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Chapter 3

 

I walked through the hotel until I got to the pantry. Jonah Hill wanted to meet me here. Truth be told I was excited. You would think I was going on a date or something. There was such a MYSTERY about this person and everything about him seemed appealing. I needed to know who he was.

The pantry was more of a wine cellar when I got to it.

I saw him there...picking up a bottle of wine.

He didn't even turn to me but he knew that I had entered, "Do you drink merlot?"

The wine pantry was definitely a part of the mansion that I had never seen before. There were a ton of places in this place that I'd never seen. The place wasn't the most friendly to go around exploring. Pristine loved everything perfect and it was easier to just stick to my room instead of messing up her stuff.

"Sure..."

There was so much I wanted to ask him but I didn't want to seem desperate or nosy. He had to be inviting me here for a reason. He asked to meet me.

I didn't want to chase him away. I had no idea how to get in contact with him.

He poured me a glass in a flute and poured him a glass as well. It wasn't until he walked across the room to me and looked me in my eyes. I hadn't noticed them in the room before. He had FUCKING beautiful gray eyes. I'd never seen a black person with gray eyes before. They were like glass and I felt my heart COMPLETELY stop.

The idea of me being attracted to him was an understatement.

I drank slowly but I realized he wasn't drinking his wine. He was just watching me. It was this intense lingering stare. He was looking right through me.

"What?" I asked.

Was this poison or something? He looked as though he was studying me or something. It would serve me right meeting up with a strange person in the middle of the night like this. This isn't what smart people did. A smart person would have immediately run to Mr. Hill and told him that his son is hiding out in his mansion hotel.

"I don't...socialize much," he stated.

His voice was deep and very gentle. It was so soft and innocent. He had this innocence about him that immediately made my heart flutter a little.

"Do you socialize at all?"

"Not much when I'm here but I do travel...and meet new people."

He travelled. It kind of made me feel a little less like I was talking to the magical workshop elf. Still the mystery about him was still there.

"Did you...like it?" he said with this nervousness that made me think he wasn't very social at all, "It's the 2000 Chateau Petrus Pomerol. If you pay attention you can taste the red cherries and oak in there."

"I'm not really a wine person. I mean I'm in high school...good wine for us is Mad Dog 20/20," I said laughing.

He didn't join me. He was looking at me as though I had three heads or something. I stopped laughing immediately when I noticed how socially awkward he was. It was like I was meeting an alien from another world. It clicked to me that he probably had no idea what MD 20/20 even was. What kind of childhood did this boy have?

"I apologize," he said.

"No you don't have to apologize...I actually, you know like it. It's good."

I was lying. It tasted like cardboard. Still I could tell wine must have meant something to him. I could tell by how he smiled all of a sudden. Had he been trying to...impress me?

"It reminds me of the painting you did...the one with the roses and the doves. That's one of my favorite ones," he told me.

"Safe and sound."

"Excuse me?"

"The painting is called Safe and Sound," I said before snapping into reality, "Wait...hold the hell on. I haven't shown anyone that. Have you been like spying on me or something?"

I had said it in an aggressive tone. Normally I wouldn't have given a damn but I saw him seem to retreat a little away taking a few steps back. Maybe this wasn't the best way to get answers from him. I literally was sounded like I was accusing him. Regardless this was a little creepy. I had to admit.

He drank on his wine and turned away from me. He was facing the wall. He was no longer looking at me with those beautiful eyes.

"I felt guilty about it. That was why I reached out to you. After you painted the sea...I knew I wanted to speak to you. It was the best painting I've ever seen..."

"Jonah...right?"

"Yes..."

"You mind telling me what is going on. How long have you been hiding?" I asked.

He took another sip of wine. The silent awkwardness made it clear that this wasn't an easy conversation to have. I felt like I had to be careful. I felt like any moment he could retreat. It was almost like talking to him was like walking on eggshells or something. I felt like I was juggling balls but I didn't know which ones were rubber and which ones were glass.

