(First Edition Posted May, 2007)

Walk in Lies

It Is The Work

It is a week since school started and Mica looks back on a summer that lasted a lifetime. Grandma Jo is not what he expected. He realizes she is worried he will go back to the street, yet she sets no rules to hold him back. At the salon where she works, Mica lets her trim his hair so it only brushes his shoulders. She tells him he doesn’t have to do this, but he wants to shed some of the memories of his summer.

Joanne likes the physical contact she has missed since her son Henry decided her faith was not strong enough to suit him. For his part, Mica likes the family attention he has been missing. When Mica is done, she works to tame Finn’s rat’s nest, Mica takes the last of their money and offers it to her to help buy clothes and food.

In the evening people show up with a bunk bed for the room and they accept the boys presence without comment. They are from her church and Mica meets them again when he escorts her on Sunday. Mica has never liked church and stumbles through the service awkwardly. He falls asleep during the sermon. Afterward his grandmother laughs at him and tells him he doesn’t have to go with her. Knowing he doesn’t, Mica knows he will.

Mica and Finn are suddenly across town, and this means different schools for grade six and grade ten. Mica has to start from scratch, all his old friends are gone. This doesn’t bother him. The new kid draws eyes from staff and students. Finn sits in grade six, the silent one. He is like a dull poster on the wall that draws nobody’s eyes. Finn begins to find the quiet outcasts who will let him feel safe.

Joanne’s money is stretched by two hungry boys with nothing but the clothes on their backs. She calls Ruth to see what help she can give. Mica feels bad about this. “Maybe I should go and work.” His grandmother and sister look uncomfortable when he voices this proposal. “I mean wash dishes or something.” Mica blushes bright red and the women see the humor in his situation and give him a hug. He had about the only job a fifteen-year old could expect to get.

Mica is content to read his book and stay in the apartment as the first week passes, but hanging out with Mica’s grandmother wears thin for both boys. In the evening, Mica frets a little and she asks if he misses his friends.

Mica realizes that he is lonely. What friends he had from his old school were crowded out by Alea and Cain. Friendships were transient on the street. People are approachable in his new school, but Mica is almost as shy as Finn. When Grandma Jo goes to bed, Mica takes the landline and goes onto the balcony. Standing in the night air, he wonders if he is making the right decision.

“Hey, what’s up?” It’s a cheerful voice at the other end; open and unguarded.

“It’s me, Mica.”

“Mica, God I’ve been worrying about you. Are you alright? Where are you?” Edan is instantly serious and his anxious voice is a relief. Mica wasn’t sure how he would be received by the seventeen-year old. “Can I see you? Can I see you, like right now?”

Mica looks out into the night and voices his uncertainty. “I didn’t think you wanted to see me anymore.” This is a painful accusation. Edan abandoned him when Mica needed him the most. Mica is confused about his feelings for Edan, but his need for Edan overwhelms his concerns about who Edan thinks Mica is. Somewhere, a hope glimmers that Edan might still like him.

There is an awkward pause before Edan replies. “It’s complicated Mica. I feel bad about that. Can I see you now?”

It is late and his grandmother is sleeping, but Mica needs this connection. He asks Edan to wait while he disturbs his grandmother. It is her place and he must ask if she would mind him having a friend over.

She gives him a steady look full of questions she doesn’t want to ask. When she says yes, he gives her a silent hug. She hugs him back. They are building trust between them and Mica is once again overwhelmed by her. He gives Edan his new address and warns him they can’t go out.

Mica looks around the small apartment and thinks how simple it is compared to Edan’s world. Even the Laar’s home was better than this, and he knew Edan’s opinion of it. Mica decides it does not matter.

Finn is sleeping on the lower bunk again. The boy uses the top bunk as a place to chill when he is not circling the new neighborhood. At 11:00 pm, Finn always finds his way to Mica’s bottom bed. Mica leaves his other half undisturbed. He will tell Finn about Edan in the morning.

Mica has time to think about what he will say when Edan comes. He is standing on the balcony waiting for the black Jetta. Mica doesn’t mind the wait. Edan has come with pizza and a bottle of soda. Mica meets him down at the security door. There is an awkward moment when Edan is standing with a box in one hand and a bottle in the other. He is not sure where they stand with each other. Edan is nonplussed by Mica’s shorter hair.

