Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 02:23:59 -0400
From: Chuck
Subject: Connections (chapter 7)

*****

Connections:
Chapter 7

*****

I slowly closed the door, trying hard not to make the door creak. It was
already past 1 am in the morning and I knew that my parents were going to
kill me if they ever find out that I'm home at this hour. The living room
lights were off and so was the kitchen, but as soon as I placed my shoes on
the shoe rack, the lights up the stairs lit up. I stood up quickly and
tried to think what I should do in this situation, but I just couldn't
think of any. My mom, dressed in her sleeping robe, came downstairs with
baggy eyes and frowned eyebrows.  I stood there and played with my fingers.

"Mom, I'm sorry I'm late but..."

"Don't BUT ME!" she said, almost yelling as loud as she possibly
could. "Your father and I have been working a lot for YOU and all we ask
from you is to abide our rules! And here you are coming home late at night!
Have you even thought that we were worried about you?!"

My dad came downstairs from his bedroom and I quickly thought that things
were only going to get worse. But, compared to my mom, he looked as if he
was worried for my mother than to myself. He hugged my mom and kissed her
head, whispering quietly that it was going to be ok. But my mom stared at
me as if I was the most disgraceful thing that ever happened in her
life. She said with her voice cracking, "Don't you even appreciate your
parents anymore?"

I was about to talk back but then, tears ran down her cheeks before she
returned my dad's hug. Something inside me just bursted and I stood there
dumbstruck at what I was seeing: my mom crying. I wanted to cry by just
seeing her hiding her face in my dad's chest. My dad told me, quietly, to
go to sleep but I tried to comfort mom but he told me again, but much
harshly, to go to my room. I walked upstairs, dragging my insides behind
me. I couldn't ever imagine my mom crying, and seeing my mom cry because of
something I DID, it was just...heart breaking. The fact that I did
something really bad tonight prevented me from going to sleep. It was when
the sky turned into navy blue that I had able to sleep for a few measly
hours, but only to be awakened by the shrills of my alarm clock that I
forgot to turn off the day before. I walked down the stairs, fearing that I
might end up facing my mom and have that silent treatment between
us. Luckily, my dad was there and my mom was nowhere to be found. My dad
caught my sight going down the stairs and quickly called unto me to come to
the kitchen. I slowly dragged myself there.

"Jake, son, we have to talk," my dad said as soon as I placed my butt on
the wooden chair. By the way he said those words, I thought that he had
found my LITTLE secret that they were not suppose to know until I move out
of the house. He continued, "Coming in late in this roof is
inexcusable. You could've at least called. We were really worried about
you."

"Dad, I'm sorry that I came late. I just forgot about the time when I was
out, and I got a ride home! I know that it was wrong of me not call you
guys, but I didn't know why mom had to make a big fuss about it," I said,
feeling awful that I acted as if I didn't care that my mom cried.  I was a
bit relieved though that he hasn't found out yet about my secret.

"I was also about to go to that issue. Your mom...she lost her job at the
firm because of massive lay offs," he said despising every word he had
said. He continued, "And she just found out yesterday that she was going to
lose her job. She was really stressed yesterday, and you coming late at
night did not help at all."

"I'm really sorry. Where is she?"

"In her office. She's packing all her belongings at work," he said. He
hesitated a bit but eventually, he asked, "With only my small income and
your mother's unemployment insurance, it still won't be enough to cover our
expenses."

Money problem. I had never even thought about having money crisis in this
family. Food were always in the fridge, clothes comes in whenever I want,
supplies comes in whenever I want; it just wasn't something I would ever
think of. I asked, "If what you mean is for me to get a job, then I'll do
it...anything to help around the house."

My dad smiled and left to go to work. He didn't have to say thank you
because his smile said it all. I sat there relieved that I wasn't to be
fully blamed for making my mom cry, but I still felt bad that she had lost
her job. I went to the computer and searched for part time jobs and in the
newspaper. I knew that there were always fast food restaurant to apply to,
but those were my last options.

