The Men Of Degrassi
KC Guthrie: Two Sides to a Man
I never expected this to happen. Never in my life. It was the most bizarre thing that could ever happen in my life, but I honestly couldn't be happier that it happened. This is the unusual story of when I fell in love with the curly-haired music-loving man known as Liam Berish.
I first saw him in English class. I shimmied through different students t find myself a seat and bumped right into me. I must have been moving a little fast; he fell onto the floor. When he looked up at me with a frustrated look on his face, I couldn't help but notice his eyes. They were brown, a light brown. One might say hazel. But they stood out to me, even if they were glaring. I finally snapped out of my little trance.
"Uh… S-sorry." I stuttered.
"Maybe watch where you're going next time, Shaq." He said, obviously frustrated.
"Here, let me-"
""Don't touch me." He spat, getting up and dusting off his clothes. "Simpson finally gives us freedom of clothing and I get all my shit dirty."
He was a hothead. As I sat down in my seat while Ms. Dawes began, I couldn't help but think about those brown eyes. They reminded me of chocolate. A rich creamy milk chocolate; the kind that melts in your mouth. I liked that kind of chocolate. They made me smile. But then I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing thinking about some guys eyes? I'm a guy too. That shouldn't even be right, right?
Well, class went by almost in the blink of an eye. As I got up to leave the room I bumped into someone. Guess who the hell it was?
"S-sorry, again! Shit, I gotta watch where-"
He cut me off. "Uh, no. I actually wanted to apologize to you for earlier. I wasn't in the best mood. I shouldn't have snapped. I'm sorry."
"Maybe next time, channel your anger a different way, curly." I said, smirking. He giggled. There was another thing that made me smile.
He held his hand out. "Liam. The roll call could have given you that idea already though." He chuckled. There's that laugh again.
I took the hand and shook it. "KC."
"Nice to meet you, Casey."
"No no no. KC. Like, a K and a C."
He frowned. "O-Oh, as in KC Guthrie?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, is that bad?"
"Uh… nothing, I just… got the idea from roll call. I gotta go." He said, walking away quickly.
I had no idea what that was all about? Was there something about my name that was bad? I watched him walk away, that curly hair bouncing with every step. I caught myself staring at him until he was on the other side of the hallway. I finally snapped out of it when I felt someone pat my shoulder. I jumped, turning to see Drew.
"You seem pretty focused on something." He chuckled. "What are you staring at?"
I chuckled. "Nothing man, just zoned out. English class was a trip."
He didn't seem too convinced, but he went with it. "Isn't it always? Anyways, I gotta jet. Katie and I have plans."
"Ooooh, six month anniversary, eh? My best friend is growing up." I joked, pinching his cheek.
"Quit it!" he giggled. "I've never been with a girl this long in my life. I wanna show her how much I love her."
I let out an overly dramatic gasp. "Did THE Drew Torres just use the sacred 'L' word?"
"I can't help myself, KC… Katie's really the one."
"Well, all jokes aside, good for you man. I kinda wish I could find a love of my own."
"Oh, come on, KC. I hear Jenna is still available."
I shuttered at the thought. "I'd rather not go down that road again. And I'm sure she'd say the same."
Drew rolled his eyes. "She's not worth your time. But really, I gotta go. See you soon, kiddo."
As he started to walk away, he brushed passed Liam. Seems like everyone is doing that these days. But when he walked by, I started to follow him a few paces behind. I don't know what even came over me, but I had this sudden infatuation with where he was going. What he was doing. How he did things. It was by far the oddest thing, but I had to know. As I nearly followed him to his car -thank god he didn't notice me- I watched him drive off.
I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was drooling someone like Liam Berish, or any man for that matter. While I walked home, I got a text from Mo. It was a party invite.
Big Party my place.
7pm-whenever
Drinks will be served
Be there or be square!
It was a chain linked message, so I looked around to find the guest list:
Babe (Marisol)
Zig
Adam
Drew
Connor
Katie
Jake
Owen
Eli
Clare
Bianca
Imogen
Fiona
And a bunch of other people I didn't even know. But then I stumbled over Liam's name and nearly dropped my phone. So it's settled. I'm going to this party.
So a few hours later, I freshened up extra nice in the shower. I did my cycle about three times, tried on six of my 'get the girl' outfits until I found the right one: slim straight black jeans, red button up flannel (present from Jake), and my aging but functional boots. I was completely ready, you know, after fixing my hair countless times.
I walked to the party with confidence. I liked looking extra good for outings. No one had anything about me to make fun of, I looked AWESOME (I hate sounding cocky, but yeah), and I FELT good.
I finally reached Mo's party, but I spotted it from half a block away. I could smell the beer and vodka from one kid passing by me, I saw a few stoners were sitting on the sidewalk, and Meat Detonation by Crud was blasting through a few speakers. As I walked in, there was a bunch of commotion and whatnot, but I ignored it to look for the munchkin with the fluffy hair (Jesus, I wonder how it feels!).
An hour into the party, I quit looking and decided to just kick it for a while. I grabbed a soda and sat in a chair, putting my feet up. I listened to some music for a while and said hi to a few of my classmates. The last person I saw was Owen, who was severely drunk.
"Heeeeyyyyy Guntry!" he said, pronouncing my last name wrong.
"Uh… it's Guth-"
"What the fuck ever, man! It's a partaaayyy!" he slurred, stumbling off to some random girl in the kitchen.
