Uh oh. 10 reviews on the first chapter.
PRESSURE!. e.e;This always happens. When I feel like someone actually likes my work I worry
that I'll screw up. But nevertheless, I always get the chapter in sooner or later. And in this case for this story,
it happened to be a bit later. Okay, so I'm not going to bore you with dumb excuses.. Enjoy the story! Please. ._.
Near woke up as soon as the clock struck 5:30. He didn't have an alarm clock, but he always woke up exactly the same time every morning, regardless how late he had stayed up the previous night stressing over the day ahead.
He kicked off the white sheets and shuffled into the hallway, stepping over his little sister curled up on a plush dog bed.
It wasn't that Abby didn't have a bed, she did, but once at the store she saw a really big and white fluffy dog bed. She begged and begged Mrs. Valentino to let her purchase it with the all money she had to her name and she took it home and slept on it.
The River family didn't even have a dog... So Near didn't understand why his sister would want to buy a dog bed, let alone fall asleep on it.
He padded into the kitchen and reached into the miniature refrigerator for some strawberries, the only fresh thing in his fridge.
Near had talked with his mother last night about what had happened with Mello at the hospital, she was very relieved about not being sued, and immediately agreed with Mello's idea. She didn't want Abby going along because she claimed Abby would just become a nuisance to the poor man and that he needed all the peace and quiet to rest up.
Near was nervous about going alone, but knew his mother was absolutely right; Abby was a bit of a stress to many.
Lillian River said that Near had to do whatever the man asked, even if it was something involving hard labor. Near nodded and kissed his mother goodnight, going to his room to let everything that happened sink in while he set up his dominoes neatly and quietly.
The soft purr of his mother's electric wheel chair sounded from behind him, "Good morning, Mother." He said softly.
She sighed, "Ah good morning, baby. What time do you have to go to the hospital, again?"
Near glanced at the stove clock, "11:00." It was only 6:00 now, so in a few hours he'd have to leave.
"I think you should go a little early." She smiled warmly at her son, bringing her wheel chair around next to him. His mother had to control the wheelchair with her chin to get around. Despite her disability she was very cheerful and often made herself useful. She hated being unable to move about her own home. So Near had gotten that device made specially for her.
"Yes ma'am."
"When is your sister going to wake up? I'm hungry..." Abby often fed Near's mother.
"I can help. When is Mrs. Valentino coming over?" Near took his package of strawberries to the fridge and poured his mother a bowl of Pops.
Mrs. Valentino often helped Lillian with things such as going to the restroom, cooking and bathing.
"Oh thank you sweetheart. I know you have a lot on your hands..." She opened her mouth and took a spoonful, chewing and swallowing before speaking again, "And she'll be coming over at 8:00."
Near finished feeding his mother and got up to take a shower. He grabbed a used white towel from a nearby door knob and walked into the bathroom, turning on the ice cold water.
On days like these when he was really tired or stressed it was the cold water that always did it in for him. He stepped in the running water after discarding his clothes and sucked in a harsh breath as the water felt like needles on his skin. But he didn't mind, he washed his hair, face, and body and got out. He pulled himself up to the mirror, gladly it wasn't foggy because of the lack of heat and he stared at himself.
Near wasn't ugly... But you couldn't really call him handsome. White blonde curls framed a child-like face and big gray eyes seemed too innocent for words. He was short, about five foot tall, and his shoulders were far from broad and masculine; a petite boy. No, he had never been called beautiful or manly or handsome... He always seemed to get adorable, cute and even dainty and pretty. It bothered him that he couldn't look like his father, who was tall and every bit of a man that he wasn't.
Once, Near even got mistaken for a girl... It tore his heart out.
People would say that Near surprisingly looked nothing like his father. It hurt. His father was a war hero. Someone who died in honor of his country. He died for the love of his life, and his beautiful children. Anthony River was someone anyone would want to resemble. Near's mother was lovely, sure, but being told that he looked JUST like her, enraged him. He didn't want to look anything like a woman...
He sighed and brushed a few wisps of hair from his face, long gray eyelashes swept together as he narrowed his eyes. Attempting to make himself look like a fierce-eyed man.
He just looked like a pouting child.
Gritting his teeth Near, stomped out of the bathroom and ran into Zeal who was trying to scale the hallway wall, using both walls in support of her thin legs.
"Hi Near!" She said, grabbing onto the bathroom door frame, but lost her balance and fell right on her bum.
"Hello Zeal. Your mother is here helping my mom?" Glancing down at her, Near pulled the towel closer.
