Chapter Two

I guess sometime during the night I must have passed out. I would have still been asleep if it weren't for the awful banging noise outside of my door.

I raised up out of my bed, glanced at the alarm clock then looked at the door.

"What!" I shouted angrily at the person on the other side of the door.

There was nothing more that I hated than to be woke up before I was ready. Especially after a fun night of partying.

The door opened and my little brother Jonathan came.

"What you want so early Jon?"

My brother and I were pretty close. Apparently my parents couldn't keep their hands off each other because my brother is eleven months younger than me. I was six weeks old and she got knocked up.

He looked at me and laughed. "I was gona ask you if you wanted to go to the mall with me." He glanced at Connor who was lying next to me still clothed. "But well, I guess you had other plans bro."

"Funny Jon. We both passed out last night on my bad. You could have come down and partied with us ya know."

"Well, thanks bro but I had other plans." He turned around to go back out the door. "Well I am headed to the mall. You have your fun maybe if things go like you planned you won't be a virgin no more." He laughed, winked at me and turned and left.

Yeah my family is pretty close with each other. Jon and I were closer than anyone seeing how at one point we each year we were both the same age because I was born in August and he was born in July. We would both be the same age for a month.

He looked a lot like me too. Same blond hair and green eyes and just a couple of inches shorter than me. You really couldn't tell how much shorter he was if we were standing next to each other.

I laid my head back down on my pillow. I guess I must not have been quiet enough, because as soon as I did. Connor rolled over and looked at me.

"My head is fucking killing me."

I grinned at him. "If you're gona be hanging out with me, they you had better get used to it."

"Yeah and have you get me drunk and take advantage of me."

"I would never do that." I said with a huge grin on my face.

My thoughts immediately flashed back to last night.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" He asked.

"Anything like what?"

He blushed. "About me maybe?"

He turned over on his side and looked at me.

"Why did you kiss me?" I asked him. "Are you gay or was it just a drunken moment?"

"You seem like someone I can trust. I think eventually I will tell you everything about me. I just have some stuff that happened that I am just now getting grasp on ya know."

"That's cool. I will listen anytime you want to talk." I looked at him. "So did you have a girlfriend at your old school?"

"Um no. Had one back in ninth grade but we broke up."

"Ah I see."

"So, you wana go hang out or something today? Maybe we could go to the mall and catch a movie or something?" He asked.

"Yeah that'd be awesome. My brother just headed out that way maybe we can meet up with him and I can introduce ya."

We lay in bed for a little bit longer the finally got up and took our showers. Seeing how Connor had not thought to bring anything to wear I let him borrow some of my clothes. He insisted on wearing a pair of jeans even though it was almost a hundred degrees outside. I also have him a red t-shirt to wear with it.

I was hoping to maybe get a little peek or two of him in the shower. My being my seductive self, I had him take his shower first and only sent him on his way with a pair of underwear intentionally leaving the jeans folded up on my bed.

About ten minutes after getting in the shower I hear the water turn off.

"Noah!" Connor shouted my name from the bathroom.

I walked over to my bathroom door and tried to turn the door knob. It was locked. I knocked on the door.

"What you need?" I asked.

"Um I think I left my jeans out there. If I open the door will you toss them in here to me?" He asked.

"Um sure."

I walked over to my bed, disappointed that my plan hadn't worked, picked up the jeans and walked back over to the door. I knocked on the door. I heard the door knob open and he opened it just far enough so that I could toss the jeans in. He closed the door and locked it behind him.

Damn. I thought to myself. So much for that plan.

He finally came out, fully dressed, clothes and all. He looked at me with a big smile on his face. I had only known the guy for three days, but I loved that smile. He could light up the darkest room with that smile.

"Well, it's you turn."

I went in the bathroom and took my shower, all the wall imagining that Connor was in there with me. My shower didn't take long at all. I got dried off tossed the wet towel on the bathroom floor and walked back out into by bedroom.

Yeah, you guessed right I walked out there naked in front of Connor. I liked my body I had no problem showing it off. I was determined to get my man.

"You might wana cover that up buddy. Something is looking a little shriveled up there." He said jokingly as he glanced at me dick.

I picked a pair of shorts off the floor and threw them at him. "What you doing looking then?"

