Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 01:22:44 +0000 From: Pete Cathcart Subject: Young Love, 6 Young Love By Petros Chapter 6 I was awoken by the sound of birds chirping outside. I opened my eyes slowly, trying to hide from the burning morning light. Opening my eyes I expected to find the familiar landmarks of my bedroom. I was confused by what I saw, my surroundings were unfamiliar. A few moments later I recognised the landscape of Derek's bedroom. Memories of the night before came flooding back; we'd been out at a party. I'd been persuaded to have a drink or two, I'd arranged to stay over at Derek's so I wouldn't get caught. I turned round to find Derek lying next to me in his bed. He was still sleeping soundly. It was a Saturday so no school today. I didn't know what time it was, so I didn't disturb him, lest it was some hideous hour. I climbed out of my sleeping bad and stood up. As I rose to my feet I felt a sudden searing pain shoot through my head. "Ugh," I murmured promptly sitting down again, head in hands. So this is a hangover then? It was late on in the month of May now. Many months had passed since I lost my closest friends. Things had improved slightly, at least they'd pass the time of day with me but the tension and resentment was still strong. I never lost touch with Jenni though. She stood by me, like I should have stood by them. She didn't try to move in with my new friends, she was happy on the periphery of the social scene. I, however, had been fully accepted into the in crowd. I spent all my spare time, during breaks, after school and at the weekend hanging with them. Derek and I had, as he'd hoped, grown to become best friends. We did everything together and went everywhere with each other. I still dreamed about taking our friendship to a higher level, but I knew that it would never happen. I tried to push such thoughts from my head and just be content with, such a good, friendship. It was time to move on, emotionally. It was time to try and patch things up with my old friends too. I'd only left them so I could get closer to Derek. I gave it my best shot but there was nothing else there. Now I owed them an explanation and an apology. That would mean coming out to them. They didn't even talk to me any more, yet I was going to open up to them and tell them everything. It sounds foolish but I had to do it. After sitting nursing my head for a few minutes I gingerly stood up and walked to where I'd left my clothes. I rummaged around the pile until I found my watch. It was nine forty. I pulled my tee shirt and boxers on before heading for the bathroom. The flat was quiet. I passed the living room and the kitchen on my way. Both were deserted so I figured either the Young's were all asleep or they'd left the house early. They didn't seem to be around much at the weekend, probably why Derek reckoned we'd be safe to get drunk and crash at his place. I reached the bathroom and answered nature's call. Once that was out of the way I began my hunt for paracetamol. Having discovered a packet in the medicine cabinet I lost no time in swallowing a couple. And then two more for good measure. There was no point in being up this early so I returned to Derek's room and collapsed beside him on the bed. He had not yet emerged from his slumber. I lay there watching him for what seemed like hours. He looked so adorable; the way he'd got himself so tightly wrapped up in his duvet. I looked on in awe, taking in every tiny detail from the slight smile which crossed his face to the tousled mess his, normally perfect, hair was now in. Although I tried to deny my feelings, I felt nothing but love for the boy before me. I had to hide my feelings. This friendship had grown too strong; I could not risk loosing it now. Back in the early days I had been flirtatious, dropped hints left, right and centre, and made every move I could towards him without giving myself away for sure. What had I got in return? Nothing. I couldn't discern any reaction. He played all my 'advances' down and laughed them off. If I didn't forget about it, what else could I do? Perhaps back when I lay on the verge of obscurity I could have risked making an open and direct move and letting him know how I felt. Now, though, I was among the most prolific, if not popular, kids at the school. Everyone knew me so the consequences of outing myself now would be disastrous. By ten thirty I decided he'd had enough of a lie in. Besides, my head was feeling a little less fragile and I almost felt up to facing the world. I sat up on the bed and turned to face him. I could just give him a gentle shake, bring him round nice and slow... Nah, no chance! I raised myself onto my heels before pouncing on him landing square on his chest, with my legs lying either side of him. He woke with such a start, and jumped so hard I nearly fell back off him. He looked around, quite startled, as if trying to ascertain exactly what had disturbed him. It took him a few moments apparently ignorance of the foreign weight on his chest, to notice my presence. "Aww, thanks. You couldn't have woken me a bit more violently could you? Ugh, my heid's killin' me. That's your fault. If I'd woken in my own time I'd have been fine." "Keep telling yourself that. You'd have slept through till this afternoon and woken up even more de- hydrated with a headache ten times worse. Oh, yeah, good morning to you too!" "Tit." He responded, before collapsing again. I felt a little guilty so I fetched him some painkillers and a glass of water. He readily accepted the pills. "Can I get a