She nodded standing up, not fazed by the fall, "Yeah aren't you going to help some guy you killed with your car?"
Near blinked, "I didn't kill him."
"But doesn't everyone who gets hit by a car die?"
"No. I didn't hit him that hard."
"Well, that's good!" She acknowledged before skipping off screaming, "ABBY WHERE ARE YOU?"
Near shook his head quietly to himself and trudged into his room.
"I'M RIGHT HERE!" Abby called from somewhere in the house before Near shut his bedroom door, muffling the sounds of giggles and squeals.
If he got ready quick enough, he might be able to get Mrs. Valentino to give him a ride to the hospital.
He towel dried his hair quickly and then slipped into his usual all-white attire, last time he didn't have shoes and felt insanely gross walking on that floor in just socked feet. So this time, he went with old ratty white sneakers not bothering with the laces.
Near caught a glimpse of the bright bold colors of his Legos sitting on the floor, calling to him. Remembering that he wasn't finished with the tower he was building, he lowered himself onto the soft carpeted floor and started playing with his toys where he had left off the previous night.
After God knows how long he stopped playing, glancing around. Something wasn't right... He had felt it all along but now he couldn't take it any longer.
"Where is Optimus?" He muttered under his breath.
The favorite transformer wasn't anywhere to be found. He checked under his bed, in his bed, and in the closet. No Optimus...
He stomped out of the room, stepping over Zeal who was rolling on the floor and grabbed Abby who was rolling next to her.
"Where is he?"
A smug smile met his frown, "What?"
Zeal giggled.
"Where is Optimus?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She and Zeal laughed.
Near sighed, "Yes you do."
"Yeah he's in my room." She glanced at the clock, "Aren't you supposed to be gone?"
Near slowly turned to stare at the clock, it read 10:48.
"Oh no." He ran outside to the front yard and crashed into Mrs. Valentino who was holding a dirt-encrusted shovel.
"Near!" She cried, dropping the shovel, staring at the wide-eyed boy.
"Can you take me to the hospital?" He panted, "I'm going to be late."
The sound of his mother's wheelchair vroomed from behind Mrs. Valentino, "Tsk... Near I told you to go early!"
"Oh! Yes I'll take you to the hospital!" She ran inside for her keys, leaving Near's mother to glower disapprovingly at her son.
"I'm sorry mom. I lost track of time." He tried to reason with her displeased eyes.
"Okay Zeal! Abby! Make sure you watch your mother! I'll be back in a few minutes! BE GOOD! And Zeal, stay out of Mrs. River's way!" Mrs. Valentino bounded out the front door and down the wheelchair ramp, into the front yard and to her car. "To the Valentino mobile!" She cried, using the passenger side of the door as leverage to hop inside the now topless Miata.
"I love this car." Near heard her grumble as he followed, opening the passenger door and sliding in.
She beamed at Near and waved at Mrs. River before zooming off towards the hospital.
Instead of coming in with him like last time, she just dropped him off at the front door, "Sorry Near, I need to get back to your house before Zeal does something reckless." She quickly spun her car around in a wild doughnut before blasting off through the parking lot.
Near couldn't help but worry where Zeal had gotten her recklessness from...
Nevertheless, he turned and padded inside the cold hospital, heading for the elevator when a strict-looking nurse stopped him.
"And where do you think you're going?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'm going to go see Mello." He said monotonously, staring at her blankly.
"The man who got hit by a car yesterday?"
"Yes, I'm Near, he told me to come to him today at eleven. I really need to go."
"Oh!" Her face immediately lightened up and she pressed the elevator 'Up' button, "Yes, Doctor Matt mentioned you. You don't look like the type of person to drive around slamming into people with their cars..."
"I'm not." Near muttered, stepping into the now open elevator, "Thank you though..." He pushed number four and stared blankly as the once cross nurse waved cheerfully at him.
The doors closed and he was alone.
Near had made it up to Mello's room and knocked gently on the thick hospital door.
"Come in." It was Mello.
Near walked in and stared at the man, he was sitting in a regular wheelchair accumulated to fit his injuries. His right leg was propped up and his right arm was held close to his chest in a sling, the bandages on his head were gone and he smiled warmly up at him.
"Hello Near. My healthcare couldn't afford an electric wheelchair so you'll have to help me around okay?"
"Yes sir. Should we go now?"
"Yes, I have a taxi cab waiting outside." He leaned around Near glancing around, "But I need to wait for Doctor Matt's go ahead."
