Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 21:22:55 -0800 (PST) From: Jeff B Subject: Why oh Why Chapter 2 Disclaimer: This story is intended for people of age 18 (or 21 depending on where you live.) This story is about love between two gay male teenagers if this isnt your cup of tea dont read it :) Legal stuff: If you want to copy this story and/or put it on your page please email me first, because if i find it someplace without my permission, I'll sick Mandy on you :) Why oh Why Chapter two The day Josh met Jeremy was one that Josh would never really forget. Something about that younger boy that inspired him deep down inside, that made him strive to be better than he could be. As that week passed Jeremy had met and been accepted by Josh's friends, friends that he had known for what seemed like forever. Even though Josh kept his true feelings to himself he let his friendship with Jeremy grow, especially when Josh realized that Jeremy had recently moved to the house across the street from his own. As the days passed, and as they got closer Josh continually found himself getting lost in Jeremy's deep blue sapphire eyes, and that smile that could make the world slow to a crawl. He rummaged through his locker grabbing the stuff he would need for his classes after lunch. Josh looked into his backpack until he was satisfied he wasn't forgetting anything, and then shut his locker door. "Gah!" Josh exclaimed as Jeremy's face surprised him. Jeremy had been standing on the other side of the opened door and he didn't notice until he shut it. "I really wish you would stop doing that!" "I would but the noise you make when you're surprised is priceless." Jeremy giggled and smiled an apology. "Yeah well..." Josh pretended to be mad but both he and Jeremy knew that was the furthest from the truth. He relented and grinned at Jeremy as they both began walking to the cafeteria. They talked about the up coming history test and whether or not either of them would be ready for it as they entered the large school cafeteria and made their way to the usual table where their little group congregated. Their group consisted of five people; Josh, Jeremy, Ben, Tyler and Ben's girlfriend Cathleen. Before Jeremy, Josh and Tyler had mixed feelings about letting a girl into their tight little circle, but once she got in they didn't really know how they could have gotten along without her. Josh had known both Ben and Tyler since the second grade, all through growing up they had been known around town as the holy terrors. They never did anything "wrong" but some of the pranks they had pulled, never harmful mind you, were just... Interesting. This year Josh had gotten to know Cathleen better because they were in the same drama class. He had first joined at his parent's request and really thought that it would never appeal to him. But when he and Cathleen got together to do something his interest usually perked up. Like the performance project they were working on now. Mrs. Fuller had allowed them to work with partners if they wished, and most of the class did. So far it was just Josh and Cathleen. They both had agreed to do a dance routine. Josh made the mistake of letting Cathleen choose the music. So now Josh was stuck with trying to do something to "Waiting for Tonight," by Jennifer Lopez. Josh still grimaced at the choice but still had a good idea on the moves he was going to try to pull off. Cathleen had made a point in beating into Josh's head that this had to be nothing short of "Spectacular" since the performances were going to be done in front of the school during the homecoming dance. "Hey guys." Ben said as he put the cap back on his bottle of mountain dew, he was sitting alone with Tyler. Tyler waved his usual hello as Josh and Jeremy sat down. "Hey." Josh said as Jeremy quietly waved a hello of his own. "Cathleen was looking for you earlier, she said she had to run and get something and would be back." Tyler mentioned as he finished off the fries he had been eating. Josh let out a sigh knowing what she wanted and just looked at Ben. "You know your girlfriend never gives up, don't you?" Josh said as he peered at Ben. "That's why she's my girlfriend buddy." Ben chuckled and shook his head. True Cathleen had her way of doing things, but usually her ways tended to be better anyway, and everyone usually agreed. "Josh!" He turned his head to see Cathleen rushing in with a boom box. "Speaking of the devil..." Josh murmured as Cathleen set the boom box on the table, she didn't sit down; instead she stood next to Josh and giggled. "Are you ready?" Cathleen said with an evil gleam in her eye. Josh looked at her with a confused look on his face. "Ready for what?" He asked daringly. Cathleen just grinned at him and grabbed his arm, pulling him from his seat. "Me, you, in the court yard now." Cathleen said. Josh looked at Ben, Tyler and Jeremy for help but they all just smiled and shrugged their shoulders. "Why?" Josh asked, placing his hands on his hips. "I want you to show me what you came up with for drama; you've been avoiding this for a couple of weeks now." She said with a tone. "You told me you've been working on something. Now its time to show all." "Cant this wait until after school?" He pleaded with a sick look on his face. Josh wasn't bad at dancing; he was in fact very good. He had taken gymnastics and a little karate when he was younger again at his parent's request and those skills helped him greatly. The thing Josh didn't like was, getting up and performing in front of people. That's really the only thing about drama class Josh still didn't like. He took one look into Cathleen's eyes and knew she meant business so he reluctantly agreed and he followed Cathleen out of the cafeteria and into the court yard. "Man she's got him whipped worse than you dude." Tyler commented, laughing a little. "Better him than me." Ben replied. All three boys stared at the door, as