"I've been on my own since I was a kid."

"Living where?"

"When I'm not traveling...I live here."

"For years?"

He finally turned towards me but his eyes still didn't look me in my eyes. It was very childlike how he avoided eye contact with me.

"Yes. They think I ran away but I never really went too far."

I didn't get it, "Let me get this straight. You've been right under your parents' noses for years and they had no idea. They thought you ran away?"

"Do you want more wine?"

He was changing the subject.

"No I don't want any more wine man," I said getting a little irritated, "What I want to know is what is going on? Why the hell did you run away in the first place?"

"Look I don't have to explain anything to you," he stated, "I brought you here because I wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed your work and I think you should really show it off to some people. I think you could be famous for it. I didn't come here for a questionnaire. If that is the case this was probably a mistake."

Fuck.

I felt like an idiot for a moment. I was being way too pushy way too fast.

He walked past me and I grabbed his arm.

"Wait...look I'm sorry don't go."

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!"
He freaked out as I grabbed his arm, jumping backwards and slamming into the wine behind him. You would think I had tried to strangle him by the way that he reacted at that moment. It was EXTREMELY weird and strange how he did it.

The wine bottles spilled all over the floor. I quickly bent down grabbing a rag that was hanging to start wiping it up.

"Look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you or anything. I just really didn't want you to leave."

Silence.

I looked up.

He was gone. Jonah was gone just like that.

 

I couldn't really focus on much of anything for the next few days. I kept going back to the wine pantry hoping to run into him but there was no sign of Jonah. He was so fucking handsome. I didn't think it was possible for someone to be so handsome. Then there was his personality. Something about that untouchable, mystery seemed to turn me on. He had completely disappeared and I had no idea where he'd went. He was like a shadow. One moment there and the next moment he was gone and disappeared.

It had been days and Jonah Hill was the only thing I could think of. How was it possible for him to have lived in that mansion for so long and for no one to know?

And he traveled? If he was Jackie's twin then that meant he was about 18. He seemed so sophisticated but at such a young age.

"Did you draw that?"

"What?"

I hadn't been paying attention. It was after school but I was hanging out in the library with Ozzie.

"You ok hunny?" Ozzie asked me, "You been out of it."

"I'm fine. I just didn't hear you."

"I said did you draw that," Ozzie stated.

I hadn't even noticed the sketch that I was doing. I was just so bored and I got lost in my mind. Before I knew it I was looking down at the sheet of paper in front of me and there was a full detail sketch in front of me. The sketch was of Jonah. It was just with a pencil and no color but I managed to get the detail down to a T. I even put in some gentle gray shading to represent his beautiful skin.

I shut my book, "No."

But just as I shut it Ozzie grabbed it out of my hand.

"Yes the hell you did. I'm not an idiot," he said opening the page and staring at the photo, "What the fuck, bro I had no idea you can draw like this. There isn't even a model around. How the hell do you do that?"

"I just had a face in my head."

Ozzie smiled, "He's fucking beautiful. I wish he was real goddam and gay."

I immediately jerked my notebook away before slamming it shut, "Thanks but if he was he wouldn't be interested."

"Defensive a little? You acting like he is real. Wait. Wait. Oh my god...oh my god...he is real..."
"No..."

"I've been your friend for how long now?" he asked, "Tell me what is going on."

He was right. Ozzie knew me just as well as I knew myself and vice versa. I knew that he was a horny gay teenager who was desperate for Jackie.

"If I tell you this you tell no one," I stated.

Ozzie raised his hand, "Who do I have to tell? Maybe Aaryn. She's like my best friend right. I tell her everything."

I laughed. He was right. I was the only one he had to tell anyway. I still felt like I was breaking Jonah's trust or something by telling Ozzie about him.

"Does that picture look like anyone?"

"Um... kind of looked like a darker Jackie."

"Exactlly. Jackie has a twin."

"What?"

