern overwhelm me and I feel my cheeks start to blush
and I yawn again.

"You fell asleep. We are only a few seconds from Eureka." At first I muse
at how long Austin would have talked before he realised that I fell asleep
but then he answers the unasked question. "You were snoring only a minute
after we left my house. You poor bastard, you must be exhausted."

I give pause to what transpired earlier in the day as I focus my eyes out
the window, first on the construction site on Riverside Quay and then at
the bluestone that makes up the exterior of the café where Austin
confessed the details of the home invasion earlier in the week as the
Mercedes comes to a slow stop outside of my residential tower. "Thanks
mate, another five-star trip." I smile at the driver who is watching me in
his rear-view mirror and insinuate that he will get a perfect rating on the
Uber application and that I expect him to do the same. "See you mate."

With some difficulty thanks to fatigue, I alight from the car and stumble
onto the footpath like some drunkard would and wait for Austin to remove
his bags from the back of the car before it speeds away from the angry eyes
of the taxi drivers parked at the public cab rank across the street who are
waiting for a fare. "Come on, I can't wait to put you to bed." Austin takes
the lead with a wry smile and I follow him to the secured lobby entrance to
Eureka and use my plastic fob to open the door. I am at a loss for the
spoken word however I start to form complex sentences in my mind as to what
I will say to my father when I see him. I debate the pros and cons silently
with myself as I consider addressing our heinous family secret tonight when
I can barely keep my eyes open.

The ascent in the elevator is not interrupted by any residents wanting to
catch it after a late night session in the gym or the pool and we arrive at
my floor unencumbered by humans. As I open the front door and quickly toss
my keys on the table in the foyer, I hear Sky News being broadcast in the
living room, and like after showing James the door after his visit to my
apartment previously, I wonder what is in store for us as Daniel and Mel
may not like the fact that Austin is spending the night without giving them
notice, let alone if I address the dramas that are lingering in my mind
like a bad smell. I walk into the living room just as I hear Austin drop
his bags behind me and see Mel sitting on the couch. She looks dishevelled
as she sips from a large Riedel glass of wine. "Wow, are you all right? I
didn't think you were that banged up from the accident." The right side of
her face is red and her eye is slightly swollen. It is then that I notice
that the empty plastic bag that originally had the funny white powder that
us teenage boys so enthusiastically snorted is resting ominously on the
glass table in front of her. I feel my heart skip a beat.

Mel sips from her wine glass again. Her attention at first is focused on
the conservative commentator speaking gravely about the Australian federal
government on Sky News. "Do you want to tell me about this?" She raises her
foot and places it on top of the plastic bag on the table. "Hi Austin, I
wasn't expecting you but you should probably hear this too." Mel looks at
me in the eyes which gives me the opportunity to inspect her injured face
and I have to focus my eyes on my knee after sitting down next to her as I
do not know what to say at first.

"Yeah, we did the drugs." I know that Mel is not stupid and there is no
point in trying to bullshit her as she would rip me apart in a cross
examination. "Sorry. I really don't know what to say."

"What are you sorry about Chezdon?" Mel sets her glass on the table and
picks up the empty plastic bag. "Who is we?"

Feeling very uncomfortable I first look at Austin who has taken a sudden
interest in looking out the window at the Melbourne skyline before turning
my attention back towards Mel. I rub the back of my neck and yawn before
answering. "Jayden, Bryce, Austin and I did the drugs the other night when
we were here partying."

"Is that true Austin?" Mel looks at Austin scornfully. "You never seemed
like the type that would do drugs."

Austin sits on the floor and crosses his legs. "Yes, it is true." Austin's
face gradually evolves into a light shade of red. I just want this
conversation to end and feel it is in my interest to speed it along.

"It was my idea Mel." I lie knowing Jayden is the one that instigated us
dabbling with the funny white powder. "We don't have the intention to do it
again." I lie again thinking that I really could use a line right now just
to wake up and feel on top of my game again however the both the lack of
supply and privacy are preventing me from partaking. "It wasn't a fun
experience. Does my father know?" I find it very awkward to ask the
question knowing that it was his stash of drugs that we took.

Mel reaches for her glass once again and drinks the rest of the wine that
is in it and carefully sets the vessel back town on the table so it doesn't
make a sound. "You are godddamned right your father knows." My heart starts
beating noticeable faster and I start to play with my hair. Austin slowly
turns his head and starts to look out the window again and chews on his
fingernail. "The thing being Chezdon, as you can imagine your father is not
in the best frame of mind at the moment after the accident and also with
the cancer scenario playing out."

I interrupt Mel. "Yeah, I can imagine. We won't be doing it again."

"Let me finish." Mel looks deadly serious. "Your father came home a bit
drunk and saw me with this bag after apparently he went looking for it and
not finding it. He assumed that I did his drugs, and he did this to me."
She points at her face. "This wasn't from the car accident, but he was
pissed off as he came home wanting to snort this shit himself."

"Oh my god!" Austin exclaims. We both look at each other incredulously
after Mel's confession. "Are you okay?" I realise that I probably should
have immediately asked that question.

"Don't worry about me, I am fine. Daniel gets one free pass but that is it
and it is only because I have compassion for his current situation, but if
he ever hits me again, I am out of here. I didn't tell him that I found
this bag in your bathroom Chezdon, as I thought I would spare you from the
fallout. I can deal with Daniel, but just don't use fucking drugs." Mel's
soliloquy resonates through my body word by word and Austin looks at me
with his eyes opened wider than normal.

"Where is my father now?" I ask with a mixed amount of emotion and concern,
half being anger and the other half being fear. "I need to talk to him
about something." The correlation between the violence he used against Mel
over the loss of his party stash and what he planned and executed against
the McGuire's makes me feel like I want to vomit.

Mel stands up and grabs the wine glass and she begins to answer as she
walks towards the kitchen. "He went to a hotel, probably across the
street. I don't know as I made him pack a bag after he realised what he had
done." Ten seconds later Mel returns with a glass of wine and leans against
the wall and looks out the window before taking a sip. "I see a lot of your
father in you Chezdon. You both have addictive personalities, so be
careful. I am not going to lecture you on drugs as you are a smart kid and
no matter what I say you will experiment." Mel takes a prolonged drink of
wine before taking a deep breath and then gulps down the remaining contents
from the glass that she poured only seconds ago. "From what I could gather,
it was mainly baking flour in the bag anyway so you kids were cheated and
to be fair, Daniel would have probably gone berserk if he put baking flour
up his nose, so whatever." A slight smile that indicates that Mel finds a
splinter of humour in the situation begins to form on her face as she
twists the glass in her hand by its crystal stem. "Whatever, it has been a
long day. I am going to bed. Good night." Both Austin and I stand up as Mel
begins to walk past us and I extend my arms towards her. She stops so I can
give her a hug. She then squeezes me tight and simply says, "night" before
she repeats the simple act of affection with Austin before she walks around
the corner.

******
A/N - e-mail me comments if you would like on chezdon1997@gmail.com