“Your beautiful hair, baby.”

“Split ends,” Mica grins.

Mica breaks the tension by hugging Edan and giving him a small kiss. They are both reassured by this first contact. Edan follows Mica across the worn carpet to the small apartment on the second floor. Edan glances around before sitting on the couch.

Mica begins to warn Edan that his grandmother is sleeping, when she appears with a smile to check Edan out. Edan’s perpetual preppy personality is reassuring.  Edan immediately begins his charm campaign. She sits for a while to share a piece of pizza with the boys.

Edan lets her politely interrogate him before she leaves them in peace. She is the older relative. Edan has experience with that. Business cocktail parties where he is on display as much as the ostentatious house he lives in. The boys sit watching television for a while. There are more touching and reassuring kisses. Mica suggests they go out onto the balcony. Sitting together in the dark they feel free to talk.

“Why didn’t you want to see me Edan?” Mica softens the accusation by taking Edan’s hand.

There is no hesitation this time. Edan has had time to think through his answer. “I was freaked out when You told me those people had been shot. I’m sorry, I was afraid I would get caught up in it. That girl Alea, she had me on her phone. I keep waiting for the police to drop by and ask about it.”

“There were lots of numbers in her phone.”

Mica is not thinking of The Deacon, or Leon and the Fat Man. Maybe Edan’s parents could deflect an investigation. Then there is always the formidable Man with the cane. Alea’s mobile phone would be inconvenient to these affluent, these important pillars of the city. Filth like Mica are another matter. The police can set Mica’s humble world on fire.

Edan is very sorry. His sister’s boyfriend Juan went so much further than he imagined he would. Edan is very careful with Juan now. There is no talk of obligations, but Edan senses Juan owns his ass in some way. Edan expects this unexpected debt will require repayment in some awkward way.  

“So the police talked to you?” Edan asks quietly.

“Yes, that bitch Vikki found one last way to screw me over.” Mica explains the police visit and his parent’s reaction. “The cops said Cain had enemies. The real question is if Cain Sykes had any friends.”

“I followed it a little on the news after it came out. Did you know how it happened? The drive by past the Seven-Eleven? They haven’t reported any suspects yet. I think the news was distracted by the rest of it.”

“What do you mean?” Mica asks.

“That was one screwed up family. The dad got arrested for picking up a ten-year old girl in Texas. When the police talked to the girl”

“The ten-year old?”

“No, the daughter. The one who met me at the door on our first date.”

“Vikki,” Mica figures that when Edan says, our first date, he has, as usual, forgotten that he was a Trick and paid for the pleasure of Mica’s ass.

The topic saddens Mica. His mind does not need to be dragged back to the Sykes’ house. Ruth would have told Mica if the police were still looking for him. He will have to tell Finn about his family. Finn should be safe from harm. School registration went without a hitch. Apparently his grandmother’s good works are known throughout the neighborhood and someone winked at the irregularities.

“So Vikki told them she was being molested by the pervert father.” Edan finishes his summary. “Did you know about that?”

Mica thinks it best to be ignorant. He shakes his head. “I should not be surprised. Those parents, I only met them once or twice when they came back from Mexico. They left everyone in Cain’s charge, which really meant Alea kept things going. So yeah, I’m not surprised, but this is news to me.”

“I’m sorry Mica. I let you down.”

Mica leans over to give him a light kiss. He keeps his eyes on Edan as he brings the handsome boy back to reality. “We have to be honest with each other, Edan. I’m a hooker.”

Edan takes this in a moment. “What about this kiss and all the times we have been together?” Edan doesn’t want to admit this is all built on a crass transaction. “Were you faking it?” Edan doesn’t think that is even possible.

Mica takes his hand again and the enchanting boy squeezes it for a moment. “Well, it was my work right?” Edan tries to pull his hand away but Mica won’t let go. “Yeh, I faked liking it to start Edan. That was my job, but then as we really dated, I was serious about you.”