I rolled my eyes and just chilled out for the next half hour, but then suddenly, everyone was running upstairs to see something. It must've been pretty crazy because I was the only one not climbing over people to see what was up. In fact, I didn't move from my seat, sipping on my third root beer.
"Something going on?" I heard someone say directly next to me. I jumped violently.
"JESUS CHRIST!" I yelled. I turned around to see Liam, kind of taken back by me yelling. "Sorry, you scared the hell out of me."
"Sorry… I seem to be a big traffic cone. No one ever sees me." He chuckled, look up over by the stairs. People were starting to yell and curse and whatnot. "Do you really wanna see what's going on?"
I shook my head. "Not in the least. Uh… do you wanna get out of here? I'm sort of over this party."
"Yes, please." He said, getting up.
So the both of us got up before hearing a loud "KATIE!" We both chuckled and walked out of the house.
"So, where to, Casey?"
"Uh, it's K-"
"I know… I'm kidding." He snickered.
I rolled my eyes and played along. "Well, Leon, there's this lake I like to go to clear my head and such. We can go there."
"Sounds groovy. Let's go." Dear god, he's such a dork.
As we walked I started to check him out a little. He was wearing a pair of these blue tight jeans that fit him WAY too well, an All-American Rejects tee, and a slim jacket. His shoes were a bit worn out but it went with his look, whatever you'd call his look. But we finally arrived at the lake. I walked over to the big rocks and took off my shoes and socks. I'm used to doing that there. He did the same.
"So…" he started, looking out into the water. "What brought you to that party?
"Nothing to do. I didn't want to just sit and watch women's wrestling on Youtube. I mean, Trish Stratus is great and all, but I want a life too." I said.
"Ah, when the women's division mattered." He chuckled.
"You can say that again."
He sighed. "Tell me about yourself, tall person."
I couldn't help but blush. The kid was giving me a nickname already.
"Well, I'm 17 years young, I live with my mom, I um… Wait, how come you walked off earlier today?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Earlier, when I told you my name."
"Oh…. That." He looked down at his feet. "Well, it's just that whenever I hear your name, it was something dramatic. 'KC and his kid" this and 'KC cheated on Jenna' that. I try my best to steer away from drama and… well…"
"I'm the definition of drama, I bet." I was obviously offended, but it wasn't totally false.
"I wasn't gonna say that."
"You didn't have to. I know you thought it."
"No." he started." It's just… I have a bunch of shit going on already and I don't need anything else to cry over."
I didn't know if he was serious about the crying, but I didn't bother to go into that.
"Oh… Sorry."
"It's fine… Yeah, my dad, he isn't the most accepting person in the world. It can be a bitch sometimes."
Ok, now I was curious. "Accepting about… what, exactly?"
He kind of looked at me like I was stupid. "Uh… I'm gay?"
Jack. Fucking. Pot.
I know, I'm terrible, but this is probably the best thing I've heard all day.
"O-oh… Really?"
He snickered. "Can't you tell? I mean… My dad says I act like a faggot almost every day."
I frowned. "He says that? Damn… Well, you seemed like a normal guy to me. I mean, not that gay guys aren't normal. I mean, gays are people. I mean-"
"Slow down there, Guthrie. I get what you're saying." He said, turning to me, crossing his legs. "You know… Having a father does suck sometimes, and no matter how pissed off he makes me, I'm still lucky to have one. Because I know it would be hell without one. Although, I do wish he appreciated me more. I mean, my brother doesn't mind at all, my mom adores me still, but my dad… I don't know."
I only nodded. I wasn't about to get into anything about my dad. "So, if I might ask, what happened this morning?"
He sighed. "Not much… Just cursed my birth is all." He frowned and my heart dropped like a sandbag. He finally looked up at me and there were tears in his eyes. "You know, sometimes I do that to myself. I mean, I'm lucky and happy to be alive, but I just think… is it worth the suffering?"
I sighed heavily. "You and I are a lot alike. I used to tell myself that a lot too. Back when I was about 11, my parents were both put in jail. Drug-related issues. I went from foster home to foster home, but I just got worse and worse. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to live or if I was well wanted. Until I found that group home, life made some sort of sense. But here's the thing. You're gonna go through a bunch of shit in life. People are gonna judge and sometimes it'll be someone you love. And it's gonna really suck. But once you're on your own, you'll realize that no one will care. Because you'll be away from the assholes, the douchebags, the unaccepting fathers. And you'll be able to be you… Am I making sense?" I asked.
"Yes… perfect sense." He nodded, a tear falling. Without realizing what I was doing, I wiped it away with my thumb, and I kept my hand there on his cheek, staring into his eyes.
"You have a way with words, tall person." He said, smiling slightly.
"I have my deep moments." I said, running my fingers through his hair. He let me, and sweet baby Jesus, it was wonderful.
I couldn't hold back anymore and our lips met. As it happened, I caught a grip on reality, but I didn't bother to stop, and he didn't bother to stop me. Our lips explored each other's and we could only pull away to catch our breath.
"Liam… I don't like guys… But something about you, I dunno. It gets me going. My heart racing. You know?" I said, blushing at my mushy words.
"I do now." He giggled.
"So, are you ok with 'KC likes Liam' this and 'Liam likes KC' that?" I asked him.
"As long as we can keep doing this… Casey."
I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "Bite me." I said, kissing him again.
