A New Year's Kiss (BoyxBoy)

8. Pasta Again

Jay

New Years Eve 2015

I stepped out of the shower and checked the time. 6:02. Well at least I'd made it to dinner time. As I got dressed I thought of the days following the beating.

Mrs Bateson changed completely. Up until then, she had always been polite, but when she smiled at me, it never quite reached her eyes. I always felt like she thought I wasn't good enough for her son. Now though, she couldn't do enough for me. She was constantly fussing over me, feeding me, and asking me to stay over.

Alex thought it was hilarious and would dare me to push her to see what we could get out of it. We'd managed to score several pizza's, countless drinks and chocolate bars, and even a new game for the X-box.

I would never push it too far though. I knew a good thing when I saw it, and I wasn't willing to risk that.

Alex and I resumed our friendship, and Chad and Finn were kicked into touch. I asked him why he became friends with them and he said he just needed to be around someone who understood.

At school the guys who beat me up were expelled. Thankfully our school had a really strict no bullying policy. It didn't mean that Alex still didn't get some grief.

We were walking in the corridor on our way to class and Alex was goofing around and accidentally bumped into a guy making his drop his books.

The guy spun around angrily and on seeing Alex said, "watch where you're going you puff."

Alex ignored the insult, "Sorry man, here let me help you." He then began to help pick up the guys books.

"Get off them!" he snapped at Alex, "I don't want your gay germs on them."

I felt my hackles rise and grabbed hold of the guy by his collar. "What did you say?" I asked with a snarl.

The guys eyes widened at bit at this, but then he smirked and said, "has he turned you gay too?"

Alex suddenly came over and put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on Jay, he's not worth it."

The guy laughed, "yes that's right, go toddle off with your girlfriend."

I growled loudly and pulled my arm back to punch him. The guy, realised he'd pushed me too far and cowered whimpering slightly.

I smirked at him and put my arm down. I walked over to Alex, through my arm around his shoulders and said, "come on Alex, let's go."

Together we learnt how to deal with any gay jibes. Rather than get angry, we would laugh them off. I would sometimes link arms with Alex and pretend to be camp which the rest of the school loved. Alex grew in confidence, and before long he was back to the popular guy that I knew, and somewhere along the route he had stopped being Alex my gay friend, and became Alex my best friend again.

***************

I walked into the kitchen to make some dinner. If I left it to my mum, she would just live off takeaways. This was one of the ways I had managed to save money over the years, by learning to cook.

When I say I could cook, it wasn't as impressive as it sounds. I couldn't make things from scratch, but I could cook pasta and heat up a jar of pasta sauce.

That's exactly what I did tonight and handed my mum a bowl.

My mum scrunched up her nose. "Pasta again?"

I sighed, "yes mum, it's pasta again." I handed her a beer to go with it and she immediately cheered up.

"I'm off out tonight mum, so take it easy" I said.

"But you'll be back later won't you?" she said looking up at me.

"I might not be" I answered, wondering if I'd end up stopping at Alex's.

"But what about me?" my mum said frowning, "I might need you."

I signed, "I'm sure you can manage without me for one night mum."

"Fine!" she said opening her can of beer, "but if you come home and find me dead, just remember it was your fault because you'd rather get your end away than look after your mum."

I looked at her but bit my tongue. I'd learnt long ago that it was pointless arguing with her. I felt ok leaving as my mum hadn't drunk that much today and I knew there were only 4 cans left in the flat. I'd have to pick more up on my way home.

I ate my pasta in about 2 minutes. I've always inhaled my food. I've didn't grow up with regular meal times so I'd learnt to eat as much as I could at any opportunity I got.

I took my dishes to the kitchen and washed up. The lounge might have been a mess, but I always kept the kitchen clean and tidy. I had done this ever since working with Mr Finley. I treated the kitchen like he did his garage. Everything had its place and it was always tidy at the end of the day. I liked the order. It kept me calm.

I went back into the lounge and saw that my mum had fallen asleep halfway through her meal. I sighed and took it off her. She wouldn't finish it. She rarely finished a meal.

I went back into my room and checked my watch. 6:45. Not long to go now.

I went into my room and looked at my clothes wondering what to wear.

I thought about Alex and what he might be wearing. I hoped he would wear his black skinny jeans. His arse looked good in those. I chuckled to myself. It still felt odd having those sort of thoughts about Alex.

I couldn't even tell you when those thoughts had started. Sure, something changed on New Year's Eve when he kissed me, but everything happened so gradually after that I almost missed it. Sometimes it takes a slap in the face to realise how you've felt all along.