Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:14:03 +0000 From: Tommy Evans Subject: Uriel and Jon: Growing Up Chapter 8 Morning came around. I still couldn't forget that argument jon and I had before I went to bed. I couldn't believe half the things that came out of our mouths. Most of it wasn't honest. It was all fueled by anger and jealousy. No I don't think Jon can be replaced. Even with Adrian growing on me, the spot that Jon left in my heart could never be filled. I just couldn't get past the bad things. Why couldn't I just let it go? My phone rang. I didn't even bother looking at the caller id. I did know that it was way to early for me to talk to anyone. "Hello?" I answered. "Aaron, I'm sorry for waking you up. What you doing?" I heard Adrian's voice. "Nothing. Just lying in bed. You?" I asked. "Same, figured I'd call. I'm bored" "Ah well...what are you going to do today?" I asked. "nothing. I cleaned yesterday. Umm...can I come over?" "Of course you can. You don't even have to ask really. Just let me know" "Sweet. Well do you want me to wait until later or come over now?" "Now if you want. We can have some breakfast" "How'd it go with Jon last night?" "Lets talk about it when you get here" "Cool. Be there in a few" "OKay, sounds great" "Okay see you then" he clicked. It was nice that Adrian cared enough to ask how it went. But would how do I even explain things to him. He's going to think its stupid how Jon and I fight for no apparent reason. O well, I'd have to find a way to explain. Either way I was going to have to figure something out really fast. We took off for florida in 2 more days. I went to the bathroom washed my face and brushed my teeth. I didn't like my morning hair or skin so I had to take care of it a little. Then I went back to bed. I was just looking through my phone when Adrian walked into my room. "Uh...who let you in?" I asked. "your mom" "She's home?" I asked. "Yeah, she saw me walking and towards the house and let me in" "O that's nice." I said. She followed him into the room. "Do you guys want some breakfast?" she asked. "I guess. Why aren't you working?" I asked. "Need time to pack. Not working until we come back" she answered. "O gotcha. Umm...yeah breakfast would be nice" I said. "What do you want Adrian?" she asked. "Whatever you want to cook mam. It's all food, its all good" he said happily. "Such a cutie you are. Okay come down in 10 minutes" she said. She walked out and closed the door. Adrian walked to my bed and slid right in. I hugged him as soon as he got in. "Well you're warm" I said. "thanks" he smiled. I did enjoy the fact that he was very huggable and didn't complain at all. He didn't ask questions as to why I hugged him or thought twice before getting in bed. He just jumped right in. he was looking at me, straight in the eyes, I was holding him by the waist. "I could get used to waking up to this" I said. "O...that sounds a little odd" he joked. "Just a tad. Was it that bad?" "No its cool. Just don't let anyone hear you say that" he said. "Umm...good idea." "Yeah I like to be positive. So how did it go?" he asked. "With jon?" "No, with the cookie monster. Of course Jon" "It was...okay. Until we started arguing" "About what?" "Well about how I give you more attention and what not" "Um...does he want attention?" "I guess. I just don't know why he wants it now. He spent so much time ignoring me and hating me" "Well, people change their minds Aaron. Specially him, he's only 11" "Yeah but damn, he's just not a normal kid. I though the was smarter" "He is, if he wasn't smart he wouldn't be trying to get back to his bro. I mean who would want to lose you" I loved this about him. Even through the bad times he always found a way to see things in a positive way. "obviously him at times. I just don't know what to do with his random mood swings." "Just give him space, then when he wants attention give it to him. Its not going to hurt you. I mean you do care about him don't you?" he asked. "yeah, I do. He's like a brother to me" "Yeah I figured. Your mom thinks we're all like best friends or something because she asked me if Jon was coming over too" "Yeah, she doesn't get filled in on the fights" I joked. "That makes sense. Either way don't sweat it aaron. Jon will come around. We should go downstairs and have some breakfast. Your stomach is talking to me" he said. "How can you hear it?" I asked. "I'm right in front of you." "O yeah, I just don't want to let go of you. Your so warm" "Your warm too. Aaron, I been thinking. What are we?" he asked. "What do you mean?" "Are we best friends?" "Yeah, quick best friends." "Do you think that hugging and showering with me is gay?" he asked. "IT could be. But I don't care" "So you don't care if I'm gay?" "No...why would I?" "I don't know. I never thought about it until now. I never felt like weird" "You feel weird?" I asked. "Yeah, like,,,I always want to be with you" "Well, we just met. And we get along so well. Its not abnormal to want to spend time with me" "I know, but we showered together. I saw you naked, you saw me naked" "Don't sweat it Adrian. Let things flow." "Yeah, you got a good idea. Lets go eat then" he said. "Okay fine" I complained. We slowly got up and headed downstairs. At the table my mom just stared at us. "I never noticed how cute you guys are together. Like, you do look like brothers" she said. "We do? Is it cuz we're Mexican?" I asked. "Well yeah that but I mean, you just give that little glow you know. Brotherly glow" she smiled. "Kind of weird mother, whats for breakfast?" I said. "Eggs with sausage and pancakes" "Yumm" Adrian said. She served us our plates with some awesome fresh strawberry malts. I did like my mom when she cooked all this stuff. I mean she's a great mother, but with work and all she didn't have time to do this kind of thing very often. "I just can't believe my baby's all grown up" she said. "O its okay. He's still a big baby" Adrian joked. "Yeah, that's true. So whats on your plans today kids?" she asked. "Um...nothing. Chill I guess. Maybe start packing" I said. "yeah that's a good idea. Do you guys need to buy anything else?" she asked. "No...not that I know off. But as soon as we start packing we should be able to realize if we need anything" I said. "Is Jon ready and packed?" "I don't know mom. I'll ask. Are we meeting at the airport or how are we leaving?" I asked. "We're leaving from here on a limo" "Limo? Really?" Adrian asked. "Yeah, I think its pointless to drive 2 cars to the airport you know" "Since when do we get limos to go to airports?" I asked. "Not my idea. it's the other big boys idea." "My dad?" I asked. "Yeah you know how he gets when he's around Jon's dad" "O...gotcha. Well that's nice...must be a big limo" I said. "A hummer. Either way its not all that great. I hate those things when they turn" she complained. "I've never been on a limo in my life" Adrian said. "Believe