Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 19:02:43 -0800 (PST) From: Aaron Hull Subject: One or the Other:Chapter Seventeen - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This is my first story that has chapters! My other stories are Hayden's Story and Gavin's Got Game, they're here under the High School section. If you like this story then you should check them out because there are some similarities except this one doesn't have sex. So if that's what you were looking for I'm sorry. My shorter stories may have sex but this story will contain no sex, there may be references to sex, but I will not go into detail. If you like this story, contact me at wah.stories@yahoo.com. I strongly encourage it. Also, If you want to be on my e-mail list to find out when the next chapter comes out, please include that in the email! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Spencer's perspective- "Hey!" Mason said as I opened the door. It was a little past eight so I was shocked to see him standing there. "Umm...hey?" "Sorry about dropping by randomly. I was just out and decided to come hang out with you for a while since we haven't done that recently." "We're about to eat dinner. Let me ask Mom and see if she made enough for an extra person." "Of course I made enough!" My mom said as she came out of the kitchen. "Mason you are always welcome to come over whenever you want. And tell your mother and father that they need to all come over soon. Matter of fact, Spencer, you need to get all your friends to come over one day and we'll have a party." I moved out of Mason's way and let him in. "It's almost winter, Mom, so we can't go outside and there isn't enough room for all those people inside our house." "Well fine. This spring we are having ourselves a party whether you like it or not." Mom then went back into the kitchen to finish the food. "Your mom is awesome." Mason said. This was the first time he's been inside my house so he looked around; I think he was impressed. "So, what do you want to do 'til the food is ready?" "I was just watching TV but if you-" Mason interrupted me. "That's fine with me, unless you wanna do something else." "Well you are the guest." "I guess we can watch TV then." He and I went into the living room and sat down on opposite ends of the couch. I wanted to cuddle up next to him, but I knew it was wrong on so many levels. Mason doesn't know that I know he likes guys, Mason is dating Isabella, and Daniel thinks that he and I are like right there to becoming a thing. "What are you watching?" I was watching Glee, but I knew Mason would think it was "gay," so I had to make up a lie. "Nothing right now. I was flipping through the channels when you knocked." "Let's see what's on..." Mason took the remote and turned on the TV guide thingy and saw Glee was on. "I haven't seen this in a while. Is it okay if we watch it?" "Sure." It surprised me that Mason actually liked this show. I knew he wasn't straight but this is pushing it. After the initial shock had faded, Mason and I watched the next thirty minutes of Glee. Mom then came and got us two for dinner. "So, Mason," Mom started by saying, "do you have any plans for Halloween?" "Actually, yeah. I was invited to a party. It's nothing out there though, just a small thing the football team is doing." "That's nice. How long have you been playing football?" "I started my sixth grade year." "And you're a junior?" "Yeah." "Do you think you'll do it professionally?" "I think I'm going to play in college, but after that I want to have a normal life and actually settle down." "If you're as good as Spencer says, you'd be giving up a lot of money by not going pro." "I know. I really want to start a family and if I went pro, I'd barely see them because of all the traveling and all the practices." For the rest of dinner, Mom asked Mason question after question. I learned a lot about him. Megan came down halfway through dinner and was surprised to see Mason was over. She actually sat down at the table and ate with us instead of taking her plate back up to her room. The four of us actually had a good conversation, something my family could never do as just the three of us. After dinner, Megan returned to her room while Mason and I decided to help Mom with the dishes. "Why don't you stay the night?" Mom asked Mason. "I'm sure your mother would be okay with it." "She would, but I don't have anything with me and I don't want to have to wake anyone up extremely early so I can go to school." I knew that another part of it was that he didn't want to be seen taking me to school, but I pushed that to the back of my head and kept cool. "Next time you're going to stay the night, whether you want to or not." Mom told him. "I love having you around and I know Spencer feels the same." "Thanks Ms. McAlister. I'll probably come by this weekend if that's okay. There's no game Saturday so it would be the best time for me and Spencer to get started on that paper we have to do." "That's perfect, sweetie. And never ask if you can come over, just tell me when you are and I'll make sure I make enough food for you. We usually have leftovers, but since you are a healthy, strong boy, we don't have to worry about having any leftovers." My