towel please?" I asked him. "Yeah, sure." He got up from the bed and without stopping to put any clothes on left the room. I followed him out and accepted the towel he found in the linen cupboard. "I'm off for a shower. You wanna join me?" I asked playfully. He laughed and replied, "Thanks, but I doubt there'd be room for you and this," he tugged at his crotch, "in there." "Oh, well. Your loss," I grinned at him before heading into the bathroom. Once we were both showered and dressed we set about fixing some breakfast. Well, Derek sat trying to nurse his hangover while I got on with the frying. Bacon, sausages, eggs, tomatoes, fried bread and potato scones; the whole English breakfast, more or less anyway - potato scones are a Scottish speciality. We got talking about school and inevitably at this time of year, the end of term. Last week the plans for the disco had been announced. Every year there's a disco at the end of the year. When I say 'a' disco, there's actually three, one for the first and second years, one for the third and fourth years and one for the fifth and sixth years. Ours was scheduled for Friday the sixteenth of June, a week or so before the end of term. That was just over two weeks from now. "I was thinking, you know my birthday is the day before the disco?" Derek began. "Yeah, you said it was around then." "Well, the disco only runs until eleven, why not have a birthday party back here afterwards?" I thought for a moment before replying. "That'd be cool, what about your parents though?" "They'd be sound, don't worry. They're usually out on a Friday night anyway. I could get them to stay out even later. As long as they know Danny would be home to keep an eye on things I reckon they'd go for it." "You're parents are so cool man, mine'd freak out if I even hinted at having a party back home! Oh, one thing. Well, two things rather..." I paused for a minute to think. "Go on," Derek encouraged. "OK, first up, I'd been planning to ask Jenni to the disco. Will it be cool if she comes round afterwards, I don't want her to feel left out if I piss off out without her?" "Yeah course it's cool. I didn't think you liked her like that though." "No, I don't. We're really close though and we usually go to these things together. Saves us the hassle of finding real dates." I stopped to chuckle for a second before putting my deadpan face on, "and secondly, won't people get a bit wary of us sharing a bed?" He looked quite shocked for a moment, until I could no longer stop a grin from creeping across my face. "You twat. But seriously, if I don't score with some chick at the party then we'll share the bed again - but no sleeping bags this time. I'm gonna get some at this party, whatever it takes." At this I gave him a very worried look and started backing into the corner, covering my crotch with my hands. Derek could barely stop laughing. If only he knew. The smell of burning brought me back to reality. I rushed back to the cooker to find that I'd over done the bacon a bit. Ah well, nothing serious. The rest of the grub was just about ready too so I served it up and we got stuck in. All through breakfast, Derek raved on about some girl or other that he had his eye on and was going to try and pull at the disco. I don't know why he thought he had to try to pull them. I'd heard girls talking at school, it was a popular opinion that Derek was the best looking guy there. I tried to look and sound interested. Once we'd finished up I gathered my stuff and got ready to go home. I thought I should put in an appearance at some point, given that I was going out that night too. I left the flat and headed down the stairs. I opened the close door and walked out into the cold. The Scottish weather was being it's unpredictable self once again. A thin layer of crisp white frost covered the ground, giving my footsteps a satisfying crunch. As I got to the main road wispy clouds of fog began to descend around me. It added an eerie chill to the early summer air. The fog continued to thicken as I walked on. A few hundred yards on I could barely see more than a few feet in front of me. I gazed around me in awe as I walked on. There's something very elegant about fog, it's so mysterious the way it envelops your familiar world and turns it into a mystical new land. I was so involved in my own thoughts that I didn't notice the dark shape coming towards me through the dense white clouds that engulfed me. By the time I noticed the hazy form it was too late, I walked straight into it. Whatever it was it let out an astonished cry while falling over backwards. I looked down and could see the outline of a human form beginning to pick it's self up. I leant forward to give who ever it was a hand up. Knowing my luck it would be an old woman and I'd have broken all manner of her bones. I was relieved then when my hand was met with a firm grip from what seemed to be a young hand. My relief turned to shock when the figure stood up and their identity was revealed. I would probably have preferred to walk into an aged stranger than my former best friend, Steven, as I had just done. I hesitated for a moment, staring at him before I spoke. "Hey Steven, I'm sorry, I didn't see you through the fog. Are you Ok?" There was an uneasy pause for a moment or two before Steven replied. "It's cool. I'm fine." He said, sounding far from it. He looked away and started to walk off. "Steven, wait..." I called after him. He stopped and turned round but didn't move. I took a few steps towards him. I wanted to be able to see his face. I wanted to see what he was