"Yes. Remember that day you said you saw Jackie in the window. I'm thinking it wasn't Jackie. I'm thinking it was Jackie's twin. His name is Jonah."

Ozzie's mouth was wide open, "There's two of them? There has to be a God!"

"SHHH!" I said immediately looking around.

At a table not too far from us was Jackie and his little Satanic girlfriend. They were chatting it up but I realized that Adrian's eyes were kind of looking over my way and where Adrian's eyes started it usually led to Rebecca's eyes.

He leaned in close to me, "Where is he?"

"First off they aren't identical and second off I'm not 100 percent sure," I whispered, "He's like been in the mansion supposedly. No one knows though. He ran away when he was younger. Since then he's been hiding in the mansion. He reached out to me because he likes my art. I thought it was sweet but he like didn't want to talk about himself at all..."

"Shit... that sounds like some crazy stuff," Ozzie said shaking his head, "But if there was any where to hide and no one notice it would be Hill Mansion. There are dozens of rooms in there."

"Yeah it used to be a hotel. I think I kind of scared him off. I'm kind of worried. I think maybe I should tell Pristine."

"Hell no," Ozzie said.

"What?"

"Don't tell them shit. If he is hiding from them he must have a damn good reason," Ozzie continued, "You know how those people are. If he wants them to know where's he is at he'll tell them. Don't get involved."

"You're right..."

"Quashie look at me."

I raised my head.

"Promise me you won't get involved."

"Yeah...yeah, sure..."

He sighed and I looked away.

 

"If you hear me I'd like to meet again!"
"Who you talking to?"

It was that evening and I had been spending the whole day roaming around the mansion looking for Jonah. I found myself talking to myself hoping that he was actually spying on me. Truth was I just wanted to apologize for being aggressive with him. I wanted to...I wasn't sure what I wanted from him. All I knew was that I wanted to see him.

It was Adrian McCoy though. He had on a wife beater and some sweat shorts that looked amazing on him.

"No one. I was thinking out loud..." I stated, "What are you doing here?

"My parents are out of town," He said crossing his arms, "So I decided to crash here. Didn't Jackie mention it to you?"

Adrian McCoy's parents were some of Mr. Hill's best friends. The McCoys were the only ones that Pristine didn't have any dirt on and I knew it killed her. They were both soap stars that originated from the Phillipines. They had a flawless image and unlike Mr. Hill and Pristine they were both still young, attractive and successful. Adrian was a single child and I could only imagine how great his life was.

"Me and Jackie aren't really on speaking terms if you don't remember."

Adrian shook his head, "Tsk tsk...I thought you were going to work on that."

I shrugged, "Something else came up."

Someone else came up. I was way too worried about Jackie's brother to feign any sort of interest in Jackie. Truth was I just wanted to talk to Jonah. That was where my mind was at.

I found myself becoming...obsessive...with the idea.

"Ok, well I'm glad I heard you talking to yourself. I am completely lost."

He wasn't the first one to be lost in this place. It was really a confusing design. It wasn't a single flight of stairs that led to each floor. You literally had so many ways to get to places. The architect must have seriously had a sick sense of humor. The place was designed like some sort of maze with no instructions and no elevator.

"It's the middle night. Most of the rooms have bathrooms attached. What could you possibly be looking for?"

"Alcohol..." he said laughing, "I need a drink."

"You like wine?"

 

I felt like it was a great time to check the pantry for any signs of Jonah at all. My obsession with him was really getting the best of me.

"Looks like someone was having the same thought as me," Adrian stated.

There was a wine bottle out in the open. I looked over at the bottle. 2000 Chateau Petrus Pomerol. Jonah must have been here. I felt a burning sensation in my chest as I looked at it. I had missed him somehow.

I could feel the angst running through me.

"Well the flutes are on the top shelf. Help yourself. Mr. Hill won't notice anything gone. He doesn't drink. He probably never even been in here. I'm sure his Dad or granddad must have stocked this place."

