Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:00:02 -0800 (PST)
From: Drizzt DoUrden <menzoberranzen_of_the_drow@yahoo.com>
Subject: Enjoy the Ride - Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: Standard disclaimers apply. If you are underage (18 or 21,
depending) and/or are offended by mature themes including consensual sexual
contact between teen males, then DO NOT continue. This work is entirely
fictional and any resemblances to persons (other than myself) either living
or dead, is entirely coincidental. If you wish to reprint this story, just
drop me an email letting me know where, and make sure you give me (Menzo)
credit.

Thanks to all of you who wrote me about the story. The response was
fantastic! Feel free to give me criticism; my writing is far from perfect!
Comments are very much appreciated, so please drop me a quick email at
menzoberranzen_of_the_drow@yahoo.com

~Menzo

"Enjoy the Ride"

Chapter 2 - A small measure of justice

*************************************************************

As Lily walked towards the door, I looked out the window and I got a
sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. There was a police car and one
other car I couldn't make out. However, I didn't have long to speculate as
Lily returned to the kitchen, her face pale. Behind her were two police
officers and the man I least wanted to see at that moment: my father.

***************************************************************

"Mr. White, I presume?" asked the taller of the two cops. I clutched Lily's
hand tightly and nodded.

"Do you know why we are here?" asked the second one in a patronizing voice.

"I could hazard a guess," I replied dryly. "However, I'm sure you have all
sorts of paperwork for Ms. Harper here. I have a pressing engagement at the
moment."

I got up off my chair and made to leave, but the police apparently had
other ideas.

"Sit. That can wait."

"Certainly," I replied sweetly. I prided myself to keep a composed face in
tense situations. I was an emotional person, but I knew how to restrain
myself when necessary.

"Your father here phoned us this morning saying that you had run away from
home last night. Your mother was worried sick when we got there."

"But not worried enough to call last night?" I queried, arching my eyebrow.

"She felt you needed some time alone and we knew you would be here," said
my father, speaking for the first time. At this point, Jesse came down the
stairs, his wet hair hanging over his tanned shoulders. He was clad only in
a pair of low-rise yoga pants and looked somewhat shocked to see two police
officers and my father, whom he couldn't bear to speak to on a good day,
standing in his kitchen. Unsure of what to do, he silently grabbed some
eggs and sat down beside me.

"Well, Ms. Harper, we won't take any more of your time. Jamie, if you could
come with us, please."

"No," I said simply. My voice was calm, but my hands were shaking. I could
feel myself getting angry and I wanted nothing more than to bash in his
face which was, I noted with satisfaction, sporting a broken nose from
yesterday.

"Excuse me?" asked the short one. "You did run away, after all..."

I cut him off. "I know perfectly well what I did. Better, I think, than you
do. I wish to speak to my father alone, please. Just a moment, and if we
can't come to an agreement, I will go with you. Ok?"

The taller cop, whom I sensed was the more reasonable of the two, smiled to
himself and nodded his head. He dragged his reluctant companion into the
foyer while Susan escorted her children into the living room. I was now
alone in the kitchen with my father. It took a supreme effort of will, but
I vowed to remain civil if at all possible.

"Look, son, what happened yesterday was regrettable," my father began.

"Regrettable?!" I demanded incredulously. His eyes narrowed, but he stayed
calm.

"Look, your mother and I have spoken at length about this and we have
decided to let you come home. On one condition - you have to go to sessions
with Reverend Thomas. He has experience in dealing with...this type of
abnormality. We won't tell anyone else, and you can be a normal kid."


Maybe he honestly believed he was doing me a kindness. Maybe. I was
stunned, and I stood up and began to talk. My voice was shaking with rage,
but I had a plan.

"Let me come home? Let me?" I began. "How kind of you, sir. But I have
different proposal. You forfeit all rights to my custody, and I don't nail
your ass to the wall for abuse, hate crimes and anything else I can get you
indicted for? Deal?"

He looked at me, momentarily speechless. I was never like this to anyone,
let alone my father.

"Now you listen to me, faggot," he breathed softly. He stood up, towering
over me.

"No, you listen to me. You may not care what I think, and you may not think
that you will get convicted, but if you force the issue, I will make sure
that every last goddamn person in this city knows that your son is a
faggot. I'll make sure they know exactly how I got these bruises." I was
barely speaking at more than a whisper, but suddenly he didn't seem so
intimidating. He face paled and I could see his greedy, power-hungry mind
thinking about what would happen if word got out. He would lose a lot of
business and my mother would probably lose her job. People don't want their
children being looked after by a violent bigot, after all.

