Semester at Seas: Welcome to the Dollhouse

 Disclaimer: This is a FICTIONAL story describing the love

triangle of a teenage boy. If you are not over 18 years of age, or if you

find this type of story offensive, or viewing this material is illegal

where you are, then refrain from reading it. The story consists of lust,

passion, teenage romance, love and all the rest of the good

stuff in that order... Prepare for Chauncey

(Feedback is really needed and appreciated. For story updates and feedback, please join my group at ...)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boxy_grove/

________________________________________________________________________

You ever feel stuck. I always felt stuck. I couldn't avoid it. My sister was Nicky Crane. If you had a sister like Patience Crane you would feel stuck to. We sat at the table. Mother was on one side and Patience Crane on the other. Realize I didn't call her Mom or Ma or anything like that. No...he was Mother in this house.

"Sit up, Chauncey," Patience told me, "Respectable young black gentlemen don't sit like that."

I sat up.

"Good boy," Patience said, as though I was her dog.

Mother just smiled at Patience in approval. I always knew Patience was Mother's favorite. It was something that I had gotten used to. Mozart was playing in the background as we ate, perfectly still. Mother had taken off her lace gloves and put laid them across her lap. She was cutting her meat...in perfect squares. Everything about Mother was perfect. She was the ideal woman, but she was dying. She had cancer. Not saying that cancer was a death sentence, but even if she didn't physically die...there was something else dying about her. She was losing her shine. Depression was setting in.

Patience crossed her legs. She was the perfect daughter. She was the perfect young woman. She had just turned 21. She was beautiful. She looked like a Nubian Barbie Doll. Her hair fell down her back and it was all hers. She was elegant to. She knew everything about elegance. She didn't even notice the roaches running around in the shadows of our apartment in the Ghetto.

My father used to tell me, "Life is vast as the ocean...so don't be surprised if you get washed away."

That is why I wasn't surprised when he bit the dust. We hadn't always been living in the Ghetto. It was easy to see. We had once been rich. We'd once been powerful. We were once happy.

My father and uncle were rich tycoons. They had gotten rich off oil. They were best friends. The first few years of my life, my mother told me stories of how I had maids to do everything for me. I lived in a mansion. We were wealthy. That was until my uncle got my father into gambling. My uncle and father did everything together. Their brotherly bond was something that my mother always wanted to break up. She knew that it was trouble. They had gotten rich together. They gambled away our futures together. They commited suicide...together, leaving their families with nothing.

My aunt, her daughter Anita and Rita, my sister Patience and I all moved to Boxy Grove. It was the local ghetto. While my aunt had embraced the ghetto, my mother denied it. We lived there and that was all. Patience and I were shipped away to private school our entire lives.

We were raised to be as though we were still rich...even though we weren't. My mother had given all she had to raise my older sister into the perfect woman and raise me into the perfect man. I was the only man she ever wanted to be around. My mother didn't trust men. She hated them with a passion... after what my father did to her. The only thing she hated more then one man was two. She hated the bond that men had together because of what my uncle did to my father.

Little did she know I was gay.

Maybe it was the fact that I was surrounded by women all my life. I wasn't anywhere near feminine. Patience wouldn't allow that. She made sure I knew what it was to be a man. I never had a boyfriend. In high school, I did have sexual encounters with a couple men trying but that was it. Hook ups...as they said in the Grove. That was all that ever could have been back home. However, now I was in college. I attended Princeton University. I was going into my Sophmore year as my sister was going into her Senior year.

"We got two invitations from Water University of Westinghouse," Patience explained, letting her long hair fall down.

"Chauncey...are you listening to your sister?" Mother asked.

"Yeah," I replied, putting my head up from the meal.

