Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 02:43:16 EDT From: VIHoa@aol.com Subject: The Clique: Chapter 7 Hey there, back for more? Well, I've been getting a lot of e-mail asking for character development, so since I do this for YOU, as well as for me, I filled this chapter up with it! You meet Brandon's family! Yes, they actually have parents and a home life... They're not on their own like a lot of you out there think. Plus the addition of parents will lead to some interesting story lines, don't ya think? I also want y'all to know that the reason this chapter was so late in coming was because I was developing a web page for this story and some other works of mine. They all revolve around the kids at Westfield High, one way of another. I have everything I want up designed with Netscape Composer. Now I just need a server. I don't know any HTML, or anything like that. But if there is someone out there that can't put my site up for me, please! By all means, contact me. I really want to put this site up! If you can help, contact me at vihoa@aol.com Chapter 7: Acceptance Dear Journal, Love's a funny thing huh? I thought after Kim, I was doomed to remain single and unhappy. I thought that if I couldn't make it work with the most beautiful and popular girl in school, then I couldn't make any relationship work. But now, look where I am. I have Phillip. My companion, my boyfriend, my lover, my soul mate. Life just can't get any better. He was my first. The one that I gave myself to. The one that I felt comfortable with. All Kim ever thought of me as was a trophy. Something she can show off to gain popularity. But Phillip is different. I can remember the first day I saw him in English. So quiet, so shy. I wasn't sure if he'd want to talk to anyone. Then I did it. I made my move, and it was the best move of my life! We clicked instantly. He didn't know who I was, nor did he care. He liked me for me. Then at dinner, after he found out about my social ranking, but he didn't act any differently. He was just... Phillip. He saw me as a person and not someone who could make him popular. I felt so good around him. Not once, did I feel like I was being used. He actually wanted to get to know me! The only people that I have acted so comfortably around were Angel, Dolan, Rob, Toni, and Linda... the kids I knew since elementary school. Phillip's special. There's something in the way he acts, his kindness, the way he smiles, the way his hair sticks up, the way he bites his lower lip when he gets nervous... Something that made me know that he was the one I wanted to be with... possibly forever... Brandon "Brandon, Brandon!!!" As I laid there on the couch, I heard a small voice call my name. "What? Who?" I lazily cracked open my eyes to see who was calling my name. The voice became more familiar as the figure in front of me came into focus. In front of me stood a five year old boy with platinum blond hair, and the cutest smile in the world. He was wearing my old Yankees Jersey, a pair of blue jeans, and some Nike sneakers. He was patting my leg trying to wake me, still yelling my name. "Nice to see you too Will." I said. "How'd you get home?" "Mommy brought me, silly!" Will said with the cutest smile... Wait... MOMMY!!! PHILLIP!!! I immediately woke Phillip. "Phillip, you gotta get up! My mom's home!" Phillip jumped off my chest and sat up straight. "Mom? Oh yeah... you got one too..." He groaned rubbing his eyes. I got up and instantly turned my attention to Will. "Where is mommy now Will?" I asked frantically. "She's in the garage. Umm... Brandon? Who is he?" Will asked pointing at Phillip. "He's my friend Will, a VERY special friend of mine." I explained, emphasizing the very, which cause Phillip to crack one of his trademark grins. "Hi, I'm Phillip. I just moved here. And you are?" He said as he bend down onto his knees to be eye to eye with Will. They look so cute together! "Hi! I am William Fairchild Lauderdale, Jr." He said with prestige, doing the courtly bow my parents had engraved in his head. This caused Phillip to giggle hysterically. "Well, very nice to meet you William Randolph Lauderdale, Jr. but is it o.k. if I just call you Will?" He said wiping the tears away from his eyes. Will nodded. We all sat down on the couch when the door leading to the garage flew open. "WILLIAM!!! BRANDON!!! CAN YOU BOYS PLEASE HELP YOUR MOMMY WITH THE LUGGAGE?" My mom called out. We all jumped up. Will immediately ran to the garage to help our mom while I told Phillip to wait in the living room. As I ran to