As if on cue, the red-headed 'Doctor' strolled in, smirking cockily at Near, "Hey, time to go?"
"Yes, thanks for everything." Mello nodded shortly before smiling at Near, "Let's go."
The white haired boy nodded and walked around behind Mello, rolling him out of the room and into the elevator down the hall.
Pressing the bottom floor number Near took his spot behind Mello once more.
"So what do you do for fun, Near?" Mello asked, not turning around.
"I don't really have time for fun." He said softly, glancing at the straight fine blonde strands on the back of Mello's head.
"Oh? And why is that?" The blonde head cocked slightly, awaiting an answer.
The elevator door swooshed open and Near stepped out, rolling Mello out in front, "I need to take care of my family."
"Ohh, a family man. You're young... I didn't except that. I thought your mother was paralyzed and your father was dead?"
"No. I mean, I need to take care of my mother and sister. I don't have a girlfriend or anything like that." He felt like punching himself in the head for mentioning 'anything like that.'
"Anything like that, huh?" The blonde man chuckled, "Hmm..."
"I- er no... I'm not gay." Now he felt like kicking himself in the head for mentioning homosexuality. But he had a point, just because he had feminine features didn't mean he was gay. Some people did happen to question his sexuality.
"Oh? That wasn't really what I was talking about. But that's too bad." Mello tsked in disappointment.
Near felt his eye twitch violently. He didn't know what to say... So he didn't say anything more. He led Mello out and helped him into the waiting cab, folding the wheelchair up and setting it in the trunk. Near walked around and settled himself in the back of the taxi next to Mello.
"So," Mello grinned, Mello could now stare him straight in the eye, despite Near's disliking to it. "when we get home, how about we have something to eat? I want lunch."
Near nodded, "I can cook-"
"No. I'll order something. If you can't drive a car, I can't imagine how unstable your cooking is." He smirked.
He was right... Near couldn't cook to save his life. The only cook in the family was Abby. And she was nine.
Mello looked at Near's defeated face and smiled gently, "It's okay. It's not your fault you can't do anything right."
Near blinked, slightly angered. But he let it drop. "Okay then." He mumbled.
Mello chuckled, "Oh driver, turn up that road on the left."
"Yes sir." The man turned onto the road and they found themselves on Patriot lane.
And suddenly Near was hit with a wave of nausea. The realization of being all alone with this stranger hit him as hard as Mello got hit by his car. And the sick feeling only became more prominent as the driver stopped at 4562 Patriot Lane.
"Alright, here." Mello chirped cheerfully, "Get out."
While Near hurried to the popped open trunk to get the wheelchair, Mello tossed a twenty at the cabbie.
"Here. Keep the change." He growled, grabbing onto Near to help himself into the open and ready wheelchair.
"Oh, thank you sir." The driver beamed widely as Mello just rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. Come on Near." He tapped the boy who began to walk them up the long winding driveway.
"Do you have the keys?" Near asked, gaping at the grand house before him.
"Mhm." Mello tossed the keys over his shoulder but they flew over Near's head, so he scurried off to retrieve them as they landed somewhere in the neatly cut grass.
He found them by the only large shady oak tree in the front yard and plucked them up. He gripped Mello's wheelchair and stared in awe at the giant house.
He had seen this house plenty of times walking by on the street, and had always wondered why such a magnificent piece of architecture lived in such a crappy neighborhood like Sandypoint.
It was like those beautiful houses you see when you drive along the bayside, luxurious mansions that seemed only for display, rather than a place for living.
The property was at the very left end of Patriot Lane, before it turned right into Jackson Road and the property had about ten acres to it's name, whilst all the other houses weren't even measured in acres. While only one piece of the acreage made up the front yard, the rest of the acres belonged to the forest that stretched out behind it.
The house itself had large windows that let in every bit of sunshine from every angle. The house was probably about two floors, unless if you counted three floors if there was a basement. Two beautiful marble pillars were set in front of the large double rosy wooden doors. Salt colored grand stairs led right up to the spacious wrap-around patio. Outdoor furniture sat together off to the far right of the front door, a small woven love seat, two chairs in the same style of the love seat and a glass coffee table.
Mello glanced up at Near, who was just gawking at his house, fumbling with the keys like an idiot. "Near?"
He blinked before turning to the man, "Oh I'm sorry, It... I-"
"Let's go inside shall we?"
"Yes." Near found the key to the front door on his first try and pushed Mello inside, having to tilt the chair back and forth to get him up the stairs and through the door. The first sign that there was going to be hard labor with this job.
