Timeless

Twilight

Joe POV
It’s been six months of hell for me. Six months since Cherry started dating Adam. Today was the last day of school. I leaned against the wall watching the pair at the end of the hall. His pink hair blending with the blue of the demon. Adam, or Ainosuke, as he was known at school, appeared the perfect boyfriend. I hadn’t seen any more bruises on Cherry since that night.
My mother got out of the hospital. She was on some new meds but everything was going well for her now. My home life was normal. The rest of my life was anything but. At school Kaoru spent half his time with me, the other half with Adam. At lunch I tolerated the other presence, only because it made Cherry happy. Lately he had been more mopey than usual. We still skated together. I even returned to studying with them. As long as it was at the library, where plenty of girls saw me.
That was a huge change. I had girls hanging off of me constantly. I didn’t exclusively date any one. More often I went out with three or four on my arm. If I went out to dinner alone, they appeared. If I went to the movies alone, they appeared. It got around were I worked, whole groups appeared. I no longer waited tables because of it. I liked cooking better any ways.
Cherry saw me. He waved. I forced a smile to wave back. I did have more time at the gym so my body was in perfect condition. Cherry maneuvered the flow of traffic in the hall, to make it to my side. “Hey there.” I teased as he came up to me. I was ecstatic to see the blush on his cheeks.
“Stop it, gorilla!” He growled I laughed. We moved out into the flow of bodies. “Adam wants to show us something tonight after work. He said to meet him at midnight. He gave me directions.” He told me.
“Yeah, sure.” I said. The restaurant closed at eleven.
Our last class was English. We were done with everything so the teacher just had pizza and other snack foods. Told us not to get too loud and let us do what we wanted. Adam wasn’t in this class. I saw a group of girls starting to make their way to me. I kicked a desk out to block them. Moving beside Cherry, I barricaded us into a corner.
“So, what is this thing we have going on tonight?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. He just said to bring our boards.” He spent the time drawing, I spent it peering over his shoulder. Then the bell rang. He walked with me to our lockers. We took out our things. I swung both backpacks to my back. He glared.
“Come on, you need to carry your umbrella.” I muttered.
“Oh, he is so nice!” I heard a girl say.
“So, strong!” Another chimed in. I sighed inwardly. Can people be more vain? I knew I had played up this part of me over the last few months, but it was starting to take its toll. Cherry glanced at me, I ignored it. Hitting the door with my elbow I dropped my board. Cherry stepped over it landing on his. We kicked off together heading down the wheelchair ramp. Hopping up, we did a rail-slide around the corner to the parking lot.
We moved in sync with one another. That was how well we knew the others movements. It was done without thought. “Kojiro?”  The voice came softly from the man beside me.
“Yeah, four eyes?” I asked. He chuckled.
“Can we talk?” He asked. I frowned. It was so unlike him to want to do that. I nodded. Our body’s changed course easily together. Before we had been heading to the skate park. A lot of kids would be there now. We moved to our third location, a place only him and I ever went to. Not once had I seen another person there.
Skating over the ground I did a few tricks always keeping the pink haired teen close. The place we went to was outside the city, but it didn’t take long to get there. We ducked into the pipe that would take us into a dried drainage ditch. Sliding over the walls we zoomed onward. Soon we reached a down turn. It was tight and easily missed if you didn’t know it was there.
I dropped low to my board, holding myself back to let the slim figure slip into the turn. Once he disappeared, I waited to the count of five, then made my way inside. This tunnel slanted downward; it came out in cave underground. Here there were places to skate, but Cherry and I seldom did that. I couldn’t recall the last time we had been here. I was sure it was before Adam.
We stopped near a pool with glowing insects in it. Cherry took a seat on a clean rock. I hung back slightly. Leaning against the wall, I looked at him. He was watching the glowing bugs. His face was so relaxed.
“I can’t remember the last time we were here.” He said. I snorted.
“I was thinking the same thing.” He turned to look up at me.
“Does it fell like we are losing our connection?” He asked. I felt my heart stop, stutter then pick up again. I shrugged trying not to show my distress.
“I don’t know. Is that what you want?” I asked forcing my voice to remain calm.
“No!” He shouted jumping to his feet. His voice echoed around the chamber. His shoulders relaxed a bit. “I don’t want to lose you, but it seems we spend less and less time together.”
“I think we spend the same amount of time together, it’s just less, us.” I stated. “He takes control a lot.” I pointed out.
“Why aren’t you dating anyone?” He asked. I snorted again.
“Like there is anyone…” I let my voice trail away as I moved to sit on the stone surrounding the pool. He sank to his old seat.