They were so much alike. I was so different. It was almost like Patience had grown to be my second mother. Always watching me to make sure that I was doing everything perfectly. I got all straight As. I had joined the track team and become a star athlete in high school. I had gotten a scholarship to Princeton and everything was on track...as soon as I graduated, I would get a job and move my family out of the ghetto. I would marry a woman who my mother thought "passed the test". I was supposed to be the "Stepford" son, just like my sister was the "Stepford" daughter. That was the life that was planned out for me.
"Continue," Mother instructed her.

"This is the opportunity I've...we've...been waiting for," Patience explained and got up her chair to hand the paper to our mother, "It's a government program. We'll spend a year taking colleges on a University at sea."
"A year taking classes on a boat?" I ask, "I'll pass."
"It isn't up to you," Mother said all of a sudden with this sharp emphasis and then looked at Patience again, before calmly saying, "Continue."

"WUW is a new boat built by the government. There have been semester at seas, but none like this. We'll travel around the world. They put tons of money into it this project and we'll be the first ones ever on the new boat. It's going to be a luxury cruise and a learning experience. It'll fulfill our foreign culture requirements and it'll look great on our resumes. All expenses paid"

It was a boat. Patience was trying to make it sound all clever. She had taken her argument right off of the WUW feature that Oprah had on her show. The craze was worldwide. We weren't supposed to be on that boat. What was the chances that both of us got on the boat?

"Wednesday and Mia going to be on there?" I asked.

"Yea...what does that have to do with anything?" Patience asked.

I knew it. Patience had met her two best friends at a boarding school she got a scholarship to. Mia was the daughter of the captain of the boat. Mia and Wednesday were rich. I doubted they even knew where we stayed. Patience wouldn't allow it. She probably made up some lie about it. They had no idea of our financial circumstance. They had been planning this forever and a half. The pick for who could attend WUW should have been random. Random people from universities all over the US would be invited. However being that Mia was Daddy's little girl...she made sure she fixed the lotto so that some of her choices would get an invitation. Isn't that how it worked nowadays in the world?

"Nothing."

She was weaving my mother into another one of her plots and I could tell my mother was just falling for it. Everyone listened to Patience. Long ago...when my mother got cancer, she started to lose control over the family. Patience slowly became Matriach of the house and she had little to no resistance.

"I thought so," she said, brushing her hair and then continued, "We may have a couple problems however. This lotto that Mya's father came up with. There may be students that that have...failed the test."

By failing the test, she meant ghetto kids there. She meant black kids like herself that don't always have the need to act all prim and proper. Patience hated them most so much. They'd made fun of her because she was so proper. They'd made fun of me as well. It was normal though...it was expected.

"Keep them in line," my mother ordered her.

Patience smiled.

The truth was Patience was going to probably end up controlling this boat. It didn't matter if there were 5 students or 1000 students on the boat. She would run it. She controlled her family...she controlled her friends...she controlled every aspect of her life.

Welcome to the DollHouse.

Just like that I had been thrown into something that I didn't want. I didn't have any say about it. I never had much say over Patience in the Dollhouse. The Dollhouse was what it was known as. Six overachievers destined to be great or die trying...literally.

Patience, Wednesday and Mia were of course the Barbies. They looked like it as well. They were always the most beautiful girls everywhere they went. Mia was the white girl who everyone wanted to be. She was the fashionista intern for Juicy Couture and had what people called "old money". It was money that had been in her family for years. Wednesday was the daughter of an old basketball star, who was well known. He married a white woman when he got rich and had three beautiful kids. His middle child was the elegant Wednesday. She was so beautiful that she was known on occasion to stop traffic. She won Miss New Jersey for the American Beauty Pageant.