"Age makes the best wine..." Adrian said.

He was good with words and charming. It was completely opposite from Jonah who was awkward and shy.

I couldn't get Jonah out of my head, "Yeah. Well have a good night."

Adrian stopped me by grabbing my arm. It was the same way that I had grabbed onto Jonah.

"Wait drink with me. I don't know how to get back out of here. I'll be wandering around all night."

I sighed. A part of me wanted to be alone. I just wanted to wade in my self-pity for wanting attention from a shadow. Still the idea of alcohol seemed to be really interesting.

"Fine..."

Fine. I said.

 

 

An hour and a half later I found myself drunk on the middle of the pantry floor with Adrian. I honestly didn't know how it hit me. We started talking about bullshit and here we were just laughing and joking like we were friends. It had to hit me that I was NOT friends with this boy. He was actually friends with my enemies.

"I am so fucking tipsy," he said.

"Tipsy is what we were 30 minutes ago," I said laughing, "We are going to get lost getting out of here."

"I'll probably be drunk in school tomorrow," Adrian stated, "I'll probably tell finally give Rebecca a shot. Alcohol will do that to you."

"That girl is obsessed with you," I stated.

"Isn't she? It like...bitch...get a clue. I don't want you."

I laughed. I had always been kind of impartial to Rebecca but lately she had been getting on my nerves for some reason.

"Why not?"

"Huh?"
"Why don't you like her?" I asked, "Rebecca's beautiful."
She really wasn't. She was ok on a good day. Aaryn was friends with Rebecca for a reason. That reason was that she was gorgeous and made Rebecca look like a troll or something.

"You are talking about the rumors aren't you?"

"Huh, no of course not," I lied, "What rumours?"

"Supposedly there is a rumor going around that the reason we broke up was because I was gay," he stated laughing at it.

I shrugged my shoulders innocently, "Oh my god. I didn't hear that one."

"There were rumors about you too."

"Me?"

"Yeah. I mean you are best friends with the gayest guy in school. That day you wore all green they were calling you Kermit the Fag," he said and smiled at me with that charismatic smile that made the sharp cut to my ego seem a little blunt.

"Let me guess who it was...Aaryn?"

"And Jackie."

I raised my eyebrows. No surprise there.

"Well I'll tell you a secret if you tell me a secret," I said grinning obnoxiously.

In the back of my mind I was screaming shut the hell up but the liquor had taken complete control. It has posted WHY THE HELL NOT all over my brain.

"Don't tell me you are about to tell me you are gay to the world?" he said laughing.

He was laughing. He had such a sexy ass laugh. I was a little taken back by it. My hormones were raging and I couldn't stop myself from looking at how attractive he was. The print of his dick in his sweat pants. The way his tanktop hugged his shapely chest.

Gay to the world.

"I sure am," I stated.

"Oh you know I'm cool with it," he said shrugging, "I don't discriminate. You know I'm not like Aaryn or those guys. I like a person for who they are..."

"That wasn't my secret."

He laughed again, "Oh god there's more. Ok hold on let me take a sip of this wine first."

He found this so funny. It was so funny that he was choking a little as he sipped on his wine. It might have been the alcohol that was giving him the giggles. Or maybe he just thought I was a joke. I wasn't laughing though. I was a drunk horny teenager desperate for some affection from someone. It wasn't coming from Jonah. Hell Jonah had disappeared. So here I was...DESPERATE with Adrian.

"I think you are sexy as fuck," I said slurring my words as I spoke, "I think you are beyond sexy. I have a crush on you and think that you shouldn't go back to Rebecca. I think that you should be with me."

He laughed slapping his palm on his head in shock, "What the---"

That was when I did it. Like an idiot I jumped over at him kissing him. I KISSED him hard, holding his head in place. I put all my passion in it. Or I put all my drunken horniness in it. I guess it was how you looked at it.

I couldn't believe I was taking a chance like this.

Quashie...what the hell was wrong with you?