Love & Other Curses, 1985 | bxb | ONC 2024

CHAPTER 3 - First Date

I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by the novelty of these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them, and forgetting my solitude and deformity, dared to be happy.

~ Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.

"Be back by dinner," Mrs. Harding warned.

Adam followed the green-eyed boy out of the kitchen, through the wood-paneled family room, and out the back door. Thomas ran up a small hill to the right of a large shed while Adam stopped, distracted by the multi-level deck around the back of the house adjacent to a pool on the terrace above the rock retaining wall.

"Come on," Thomas pleaded. "I want to show you something."

Adam jogged up the hill after him to the edge of the forest, wondering why he wasn't showing him the pool or other luxuries his life afforded. Instead, they disappeared into the thick woods, leaving the outside world behind. "So, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." Thomas leaped onto a fallen tree trunk and jumped to the other side.

"What if I don't like surprises?" Adam asked, noting Mud Boy's smooth, sinewy muscles and how they made his bounding strides effortless.

"You're going to have to trust me."

"Trust isn't my strong suit."

Thomas whacked a tree branch. "You can trust me."

"Can I?" Adam raised his eyebrows. "Then, why did you lie about what happened after practice today?"

Thomas looked at the ground as he walked, twisting a leaf between his fingers until it broke. "Because it was nothing."

"Dude, you had mud dripping out of your ass."

Thomas chuckled. "That bad, huh?"

"Worse."

The sullen boy glanced up at Adam and looked away in shame. "Fine, you know one of my secrets. What's one of yours?"

Adam hit Thomas with a stick. "No way—you still haven't told me what happened."

"And I'm not going to." He stopped walking, hoping he hadn't offended his new friend. "Do you mind?"

Adam laughed. "Why the hell should it matter?" He moved forward, ducking under a low-hanging branch. "So, how big is this forest?"

"Big enough." Thomas dropped the leaf and followed. "But you'll hit someone's backyard if you go far enough in any direction. I lived out here as a kid, even built a tree fort one year."

"Is that the surprise?"

"No." Thomas walked faster. "If you won't tell me a secret, will you at least say where you're from?"

"Roxbury."

"Huh?"

Adam laughed. "It's near Boston."

"Oh, cool."

"No, this is cool." Adam lifted his arms and spun in a circle, his gaze heavenward. He stopped and closed his eyes to listen. Birds chirped, leaves rustled in a gentle breeze, and squirrels chased each other across a tree branch. The forest brimmed with life. "You don't know how lucky you are."

"Lucky enough," Thomas replied. Without thinking, he added, "I got to meet you."

Adam did a double take, masking his surprise. "I'm a nobody."

"How can you say that?" Thomas gazed at him dumbfounded. "How many guys do you see wearing eyeshadow and making it look cool? Do you play in a band or something?"