We both burst out in laughter.

"You had it coming ya know." He said to me as I took a pair of boxers out of my drawer and put them on.

"Well, I ain't had no complaints before." I walked over to my closet and took out a pair of cargo shorts and put them on.

He looked over at me. "Truthfully Noah, how many guys have you been with?"

I turned around and looked at him. "How many have you been with?" I asked him with a sheepish grin on my face.

"I am not going to answer that." His face grew serious. "Seriously have you ever even done anything with a guy?"

I grabbed a pink button up shirt out of my closet and put it on. "Fine. I kissed one guy before. Well I take that back two if you wana count last night."

His face turned red. I couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or what.

"Um yeah, I am sorry about that."

I walked over to my bed and grabbed a pair of sandals and put them on.

I grinned at him. "So you remember that."

"Yeah." He got up from the bed. "So who was the other guy that you kissed, Kyle?"

I didn't say anything.

"Lets go." I walked over to my desk and grabbed my keys and led him downstairs to the living room.

"It was Kyle."

"I plead the fifth on that one. " I replied as I led him outside and to my car.

Connor looked at my car. "Has anyone ever told you that you have the gayest looking car I have ever seen?"

I playfully punched him in the arm. "Hey I resent that. I like my car it was my birthday present."

I looked at my car. My parents had bought it brand new for me for my sixteenth birthday. It was a Nissan Cube, red, with black interior. My parents had Nissan vehicles for as long as I can remember. My mom had a maroon Nissan Maxima and my dad had a black Nissan Armada.

I actually knew what I was getting the Cube for my birthday; I got to design it how I wanted on Nissan's website.

I looked at Connor. "Hey it could have been gayer and gotten a Hyundai Accent."

He laughed. "Yeah, true to that one."

I unlocked it and we both got in. I started it and drove away.

"You think you could run me by my house. It will only take a minute. I just gotta run inside and take some vitamins."

"Yeah sure no problem. How do I get there?"

He gave me directions to his house. His wasn't too far from my house. I pulled into the driveway and stopped.

"Thanks a lot." He said as he opened the door. "I will be right back. I should have just brought them with me to the party last night and I wouldn't even have to worry about it."

"Its no problem. "

He got out, closed the door and walked to the front door of his house.

His house wasn't as big as mine. It was just an average single storied house. It was still very nice. The way the flower garden had been arranged around the house, it looked like a nice professional job. The house its self was brown brick with white stone trimmed around the windows.

I waited for about five minutes then Connor came out of the house and back over to my car.

He opened the door and poked his head in. "I got some bad news for ya dude."

My face grew serious. "What's wrong are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that my parents want to meet you. They insisted, said that I can't go until they get to meet you."

"Ok." I opened the driver's side door and got out. "I'll be your straight best friend."

"Just be yourself. They don't have any problem with gay people."

"Cool."

I followed Connor back to the front door of his house, he opened the front door and we were in the living room. This was a lot different than my house. You go through my front door and you are in the foyer.

I could see two older people sitting on a love seat and a guy about our age sitting in a chair next to them.

Connor turned and looked at me then turned back to his family. "Everyone this is my friend Noah." He looked back at me. "Noah this is my mom Mary, my dad Jack and my older brother Darren."

"Nice to meet you." I smiled.

"What kind of grades do you get at school?" Mary immediately asked me.

"Straight A's ma'am." I replied.

I was nervous. I never get nervous either. I had never met one of my friend's parents and they immediately start asking me all these questions.

"You ever gotten pulled over?" Jack asked.

"No."

"You ever been drunk?" Mary asked.

"No." I lied there. I wasn't about to tell his parents that yeah I love to party and I get drunk all the time.

"What do your parents do?" Jack asked.

"My mom is a nurse clinical manager and my dad is CFO both at the hospital." I replied.

"Brothers or sisters?" Mary asked.

"I have a brother who is fifteen and a sister who is fourteen."

Darren stood up from his chair. He looked at me. "Hey will you give me a hand in the kitchen I am gona get some drinks for everyone."

"Sure" Anything to get away from all the questions his parents were asking.

Darren led me through a doorway to the right of the living room and we were in the kitchen.

