Some Sugar and Honey (Boy X Boy)

Chapter 7 - Forever Knots

      Just as Maddox had said, after returning home from school I went over to his house.  Asking my mother about this, she was very overjoyed that I finally made a close friend, as she said.  My father wasn't home yet, but knowing my mother she would talk ages about it to him.  

      Anyway, his house wasn't very far away, about a four or five minute walk (on a good day).  I wasn't sure of what his house was like or what he had in mind so I didn't bring anything with me.  Hopefully that would be alright.

       When I got to his house I grew nervous, unsure of what I would be doing.  Socializing obviously wasn't my strong point and I wasn't too well versed in "friend activities" I suppose, so this was an entirely new territory for me.  

After taking a few deep breaths I raised my hand to knock on the door only to have it swing open right before my hand could make contact.  Maddox stood behind it, a sly grin pasted to his round face and his eyes gleamed with mischief.  My heart throbbed at this sight, he almost seemed like he was back to his old self.

------

      "I'm surprised you actually made it, kid."  I chuckled nervously at his statement.  His house was large and appeared mostly to be wood on the inside.  The door stood in the middle of a large room home to shoes, umbrellas, that stuff.  This connected to a dark corridor, lamps clung to the walls but none of them were on currently.

      Maddox was leading me down the hall and into, what appeared to be his kitchen.  The floors were tiled in white and black squares, the walls were wood on the bottom half while the top was an egg white wallpaper with small pink flowers spattered on.  Maddox stopped in the middle of the kitchen, turning towards me with a toothy, trickster grin.  I let out a small, half hearted chuckle at this, not sure whether that was good or not.  

"My mom's out working today and my dad's not around either so we can do whatever we want, huh?"  He sounded very satisfied with himself.  If I had known he was home alone I probably wouldn't have accepted, but then again... how often have I ever been asked out to someone's house, much less one of the most popular student's in class?  I threw on the best smile I could, my eyebrows once again betraying me, but maybe he assumed that was me all the time.

"Um... soo..."  I wanted to do my best not to come off awkward here but I knew immediately that I was failing since I couldn't even think of anything to say.  He looked over to me as if he was expecting me to say something, so I knew I had to come up with something quick.  "A-aahh... you're an only child?"  He paused for a moment before snorting.

"Pretty amateur question.  But yeah."  He spun around towards the cupboards, opening up one and digging through.  I wasn't sure what I was to do so I leaned back up against the counter, watching him search.  "So... you hungry?"  he asked as he turned back towards me, holding a box of, what appeared to be, mini cookies.  I thought for a bit before deciding there would be no harm in doing so.  "Yeah, if it's not a problem."  He gave a confident, "Ha" before ripping open the box.

"No problem at all, I mean, I asked you!"  I shrugged, he had a good point.  He walked over, holding out the box to me.  I wasn't sure if he wanted me to take it or just pull a few out so I took a small handful.  He rose a brow for a second before shrugging and pulling out a few himself.  "So..." he started, his mouth full as he spoke, "do you drink?"  I gulped a little, feeling a little uncomfortable now.  

"Drink?  Like... alcohol?"  He chuckled, ruffling my hair a bit.  "You're a 'pure' one, aren't ya?"  He sighed, going over to the fridge.  Okay, I began thinking to myself, he's done IT and he drinks too... I'm so alone here.

      Maddox came back from the fridge with a beer in his hand.  I couldn't help but stare.  I've heard the other kids in my class talk about their favorite kind of alcohol or wine and stuff, but I've never actually seen any of them drink it and Maddox, I could never imagine.  "You really are a goody two shoes aren't ya?"  He asked casually, prying open the can, the smell of beer being released.  I shivered a bit, beer was probably one of my least favorite smells.

"I-i guess so..."

I just don't want a bad liver, I thought, watching him take a sip.  It became awkward once again as we seemed to have run out of things to talk about.  Maddox looked as if he was trying to distract himself with his can, occasionally popping a chocolate cookie into his mouth.  As he did so I thought up something to mention but, being me, I felt a little too shy to say it, but since I was here, and I didn't want to make too bad of an impression, I figured it wouldn't hurt too much.

"Um... y-you know... it's not good to eat and drink beer at the same time."  He stopped taking his dreadfully long sip to look over at me.  He lowered his can a bit.  "What do you mean?"  He set his can on the sink behind him, throwing his hands into his pockets.  "Well..."  I blushed a bit, not sure how to word it in a way that he wouldn't think I was trying to be rude.  "It's just... drinking beer and eating... I believe... can actually cause... uhh... weight gain so..."  I held my body tight, feeling as if something bad would happen if I didn't.  "A-aah... yeah."  He sucked in his cheek as I felt myself grow smaller and more pathetic by the second.

"Soo..." he started roughly, "you're saying that that's why I'm fat?"  I screamed internally at this sudden blunt assumption.

"N-no!  I wasn't saying that!  I-it's just something I heard--"

"Mm."  He shrugged, throwing his gaze opposite of me now.  I felt as if my insides were being crushed, my heart sinking dreadfully fast.  "I-it's not like..."  I felt my voice grow quieter and weaker as I tried to redeem myself to no avail.  

"'It's not like'?  It's fine, kid.  Doesn't matter to me."  I paused a bit, confused by this unexpected response.  He looked a little disappointed, keeping his eyes on the floor, hands in his pockets.  I couldn't help but feel bad, despite what he had said.  I bit my bottom lip, not wanting to leave like this.

"I-it's not... I just... what happened?"  He hummed a bit, turning to look at me for a few seconds, no response.  He shifted slightly, raising his head to look me directly into the eyes which, quite frankly, made me nervous.  "What happened?  You need to be a bit more clear 'bout that.  Ton of shit's been happening lately."  I nodded.

"What's been going on... with your old friends?  Why have you been sticking around me?  And... well... the question that's been on everyone's mind... what happened on your vacation?"  He looked at me, stunned.  He slowly began to grin, though it seemed like his casual toothy grin, his eyes looked somewhat sad.

"You can ask a lot of questions when you want to, huh?  Weeell..."  He grabbed his can again, picking up the cookie box with his other hand.  "Let's talk in a more private spot like my basement.  That okay?  Can't have mom coming home and eavesdropping."  I felt a bit confused by all this so suddenly, but decided it wouldn't do much harm, at least I would be getting all my questions answered... hopefully.