me hon, you're not missing out" my mom said. "Yeah, but you know I'd feel important" he laughed. This made me and my mom laugh. Adrian was so cute. I liked how innocent he was. Jon would have said something stupid if he was here. We finished breakfast while having a good conversation with my mother about whatever came to her head. She was in mom mode now that she was on vacation. This probably meant that I'd be having home cooked meals for the next few days. Not bad. We kind of helped her clean up before she sent us away so she could finish doing whatever she was up to. Adrian and I simply went back to my room, back to my bed. "Your mom is so cool. You know I thought rich people were mean and annoying. But you guys are the best" he said. "Dude, we're not like super crazy rich people. We're normal people who happened to get lucky" I said. "That's a good way to look at it." We were back in my bed holding onto each other. There wasn't a better feeling. Nothing like having a good breakfast with Adrian and my mom, followed by lying in bed cozy with such a cute boy. "Adrian, you're great" "Aaron, you're greater" he smiled. "Gosh, that smile of yours. Its awesome" "Not as awesome as having a cool friend like you" he said. "Your such a little suck up" I said. "Well only when I need to" he joked. "So want to start packing?" I asked. "No, not yet. I'm comfortable right now" "Ok ok. We can chill in bed" "yeah, I like chilling in bed, with you, hugging...not gay at all" he laughed. "Gosh, well if you put it that way, it might sound just a little weird...but who cares. I mean our moms didn't when they saw us spooning" "O yeah, they got a picture of that. I wonder if they would think us showering together is cute" he laughed again. "I don't know about that, in fact that's a little scary to think about" I said. "yeah good point. Although I like thinking about that. Best shower I ever had" "really now? How so?" I asked intrigued about the way he was guiding our conversation. "I guess I like you" he said. The way he said was just so simple, yet meaningful. "I like you too" I replied. "No, I mean, I like you Aaron" "Like, like me like me?" I asked. I didn't know how to react. "Yeah, I don't know how it happened. I've never even thought I liked guys. It just happened" he seemed a little worried. "Don't worry about it Adrian. It could be a phase." "What do you mean?" "Well you don't have a dad around, or a brother. So its natural for you to think you like me. You just like being around me" "No Aaron. I like you. I want to be with you. It sounds gay I know. But I just I don't know" he said as he looked ashamed. "Hey, hey, relax." I said. I picked his face up with my finger. "I like you too." I said. We just looked into each others eyes. I had just heard something that I wanted to hear. But it still scared me. Just because its so hard to deal with another boy liking me. I didn't know if wanted to take this leap so soon after Jon. I mean this was the ironic part. Right before florida. This only smelled like trouble to me, but why not take that chance. All I had to do was be very careful around Jon. So I took the chance. I leaned in and I softly kissed his lips. What a feeling it sent through both our bodies. It was different. It felt natural, it felt honest. "Woah" he said. "Yeah...sorry about that" "No. it was awesome. Umm...thanks" he smiled. "Don't worry. That'll be our secret too" "Of course. Aaron you are awesome. I can't believe you didn't freak out" "Why would I? youre super cute" "I didn't think you were gay. I mean your so I don't know. Macho" "I'm not Macho" I laughed. "Well I mean no one would ever think you would be" "Well I'm not a big fag. I don't act like it. But anyone would be stupid to not like you back" "Then a lot of girls are stupid because I've had huge crushes on some and they never once gave me a chance" "Don't worry, I will make sure you are the next heart throb" I said as I caressed his arm. "Why would you do that?" "So you can feel cool" "But, I don't want them anymore. I'm happy just, being with you" "OF course, but we can't ignore girls. They are hot too" "Yeah, true. But like, I don't know. What did that kiss mean?" he asked. "It meant that I like you back" I said. "But like, are we going to date?" he asked. "I don't like to call it dating because that term usually brings trouble. Lets just see what happens" I said. "Okay good idea bro" he said. "So, do we get out of bed or stay in bed?" I asked. "Up to you, I don't care. I don't mind staying in bed" "We can watch TV" "Yeah that's fine with me" he answered. I turned on the tv from my bed and then I repositioned myself so I could hold onto my baby while we watched TV. We found a few things to watch but most of them were stupid. I usually find myself watching the travel channel once I can't find anything else on. When I tuned to that channel I thought he would complain but instead he just watched it and we kept a small conversation about a the show. Turns out he also watches that when he's bored. He wants to one day travel the world and see as much as he can. Boy was he perfect for me. We watched Tv for a very long time before my mom knocked on the door. "Hey you guys going to start packing or what?" she asked. "Umm...eventually. We're kind of busy watching TV" I said. "Well, don't hurt yourselves now. Don't pull a muscle" she joked. "Believe me mom, I'm experienced at this, we warmed up before watching TV. it's a serious workout" "OKay well don't forget to start packing sometime today" she reminded me as she closed the door and walked away. "Wish my mom was that nice and helpful" Adrian complained. "Well as far as I know she is. She seems to be" I said. "You don know her. She really just does her own thing. I have had to cook for myself since I was like 10" "What do you usually cook for yourself?" I asked. "Anything simple, and if its microwaveable then better" he smiled. "Yeah, that's not cool. Well for the next week your going to be eating awesome home cooked meals or we'll be eating out at nice places" "O man, Aaron, I've never done that. I've never hung out with friends for such a long time. And I'm worried about the whole sleeping thing. Are we going to share a room with Jon?" "Yeah probably. But...how bad can it be?" "Well we wont be alone and he's going to be acting stupid and weird" "Hey, Adrian, we'll find time and let him act however he wants. He's just a kid" "Yeah, but that kid gives me bad vibes. He's up to something" "Don't worry about it" I said. "Why do you act like its nothing. Are you hiding something from me?" "Like what?" "Well, you kissed me. You like me...what are the chances of you doing the same with him" "Umm...slim. Why do you think about that?" I asked. I knew I lied but I couldn't tell him what happened. It might ruin the good thing we have right now. "I don't know. I'm not the kind of person who is self centered. I mean I wish I was the