Chapter three
"How did you know?"
Andrew was clocking a whole three hours and seventeen minutes straight of being a pain in the ass. It could well have been a personal best. So far it had been agitated pacing, and frustrated sighs which Warren guessed meant he wanted to say something but didn't know how. The boy had the vocabulary of a five year old, or a gym teacher.
Obviously something was bugging him, and a good friend would have asked what it was. Warren had not said a word.
He did not say anything now. Just kept his eyes on his desk. Invisibility rays did not design themselves.
He felt rather than heard Andrew step into his personal space. Immediately, he slapped his pencil down on to the desk: no way he could work now. The boy's presence in his immediate vicinity made him bristle like a chill wind in summer. When he finally spun his chair around, Andrew watched him with an expectant expression, and Warren had to think hard for a moment to recall what he'd asked.
"Know what?" Coupled with his lack of articulation was Andrew's assumption that everyone knew what he meant anyway, and sometimes Warren wanted to smack him because of it. He fixed Andrew with a look that he hoped said, 'what the hell are you talking about, you little freak?' Knowing Andrew, the meaning would be lost entirely, but thinking it made Warren feel just a little better.
Now Andrew dropped his gaze, and Warren hoped it was out of embarrassed understanding of his own accusatory stare.
"You know, about me." He looked over at the other side of the room, then his eyes rolled up to stare intently at the ceiling. His face suggested that he was hiding some guilty and exciting secret. It did not, however, give Warren any further clue to his meaning.
Warren shrugged, and shifted his expression to 'get on with it, I have better things to do'.
Andrew mustered some futile and frustrated gesture with a flap of his hands, as though trying to grasp the words out of the air itself.
"That... thing you said about me, the other day. When you said I was..." Andrew tried a quick waggle of his eyebrows, as if they could express it better than he could. Warren had probably said a million different things about Andrew in the past few days. Finally desperate enough to help Andrew out, he sorted through his mental catalogue of insults, wondering which one specifically had Andrew so worked up. Challenged? Insane? Gay?
The last one had a glimmer of familiarity. As if to confirm his thoughts, Andrew continued, "was it, like, gaydar or something?" He dipped his head forward in a conspiratorial nod, and the awed tone in his voice made the word sound like it was a super-power.
That one sure came out of nowhere. The boy watched him with eager anticipation, and Warren realised he had just seconds to assess the situation and figure out the best way to make fun of it.
"What are - "
"'Cause you can tell me," Andrew interrupted. "Or not. If you're not, that is. I just figured, since you knew about me, and I thought maybe I might have it too 'cause I kinda guessed about you, although I could be wrong, I don't know, I just don't know how you can tell, exactly..." In a complete shift from perturbed silence, suddenly Andrew's babbling knew no bounds. Somewhere in the middle, Warren had finally guessed what he was trying to say, and was currently lodged in a stunned stupor, wondering what the hell to do with Andrew's admission.
"You guessed about me?" he repeated, trying to process the order of the bubble of thoughts spilling from Andrew's mouth. Only when the boy's face lit up in sheer delight did he realise his mistake.
"I did?" Andrew's eyebrows had shot up so far they were trying to crawl into his hairline. "Ohhh... Hey, that's... Oh, I won't tell! I promise!" Andrew fluttered his hands, practically vibrating with excitement. Warren was quietly panicking.
Every manly nerve in his admittedly low-macho body was firing a 'no no no' signal, demanding that he set Andrew straight, in every sense of the word. Until Andrew spoke again.
"Oh, this is so cool! You and me, both... you know!"
"You and me," he muttered, again simply repeating Andrew's mindless yammering, but he could feel the seed as it was planted. "You got me," he announced, hands up in surrender. "You figured it out." He took a deep breath, planning quickly, hoping Andrew was as trusting as he'd seemed so far. "Wow. 'Skinda good, having somebody else know." He managed a machine-gun laugh, and it sounded convincing. "You and me. Wow."
Andrew was beaming like a skinny blonde sun, and for a second Warren feared the kid might actually hug him. He half-turned, a hand covering his mouth, and Andrew sagged just a little. He didn't stop smiling though.
Yeah. This could work. This had possibilities.
And there it was, engendered. A monstrous birth indeed.