"So, if you really don't want to come home, I guess we can't make
you. We'll just do this nice and quietly, no need to involve other people,
right?" he asked, rubbing his hands. I couldn't believe how well it had
worked. He folded like a cheap suit, and I nodded my agreement.

"I'll come collect my things tonight, and you can sign the papers on
Monday. I'm sure Susan and Dave won't mind if I stay here for a while."

"Excellent," he said, clapping his hands together. As long as his son
wasn't gay, it didn't really matter. I doubt I would be missed much around
the house anyway. He went to get the cops, and informed them that we had
reached an agreement. They agreed to let me stay at Jesse's house, but
insisted that we see a social worker before any papers were signed. The
three of them left and I suddenly felt drained.

No matter how much you loathe your parents, it is a strange feeling to
think that you will never see them again. I shed no tears over them though;
I had bigger fish to fry.

"Jamie, dear," came Susan's voice softly as she returned from the sitting
room. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It feels strange, though. He agreed to sign away their
rights as my legal guardians as soon as we've seen a social worker."

As I said those last words, Susan let out a sigh and Jesse clapped his
hands loudly. They usually refrained from saying anything bad about my
family, but I knew that they were worried about me. Ever since I came out
to them, they seemed a bit tense when the topic of my family came up around
the dinner table. Dave, as he had shown last night, held a special dislike
for them, though I still hadn't figured out what had caused his emphatic
reaction the night before.

"Ah, Susan, can I ask a favor of you?" I said timidly. I disliked imposing
on other people.

"Of course, honey. What is it."

"Well, I kind of need somewhere to stay until social services decides where
I should stay."

She just stared at me with a bemused expression on her face.

"No," she began, her tone serious. "I don't think that will be possible."

I looked at her incredulously - the woman was practically my mother - but
before I could say anything, she started cracking up with laughter.

"Don't be a moron, moron," laughed Jesse.

"You're staying with us - permanently," said Susan. "Honest to god, Jamie,
what did you expect? You spend more time here than I do!"

I smiled and, as much as I wanted to put up a superficial protest to the
idea, I couldn't get the words around from around my grin.

"Dammit!" I said, laughing. "Now it would be wrong for Jesse and I to shack
up!"

"Aw damn," grinned Jesse, blushing slightly. We all laughed for far longer
than necessary, but it was a good way of easing the tension. Everybody
there, except possibly myself, knew that my problems were far from over. I
had so far managed to avoid thinking about the cause of my many aches, but
they knew it would catch up to me soon.

We finished our leisurely breakfast and while we were cleaning up, Dave
came back. He seemed quite tense and quietly drew me aside when he walked
in.

"Hi Jamie, are you feeling ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, good. I, uh, took the liberty of speaking to a lawyer this
morning. I wanted to talk to social services, but I thought I should wait
to talk to you first."

"Thanks for waiting. My father came by here earlier with a pair of cops. I,
uh, persuaded him it would be wise if he dropped the matter." Seeing the
confused look on Dave's face, I filled him in on the events of the
morning. He seemed genuinely delighted and then explained that he had been
discussing the possibility of adopting me with his lawyer.

"Thanks Dave. It means a lot," I said when he told me.

"Oh, don't worry about it, kid. I mean, it won't be much different than now
anyway." I blushed a bit at that last. I did spend a lot of time at their
house.

"So, do you know if the social worker will give me any hassle? I know they
think families should stay together and all, but surely, given the
circumstances, it shouldn't be a problem."

"I think they will probably be reluctant, but as you said, you both want
this, and you have a family willing to take you in. It should be clear that
your best interests are served by coming here to live."

"Ok then. Thanks."

*****************************************************

The rest of the day passed in rather mundane fashion. I wasn't really up
for going out, so Jesse and I just hung out around the house watching
movies and chatting. We talked about how great it would be to live
together, but there was a small tension in the air that wasn't normally
there. I honestly couldn't wait for this whole thing to be over, so I could
resume some semblance of my former life. It was as if every silence between
us was filled with the questions he wouldn't ask, and the feelings I
wouldn't talk about. We ordered pizza for dinner and then I prepared to go
home, for the first time - and last, as it would turn out - to collect my
things. Jesse and Dave both volunteered to go with me, and for that I was
grateful. I did not relish the prospect of being alone with my brother and
father.