it closed then all three of them got up at the same time and hurried out following Josh and Cathleen. Cathleen led Josh to an empty spot in the courtyard and was soon joined by Ben, Tyler and Jeremy who all had broad smiles. "What are you guys doing out here?" Josh asked annoyed. "Oh nothing, just wanted to see your moves." Tyler replied, sitting on a bench close by. "Yeah, wouldn't miss this for the world." Jeremy added as he sat down next to Tyler. "Dance on maestro." Ben said as he too sat down. Josh breathed deep breaths as he attempted to stretch. Cathleen set the boom box down and got it ready to go, she looked at Josh and he nodded when he was ready. Josh closed his eyes when the music started and began to concentrate on it. The best he could do was to shut everything else out of his mind, because he had the tendency to be very self conscious when people were watching. He took a few steps backwards and waited for his cue. As the music began he started off with slow graceful moves with his upper body. His arms became fluid with the music. At first he was too nervous to move his feet but as the vocals began, he felt comfortable and showed moves he never dared to show in public. When the chorus began with "Waiting for Tonight," he surprised the group with a two back flips and a twist. As the music continued his movements became more fluid, showing the true emotion of the song, he finally opened his eyes and continued. It turned out the skills he had learned as a child became useful and he used them to his full advantage. The music came close to an end; he ended with another flip and slowly sank his body down to a squatting position. Josh nervously stood back up as Cathleen turned off the boom box. No one said anything, they all stared at him with dumbfounded looks on their faces, Josh looked around him and noticed he had gathered a nice little crowd of other students, all with the same expression. "That was..." Cathleen began; she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him, "GREAT!" Tyler, Jeremy and Ben stood up and clapped as did the other spectators, which caused Josh to blush. A few cheered and whistled, one girl yelled out "Nice ass Josh!" which made his cheeks even redder. "When did you learn how to do that?" Tyler asked with a grin and amazement. "Um... Guess I've always known how to do it... Or something..." Josh stammered as he tried to answer. "Seriously Josh, that was excellent, now I know what I need to do." Cathleen beamed with excitement and hugged Josh. "Yeah Josh, that was great." Jeremy added with a sly grin of his own, his eyes flicker into Josh's gaze which made his heart skip a beat. Josh didn't say anything but blushed again. "Can we get some food now?" Josh whined. He gave the group the puppy dog look and they all laughed. "Sure, I think you've earned it." Ben said as he slapped Josh on the shoulder. They all went back into the cafeteria and Josh practically ate everything in sight out of shear nervousness. That day continued, Josh got looks from several of the girls the rest of that day and whispers from the guys as well. He tried to pretend it was nothing but his shyness eventually gave it away. As the day ended Josh walked home with Jeremy, as he had for the past week, the walk from school usually didn't take more than 10 minutes, even though Josh had a car he still preferred to walk the short distance, and he preferred it even more since it gave him the chance to talk to Jeremy a little more. "So what exactly is that little dance you did for?" Jeremy asked with speculation in his voice. "Oh, it's for drama. It's the project that's going to count for a third of our grade." Josh thought for a moment. Jeremy was in his drama class as well and remembered Mrs. Fuller telling him, he wasn't required to do it since he transferred late. "It's the project Mrs. Fuller said you didn't have to do remember?" Jeremy nodded in agreement. "You were good, very good." Josh blushed again at the compliment and tried to hide the grin. "Yeah well, it's just me and Cathleen; she has a version of the song with the lead voice cut out. I'm supposed to just be a backup dancer, in a better world there would be three of us, two in the background and Cat doing the vocals and the main dancing stuff." Jeremy thought silently for a moment, and then looked at Josh. "Do you... um... Do you think you could teach me the moves?" He looked down at the sidewalk. "If I can learn them, I could be the third..." "You don't have to do the project, but if you want..." Josh glanced over at Jeremy quickly, and he looked up at Josh. "Yeah I want too, if I can't learn then it's not a big deal, but if I can then it works out. " Josh thought about it for a moment then looked at Jeremy with a smile forming on his lips. "Alright your on, when do you want to start?" "Today!?" Jeremy asked with a hint of excitement that Josh couldn't help but notice. "Alright, if you want then so be it. But you better change first, wear something loose like shorts and a t-shirt." Jeremy nodded and they continued their walk home, Jeremy asked a few questions about certain moves and Josh happily answered them. The mood changed however, as they came closer to Jeremy's house. Jeremy noticed a car parked in his driveway and an angry expression appeared on his face. When the boys walked closer, they could distinctly hear the argument ensuing inside. Soon the storm door flew open hitting the side of the house with such force that Josh was surprised that it didn't break the glass or the window that it hit. "Get out of here!" A female voice screamed. "I swear if I have to get a restraining order to make you stay away I WILL!" "Oh I'll leave alright, but I'm not going anywhere without my kid you stupid little bitch!" Yelled a male voice, both male and female stormed out to the porch and continued yelling. "You touch him and I'll rip both your arms off with my bare hands!" Josh guessed