Blood in the Water

Chapter 6

The library on Fourth Avenue in one word, huge. The library is about 11 stories tall, made of glass in abstract forms. Millions of windows on each side of the walls of this building, some of its wall seem to stick out of it. I park out front of the building and walk into the lobby and gasp. I thought the outside was huge, but the inside, humongous. You look up and it seems the ceiling just keeps going, it never stops. There's hundreds of people here, with over millions of books to look over and to choose. I text Mike and ask where he is because let's be honest, I can't find him in this place. He responds that he just got here and is coming through the door. 

"Hi," He announces. He's wearing his backpack, he must have just gotten out of school.

"Hi," I say, "Where are your friends? I thought they would be with you." 

"Oh, they couldn't make it, like they would anyway, they aren't the smartest group." He says shyly. 

"Oh, interesting." 

"Follow me, we're gonna go up a couple floors. Only losers stay on the first floor." I smirk at that, he has a way of making me feel different. 

He leads us to a wide range of stairs, at least twenty five feet across, color of white snow. The flooring on the next level was shiny, burgundy wood, the aisles lining with white shelves of books and windows from floor to ceiling. I soon learn all the floors look like this with little differences in each. I follow him up a couple more floors and leads us to a corner table by the computers. The table is rectangular wooden table, with white chairs that spin; I can't help put want to spin in them. 

"This is where most people our age hangout," He finally says. I look around to see a few kids up here, but not much.

"Cool, cool. Can I ask why you wanted to hangout with me? I thought you didn't like me, from you know, dumping coffee on me." I can tell I'm making him a little uneasy.

"I just thought maybe you would need help with your assignments, because your mom passed away today...And I wanted to show that I kind of..." He trails off and whispers something under his breath.

"What was that?" I lean on the table and look into his eyes.

"I wanted to be your friend, or maybe more..." He whispers shyly.

"Maybe more? I thought you weren't gay?" I say it loud enough for just him to hear.

"I am, I just can't let my friends find out or they'll make fun of me, a cruel world we live in." He looks down.

"Maybe you'll know how Charlie feels then," I say to him.

"I don't want to say those things to him, they make me. They make me act like such a tough guy, such a bad person, and I hate it. That's not who I am, yeah I can be tough but I don't want to act like I'm not gay, I don't want to be ashamed of who I like." He exclaims. It seems like he's been holding this in for a long time. His greenish brown eyes flick up at me, he looks like he's about to cry.  I his chair in front of mine and look him in the eyes and grab his hands. 

"Look at me," I say calmly, "You don't have to be anyone you're not, but I understand wanting to keep it a secret from your pals. But how much longer can that last, don't they wonder why you don't have a girlfriend?"

"I tell them that I'm waiting for the right person and after high school, they called me lame for that." He releases my hands from his to wipe his eyes. "So what do you say, would you consider it at least?"

"I just might," I smirk at him, "I could tell I was getting to you the other day, you're fun to mess with." 

"I knew it," He whispers, "My friends made me dump that coffee on your head. And when you grabbed me in that store, I felt butterflies." 

"So you're a bottom," I laugh.

"Look, there's nothing wrong with that." He laughs with me. "I can be dominate if I wanted to, I mean-"

"Oh is that so," I grab his chin and make him look at me; I can tell his heart rate sped up. "You would be fighting for dominance right now, if you were so 'dominate'." I laugh and he starts to pout at me. 

"Okay, I guess you made your point. Do you need help with anything?" He asks referring to my school stuff and turns towards the table to grab some stuff out.

"I'm actually good on the school stuff, I just need to finish up some calculus." I grab my books out and start to work on, Mike working on some project. We worked together for a couple more hours and then walk out together. 

"Hey can you look at me?" I ask Mike and he turns to face me. I give him a quick peck on the cheek and he blushes immediately. He gives me a quick hug and scurries off to his car. I smile to myself, I think I'm actually falling for him, which makes me uneasy.

I head home and see my dad waiting outside the door for me. He looks uneasy and I rush right towards him in a panic. 

"Dad, what's wrong? Dad, talk to me!" 

"They...they took her away!" He sobs and breaks down in my arms. 

"I'm so sorry dad, it'll be okay, I promise. We need to sort things out and prepare for the funeral alright? It's wait we'll do tomorrow after I go to school, okay?" I speak calmly to him, it's a skill I mastered. 

"Okay, okay. I don't know what I would do without you," I usher him inside and make him comfortable on the couch and head up to my room. I need to get ready for bed but this overwhelming anger comes through me. I don't know where it came from, but I just start punching the wall by my window repeatedly until my fist is bleeding. 

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! HOW DARE THIS MOTHERFUCKER COMES OVER TO MY HOUSE AND SCREWS MY MOTHER! BEHIND MY DAD'S BACK! THIS IS WHAT HE GETS, IT'S WHAT HE DESERVES! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS WHAT IT LED TO AND I HOPE HE'S HAPPY! 

I go into the bathroom to clean up my hand and put bandages on it; I also get ready for bed. I head into my room and into bed, I decide to sleep with nothing on, it's one of those nights. I check my phone one last time to say goodnight to Mike and go to sleep.