Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2003 19:42:26 -0500 From: Jeff Wilson Subject: War III Chapter 2 W.A.R. Part Three - Self-Destructive Tendencies Chapter Two: Goodbye, Hello by Jeff Wilson After school, Brett sat with me while Dustin rode his own bus to his house. I would get my things, and then walk over to his place. I already had everything to ready to go. "So, what are you going to do this weekend?" Brett asked. "Oh, I don't know... I don't really have any plans. Maybe I'll hang out with Dustin." I said. I probably should have just told him where I was going, but I didn't. I felt strange, not telling him everything. But, ever since they got into that fight at Christmas, they have hardly even spoken to each other. It's been driving me nuts, my two best friends being enemies. "Oh... Him, huh?" He said, annoyed at the thought. "Come on, Brett. You know we're friends. Just because you don't like him..." "I know." He interrupted. "But you know how I feel about him. There are just some people in the world who aren't meant to be friends. We're two of them." "Well, don't complain about him to me. You know that I don't like it. >From either of you." I said sternly. I wasn't going to be put in the middle, any more than I already was. "Does he talk about me?" He asked. I was taken off guard by his question. He never asked about Dustin. "No. I don't let him." I said as his house came into view. "Okay. Hey, why don't you just get off here? Then you won't have to walk through the path twice." He said. I had forgotten that I was going to go to his house before I went to Dustin's. But I couldn't get off there, not with Dustin's mom right there. I don't know why I was being so secretive, but the months of the Dustin and Brett feud had me on edge. I had to come up with an excuse, quick. "Ummm... I don't have a bus note. Besides, my mom asked me to do something at home." "Okay," he said. Then he walked off the bus and toward his house. When we got to my house, I walked to the front of the bus. "See you in a little bit, Mrs. Smith." "You sure you don't want me to drive back and pick you up before class, Billy?" "Nah, that's okay. I'll walk. It'll be fun." "Dustin's been so excited about you coming over." She said. "I'll see you back at the ranch later tonight." I left the bus and walked to my house. I used my key to open the door. Then I went to my room and gathered up the stuff that I had already packed to take along with me. Then I went out the back door to the trail in the woods behind my house. I dropped my things off in the forest and walked past the path to Dustin's and walked to Brett's house. I knocked on the door and he answered, wearing just his jeans and no shirt. "Well, what took so long?" He asked. "Nothing," I said. We walked inside his house. "So, when is your mom coming home?" "In about an hour. Look, you don't have to do this if you don't want to." He said in a concerned voice. "No, no... I want to. It's just... I've never done this sort of thing before." I said nervously. "Relax, dude." He said. "I've done it lots of times, it's easy." We walked up to the fish tank. "Look, three bits of food for each fish, that's eighteen, because there's six fish. But don't worry about getting it exactly right. Oh, and if one of them dies, just scoop it out and flush it. Don't worry, that happens all the time, okay?" "Yeah." I said, looking at the fish swimming aimlessly around the tank. "Well, I appreciate you doing this for me, Billy. Really, I owe you something good when I get back." He said smiling. "What are you going to give me?" I said slyly. "Oh, you'd like to know, wouldn't you..." He said playfully. We'd been doing this for weeks now. Playing around the fact that we both wanted to move our relationship further along. It was easier to joke about it with each other than to admit it to each other though. If he'd ask me to do something, though, I'd do it. I made up my mind to that. But for me to ask him... ha! Not likely! Anyway, as he filled me in on a few other things to do while they were away, I mostly just stared at his bare chest and mid-section. God, he was beautiful! I never thought I'd describe a boy as beautiful, but that day, beautiful was the only word that could even come close to describing him. He was as tall as me now, five feet, seven inches. His medium brown hair was starting to grow out. He hadn't cut it since Christmas and it was really getting long. I never liked long hair on a boy... but there was something about the way it looked on him. I liked the way you could just get a peek at the back of his neck if he turned the right way. The way it curled behind his ears kept me enthralled. And then there were his eyes... deep pools of blue. They were as clear and blue as the springtime sky. The fact that I was not going to be able to look into those eyes for close to a week was killing me. I hated to do it, but I had to leave to go to Dustin's. "Why don't you stay? We're not leaving until later tonight. You could keep me company." He said. "I