Date: Fri, 1 May 2015 21:58:42 -0500 From: Kit Darling Subject: A Rose Among Thorns Part 9 *DISCLAIMER* This story contains depictions of male on male, graphic sexual interactions. The characters are high school aged and sometimes have unsafe sex. ALWAYS USE A CONDOM! This is a complete work of fiction and any similarities to persons or events is purely coincidental. Enjoy the story and any feedback is welcome. Remember that Nifty needs your generous donations to continue on, Dears. So make sure to toss a few dollars their way so they can keep tossing great stories your way. Love ya! CHAPTER 9 On the night of my birthday, it was tradition to invite friends over and eat cake. I, of course, asked Nolan and Logan. Mom had put up streamers and Dad had set out the nice china. We all sat at the dining room table. "Did you have a good day?" Mom asked as she served me a slice of double-decker, yellow cake smothered in rich chocolate frosting. "Oh it was lovely," I replied sticking my finger in the frosting and licking it off, "Logan put together the cutest picnic ever." "What are you gonna be for Halloween?" Nolan asked, changing the subject. I shrug, "I'm not sure. I was thinking of doing a gender bender of sorts. Like, maybe I could go as Sherry Birkin or Wednesday Addams or Snow White." "Where does one find a gender bender costume?" Logan asked around a bite of cake. "Well, I'll have to sew it myself," I said eating more of the moist treat in front of me, "It shouldn't be too difficult." "Well I'll go as Jake Muller or Pugsly or Prince Ferdinand," Logan winked. "Oh, we'd be so cute as Jake and Sherry!" I said excitedly. "Halloween isn't for a few more weeks, let's not get over- zealous already," Nolan hissed as he stuffed more cake into his mouth. I looked up abruptly, shocked by his bitterness. Mom and Dad looked at each other cautiously. Logan raised his eyebrow. "So, Nolan, have you decided where you wanna go for college?" I asked trying to lighten the mood. "I... Uh... I was thinking Nebraska. Maybe I'll go to Pennsylvania," he wanted to be an engineer. I was still trying to figure my shit out. I was thinking of going to school for fashion design but I also wanted to be an artist. "I heard Nebraska is really nice," Mom chipped in. "Daddy went to Nebraska," I said with a smile. "Go Huskers," Dad said with his mouth full of chocolate frosting. I giggled at him. Nolan remained quiet. I wondered why he was being so weird. I decided not to bring it up until he and I could get a second alone. At the end of the night I walked Logan out to his truck. "Thanks again for everything, Logan," I smiled. "It was nothing," he said running his hands down my arms. He gripped me gently and pulled me up onto my tiptoes. He met me halfway and pushed his lips onto mine. I lost my breath as I kissed him back. When he pulled back, he brushed a lock of my hair from my face, "We really should collaborate our Halloween costumes so we can win the costume contest as cutest couple." "I really want go as Jake and Sherry but it would be incredibly annoying to explain to everyone who doesn't play Resident Evil who we are. We need to come up with a more popular couple." "Fred and Daphne? Audrey Hepburn and James Dean? Cinderella and the Prince?" Logan offered. "Oh my God! What if we went as Marshall Lee and Prince Gumball?" I said excitedly but Logan stared blankly, "Adventure Time with Fiona and Cake?" Still no response from Logan, "Okay," I said, "Obviously that's not a good idea... How about Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask? Link and Zelda? Mario and Peach?" "Oh there's a couple I know!" Logan exclaimed, "That would be cute... But I still really like the Jake and Sherry idea." "But no one will know who we are," I said with a huff. "We'll know who we are." "They carry weapons, obviously we can't bring weapons- even fake ones- to school with us. It will completely defeat the purpose. We can figure it out later," I said with a smile. "Let's each come up with a list of ten couple's costumes, tomorrow after school we can go get fabric and start working on them," Logan offered as he rubbed my arms. "Sounds like a plan. My list will slay yours," I stated before kissing his cheek, "See you in the morning." "See you in the morning," Logan climbed into his pick-up and drove off. I returned inside. I walked into the kitchen where Nolan was standing over the sink, washing dishes. Mom and Dad were cleaning up but I silently waved for them to leave. Mom nodded and grabbed Dad's hand and they left. "What's up, Buttercup?" I asked, booty bumping Nolan as I brought another plate to the sink. "Just washing dishes," he answered flatly. "I mean what's up with you? What's wrong?" I asked putting a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged my hand off and backed away. It felt like I'd been slapped. "Ever since you and that- that barbarian started dating you never have time for me," Nolan blurted with a