Then there were the Ken Dolls. I, of course, was the youngest. I always made the highest grades in everything, without even trying. Mia didn't have any brothers and sisters to join the Dollhouse, but there were Wednesday's brothers. Wednesday's eldest brother was Ethan. Ethan was the all around American boy. He defined the word "jock" in almost every way. His youngest brother was Vince. He was following his brother's footsteps with athletics. He was becoming the newest basketball prodigy. His grades were great as well...he excelled in everything that had to do with computers. Ethan and Vince were handsome...probably two of the most handsome biracial boys that I'd ever met. They looked similar. They had light complexion and were tall. Vince's face was a little bit more attractive and softer then Ethan. Ethan always had this grimace about him that I really did hate. It was enough however to get him to date Patience. They'd been engaged for about two months now and planned to get married as soon as they graduated out of college at the end of the year.

The voice on the phone I could tell was Vince. He was no doubt my best friend. In fact he was the only one that I would even have considered a true friend. Vince's heart was different from the rest of theirs. He wasn't anywhere near as willing as I was to give it all up, but I could tell somewhere deep inside...he wasn't a Ken Doll.

He laughed at my question. He knew damn well that we didn't. It wasn't overexageration when I say that my sister ran things. She really did. None of us would have gotten the grades, scholarships or success if it wasn't for her manipulative ways. Patience had a way of getting people to do what she wanted. Anything...she wanted.

<Don't feel bad, at least we'll be there together.>

That was the only thing I looked forward to. Vince tried his hardest to break into me and I really appreciated it. If it wasn't for him I probably would have gone crazy...or worse. I really just felt stuck...I needed to break out of the dollhouse, but it was hard. I was destined to have it all...I couldn't just stop.

<I'll teach you. Think about it...would you rather go back to Princeton?>

<No...I HATE it there. Still...>
<Well then, look on the Brightside...it's an opportunity. We'll get to travel. We'll get to see different things.>

There was silence. I had meant to say it in a joking way, but didn't. It was cold...it was serious. I was 19 years old, still thinking about running away. I just needed to though. I felt like a caged bird. I felt like a tanked fish. I just needed to somehow escape these boundaries that I had set up for me.

<You're joking right and leave me here with your bitch of a sister?>

He started laughing. I wasn't in the mood though. I had dreamed for so long about it.

<No...Vince. I was serious.>

He was upset. Vince cared about me. It was like we needed each other. I was the only real support he had. Vince was the closest to being a real person then the other members of the Dollhouse. He wasn't completely made out of plastic and molded perfectly. I could tell he was worried about losing me.

I had been planning to tell him for years. I knew that I could trust him with the secret, but it was something that I hadn't even admitted completely to myself.

<How?>

<No...she wasn't. That's the thing. I just wasn't...attracted to her.>

I could tell how he had gotten quiet. He must have noticed how I acted towards girls by now. He must have seen me staring EVEN as his butt every once in a while. He must have known some kind of clue.

<Vince...I'm gay.>

There was complete silence and then there was nothing. He had hung up the phone. I didn't get it. My heart stopped just as the call had stopped. He was supposed to be my best friend. I thought about calling back, but chose not to. I hadn't expected him to react that way. I wondered now if he was going to tell anyone. It worried me sick.

That had happened in the beginning of summer. My best friend hadn't talked to me the entire summer. He hadn't told anyone. News would have flowed quickly through the circle and Patience would have been at my door. She would have been threatening me with everything that she had. I was so intimidated by her. My own sister had become my worst enemy.

Mother had spent money that she should have been using to get us out of the Ghetto to make it "appear" as if we never were in the ghetto. It was her usual routine. She would buy us the best of clothes. She would spend all her savings making sure that Patience's bags were just as nice as all the other girls and that my outfits fit in with the newest trends. It was a stupid waste of money but she would have it no other way.

We arrived at the boat early in the morning. There was a rainbow of people everywhere. It seemed like every group had been well represented in the WUW program. That is when I almost could tell for sure that whoever was in charge of this had no influence from Patience, Mia or Mia's father. If so, it would be a slew of white uppity kids and we would be the only black ones...just how Patience liked it.

"Damn so many people," I said.

Patience gave one of her all-knowing stares, "200 students will be on the cruise for an entire year. We'll need to meet the crew immediately. That way we'll have access to better rooms if they are available."