wish I could... But I really have to get home. I am going to miss you so much." "I know." He moved closer and we kissed. Not a quick secret kiss like last time, but several long ones. I didn't want to stop. I used the opportunity to touch his chest and feel his firm smooth belly. I could feel his tongue enter my mouth. This was different... We hadn't done that before. I always worried that he'd end up cutting himself on my braces, but at that moment, I didn't care. I opened up and let him enter into my mouth. I felt my tongue meet his. We shared each other's mouth for a while. I was careful not to move too quickly for fear that I'd cut him. But that didn't keep me from enjoying one of the most intimate moments I've ever shared with another person. Somehow when it was all over, I ended up with his gum. When we separated, he asked one last time... "Stay." "I...I can't. You know I want to." I said sadly. "Oh, all right." He said, his disappointment showing through. "I love you, Brett." "You have the key and everything?" He asked. "Yeah." I said, noticing that he'd ignored what I said. "Okay. Goodbye..." He looked so sad. I brushed his hair away from his forehead gave him one last kiss there and then headed out the door. I turned around a few times to see him standing in the doorway, watching me. I re-entered the woods, found my belongings, and made my way to Dustin's house. That fact that he hadn't said that he loved me too really bothered me. When I got to the door, Dustin was waiting for me. He was wearing a green shirt and cut-off jeans. "What took you so long, Lefty?" He asked anxiously. "I had something to take care of first." I answered. "Oh, okay." He replied. Well, that was easy. "So, what are we going to do?" I asked, my mind still far away. "Well, why don't we play something?" He said. "What do you want to play?" I asked. "Oh, how about chess?" He said. That sounded okay, so we played chess for a while. I had beaten him twice in a row when his sister, Amanda, came in the door. "Oh great, two pieces of shit instead of just one." She said when she saw us. "Nice to see you again too, Amanda." I said sarcastically. I've never gotten along with her. She is nothing but mean to Dustin. If she was my sister, I'd move out. She looked just like an older, fat, mean version of Dustin. She had long red hair and a wide frame. She was as tall as me, but she must have weighed about fifty pounds more than me. Though Dustin's face and hair are his mom's, his tall thin body comes from his dad's side of the family. Dustin seemed scared of Amanda though. He never fought back. He just took whatever abuse she gave him. "Stay out of my way and we'll get along just fine, Billy." She spat. "I don't want you trying to hang out with me or getting in my way. And as for you Dickface... I don't know who you think you are, but you better keep your ass out of my room. I know you were in there, and if I ever catch you, next time I'll do more than just cut your hair off." Then she stormed out of the room. Dustin just sat there. I could tell that he just wanted to snap. He looked at the chess board angrily and his face got redder and redder. "I didn't know she was the one who cut your hair..." I said, thinking out loud. "Just shut up alright! Just shut up!!" He yelled as he threw a pawn across the floor. It startled me. Dustin wasn't the kind to yell at you, he was usually pretty laid back... Usually. "Whoa! Dust, listen, don't get mad at me... I'm your friend." I said, hoping to avoid a fight. "You're right." He said sadly. "It's just, I wasn't in her room, Billy. I never go in there. She's paranoid. You know why she cut my hair off? Because she thought I was reading her diary. I didn't, Billy. But she came into my room at night and chopped my hair off. Mom and dad didn't even do anything about it. If I'd have done that to her, they'd have killed me." I felt sorry for him. I didn't have any brothers or sisters of my own. I always wondered what it would be like. But for Dustin it was pure hell. If a stranger had done the things Amanda had done to Dustin, they'd have been arrested. But because it's his sister, nobody even knows. There was a knock on the door. Amanda came running from her room upstairs as Dustin was about to answer. "Get out of the way, you fucking creep." She yelled and pushed him to the floor. If I hadn't seen the way she bullies him before, I'd have been shocked. Dustin's taller than me, and not a wimp by any means, but he's so scared of her that you can't even tell. Amanda opened the door and her boyfriend, Max, came inside. He looked at Dustin on the floor and laughed. Then he saw me. "Who's that little bastard?" He asked. "Oh, that's one of dickhead's little boyfriends." She said, almost disgusted that I would dare to be in her house. She turned to Dustin. "Listen, if you tell mom or dad about this, I'll kick your fucking ass, understand?" "Yes." Dustin said, totally whipped. "And you," She turned to me. "If you even think about doing anything stupid, Max will rip your balls