We pulled up to my former home at about 7:00pm and, to my relief, only my
parents' car was there. Jason must have been out somewhere or else he was
avoiding me intentionally. Either way, it suited me just fine. I stepped
out of the car and, supported by Jesse, I walked to the door and pushed the
door bell. My father greeted us at the door as if we were workmen he
neither liked nor disliked. My mother hovered in the background, looking
anxious. I studiously ignored her. She may have thought herself innocent,
but in my eyes what she had done was worse than what my dad did.

We walked up to my room, where a complete set of old luggage was waiting on
the floor. As quickly as possible, we packed all of my clothes, books and
other things into the suitcases. I gave one final glance around my room and
shut the door on my way out. I said a general goodbye to my parents and
told them I would see them on Monday for our meeting with the social
worker. My father was the very image of courtesy and that hurt. All he
cared about was his damn reputation. Now that I wasn't a member of his
family, it didn't matter. I didn't know or care how he would explain my
sudden disappearance to his friends and colleagues. I think my mother would
genuinely miss me, at least for a while. But I knew, no matter how much it
hurt to admit, that she wouldn't waste any time thinking of me. I stepped
out of that house and I felt both immense happiness, and a tremendous
loss. I walked to the car and never looked back.

I was quite subdued for the rest of the evening, and Jesse and I went to
bed early. I took a heavy sleeping pill, and slept on the day bed beside
the window of his room.

******************************************************************

When I woke up, I felt much better than when I had gone to bed. I jumped
out of bed and looked at the alarm clock. It was 9:00 and I saw that Jesse
was still sound asleep on his bed. I went and took a quick shower, wincing
at my very noticeable bruises. When I came out, Jesse was just getting up
and he looked a bit down.

"Hey Jess," I called. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he said casually.

"Ok. Hey, I wanted to thank you again for everything. I don't think I could
have made it without you."

"Yeah, I sort of noticed." I looked at him with a hurt look. It was very
unlike Jesse to say something so uncalled for.

"Would you excuse me now, I have get dressed," he demanded. That was odd,
he had never had any qualms about getting changed in front of me before.

"Dude, what's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"Fine! You want to know what's wrong? Really?" he asked
aggressively. "You're what's wrong! All I fucking do for you is pick you up
when you fall. I'm not your fucking boyfriend, ok?"

I was stunned, and tears began to flow down my face. I couldn't believe my
ears; Jesse was my everything. As I rocked back and forth of my feet, he
reached out to touch my shoulder and I jolted back to reality.

"Hush, Jamie," it was just a dream came a familiar, soothing voice. I
looked up into his big brown eyes, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Don't leave me Jess," I mumbled thickly.

"Calm down buddy. I'm not going anywhere. It was just a dream, ok? Here,
come sleep in the bed." He grabbed my hand and led me over to the bed. He
talked to me until I stopped crying and I fell asleep in arms, feeling
slightly guilty. He did so much for me and my biggest fear was that he
would become resentful. However, he had never given me any inkling that he
felt that way and I was grateful for the company. I didn't feel like
sleeping alone just then.

********************************************************

When I did wake up that morning, I did not feel good. In fact, I felt
terrible. My dream last night had served as an untimely catalyst that
brought a great deal of emotion bubbling to the surface. I know it was only
a dream, but it made me think. I depended so much on Jesse for support and
although I wasn't like this under normal circumstances, he was usually the
one doing the comforting. I tried to shake it off, but it was lingering in
the back of my mind nagging at me. To add to my misery, crying last night
over one thing had opened the floodgates to all of my pent up emotions
related to my parents. I untangled myself from Jesse's arms and went, as
usual, to take a shower. I tried to be quick, but when I got out that I
looked just as bad as I had before. My eyes were red and it was obvious
that I had been crying. I scrubbed my eyes a bit, but it was no use. I
stepped out of the bathroom and put on some of my own clothes that I had
retrieved the night before.

I started to walk downstairs, but looking at the time I decided I would
stay and mope. I sat down on the un-made day bed I had slept in briefly,
and I fell into my own thoughts. As I am wont to do when I get pensive, I
lost track of time and the next thing I knew Jesse was standing in front of
me.

"Earth to Jamie," he laughed.

"Oh, what? Sorry, I was just thinking."

He laughed again but his expression changed when he saw my tear-stained
cheeks. He sat down beside me, clad only in his boxers, and put his arm on
my shoulder.