only special one, but come on, you're surrounded by cute people. What are the chances you've done stuff with others" "Okay, well we can get into that stuff as time passes by. I have done stuff, I'm not going to lie. But I don't think you should be worrying about Jon this much" "I'm not worried about him. I'm worried about what he might cause. What if he makes us fight or something" "O Adrian, don't be silly. Just trust me and only me. Nothing he says can ever be completely true" "Okay, I'm going to trust you" he said. We changed the subject eventually and kept small conversations going. We eventually got out of bed and grabbed our suit cases and began to pack the stuff we needed. Since his stuff was just bought we took off he tags and what not and then folded everything neatly and placed it in the suit case. We spent a good while doing this and even though we were messing around and joking around, we did take care of most things. The only thing missing was the personal care essentials such as toothbrush, shampoo, body wash, stuff like that. We decided we'd take care of that at a later time. "so now that we took care of that, what are we going to do?" he asked. "what time is it?" I asked. "10 after 3pm" "Woah, we spent that much time just talking and packing?" "Yeah Aaron, you're really bad at keeping track of time" "Sorry geez, is there something you want to do?" I asked. "No, not really we could go buy the stuff we need, I mean that's all I can think of" "yeah, you're right. Let me change real quick" I told him. I ran to the bathroom to wash my face and to freshen up. Then I changed into something decent looking before I went back to the bathroom to do my hair. He walked into the bathroom while I was doing my hair. "I'm going to pee" he said. He walked past me and went to pee. He didn't even hesitate. Not that it was too big of a deal. The toilet was against the wall behind me so I couldn't see anything, but still the thought about him peeing while I did my hair was a little, different. "Um..well excuse you" I said. "I'm sorry I can't hold it" he said as I heard the stream of pee hit the water in the toilet. I couldn't help but to imagine the dick on his little body. "That's fine its not like I can see anything" I said. "Yeah I'm facing the wall, unless you were making fun of me, then that's mean" "I meant that I can't see anything, I would never make fun of you" "Right, you know you did. Its not that small" "I didn't say it was small. Its actually bigger than what mine was at your age" "Really? Nice. I do like yours" "Those kind of comments will take a little bit to get used to" I said as I dried my face. He walked over to the sink and made me move so he could wash his hands. When he was drying them, he looked at me and smiled. "You know, you're cuter when your hair is wet" "those comments too" I added. "Umm...I'm sorry. Is it too gay?" he said shyly. "No its not...I'm just not used to them that's all" I said. When I finished doing my hair I took the liberty to help him do his. As I was putting hair gel in his hair I had a flash back. I remembered the times when I used to do jon's hair. He would stand right in front of me and give me directions of what to do and what he didn't like. It sent shivers through my body because I missed him, yet I didn't want to. I snapped out of it and went back to real life. "You spaced out again didn't you?" Adrian asked. "Yeah, just a bit. So is this okay?" I said as I put the finishing touches on his hair. "yeah, looks almost like yours. I like it" "ha. My twin" I said. "Ha...I wish aaron. You're like, something different" "What do you mean?" I asked. "I don't know how to explain. I don't know. I mean my sister put it this way. Your like the perfect guy who doesn't know he is something good." "Like I don't know I am good looking?" "Yeah, something like that. Its like your, good looking, but on top of that you're just great all around" "Sometimes I forget you're only 14" I said. "Yeah, my sister says that too. Until she looks at me and calls me shorty" "Well you are my shorty" I said as I hugged him. He hugged me back. After our little hug session we headed to the nearest store to get the things we needed. Nothing really interesting happened at the store, I mean we just bought a lot of crap we needed. Sometimes I hated going to the store because I always end up buying extra crap I didn't need in the first place. But that's what happens when you put an empty shopping cart in front of me. There's lots of room in those things to put lots of needless crap in there. At the check out lane he was laughing because he realized that we really only needed a few items and we ended up choosing way more than needed. "Man Aaron, you realize that we only needed a few things right?" he asked. "Yeah, but that's what happens when I go shopping dude. I'm bad" I laughed. "Are you guys planning to move out?" the lady at the register asked us. "Sort of. We're going on vacation" Adrian answered. Once I paid, we grabbed the bags, all 6 of them. Not lying, all 6 of them were pretty full. But I mean we bought movies, video games, different types of snacks and other things like that. Half of those things probably wouldn't even make it to the trip. Once we were at my house we just sat on the couch in the family room watching TV. We weren't really talking, just laying back and enjoying the afternoon TV. I hadn't had the time to watch television and just relax for a while so I really enjoyed this. What better way to watch TV than with a cute little dude next to you. I shouldn't really say little because he's not really little. Shorter than you normal teenager, but not by much. We did keep small talk, but nothing really big, just talking about the shows and what not. I wanted to bring up the subject about his sister because I didn't know how we were going to deal with her liking me, and him being with me in a way. It would be very complicated if I were to, mess up and mess around with her too. I don't think im very capable of that, but you just never know. Before dinner time my mom walked into the room and stared at us. "back to watching tv?" she asked. "Yeah...whats for dinner mommy?" I asked. "spaghetti. Are you staying for dinner Adrian?" she asked. "Yeah, I think. I don know. My mom hasn't called me to go home yet" "Ah honey, I don't think minds you having dinner here. Jon is coming over at 7 for dinner too." my mom said. "O is he? I didn't know" I said. "yeah, I told his mom she could drop him off here because she's taking the other boys shopping for vacation clothes and he already went" "O that's nice..." I said. "What, aren't you happy?" she asked. "Listen ma, I got to talk to you real quick" I said. I think I needed to fill her in on part of the situation. Adrian was looking a bit worried though. "whats wrong?" she asked. "See, he's like my brother, but at the moment we're having some differences. He's not