Forever

Chapter Eight

(Jay's P.O.V)

The next morning I got dressed to go to Nate's house. I went downstairs to the kitchen where I knew my mom was. I still haven't asked her if I could go to Florida.

"Hey mom-" I started to say before I was cut off by my mom holding up her index finger in my face. She was on the phone.

  "Are you sure?" She asked the person the phone. "Alright." "You too." "Okay bye bye." She ended the call. "Mom-" I started again. "Yes Jay you can go to Florida, that was Grampa on the phone." She said. "What time are you coming home from Nate's, if you're coming back at all." She asked. " like I dunno, eight maybe." I said. " 'Kay have fun." She said.

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I walked into Nate's kitchen and was greeted by Grandma and Grandpa still dressed in their Sunday best. "Jayson, hey I spoke to your mom this morning." Grandpa said. "Yeah I know." I said. I gave them both a warm smile and exited the kitchen. I passed Nate's dad in the hallway.
 

  "Hey kiddo" He greeted. I waved back and smiled. As I started up the stairs he stopped me. "Hey.... uh Jay?" I turned to face him. "Yeah?" I replied. "What'd you say to Nate last night?" He asked. "What do you mean?" I gave him a confused look. "Did Nate say something to him?" I asked myself. I wasn't against people knowing I was into guys but I wanted to come out on my own.

  Nate's dad interrupted my thoughts. "He just seemed really happy last night and this morning when we went to the store today." He paused, a smile breaking out on his face. "He started drawing again you know." He said.

  I started thinking about all the times I sat with Nate and watched him draw. I remembered asking him about whatever picture he was drawing. I remembered asking him why he drew what he drew and the meaning behind it. I also remembered how sad I was the day he told me he didn't feel like drawing anymore. I should have seen it coming though. Leading up to that point, he's drawings became sadder and sadder, all the meanings behind them were depressing. I remembered walking into English class freshman year and seeing his sketchbook in the trash. I fished it out and brought it home with me. Every so often I'd sit and flip through it and remember the person Nate used to be. As I flipped through the pages I also the person Nate became, a person I barely recognized.

  "Jay?" Nate's dad called. I snapped out of my thoughts. "Oh uh... I just talked to him about some school thing." I lied. Nate's dad gave a small nod. "Well whatever it was it put him in a good mood." He said before walking away.  I ran up the stairs to Nate's room. I opened the door just enough to peak my head in. I watched as he scribbled away in what looked like a new sketchbook. He had a smile plastered on his face, a smile I hadn't seen in a long time it was a smile of true happiness.

  He looked up at me. "Hey Jay Jay." He greeted. "Hi." I replied shyly. I walked into the room and took a seat on his bed amongst the pencils, pens and markers scattered across the sheets. I didn't say anything for a while I just sat and watched him draw. "Pass me that red marker." Nate said breaking the silence. I had to look around for a little before I found the right colored marker. He pushed his black hair out of his hair before carefully coloring in the figure on his paper.

    "It's Lilo." He said as if he knew I was going to ask what he's drawing. "Why'd you draw Lilo?" I asked. "Well 'cuz... I was thinking about you and Lilo and Stitch is your favorite movie." He capped the marker before showing me the page he was working on. "Aw you really drew this for me?" I asked. He pushed his hair out of his face again. "Well yeah..." He said shyly. I stared at the picture and smiled.

  "You need a haircut." I joked as I looked back up to see Nate pushing his hair out of his face again. "Yeah I know, but nowadays my barber's too busy." He said smiling. I pushed him playfully. "I'm sorry Mr. O'Hara I can see you now if you'd like." I said. I was the only one Nate trusted to cut his hair and it had been a while since I cut it. He likes to keep it short so it stays out of his face. "You know I almost let Ryan cut it." He said shaking his head. "I'm sorry I'll cut it now." I said running my hand through his hair. "My mom has scissors somewhere." He said.

   I went downstairs where I found Nate's mom in the living room. "Jessica is there scissors somewhere Nate wants me to cut his hair." I said. She nodded in response. "You gotta ask Big Nate honey I don't know where they are." She said. " 'Kay is he outside?" I asked. She nodded. I went outside where Nate's dad was talking with his parents. I didn't want to be rude and interrupt so I didn't say anything right away.

  "Jessica's parent's are coming to town Friday." I heard Nate's dad say to his parents. "Well the flights that afternoon so Nate's not going to be around for that disaster." Grandpa said. "Tell me they're not still trying to push you guys towards conversion camps." Grandma said. "You know they are." Nate's dad said. "After what happened last time I told Jessica they can't come up here again I don't know why she agreed to see them." Nate's dad said frustrated. "Oh honey don't worry about it. We're gonna take the boys to the history museum in Miami Nate will love that." Grandma said. That's when they noticed me standing there.

  "Whatcha need buddy?" Nate's dad asked. "Oh uh I need scissors for Nate's hair." I said. " Oh uh.. in my bathroom there should be like a men's grooming kit thing in the cabinet under the sink." He said. I nodded. "You might have to dig around for it though I don't use it." I nodded again and went to get the scissors.
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  "Natey, I got the scissors." I called when I re-entered the bedroom. "Took ya long enough." Nate replied cooley. He was sitting cross legged with his now closed sketchbook sitting in front of him. I picked it up and stared at it's plain yellow cover. "Nate." I called. "Yeah?" He responded. "You didn't put your name on it."I said turning the book so he could see the front. He chuckled and grabbed the book from me and with a Sharpie marker, wrote his artist signature prominenly on the yellow cover. I took the sketchbook and went over to the bookshelf to place it on the shelf next to all his other sketchbooks.

  "Ready for your haircut?" I asked. He nodded in response. He pulled out his desk chair and positioned it in front of the tv. He took a seat as I walked and stood behind him. With one hand, I took a section of hair between my index and middle fingers while snipping his hair with my other hand. Every so often I gave Nate gentle scratches on his head resulting in him sighing in contentment.

  "Jay I didn't feed Francine yet today." Nate said when I was almost have way through. I glanced over at Nate's bearded dragon that was peacefully basking under her heat lap in her enclosure on the table by Nate's desk. "You can feed her in a second I'm almost done." I responded turning back to my work. I gave Nate's head another scratch and earned another content sigh. It was moments like this I missed most.