(14) Only Two Days Left!

'It's good to see you're still alive,' was Ralph's greeting to Jack on the school bus the next day.

'Yeah,' Jack agreed half-heartedly. He shifted his bag over for Ralph to sit beside him, which the other teen did (after some minor hesitation).

'So I guess your dad was unconscious when you got home then?'

'Just about . . . Still, I didn't want to press my luck. I just ran in and out. Almost broke my leg in the process, too.'

Ralph let out a soft chuckle, and Jack sighed softly at how innocently attractive he looked when he was in this easygoing mood.

"I may have changed a lot, but he certainly hasn't," Jack mused. "He's still the same old Ralphy—kind (perhaps to a fault), devoted, beautiful, strong, and always having the faintest trace of honey on his skin." The teen felt an emotional lump form in his throat, and he (unsuccessfully) struggled to swallow it. "I promise I won't hurt him. Oh, God, whatever happens, please just let me keep him."

'Penny for your thoughts?' Ralph teased, breaking into his silently pleading mind. 'Or fifty bucks if your arrogance makes you believe that you deserve more.'

It was Jack's turn to chuckle now.

'My, my, someone is in a fine mood this morning,' he said with a grin. 'What? Did my radiant presence at your otherwise dull house spark your fancy?'

Ralph's face reddened in embarrassment.

'Uh . . . I . . . er, I . . . I . . .'

'Save it, Ralph,' Jack laughed, firmly pressing a finger to the other's lips. 'I was just teasing. And you're the one who started it, anyhow!'

'Well, what are you going to do about it?' Ralph asked, and the "L" sound at the end of the word "well" caused his tongue to briefly flicker across Jack's finger. The latter snatched his hand away and stared at his companion with lust-darkened eyes, for the unusual sensation had sent a rush of blood straight . . . down there.

'Nothing,' Jack said smoothly, casually pulling his bag onto his lap to hide the growing bulge in his pants. 'That is to say, I won't do anything yet.'

'Oh?'

'That's right. You know that I've never been one to back down from a challenge, especially one where a tease is involved.'

Something flashed across Ralph's features, but the strange expression disappeared almost as fast as it had come, leaving Jack no time to decipher what it was.

'Um . . . Oh, look, Jack! We seemed to have arrived at school,' Ralph said nervously. He snatched his backpack from the floor and beat a hasty retreat out of there.

Jack smiled knowingly to himself, for he had been unable to overlook a certain protuberance in the other teen's trousers that was almost identical to his own.

'Interesting . . .' he slowly said to himself. 'Very interesting . . .'

-

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Ralph cursed inwardly as he wove his way through the crowd. "Argh! I have to get rid of this . . . thing!" Almost tripping himself, Ralph shoved his way into the nearest restroom and locked himself in a stall.

'Okay, think neutral thoughts . . .' he told himself. 'Books, music . . . uh, sports! Food . . . Cars . . .' He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that his little "buddy" had almost disappeared. 'Computers, sand . . .'

Problem solved!

"Whew, that was close," Ralph thought. "Oh, fucker, I hope Jack didn't notice anything."

Picking up his book-laden school bag, the teen finally left the bathroom and made his way to his locker. He just hoped that Jack wouldn't be there when he arrived.

"So much for wishful thinking," he thought bitterly as he set eyes upon the familiar features of said teenager.

'Hey,' Jack greeted him. 'You okay, Ralph? You really left in a hurry earlier.'

'Er . . . Yeah, sorry about that. I had some . . . stuff that I had to take care of.' Well, it wasn't a lie . . . not really.

'I bet you did,' Jack muttered under his breath, and Ralph wisely chose to ignore the comment.

'Excuse me,' the latter murmured, lightly inclining Jack to the side so that he could obtain the use of their locker. Messily exchanging the books in his bag for a different set, he wrenched his backpack closed before hissing a hasty goodbye to Jack. 'See you in first period,' he called over his shoulder. Then he hastily shoved his way through the crowd of people, well aware of the intense gaze digging into the back of his head.

"He knows what happened," Ralph realized with a sinking heart. "Oh, why the fuck can't I control myself around him! This situation can't possible get any worse."

Wrong again.

The very breath was knocked out of the teen's chest as he collided with something rather large and hard, which caused him to lose his footing and land ungracefully upon the cold tiles of the floor. Unfortunately, the fall also forced Ralph to loosen his grip on his slightly open bag; all his papers and books piled out in an untidy heap.

'FUCK!' Ralph cursed, watching in despair as all his effortful homework was trampled on and ruined by the heedless crowd. 'Fuck . . .' he swore again when he realized who he had bumped into, though it was much quieter this time, for reasons that are about to be unveiled.