off, understand?" I just looked at her and smirked. She got mad and they went off to her room. "Let's just go somewhere." Dustin said. "I'm so fucking sick of them." "Okay, but I want to use the bathroom first." I said as I walked to the upstairs bathroom. I could hear music coming from Amanda's room. Her room was next to the bathroom. When I closed the bathroom door, the music got muffled. I could hear them. The bed was bumping repeatedly against the wall and I could hear Amanda groaning and telling Max to fuck her harder and faster. I took my piss and didn't bother to flush because I didn't want them to know that I could hear them. Then I walked past her door on the way downstairs. I heard Max say he was going to come, and Amanda screamed for him to fuck her harder. I met Dustin at the door and we started walking to town. We were past the trailer next to Dustin's house that always seemed to have a For Rent sign in front of it before I decided to speak up. "You know they're having sex, don't you?" I said as we walked. "I have ears, you know. Of course I know. So does mom. That's why he's not allowed at our house anymore. It doesn't stop them though. Mom takes those classes in the evenings now, and dad's usually at the bar after work anyway. So he comes over and fucks her when they're out. Mom expects me to tell her if he comes over, but Amanda will kill me if I tell." "Why do you let her push you around?" I finally asked. "Because... It's a long story." He sighed. "I've got time. Tell me." I said as we reached the beginnings of the town's businesses. "Well... I guess it's because she always has. Ever since I was a little kid. If I told dad, he told me to leave him the fuck alone. If I told mom, she told me that boys don't cry about things like that and to get tough. So she always got away with it. One time, I did fight back. Remember when I broke my arm a few years ago? Well, I didn't. She pushed me down the stairs. Now she's doing drugs, too, thanks to Max. She drinks and smokes too." "Why don't your parents do something?" I asked. "Because dad's too drunk to care, and mom's thinks she's still her good little angel. Besides, they're always yelling at each other or yelling at me. They've always been harder on me. It pisses me off, but what am I going to do? I'm just a kid." We walked to the store and bought some pop and a few magazines. "I thought you weren't allowed to chew gum if you had braces." Dustin said as we left the store. I had been chewing the gum that I'd "received" from Brett since I left his house. Kind of like the one last piece of him that I could hold on to. "Why do you say that? Just mind your own business!" I said, probably way too defensively. We walked to the ballpark and watched some little kids play around for a while. Then we walked back to Dustin's house. He had wanted to walk down to the park by the river, but I didn't want to. That place was special to me. I didn't want to go there just to waste time anymore. When we got to his house, I noticed that Max's car was gone. As we walked to the door, Dustin's dad pulled in the driveway. We waited for him. "Hi, dad." Dustin said. "Yeah..." Mr. Smith kind of grunted at him. "Billy, what the fuck are you doing here?" He asked. He wasn't angry... He always talked like that. "You said he could sleep over tonight." Dustin reminded him. "Oh... Well, I guess. Where's your parents?" "They're at home. I just wanted to spend the night with Dustin." I said. "Spend the night? You're not gonna turn my son into some kind of fag are you?" He said laughing. I didn't think it was all that funny. "No. I just want to hang out with him." I said. "That little Irish bastard's not coming too, is he?" He asked Dustin. "Nah, he went away for the weekend." Dustin answered. "Well, just stay quiet. I've got a headache." He said and then went into the house. "Irish bastard?" I asked, knowing full well who he was talking about. "Look, Billy... I know you like Brett, but think about it. He called my mom a bitch. He punched me in the face. You think he's going to be well liked around here?" "That's no reason to..." I started to say, but we were interrupted when Amanda came out of the house. She was giggling and not walking very well. She went to the car that her dad had just driven home. "What are you looking at, fags?" She said as she put the car in reverse and drove away. "I think she's high." I said. "I know she's high. What else is new?" Dustin said. We walked into the house and prepared for an evening of fun while Dustin's dad watched tv. That's all for now... Just a peek at the life of Dustin Smith. We've only scratched the surface here. There's more to Dustin that he lets on, and we're going to see that in the next few chapters. The next chapter, Uncomfortable Situations will be along next week. I There's a lot of stuff to explore in Part Three. It's going to get very interesting... What did you think? Let me know! vicioussquirrel@hotmail.com See you next time, or in the nifty chatroom if you're in to that kind of thing.