He glared at me and walked over to a kitchen island counter and walked down. He motioned to one of the bar stools. "Have a seat."

I obediently walked over to the bar stool and sat down. He sat down in the one next to me staring me in the eyes.

"You do any drugs?"

"Hell no!" I exclaimed.

"I know you lied to my parents about the drinking. I hear people talking all the time at school about the parties you be having down in your basement and how you love you a good shot of vodka."

"Sorry I lied. I just didn't want your parents thinking bad of me."

"I'll let that one slide." He leaned closer to me. He was so close that I could feel his breath on my face. "You had better not hurt my brother. You do and I swear I will fucking kill you with my bare hands." He pulled away from me. "You got me."

I nodded my head. "Ok. We are friends come on. You make it seem like we are dating or something."

He got up from his seat. "Just remember what I said. He's been through a lot. You hurt him and you're dead."

I nodded my head and got off the bar stool and followed him back in to the living room.

"You ready?" Connor asked as soon as he saw me.

"Yeah."

I didn't say a word until we got in my car and I had started it up. I turned and looked at Connor.

"What was up with all the questions?"

"I'm sorry I should have warned you." He turned and looked out the window. "I am sorry. Something just happened in my past and they are very protective of me."

I shifted into reverse and backed into the street. "You can say that again." I shifted into drive and we were on our way to the mall. "Your brother threatened me while we were in the kitchen."

Connor turned away from the window and looked at me. "Say what?"

"He told me that if I ever hurt you he would fucking kill me with his bare hands. Can't say I ever been greeted like that before."

"I'm sorry."

"It's cool. Just caught me off guard. I never been asked so many questions when I first meet someone."

We drove for about ten minutes and we were at the mall. It wasn't the biggest mall, but it would have to do. We had a bunch of good stores Aeropostle, American Eagle, Rue 21 lots of great clothing stores that I loved to shop at.

"You got any place you wana go to?" I asked Connor as we pulled into a parking spot.

"Nah. I'm good. Just looking forward to spending time with my new best friend." He looked at me and smiled.

I took my cell phone out of my pocket and looked at it to see what time it is.

"Hey its noon. You wana meet my brother and his girlfriend and get a bite to eat?" I asked. "I'm starving."

"Yeah, that'd be cool."

We got out of the car and started walking to the main entrance of the mall. I took my phone and sent my brother a message.

`Where u @?'

I pressed send. A few seconds later my phone went off. I opened it up and read the message.

`@ the food court. U wana join'

`B there in a min' I pressed send and put the phone back in the pocket.

I looked at Connor as we walked into the mall. "So we are going to eat with my brother and his girlfriend Jana. That cool?"

"Yeah. I hadn't met him. I thought your sister was going to talk my head off the other night when I came for the party."

"That's my sister for ya."

We walked down the long corridor towards the food court. The smells of the food from the restraints made me even hungrier.

I spotted my brother and Jana sitting at a table in the corner. We walked over there and joined them.

"It's about time you made it bro." Jon said to me.

"Who's your friend?" Jana asked smiling at me.

"It's not what you think. He's just a friend and his name is Connor." I turned and looked at Connor. "This is my brother Jonathon but you can call him Jon and his girlfriend Jana."

"Hey." He greeted.

"What are you guys in the mood for?" Jon asked.

I looked at Connor. "I think I'll probably eat some pizza."

"Sounds good to me." Connor said.

"What about you guys?" I looked at Jon and Jana.

"You wana just get some pizza from Pizza Hut and split it?" Jana asked.

"Yeah. That'd be good." I looked at Jon. "Since you're the youngest you got to go order it."

"Fine." He got up and made his way to the Pizza Hut area of the food court.

"So did you guys have fun last night?" Jana asked grinning at us.

"Um hell yeah." I told her. "You and Jon should have come."

"Well we had other plans if you know what I mean." She winked at me.

"Ok. I really don't want to hear about my little brother's sex life."

Jana, Connor, and myself kept chatting back and forth until Jon came back to the table carrying two pizzas.

"Here ya go." He sat the pizzas down on the table and looked at me. "I'll be needing a tip for that."

"Tip my ass." I said as I grabbed a slice of pizza and shoved it in my mouth.