For two days, neither seeing my mom or dad around the house since I figured
out that my dad was at work while my mom was still out either figuring out
what she should do, I searched for any job that I COULD handle. There were
many summer jobs out there that dealt with hand labour, but I figured out
that I wouldn't last that long and that by the time school starts, I won't
be able to work anymore since hand labour jobs that I found in the net and
newspapers were nine to five jobs. I was about to lose hope of finding a
better job, until I saw one small ad in the newspaper. It was a
telemarketing research called Bantrust, and they would be willing to pay
unexperienced teenagers eight bucks to start off with free
training. Without hesitation, I called them, and without even needing a
resume, I received an interview the day after.

That day, I wore the most acceptable clothes I could find in my closet and
went for my interview. I sat there with four other people: three were
women(one was inside the room where she was being interviewed) who were in
their mid 20's and the fourth one was a guy who looked like he was the same
age as I was, or maybe a year or two older.  He had an olive skin
complexion and deep black eyes that bored into mine when he met my eyes as
I examined his face. He was handsome, though in a different way than the
people I found to be attractive. His eyebrows were thick and frowned
naturally and a stud ring shined in edge of his left eyebrows, while the
small sharp hair under his lip made him look a bit dirty and gloomy. His
once-white cap was beige from dirt. The vains in his arms were puffing out
as he held the paper he received to fill in.

The interviewer came out and so did the woman who was interviewed. She was
asked to go to the computer beside where I sat to test her typing
speed. The interviewer, who wore horn-rimmed glasses and a brown blazer
that matched her brown skirt, called out my name. I stood up and saw her
smiling at me and whispering to me to come in and to sit down on one of the
two seats that faced her desk. I figured out that her name was
Mrs. Hempshire, when I saw the name on her desk. She sat down on her
leather chair, and asked why I was interested at this job and also what
skills that I have that would be beneficial to the company. I didn't
necessarily told her that my mom lost her job, but simply I told her that
my family were having a bit of money problems and that I need to get a job
to help out around the house. It sounded as if I was desperate to get this
job, which was partially true, but I personally thought that was the main
reason why I got the job when she told me that I was accepted despite that
I haven't even done my typing test. I was really excited and words jumbled
up when I tried to thank her. When I left the room, the guy, who had
finished the form that was given to him, looked up to me before being
called inside the room.

All day I was so excited that I got a job, and when I got home, I saw my
dad and my mom watching the T.V. in the living room. They looked like
they've been sitting there for a long time. Still nervous because of what
happened before and plus the total silent treatment for the past two days,
I approached them in the living room and said, "Mom, dad?"

My mom looked at me, differently but I could see no despair or sadness in
her eyes, then my dad looked at me. I grinned and yelled out, "I GOT A
JOB!"

Their faces had wide grins stuck to their faces as they got up to hug me. I
was jumping like crazy, while hugging them and holding the papers that I
received from Bantrust to review before my training. My mom was kissing me
on the forehead until she said outloud, "That's great! You see that
Sam(that was my dad's first name)? Our baby is a big and all grown now!"

I laughed and told her to stop. I told them about my job and how I got it,
even though I exaggerated a bit about how I got the job. They were really
glad that I found a job but they said that I should drop it if it anyway
interferes with my school work. I tried to call Philip about it but when
Roel picked, I knew immediately that he wasn't at home. I didn't care
anyway, and the thought of where Philip was disappeared when my mom and dad
decided to have a celebration by going to this restaurant which wasn't
exactly cheap. How typical of them to do that.

				   *****

The day that I had to go to my training, the weather was so awful that
having an umbrella was useless. The wind blew the rain in different
ways. And the traffic went so slowly that it took twice the time to get to
downtown but I wasn't a minute late, since I made sure I had to take away
the butterflies in my stomach. When I got there, at where at the room where
the interviewer told me to go before, there were already five people
sitting down waiting for everyone to come. I sat at second farthest chair
and placed my umbrella behind my chair. The three women that I was with
when I had my interview came in the same time ten mintues after I came. I
figured that they must've known each other. The five others though sat
quietly, three of them were guys and the rest were teenage girls. All the
seats were almost taken, except the seat behind mine. The interviewer came
carrying with her a big stack of papers.  She talked on and on about the
history of this company and how it came to be. Few times that I had closed
my eyes and fell asleep for five minutes before she brought the T.V. in the
room. She put on a thirty minute video, which I slept for about 20 minutes
between the video, that showed bunch of people demonstrating the right way
to interview someone.  When the lights came on, my jolted open and I
pretended to act as if I was awaken all through the video. Some of the
people were slumped on their chair, bored as I was. She handed a booklet
that she brought at the beginning of our training. It was around thirty
pages and it was pretty much like a script of tons of questions I was
suppose to say in the telephone interview, and it also had the client's(or
whatever they were called) answeres at every question.

