Chapter One
Laying on my bed, staring at the celling of my room thinking over the past few days, I cannot believe how they have gone. And to believe it has only been four days that my parents have been out of town. I can't believe how strange the days have been. The first day I was annoyed; now I am waking up in my bed with a perfect stranger. I don't know how it started.
"JASON! GET YOUR ASS UP AND OUT OF THAT BED NOW!" my mother screamed as she shook me awake. "Just because you started summer this week doesn't mean you don't have responsibilities. Now get up and take your brother to school, this is his last week and then you will be free to sleep in all summer long. Ok. Now get up, and I swear if I get a call at all this week that your brother was late to school even by a minute I will take your car. You will be stuck here all summer in this hot house, without friends. Understood?"
I node my head, "Can you pass me those shorts?"
I stand and throw on the shorts my mom handed me and a shirt I found lying on my floor. Looking at myself in the mirror, I stroke my hand through my bedhead hair and walk to the bathroom where I brush my teeth. "Jonathan! You better be ready!" I shout as I spit out toothpaste and saliva.
I go downstairs to the kitchen where my mom and dad are sitting eating and talking, I walk past them and grab my keys as I head out the door with my little brother not far behind me. "Bye, Bye mommy and daddy." My brother calls out behind him as he threw on his backpack.
"Why do you talk like that?" I asked
"Talk like what?" He asked.
"Like your two years old!" I barked.
"But this is how I always talked." He replied teary eyed.
I stared at him for a moment feeling bad for have been rude and uncalled for. "I'm sorry Jonathan, you ready to go to school?" I asked with a smile. He nodded with a small smile then hopped into the car. "You know I'm five, right?" He asked. "Of course I do." I replied. "How old do you think I am?" I asked jokingly. With a wide grin he replied with eighty. "You think I'm eighty!" I responded, laughing with him. "No, your sixteen, J. I know that." Jonathan said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Meet me right here after school Pup. Love You!" I yelled as he started for the building.
On the drive home I started to think of what my parents had wanted me to make for dinner while they were away. "Well seeing how it is the first night without them I might just make Pup's favorite, Macaroni and Cheese with hot dogs mixed in." I thought to myself. When I arrived home I noticed my parents have gone but there was an odd car in front of my house. Confused I walked up to my door and it was locked so I looked at the windows and they were all still closed and locked but the gate to my backyard is opened not fully but still open. I slowly pushed the gate open and slowly walked into the backyard where there was a shirtless guy sitting on a lawn chair by the pool with his head in his hands.
"Who are you?" I ask standing on the other side of the pool. He looked up with sweat dripping from his forehead. Staring at me he replied, "I'm Alex, I'm the yard boy I was just hired a few days ago the owners of the house told me to start today. They also told me that there would be someone around my age here to pay me and what not; they said that his name was Jason. That's you, right?" I looked at him confused and then put up my index finger telling him to wait as I turned around and pulled out my phone.
"Mom, there's a guy here named Alex saying you hired him, is that true?" I asked in a hushed tone.
"Yea, honey we hired him to keep up the yard over summer because we knew you wouldn't. The money to pay him is in the drawer next to the fridge. Pay him ten for every hour he works and include a tip." She said.
"Mom, how can you hire a stranger while you are away and leave your children near them?" I asked aggravated.
"Oh, just give him a chance. He goes to your school you know, he's your age, talk to him, get to know each other and I bet you guys will become friends. We got to go now babe we're boarding the plane talk to you later. Love you." She hung up.
"Great! Stuck here with a stranger. How wonderful." I thought to myself before turning back to him. "Okay, Alex, would you like some water? You look like you could use some. Come on in." I said as I walked to the back door unlocking it with my key. Sure enough he followed me in and thanked me when I handed him a glass of water. "How long have you been out there for?" I asked looking at his red face and neck. "A few hours, I actually saw you leaving." He said in between sips. I looked at him taking everything in, thinking of what to do next. "Well hey it's already almost noon, do you want some pizza for lunch. You know take a break for a bit and don't worry you'll still be paid for it." I said trying to convince him. "Sure." He replied with a shy smile.
"So what took you so long to get home?" Alex asked with a small chuckle behind it. Looking at him I told him that I had gone to the store to buy food to make dinner with. "So you go to my school?" I asked. He nodded and then looked down at the floor. "Why didn't I see you around? What grade are you in?" He looked up at me and then back down. "I just finished up my sophomore year, and you have seen me, we had two classes together, Spanish and Biology." I looked at him and felt stupid. I still didn't recognize him which didn't make sense to me because I am very observant and would remember someone who looked like him. His build and facial details are definitely the kind you would remember. He looked up at me and I blushed and then the doorbell rang, thankful I walked to the door and received the pizza. After paying I took the pizza to the kitchen and grabbed some plates. "So Alex, have we ever talked before? I'm still trying to place you there. I know I would remember someone like you." I started to blush from the way it had sounded but hid it by taking a bite of pizza. He smiled, "No, we haven't talked. I used to sit in the back of class and was rarely called on. You, on the other hand, were like a question magnet." He started to laugh. "I thought it was funny when you had to read your summer essay in Spanish at the beginning of the year and you said a lot of the words wrong." I started blushing and stared at the ground. "Um, so how much longer are you going to work for today?" I asked. "I will probably work for about two more hours." He replied. "After words would you like to hang out, maybe stay for dinner? I think Pup would like to meet you." I said. "Sure," he said, "But who's Pup?" I smiled and then said "Pup is my brother Jonathan." "Why do you call him Pup?" Alex asked. "He's like a puppy, he follows people around like he's their tail, and always gives people the puppy eyes." I said with a small laugh, thinking back when he wasn't in school and always was with me, like a true puppy.
