AN: Yeah, that last chapter is definitely a nightmare, I shouldn't've said dream. :D?
~~~BM~~~
My palm still stings so it wasn't all a dream.
My fingers find a connection with his face. "What the flying Euro-sausage are you doing?"
"If you want to kill me now, I totally understand."
"What the hell Robbie?" I'm spitting rage.
"I wanted to see something," he murmurs, mostly to himself.
This only makes me feel worse. "What? How fast I can make you disappear?"
"I think I'm gay."
The front door opens to reveal an older brunette. "Dang it. We can't talk about it now." I watch, perplexed, as the curly-haired boy helped his mother with a few grocery bags. Listened to their sad, awkward small talk. Saw the confusion in her eyes when she saw me. There was a hope that seemed sorely misplaced, and she seemed to realize it too as it extinguished itself in recognition.
"Hi Mrs. Shapiro." I wave sharply, ignoring the pleading look on my friend's face, "I gotta jet, see you at school tomorrow Rob!"
I almost make it back into the car when lanky limbs grab me with a firmness often lost in their owner. "Jade…
"Can you come over tomorrow?"
I could kick myself now, especially after the night I've had. I haven't been able to focus all day.
"Thanks for coming back."
Rolling my eyes, "Whatever. It's not like we were done with the homework anyway." The spastic boy hands me a glass bottle. Don't think like that: he handed you a soda. Right, because if this goes south I won't throw it… "Sorry I broke your glasses by the way."
He waves it off graciously, appearing more charismatic for it. "Why I always have a few spares."
"Your face looks surprisingly okay…" I peer in closer at his too-flawless skin.
"See? There's a use for male make up," Shapiro grins, ushering me into his room. A wipe appears, pinched between thumb and forefinger, to scrub with. Holy cheese on a sandwich, I can see two separate imprints from the outer joints of each finger. That is so unbelievably cool…
I admit, I'm more fascinated than concerned. Or sorry. "Jesus, Robbie: are those bruises?" It's like seeing an x-ray of my hand.
There's a mix of teasing and chagrin in his tone. "Jade West, you are just as scary as the day I met you."
"Why me?" Because the topic is about to get more serious, I set on his bed and get comfortable.
"I needed to kiss a girl." There's no hedging around the matter and I appreciate it.
"That's not an answer, Robbie." I sigh, leaning back onto the orange sheets. Propping against hideously-clashing pillows, I fix him in my gaze, waiting for his response.
"I felt like I could trust you. We've known each other for a long time now…"
"Rex doesn't want to be in my backpack anymore. Can't he come out during lunch?"
"Robbie, we're 7th graders now. You can't just be a dork all the time anymore," I say in a kind of bossy way. "And don't whine. We're supposed to set examples for the lessers, not sink back to their level."
Cat chimes in, "It's only the first day: why don't you figure out your classes and stuff before pulling him out?"
After he agrees, we make plans to hang out at the abandoned theater downtown so we can catch up. Robbie just got back from his family vacation in Yakima or whatever 3 days ago and he hasn't been able to hang out since.
All he's told us so far is his dad got him that creepy puppet and he hasn't really put it down. I don't know how I feel about it. It's mean - like meaner-than-me type mean.
The three of us run around the old stage, the creaking of the floorboards have long faded into white noise. Rex, still a doll with an attitude problem, is proving to be an interesting addition to our activities.
Still: I can't help it if I blame him on my friends becoming shyer and crazier.
Finally, a still passes over us when we sit down at a nearby Mexican restaurant. Well, 'us' being me, Cat, and Robbie, mostly to listen to rudeness wazz out of Rex's plastic, hand-controlled mouth.
By now, I'm pretty used to Robbie being bashed on by his hand-with-a-face - calling him stupid, ugly, lame… even girly until glares were evenly divided between the speaker, real and supposed.
"Y'know, outta all the cool dudes in Hollywood, I get stuck with this little queermo."
Cat refuses to take it this time. "I have a gay uncle in SF, not cool Rex." It's kind of cute she actually directs things to the over-glorified hand-sock.