"Everyone, I want you to pair up and..." she was interrupted by someone who
went inside the room. He was soaked from top to bottom that droplets of
water dripped down his forehead to his cheek. It was that same guy at the
interview room last week when I had my interview with
Mrs. Hempshire. Everyone took a glimpse at him before looking back at the
booklet. Mrs. Hempshire sarcastically said, "It was nice of you to show
up."

He mumbled an apology before looking around for any seat. Mrs. Hempshire
pointed at the seat behind mine. Then she said to me, "Mr. umm...Jake
Lauren, please help ummm...I believe Ricko Ocampa? Is it?"

He nodded and stared at me with his dark brown, black if he wasn't standing
near the fluorscent lights, eyes. She said, "Please Jake, review what we
have done with gentleman here. Everyone I want you to pair up and one
should be the interviewer and the other the client. I will give you thirty
minutes."

 He slowly walked to the chair behind me taking off his jacket as he tried
not to wet the booklet that he held with one of his hands. When he sat down
behind me, I almost hesitated to help him. I turned my chair around and
without looking at him, I said, almost whispering, "You didn't miss
anything really, she just talked about the history of this company and she
showed this video that I kind of slept throughout."

He laughed soundlessly and said, in a deep voice, "So much for the
review...thank god I came late then."

"Yeah. You really didn't miss a lot actually. They're training us as if
we're gonna be working here 'till we become impotent," I said. He laughed
as he looked through the pages of the booklet. We recited the long long
script: I was the interviewer and he was the client. It became a bit harder
halfway the book though, the client had to say possible things that might
happen during the interview, and I had to find the best possible way to
interpret it. That made me realize that eventhough you have to be nice to
the client, there's a point where all you're suppose to care about is the
survey; I wasn't allowed to have a conversation with the client, or shorten
the questions(you had to say the questions word by word) so I wouldn't
waste the client's time. Ricko thought it was really stupid and laughed at
some of the answers in the book, since some of them sounded really stupid.

I was so relieved that the training was over and done. My eyes burned from
dryness and my chin already hurted from resting it against my palm.  The
sky outside glowed of maroon colour. I could still hear the rain falling
down from the window. After taking a drink to wet my tongue, I went outside
and groaned as I gazed at the storm. Unlike this afternoon, the storm
became so bad that I could hardly see anyone walking in the sidewalks. The
others that came outside groaned and cursed at the rain as they dashed
themselves to the subway station, which was a block away from the
building. I stood there under the safe haven of the concrete ceiling
outside that overstretched from the building. The wind was blowing hard
from the west but I didn't mind it at all since it was pretty warm.

The bus finally came and I sat inside stressed out from memorizing all
those techniques. I stared outside, and now, I could see very clearly
through the windows. Buildings became smaller and smaller until it became
townhouses to semi-detached houses that looked almost identical(if it
wasn't for the different colour of paint used). Then, seeing the sign very
clearly, I had just passed Philip's street. Without hesitation, I got out
of the nearest bus stop and ran all the way back to the street. My bus stop
was a few stops away, but I knew my neighbourhood pretty well, even in a
morose climate. Down the street, I saw each and every houses filled with
yellow lights, but I saw no one daring to go outside. My shirt was so wet
that my body could be seen through my shirt, even my jockstrap band was
showing. After two blocks, I finally saw Philip's house towards me. Barely
any lights were lit at all but I could tell that someone was watching
T.V. from the living room since the glow inside varied from different
colour and brightness. I ran and ran and even though a sharp pain emitted
in my lungs, the thoughts of spending time with Philip tonight soothed my
body for awhile. I knocked on his door quietly, hoping that someone would
answer the door since I was starting to get the chills. Luckily, the door
finally opened.