'Do watch where you are going!' Mr. Lyori scolded him. The cold-hearted professor furiously took out a white handkerchief and began to wipe the spilt coffee from his chest. The stain, however, would not come out and Ralph had a strong suspicion that he would get sorely punished for his negligence.

'I am truly sorry, sir,' the teen said, rising to his feet to look the teacher in the eye. 'I did not mean to collide with you like that. I'll be sure to be more careful in the future.'

'And you will do well to remember it, Mr. . . .?'

'Macpherson,' Ralph replied with a sigh.

'Ah, Mr. Macpherson . . . You are one of Mr. Merridew's friends, are you not?'

'Hardly,' Ralph responded. He knew of Mr. Lyori only by reputation, but already he could feel hatred building in his chest for this strange professor.

'Indeed? Well, that "hardly" entitles you to be treated any more favourably,' Mr. Lyori sneered. 'Detention, Mr. Macpherson, for both tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow's tomorrow night.'

Ralph would have laughed had the circumstances not been so grave. One would think a teacher would know better than to use such grammar as "tomorrow's tomorrow".

'Pardon me for asking, but why must I have three, sir?'

The teacher grinned almost wickedly.

'May the first do well to remind you that clumsiness is an unnecessary aspect of anyone's life, Mr. Macpherson, and such carelessness will lead you nowhere. The second is for your inappropriate use of language. This is a private school, and I will not tolerate any of the students using such foul words.'

'And the third?'

'For my shirt,' Mr. Lyori simply said; then added, 'I hope you do not have any previous engagements at those times.'

'No, sir.'

'Good. You are to report to the Detention Hall today after school . . . and don't be late.' He turned to leave. 'Oh, and if you are unsure of where it is, ask one of your little friends. I'm sure Mr. Merridew will be able to tell you. God knows that he has been there enough times to be able to find it in the dark.'

As if on cue, the lights suddenly went off.

'Bugger it all!' Ralph heard Mr. Lyori say before the unmistakable sound of footsteps faded into the distance.

People started to shove him about carelessly, all asking each other the same question: What happened?

'Come on, Ralph,' someone urged, taking him gently by the hand.

'What about my stuff?' he questioned the unknown shadow in front of him.

'It'll be all right. Just come on!'

Ralph felt himself being pulled against the throng of people, but there was something about the grip on his hand that made him want to trust this person. Blindly tightening his grasp, he followed the stranger into one of the classrooms.

'Ah, this should do nicely,' the other said, flicking on a flashlight.

The teen blinked a few times, having been overwhelmed by the sudden flash of light. He groaned in exasperation when he realized that it had not been a classroom he'd been dragged into . . . but a broom closet.

'So, how are you, mate?'

Ralph turned his still-unfocused gaze to his companion.

'Oh, hello, Ray,' he said calmly. 'And I am just fine, thank you very much.'

'That's not what I meant, Ralph, and you know it,' Ray said seriously.

Ralph stared his former friend down for a few seconds. Then he determinedly looked away.

'Come on, please don't say you're still mad at me!' the Aussie exclaimed.

"Okay, I won't," Ralph thought. "In fact, I won't say anything to you at all."

'Ralph, I really, truly am sorry for what I did. It was stupid! I made a stupid mistake! Look, I know that it will probably take you a while before you forgive me—if you even do at all—but I think that we should give our friendship another try. Come on, what do you say?'

Ralph rolled this over in his mind. He felt a slight obligation to give Ray a second chance. After all, he gave Jack one, and said teen did worse things to him than involve him in such a . . . ahem, sexual bet. It just wouldn't be fair to Ray if he was never forgiven as well. Besides, Ralph knew that he would feel incredibly guilty if he did not give his companion the second chance he deserved.

'I forgive you, Ray,' Ralph said, raising his head up to meet his friend's eye. 'You were my first friend in this school, and friends always deserve second chances.' He smiled sweetly and clapped Ray heartily on the shoulder.

'What? Don't I get a hug?' Ray teased.

'Depends . . . Would you like one?'

'Yes.'

'On one condition.'

'What's that?' Ray questioned, genuinely curious now.

'No more bets . . . and that includes this one,' Ralph said seriously.

Ray smiled radiantly.

'You got it, mate.'

Then the two friends embraced tightly, savouring the moment with closed eyes and open hearts. And to think, by the mere shake of his head, Ralph could have given this up. It was rather odd how quickly everything could be affected by the simplest actions.

Suddenly, the door whipped open and a stream of light washed into the tiny closet. The two teens jumped apart, staring blindly at the newcomer. The power had apparently returned without them knowing, and the unexpected beams burned unpleasantly into their eyes after the cloaking darkness of their sanctuary.

'What's going on here?' a familiar voice demanded.

