Propositions By: Jesse Drache
Disclaimers: I don't own Ephram, Colin, Bright or any other characters you might recognize, I'm just borrowing them for my amusement. So don't sue me.
Warning: This is Ephram/Bright/Colin slash; if you don't like it, don't read it.
Rating: PG-13 but will get up to NC-17 in the future.
Chapter 6: Revelation
Ephram made his way through the crowded hallway, weaving his way through the massive amounts of people as he fought to get to his locker.
Spinning the combination lock, he managed to get the thing open without any problems and searched through the mass of books heaped at the bottom until he found his math and physics books.
Shoving them into his bag, he produced his history book, and returned it to the locker before closing the door with more force than he had intended to put behind it.
To his misfortune, the door closed to reveal Bright, staring at him with an amused look on his face.
"Mad at the locker are we?" Bright asked, cheerfully ignoring Ephram's irritated expression.
Without a word Ephram pushed past Bright and down the hallway attempting to put as much space between him and the other boy.
What? Is this the official let's all be mad at Bright day? he asked himself before turning to follow Ephram.
"Hey, I just wanted to thank you again for driving Amy home. I really needed the time to work things out with Colin. Amy also said she appreciated the ride, from what I hear it was an experience," Bright said, catching up to him and attempting to lighten the mood by joking. "Are you mad that you had to ride your bike to school because we did go by your house this morning to pick you up, but your dad said you'd already left."
"Come on, Ephram what's wrong? Why are you mad? Is it because of Colin?"
Hmmm, maybe he's not as dense as we all though, Ephram thought sarcastically, cringing at the mention of Colin's name.
Bright noticed Ephram's reaction and succumbed to the silence when he realized that he would get no answer from the other boy.
That's it, he though triumphantly as he determined the source of Ephram's angst.
"Nothing happened between us, we just talked. Actually he's also rather angry at me at the moment, something you guys seem to have in common. Come on, say something or I'm not going to leave you alone."
Ephram relented, hearing the determination in the blonde boy's voice.
"Nothing's wrong I'm fine. What makes you think there's anything wrong?" Ephram snapped pointedly not looking at the other boy.
Bright moved closer to Ephram and leaned down to whisper something in a conspiratory manner in the boy's ear.
"Well, for one thing," he whispered, "your physics class is in the other direction."
Ephram stopped mid-stride and glanced around him.
"Damn!" he uttered under his breath, then without another word, he gracelessly turned and walked in the other direction leaving Bright alone in the hallway.
Bright watched him go.
"You're welcome! Fuck!" he yelled as he saw Ephram disappear into the crowd.
Sensing the gazes that had suddenly settled on him due to his outburst, he glanced around meeting everyone's gaze, and smirking at scowling teacher before resuming his walk in the general direction of his next class.
As he walked past an open classroom, he caught a glimpse of Colin's face and the look that he found there chilled him to the bone.
***
The Previous NightColin yawned loudly as the movie ended and the credits begun to roll.
"Wow, it's already midnight. Remind me never to let Ephram choose the movie. Only he would want to watch a four-hour anime on a school night. Why did he go home anyway? I thought he was in it for the long haul," Colin said, stretching.
"Because I asked him to."
"Why'd you do that? We need someone to explain what's going on. Between falling asleep and general confusion, I'm pretty sure I missed half of the plot," Colin said jokingly.
"I asked him to go home because I needed to talk to you," Bright said, looking intensely at Colin.
Turning to meet Bright's gaze, all playfulness left Colin and he sobered under the other boy's burning glare.
"Ok. What's wrong? Is it about Amy?" Colin asked, concern seeping into his voice.
"No, it's not about it Amy."
"Well, what is it about?" Colin pressed, unconsciously moving closer to the blonde boy.
Bright took a deep breath, looking into Colin's eyes.
"Colin," Bright begun, placing his shaking hands on his knees in an attempt to still them.
"I want you to know that before the accident you and I were…" A lump formed in Bright's throat and he stopped.
"Yes?" Colin pressed.
"We were…together."
"Bright I know this, you told me. I told you that I forgave you," Colin said, reaching out to clasp his friend's shoulder.
"No, that's not what I meant. We were together like-like you and Amy are together. We were dating," Bright said, reaching to his shoulder and taking Colin's hand in both of his.
"What? No, you're lying," Colin said, trying to pull his hand back but Bright's grip was too tight.
"I'm not lying. Think about it Colin. You were going to break up with Amy for me, for us. We were together Colin, I have proof," Bright said, pleadingly. Taking one of his hands away from Colin while using the other to impede the other boy's escape, he reached in his pants pocket to remove a wrinkled letter.
"Read this. You wrote this to me on our first month anniversary. Look at it, it's in your handwriting. These are your words," Bright said, pressing the letter into Colin's hand and making him look at it.
Colin took the letter from Bright's trembling hand.
It was true, he recognized the handwriting it was the same as in all of the other things that he had found in his room. This was the old Colin's handwriting and the bottom of the letter was signed "With Love, Colin".
"It means nothing," Colin said, crumbling the letter and throwing it at Bright. "This was someone else. I don't even remember him. It means nothing."
"It means everything. How can you not remember? Remember this," Bright said as he picked up the letter with one hand and used the other to pull Colin to him before he crushed his lips against his.
"No!" Colin yelled, pushing Bright away from him and getting up. "Get out," he said.
Bright didn't move.
"Get out now!" Colin yelled pointing at the door and watching Bright slowly stand up and put on his coat, putting the crumpled letter in his pocket.
He looked at Colin saw the anger in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered before stepping out the door and into the front porch.
He heard the door slam shut behind him and his shoulders slumped.
Standing under the dimmed porch light, he looked around him at the darkened houses and put his hands in his pockets in an attempt to conserve his warmth.
His left hand brushed against the crumpled letter and he slowly pulled it out.
He looked at the familiar writing and at the words that he had long since memorized.
A surge of anger overtook him and he begun to tear the letter apart. Slowly he let his hands open and watched the pieces fall into a meaningless pile on the floor of the Hart's porch.