Roel stood there with only a jean shorts on and a toothpick twirling
between his lips. His hair was frosted up and his face flushed a rosey red
colour and his brown eyes glittered even though they were no lights to
illuminate his eyes. I smiled, instinctively. "Hi Roel...is Philip home?"

"No he's not...I thought that he was with you," he said scratching lightly
his right elbow. I glimpsed at the windows outside and Philip's bedroom
didn't have any lights at all. I assumed that he might've gone outside with
Gabriel again, but I was a bit irritated that he didn't even bother telling
me. I smiled and gazed at the sidewalk to signal Roel that I was about to
leave.

"Well, thanks anyway. I'm gonna go! It's pouring out here!" I said as I
stepped off the porch. I was just about to leave when Roel suddenly yelled
out loud.

"Hey! At least stay for awhile and dry your clothes. You'll get the
sniffles if you don't," he said moving himself to the side to show me the
way inside. I kind of hesitated a bit since it was still foreign to me go
inside his Philip's home withoht him. He continued, as I walked inside the
house, "Philip's gonna be home in any minute away since mom and dad are
gonna be homein an hour."

"Oh." was all I could say. Dripping wet from head to toe, Roel instructed
me to take off my clothes while he grabbed a shirt and a short of his and a
towel from his cabinet, since Philip's room was always locked whenever he's
not around. It took me a few confidence to strip down to nakedness, save
the underwear that I had on. But even with the soaked underwear on, it
clung to my teenhood and drew a silhoutte in the front of my
briefs. Without even giving a second thought, I grabbed my pants and wore
it back again. When he came back, he smirked and tossed me his towel and
the clothes he dug out. "Your not getting out of here 'till you get those
stuff dry! Even your pants."

I flushed five shades of red and ordered him not to look while I changed
into his shorts. Before he could sit down on the couch that faced where I
was standing, I had changed into his short, though I kept my wet underwear
on, and removed the sticky wet socks off my cold feet. He went back up
again and grabbed the soaked clothes after I took off all my belongings. He
had already prepared a mug of hot tea on the coffee table, though I didn't
touch it since I wasn't sure that time that it was meant for me. As I heard
the dryer going, he came back and laid himself back on the couch mumbling
to me that the tea was for me. Neither of us talked for a few while, and
every half a minute or so, I'd stare at the door hoping that someone would
come in to break the ice or the dryer to stop humming.

Sipping my tea, he finally asked without looking away from the sports game,
"So how'd you end up in our doorsteps anyway?"

'Listening' between the lines, he didn't really appreciate my silent
accompinament. I sipped a bit of my tea again before I explained that I had
my first training for my new job and that the bus I took passed by this
street. Now, he looked at me and smiled, "So you're doing your part in the
society now huh?"

"Yeah," I said smiling a bit, but in my mind, I was jumbling up words to
try to continue our lame conversation. "How about you? You're going
anywhere tonight?"

"Yeah, it's Saturday night! I'm all ready to go, I'm just waiting for
abunch of people to pick me up in a few minutes," he said. So that's why he
didn't want me around.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I'm so going to go, I was only here to check if Philip's
home anyway!"

"Aw no wonder you're all freakin' out there! I really don't mind you
staying...'sides it's not until around nine when they pick me up," he
said. I felt at ease at my chair and I smiled, staring at my tea.

"Oh. So where you going anyway?"

"With the clothes I'm wearing right now, where do you think I'm going?" he
asked.

"Orgy-fest?!" I said laughing a bit. He laughed too before I said,
"Clubbing? I don't think you're allowed to wear that kind of thing in a
club!"

"Not at every club! But good guess about the orgy-fest though! Actually,
I'm just gonna put a sleeveless shirt on, the least requirements of the
club I'm going to!"

"I wouldn't know. I never went to a club! I'm still fifteen you know." He
was about to say something but his dryer beeped and stopped humming. "Oh!
There goes my clothes. I'll go take it if you don't mind."