Edan is hurt, but he stops pulling away. “So it was just about the money and things I could give you?”

“You were a Trick that first time, Edan; that’s how it works. You knew that.” Mica gets out of his chair and kneels in front of Edan. Edan looks down at him suspiciously. “But then, I guess I thought you wanted to be my friend. My real friend,” Mica emphasizes. “You liked the stuff we do together. I liked the stuff we do together. You and I are both gay. So I thought you had forgiven me for being a hooker. I thought maybe you liked me too, even if I was a hooker.”

“You were not just selling yourself?” Edan Isn’t sure that this is true. He has to ask. Mica just entrances him each time they are together. He draws erotic pictures of Mica in his room, on the margins of his notebooks. He walks through the women’s departments picking ensembles for his lover.

Mica has resigned himself to what he has become. Cain caught him on his knees in the boy’s washroom at school. Some jock he barely knew, and Mica was willing to drop to the dirty floor and offer head. Cain slapped him around in the bathroom, wore him down as the last days of school drew to a close, and broke his spirit in the Sykes’ basement.

Mica likes to remember he was unwilling at the beginning, but he is resigned now. Cain and Alea slapped the truth into him. Mica is a man-hustling-slut. He is Burley’s-Bitch, the Rent-Boy, and Finn’s-Bitch. He has been called every endearing or demeaning name there is, as he sucked and fucked his way through the summer. Finding shelter at his grandma Jo’s apartment cannot erase that from his memory. I was forced to mate a dog and I have sex with a little boy most nights. Mica is resigned to all this. All this makes him tingle now.

“Were you paying for the sex, Edan? I mean after that first time?” Mica persists with Edan. He keeps his hands on the rich boy, wanting Edan to know there is a real connection.

“No, I thought you would like the coat. It was just a gift. Taking you out on dates, I love you, Mica.”

Mica begins opening Edan’s pants as they talk. Edan lets Mica pull his prick out into the cool night air. “Oh yeah,” Mica breaths with anticipation.

Edan wants this, but he stops Mica with a firm hand. His beautiful boy must want this too. He needs Mica to say it out loud. “You want me too?”

“I don't like being made to do it. I love doing it with you, Edan.” Mica kisses the youth’s prick. He sucks Edan into his mouth, and Edan’s flaccid prick is growing proud at Mica’s tongue-touch.

“You love me?” Edan demands reassurance.

“Does it look like I don’t love you?” Mica demonstrates by standing up and opening his pants. His prick is heading toward a boner.

Edan drops down to take a taste. This is the reassurance Edan needs. Mica was forced into prostitution. Edan saw Mica thrashed by his pimp. Mica came to him for help and Edan rescued him. Here in the night, on this balcony of a run down apartment block, the hooker Edan bought in July is freely offering his boner to his lover. Mica is excited by Edan’s touch. Things like love and romance are possible, Edan knows.

Edan reassures himself on his beautiful boy’s boner for a while. Mica is hard for him, but Edan needs his own release. Hours of erotic drawings of Mica posing provocatively in the fashion they first met. Edan needs Mica’s body so much. Mica resumes the head on his knees, face buried in Edan’s lap. Edan listens to the night sounds of the city while his lover lavishes attention on him.

They have things to forget and a relationship to build, Edan decides. It will start with this simple exchange on the balcony of this run-down apartment block. Soft kisses in the dark, the honesty between them, and Edan’s hot spunk filling Mica’s fantastic mouth. Things moved very quickly between us, Edan understands. Mica kisses Edan’s spent prick. Edan runs his fingers through the luxurious hair. It will grow out again, it will grow to my boyfriend’s ass. Edan strokes the back of Mica’s head, praising him, and somehow, encouraging him to persist in his worship of the satiated prick.

“Mother knows I’m gay. She will keep my secret from dad.” Edan covers Mica’s face with soft kisses. “Your dress for the first time. It really turned me on. The woman’s panties. I was so mad mom made you change into the pants, but you made them look good too.” Edan laughter is freeing. “Oh God, you turned me on.”

