Unexpected

Hey guys! Thanks for the great response to the first chapter of Unexpected! I was so overwhelmed by emails from you guys that I started straight away on the second chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Roo

Okay, so it seemed like a good plan to go straight to Kevin's house, until I was standing in front of it, that is. Now I was stressing. What if he decided that he didn't want anything to do with me anymore? I did leave him hanging in a bad way...

It hit me then that Kevin must be stressing his ass off. With me just walking out with barely a couple of words over my shoulder... That must have hurt. The longer I stood there thinking, the more worried I became. What if he decides to do something stupid because of this mess? A guy in our school committed suicide the previous year because he had been discovered as being gay by his family, and they didn't take it so well. With that thought, I quickly got me backside into gear and rushed through his front door and up the stairs to his room.

His door was closed but I could hear the tortured wails of an overdriven electric guitar slicing through the air. A small smile crept to my lips. At least I know he is okay, since a dead guy doesn't play on his guitar. As I prepared to enter his room, I could hear him go through a transposing rift, changing the melody to a loud, pleading cacophony of grunge. One thing was for sure: Kevin was not in a happy place.

Thinking that I have stalled for quite long enough, I took a deep breath and opened the door. The sight nearly broke my heart. He was sitting on the floor, shirtless and still in his grey school trousers with his head hanging low over his black Cort electrical guitar. From where I was standing, I could only see one side of his face, but it was enough for me to be able to see the tears rolling through his closed eyelids as his fingers danced over the keening guitar.

I slowly walked into his room. It wasn't big at all, so the only reason that he hadn't seen me yet was because his eyes were still closed. I crossed the room and sat opposite him, waiting for him to open his eyes and see me. Expecting him to throw me out.

About ten minutes later he finally finished playing. He didn't even open his eyes. He just lowered his guitar onto the floor and threw his head back, silent tears still rolling down his cheeks. I decided to act. I couldn't stand to see him this sad any longer, so I gave a small cough.

His eyes flew open and he quickly scrambled to his feet. When he saw it was me, a fearful look crossed his face.

"Shane!" A breathless, forceful whisper.

"Kev... I-"

"Shane, I'm really, really sorry," he cut me off. "I'm gay but if it freaks you out I'll never act on it. Please, please just don't tell me that you don't want to be my friend anymore! Don't leave me Shane, please!" He pleaded. He was crying openly now, his body wracked with forceful sobs. As a rule of thumb I hated seeing people cry. It always looked so dirty to me. But if seeing a normal person cry was like an itch for me, seeing Kevin cry was absolute mortal agony. Not because he looked dirty, but because I loved him deeply. As a friend and, it turns out, something much more.

I closed the space between us and put my arms around him. He tensed up, probably thinking that I was going to hurt him in some way. Hurt him physically like I hurt him emotionally. But I just hugged him tightly and pressed my head into the crook of his neck. It took a while, but he finally relaxed a bit and put his arms around me as well. After standing like that for some time I let go of him and looked up into his face. Of course he was quite blotchy and his eyes were red and bloodshot.

I took his hand and led him to his bed. He gave me a questioning look, and I could see major confusion in his expression.

"I love you Kev." I said. He started to say something but I stopped him by putting my finger over his lips, and then replacing it with my mouth, kissing him tenderly. It wasn't even like full-out tonsil hockey but GAWD it made me see stars. I could smell his aftershave as I moved my lips down his chin and nestled his neck. His hands slowly, tentatively, starting lightly caressing my back.I was in heaven. If we had only discovered each other like this sooner...

But before it went too far, and believe me, it could have gone VERY far, I sat up in looked him in the eyes. I had to say this, had to get it off my chest. Not only for Kevin's sake, but my own too.

"Kev, I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have walked out on you like that. It was absolutely shitty of me." He allowed himself a small smile. "But I did it because I was, well... confused. Confused, and scared of what you being gay would mean for us as friends. Naturally Sally immediately saw the state I was in when I got home. I had a long chat with her, and, well, I kinda realised that I'm in love with you too... I don't know why it took so long for me to realise this, and I don't want to think about it now. I guess what I want to say is that I don't know if I'm gay or not, but I do know that I am in love with you. I want to try being in a relationship with you. I actually crave that. Will you be my boyfriend?"

Kevin had the same look on his face that he had when we got high together about a year previously. Euphoria.

"Shut up and kiss me again, fool." He said. And I did. Repeatedly.

When I got home later that night my mother was in the TV room watching NCIS. She absolutely loves the show and has never, to my knowledge, missed a single episode.

"Hey Sal," I said. She just took one look at what must have been a very sheepish and stupid expression on my face and burst out into laughter.

"I take it all is well in paradise." It wasn't a question. She didn't need to ask. The smile on her face told her all that she would want to know. "Dinner is in the oven if you want. I made Al Fredo, so you better catch it before the pasta soaks up all the cream."

"Thanks Sal!" I said. After I had some of the yummiest pasta in the world, I made it up to the shower, and then straight into bed. It was an emotionally taxing day for me, and I was asleep even before my head hit the pillow.

Okay, so even though this was a rather short chapter, it was surprisingly hard to write. Love it? Like it? Want to print it out and shred it up? Lemme know!

wbruan@gmail.com