He had let me, and soon as I got them, I had removed his clothes and
changed back into my dried clothes. It was a bit comfy since my socks felt
like warm blankets wrapped around my feet. I came back and sat down. I
waited ten more minutes before I decided to go. "Hey, I'm not going to wait
for long for Philip. My head aches and I'm really exhausted, so I'm gonna
go home."

"Mmmok. I'll tell Philip you came by though," he said as he stood up. We
both walked to the main door, and after I got my shoes on, he said, "Oh
yeah wait! You forgot your keys in the living room."

I went back to get it, and while I tried to find where I placed my wallet,
I heard the main door being unlocked from the outside and two voices
laughing like silly little children.

"...And he had that shirt on and I was like, what the fuck is he thinking
trying to talk to me?!"

"I know eh? I mean tight shirts are fine but on a guy with a huge belly?
Sorry but this ain't ugly town!" That sounded definitely like Gabe. Without
trying to find my wallet, I went back to the front seeing Philip and Gabe
talking gibberish as they removed their raincoats while Roel headed back to
the coach to vegetate. When Philip, who for the first actually looked
ummm....really gay, saw me coming out, I was sort off thrown off by his
uninviting countenance. Still, I walked forward with a smile in my face,
and Gabe looked at him and smirked. "See ya upstairs...three's a crowd
sistah."

He gave me a wink before going upstairs, whistling a deaf-toned song. Soon
after my eyes gazed away from Gabriel, I fixated my eyes at Philip with a
glimmer of satisfaction. I wrapped my arms around his neck without having
to think about it, and I cried, "Where have you been?! For the past week I
haven't seen or talked to you!"

"Same to you too!" he said as he wrapped one of his arms around my waist
and the other around my body up to my neck where his hand caressed the back
of my head. Three kisses landed on my cheeks and one on my nose and two in
my lips. "I thought you'd been ignoring me."

"Ignoring you? Where would you get that idea?" I asked.

He grinned and sighed while his eyes rolled to the back of his head. "Not
calling me, not answering my calls, not dropping by, well 'till now,
not...umm...I think that's pretty much the dead hints that you were
ignoring me."

"Well I tried calling you about my good news!"

"And that is?"

"A job!" I said, unenthusiastically since having my kind of job isn't
really something to be proud of. He kissed me again before he congrutaled
me. He was glad that I got a job but teased me that now that I have money,
I have to start paying for our date. He held my hand and he thugged my hand
as he tried to get to his bedroom, but I stayed and put. "I can't. It's
really late and I'm really tired. I just came here to see you...and Gabe's
here so, we won't have the room for ourselves. But...you can walk me home
if you want!"

"In this RAIN?! Are you crazy?!" he said laughing sarcastically. I giggled
and he kissed me on the cheek. I wasn't expecting that kiss and honestly, I
really didn't want that kiss since I could hear his parents fumbling their
keys. Right before the door opened, he jerked back awards and his face grew
red. I turned around and saw his parents soaked from the rain. I smiled,
"Umm...good evening Ma'am, Sir. Umm...later Philip."

Their parents smiled making way for me to go outside before going in the
house. Philip stood in the door frame to prevent from getting soaked from
the rain. The thunder clashed which shook the ground before he could yell,
"See ya!"

Right before I could turn around to wave at him, he had closed the door.

				   *****

"I'm sorry sir but your paycheque's not here. Your not even registered yet
in our computer."

"What are you talking about? I've been working here for the past two weeks,
and I have my personal ID card to access in this place and the computers!
How can I not be registered?"

"It's a different 'system' sir, you're registered as a worker but not
registered for any payroll...oh! You're not registered but it has here the
tally of your total hours. It wouldn't take long to sign you in, but it
would take around thirty minutes or so for the paycheque to be ready."