acting normal. His friends are changing him, bad example for him. And I don't know exactly how to deal with it. He keeps pushing me out you know" I tried explaining. "Honey, that's normal. Its called growing up. You went through that too. Except you didn't have someone like you. He's going to get over it. Plus it was his idea. So he can't be pushing you out, if anything I think he's going to try to hang more with you since he notices Adrian here a lot" she said. "O you think so?" I asked. "yeah, you boys are so weird. Girls just deal with things. I don't get why boys can't be the same. Just don't make a big deal out of it. don't think that I don't notice when something is up. Just work with him honey. And Adrian don't pay any attention to those two. They constantly fight and stop talking, they think us moms don't notice" she said as she walked into the kitchen. "well...that went swell" Adrian joked. "No, well it went weird." I said. "You thought your moms wouldn't notice?" he asked. "Well we never said anything." "They notice almost everything. Unless you're real sneaky. But I mean I'm sure they can notice when you guys aren't hanging out as much" "Yeah, creepy I guess. Well at least I don't feel so weird now. I needed to tell her. I think that's why she purposely makes these `play dates' for me and jon" "ha play dates. That sounds bad" Adrian joked. He hugged me real quick when he laughed at me. "Ah Adrian I think I could spend every day with you and never get bored" "well see if this is true" he said. I looked at the time and it was almost 7. That meant that in a few minutes jon would be here. I was a little worried about how things would go since Adrian had already asked if I had messed around with Jon or something. "Aaron, do you think we're going to get real sunburned?" Adrian asked. "Yeah, we're going to need to use a lot of sunblock" I said. "Good thing we bought 4 of them" he laughed. Just then I heard my mom say something to someone. Seconds later jon was walking in the room. "Sup" he said as he looked at us. He was wearing some really weird loose pants, huge red shirt, and was sporting a new haircut. "Umm...nice clothes" Adrian said. "What you hating?" he said. "No, not at all" Adrian laughed. "Why you laughing fool?" Jon said angrily. "Dude chill. I'm just messing with you. What happened really? Did you shrink or did your clothes get bigger?" Adrian asked. I just sat there speechless. I guess the comments weren't going to wait, they were going to start off right away. "Its none of your biz. Hater" Jon snapped at Adrian. "Damn Jon seriously chill" I said. "WEll your stupid boy friend is hating on me" "Boy friend?" Adrian asked. "Yeah, I left the other day and you were here. I come back and your still here" "Um...why use that word. That's a gay word" I joked. "Yeah, well I can say whatever I want. What, you wouldn't date Aaron?" Jon asked Adrian. "O of course. Why not? But I'm not so your comment doesn't apply" Adrian answered. Jon sat down. I could tell he was bothered by Adrian though. I honestly didn't think Adrian was going to attack Jon right away. I thought he'd let Jon do the attacking first. "Aaron, can we talk?" Jon said. "Right now?" I asked. "Yeah, in private." "about what?" I asked. "my parents" he said. "What...umm" I said. "Dude go talk to him." Adrian said. "But can't we talk another time when I don't have company?" I asked. "It's just that I don't feel comfortable talking about personal stuff with Adrian. I don't know him that well" Jon said. "Aaron don't worry about it. I'm not a little jerk. I can wait. I'll go help your mom" Adrian said as he got up. "Okay let's go" I said as I walked to the office in the house. Jon followed me and closed the door. I sat down on a couch, he sat next to me. "Your parents?" I asked. "They asked me if I was doing drugs" "Are you?" I asked. "No..." "Are you sure?" I asked. "Dude, I'm 11" "Are your friends doing them?" I asked. "Yeah, they are. But I'm not going to" "Yet...dude I don't know" "Just wait, okay. My mom said she trusts me. But she wants me to prove to her I'm not going to" "So then don't do drugs" I said. "Yeah I know. But do you think she suspects?" "Does it matter?" I asked. "Yeah...I don't want her to think I'm doing drugs" "So then stop talking to them garbage of friends." "Dude don't hate on them. They're my friends" "Well...then why did you come talk to me about this if you don't want to fix the problem" "The problem is that I've been there when they did drugs, so I don't want my parents to test me because I heard that even the smoke can stay in your hair for weeks" "Umm...it depends. But I mean I'm sure they'll test your pee, and that's not going to get in your pee" "Unless I smoke it right?" "Whats it?" I asked. "Well unless I smoke the weed" "Yeah, what other drugs do they use?" I asked. "Umm...I don't know. Pills" "damn it Jon. Why do you hang with them" "They don't tell me to try anything man. They just do it for fun" "but how long until you fuck up and try them yourself" "I'm not going to!" "How can I be sure?" I asked. "Dude, you can trust me" "Yeah, you said that before" I said. "Wow aaron. Fuck. Forget that already" "Yeah, ok" I said. I didn't like how he talked now. "What, now you mad cuz I said fuck?" "Yeah, I guess" "Well its how I am now" "Well. That's nice." I said. I got up and headed to the door. "What, you're done talking?" he asked. "Yeah, if you're going to talk like that" "Why? Is it because I can't be perfect like Adrian?" he asked. "You really want to go there?" "yeah I do. What does he got that's so special?" "Nothing. He's just Adrian. that's it" "And I'm Jon. But apparently I'm garbage right?" "No...your friends turned you into garbage" "So...what? Is it bad to fit in?" "Yeah, when your fitting in with the wrong crowd. Listen I don't know what you wanted to tell me. I already knew they did drugs. Its not hard to notice. Just be careful man" I said as I opened the door. "That's it then?" he asked. "Jon, you're a big boy. If I told you to stop talking to them to fix the problem you wouldn't do it so theres not much else I can say" I said. "You're right I guess..." he said as he followed me to the kitchen. Adrian was helping my mom set the table and I walked into the conversation. "I don't know I mean I wouldn't mind. But its too much money I wouldn't want to be an inconvenience" Adrian said. "O Aaron. I was just telling Adrian that it would be best if he went to the academy instead of the public school" My mom said. "Umm...yeah that'd be better for you" I said. I was a little confused about this though. "You're going to go back there to do your basic college credits aren't you honey?" my mom said to me. "Yeah, I am" I said. "So you could take Adrian in the mornings and pick him up right?" she asked. "Yeah of course. If he wants me to yeah I would definitely" I said. "Umm...your going to our school?" Jon asked. "Yeah isn't