Edan runs his hands up Mica’s hips as if he was lifting a dress in his parent’s guest bathroom. “She thinks you are a Trany. She wants to take you shopping for some suitable clothes. Will you do that for her? Will you do that for me?” Edan has to take Mica’s boner back into his mouth. His final year in high school is going to be so perfect.

Mica lets the boy minister to his throbbing boner. They are on a balcony where anyone might see his bare ass. They are two shadows locked in a close embrace. Through the patio door, Finn is watching Mica. Mica puts his palms on the glass to brace himself against Edan’s pressure. Finn’s small hands match his on the other side of the glass.

Finn smiles and nods his head slightly, approving. The young boy waits until Mica’s face contorts at the orgasm, until Mica’s slim hips have pumped the pearl jam into the Trick’s mouth. Finn gives Finn’s-bitch a final thumbs up, before the boy returns to the bedroom. Finn pauses to execute a quick flip of his underwear, just one bitch mooning another.

“So what are you doing tomorrow? Do you want to get together?” They can meet at Edan’s house. They can go back to the movie theater and sit in the dark where Mica can suck his prick.

“Sure; you can help me look for a part time job. I have to help grandma now that I’m living here.”

“That’s right. Your parents kicked you out. That sucks so much. What kind of job?” Edan sits happily holding Mica’s hand.

“I’m only fifteen, dishwashing, I guess.” Mica shrugs. “Whatever I can find.”

“Boyfriends?” Edan hesitantly asks. Mica leans over to kiss the older boy. “We can drive around tomorrow after school. Boyfriends, right?” Mica nods with a grin. “I’m not paying you anymore. All that prostitution nonsense is behind us.”

“Absolutely!” Mica agrees with a laugh.

“So, as your boyfriend, let me lend you a couple of hundred bucks just to help your grandmother out.” Mica protests. “No really, it’s nothing. I will e-transfer some money to your account.”

“I don’t have a phone, never have.” Mica admits with a laugh.

“How is that possible?” Edan responds, amazed. “I have my old Galaxy 9 in my room somewhere. You can’t get a job if you don’t have your own phone. Besides, I want to talk to you when we are at school. Landlines are so Boomer! I will bring you my old phone, we can get it going, then I can e-transfer you the money.”

Mica is silent for a while. Edan catches this. “Are you okay?” He asks, uncertainly.

“It is just,” Mica hesitates. “It’s just, I don’t want you to think I’m trying to use you, take money for sex or something.”

“I know, it was a weird start between us. Don’t worry, I’m your boyfriend, I know I have more than you do. I just want you to be happy, and I want to be happy talking to you all the time.” Edan feels like he has a handle on this. “Maybe this weekend, you could stay over.”

“That would be cool.” Mica frowns. “The little brother is staying with me. His name is Finn. He had a rough time in that house. From what you say, it might have been really awful for him, what with a pervert for a father. He really needs me now. I know it is a lot to ask.” Mica looks all embarrassed. “How many old phones do you have kicking around?”

“Mom probably has three or four.” Edan shrugs, forgiving his lover for where this rambling explanation was heading.

“If I spend the weekend with you, Finn will worry. I would feel better if he had a phone where I could reach him. This neighborhood is not like yours. I worry about him on the streets.” Mica adds a tear.

“You have a good heart, Mica.” Edan kisses him passionately. “I’m sure that is why I love you.” He lets his hand run possessively over the ass still bared for his pleasure. “Tomorrow we will activate two phones.”

“I love you!” Mica gushes. “I don’t want you to waste money on some data plan. Calling cards will work fine.” Mica adds generously. “After they are set up, I want to pay for everything. It’s not right to make you pay for everything. I want to take you on a date sometime too!”

“We can shop for a dress too, when I pick you up tomorrow.” Edan squeezes Mica’s hand.

“A dress?”

“Well, mom thinks you are a transsexual or a transvestite, a real fem boy. If you are coming by, we don’t want to disappoint her and her Friends. Maybe Victoria's Secret in the mall.” Edan adds. That’s for me, he giggles privately. Mica’s ass in red silk, Mica in a corset like Rocky Horror Picture Show, my beautiful monster creation.

“Okay, cool, but don’t forget, you’re helping me find a job.”