Everything I ever knew about Chris Chambers

Chapter 4

Chris

Chris found comfort in the fact that all he could think about these days was Gordie. Really, it was a refreshing break from his life. These days he is very lonely at home. Knocked out drunk, hungover or in a fit of rage he usually stayed out of Chris's way. Maybe Chris should be grateful. His ear was never held up to a stove. But he still had bruises. Still had problems.

The only person he could really tell any of this to was Gordie and then again he couldn't tell him anything. He trusted Gordie, sure. He wanted to tell Gordie everything. But something stopped him every time. He couldn't bear it. He didn't want Gordie to worry about him. He didn't need any of that. Gordie deserved so much better than Chris's problems. Chris would carry the problems so Gordie could walk unharmed. It didn't matter if Chris collapsed under the weight. Gordie mattered more.

The Chambers household was tremendously dirty. Chris tried to keep things as tidy as possible but there were still places he wouldn't dare enter. The kitchen, for example, had more mold than a year old loaf of bread. His father didn't seem to do anything about it, and without anyone else to care it was really Chris's job to keep things in order. He didn't particularly mind, something about cleaning felt nice. Like he was actually accomplishing something then wasting his time daydreaming, which he spent a lot of time on. He hated daydreaming, and hated himself for doing it.

Chris's stomach hurt, he wasn't sure what it was. He'd been thinking too much he hadn't really considered eating. He eyed the dreaded kitchen and reluctantly pushed himself up from the couch. He opened the fridge from as far of a distance as possible and scanned its contents. Many glass beer bottles covering the entire top shelf, a small (probably sour) bottle of milk, a rotten tomato and– nothing. It wasn't that Chris's family didn't have the money to eat. Chris's father still worked 9-5 although at this point it wasn't looking like he was going to much longer. His father chose to stay home hungover much more often than he used to. Which means Chris would once again have to take over the household since Eyeballs couldn't have the slightest decency to do it. He slammed the fridge in frustration, and shuffled off into his bedroom.

"Be quiet, will you? You're making my ears ring." Chris's father scolded from his bedroom.

"Sorry." Chris said, although he knew it wasn't loud enough for his father to hear. Eventually he got up and decided that he would distract himself with school work. He opened his workbooks and started on a short paragraph before there was a knock at the door.

"Christopher." His father yelled from his room. Chris knew what he ment, and walked over to the door. For a second he was expecting his mother, which he knew it couldn't be. He hadn't seen her in years. He wasn't even sure she wanted to see him. When he opened the door he was met with someone else, Teddy Duchamp.

"Hi." he said awkwardly.

"Hi?" Chris said, looking around in confusion. It was an odd sight, Teddy by himself. He was used to him being accompanied by Vern or Gordie but alone he looked like the biggest loser on the planet. In a group they were losers together, but Teddy alone was enough to make him laugh.

"Listen, I wanted to ask you something? Wanna go for a walk?" Teddy said, shoving his hands deep in his pockets.

Chris looked back to see if his father had gotten out of bed– which he hadn't– and nodded, "Yeah sure."

Chris hadn't spoken to Teddy in a while, and he didn't think he ever had spoken to Teddy one on one. Teddy looked on the ground, "Ya' know, you're closer to Gordie than I am so I thought you'd be the right man to go to for this."

Chris's breath caught in his throat at the mention of Gordie, "Huh?"

"Do you think Gordie's a homo?" He asked.