thinking. "I need to talk to you." "Go on then," he shot back coldly. "I... I want to... Umm, I'm sorry..." I couldn't bring myself to say it. I didn't know how. "Is that it?" he asked without emotion. I couldn't see him clearly but he didn't seem impressed. I nodded meekly before turning away. "I miss you," I mumbled before I walked off. I can't say whether he heard or not, I didn't look back. Derek and his friends went bowling that night. I was there too, but my mind was somewhere else. I couldn't stop thinking about Steven. Until now I hadn't appreciated just what I'd done to him, to all of them. I couldn't forget the look of hurt on his face. I'd really messed things up. The more I thought about it the worse my situation seemed. The worst part was I could see no easy way of going back. I was, as far as I could see, quite stuck. The next few weeks flew by. It was near the end of term so the workload had fallen away to make room for class tests and practice exams. The serious exams would start next year, this was just a warm up. The timetable thinned out to leave room for study periods. We were meant to spend these in the library but I seemed to spend more time in the PE department playing with Derek. Things didn't improve with my old friends. I thought about speaking to them but I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure enough about myself to start telling the world. I asked Jenni to go to the dance with me. Thankfully she accepted my offer. My offer, however, was not alone. Gary had asked her too. When he learned that his rejection was my fault further hostility ensued: instead of just being ignored I got icy cold glares and unpleasant comments muttered. It was all I could do not to break down and cry. Before I knew it Thursday had arrived, bringing Derek's birthday with it as it came. At fifteen, he was on the brink of manhood. His parents gave him money to go out and celebrate. He invited a few close friends and me to join him for dinner at Pizza Hut. I joked that I should get a job there, once I was sixteen, if only for the staff discount; we seemed to be stopping by there more and more. Once our meal was finished we rode the bus back home and then set off for our second destination. We'd heard rumour of a pub that served under agers and wanted to give it a shot. Of course we were no- where near eighteen yet, but we were all smartly dressed and looked a few years older than we were. We arrived outside Sweepers and stopped to gather our composure. I was elected to lead us in, because I was the tallest, followed by Derek, because he was the oldest and then the others in some order or other. The bar was part of the local football team's social club. It was kinda out of the way, and hence quite quiet. I led the way into the building and followed signs for the public bar. I reached the door and pushed it open to enter. I stepped inside, closely followed by Derek. The bar was very old-fashioned looking and probably hadn't been re-furbished since the place opened. There was deep red, sofa like seating round the walls with a collection of tables spread evenly across the floor. At the far end of the room there were two pool tables. A couple of guys, who didn't look more than about sixteen, were playing on one of them. About eight other people occupied the room. The bar stood on our left and was being tended by quite a short, stocky man. He was in his late twenties, possibly thirty at a push. Actually on second thoughts, he wasn't stocky at all. He was fat. Almost very fat. He looked at us suspiciously as we made out way in. Once all five were present, I approached the bar. "Hi there," I began trying to sound casual, "can I have five pints of lager please?" The bar man stood for a minute and eyed my friends up. "Are they all over eighteen?" he asked in a surprisingly pleasant tone. "Them, " I said glancing over my shoulder, "yeah, sure they are." "And they'll all have some Id. with them then?" he responded, not looking at all convinced. I turned back to face them. "Guys, have you all got some Id. there?" I asked, knowing fine well that they didn't. There was an awkward silence before Richard, who probably looked the youngest, spoke up. "No, sorry. I forgot mine," he said addressing the bar man. "Sorry, boys. I can't serve you if some of you are under-age," the bar man said, sounding as if he almost was sorry. At that point I had an idea; he didn't seem too bothered about serving me and hadn't questioned my age. "Fair enough mate. Any chance of some carry out?" "Come on son, you know we're not licensed to sell carry outs." "No, sorry I didn't realise." I said showing my naivete. "Oh right." He paused for a minute, looking me up and down; "You don't look like the type that trading standards usually send. What can I get for you?" I looked round at the other guys, waiting for some prompt. They looked quite bemused by what was going on so I took the initiative once again. "Can I have a bottle of vodka and a bottle of whiskey please," I asked, figuring that a pub wasn't going to supply the cheap cider that we were accustomed to. "Sure, that'll be twenty pounds please," the bar tender said before walking away through the door at the back of the bar, obviously where they kept the stock. As he left, Derek stepped up beside me and handed me a ten-pound note, which I added to the two fives that my parents had given me. The bar man returned with the two bottles and took my money. "Thanks lads, see you again," he said smiling. I took the bottle of Smirnoff and concealed it inside my coat before handing the Famous