the garage, I saw Will lugging in a suitcase that was twice his size, "Hey there little man, I'll take that." As I reached over to grab the suitcase, Will grabbed my hand and pushed it away. Then in his cute, little voice he said, "No Brandon. I'm a big boy now. I can do this all by myself." It was the cutest thing! "Well all right then! You go do your thing he-man!" I joked. Will smiled and continued lugging in the suitcase. Then my mom came through the door. "Brandon dear, can you please lend your dear ol' mother a hand with the luggage?" My mom asked holding two suitcases in her hands and two under her arms. I ran over to her and grabbed the ones under her arms. "Aww, mother... you're not old. You're just as young as this hear chair..." puttin' my hand on what I thought was a new chair. My mom dropped her bags and gave me an evil stare. "Brandon dear, that chair survived the burnin' of Atlanta during the Civil War." My mom said flatly as we both stopped. "Oh, I mean this... oh never mind. Mother, you look marvelous." I said with the thickest southern accent I could muster. Rhet Butler, eat your heart out. "Thank you dear." She picked up the luggage again and we started towards the back of the house. "So mom. Why are you back so soon? Was Vegas THAT boring? Didn't Will get enough of Circus Circus? Do we have to sell the house now? Can I still go to college, or does that money belong to the MGM Grand now?" I asked jokingly. We continued walking into the living room as she began to talk. "No Brandon, we don't have to sell the house now, and you are still going to Rice like we planned. You know it was all business. We would've stayed longer but the office called and... Well hello there." My mom stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Phillip in the living room. "Brandon? Where is that southern hospitality we taught you? Would you care to introduce me to your friend?" My mom asked, chastising me with her comment. "Sorry mother... Mom, this is Phillip Le. Phillip Le, meet my mother, Lynn Marie Lauderdale." I said in my refined southern gentleman voice. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Lauderdale." Phillip said as he extended his hand. "Likewise, and please... call me Lynn." My mom replied graciously. Phillip cracked a smile and offered to take the suitcases out of my mother's hands. "Thank you Phillip, just place them on the living room table, I'll take them upstairs myself later." Phillip took the suitcases and did what she said. My mother then did the once over on Phillip as his back was turned. "Phillip dear! When was the last time you've eaten?" My mom will always see someone as too skinny, although an exercise fanatic, she is convinced that people today don't eat enough, especially the Clique. "I had lunch at school, but nothing since then." He said, turning around. "School food does nothing for a growing boy like yourself. What did you have? Pizza? Chicken-fried steak? Well, I won't hear of a boy your age trying to get energy from such minimal portions. Would you care to stay for dinner?" She asked in full "mother mode." "YES MA'AM!" I had to laugh at Phillip's eagerness. "Good, I'll write up a grocery list and you and Brandon can go get them for me." She said as she ran into the kitchen. "She likes you." I whispered to Phillip. "Mothers ALWAYS like me." He said with a devilish grin. Then Will came running up to us with some action figure in his hands. "Look what I got Brandon!" He screamed, showing me acouple of Power Rangers action figures. "That's cool Will." I said, humoring his enthusiasm. "Do you want to play?" He asked. "Umm..." "Sure he does!" Phillip interjected. "We both do!" Needless to say, Will's face lit up like a Roman Candle! Phillip was so good with him. They both pretended to be Power Rangers while I was the big bad evil space monster. We had lots of fun. Should I be jealous that Will had taken such a liking to Phillip? Nah... Having my little brother love my boyfriend just adds to his appeal. My little brother adores him so much! Then my mom peered into the living room. "You know what guys? I don't think I'll be needing you to go to the store anymore." She said with a smile. "Why?" I asked. "Because we have enough food here. Doesn't look like you've eaten much at home now does it Brandon? Eaten' out again?" She asked sternly, tapping her foot. "Yeah, I've been going to the Sambuca." I said lowly. "Now Brandon, I know how small those portions are... you are never going to grow if you eat like that." My mother said in a displeased, then