the adults to be Jeremy's parents and it appeared they weren't on good terms with each other. He turned to Jeremy who was looking at his father with an angry contempt he hoped he would never see again. "You can't take him away from me, Miranda he's my damned kid too!" His father backed off the porch and into the yard. "Well I did, damn it Jake its over, I've got full custody, just go away and leave us alone!" Miranda walked off the porch and got right into Jeremy's dad's face ready to give him more of her mind, but before she had the chance Jake pushed her aside, which made her tumble onto the lawn and he headed for Jeremy. "STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" Miranda yelled as she struggled to get to her feet. He didn't listen and he grabbed Jeremy by the arm and yanked him with force. "You're coming with me boy." Jeremy tried to struggle free but his father was a tall strong man, with hair that came to his shoulders and a short scruffy beard. He looked like he didn't do anything for a living except drink, and Josh could smell the alcohol from were he was standing. "Let go of me!" Jeremy screamed. He kicked his father which earned him a very hard slap in the face. He yelped in pain and Josh began to panic he looked around for someone to help. Miranda began to scream and hit her `husband' as he continued to drag Jeremy to his car. Josh jumped at the sound of the police siren as it sounded once, as a patrol car screeched to a halt in the middle of the street, the lights began to flash as two officers exited, and Josh was relieved to see that it was his dad Daren who exited the driver side, along with his partner Rodney getting out of the passenger side. Jake stopped dragging Jeremy, and let go causing Jeremy to fall on his side, he quickly got up and ran to his mother. Josh made his way to Jeremy and stood next to both of them as his father approached Jake. "Is there a problem here?" Daren asked as he and Rodney stood a few feet away from Jake. "No problem here, officer." Jake said with sarcasm. Miranda on the other hand glared at him. "Like hell there isn't!" Miranda began, but stopped when Jeremy tugged her arm. "He was just leaving." She finished with a cold tone. "Is that the truth?" Rodney asked Jake as Daren looked at Miranda. "Yeah..." Jake continued to look angry and opened his car door. "But I will be back to take what's mine!" "No you wont, don't ever come back Jake, just go." Miranda looked at Jeremy, then at the officers. Josh just stood silently and watched the exchange. "Did he hurt you ma'am?" Daren ventured. He placed his hands on his hips, mainly to get his hands closer to his gun belt if anything else. "No." She lied. The officers nodded and Jake got into his car and pulled out of the driveway, after he was out of sight the officers walked over to Josh, Jeremy and Miranda. Daren looked at his son for a moment, then at Miranda. "Can you tell me who that was ma'am?" Daren asked with concern in his voice. Miranda explained the situation. She had begun divorce proceedings and it was final over the summer, she told him how she got full custody and a brief story on how the last few years of their marriage had ended. "He was abusive, and I just wanted to get Jeremy away from that. We moved here hoping that he wouldn't find us, but I guess I didn't cover my tracks well enough." She finished with a sigh. "Well, if he comes back, give us a call. If you need someone immediately tell Josh here." Daren said softly. Miranda looked at Josh and Daren, then back at Jeremy realizing that she had never met Josh before. "This is Josh. He's in some of my classes and he lives across the street." Jeremy pointed and his mom nodded in recognition now. Her son had told her about Josh and she managed a smile. Miranda extended her hand. "Miranda Astor, sorry we had to meet like this." Josh nodded, and looked at Daren. "I'm Daren Viehman, Josh's father." Miranda looked at him with surprise and nodded looking at the house across the street. "I was actually on my way home to pick up something I forgot this morning, I saw Josh over here then my partner, Rodney here saw the struggle." "Well I'm glad you stopped. it's nice to know you live next door, maybe I'll be able to sleep at night." Daren nodded and they talked a little bit more, Jeremy moved and stood next to Josh not saying a word. Daren and Rodney said their goodbyes. Soon they returned to the patrol car and left. "So you're Josh?" Miranda asked when things calmed down. Josh smiled and nodded once. "Well good, I'm glad to have met you and I'm very glad Jeremy has made some friends. This whole thing has been rough and I'll be glad to be able to leave it in the past were it belongs." She kissed Jeremy on the forehead. She told Jeremy she was going back to work till late that night, Jeremy asked if he could stay the afternoon with Josh, and she preferred that he did. Josh of course didn't mind and when she left they stood in Jeremy's living room. "Do you still want that dance lesson?" Josh asked. Enough had happened to Jeremy today and he really didn't want to do anything that would tire him out. "Yeah I do. I need to do something to help me relax plus throw off some of this excess energy." Jeremy managed a smile. "If you say so, man" Josh returned the smile and patted his shoulder. "Just let me go change." Jeremy rushed up the stairs and Josh waited in the living room. He looked around, it was a nice house. Miranda obviously had talent in decorating, either that or Jeremy had the talent. Everything was in its place and very clean. A couple of minutes later Jeremy came back down the stairs wearing a pair of gym shorts, and another shirt. They both headed over to Josh's house, Jeremy seemed happier than he had been earlier which Josh took as a good sign. And the first of many lessons began... TO BE CONTINUED... Sorry it took so long hehe email me for suggestions compliments or gripes.