"Won't we get that anyway?" I asked.

I knew how she worked. She had probably met everyone that held authority by now. She probably had them on a fucking first name basis by now. She could be the most charming person in the world when she needed something.

"Things can always be...better," she explained and gave this posh little laugh, "Hurry up. Did you bring your brush?"

"Yea."

"Use it."

She raised her mirror to my hair and I saw that it was a little messy. It wasn't my fault. We hadn't had any sleep. She wanted to pack so damn early in the morning and there was no saying no to Patience.

"Mia," Patience said acknowledging Mia's presence.

Mia already had helpers with her. Mia was dressed in a pencil skirt and a blazer as though she was on some type of business trip. If it wasn't for her Fendi glasses, it would be hard to separate her from the teachers that were also boarding the boat. Her blond hair was wrapped in a bun. She struck a pose as Patience approached her as though she was on the cover of Vogue. A couple strong looking men were carrying her bags. Patience signaled me to follow her and we rudely cut in front of an entire line of people. A couple people started complaining but Patience completely ignored them and gave a strut as though she was already a millionaire.

They didn't hug or kiss or anything of that matter. None of us really acted like we were friends besides Vince and I. It was always as though this was nothing more then a business partnership.

"How are you Chauncey?" she said, leaning into me, "I made sure my favorite little buddy got him a big room in the Executive floor. Now why don't you be a big boy and give your bags to these gentlemen."

"I can carry my own bags," I protested.

It was just the thing with Wednesday. She always acted as though I was made of glass from the first day I had met her years back. I never understood why. I figured it was because she was a single child and just never got used to be around people younger then her.

"Do it, damn!" Patience grimaced at me, "You always have to the difficult one! Why the hell do YOU always have to be the difficult one? You want to feel special or something."

It was damn near impossible to win an argument with her. I sighed and handed the big guy the bags and he disappeared with them.

We cut past some more students and started to make our way onto the boat. It was fucking huge. It looked like it should hold even more then 200 people. I'd never seen a boat so big in my life. It was beautiful as well. It looked like a luxury cruise boat in all ways. The word "Westinghouse" was printed on the outside in big gold letters. Everyone looked so excited to be on the boat. I could see people were filling out all these documents, but as Mia led Patience and I through, they seemed to just let us slide right on.

I wanted to see the deck and other things but Patience and Mia were moving so damn fast for whatever reason. I didn't understand how they couldn't have been impressed even if it was the mere size of the boat that was impressive. This boat something almost out of a dream. My mouth had dropped open as we walked into the first corridor. There was a big homely welcome sign up and then there was space. I looked up one corridor...it seemed to be leading to something huge. It must have been the ballroom or something like that. Everything was so clean and spotless. I followed the two girls down a corridor and past these rooms. They were clearly classrooms on each side. The rooms had wooden gothic doors on them. They were decorated beautifully. Further down was the library and computer labs. Everything was so big. We walked and hall after hall there were rooms. We walked until we got past the classrooms. That was when I got a glimpse of the cafeteria...it reminded me more like a hotel diner then a cafeteria. There was a huge chandelier overhead of the entire room.

Then I saw the swimming pool! It had a damn swimming pool for god sakes! It had an entire gym. We walked until we got into an elevator. The elevator was a glass elevator like I had seen a couple times in malls. Even the floor of the elevator was glass. As we walked into it, I could see the ropes pulling us up to another level of the ship. The place looked like it was pulled out of someone's fantasy.

"God this is fucking beautiful!" I burst out forgetting I was with Ms. Stuck Up and Mrs. Stuck Up.

"Geez, Chauncey, you've act like you've never been on a first class luxury boat in your life," Mia said and laughed.

"I haven't."