"Well I'm not talking at him, pretty girl, just this twinked out faggot here with his hand up my butt." If vent dolls could wink… Creepy.
Out of the boy's hand, I grab Rex by the shirt. I lay him flat on the table. "I can put you out of your misery if you'd prefer, but don't you dare talk about him like that! Even if Robbie is gay, that's his deal and we don't need your brand of hate in this world." I'm breathing a little harder, "Do you hear me, you… inorganic scrapheap…"
I feel a little silly, in consideration of the serrated table knife I have pointed at his face. I'm losing it.
"I couldn't tell Cat, she- not after our weird sexual-tension past. Trina too." He's twiddling his thumbs, standing out-of-place in his own room. I budge over and invite him on his own bed.
When he sits, I ask his back, "Then what about Tori? She's super nice, it's not like there was any risk of her tearing you a new one."
"Well, there was that one drive-by acting exercise…" Robbie sputters. You dog, you've kissed all the lead female roles in your life. "Never mind that. She and I simply don't have the history you and I do."
The mini-fridge pops open. I swear if he pulls out the Heckman's… I'm offered another beverage (sure why not?) and he pops the top of his. Leaning back, we lie side by side (and I'm only mildly disappointed I can't see the left half of his face anymore) in a surprisingly amiable silence. I don't remember the last time we were quiet for so long. "Where's Rex?"
"I… haven't been carrying him with me so much ever since I've been questioning my sexuality."
"That puppet isn't exactly supportive, is it?" I grimace, half-expecting Rex to pop out of nowhere ("You don't know what I got!"), but it doesn't happen and I blame it all on neurosis. "What are you going to do now? Are you going to tell anyone? I mean, it's not a big deal really… We're in LA; this is California. Sure, it's no San Francisco, but it's not unheard of and we're all gonna have your back."
"I could always count on you and Cat, ever since the beginning." He sniffles and I turn to his face scrunched oddly.
The smile is goofy and rare. "Thanks Jade."
"Tell anyone I said that and you die," I threaten. "Actually Shapiro, tell anyone I was here and you'll regret it."
He ignores the threats, probably used to them. "I don't know if I'll be out anytime soon. Like, my parents aren't exactly proud of me as it is." I nod, understanding the concept of being a familial disappointment. "Maybe at school, where there are some other queer kids and gay couples. I'll start bringing Rex some more, I've been kind of bored without him.
"Anyway, I guess it's for the best that I got Shaggy instead of the lead. It'd just be too awkward to have to kiss Cat, especially since I'd've figured it out at some point."
"I can see th- wait what did you say?"
"That it's best I wasn't chosen to play Fred. Why?"
"Let me see your script."
The taller teen rolls out of bed, rushing to give me his book. Opening it to the first page, he's scribbled our classmates' names next to their roles.
"Daphne (Cat). Fred (Beck). Scooby Doo (Tori). Shaggy (Me!). Velma (Grace Jacobs). Vincent the Groundskeeper (Eli Webb). [nameless] Janitor/villain (André)."
Well wouldja look at that? Leafing through the paperback, I find what I'm looking for: the kiss scene between Fred and Daphne.
"If you had been listening… a classic mystery series… recategorize…"
Fuck me gently with a sideways chainsaw. "Scooby-fucking-Doo is the classic work we're reanalyzing? WHY."
"Huh? What do you mean why? It's Sikowitz. He threw himself through a window of his own to make us break character." He empties his bottle greedily. "And where have you been? We started working with this script last Monday."
"I guess I got lazy after Sinjin gave me the Restful Reader's version. Seriously though, I didn't think much about it after I assumed it'd be like Shakespeare or something.
"Let's not talk about it. How 'bout we finish those problems Mr C gave us before I head outta here?"
Doing just that, I'm glad he didn't have any objections since I had a lot to take my mind off of.
I just needed to process how I feel about some of this alone. Like why I feel relieved.
~~~BM~~~
AN:
Sorry 'bout the delay, and the next chapter will probably some time too, winding up the school year and all. Alas, this story is just starting (as far as I'm concerned) and will eventually finish, eventually, chapters and chapters later. ^_^ Love and cookies!