Grouse to Derek to carry. I smiled at the bar man and we all filed out of the pub. "Nice one Petros," Fraser congratulated me once we were outside. "Yeah, good thinking man," Derek added. I was glowing. I didn't think it was that much of a big deal but I happily soaked up their praise. "No problem guys. Let's go and get some coke or something. I'm fucked if I'm drinking this shit straight." I said grinning. We wandered back to the main street and paid the off license a visit. A few minutes later we arrived in the park armed with two litres of Irn Bru and two more of Coke. We arrived at the bandstand and sat down to begin drinking. It was at that point I realised we had no means of mixing the drinks. After some deliberation and a little experimentation we discovered that drinking some soft drink and holding it in your mouth before drinking the spirit seemed to work quite well. As I began to feel the drink entering my consciousness my mind began to wander. My thoughts drifted back to the good old days, back to when Steven had brought Jenni here so I could apologise. How different things were now, back then Steven would have done anything for me. Now we could hardly be further apart and Jenni, whom I'd hurt the most, was the last remnant of my old friends that remained. I was supposed to be out enjoying myself yet I was preoccupied with feeling sorry for myself. I tried to stop thinking about the past and get on with the present. It was, after all, my best friend's birthday and I owed it to him to try and be a bit more cheerful. I took another mouthful of vodka and then concentrated on the conversation and got involved once more. A couple of hours passed by and the alcohol slowly dried up. I'd managed to lighten up a bit, I think the spirits may have helped me relax. We sat around for a while longer, laughing and joking with each other. Before I knew it, it was almost midnight, and being a school day tomorrow it was a good time to head for home. I was feeling a bit lightheaded form the drink, but I felt pretty much Ok. I was surprised, to say the least, when I stood up and took no more than a few steps before falling straight back down. Richard, who was luckily still sitting down, softened my fall a little. I started to giggle, then Richard joined in. Before long we were all laughing uncontrollably. Derek decided I'd been lying on Richard's lap for quite long enough and got up to help me. He pulled me up quite successfully, in one swift action, and then lost his balance and fell over backwards. Having failed to let go of me he dragged me down once again, this time landing on top of him. I could have lain there for hours but the ground was cold and damp so I clambered off him and we helped each other up. God, we were in some state. Once we'd all made it to our feet we began the painstaking process of walking home. Richard and Scott lived in the opposite direction to the rest of us, so they took a different route out of the park. Derek, Fraser and me started on our path through the park. It was a long, slow journey wobbling and stumbling up the hill but eventually we made it through the park. As we emerged back into civilisation Fraser slurred a goodbye before heading off towards his house. I walked on for about ten yards before I fell again, this time tripping over my own feet and falling over a wall straight into someone's garden. I lay there dazed for a minute until Derek arrived beside me, having entered via the gate. He smiled sweetly but I'm sure he was quite embarrassed by me. He reached out and picked me up and I left the flowerbed in a slightly more dignified manner than that with which I had entered. It was only once we were back on the side of the road that I realised that Derek was still holding my hand. I was quite speechless, but the look of absolute shock that I gave him said more than I could've done with words. He just grinned at me and said, "If I hold on then you're not gonna fall again are you? If you think I'm coming onto you then I'll let go..." he laughed to himself at his last comment. I smiled and continued walking, my hand still in his. I awoke the next morning with a killer hangover. I'd avoided being caught drunk the night before because I was so late home. I'd never felt this bad in my whole life, not even suffering form real illnesses. My mother wanted me to stay off school, not realising that my predicament was self inflicted. Unfortunately the rules of the school disco are such that all pupils have to attend school for the two preceding days. There was no way I was going to miss tonight so I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for school. I must have looked awful, but there'd be plenty of time to make up for that and ensure that I looked fabulous for the party. The morning absolutely dragged by. My head was pounding constantly and I couldn't concentrate on anything. I went home at lunchtime and drank an unprecedented volume of water and several painkillers; the afternoon went a little smoother as a result. I made it through my last two classes in relative comfort. I got home and began the process of getting ready. To be continued... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for sticking with the story this far, it's appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this latest installment. Please send comments and criticisms to Younglove@petros-world.co.uk If you've got a moment, visit my web page and sign the guestbook to let me know you're reading... http://www.petros-world.co.uk/ There's info there on other ways to contact me if you want to.