mom laughed, Mason just smiled. "I'm sure Spencer eats like he has four stomachs too." He smiled at me, I couldn't help but smile back. "Actually, Spencer probably eats the least out of all of us, I think he was just trying to keep up with you tonight." And there it is! Mom just had to embarrass me every time we had company. "Mom! Please don't do this again." "What are you talking about, sweetie?" Mason was holding back his laughter as hard as he could; thankfully Mom was between us and she was facing me so she didn't see him. "You're embarrassing me again. Please think before you talk about me to my friends." "I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to." She then kissed me on the forehead, making everything worse. Soon Mason left, Mom hugged him goodbye and told him that he had to come over this upcoming weekend. He told her he would and left. Mom went on and on about how great he was and how she hoped I would find a guy as great as him some day. I so badly wanted to tell her that I could have him if I wanted to, but I knew Mason would die if I outed him to even one person. I told mom that I had homework and headed upstairs. When I walked into my room, Megan was sitting on my bed. "What are you doing in here?" "Stay away from him, Spencer. He may be sweet around you but he is seriously no good. Jordan and Isabella talk about you all the time; I actually defended you now, but he just sits there and listens. Sometimes he'll even say something bad about you." "And you think I don't know that?" "I don't want you to be hurt. Trey did a number on you and I don't want Mason to hurt you. You're my little bro. Big bro's are supposed to help their little sis's with assholes, but here everything is crazy so it's vice versa." "If you actually cared about me, you'd break up with Jordan." "Why would I do that?!" "You just said he insults me!" "But I stick up for you and he's not doing it as much!" "So? He still hates me!" "Not as much as he used to! Mason just sits there and lets them say whatever they want." "Just get the fuck out of my room." I was tired of hearing that Mason isn't as great as I think. I don't think he's perfect, but I do know that he does care for me; I just can't tell anyone so I don't lose him. "Whatever. When your ass is crying, don't come to me again. I try being here for you and you just push me away." Megan got up and left. I wanted to scream, I wanted to punch something, or someone, I wanted to cry, all because I didn't know what the hell was going to happen. Mason loves me, I know that. But yet he acts as if he hates me. Daniel is there for me, but sometimes it feels like he's distant or he acts jealous. I want Megan to be here for me, but I can't ruin Mason's life. I picked up my phone to call Macy, she's usually home and always knows how to calm me down. When I looked at my phone, I saw I had three new voicemails, all from Daniel. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -Daniel's perspective- I tried calling Spencer; normally he's watching Glee. He and I usually talk about what's going on and what we think about the show. I know it sounds really gay, but it's something that keeps me from going crazy. Between Dad's constant drinking and Kurt's obsession with talking about Macy or something stupid, I get bored being alone. I gave up after the third voicemail. He usually has his phone with him so I was kinda worried. "Hey, Macy and I are going out to with some of the basketball guys and their girls, you wanna come?" Kurt recently tried out for the basketball team and made it. He's the only freshman on the varsity team so everyone thinks he's awesome. "Not really. I'm sure some of them wouldn't want me around anyways." "Don't say that, dude. I'm sure they would be okay with you, they've just never hung out with a gay dude before." We then heard something break, it was most likely Dad throwing a beer bottle at the wall again. "Come on, Dad's been drinking more than he usually does, I don't think it is safe for you to be here alone with him. Max knows how Dad is and he said whenever we needed to we could stay with him and Macy, I think that's what we need to do 'til he's sober and we're able to talk to him again." "You go ahead, I'm not in the mood to head out tonight." Kurt sat down beside me on my bed. "What's wrong? Is everything okay with Spencer?" "He won't answer his phone. I know it sounds stupid but every time I can't get a hold of him, I think something has happened again." "That's not stupid, it's called caring for someone. I'll tell Max to stop by Spencer's and we can take him along with us and you could stay with him." "I already told you I don't feel like going out tonight." "Please...be careful." Kurt then hugged me and left. I knew he cared for me and was serious about Dad, I decided to stay in my room all night so I wouldn't have to run into him. The worst he has done was call me Mom and ask why I hadn't gone shopping or pleasure him in a while. He has never tried anything though. He normally forgets what he's talking about and goes back to watching sports. I watched a little TV before my stomach started to growl. I could still hear Dad shouting and throwing things so I stayed put. Thankfully Kurt and I were smart enough to stash some granola bars and some other small snacks in our room for times like this. Around nine thirty, my phone started to go off. I looked to see who it was and saw it was Spencer. I was happy to see that he was okay. "Hey!" I said cheerfully into the phone. "Why did you call me three times in a row?" He sounded a little pissed. "I'm sorry. I was calling to talk and you didn't answer..." He cut me off. "So you thought calling again and again would do you any good?"