nagging tone. "I know... I know..." I said flatly. "Phillip? No offense dear, but I see your family doesn't feed you much either." Mom stated, leering and eye towards my boyfriend. "My parents are away on business trips a lot so I don't eat at home a lot." Phil said with Will flung over his shoulder. It was the cutest site to see. "Well, I know business is important, but you need food young man! You're almost as skinny as Brandon here! I go on business trips a lot too and I'm afraid the traveling has left Brandon skinny." Skinny? I am not skinny! Phillip, of course, couldn't help but laugh. "Do you like spaghetti and meatballs Phillip?" "I love 'em!" He said licking his lips. Oh! So tempting! Does he know what he does to me? My mom smiled and went back to her cooking. I turned to Phillip to warn him of what he's gotten himself into. "Phillip, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into." I said with a smile "What do you mean?" He asked putting Will down. "When you said yes to spaghetti and meatballs, you also said yes to vegetable soup, salad, breadsticks, and dessert. I hope you can handle all that in large portions." I warned with a smirk. "Don't worry about me lover..." He then leaned over and gave me a kiss on the lips, making sure Will didn't see. I liked what he did, but my responsible side mouthed him the words, "Not now..." He smiled and nodded. Now I regret that "Not now" thing. Oh well. We played with Will for about another hour before my mom called us to dinner. She had everything set in the kitchen and told us to bring it into the formal dinning room. We always dine in the formal dinning room whenever guest are over. Even if it's my friends! I think it's weird. But refined southern ways are hard to break sometimes. I should know, I'm still working on this damn accent. Every one gathered at the table and sat. "Well, before y'all dig in, I'd like to take this opportunity to excuse Brandon's father. He works down at the medical center during the night so he doesn't get in 'til late." "Oh that's o.k. Mrs. Lauderdale, I'm just happy to be here." And with that, my mother smiled and told us to dig in. Oh, she really out did herself this time. The dinner she prepared was huge! All through dinner I was amazed by Phillip. He knew every rule of edicate while eating. He knew which forks to use, and even how to use the finger bowl, which still to today puzzles me. Needless to say, my mother loved him... should I be jealous? "So Phillip, you're new here aren't you?" My mother asked. "Why yes! How did you know?" He asked still twirling his spaghetti onto his fork. "I've met all of the Clique... but I haven't met you until today, so I just assumed. Brandon spends most of his time with those friends of his, and only brings a new friend home if he or she had been entered into the Clique. Just know that you're welcomed here anytime. So tell me about yourself... Like where are you from?" "Well... Lynn, I came here from California..." "Oh California! We have a Californian in our mists. Please dear tell me all about California. And while you're at it, I wouldn't mind getting to know you as well!" Phillip continued on, telling us about what's it like to live in California. How it's different from here. I took in everything that he said. Then he talked about himself and what he's learned and acomplished. Four languages! Good Lord! He even impresed me. And all through his talk, he still kept his modest composure, which I found so attractive! When he finished, it was my mother's term to have her say. "That's very impresive Phillip! You know, I love all of Brandon's friends as if they were my children but they can get rather... for lack of a better word, dull. I'm glad you and Brandon became friends. Maybe some of your liveliness can rub off on him." She said smiling. Well, she WAS right. All everyone else talks about is superficial stuff, I'm hopping getting to know Phillip will broaden their view on life. Life isn't all about clothes, money, cars, and what not. There's so much more. Dinner went on as well as I could've hoped for. My mom absolutely adored Phillip, asking about his life, his ambitions, his heritage, his life in California, how he and I met, and how we became friends. And he told her everything, even about our dinner at Sambuca. Although he did leave out what happened after dinner, but that was for the best. Didn't want to give my mom a heart attack now. My mom, as I'm guessing all moms do, told him all the embarrassing aspects of Will and my life to Phillip. She told him about the