A Crimson Rainbow

Chapter 11

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because when I woke, I was alone in Jared's bed, and the sun had already set.  Checking my phone, it was after 9pm, and I had a dozen missed calls and messages from my Mum.
SHIT!  I hadn't even told her we left school early, let alone went to the mall, and had my insides rearranged - ok, she didn't need to know the last part.  I was still too sleepy to call, so I just texted her letting her know I went to Jared's after school.
I got up, and realised I was still naked, so I fumbled around to find my underwear before walking to the ensuite.  It was still surprising to know that nobody lived in this house apart from Jared and his parents, and even more surprising that, if I wasn't here, he would be alone.
Part of me didn't want to shower, because I could smell Jared on me, and his smell was just ... ugh ... enough to turn me on forever.  However, my own body smells were overpowering it, and needed to be washed off, so I grabbed a towel from the cupboard, and jumped in the shower.
While I washed, I kept thinking back to the last few days with Jared, starting with that smile at school, then the kiss, and everything that happened afterwards.  Of course, one thing led to another, and I ended up thinking of Stefi, and how she could still be alive now if we had offered her a lift.  It made me wonder, if she was still alive, would I have just woken up in Jared's bed?  And why did Jared seem to not even miss her, after having been with her for so long?  Even couples who get divorced seem to struggle the first few days/weeks/months apart, so why was Jared kissing and fucking me only days after Stefi's body was found?
Maybe it was all the horrors and true crime shows I binged making me see conspiracies, but it did seem strange that Stefi was murdered so soon after Jared and I first kissed.  Surely, it was just a coincidence, right?
I knew thinking about this would send me cuckoo, so I got out of the shower, got dressed, and went to find Jared.  Admittedly, I had seen very little of the actual house, so I only had a general idea on how to get from the front door to Jared's room, and that left about 3/4 of the house that I had no clue about.
I walked to the kitchen and living areas, thinking he may have been cooking, or watching TV, but there was no sign of him.
"Jared?" I called out.  I waited, but heard no response.  He seriously had better not have gone out and left me there.  Surely, he wouldn't do that.  Would he?  "Ok, you better come out, or I'm gonna start walking around," I said, hoping that would get his attention, but still nothing, so I began checking out other rooms, fully expecting to see the typical things you expect in a mansion - portraits with eyes that follow you, a full suit of armor, a stuffed tiger, that sort of thing.  However, in the very next room, I saw something that was not on my Bingo Card.
At first, with the lights off in this part of the house, I only saw silhouettes highlighted by the moon.  It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, and realise there were at least 7 mannequins in the room.  Thanks to a range of movies that featured mannequins coming to life, I didn't want to hang around, so I kept exploring.
As I made my way further and further into the house, passing through 2 libraries, a study, a games room, and a home theatre that was bigger than my house, I began hearing voices echoing from somewhere beneath me.  One sounded like it could be Jared, but I couldn't make out the other voice.
As much as every bone in my body was telling me to avoid the basement, I found myself trying to find a way to get closer to the voices.  I eventually realised that one of the bookshelves in the 2nd library was sitting further forward to the others, and, as cliche as it sounded, there was an open door behind it.
I slowly walked through the doorway, and saw stairs descending, laid out in front of me.  Shadows danced along the walls as old flame torches lit the stone steps.  I seriously didn't have a good feeling about this, but I heard the voices coming from somewhere further in front of me, and I was intrigued now.
Before I could go any further into the doorway, I heard Jared say something clearly enough that it was enough to make me regret coming down here.
"I swear, if you tell him anything about this, I'll kill you.  He has no clue, and I want it to stay that way."
Wait, was he talking about me?
"Look, I gotta go, I think I heard some footsteps before, so he's probably awake now."
Well, I guess that answers that question.  Time to get back upstairs!

On the walk back to Jared's room, I thought about what I had just heard.  There were a lot of ways it could have been intended, many of which were scary.  The one that I kept coming back to, thanks to my pessimistic brain, was that he had something to do with Stefi's death.  But, how?  If the rumours were true, her body had been drained of blood.  Pairing that with the hidden basement, I was starting to become convinced that Jared may be a vampire.
I had to remind myself that I was coming to this conclusion based on a rumour, and a conversation in an apparent basement, of which I only heard 2 clear sentences.  It's entirely possible he was talking about moving to Sydney after finishing school, or something else just as innocent.
By the time I got back to the bedroom, I had calmed myself down enough to be able to act as if I hadn't heard anything, but I knew I needed to get out of there.  After checking myself out in the mirror to make sure I looked decent, I walked out of the room, and almost bumped into Jared as I went around the first corner.
"Sorry," I said, holding up my phone.  "Mum's been freaking out about where I am.  I should go so she knows I'm ok."
"Oh.  Yeah.  No, that's cool," Jared stumbled over his words.  "I was about to order some dinner, if you wanted to stay, but, if you wanna go, that's cool too."
I swear I saw a flash of sadness or disappointment on his face, and I instantly regretted the conclusions I was jumping to only a few minutes earlier.  There's no way this guy would hurt anyone.  Even when we were kids, I never even saw him hurt an insect, let alone a human.
"Maybe another night, when I've given Mum the heads up."  I leaned in and kissed Jared's cheek.  "We need to talk about what this is though, this thing we have."
"What do you mean?  I thought it was pretty obvious."  Jared looked at me with a confused expression.
"Well," I sighed.  Looks like this conversation is happening now.  "Ok, to be honest, I'm confused.  Don't get me wrong, I am having a lot of fun, but you only broke up with Stefi last week.  Am I a rebound?  An experiment?  Like, are you even actually into guys?"
Jared gave a small laugh.  "I'm into a lot of genders.  I came out to my parents as Pan a few years ago.  I almost broke up with Stefi in our first month because of it.  She was getting jealous and didn't want me talking to anyone but her, in case I strayed.  I eventually convinced her that I wasn't the cheating type, and she settled down, to a point."  He paused, then took my hand before continuing.  "But, I think she must have seen the way I kept looking at you."  Was it like the way you're looking at me now?  "I've always liked you, Spence.  Looking back at when we were younger, I think I liked you then, I just didn't realise that's what it was.  Eventually, I knew that what I felt for you was stronger than what I felt for Stefi, and that's why I ended things with her.  I liked her, but ... " Another deep breath.  "... I think I've always loved you."  BOOM!  There it was.
In the past, the only time I've heard those words was post-coitus.  It never felt right to say it then though, because hormones were messing with emotions.  This is the first time I've been told this by someone during an actual conversation.  I knew I had feelings for him, I always had, but ... was it love?
I honestly didn't know what to say, so I did what I did every other time I began freaking out.  "I gotta go," I said, and the last thing I saw before I turned away from Jared was tears forming in the corners of his eyes.