She gave me this surprised look. I had slipped up before, but I tried no to. I mean for the most part I just stayed quiet and smiled. I was just excited. There was something about this ship that was so special. Maybe I would finally find some type of freedom. Maybe I would be somewhat dependent from Patience Crane.

"He used to get sea sick as a kid. My mother kept him home when we went on cruises," Patience covered up, completely taking a stab at the thoughts I was just having.

"Oh, aww poor baby," Mia said and turned around.

Patience shot me a cold stare that spoke a million words. I could never let these kids know that we lived in the ghetto. I could never let them know we were poor. It was something that just could not be allowed. It would destroy Patience. It would destroy me. We would be nothing more then ordinary kids. You thought Jawbreaker and Mean Girls was bad...we were living those lives...and regardless of what "people" may say, it goes on past high school.

Mia went and showed us where our rooms were. They were on the highest floor near the captain's (her father's) den. My room was huge. I didn't really get a chance to look into it...I just saw how big it was. There was a queen size bed in there and a ceiling fan. I think I had my own shower as well, but I couldn't tell because by the time I looked in, all I felt was Patience's eyes on my bothered that I was acting as though I'd had such a big room. I KNEW I would hear her mouth about this later.

Then we went to Patience's bedroom. It was a suite...connected to Wednesday and Mia's bedroom. As we walked in they had a little hallway. That was where everyone was. They had all arrived. Wednesday and her two brothers were in the hallway.

Patience walked up and gave Ethan this kiss that even Mother wouldn't approve of. I rolled my eyes. She was such a hypocrite. She was so uptight about sex and everything else but yet she was over here basically eating his face.

"Hi guys!" Wednesday said with her normal silly grin.

Wednesday was kind of...blondish. She had dyed her hair the color actually. The funny thing was that she was the only black girl that I knew that could get away with blonde hair. Wednesday was so pretty she could die her hair gray and she would still look hot.

Then there was Vince. He gave me a look and as I stared back at him he stared away. He didn't even say hi...

I spoke to Wednesday and even that asshole Ethan. I didn't trust Ethan as far as I could throw him. He was the biggest asshole I knew...besides Patience that is.

"What's up you little squirt?" he asked looking down on me.

He was tall, but I damn sure wasn't short. I was normal. He was the freak of nature. He stood like 6'5" and weighed close to 200 pounds. I was glad that Vince was shorter so I wouldn't always have been the only small one in the group.

"Good, where all here, down to business," Patience instructed, "Mia, do you have the roll?"

"What roll?"

Patience sighed and looked at her, "Look, I TOLD you to get a roll of all the students that are going to be enrolled in WUW. Were you not listening? God...sometimes I feel like I'm dealing with complete idiots."

"Oh...hunny, I'm sorry!" she said and dug in her purse. She pulled out a few pieces of paper that smelled like Chanel perfume, "This? I got this. I still didn't understand what you need it for..."

"Give it here," she said and when Mia handed it over, she studied it in silence for a few seconds as we all watched in wonder.

Ethan finally spoke out, "Patience...really, I mean why the hell would you want to know who is on this boat. Did you get into the huge crowd outside. A good 90 percent of the people who are going to be here I guarantee are losers... ugly... stupid... poor..."

"You get all that from the couple of minutes you take to skip past the line like you own the boat yourself?" I ask him.

He raises his eyebrows, "I got that and more..."

Patience held up the paper, "Listen...this is power. One year of our lives are going to be affected by some of the people on this list. We have to make sure it works out in our favor."

"Why are you so bothered by any of them?" I ask and look around the room, "If we are SUPPOSED to be so grand."

Vince looks at me. For moment he reminds me of how he used to be where he would whisper for me to shut up before Patience got mad and threw one of her bitch-fits. He just gave me a slight glance however and turned his neck.

She got in my face, "I'm get real sick of you talking back to me. You think you got straight A's because of your brain. That didn't take you anywhere. Little man. Please...I know what I'm doing. It's knowing the right people and moving the wrong people out of your FUCKING way."

"Who are the wrong people? People that can't do anything for you?"
"Shut up kid, your sister's talking," Ethan said and gave me a push. He probably meant to shake me up, but it sent me a couple steps backward into the wall.

He was an asshole.

"Useless..." Patience said giving me this stern, degrading stare. Then she turned to everyone else, "Like I was saying, we'll review these kids...we'll get to know who they are. Mia and I already got in good with the teachers, but as you guys know the ghetto kids tend to get a little rowdy at times. We have to control these ghetto kids..."

Ugh...I couldn't stand that talk. Patience...you lived in the fucking ghetto! You were a ghetto kid!

I stopped her once again, putting my hand up, "Since I'm useless, can I leave? I want to see the ship leave dock."

"No," Wednesday butt in, "You can't go out with those regular kids. We have to check their medical histories! See if they have some viruses floating around or something. What if you catch AIDS?"

I wish Wednesday just got so dumb until she forgot how to talk or something. I could

tell that Patience definitely knew how to manipulate things if SHE was getting straight A's. What the hell was she talking about?

"Wednesday shut up," Patience instructed sternly acknowledging how simple Wednesday really was before looking at me and answering, "No."

"I'll go with him and watch him," Vince surprisingly blurted out, "I'll make sure nothing happens to him. Plus, you guys will probably be able to work out the who's who faster if we're not here. Then you can just update us on who we need to know and who we don't need to know when we get back."

He was standing up for me like he always used to. He was being the bridge between my ass and Patience.

"Whatever. Get back before the welcome party," Patience explained, "I picked out suits for you guys. The captain is going to introduce us as some of WUW's "Premiere" students. Vince you'll be giving the welcome speech to the teachers. I wrote it down already. All you have to do is read it."

That was how Patience worked. She did all the work for us and all we had to do was read her words. I guess some people would say she was looking out. I would say she just wanted one more person to control. That was the only reason she was reviewing this list to see who was on the ship. She wanted to know who it would be easy to control and who it would be tough to control.

That was her life.

I stormed out of the room, a little pissed. This wasn't life. This was Patience's puppet show. I really did hate her. I hated her more then I hated so many other things in my life.

I wanted to be free! I needed to break out this box that she encased me in.

"Damn slow down," Vince shouted from behind me.

"I don't need a babysitter," I called back to him, not bothering to look back, "I'm tired of being treated like glass because I'm Patience's little brother."
"I'm not trying to be your babysitter I'm your friend."

I ignored him, but then I realized I had to go to the elevator. Damn, I was forced to be right next to him. Vince and I had never been mad at each other this much. A couple of times he was mad because he felt like I needed to wake up and "face reality" as he would call it. I would get mad cause it seemed like he was selling his present to obtain a future.

"What you not going to talk to me?" he asked, looking at me...then he shook me almost playfully, "Come on."

"You played me out," I told him and crossed my arms.

"I'm sorry I reacted like that. It freaked me out. I have to admit! I never expected that you would be...like...what you say you are. I mean are you sure? You're a boy...aren't those people real feminine. How the hell do you know that you..."
"I just know."

"Have you ever...done something with a guy?"

"Do you really want to know?"

He paused for a second.

"Yeah."

I nodded my head, "Yeah, I have done something with a guy. I liked it a whole lot. I remember the first one..."
"If Patience finds out about this...she is going to flip."

"I don't give a fuck about what Patience thinks anymore!" I say, getting frustrated, "That is the problem. We are all worried about what the fuck Patience is going to think."

Just then the elevator in the ground. Great it was just in time...

"Hey wait up..."

I continued to walk. I noticed that the bottom floor was now crowded. It was a great time to make my escape. I didn't need someone standing over me watching me...not even if it was Vince.