"I think I'll leave the tipping of your ass to Connor there bro." He looked at Jana and they both burst out laughing.

"Funny." I looked over at Connor who was turning bright red from embarrassment.

We finished eating the pizza and went our separate ways. Jon and Jana said they were going birthday shopping for her mom's birthday.

"You sure you don't have anywhere you wana go?" I asked Connor.

"Yeah I am not really a big fan of the mall. I just came so I could hang out with you."

I turned and looked at him. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"There is this really cool store called Kirkland's that you should see. Come on." I grabbed his arm and began to pull him in the direction of the store.

"I never been in here before." He said as we walked inside the store.

"They have some pretty cool decorations and stuff in here." I told him. "I guess you gotta be gay like me to really enjoy it."

Connor laughed.

"Look at this. Isn't it cool?" I asked pointing to an antique looking lamp. "I'm love to decorate my room like this."

"Yeah. I guess."

I looked at him. The smile that he had been wearing all day had left his face. Is voice seemed a little down.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. "You sound like something is bothering ya.'

"I was just thinking about something, that's all. Nothing I really want to talk about sorry."

I looked at him. "You know you can tell me anything. You can trust me. You can tell me your deepest secrets and they will be safe with me."

He looked at me and nodded. "I know I can."

"Look out!" I heard some shout from behind us.

We both turned around and saw a guy pushing a cart with several boxes of iron vases on it. The guy was coming right towards us with the cart. Of course we didn't move fast enough and he had to come to a stop fast. The boxes all came tumbling off the cart.

One of the boxes landed right on Connor's left foot with a loud thud.

"Do you think you could watch where you are going!" I shouted at the guy before Connor even had a chance to react. I looked at Connor. "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I barely felt it."

"I looked at the guy. First thing Monday I am going to call the store manager and tell him all about this." I looked at Connor. "Lets get out of here."

Connor obediently followed me as I led him out of the store. We walked over to the first bench we saw and sat down.

"Are you sure you are ok?" I asked. "Those things were heavy."

He looked me in the eyes. "I am fine. I promise." He looked away from me.

I bent over and grabbed his shoe string and started untying it. "Let me have a look and make sure it's not swollen or anything."

He jerked his foot away from me. "I am fine. Okay. I don't need you to baby me!"

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked.

Connor turned and looked at me. "No. It's me. It's all me it always is."

"You can tell me anything Connor. "

"Yeah." He looked at me. "Can we just go?"

I stood up. "Yeah come on."

That was not quite how I had expected to spend my first Saturday with Connor. We had become good friends in the few days that we had known each other. We had spent every day after school together.

He had never once snapped at me like that. Something was bothering him and I was determined to find out what it was.

We got in my car, I stuck the key in the ignition, but didn't start it.

I looked at him. "I can tell when there is something wrong with people. Will you please tell me what's wrong?"

He turned and looked out the window.

I placed my hand on his left leg. "We aren't going anywhere until we start talking. I care about you. You are my new best friend."

His leg felt different. It was like he had something hard and metal under his jeans around his knee.

He turned back around and looked at me.

"You wana know what's wrong?"

I nodded my head.

"You are what's wrong with me Noah. I haven't known you but like what four days now. You are an amazing person. I want nothing more than to spend time with you. I was just hurt so bad and I told myself I would never let myself get that close to anyone again."

"You can trust me Connor."

"Mark. His name was Mark. We started dating in the ninth grade and well lets just say when I needed someone the most he dumped me and turned his back on me."

I could see tears streaming from his eyes. I took my hand off his leg and wiped one of the tears from his face.

"I'm sorry. That Mark guy must be a real as if he could hurt you. I would never hurt you. "

"That's why my parents and brother were the way they were earlier. I guess they thought that you were my boyfriend." He told me.

"Do you think maybe we have a chance at being together?" I asked him. "I really really like you. I go to bed at night time thinking of you. I would never hurt you."

He leaned over, wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed me.

He pulled away and looked at me. "There's your answer."

 

To be continued...

 

I hope you enjoyed chapter two. Please feel free to send me your questions, comments, suggestions rich20034@hotmail.com. Also feel free to visit http://sites.google.com/site/sharedillusionsproject/ where the chapters will be posted sooner than on nifty.