"It was just a dream, Jamie. Don't do this to yourself again. You know I
love you more than life itself. I don't care if I have to spoon-feed you
and wipe your ass, I will always be there for you."

I sighed; he always knew what I was thinking. "Yeah, I know, but I feel
like..."

"Well, don't. No more talking like that, I am perfectly capable of telling
you how I feel. You don't force me to be your friend, you know."

"I know," I smiled. "But please, I can wipe my own ass thank you very
much!"

He punched me in the arm and told me to get going. He took a shower while I
went to get some breakfast.


Feeling somewhat better - now I only had one problem to deal with- I walked
downstairs to find Susan and a familiar looking woman chatting over coffee
in the living room. I made myself some coffee and grabbed some yogurt,
granola and peaches for breakfast. I grabbed the paper and became absorbed
in the daily crossword. I heard footsteps and I looked up. The stranger was
standing in front of me, positively beaming.

"Hi Jamie," she said, her voice a feather tickling the back of my mind.

"Hi, how are you?" I asked, trying to sound as if I knew perfectly well who
she was.

"I'm fine, but I came to make sure you were ok. You looked like you had had
a pretty rough night and I wanted to check back."

"Nancy!" I exclaimed. "I'm doing quite well actually. I really want to
thank you for picking me up that night. I don't know what would have
happened if I'd stayed out alone."

"Oh, it was nothing. I was going to come by a bit later, but when I got a
call at home from the police, I thought I would get down here early."

"I see," I said not seeing at all. How could the police know about Nancy
and why would they phone her even if they did?

"Sorry, I forgot," she laughed. "I'm a social worker and I deal mainly with
adolescents. I got a call asking me to come talk to you and your parents
tomorrow, but I wanted to speak with you first."

"Oh, that makes sense," I smiled. Knowing the social worker would certainly
make the whole process much smoother. "I assume he told you why you needed
to come down and speak with us."

"Yes, he did," she replied, her smile slipping. "Having your parents give
up their rights to you is quite extreme."

"I know, but my father and I came to an agreement. We both feel it is for
the best."

"What does your mother think."

"She doesn't. Or rather, she thinks what my father thinks on
principle. Either way, I wont leave a huge hole in her life," I said
bitterly. Nancy just shook her head.

"Well, I will leave you to enjoy the rest of your Sunday. We will be
spending quite a bit of time together tomorrow. Oh, and this didn't come
from me, but I don't think you will have much trouble convincing me that I
should let you sign those papers."

I smiled gratefully at her and walked her to the door. I barely knew her,
but she seemed a very genuine person.

The rest of the day turned out to be quite a good time for healing. I
opened up to the whole family, and we tried to work through some of the
things I was feeling. There was a lot of resentment and quite a bit of hurt
to be dealt with and that would take time. Still, it was good to get it off
my back and to talk about it with people I still felt I could trust.

It was a school night for Jesse, so we went to bed early. I slept with
Jesse again as I found great comfort in being so close to another human
being. For the first time that I could remember, Jesse woke before me. By
the time I had awoken, he was already at school. I had hoped that Monday
would be a liberating day, but it turned out to be a very long, emotionally
exhausting ordeal. Basically, Nancy, my parents, their lawyer and Dave's
lawyer all showed up at 10:00AM. There was a brief, charged interplay
between my parents, Nancy and I and at the end they signed away all rights
to visit me and Susan and Dave became my legal guardians. I had hoped it
would be over then, but there were finances to be dealt with.

My parents refused, unsurprisingly, to give any money but they could not
take away the money previously given to me. A large trust that was meant
for my education and as an emergency fund was in my name and, after much
shouting, my father named Susan as the trustee of that account. She would
be able to draw as much money out of it as was required to support me in
'reasonable comfort.' Apparently reasonable comfort did not include a
private-school education and so, for the first time in my life, I would be
going to a public school. I was nervous about that to say the least. They
only openly gay kid in my private school was there, if rumor was to be
believed, because he was driven out of public school. Also, because my
school catered to society's wealthy and elite, most of my friends lived a
considerable distance away from me. I sighed, my life was going to change
drastically over the next little while.

'Life is like playing a violin in public and learning the instrument as one
goes on,' I quoted silently to myself. I decided I wouldn't get hung up on
what had happened, but just sit back and enjoy the ride that was life.

***************************************************************

Comments, criticisms and suggestions are all very welcome. I write because
I enjoy it, but I post them here for you so please let me know what you
think of the story.

Menzoberranzen_of_the_drow@yahoo.com

~Menzo