“You have all those girls hanging on you…” He whispered.
“Yeah and they all have one thing in common.” I said.
“What?” He asked.
“A vacant sign where their brain should be!” his laugh sang around the chamber. I chuckled at hearing it.
“That’s horrible!” He giggled.
“Am I wrong!” I cried. He shook his head. “They see my muscle and think I’m an idiot. Just like you." I pointed out.
“No.” He shook his head. “I know you're an idiot!” I fake gasped.
“Look here, four eyes…”
“You can’t pick on my bad eye sight, its genetic. Unlike your lack of brain cells!” His smile toyed with his lips as he fought to look angry.
“Pinky, I swear!”
“Don’t it just lowers your IQ even more.” We paused eyeing each other.
“Fuck, I've missed this!” I laughed.
“Me too. Joe?” He asked.
“Mmm" I answered.
“Can I talk to you, about him?” He asked.
“Has he done something to you?” I asked my voice shook but only slightly.
“No. Not since that night…” His voice trailed away.
“The night he choked you, because you came to see me in the hospital?” I asked. Tears shimmered in his eyes.
“I swear, it was the only time he's been that way.” His eyes pleaded with me. I nodded.
“You do know, if he ever does anything, I don’t care how rich his daddy is, I will kill him.” I warned. He drew in a shaking breath.
“Thank you. Sometimes I think I don’t deserve you, ape.” He whispered.
“Ya don’t, but you're stuck with me.” I stated.
“Promise?” He asked.
“Until death do we part, my dear.” I told him. He smiled.
“I think I can handle that.” We sat in silence for a long time. Then his phone rang.
“Where are you?” I heard Adam’s voice come through the speaker.
“Skating with Joe.” Cherry told him.
“I’ve looked all over town. No one has seen you guys.” It sounded like he was accusing him of something.
“We are in the old drainage ditch on south and Vaughn.” He said.
“Stay there. I’ll come find you.”
“Possessive much.” I muttered after Cherry ended the call.
“It’s fine.” He said. Together we stood getting on our boards. We took the back way out cutting through another pipe to get to the Vaughn Street drainage ditch. We skated down to south street. No one was there. He got lucky, I guess. Adam found us a few minutes later.
We skated for about an hour. To be fair, Adam was amazing on a board. Yet, I thought Tadashi was better. I would never say that to either of them. Adam would probably kill his servant. I had to get to work so I waved good bye.
“Don’t forget, midnight!” Adam called out to me. I gave him a thumbs up. Work was the same. Mild joking and teasing but an over all good night. I got out at eleven and went to Cherry's place. He let me shower and I changed into some clothes I had there. The shirt was too tight.
“I guess it has been a while.” I muttered. He pulled a jacket from the closet, yanking the tags off.
“I bought this for you for Christmas, might as well use it now.” He said. I thanked him. The night was warm. I let the jacket hang off of my shoulders. We skated up to the point where Adam was waiting. He pointed down an incredible slope. It was all rock. Someone had carved out a skate ramp through it.
“I just had it finished. Care to test your skills, boys?” He asked one eyebrow raised a twinkle in the depths of his maroon-colored eyes.
“Hell yeah!” I cried. Cherry looked a bit apprehensive. There was something about the way he looked over the trail, I didn’t like it. Never had I seen real fear in those eyes, but now.
“Kaoru?” I asked.
“It's Cherry.” He squared his shoulders. “While we are here, only call me Cherry Blossom!” He demanded, then led the way down the trail.
He was more amazing than I gave him credit for. I followed right behind him, mainly to watch his behind, but I soon had to use all my skills to stay alive. This trail was wicked dangerous. Adam was zooming all over. Circling the tunnel like spaces and laughing at us.
He got ahead of Cherry, then suddenly he was coming back uphill! Cherry swung up the side of the tunnel, Adam was directly in front of me. I dove sideways. My body hit the ground. The jacket took most of the damage, but I could feel the rocks smashing into my bones.
“JOE!” Cherry screamed in panic. Something hit my head before I could reply. When I woke it was raining.  My head was pillowed in something soft. Lights flashed in and out.
“Joe?” Cherry's soft voice asked.
“Hey, four eyes.” I whispered.
“Don’t try to move. Tadashi is here with the car. Let me help you get inside.” I chuckled at how those two instructions didn’t go together at all. But they took me to the hospital. Once I got treated and released we went to sit at an all night Café. I had a concussion, a few scraps and a ton of bruises, but I was fine. Over a banana split and coffee. Adam told us about the trail and his love hug.