? "I thought something happened and I wanted to make sure you were okay." "What are you talking about?" "The time you were in the hospital, all I could do was think about you being hurt like that again." "I think I can take care of myself, Daniel. I'm not a fucking baby." "I know you're not-" "Then leave me the fuck alone!" He then hung up. I wanted to cry, I had no clue what I did to him, but now he's pissed at me. All I did was check on him. Tears started to fall and I couldn't help but go into a full my-life-is-over cry. I thought I had lost Spencer forever. I then felt like I was going to throw up from all the crying, so I held back the tears and snuck out of the room and headed towards the bathroom. When I got there, Dad was slumped over the toilet and vomiting. "Where the hell have you been?" Dad slurred. "I've been in my room?" "You moved out of our room?" He thought I was Mom. "What the fuck did I do to you?!" He then crossed the bathroom and grabbed me by the collar. This is the first time he's ever touched me while he was drunk. He didn't hurt me though, he just started to cry. "I thought we loved each other." He then kissed my cheek, I hoped that's as far as it went. And sadly, it was. "Dad..." "Daniel?! Why the fuck are you dressed like Mom?!" He then pushed me back. There was nothing behind me but a wall and he didn't push me hard enough to where I would get hurt. "I knew you were a fag but trying to get your dad to fuck you is un-escrusible." I think he was trying to say un-excusable. "H-How did you know?" "Kurt told me that you were a fag. And since you're dressed like Mom I know you wanted to go to bed with me." Why would Kurt tell Dad? He knew I was going to tell him when I was ready. "Have you been drinking my beer again?!" He shouted. "No, Dad. You know I don't." "They why the hell am I missing some beers?! Your faggot ass drank them! Don't you fucking lie to me!" He then threw the bottle at me, thankfully his aim sucks and it completely missed. "Get the hell outta my sight." He then dragged himself down the hall and towards his room. I slowly slid down the wall and started to cry. First Spencer tells me off, then Kurt tells Dad that I'm bi, and now Dad has started to become a physically abusive dad. I couldn't hold my tears in anymore. I curled up in a ball kept crying. I stopped though, when Dad successfully threw something at me and it hit me in the head. It wasn't glass so nothing broke, it was the TV remote to his room. He yelled that he couldn't sleep with me being a little pussy and slammed his door. I got up off the floor. I then said to myself, "This time, I'm actually going to drink your beers, you useless fuck." I walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Sitting there was a 24-pack of canned beer. I took it to me room. I locked my door and put my dresser in front of it. I took one of the beers and starred at it. I knew if I opened it, I'd never be able to go back. The thought actually please me so I opened it and started to drink. It tasted horribly disgusting, but I knew if I drank enough I'd feel good again. After the first beer, I decided to dedicate each to a different person. The first one was for Dad. The second was for Kurt. Then Spencer. Then Trey. Mason. Jordan. Hannah. Lizzie. Macy. Jessie. Dusty. Ricky. I put them away one after another, the pain was still there and I wanted it to go away quickly. I then started to vomit all over myself and the floor. I tried getting out of my room, but I couldn't move the dresser. I then started to feel fatigue. I tried screaming for help, but all it did was make me weaker, I then passed out. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -Spencer's perspective- Waking up, I felt like shit. I went off on Daniel about calling me over and over. I wanted to apologize, but when I called him, he didn't answer. I was hoping that his phone was just dead or something like that. I would have to apologize at school, if he went. I walked down the stairs and waited for Megan to get ready, this is probably the first time this has ever happened. Right now we're still pissed off at each other, but she knows she'll get bitched at by mom if she doesn't keep taking me to school. "Come on." Megan said as she dashed down the stairs and past me. I felt my phone vibrate so I looked down to see Mason had sent me, "Good mornin' ;)" I was actually able to smile. "What are you waiting for?" Megan asked. "Nothing." I followed her out the door and to her car. Today Lizzie wasn't going to school so the car ride would be very quiet and awkward. When we got to school, we each went out own ways without saying a word to each other, Megan went to the gym while I went to the cafeteria. Kurt, Macy, and Emma were the only ones in there. Jessie and Daniel were