Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:07:40 -0400 From: Ron Subject: Writing for Joe Chapter 3 The following is a work of fiction. Any similarities to anyone are purely coincidental. The story is intended for a mature audience. It may contain profanity and references to gay sex. If this offends you, please leave and find something more suitable to read. The author maintains all rights to the story. Do not copy or use without written permission. Write Ron at ronyx@woh.rr.com with any comments. Writing For Joe Chapter 3 "What can you tell me about the party at Wellston's last year?" Matt was asking Tiffany Something. He couldn't remember her last name. She sat beside him in their psychology class. She had been one of the few people at the party that hadn't been kicked out of school or left the following year. "What do you want to know?" Tiffany asked hesitantly. Matt noted that she was a very pretty girl. She was wearing her hair differently this year. Last year her auburn hair was long and wavy. This year she was wearing it short like many women were today. "I don't know," replied Matt, looking at his notes. "We already know that drugs and alcohol were used. Wellston's in jail because of that." "Yeah. You had a lot to do with that, too." Jessica said with an angry frown on her face. "One of my best friends had to leave school because of your story." "I'm really sorry about that. I wasn't out to hurt anyone. I just didn't realize the extent of illegal activity that was involved when I started the story. After I found out that Wellston was actually hurting a lot of people with his drugs and alcohol, I had to go to the police." He told her. Tiffany shot him an angry look, but he quickly dismissed it. "What can you tell me about the sexual activities that were going on in the house? Who was involved?" He asked. He could tell from Tiffany's body posture that he wasn't going to get very far. He had learned in his psych class that when someone folds their arms tightly that they were closing themselves off. If Tiffany clutched at her breasts any harder, he was afraid they would burst. "Why the hell do you want to know about that?" She yelled, getting up from her seat. "Haven't you done enough damage?" "You'd better drop all this shit," she warned him. "Wellston may be in jail, but that doesn't mean he's ignorant of what's still going on in this town. You go snooping around again and you may be sorry." This conversation had gotten Matt absolutely nowhere. He knew that by the end of the day, Tiffany would probably have gotten to the rest of the people who were still around and warn them not to talk to him. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "I told you no one would talk to you about this." Jessica said to Matt with a smug smile. "You're like a leper right now; no one wants to come within a mile of you." "I know," replied a dejected Matt. "How am I going to get my story if no one will talk to me? Joe really wants this story." "Joe, Joe, Joe." Jessica mocked him. "It's always Joe. You'll never say anything to him, so I don't know why you're wasting your time." "Shut up." Matt told her dejectedly. "I just feel something is there between us, some kind of chemistry. You know?" "You live in a dream world. Tell him or move on." "I know. I know." He told her, but not very reassuring. "That still doesn't answer my question of how I'm going to find information for my story. If no one is willing to talk to me, then I'm at a dead end." He said sadly. "I have an idea. Remember I told you about the boy who lives in my apartment building?" she asked. "Yeah, I remember." "Last year when the shit hit the fan, the cops were over there almost daily for a week. I thought at the time he was involved. I didn't want to believe it because he looks like he's only about sixteen. All of the people involved were college students, weren't they?" "No, not according to my notes." Matt said excitedly. "Some witnesses had testified that there were at least four high school age students involved. When the cops busted in, they caught them getting fucked by some of our well-respected members of the football team." "No, shit!" Jessica responded with an astonished look on her face. "Yeah. The police report or newspaper never said a word about it. It seems like it was hushed up. I've always wondered why they covered it up. Guess they had enough on Wellston without having to drag some teens in to it too." "Do you think you can get him to talk to me?" Matt looked at Tiffany with pleading eyes. "I don't know if I can." She stated. "I don't see him at all anymore. His mother and sister keep a close chain on him. Anytime he goes out of the house, they're with him. He goes to school and back and that's pretty much it, from what I can tell." "What time does he leave for school in the morning?" Matt asked. "Around 7:40. Why?" "I think I might just drop by some morning and see if I can talk to him." "You'd better be careful. If his mother finds out, she'll grind your ass into ground beef and feed you to the cats." Jessica warned him. "What's his name?" "Jeremy, I think. That's what I've heard his mother call him a few times." "Thanks for the lead, kiddo," Matt said planting a small kiss on her cheek. "Yeah, right. I hope I'm not leading you into Hell." She sighed. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The newsroom was filled with tension the next day as everyone worked on their assignments. Joe was in an unusually pissy mood. He was yelling at everyone and telling them they weren't going to make the Thursday deadline. It was only Tuesday, more than enough time. He was parading around the room throwing tantrums at anyone who got in his way. Everyone loved him for his calm demeanor, even in the face of false leads and looming deadlines. Today was different, however. Matt seemed to be the main target of his hostility. He couldn't get anything right. People sat at their desks in amazement. Matt was Joe's boy. He never criticized him. There had been a lot of animosity over the years about the way Joe always threw up Matt in their faces. "If you could work as hard as him-If you could write as well as him-If you could conduct interviews as well as him-blah.-blah.-blah." So everyone found this exchange interesting, especially when Joe yelled at Matt over a sentence fragment he found in one of his articles. "What the hell's wrong with you?" He screamed. "Do I need to send you back to your seventh grade teacher and let her teach you how to write? I've got enough to do instead of babysitting your sorry ass." The room went deadly silent. Everyone looked at Matt and saw the hurt look on his face. He sat there for a few seconds, pondering his next move. Joe had embarrassed him in front of the entire newspaper staff. "Fuck you, Joe!" He spat out. "Fuck you! Take this god-damned newspaper and shove it up your ass! I'm through!" With those words, he grabbed his notebooks on the computer desk and stuffed them in his book bag and stormed down the aisle to the door. When he got there, he turned back and yelled at Joe, "I fucking hate you!" Tears streamed down his face as he exited, slamming the door behind him. Joe stood there and hung his head. He knew he had made a serious mistake. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "What's the matter, baby?" Marilyn asked Joe. They were lying in bed naked. She had been trying for the last hour to get him to fuck her, but to no avail. Every time she touched him, he shoved her hand away. "Too much on my mind." He told her sharply. He just wanted her to leave him alone. All she wanted was his cock. That was all his relationship to her meant. Get a good fuck, roll over and go to sleep. "Want to talk about it?" She asked gently, rubbing his smooth, muscular chest. "No." He replied, moving her hand from his chest. "I can make you forget your problems." She reached over and began to stroke his soft cock. "Would you stop, Bitch!" As soon as he said it he knew he had gone too far. Marilyn reached over and slapped his face. "Fuck you, Joe!" She spat. "I've had it with you! This was the last straw! You're lucky I don't shoot your sorry ass!" She slapped his face again, only this time much harder than the first time. "You ever call me a bitch again, and I'll cut your balls off!" She was angry. This was the first time Joe had ever disrespected her. Their relationship had cooled off recently, but he had still remained the perfect gentleman. Tonight had changed how she felt about him. "You need to go be with your boyfriend, fag!" She was trying to hurt Joe. She knew he could withstand the physical pain, but she suspected he was weak emotionally, especially when it came to Matt. She had remained quiet for the past year while Joe had talked excitedly about his "white boy." White boy this, white boy that. If he showed half as much interest in her she would have been happy. But she began to sense that Joe's admiration went further than just an appreciation of his news reporting. She had watched her boyfriend brag and boast about his star reporter. His eyes would light up anytime he mentioned Matt's name. Jealously was a green-eyed monster, but a woman scorned was the devil. "Why don't you go fuck your white boy up the ass? You sure don't want to fuck my black pussy anymore!" She raged. Joe sat dejectedly on the side of the bed with his head hung. Marilyn moved around the room gathering her clothes and putting them on. He just wanted her to leave. Her venomous words were tearing into his heart. He knew she was right, and he didn't want to face it. He wanted Matt to be sharing his bed, not Marilyn. He didn't think that he had used her. At the beginning of their relationship they had felt a lot of love for each other. They had spent many hours enjoying one another's company. The sex had been fantastic. But then Matt had entered his life, and the closer he got to him, the further he drifted from Marilyn. His life had somehow spun out of control and he didn't know how to get it back. "I'm sorry, Marilyn. I really am sorry." He said apologetically. She came over, stood before him and gave him one more back hand to the side of the face before she walked over to the door and walked out, slamming the door behind her. "This is the second time today someone's walked out of my life, slamming the door behind them." Joe thought. He lay down across the bed still naked. He closed his eyes and drifted into a very restless sleep. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The sun was just rising above the horizon when Jeremy came walking slowing down the steps from his apartment building. Matt had been waiting in his car for about a half hour waiting for him to emerge. Matt noticed his boyish features. He appeared to be about sixteen. He was about 5'9" and he guessed him to weigh about 150. His hair was dark brown, wavy with light brown tint. He had a large diamond earring in his ear. He was an extremely good-looking boy, bordering on feminine. He walked with a gentle grace, not the lumbering walk of many teenage boys. Matt was reminded of the agility of a ballet dancer. After following him for about two blocks, Matt decided it was time to confront the handsome young man. "Excuse me, Jeremy. May I talk to you for a minute?" He spoke quietly so as not to startle the boy too much. "Who are you?" Jeremy asked, taking a defensive stand. He looked like he was getting ready to strike. Matt threw up his hands in a non-defensive manner. "Hold up, man. I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Matt Adams. I'm a student at Central. I just want to ask you a couple of questions." Jeremy looked him over cautiously and stated, "Yeah, I know who you are. I heard your name mentioned a few times last year. I don't know what you're here for, but I don't want to talk to you." He told him with very little emotion in his voice. "All I'm asking is for a minute of your time." Jeremy had continued walking quickly down the street heading towards his school. "Look, I don't have anything to say to you," Jeremy responded emphatically. Knowing he was going to get nowhere with this boy, Matt decided to just get to the point as to why he was there. "Ok, you know who I am. You know I exposed the activity at Wellston's mansion last year. I want to do a follow-up. I want to know about the sex that was going on. I heard you may have been involved." Jeremy suddenly swung around and faced Matt. "Who told you that?" A worried look formed on his face as he stood there staring at Matt. "It doesn't matter. Look, I know that several high school boys were abused at that party by some college guys. I want.." He was suddenly cut off. "Look. I don't know where you got your information, but you're wrong. I don't know anything. OK. Just leave me alone." He turned and rapidly started walking away. "Hold up!" shouted Matt. "Look, here's my number." He took out his notebook and scribbled his name and number on a piece of paper and handed it to Jeremy. "I really want to help. You guys were abused and I want to see that it never happens again. Ok? If you remember anything, give me a call. Please?" He tore off his number and handed it to the young man. Jeremy took it and folded the paper and put it in his pocket. "I gotta go to school. Like I told you, I can't help you." He turned and headed off down the sidewalk. Matt watched him walk away, before he turned and headed back to his car. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I hope you're enjoying the story. Write me at ronyx@woh.rr.com and let me know. I enjoy reading your feedback, and I answer all email.