that nice. You guys can all hang out. Wait are you in the same building Aaron?" my mom asked. "No, different building but I think we might bump into each other around the campus" I said. "Well how big is this school?" Adrian asked. "HUGE." Jon said. "I"ve never been to a private school. I don't know how I'd feel" "Out of place. But I'm sure you'll fit in" Jon said. "You think so?" Adrian asked. "Yeah, Aaron would introduce you to my cousin. I'm sure you'll be good friends" "You talking about JR?" I asked. "Yeah, I am" Jon answered. "Any who, is dinner ready?" I asked. "You guys hungry?" my mom asked. "Yeah, im starving" I said. "Yeah I agree" Adrian added. Jon and I sat down. I sat down next to Adrian and Jon immediately gave me a mean look. My mom served us dinner and then she sat down with us. "Where's dad?" I asked. "O he's out with your brother. I'm sure they'll eat something on their own" she said. So for the first time in a long time my mom had dinner with just me and my friends. It was a little weird at first, but for some reason Adrian made it better. He just made it so easy for my mom to be involved in our conversations. We were talking about the school subject, about Adrian spending time here, about how he changed his style to something nicer, it just seemed like Adrian was one of those really rare finds. He was a mini me. I just didn't know why I couldn't take my eyes off Jon. I tried so hard to stay focused on my little Adrian, but having Jon right there, in front of me was so complicated for me. Of course we involved Jon too in the conversation. Talked about what he likes about the school and about what he recommends for Adrian to do once he starts there. Jon was being nice for the moment since my mom was there, but I knew inside he probably wanted to say not so nice things. My mom even gave us a little piece of cake after dinner for desert. I have to say that in the past year my mom has become very nice. I didn't mind having a mom that wanted to be involved in my life, in my friendships, I just wish she hadn't waited so long. Its just different now. After we were done with dinner the three of us helped her clean up and even washed dishes. My mom was so happy we wanted to take part of the cleaning process. "Well, thanks for the great dinner" Adrian said. "yeah it was really yummy" Jon added. "Thanks little men. Now why don't you three go do what you guys do. I got work to do" she said as she headed to her office. "Umm...your room?" Jon asked. "Yeah I guess" I answered. We walked up to my room and I sat on my bed. After eating I usually felt tired. Jon sat on the couch and turned on the ps2. Adrian sat on the bed with me and we lied back. "You don't mind if I play right?" Jon asked. "No, knock yourself out" Adrian asked. I just smiled at him. "Thanks...AARON" Jon said. "Hey, I was going to say that he stole the words out of my mouth" I said. "Yeah, mouth to mouth?" Jon said almost in a whisper. But it was loud enough for me to pick it up. "Yeah..." I said confused. "So a few more days until we take off huh?" Adrian asked. "Yeah, how do you feel?" I said. "Excited. How about you?" he asked. "Same, just not as excited since its not my first time. Still, Im happy to be going with friends" I said. "Yeah, don't forget I get to go too" jon added. "Yeah, WOOOOOOT" Adrian said sarcastically. "Stupid" Jon said. "What, I celebrated" Adrian complained. "It was like sarcastic" Jon sad. "You don't even know what that is" Adrian said back. "Yeah I do. I'm not stupid you know" said Jon. "Yeah, if you say so kid" said Adrian. "What the fuck is your problem? You been saying weird shit all day" Jon said angrily. "Dude you need to chill. I just joke around" Adrian said calmly. "You have to understand he's going through the whole chemical change in his body, he's a bit more angry than usual" I said as I glared at Jon. "Um..yeah that's exactly what it is." Jon said not even turning to look over at us. "Well I have to go Aaron, my mom just texted me and told me to head home. I'll see you tomorrow dude" Adrian told me as we did our special hand shake. "Yeah dude of course. See ya. Text me later or something" I told him. "Of course man. Later Jon" Adrian said as he got up. "Later" Jon answered. I followed Adrian downstairs to the door. He gave me a little hug. It was short, simple, but I liked it. There was just something magical about that kid. I cant put my finger on it. He's just something special I guess. I watched him run across the street to his house and then headed back upstairs to my room. When I walked in Jon wasn't on the couch anymore. He was sitting on my bed. "Why Aaron?" he asked. "Why what?" I asked. "Why do you always have to be like this?" "Like how" "Dude I get your point. I was bad. I fucked up. But come on, he's not better than me" "You don't make sense. And no one said he was better" "You spend all your time with him. You always talk to him and not to me" "Yeah and you spend your time ignoring me. Are you forgetting we didn't talk for months. And out of nowhere you come back and think I'm going to pretend we never stopped talking?" I said as I lied down. "But Aaron, come on man. I said sorry" "Yeah I know. But sorry can only works so many times before it gets old and repetitive" "So that's it? You don't love me anymore?" he asked as he lied down next to me and hugged me. "Jon, stop." "What?" he complained. "Don't even mention that word. You have no idea what that word means" "Yeah I do. I'm pretty sure I loved you" "Yeah, but you're forgetting the key word there. LOVED. Past tense" "Dude what does that mean?" "O I forget your getting dumber because of your friends. Past tense means, it comes from the past. It means you LOVED me, not anymore" "But I think I do" "Well, I don't THINK I want to risk anything with you anymore" "What why? Whats wrong with me?" "Your changing. And its not for the better. Its for worse" "SO what aaron. People change. Its what im supposed to do. Im only 11" "Yeah, exactly. Except your doing things that 16 year olds do." "So! Whats wrong with that. We had sex and you didn't care about my age" "That was a mistake then." I said angrily. "but I liked that mistake" "Yeah, but I'm sure you made that mistake with others. Not just me" "What the fuck man. Why do you have to bring that up every time" "Because, its what I do." "Whatever Aaron. Seriously if you want to fuck Adrian instead of me that's fine." "Jon its not about that. Theres a lot more than just fucking" "Not to you. All you care about is fucking" he started raising his voice. "Jon, you're the one who cheated. And you're a little boy. Imagine what you'll be like when you get older" "I'm going to be cooler...maybe have a job and I'm not going to need you" he said angrily. "Good. I'm glad you have those plans" I said as I got up. "Where are you going?" he asked. "To pee. Is that okay?" I asked. "I'm sorry" he said. "Yeah, you say that