time she found out me and Kim dated, and how relieved she was when Kim and I broke up. She doesn't like Kim that much, it's come to the point where she just tolerates her. She sees Kim as a stuck up, superficial, gold digger... Which isn't entirely wrong. She continued on and on about my life, and Will's. She even told him about the bed wetting problem I had in elementary school and how I'd hide it by flipping the mattress, which caused me to cringe. God this was torture. Phillip; however, got the comedy show of a lifetime. I'm glad he finds my life so amusing. Wait 'til I have a talk with Mrs. Le. Then we'll see who's laughing. Hehehe... aww... he has the cutest laugh. And his teeth are so white! Very sexy. All this time poor Will had fallen asleep and rolled himself into a little ball, sleeping on the seat cushion. "Awww, will y'all look at that." My mom cooed as she looked at Will. "It's getting late anyway. I'm just going to take him upstairs." My mom then got up and bent down to pick up Will, as she stood back up, she saw Phillip clearing his plates. "Don't you dare! You are our guest! Please let us, I insist." "Oh I don't mind." He said standing up. Well, I wasn't going to let this happen. I ran over to him and took the plates out of his hand. "Leave it Phillip, I'll take care of it." He shrugged his shoulders and looked at his watch. Movado! So very nice. "Oh, it's getting late. I should be heading home anyways." He said with a huff. "Now?" I whined. "I haven't been home Brandon..." He whispered noticing my mom going up stairs. "Alright, but let me walk you to your car." "O.K. Let's go." He said with a really REALLY sexy smirk. I placed the plates back down on the table and followed him to the front door. We walked out to his car together, hand in hand as soon as the front door closed behind us. It was a clear night, with a full moon gazing down upon us. His face glowed in the moonlight like an Angel's. I raised my hand and caressed his face in my palm. Tears filled my eyes as I looked upon my lover's face. Feeling his soft skin, I was taken in by his exotic eyes, just like I was that first night at the Sambuca. God I loved him... "What's wrong?" He asked, noticing a tear glide down my cheek. "I just love you so much." I responded, not hiding the tears that followed. He just sighed lovingly and took me into a tight embrace. We looked into each other's eyes and the world around us disappeared. He leaned forward and kissed my lips. Soft and gentle at first, but building up with passion as the seconds past. Then he slid in his tongue and I died in his arms. I died and went to heaven. Our tongue wrestled between us as his arms rubbed up and down my back. Our breathing got heavier, and I was getting A LOT hotter. I was about to make love to him right there in the driveway! My cock was ready to burst out. And as I began to unbutton my shirt, he stopped. He smiled and looked down at my pants. Seeing my raging hard-on, he winked and said, "Down boy..." What the hell was this!?!?! Just leaving me hanging?!?!? FUCK!!! He jumped into the Beemer and close the door. "YOU'RE JUST GONNA LEAVE ME HANGING?!?!" I screamed, pounding my fists on his window. As he started his engine, he said, "Consider this payback for this morning." And with a wink and a smile, he sped off. "IF I DIDN'T LOVE YOU SO MUCH, I'D KICK YOUR ASS!!!" I screamed at him at the top of my lungs. There he goes, the man that I loved. My friends love him, my mom loves him, my brother loves him, and they don't suspect a thing! Life can't get any better than this for me. Now how do I get this hard on down before my mom sees it? The End I know it's been over week but there it is! Chapter 7. If any of you are getting annoyed that you're not able to "get off" while reading my story, don't worry. I have a scene coming up soon. Actually two! One's between Brandon and Phil, DUH! But you'll just have to wait and see who else is going to... ahem... shack up. I don't think you're going to see this one coming. I also want y'all to know that the reason this chapter was so late in coming was because I was developing a web page for this story and some other works of mine. They all revolve around the kids at Westfield High, one way of another. I have everything I want up designed with Netscape Composer. Now I just need a server. I don't know any HTML, or anything like that. But if there is someone out there that can't put my site up for me, please! By all means, contact me. I really want to put this site up! If you can help, contact me at vihoa@aol.com