low, angry tone. "Nolan, he's not a barbarian! I sit with you almost every day at lunch," I said getting fed up with Nolan accusing me of being a bad friend all the time. "Whatever. We used to spend, like, every night together. Now you're off on dates and doing, God knows, what else," he was flailing his arms around wildly. "What about you? You know you could always invite me to hang out," I said crossing my arms. "I DO!" he shouted, "I always ask you to hang! Whatever. Glad you had a good birthday," Nolan said, exasperated. He grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair and stomped out of the kitchen. I followed him. "It WAS a good day till you had to go and ruin it," I said getting frustrated with his bad attitude. "That's right, it's always my fault. I'm always the problem, huh? Well, you and your boyfriend have fun being little fags together," Nolan growled. My eyes widened in shock. I'd never heard him use that word in all the years I'd been friends with him. With a mind of it's own, the back of my left hand swung and hit Nolan's right cheek, hard. I'd never hit Nolan. This was the first time. His face burned from where my hand connected with his face. He glared down at me, then turned and left, this time I didn't follow him. Tears burned my eyes and I raced up to my room and threw myself on the bed and sobbed. The next morning Logan and I were in his truck on the way to school. It was silent. I didn't feel like talking; I was still really upset about the events from the night before. "So I have my list," Logan said glancing over at me. "Oh I totally forgot," I said, not very good at keeping my sadness from my voice, "I'll make one and we can share them at lunch time." "What's the problem?" Logan's hand grabbed mine. "Nothing," I lied. "I think I'll ask you again, what's bothering you, Corrigan?" Logan's voice was filled with genuine concern. I wasn't used to him not calling me that ridiculous nickname "Igan" and the fact that he called me by my real names showed me he really wanted to know. "Promise you won't do anything stupid if I tell you?" I asked, biting my nails. "Why would I- sure, I promise." "Last night, Nolan and I got into a fight... he called us... faggots." As soon as I said it, Logan nearly crashed the car. He pulled over and turned to me, "He said what?" "Never mind it," I said. Logan gripped the steering wheel hard and sped toward the school. He parked in the first spot available and like a lion searching for its prey he rushed toward the building. I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and grabbed his keys from the ignition. I raced after him but he was way too fast. By the time I was inside there was already shouting and the sound of fists on faces. I pushed my way through the crowd to see Logan wailing on Nolan. Nolan was strong, but Logan was stronger. Logan beat his ass like a drum. I rushed forward as Logan was about to smash his fist into Nolan's face once more. I grabbed his arm and shouted, "Logan Black, STOP!" He looked at me and then down at the bloody mess that was now Nolan's face. He spit on him, "You're lucky Corrigan is more forgiving than me, Parker." Logan stood up and yanked his arm from my grip before storming away. I stood there as Nolan got up from the ground and went the opposite way. I figured Logan needed to cool down so I followed Nolan into the boy's bathroom. "Nolan?" I whispered coming forward. He was hunched over the sink his shoulders heaving. It was clear that he was crying. I'd never in my life seen Nolan cry before. "Why did you stop him?" Nolan asked looking up at me, blood running from his nose and over his soft, pink lips. I grabbed a paper towel and got it a little wet before dabbing at his face. I cleaned the blood from his nose and lips, and wiped it off the cut that was in his left eyebrow. "Because," I said while I wiped his eyes, "You're my best friend. No matter what you say. I'm sorry I-" "No, I'm sorry I've been such a jerk. I guess I'm just... jealous that you don't spend all your time with me anymore," He put his forehead against mine. "I miss you too, Nolan, I just never get any time-" I was interrupted by his mouth on mine. Shock, fear, confusion, anger, joy, and amazement combined inside me. The moment was over as quick as it happened and Nolan was backing up from me. I turned and dashed out of there. What the hell had just happened? Why the hell would he do that? I ran and ran and didn't stop till I was by the old oak tree outside the school. I couldn't breathe. I gasped for air and it felt like nothing was going into my lungs. My face was hot and I couldn't concentrate. I was thinking at a million miles a minute. Everything was much simpler when I was just in the middle of one big, fucked up love triangle. Just me and Blake and Logan. But how dare Nolan mix himself into that equation. My heart was beating fast, I didn't even know if I was happy that he'd kissed me or pissed that I