I walked out away from Vince into the crowd of people. Ethan was wrong...these people weren't losers. They looked so different. All of them seemed to have their own story and their own struggle. Not all of these kids were some A students and not all of them were beautiful, but they all had lives. It was more then I could say for myself. I was yet to live. I was yet to love. Love was something that I wanted more then anything.

"Wait! Chauncey!"

I followed the crowd and swam through them. There were so many people gathering on the ship. I doubted if anyone really knew each other since this was a lotto. The only people that knew each other were in the Dollhouse and that was just another advantage that Patience had over everyone. I could see everyone introducing themselves. They looked so happy. I couldn't tell the last time that I really laughed. No not that fake stuff...I mean REALLY laughed!

I walked out onto the deck. It was the back deck. The deck was damn near the size of a baseball field. I could see a swimming pool on it. No one was swimming. A couple of kids were waving goodbye to their parents still on the dock. Some people were blowing kisses to their boyfriends or girlfriends.

I felt a tap on my shoulder...damn...I thought I would have lost him by now. I turned around, but it wasn't Vince tapping me on my shoulder. It was something else...the most beautiful man I ever saw.

"Hey...you got a light homie?" he asked me.

When I had turned around our eyes locked. I was speechless as I looked at him. He was a little taller then me. His eyes were a deep deep brown. He had these deep dimples and this baby smooth face. Yet there was something so many about him. It must have been his stance. The way he held his shoulders so that I knew that he was definitely broad. He had these braids that went down to his shoulders. His lips were so full. I hadn't seen people like this...except on TV watching the Omarrion's and Bow Wow's prancing around being fake. No...he appeared like them, but there was something so real in his eyes.

"I guess that's a no," he said.

I hadn't realized I was gawking. I shook it off or at least tried to shake it off. Damn, I kind of just wanted to walk away. I had already embarrassed the hell out of myself.

"Sorry," I told him. It was the only thing I thought wouldn't sound to bad, but suddenly my lips parted again, "I'm...I'm sorry."

"It's cool homie. They not even mine. I don't smoke."

My stomach turned. Perfect. You don't need to smoke. All he needed to do was rock my world. His voice sounded so fucking sexy. It was deep and slick. He stressed his words making sure he pronounced everything with strength and power. It was one of those voices that just made you think he had practiced being sexy.

"Amir does he have one!" I heard someone say.

The person was girl. She stood on the side. She wasn't pretty enough for him...no girl was pretty enough for him. Damn, I hoped it wasn't his girlfriend. I wanted to kiss her for letting me know that his name was Amir though.

He turned around and disappeared and my heart traveled with him. I didn't even watch the boat leave the pier. I was too busy watching beautiful Amir watching it. His eyes stared out and he was smiling. I kept my distance just watching. Damn...where had he been all my life? Why hadn't I seen someone like him before?
I tried to hide...I tried to be coy...but all of a sudden I saw him stare back at me. At first it was just a glimpse as though he was looking around, but I didn't remove my stare...

Then slowly...in the middle of the day...on this crowded boat he was staring back completely. It was like we were having a showdown. There was no denying that we were staring at each other. We were a little distance apart, but we were still stariing.

Showdown.

It felt almost like who was going to pull out a gun first. It reminded me of that Nancy Sinatra song. Bang bang...my baby shot me down.

He had shot me down. If love at first sight was possible, this had to be it. I didn't care if he was straight. This man had sketched something into my heart with just a stare. I'd always been a romantic, but this was something different. This was something deeper. Maybe he wondered why I was staring so hard? In the hood staring was a sign of disrespect. He was staring at me and didn't smile. It was an intense stare. It didn't matter to me. I couldn't break it. I wouldn't break it.

My heart was now all of a sudden his target practice and if he would dare shoot, I would lay down and die for just a chance at something real. Finally...something real.

Bang Bang...He shot me down

Bang Bang...That awful sound

Bang Bang...My Baby Shot me Down.

TBC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Feedback is really needed and appreciated. For story updates and feedback, please join my group at ...)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boxy_grove/