The Skinny Boy Tales (boyxboy) - Completed-

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Adjusting to life without Rich proved to be difficult at first. The entire house just seemed a little dimmer without his light to brighten the place up. I mean, who would have thought that Rich's flame chased away so many shadows.

We spent many nights curled up under our blankets, listening to Geoffrey recant the stories Rich told him. It turned out that our little Rich had always been a sort of firecracker. He was kicked out of four private schools and three public schools before his parents hired private tutors. There was even mention of how he set fire to the teachers' lounge.

Granted, it was a small fire in a trash can, but it was a fire nonetheless.

Despite everything that happened with Rich, there was one thing that we all knew without a doubt: he was something.

Geoffrey and I grew closer as the weeks went on. We spent almost every day together, flipping through magazines, catching up on the monthly celebrity gossip.

It turned out that Lamar Odom finally got released from the hospital and was expected to continue his recovery in some fancy rehab place; though, Geoffrey seemed to care way more about the Kardashians and the men attached to them far more than I ever could.

I was more interested in Lady Gaga's new photos for some magazine or another with her man Taylor Kinney. I mean, I dug Gaga just as much as any other gay, but her man...

It was better to leave those thoughts alone.

Steven never took much interest in our hobby, and as time inched by, he began keeping to himself. We would find him alone, reading a book more often than not. I never told him about me and Terry. It wasn't as if I were keeping things from him; I just couldn't bare the embarrassment.

Deep down, I still held a longing for Terry's closeness. I knew it was juvenile; I knew that it was an impossibility, but it didn't stop my mind from wondering once I was alone in my bed.

Despite my strengthening friendship with Geoffrey, I felt horribly, terribly alone. After all my pushing, Steven stopped trying to get close to me, and Terry didn't even make eye contact with me anymore. While Geoffrey and I were closer, at times, it felt like I was just filling an empty space. I didn't mind because I needed someone to fill the emptiness too.

With time, the workings of the house returned to a semblance of normality, and by the time a full month passed, everything seemed to be on the up. My relationships with Terry and Steven hadn't gotten better or worse, and with time, our therapy sessions became less about handling our grief and more about our recovery.

All the while, I put on a brave face and truly tried to let myself believe that everything was going to be ok.

It was all that I could do.

Before we all knew it, the day had finally come for our parents to visit. It wasn't like it snuck up on us; we had known for weeks that they were coming. Hell, Ruth and Dawn made an effort to bring it up as often as they possibly could, yet, as I rolled out of bed the morning of, I found a ball of iron sitting at the base of my stomach.

I really wasn't ready to deal with my mother.

Mentally or emotionally.

Stealing a deep breath, I pushed myself to my feet. It's all going to be fine, my internal voice chimed.

I wanted to believe him; I really did.

If things were actually back to normal, I would have slipped into Steven's room and jumped on him to wake him up. Instead, I stretched, yawned, gathered an outfit from the various piles in my room, and made my way into the bathroom.