After about an hour lunch I put away the last slice of pizza for Pup to eat when he got home. Alex had gone back to work and all I could do was go on my laptop. I spent a good hour and a half on my laptop, playing games and checking my social websites. During this time I frequently looked up out the window to see what Alex was doing when I got the idea to search Alex to see if he had a profile on any of the social sites. He did. I tried to look at the photos, the info, anything to tell me more about him, but all his profiles were set to privet. I sent friend requests to get access to his profile. Finally, it was time to get Pup. I went outside and called for Alex. He came to the door hot, sweaty, and shirtless. That was when I truly noticed his build. He was tall, tan, thin, and had abs. His short black hair spiked to a point. "Yes?" Alex asked me smiling, breaking me from my stare which made me blush. "Uh, do you want to come with me to pick up my brother?" I asked still sneaking peeks at his body. "Yea, definitely." He replied.
The car ride was awkward and quiet. Some small talk was traded here and there, but not much else. A majority of the time it was near silent to where I just heard my thoughts running through my head with the music playing softly in the background. Every so often I would look over at Alex who would just sit there staring at the floor. Every time I looked at him my head would fill with odd thoughts, thoughts that I knew I shouldn't be having. I kept pushing the thoughts aside and just hoped I could be normal. I don't know why I blush when I talk to him or feel so odd inside. For some reason I get butterflies in my stomach when I'm around him. I quickly throw those thoughts out the window when we start to get close to the school. "Do you mind if I turn up the music. It's just I like this song and it might break the silence." Alex asked waiting patiently for a response. "Yea, sure, go on ahead." I said in an awkward tone. We waited in the car a good ten minutes, listening to music, and then I saw Pup heading my way.
"Hey Pup, how was school?" I asked as he hopped into the back seat. He looked up at me and then at the passenger seat confused. "Who's that?" Pup asked. I looked up at Alex who was just staring back at me waiting for me to respond. "Pup, this is Alex, he is going to be working at the house every so often ok." I replied and Alex smiled with a small wave of his hand. "So how was school?" Alex asked looking into the back seat as I started to pull away.
"Oh, it was fun. We've been watching movies like Alvin and the Chipmunks and Toy Story. And we get to color, paint, and play with all the toys they have there, they just got a ton of new toys. I'm so happy. I got a thing of stickers and a cup cake because Mike's mom gave them to us for his birthday." Pup kept going on to Alex who seemed to actually be interested in what happened. "So what are you working on at my house? You don't look like a plumber or the cable guy." Pup asked Alex, interested in what he could be doing. "I'm working in the yard, cleaning the pool, mowing the lawn, and trimming the tree, that kind of stuff." Alex replied. In the rear view mirror I saw Pup's eyes light up and grin ear to ear. "So does that mean the pools clean?" Pup asked almost shouting with excitement. Alex gave a small laugh and nodded his head yes. "J, can we all go swimming, please. I'll do anything, please." I could see the puppy eyes starting to come out on his face so I glanced over at Alex. "Do you want to go swimming?" I asked dividing my attention between him and the road. "Yea, that would be great but, I don't have any swimming trunks with me." He replied with a half-smile. "Don't worry. You can borrow a pair of J's. He has like a hundred." Pup quickly answers before anyone else could say anything. Alex looked at me for approval to which I just nodded my head. It was official, I'm crazy.
As soon as we walked through the doors of the house Pup ran to his room to get changed. Alex closed the door behind us and followed me to my room. "I'm sorry." He said. "I wasn't planning on this." I shook my head. "It's no big deal and besides I owe you for entertaining Pup in the car." I said handing a pair of trunks that looked like they would fit him. "You can change in the bathroom right in there." I said pointing to the door on the other side of my room. Alex walked over to the bathroom and closed the door. I started to take off my clothing and threw it on the bed. When I was about to remove my underwear I heard the bathroom door start to open. "Wait! I'm not done!" I shouted and the door automatically closed. "Sorry." Alex shouted through the door. When I put my trunks on I went to the bathroom door and opened it. "Ready." I said looking at Alex who was bright red. "Come on Mr. Peepster." I said with a smile as I turned to head out. I could feel the embarrassment radiating from Alex as we walked outside.
Pup was already in the pool splashing around. Alex then came beside me and asked if I were ready. I looked at him confused when he grabbed me and threw me in, then jumped in beside me. Pup immediately started laughing as did Alex. I on the other hand jumped up on Alex trying to take him under but failed. This made him laugh a bit harder and then went under water and twirled to where he was on top of me. Under water I was surprised by his speed which just left me staring at him. For some reason, looking up at him in the water, him staring down at me, my feelings of anger from him throwing me in settled. My heart started racing and I felt odd again. I quickly looked around the pool under water and swam to the bench. From there I sat watching my brother splash Alex and play games with him. They had breath holding competitions and even races, Alex let Pup win every time. Noticing it getting late I went in and started dinner. Both Pup and Alex stayed in and played more.
"J! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I love it, it tastes so good." Pup said stuffing the mac and cheese with hot dog in his mouth. Alex sat next to me smiling and laughing with Pup, it was nice to see Pup have fun. He's going to need it this week to not be upset with mom and dad being gone. After dinner Alex said good bye and I walked him out. He thanked me again for letting him borrow trunks, and apologized again for almost walking in on me when I was changing. He shook my hand and got into his car. "I'll see you again tomorrow." With that he was gone. I walked back in, locked up the house and got prepared for bed. I went to Pup as he brushed his teeth and invited him to sleep in my bed with me if he needed someone to sleep with which he agreed to. We lay down and Pup fell fast asleep. I on the other hand stayed up thinking over what happened. Questioning what is happening to me, why I feel the way I do when I'm near Alex.