a lot" I went to the bathroom and did my business. I was feeling depressed though. I was still so angry about how much my little dude had changed. as much as I wanted to be mad at him, I couldn't help but care about him. I just couldn't believe he was changing so much. Why couldn't he be smarter and just follow his own heart, instead of following stupid people. When I went back to my room I saw him just sitting there, sad, lonely, confused. I didn't understand why it was so complicated. I went over to him. "You're a good kid. You just have to let go of the bad influences in your life" I said. "No. they are my friends" he shot back at me. I tried putting my arm around him but he shrugged it off. "Well, then things will only get worse. Im sorry jon. But I wont be there as long as they are your friends" "What I don't get why not" "Because they will continue to change you. You aren't the same Jon I met. You're not even happy anymore. You're an unhappy 11 year old. that's not even normal" "It's not my fault I was fine until I met you" he said angrily. "Okay, well I'm sorry about that." that final comment he made really hurt me. What if he was right? What if it was I who messed up his life. What if he could have been normal without me? I had never thought about it like that until now. I started to think about it more and more. The room was silent for a bit until he spoke up. "I didn't mean that dude." he said quietly. "yeah..." I said. "I'm going to go home now" he said. "Ok." I answered. He stood up slowly and started to walk towards the door. I felt awful though. It finally hit me how bad our situation had become. Our feelings were so strong, yet they couldn't fight against the bad influences and the problems we had. But I realized that if I let him walk away, I will also be letting the bad influences win. "Jon..." I spoke up. He turned around and looked at me. I walked to him and hugged him. He instantly hugged me back. I held onto him for a while. Just holding him. I held him for like 5 minutes before I even said anything. "Bro, your everything to me. But you really got to snap out of this. You're not like them. You're better than them" "I am?" he asked. "Yeah! You are my bro. you can do so much better. You don't even play sports anymore. The little bro I had, he was awesome. He played sports, he made me smile. The boy your turning into is nothing but trouble" "I didn't know. I don't even know how I changed. it just happened. What do I do?" he asked. He was still hugging me. "Bro, just listen to your self. Just think about how you want your life to be. You got to be a good kid. You got to be successful." "Will you be there with me though?" he asked. "I always have. You just have to really be honest." "Even if we're not boyfriends?" he asked. "Yeah bro. that ended and I understand that. But I will always be your bro" "I just don't like Adrian. I think he wants you all to himself" "Jon, he doesn't. you just are very different towards him." "Your different to my friends" "Hey, your friends aren't really friends. I don't think they're there for you" "They do have my back though" he said. "Like I do?" I asked. "Maybe not like that. But they do" "Well sometimes you have to sit back and think about who is really friend and who is just there for no reason" "Well, you're my friend...and we fight" "that's because you don't listen and you forget what I do for you" "I'm sorry. I don't mean to. It just happens. I promise I'll get better at it" "Well promises aren't everything. Make it happen" I said. "okay I will. Thanks bro. are you going to trust me again?" he asked. "That's going to take some time little man. I want to. No lie. But you really hurt my trust. Just be good. Promise?" "Promise" he said with a smile. "Okay that's all I ask" "What now?" "I don't know. What time are you going home?" I asked. "I have no clue man. Usually I stay out with my friends until like 11" "WHAT! You're a little kid dude. Why the heck you out until 11 for?" "I don't know. I get bored at home" "Damn it Jon. You need to get back on track" "Yeah I know. I really want to" "Then why don't you do it?" "Because I figured you didn't care" "So because you thought I didn't care you did all these things?" "No, well part of it yeah. I wanted to make you mad" "So then why were you surprised when I got mad" "I didn't think you'd be so mad you'd stop talking to me" "But it was all you doing the bad stuff." "Yeah, but I tried talking to you. Remember the note I sent you for your bday" " Yeah I do, thanks. It was nice" "Did you cry?" "No! I didn't miss you that much" I joked. "O...damn." he answered. "Can I spend the night?" he asked. "Uh...yeah...if you want to" I said. I was a little thrown off by this question because even though it seemed like we were talking about the problem, it was going to take time to get back to what we had before. "Cool let me ask my mom" he said. He went to the closet to call his mom. I don't know exactly how this would work, it was going to be a little awkward to be with him alone for the first time in a while. He came out and smiled at me. "Uh she said sure." he told me. "I don't know exactly what to do though" I said. "I don't care. We can just relax" "Dude, I know you're trying to talk to me. And I appreciate that no lie. But I have to tell you, don't think everything is fixed and perfect" "I know, I fucked up." "I mean it honestly feels really weird. Like I don't even know what to do right now." "We could go rent movies, or get ice cream. Whatever you want Aaron" "I guess we can go rent movies." I told him. "Cool lets go then" he said happily. On the way to the nearest blockbuster one of his friends called him. He was asking him to go somewhere but Jon told him he was busy. He was being real quiet and he made sure I couldn't hear the other person on the phone. I don't know what the deal was but I wish I could just go back in time and stop Jon from ever talking to those people. Jon kept saying that he couldn't hang because he was busy but the other person was very persistent. Eventually Jon hung up and he put his phone away. "What movie are we getting?" he asked. "What movie do you want?" I asked him. "Whatever you wand bro" he said smiling. It was the first time I had seen him smile in a while. It brought back memories. Maybe this was going to work after all. Maybe we could be friends again. Good friends. We chose two movies and bought some candy and popcorn. But I couldn't help to realize that on the way going back home he kept texting someone and he kept moving the phone away from me almost as if he was making sure I couldn't even peek at what they were talking about. Once we were at my house he got a little quiet and distant. Now I knew something was up. But since I didn't want to make it obvious that I was on to something I pretended like I was blind about the subject. "So ready for the movie" I asked. "Yeah" he answered. Once