One Step At A Time [boyxboy]

Chapter 7

Pierre paced back and forth across his living room, contemplating telling his second lie in the past twenty four hours. He held his cell phone in both hands and folded them behind his back as he paced, his brow furrowed. Would it be obvious to David that he was avoiding him? His little lie had bought him one day, but he knew he needed at least one or two more days before he could face his friend again. But that would require calling the house and lying to Ms. Forrester again! And Pierre hated lying; he hated being lied to, but not as deeply as he hated lying to people. It just made him feel dishonest. 

Despite his hatred for lying, he’d already made up his mind to call and extend his time at ‘the Johnson’s’. Really, he was at his house with no lights on and no fire going. Call him a little paranoid, but he didn’t want anyone driving by and noticing the lights on and smoke coming from the chimney. Everyone in the town knew everyone’s business, so they would probably stop by to see what was going on. And he didn’t want that. 

He looked at his phone, trying to figure out how to use it. He’d probably only used it about twice in his life, because, well, who would Pierre Bouvier the farm boy call? His mom never liked the idea of him working in the middle of the field with no way to call for help if he needed it. So she got a kind of ‘tracfone’ for him, where she bought more minutes once they’d used them all up. She only put sixty minutes on it to begin with, and it had been in Pierre’s possession for almost two years. Never once had his mom needed to put more minutes on it. 

“Alraht... so ah... punch in the numbers...” he said to himself slowly, punching each number in as if it took way more thought than it really did. “And then... ah... push the green button..” He watched the phone for a second, before placing it to his ear. And then a thought struck him. What if he picks up?! Before he had the time to think of a plan, the phone was picked up. Luckily enough for Pierre, it was David’s mom. 

“Hello?” she asked quietly.

“Hah, Ms. Forrester, it’s Pierre...” he said slowly.

“Oh, hello! Did you guys get everything taken care of?” Pierre closed his eyes and sighed away from the phone mouthpiece. “Pierre? You there?”

“Yeah. I’m here...” he said, opening his eyes and leaning against a wall. “Sorreh, but we ain’t done yet... those dang cahs did a lot more damage than ah thought they would, so ah might be over here fer another day er so...” he said, regretting every word coming out of his mouth.

“Oh... well that’s alright. Just stay out of trouble, okay?”

“Yes ma’am..”

“And Pierre?”

“Whut?” 

“I mean it this time.” 

Pierre was silent for a second, guilt almost overriding him. “Yes ma’am. No more trouble.” 

“Okay, good. I hope you finish soon!”

“Yes ma’am, we’re workin’ hard. But ah gotta go now, more work tuh be done.”

“Okay, just give me a call tomorrow, alright?”

“Yes ma’am, I will.” 

“Okay, bye bye!”

“Bah, ma’am.” Pierre snapped the phone shut and stared at it for a moment, before throwing it onto the couch across the room. “Damnit, it’s fuckin’ freezin’ in here...” he grumbled as he walked through his house, up to his room, and grabbed a big blanket to wrap around himself. He needed to think. What had happened between him and David had been plaguing his mind since it happened. Every time he thought of it he could feel that strange, new, funny feeling rising in his stomach, and it sort of made him feel like throwing up. But it didn’t make him want to throw up in a bad way, if that made sense. It didn’t make sense to him, but that was the only way he could think to describe it to himself. Pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping another blanket around himself, he placed his head in his knees, hoping this would become clear.