had to factor in one more thing I'd done to betray Logan. I fell to my knees and all the emotions inside me boiled up. Tears streamed down my face and the world was spinning out of control. I leaned against the tree and put my head in my lap. That evening I lay in my bedroom. I was doing nothing, just laying there, staring at the ceiling. Nolan had called once and sent me a text message asking if we could talk. Logan had texted me asking where I'd vanished to. Blake asked if we were gonna hang out on Sunday. Eventually I'd turned off my cell phone and tossed it on my desk across the room. I lay there in silence wondering what in the world I was going to do. Suddenly I got an idea to go see Grand- mère. She'd know what to do. I remember she'd slipped me a little business card with the name of her shop on it. I dug through my wallet and finally found it. I pulled on a jacket and my little brown satchel and got in my car and drove over to New Orleans. It was dark when I pulled into the city. The streets were bustling with people. I found a place to park that was only five dollars and got out. Walking briskly, I made my way to the street where Grand-mère's business was. At one point I passed a homeless man. I was reaching into my satchel to pull out a ten dollar bill for him when he sneered and did this hideous cackle, "Nice purse," he said to me. I looked him dead in the eyes. I was not in any mood to take this crude man's nonsense. "Nice house," I spat at him. I shoved the ten deep into my "purse" and took off. At last I was standing in front of the store that Grand-mère owned. In beautiful curly letters the sign read "The Curious Cabinet". I reached for the door knob and turned it. The door opened and a little bell tinkled, warning anyone inside that someone was entering. "Come in, Come in, Cher, I've been expecting you," Grand-mère was stirring a miniature cauldron over a little hot plate. She tapped the wooden spoon on the edge of the bubbling concoction and laid it on the counter, "No one left to turn to, Dear?" Suddenly I felt like she was Ursula and I had made a mistake because next she would ask me for my voice, "I shouldn't have come." I turned and made for the door. "Wait, I don't mean to poke fun, Corrigan. I was just making an assumption," the frail little woman came around the counter and pulled her shawl tighter on her shoulders. "Come on back, I'll brew you some tea." She lead me through a doorway where beads hung down. We walked down a short hallway and came into a room decorated in antiques and velvet and gold. It was so lavish back here. She gestured to the red velvet chaise and I sat down on it carefully, worried that I might break it because of how old it looked. "You're here because you are having boy trouble," Grand-mère stated. She took the kettle and filled it with water and hung it over the fire. I felt like we were back in the Victorian era. "Your heart is tied up by three men. Those knights from before, yes?" "That's right," I said quietly, ashamed at how she had figured me out in seconds. "What you need is a dream spell. It will reveal your heart of hearts and tell you who you should pick," slowly, she poured the now boiling water into a tea pot and brought it over to a little table between us. "Tell me, Corrigan, who do you think you want?" I thought very carefully. Obviously I wanted Nolan, I'd been in love with him since forever. Then I remembered how Logan had been changing so much. How he put together a special picnic for my birthday and how he wanted to wear couples costumes with me for Halloween. Lastly, there was Blake. He genuinely liked me, without a shadow of a doubt. All three boys had their flaws. Logan was so hot and cold when it came to genuine emotion. Blake was cocky. Nolan, as far as I knew, was still straight for Christ's sake. It was difficult to make a decision. "I- I don't know," I hung my head in defeat. "You're young. You don't have to know just yet, Cher. You do, however, need to make a decision before someone's heart gets broken," She said as she poured the tea into cups and handed me one. I took it and watched the steam rise off of the transparent brown liquid. How could I chose? No matter what, I was going to hurt someone. Maybe I just wouldn't make a decision. Not until after Christmas, maybe. I could keep just trying to figure my shit out. Was I going to try and stay with Logan? Was I going to end up with Blake? Was there ever going to be anything between Nolan and I? I had no idea. I knew I was making a huge mistake by putting the decision off, but I figured, at this rate, it didn't really matter. *AUTHOR'S NOTE* Sorry this is a tad bit late you guys. I got super busy this week! Anyways, my normal appreciation to Robbie for his outstanding ability to edit for me and still have a life. I hope you all like what's going on. I have a few more twists and turns in store for you yet! E-mail me and tell me what you think darlings! -Kit =^.^=