"I can wait that long. Thank you," I said walking back to outside the
office, sitting on one of the two chairs available. Barely did I ever lost
my patience but this job is really taking the toll out of me. Frequent
refusals from clients, cursings, and the extreme boredom and bad breath,
it's really stressing me out! Fifteen minutes after, I was agitated to do
something since there was nothing to do. I only had my mind to entertain
me. I kept on shaking my leg, looking at the time, playing thumbsies to
myself, until Ricko, who had just went in the office a few minutes ago,
came out and sat beside me. He smiled for a second as a replacement for a
hello when he saw me, and I nodded back. I sat there in total silence, the
only thing I could hear was the buzzing of the flourescent lights, the
elevator humming, and a few conversation from people passing through the
office. Finally, I tried breaking the ice; I just COULDN'T stand the
silence!

"Did they have any problems with your cheque too?" I asked trying to make
him look at me eye to eye.

"Yeah."

"Oh, me too," I said. I dared not to continue on when I realized that he
really didn't want to talk based from his one word answer. A few seconds
had passed before he talked.

"Sucks big time. Fucking kissing my ass off my clients for nothing."

"You're not registered?" I asked humoursely, though I despised his
languaged. He rolled his eyes and broke out a few laugh. "Yeah, I'm not in
the fucking 'system.' Whatever."

"Yeah, the bitch said it'd take 'a while' to write a cheque, though I know
it's going to be a helluva long time," I said. His language's really
contagious.

"Heh, yeah. I'm Ricko by the way."

"Yeah I know. The interviewer introduced me to you back at training."

"My bad. I had major issues that time so no biggies intended if I forgot
your name," he said without any regret.

"It's Jake Lauren. Nice to meet you," I said, my deep repulsion masked with
my daintness .

"Yeah," he simply said. The adminstrator came out of the office and called
out my name. I stood up and briefly gazed at Ricko.

"Well take care," I said. He raised his eyebrows as a reply before I headed
inside her room. The adminstrator, who I haven't seen before, apologized to
me for any inconveniences that was caused by this problem. As if she cared!
She hasn't even seen me in her life anyway. I took my paycheque and thanked
her anyways. Ricko was still sitting at the same seat I left him, but now
his eyes were closed and his lips made a small circle, his head tilted a
bit down and his arms crossed. Sleeping, I figured.

Though, despite his repulsive behaviour, he had a dark yet handsome
features that I couldn't exactly tell why I find it interesting. No doubt
for sure that I was attractive to him, mostly by his mysterious charms. I
left the waiting room, but before I could close the humongous door, I took
a peek of Ricko for a few seconds until his eyes opened slightly. Chills
ran down in my spine and my hair on the back of my neck rose up when his
eyes met mine. He had noticed that I had been looking at him. I closed the
door and left calmly.

				   *****

I had been staring for a quite awhile now, unable to say anything to
him. His blonde hair spiked in many directions smelled like sweet perfume,
or maybe it came from his clothes. I wasn't too sure. My mouth was blank
but my mind was filled with thoughts and imaginations of my reactions in
the past when I thought he was moving.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Leo asked as he approached
closer, probably wondering also why I wasn't letting him inside my house. I
looked away, tears welled up in my eyes and I looked away quickly. I
chuckled and wiped off the tears that ran down my cheeks with my palm. He
noticed and he stepped closer but my voice prevented him to get even an
inch closer.

"God, I can't believe I'm crying in front of you again!"

He didn't say anything. He looked away and his hands clenched.

"I don't even know exactly why I'm crying anymore. I already cried for you
before, only to be lied by you again now. Why didn't you tell me the truth
before instead of lying that you weren't gonna go?"

He still didn't look at me.

"Tell me!"

He looked away and his eyes frowned and his lips quivered.

"I'm crying my eyes out for you stupid SHIT! Why aren't you saying
anything?!" I shouted. I was out of breath and my eyes burned. My hands
covered my soaked red eyes unable surpress the feelings that I had for him
long long ago. "You have no right Leo! You can't do this to me...I fuckin'
need you!"

He wanted to touch me but I jerked my body as soon as I felt his warm hands
touching my shoulder.

"Talk you fuck!" I sobbed. This time, I had let him hold me in his
arms. Leo hugged me tight and didn't let go. He whispered, "I'm here...I
didn't mean this to happen at all..."

*****

Thanks for reading. I know cliffhanger sux.