we were on my couch in my room watching the movie he did relax again and started eating his candy. We kept a small chat about the movie and we shared popcorn and 2 drinks. It was really relaxing and I loved to get a little bit of the old Jon back. But even though we were spending time together and watching a movie like the old days, his phone was still vibrating constantly and he kept texting with someone. Sometimes he looked real worried or annoyed and then sometimes he'd just ignore the messages. I didn't want to ask anything though. When the first movie was over he looked really nervous and then he finally looked at me. "Dude, my mom said I have to go home" he said nervously. "Really? Right now?" I asked. I wasn't buying whatever excuse he was about to give. "yeah, she got mad because I didn't clean my room" "o okay. So you're going home then?" I asked. "Yeah I have to" "Okay, that sucks" "I'm sorry dude" he said. "But she said yes already why did she change her mind?" I asked him. "I don't know. She does that sometimes" "Okay whatever" I said. "You mad?" "Nah. I knew it was too good to be true" "yeah" he simply said. "alright well see ya dude" I said. "Okay see ya" he got up quickly and headed out my room. I just sat there. To think that this was almost a perfect come back. He was doing so good. Part of me wanted to follow him and find out what the heck he was up to. But the other part of me wanted to just let it go and forget about it. I mean I had Adrian to worry about, I wasn't about to let Jon come right back in and ruin something that's just starting. Just then Adrian called. "Hello" I answered. "Dude, I just saw Jon running towards my house" he said. "Umm he's supposed to go home" I said. "Yeah dude and its like 10pm. Where's he going?" "No clue. I thought about following him but I don't want to make it a big deal." "Well dude its 10 and its getting dark." Adrian told me. "You think I should investigate?" I asked. "Yeah man. He's little. He could get into trouble" "Ah,..Adrian you're so sweet. Well let me catch up to him" I said. "Careful dude, hopefully its not bad. Tell me later what happened" Adrian said before he hung up. I quickly ran downstairs, got my shoes on and a dark hoodie and ran towards Adrian's house. I stopped. Looked around. And finally I saw Jon running in the distance towards the other side of the forest. I continued to follow him from far away. Sometimes he'd look around, I wondered if he expected me to follow him or something. When he saw that no one was coming he kept going. We ran in the dark woods for a bit until we came up to the old abandoned cabin. He looked around, then went inside through the back door. Now it wasn't too dark right now since the sun had just set, but it was dark enough for any bad person to hurt a kid. Instantly I remembered the trouble he'd gotten in before and I was hoping this wasn't another one of those times. I slowly crept up to the cabin and looked inside the window. There was jon with his click. They had a little lamp in the middle and they were sitting in a circle. "what the fuck Jon. You're late" one of the guys said. "I was at my friends house. I had to lie to get here" Jon answered. "What friend. I thought you hung with us" Victor said. I hated him. He was holding a bag of weed in his hands and a few blunts were in there. "Aaron" jon said. "Why the fuck you with that goody too shoes!" Victor yelled. "What the fuck Jon" some other kid said. "Cuz he's my friend" "Well Jon, you gonna roll with him now?" victor asked. "Nah, just sometimes. Does it matter?" Jon's voice changed to match their ghetto tone. "Fuck yeah. He thinks he's better than us" Victor said. "No he don't.just drop it. Lets get high" Jon said. He grabbed a blunt and lit it. I was shocked at the moment. The picture of my little Jon, my bro, my little man, with a blunt in his hand was so much for me I almost fell back. I felt as if a truck hit me head on. "What would he do if he found out you smoke weed?" Victor asked. "He'd fuckin trip" said Jon. "Remember when he tried acting all tough Vic. You think he could take you?" some other ghetto kid said. "Nah, I'll kick his ass twice" Victor said as he tapped his arms. "Hell naw bitch. Aaron would whoop your ass" Jon said laughing. "Fuck I'll go get him right now and see if he can fight" Victor said. "Nah dude. He's cool don't mess with him" Jon said as he took another hit then passed the blunt to another one of his friends. "If he messes with my girl Sylvia then I'll have to whoop his ass" said Victor. "Shit that girl don't even like you. She trippin balls of that fool Aaron" said the guy next to Jon. He seemed to be about 14. I couldn't believe all these little kids were getting high. Victor was the biggest. Why would he even let these kids do such a thing. "Dude I think there's someone outside" said one of the dudes that was by the window. Shit. Could they have seen me? I ducked behind a tree and I listened. I heard footsteps coming out of the cabin and walking around. "Jon did anyone follow you? Did that aaron guy come here?" Victor asked. "No I was careful dude. I don't think so" Jon said. Just then my phone rang. I had forgotten to put it on silent. I just closed my eyes and got ready for whatever was to come. "Aaron?" Jon said. I knew I had no other choice but to come out behind the bush. He looked surprised as hell. He threw the blunt on the floor. "What the fuck bitch. Why you following my lil homie here" Victor said. "Don't talk to me you piece of shit" I said angrily. I was disgusted. "Damn Victor you going to take that?" one of his stupid friends said. "What the fuck Aaron. Whats your issue damn. Can't we fuckin toke it up in private here." Victor said walking towards me. "Hey come back Vic. don't fight him" Jon said. "Dude I don't want problems. I saw what I needed to see. I'm out" I said. I wasn't trying to be a chicken but I was really tired of fighting for stupid reasons. "you pussy" Victor said as he pushed me. "I'm serious dude. No problems. I'm out" I turned around. I knew it could be a bad idea but he didn't do anything. I kept walking. I was angry though. I heard his friends laughing at him and calling him a girl. Jon was just standing there. To me this was the end. Seeing him do that was the last straw. I don't know how'd id see him in florida, I wanted to go to tell his mom so she could stop this from getting worse, but I didn't want to ruin her vacation. I kept walking. But then I heard him running towards me. I knew then he was going to try something stupid. Then I heard Jon scream. I moved out of the way and Victor flew across and fell on the floor. I don't know if it was pure luck or really good instincts but he intended to hit me with full force. I looked at him on the floor and I realized if I didn't do anything he'd probably get up and try something. I took a deep breath, let my anger come out again and jumped on