~~~~~
tbc
"How did you know?"
Andrew was clocking a whole three hours and seventeen minutes straight of being a pain in the ass. It could well have been a personal best. So far it had been agitated pacing, and frustrated sighs which Warren guessed meant he wanted to say something but didn't know how. The boy had the vocabulary of a five year old, or a gym teacher.
Obviously something was bugging him, and a good friend would have asked what it was. Warren had not said a word.
He did not say anything now. Just kept his eyes on his desk. Invisibility rays did not design themselves.
He felt rather than heard Andrew step into his personal space. Immediately, he slapped his pencil down on to the desk: no way he could work now. The boy's presence in his immediate vicinity made him bristle like a chill wind in summer. When he finally spun his chair around, Andrew watched him with an expectant expression, and Warren had to think hard for a moment to recall what he'd asked.
"Know what?" Coupled with his lack of articulation was Andrew's assumption that everyone knew what he meant anyway, and sometimes Warren wanted to smack him because of it. He fixed Andrew with a look that he hoped said, 'what the hell are you talking about, you little freak?' Knowing Andrew, the meaning would be lost entirely, but thinking it made Warren feel just a little better.
Now Andrew dropped his gaze, and Warren hoped it was out of embarrassed understanding of his own accusatory stare.
"You know, about me." He looked over at the other side of the room, then his eyes rolled up to stare intently at the ceiling. His face suggested that he was hiding some guilty and exciting secret. It did not, however, give Warren any further clue to his meaning.
Warren shrugged, and shifted his expression to 'get on with it, I have better things to do'.
Andrew mustered some futile and frustrated gesture with a flap of his hands, as though trying to grasp the words out of the air itself.
"That... thing you said about me, the other day. When you said I was..." Andrew tried a quick waggle of his eyebrows, as if they could express it better than he could. Warren had probably said a million different things about Andrew in the past few days. Finally desperate enough to help Andrew out, he sorted through his mental catalogue of insults, wondering which one specifically had Andrew so worked up. Challenged? Insane? Gay?
The last one had a glimmer of familiarity. As if to confirm his thoughts, Andrew continued, "was it, like, gaydar or something?" He dipped his head forward in a conspiratorial nod, and the awed tone in his voice made the word sound like it was a super-power.
That one sure came out of nowhere. The boy watched him with eager anticipation, and Warren realised he had just seconds to assess the situation and figure out the best way to make fun of it.
"What are - "
"'Cause you can tell me," Andrew interrupted. "Or not. If you're not, that is. I just figured, since you knew about me, and I thought maybe I might have it too 'cause I kinda guessed about you, although I could be wrong, I don't know, I just don't know how you can tell, exactly..." In a complete shift from perturbed silence, suddenly Andrew's babbling knew no bounds. Somewhere in the middle, Warren had finally guessed what he was trying to say, and was currently lodged in a stunned stupor, wondering what the hell to do with Andrew's admission.
"You guessed about me?" he repeated, trying to process the order of the bubble of thoughts spilling from Andrew's mouth. Only when the boy's face lit up in sheer delight did he realise his mistake.
"I did?" Andrew's eyebrows had shot up so far they were trying to crawl into his hairline. "Ohhh... Hey, that's... Oh, I won't tell! I promise!" Andrew fluttered his hands, practically vibrating with excitement. Warren was quietly panicking.
Every manly nerve in his admittedly low-macho body was firing a 'no no no' signal, demanding that he set Andrew straight, in every sense of the word. Until Andrew spoke again.
"Oh, this is so cool! You and me, both... you know!"
"You and me," he muttered, again simply repeating Andrew's mindless yammering, but he could feel the seed as it was planted. "You got me," he announced, hands up in surrender. "You figured it out." He took a deep breath, planning quickly, hoping Andrew was as trusting as he'd seemed so far. "Wow. 'Skinda good, having somebody else know." He managed a machine-gun laugh, and it sounded convincing. "You and me. Wow."
Andrew was beaming like a skinny blonde sun, and for a second Warren feared the kid might actually hug him. He half-turned, a hand covering his mouth, and Andrew sagged just a little. He didn't stop smiling though.
Yeah. This could work. This had possibilities.
And there it was, engendered. A monstrous birth indeed.
~~~~~
tbc