1992

chapter eight

damon

coxon had stayed over at my place for the rest of the week since his parents were going to leave the town for a few days due to an important event and they agreed he should stay while they were out.

the poor baby wasn't capable to take care of himself.

what a wuss.

since my parents loved coxon, they were also fine with him staying over.

coxon was probably the son my parents would have wished they had raised. you know, he was the total opposite of me.

he was quiet, timid, reserved, self-conscious, introverted... and that was-- that wasn't me. i've always been the opposite, i've always liked to be the opposite for as long as i can remember.

this time, coxon had taught me how to learn the smiths' "how soon is now?" on guitar.
to be honest, i wasn't really a fan of them, but still liked some of their tunes.

'oh well, that's a shame. you uncultured swine.'  he had insulted me when i told him i wasn't really into them.

he was probably one of the biggest fans of the smiths, along with the jam, the who, depeche mode and some other artists i couldn't remember.

he'd talk to me about them all the frigging time, give me an entire bible of their stories and show me all the vinyl records he had been collecting through the years.

god was this boy obsessed.

this was probably why he didn't have friends. he was too tiresome. i thought to myself as i grinned.

i'm just kidding.

sort of.

'hey coxon, i talked to your parents to let them know you were doing okay.' i said.

he was ignoring me. he was drawing on his sketchbook.

'did you even hear me?'
'yeah, yeah. you called my parents. i'm busy, can't you see?' he said, sounding annoyed but i knew he was joking.
'they said they couldn't wait any longer to see you.'

'oh, and that they loved you.'

he gave me a smirk.

'what are you drawing now?'
'none of your business, jerk.' he joked.
'let me see.' i reached over as i snatched the sketchbook from his hands.

he made a noise of protest, extending out his arm to grab it back.

'hey! give it back you dumbarse.' he whined.

as i began to turn the pages, a letter falls from the sketchbook and i reach down to grab it.

'no, give me that back too!'
'what is this? a love letter?' i said laughing as i was unfolding the paper.
'don't you dare open it!'

coxon had gotten up from where he was sitting to retrieve the letter, but i was avoiding it by turning my back on him and extending my arm to impede him from taking the letter from me.

when i had unfolded it, my gaze went straight to this picture of him with this light-toned, black curly haired boy.
he was behind coxon, embracing him with both arms and leaving a small kiss on his cheek and coxon was smiling, facing the camera.

there was a small scribble below the picture but i couldn't tell what it said, it was barely readable.

"gra & eli <3"  was all i could read.

i could see that he was already molested and snatched the letter from me.

'hey look, i'm sorry-'
'no! i specifically told you not to open it and what did you do?! you opened it, you read it!' he raised his voice.