"Alright!" Mello smiled around at his home, "Home sweet home. Now..." He grabbed his phone set on his lap, "Let's order pizza."
Near nodded, and stepped away from Mello, looking around the house.
A beautiful, extravagant staircase was the first that caught the eye, it lay off to the far left of the main entrance. It was the same type of redwood as the front door and the wooden floors, and a carefully carved railing lined the stairs as they swept up to the second floor.
"No...! Do I have to buy the damn chocolate for you?"
Near was snapped back to reality by Mello's angry voice.
"No no... Since you're completely useless I'll call another pizza place. Good day." He snapped his phone shut grumbling frustratedly to himself.
"Do you want me to order?"
"No, you're probably incapable of that too." He flipped open his phone again, "Hello, I would like to place an order." His voice was suddenly warm and inviting again, "Yes ma'am. My name would be under Keehl. Yes that's me. I would like to order three large pizzas, and I want you to listen carefully since the other pizza place I called was hopeless."
There was an agreeing sound on the other end allowing Mello to continue with his order.
"The first pizza: I want chocolate sauce in place of the tomato sauce, and in place of the cheese I want strawberries, and for the topping I want more chocolate sauce. Can you do that for me, Miss?"
There was a long pause.
"Do you have the supplies to make my first pizza? If so, I'll continue my order." He shifted a little in his seat, listening to the order taker, "Good. I'm glad we're in business then."
He covered the phone and glanced at Near, "Will you take me into the kitchen?"
Near nodded and started wheeling down the hall, looking for the kitchen, because it was apparent Mello wasn't going to give him directions.
"You're going the wrong way, sweetheart." Mello grumbled, cocking his head to the right.
Near stiffened at the nickname but turned into two white double doors that resembled those doors that only luxurious restaurants have.
Near was right about the luxurious thing...
The whole kitchen was incredibly well lit, there was a fridge that was even taller than he was! The fridge he had back at home often broke, and was smaller than Abby. There was a large stove in the middle of the kitchen. That was awfully strange... And it was the glass kind he saw at Lowes without the need for fire. There was even a microwave hovering over the counter.
"Okay, yeah. Thank you. Okay... yeah... yeah that's my order... Yeah, Patriot Lane. Okay b-... Yes." Mello's voice started to become impatient, "Okay yes." He snapped, "Yes ma'am. I said yes. Yes. Okay... Yeah I-" He grit his teeth, "OKAY BYE!" The angry blonde tossed his phone on the counter.
"Is everything alright?" Near tugged softly on a curly white tendril. He felt uncomfortably like a maid. Waiting on this man's hand and foot. Or rather, broken arm and leg.
"Yeah, just that dumb bitch kept forgetting my order." He pointed to the fridge, "On top of the fridge is some whine. Get me some."
"Oh. I don't know if you should drink in your condition... Aren't you on pain medication?" Near also didn't want to be alone with someone who was under the influence of alcohol.
"Nah. I wouldn't let them put me on anything. I want to feel." He started using his free arm to try and roll himself towards the fridge.
Near sighed and hurried up to the giant fridge, "How shall I get up there?" He asked more to himself rather than the blonde behind him.
"Climb onto the counter. But take off your shoes... I don't want the germs from the hospital to get on my clean counter."
"Yes." Near kicked off his shoes, and pressed his hands onto the smooth marble counter, lifting himself up.
"Be careful." Mello said nervously behind him, voice dripping with sincere concern.
Near slowly stood up, clinging to the fridge, he glanced down, Mello was staring up at him, watching with caution, his free arm held open slightly.
Near had never liked heights... He didn't like anything that didn't pertain to him sitting comfortably, and certainly safely on the ground.
Near reached over and gripped a bottle of wine, but his socked foot slipped on the curved edge of the counter and he lost his balance.
Even an idiot could predict what was about to happen in the following series of events.
In slow motion Near fell backwards, right into Mello's lap. The blonde man grunted in surprise and pain as hurt his arm was ruthlessly crushed beneath Near's weight. To make matters worse, the bottle of wine cracked loudly against the fridge, shattering open and spilling over the two in a rain of sharp shards of glass and rain of red wine. What rotten luck...
Cliffie or whaat?
Um, bear with me... I don't exactly know how long this next chapter will take, but I actually already started working on the next one. So it might get in sooner. =D
I can't promise anything though. I have trouble with those kind of things. I lose track of time to quickly.
Can you believe it's Thursday already? God... Being home all the time... This is why I fail at home school. D;
Well I hoped you liked this chapter, because this story should be pretty good!