nowhere in sight. "Where's Daniel?" I asked as I sat down. "I don't know." Kurt said, he didn't look so well. "Well you live with him don't you?" "He stayed at my place last night." Macy said. "Their dad was drinking more than he usually did so we left and he shared a room with Max. Kurt tried getting Daniel to go, but he refused to go." I could no longer feel my heart. Daniel was all alone last night and probably trying to keep himself together while his dad was drinking and shouting. "Have you tried calling?" "I think Dad got a little violent yesterday. The home phone is disconnected and Daniel isn't answering his phone." Kurt said. "You need to go see if he's okay." I said. "I have no way there. I can't let anyone know about my dad. It would ruin my life as well as Daniel's." "What about Max?" "He's sick so he didn't come. We didn't try calling `til after we got here." Macy said. "Would you trust Mason?" I knew it was a long shot but he was the only other person I could think of. Megan wouldn't do it because last time she was over there, let's just say she was mistaken for Mrs. Masters. "I guess." Kurt said. "Just a second." I pulled out my phone and texted Mason: "Hey, would you be able to take Kurt to his house? Daniel didn't come to school and he's worried." In less than a minute, Mason texted back: "Sure, but you gotta go with. Meet me at my car, you should know where I park" I told them he would do it and Kurt finally looked less depressed. Kurt and I left Macy and Emma and went out to Mason's car. I couldn't help but think that he wanted to meet out here because he was embarrassed of being seen with me. He was already out there and waiting. "Thanks, Mason." Kurt said. We got into the car, my baby. "It's the least I can do. You guys are my friends." The rest of the ride was very quiet. I'm sure Mason didn't think it was that important at first, but he could tell by the way Kurt was acting, quiet and reserved, that something was horribly wrong. When we got there, Kurt insisted that he'd be the only one to go in. Mason and I didn't argue with him, I knew that Kurt didn't want Mason to know about his dad, even though the exterior of their house wasn't that great. It's a one story building and some of the paint is chipped. The grass hasn't been mowed in a while since their dad refuses to buy a new lawn mower. "What happened?" Mason asked when Kurt was out of the car and inside his house. "We're not sure. I'm not really comfortable with telling you about his family life, so I can't explain. You're gonna have to ask him." "I can't make it this weekend." Mason said, changing the topic. "I have to go to a party this weekend." "Melissa's?" "Yeah. You know about it?" "Yeah. Kurt and Emma were invited so they're taking the rest of us. So I might actually see you there." "Is your mom okay with it?" I chuckled. "She thinks I'm going to stay with Kurt and Daniel. Lizzie's parents are okay with her going to a party so they said they would let us crash there afterwards. Max is going to pick us up with his mom's van when it's over." "You don't look like the kind of person who would go to a Melissa party." "I know. I'm actually the reason why we're all going. I heard that Ricky and Trey are going and...I don't know why but that made me want to go." "Well, if either of them try to start any shit, I'll beat the fuck out of them for you." "Thanks. So, why are you going? I thought you said you don't like big parties." "I don't. But, Izzy is wanting to go and I think I should at least try out one party here." "That's kinda the other reason why I'm going. I think I should try out one party." "Just a warning, they're loud, there's smoke everywhere, drinking everywhere, half naked people everywhere, fights everywhere, vomit everywhere, destruction everywhere. It's only fun if you're drunk and have no clue what's going on." "And you would know that how?" "I was one of the few sober people leaving a party. Apparently when you're drunk everything looks different because the people I was with saw something completely different from me." "I think Lizzie will have the most fun, then. She already gets high every opportunity she can. I'm pretty sure she'll be the first of us to be half naked, maybe even naked." Mason laughed. "She better watch out for cameras. At my old school, everyone had cameras and shit so if they got too drunk to remember, they'd have pics." "I'll warn her." Daniel and Kurt then came out of the house. Both looked like they had just finished crying. They climbed into the car and didn't say a word. Neither Mason nor I asked if they were okay. I could tell Daniel wasn't okay. His eyes were red, he looked extremely pale, and he smelt like body spray, meaning he had just cleaned up. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -Kurt's perspective- I got out of the car and headed inside. Walking in, I could smell the beer. I looked around and saw beer bottles and beer cans scattered throughout the floor. I also saw the shattered home phone in the floor. Dad wasn't in the living room, so he probably passed out in his room. I quietly walked into the kitchen and saw the fridge was still open. All the beer my dad had recently bought from the gas station was gone. I shut the door and left the kitchen. I walked down the hall. There was vomit all over the bathroom floor, it made me sick, but I was so used to it that I didn't add to the vomit. I tried opening the door tom my room, but it wouldn't open, so I knocked. "Leave me alone!" Daniel shouted. "It's me, Kurt." I said calmly. He didn't answer. I then heard whatever was blocking the door being moved. Daniel then opened the door. He looked like shit. His eyes were bloodshot red, he was still in yesterday's clothes, but they were stained with what looked like vomit, he was pale, almost ghost white, and he smelt very bad. "What do you want?" Not to mention his breathe smelt like a very familiar liquid; beer. "What happened?" "You." Daniel said. "You told dad that I'm bi!" He shouted. "I thought I could trust you! But no! You had to go and ruin my life!" He then slammed the door in my face. I opened it and followed him in. On the floor was one of the missing 24-packs dad had bought the other day. There were at least twenty cans scattered throughout the floor. "Daniel, what did Dad do?" "He thought I was mom, and then when I told him I wasn't, he got pissed that his faggot son wanted to sleep with him. He then threw me against the wall and left me. Like a stupid bitch I started to cry so he threw his TV remote at me and called me more names and told me to stop drinking his beer. You and I both know I've never done that, but I decided that I'd finally give him something to bitch about." He pointed to the cans. "Daniel..." "Don't fucking talk to me! You're the reason why this shit happened!" He started to cry. I wrapped my arms around him and held him. "I'm so sorry. It slipped out one day. I didn't know he'd do this. Please forgive me, Daniel. I love you so much. You should know I'd never do something like this on purpose." He hugged me back. "He needs help, Kurt. He's never hurt us before but he's starting to." "We'll talk to him about it later, okay?" Right now I was crying with him. "You need to get dressed so we can go to school. I'm going to clean up some of cans and bottles. I'll hide all the ones in the fridge so dad can't get drunk and we can talk to him when we get home. I'm sure he'll stop when he knows what he's been doing." "I love you too, Kurt." Daniel and I separated. I started to pick up the cans in the room while Daniel got dressed. I stopped though when I saw the marks where Dad had grabbed him. I told him about those and he should probably wear a long sleeve shirt today. It took us about ten minutes to collect all the empty and full bottles and cans and put them up where dad couldn't find them. We were about to leave but I noticed that I could smell the vomit and beer on Daniel, so I made him use some mouth wash and use some Axe so no one would know what happened. I also had to explain to Daniel that Mason and Spencer were out in Mason's car. Daniel wasn't happy. He already disliked Mason so him seeing him in this condition would be worse, and he didn't want Spencer to see him while he was like this, he also thought that Spencer was still mad at him. We left the house and went out to the car. We didn't say anything to Mason and Spencer, they didn't say anything either. I texted Macy and told her that everything was okay now. She seemed happy but demanded I tell he what happened. We texted back and forth a little bit and agreed we'd talk about it later. I then tried getting my mind off of everything bad and started to think about what I was going to wear to the party this Saturday. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Every time I read a story of Nifty, I never read the top part, so just in case you are like me and only read the bottom portion if you liked the story, here is my email again: wah.stories@yahoo.com. Also, if you want to be on my email list to find out when new chapters come out, include that in your email. AND if you email me, please state what story you're referring to. Thanks for reading the seventeenth chapter of my story. I paln on going to fifty chapters, twenty five for each semester. I may or may not do a second part where Spencer is a sophomore, it depends on how well this story goes with you all. I'd also like to give thanks to my editor, John. He's like majorly epic and catches my mistakes. I make a lot of them so he deserves as much credit as I do for getting this chapter out. And check out Hayden's Story and Gavin's Got Game, they're here in the High School section, if you like this story. Also, I want this story to be somewhat interactive, where yo tell me what you'd like to see happen next. There are no guarantees if it will make it, but there are possibilities. I already have some things planned out, but most are too obvious. I need you al to help me think of new things that no other story has. I'd like to send a shout out to one of my fans, Richie. He recently had three surgeries. He told me he's getting better now and should be back to his normal self soon. You'll be in my thoughts, Richie<3. I'd also like to thank Trish for her ideas for the story, I read every suggestion and all are great, but her ideas are beyond fantastic and she has seriously helped me figure out where I want to go with this story. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -