INTERLUDE

- 3 -

September 1987
Labor day

Charlie left on labor day.
He'd been thinking about moving for a while apparently, just never got the guts to leave Columbia. He was going to some university in Amsterdam, which was seemingly the city of his dreams. Needless to say Arden was the one to drive him to the airport, she could barely handle seeing him leave the city like that. I was fine with it, not to be insensitive but I barely even knew Charlie. Jude seemed okay with it, as long as Charlie was happy.

The morning was slow and gloomy. The sun shone through our tiny window and illuminated our miserable college dorm. Both beds undone and our desks absolute messes. Jude seemed less upset with me than he had been in the previous days, probably because I hadn't talked about Frances yet. He even bought me coffee that morning, almost to bribe me into not talking about her. I have to say, it worked. The coffee barely even woke me up but I was apparently awake enough to submit the idea of us cleaning for the whole day. Jude agreed and went out to buy cleaning products, leaving me alone in the tiny room.

I sat on my bed, staring at the wall and absentmindedly sipping at my coffee for a while, unable to fully wake up. I was still in that position when Jude burst into the room with his hands full of cleaning supplies and a grin on his face.

"I would like to announce that you and I are invited to an evening at Allen Miller's tonight. You're welcome."

The blood practically froze in my veins when he mentioned Allen Miller. I knew Allen Miller far too well. Hated the guy. He had been a friend of mine, back when I knew him. My face kept the silence about my hatred for Miller though, I looked unphased, unbothered.

"Cool." I stuttered. "I'm gonna take a shower now."

"You okay Theo?"

"Yeah" I muttered before walking into the bathroom.

After a quick shower I got out into the room and put on some clothes. Most of my shirts hadn't been washed, and so I borrowed one of Jude's hoodies instead. Later he handed me cleaning supplies and so we got to work.

We cleaned the room in silence for the first few hours. A tense silence. It was Jude that broke it first.

"So, freshman, excited for your first party? A Miller party even" He said with a smile. He was wearing his hair tied up with a bandana and a ridiculously oversized t-shirt. His lips looked pink and his eyes green. It bothered me for a second that he would never be the subject of his own photography.

I spat back "Well I already know Miller, he's not that great."

He stopped scrubbing the windowsill and turned to me with a question "What, you don't like him?"

I gave full attention to the laundry I was folding before answering in a cold tone. "No I don't okay."

He chuckled in disbelief before asking me "Well why don't you?"

I stopped folding and looked up at him. A strand of his hair hung onto his forehead and I thought about how it would make a great photo if only I had had a camera in that instant.

"I have my reasons" I said "besides, you won't even tell me why you don't like Frances so"

He walked towards me and practically yelled "Well okay then, do you really want to know what happened between me and her?"

I nodded.

"Well you're in for a fucking ride my friend." He said, readjusting his bandana.

"What happened was love. I was in love. Not with Frances, of course that was the problem. We'd been dating for a while but I never even remotely liked her. You know why they call me Cherry?"

"Because you're a pussy" I said matter of factly.

He shook his head with an almost sad smile playing on his lips. "Because I'm a fucking fruit. A queer. She thought it was funny to nickname me with a fruit when she found out I'd been using her as a cover for a while."

"But I thought Charlie came up with that nickname" I said almost as a question.

He looked into my eyes and smiled at me "How do you think I met Charlie? They used to be best friends, Charlie, Arden and Foxes."

The words sunk into my skull as I processed them. So he's gay. I thought. He's gay and that's why he hates Frances. And then the occasional God his lips look so good right n- . I beat myself up over that. How could I even think about having feelings for Jude. He was a guy, and regardless of the fact that he was gay, it was wrong. We'd be imprisoned or killed if anyone knew. I couldn't like Jude at all.

"Well," Jude sighed "get dressed will ya? We're going to see the guy you don't like."

}{

We were in the middle of New York once again, but this time we weren't soaked by rain, this time we were in a cab. Jude had offered to pay for it and so I went with it.

Allen Miller's place was beautiful. Inside, people were chatting away, discussing trivial matters that in no way mattered, but were prime small talk material. There were ladies sipping drinks and smoking cigarettes, and guys in bomber jackets looking to kiss those ladies. It was booming with jazz music and everything felt so alive.

That was until we saw Allen himself.

The guy was tall, 6' at least and he was wearing an impeccable blue suit.

He approached us with a martini in hand and sparked a conversation "So, Jude Walsh I presume?"

Jude nodded and shook his hand.
"And Theodore Illingworth."

He eyed me and then Jude and added in a childish tone. "I see your choice of companions hasn't changed Theo."

I shot back "I don't want to fight you in your own apartment, keep my companions out of the conversation. Besides, Jude is my friend."

He smirked at me "I'm sure he is." he took a sip of his martini "good evening gentlemen."

And then he left.

}{

September 1984

I woke up in cold sweats, naked in a bed that wasn't mine. Quickly, I recognized my surroundings. His room. I shot up and got dressed, buckling my belt and zipping my jacket over my turtleneck shirt. When I ran down the stairs to get outside, I saw Allen, asleep on the living room couch. Silence. I thought. You must not wake him. I opened up the door and disappeared into the night.

}{

Later Jude and I were both laying in our beds, talking.

"What was that all about with Allen and companions?" he asked.

I felt a wave of embarrassment wash over me "It's no, no big deal." I said.

"Come on, you basically threatened to beat up the guy."

I turned around in my bed and moved the covers close to my chest.

"Goodnight Cherry"

}{

Do you guys think these are too short?? Im conflicted. Anyway, please let me know what you think (and if you like Allen so far bc personally I hate the guy) [word count: 1190]