him. "I told you no problems. Why don't you listen" I yelled. I pinned him down and started punching him in the face. I knew that the best way to knock someone out was to punch them on the temple or the behind the head. And since he had probably pushed Jon to do drugs it made me real angry. I hit him real hard with my fist on the side of the head. There was a hard hit, it was really loud. His eyes went blank. I realized that was probably not good and I stood up. He just lied there. "Damn Jon! Aaron knocked the shit out of Vic" one of the guys said. Jon ran towards us and stared at me. "What the fuck Aaron!" he yelled. "don't talk me" I said. I looked at Victor. He was knocked out. I kind of worried about him so I put my fingers on his neck, checked for a pulse and once I found it and it was good I turned to his friends. "Take him inside and put some ice on his head. He'll be fine in a few hours" I told them. "okay" 2 of them said quickly. Jon just looked at me in shock. "Aaron dude" he started to say. "Save it. Bye" I said as I ran off. He ran after me and tried to jump on me to knock me off balance. I caught him on his second attempt and just carried him and put him down. "Chill" I said. "You could have killed him" he complained. "I wanted to" "Why!" he yelled. "You know why" "I'm not a baby" he said. "Yeah I noticed now." "You going to tell on me?" he asked. "No. but only because I'll let you mess up. I don't want to be the one with the bad news to your mom" "Why the fuck did you follow me" he asked. "Don't fucking interrogate me. I wasn't the one doing the crime" "Wow. Fuck you" he said angrily. "yeah, exactly. To think that a few hours ago I thought you were back. O boy was I wrong" I said I turned away and ran off again. I didn't even turn back. I didn't want to see his face. He had let me down so far, I don't know if I could ever forgive him. I ran really fast towards Adrian's house. When I finally got there I texted him to come outside. He took a little while but he came out shortly after. We sat on his back yard. "What happened?" he asked. I was still a little out of air. "I followed him into some abandoned cabin. Found him getting high with his click" I said. "Shit. What did you do?" he asked. "Well nothing. I just watched until someone saw me and then heard my phone. Then Victor tried to attack me and I lost my temper, and I knocked him out" "You got in a fight with him?" he asked. "Well he tried to tackle me and he missed. When he was on the floor I jumped on him and hit him on the head a few times" I said. "Is he hurt bad?" he asked. And this is why I loved Adrian. He listened and understood but also cared about the well being of people. "He had a normal pulse, just seemed a little shaken up." I said. "Damn, well he deserves it then" Adrian said. He gave me a quick hug. "Why the fuck would Jon do that" I said "Don't worry aaron. I know you were trying to help him. But he clearly doesn't want to be helped" "Yeah and he gave me shit for hurting his friend. He yelled at me for following him" I said. "He's little he just wants to fit in with the cool people" Adrian told me. Just then we saw the click of ghetto dudes walking on the path towards Jon's house. 3 of them were walking around Victor to make sure he was ok. He still looked out of it. "O shit. You got him good" Adrian told me as he saw it. "I kind of feel bad" I said. They saw us sitting there and since most of them were smaller than victor except for one of them they just stared. Jon was walking a little behind them. Then I heard of them say. "Damn man, you were right Jon. Aaron did whoop Vic" "I told him to not fight damn. Fuck now aaron's going to be mad at me" Jon said as he looked at me. I turned away and lied down on the grass. Adrian did the same. "Don't worry Aaron. You've got me" he said. "I know. I know. I just wish my bro wasn't such a fucking retard" I said. Right when I said the group headed our way. I sat back up. Adrian and I just stared at them get closer. "Should I call my mom?" Adrian asked quietly. "No just relax" I said. Jon was on the side while Victor stepped in front and stood about 5 feet from me, of course his gang was around him. "Cheap shot" he said. "really? You tried tackling me. You shouldn't have missed" I said. "Watch your back fool" he told me. "Your going to have them little kids help you jump me?" I said sarcastically. "Nigga I don't need any one's help. I'll kick your ass" victor said angrily. "You clearly already got your ass beaten why don't you go rest and live to fight another day" Adrian spoke up. "You mind your own business fuck face" Jon jumped in. "You shouldn't even be talking right now fuck tart" Adrian barked at Jon. "O yeah. What you feel all cool cuz aaron's your friend. Fuck you. He was my bro before he knew you" Jon fired back. "You seriously going to argue about that?" Victor asked. "Why don't we beat his ass right now" said one of the guys. I stood up. Looked at them seriously. "Bring it." I said. I held Adrian back though. "Another day you'll get your payback" Victor said before he called his click off and they turned and walked away. "I hate clicks. They only talk smack when they are all together" Adrian told me. I didn't answer right away though because I was too busy paying attention to jon's actions. He was slowly walking behind them. I didn't know what to do though. Because this would really leave a mark on our memories. Its almost as if all the good memories had just been cleared off my mind. "I need to chill" I said as I sat down. "Let me ask my mom if I can spend the night" said Adrian as he went inside real quick. I sat there, looking at the stars and the moon. What had this world come to. 11 year old kids doing drugs because of some stupid brainless fuck face. Part of me wished I had really hurt him when I had the chance. But my good side always gets the best of me. I had made my decision though. I would only talk to Jon enough to not worry our moms too much, and would slowly cut him out of my life. I was going to try to forget all the memories. He was definitely not on a good path. There was nothing I could do. He ditched me, he lied, to get high. Theres no question in my mind, he can't change anymore. He's going to get worse. Just then Adrian came right back outside with a little book bag. "Lets go dude" he said as he tapped my back. "Thanks man. Really" I said. We slowly walked towards my house. Not saying much. He knew I was going through a lot of thoughts. He just walked with me. Let me know he was there for me. I looked at the moon again. I thought to myself. Could this really be happening? ====================================================== Thank you for reading. Thanks to all those who wrote me and gave me their opinion. I really really really appreciate it. Please keep those emails coming. I love reading them and replying. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. -Tommy