"You eye the sheep of another shepherd, eh Kevin?"
Never would I have known the insinuation of those abhorred words would have relinquished such a fate on me. I froze, well informed my presence to this conversation was not known. Through the crack in the door I could witness this "interrogation" with my own eyes.
"What're you talking about?"
Kevin's expression had gone from confusion due to his friend's retreat to privacy, to his usual anxiety masked within irate threats. His face flushed, either in anger or embarrassment I could not tell.
"Do not play games with Rolf! I saw with my own eyes a mysterious woman enter your room during last night's affair! What of the Nazz-girl? Does Kevin not harbor affections for her?"
Rolf's voice was hushed as he confronted his most entrusted friend. Despite the social distance from these two fellows over the years, I thusly observed a very close bond between them flourish. I could only imagine the strife Rolf was feeling now realizing the information being withheld from him. Not only this, but the possibility of his inner circle being inundated with infidelity had most certainly been haunting him. All the while, I knew full well the entirety of the situation Rolf inquired about.
At this point, Rolf had barred Kevin into a corner void of lockers. I could see Kevin's mask beginning to fissure. His posture involuntarily displayed the fact he was plainly intimidated by Rolf's accusation and demand of an answer. The look in his eyes told me he was desperately searching for a brilliant deception he could use to make his way out of this situation.
"Hey man, listen."
Kevin suddenly regained his composure. He adopted a stolid look across his broad jawline.
"Remember that girl I was looking for the other day? Yeah, I found her. So what?"
I could see Kevin's attempts of intimidation hardly faze Rolf.
Rolf's lips pursed to the side at this declaration, the information slowly sank in for processing. During this, Kevin could no longer handle the reproaching eyes of Rolf gazing on him. His mask re-solidified itself as he burst with defense.
"I couldn't stop thinking about her, okay!?"
Kevin pushed past Rolf's right arm as if slamming through a fence door and commenced to pace.
"I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, Rolf! It's like..it's like..!"
He was facing the door of which I hid behind at the moment. How I was so invisible to both party members of this covert conversation is unknown to me. He placed his hands atop his head and I could see his fingers intertwining and griping his hair as he disheveled his hat. He abruptly turned back to Rolf, startling not only I, but Rolf in this sudden outburst.
"It's like she put a spell on me or something stupid like that! I know I'm with Nazz, I know! I don't know what to do, man!"
Kevin's mannerisms transformed fluently from bartering with Rolf, to that of complete despair. His spine gave into the weight of his upper body, face downcast.
"It's like I'm dying whenever she's not around…"
Over Kevin's pathetic excuse for a posture, I could see Rolf's countenance transform from defense to compassion. A gentle smile formed into a brilliant grin across his face. I could not believe what I was witnessing.
"Oh ho ho! Rolf's heart jumps for joy in your endeavors!"
Rolf's arms spread wide open, as if he were to embrace his friend before him.
"You truly have found the reddest radish in the world, have you not?"
His head tilted to the side as his grin softened once again. Kevin angled his head toward him with an expression I could only conjecture, as a result of my vantage point, to be complete disbelief.
"Wait-what? You're not mad?"
"Rolf could see the sincerity in your pitiful display! You have true feelings for the mystery woman, yes?"
"Well, yeah, I guess –"
Suddenly, Rolf's intentions were fulfilled and he embraced Kevin tightly, then proceeded to dance a joyous jig arm in arm. Kevin's confusion was so tangible one could nearly taste it in the air. All the while, Rolf sang a song in his native language. I could only assume it was one of celebration.
My heart had begun to sing as well. I'm sure a ridiculous grin had spread across my face in these proceedings. I could hardly contain myself. An ally. A friend. A confidant.
Rolf stopped his dance of festivity abruptly, taking ahold of Kevin's shoulders. Kevin was facing towards my place of hiding and I could see a very small smile emerging from a look of disorientation.
"Rolf would like to meet this flower of the untainted meadows!"
The color washed away from Kevin's face as his expression fell with it. In unison, my face contorted in reaction to this harrowing statement. How could I not have anticipated Rolf would want to meet this woman of Kevin's undying affections?
"Meet her? Uh..sure, Rolf."
Kevin adopted a hesitant smile. He then peered back towards the hallway and then to the staircase.
"We'll talk about this later, Rolf. Teachers are gonna get suspicious if they find us out here, let's head back to lunch."
Kevin wrapped his arm around Rolf's shoulders in an amiable fashion. As they had begun to make their way back to the lunch room, I saw Rolf nod his head enthusiastically in agreement to Kevin's statement.
"Yes, yes! We should make our ways back to the room of sustenance."
That was the last set of words I heard of this conversation before they both disappeared around the corner.
I mutely pulled from my hiding spot, retracting into the storage closet. My chest was filled with an array of emotions which caused tumult in my thoughts. How could this be? Only one layer of the truth was revealed to poor, unsuspecting Rolf. Could he candidly accept what was to be unveiled before him?
Could he accept that in all actuality there was no mystery woman? I could only hope he would acquiesce to the fact this woman was no woman at all. That Kevin's affections befell on a man. That Kevin's affections befell on me.
Hi Guys! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. This is my first crack at fanfiction, as well as the first time any of my writing has ever gone public, so I'd appreciate your comments and critiques of items that you liked or items that can be changed.
Also, marlushion on tumbr has been gracious enough to add illustrations to the above! If you would like to view those, please hop on over to doot-meister under the tag wrong place wrong ed.