Ralph hurriedly rubbed his eyes to better see the person before him and, indeed, confirm that who it was.

'JACK!' he exclaimed. 'It's . . . it's not what you think.'

'Oh, isn't it?' Jack inquired, though his gaze never turned to Ralph. Instead, he was looking upon Ray with the most intense loathing shadowing his eyes.

'It's not! Nothing happened!' Ralph insisted. He hurried to Jack's side and desperately tried to draw him away from the other teen. 'Come on, Jack. Let's just go.' He turned apologetic eyes in Ray's direction, a gaze that promised an explanation at a later time.

'I'm coming,' Jack said blankly. 'But only after I do this.'

WHAM!

Having said that, Jack swung his fist into Ray's face, almost knocking the latter clean off his feet. Almost. Rather, Ray stumbled over a nearby bucket, soothingly cupping his cheek in disbelief.

'What the fuck is your problem, Jack?' Ralph demanded. 'Why don't you believe me when I say that nothing happened!'

Jack finally turned his vehement gaze in the other's direction. He said nothing. He just stared and stared.

'Come on!' Ralph growled furiously, taking his companion in tow. 'We need to talk. I'll see you later, Ray,' he automatically called over his shoulder.

'Later, mate.'

-

Now that the power had returned, the students were making their way to their homeroom classes, excitedly conversing about the slight power outage that had occurred. But Jack was quite oblivious to all this. He followed blankly as Ralph let him through the emptying corridors, asking himself the same question over and over: Why did I do that?

Obviously, he had grown extremely jealous over seeing Ralph with another guy. Ralph was his man—no one else's. But . . . why?

"I've never felt this way about anyone," Jack thought. "I wonder where he's taking me. Somewhere private? Somewhere special?" Then he suddenly realized which hallway they had just entered. "Somewhere . . . stupid!" He groaned inwardly as he stepped under the arched doorway of the library.

'So . . . what are we going to talk about?' he asked cheerfully.

'No. I am going to talk, and you are going to listen,' Ralph said, unconsciously tightening his grip on Jack's hand.

The latter grinned and allowed himself to be swept into one of the more private study rooms, a place where they were unlikely to be disturbed (not even by the ever-present librarian; she probably learned her lesson after coming across Jack that time). Jack's expression soon become less than placid, however, when he was brutally shoved into a chair and his hands were locked at his sides by Ralph's own.

'First things first . . . I do not need a keeper, Jack!' Ralph exclaimed, glaring Jack in the eye from only a few inches away. 'You had absolutely no right to do that to Ray! I told you before and I'll tell you again—nothing happened! We were just hugging. What's so wrong about that? Don't answer that,' Ralph said quickly, cutting off Jack's unformed sentence. 'Look, Ray and I are just friends . . . There's nothing that I want from him than friendship.'

'And what about me?' Jack questioned timidly.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, obviously you want more from me than friendship.' He attempted to stand up, but Ralph's grip firmly held him down. He glanced pointedly at his companion's hands; the latter nodded and finally let go.

'You were saying?'

'Ah, yes, I was saying that you want more from than friendship.' Jack steadily stood up and looked intensely into Ralph's features. 'It's true, isn't it?'

'It is,' Ralph agreed, 'but it's also wrong. I'm not supposed to want this from you. But then again, after you tried to kill me and made a stupid, sexual bet that involved me, I suppose that there is nothing else that I should want more.'

'And what is it you want from me? Do you even know, Ralph?'

Angry tears welled up in Ralph's eyes and a look of disbelief cross his face, as if he couldn't believe that the tables could be turned so rapidly.

'Respect,' he said brokenly. 'Love.' Then his expression suddenly hardened and he added, 'But the heart of Jack Merridew is incapable of any of that.'

'How can you say that after all we've been through over this past week?' Jack asked, rather hurt.

'Because none of it matters.'

'What? Why not?'

'Because it was never meant to happen.'

'But it did!' Jack sighed in exasperation. 'That has to count for something.'

'But the bet—'

'ARGH! Don't start talking about that fucking bet again!' Jack almost screamed, startling the wits out of Ralph. 'You said it yourself, if it hadn't been for that "stupid bet", we wouldn't have gotten as close as we did. Please, Ralph, can't you just forget that this whole thing ever happened? In all honesty, if I could take it all back, I would! But . . . I can't! Look, how are we supposed to have a future together if you can't even let go of the past?'

'I want to forgive you, Jack. Hell, I probably already have. And God knows that it's a lot easier to forgive you of this than it is to forgive you for trying to kill me.' He allowed a small smile to appear on his face. 'J-just give me some more time, okay?'

'Okay, Ralph, I'll give you time. But just know that you can either be with me and risk losing me, or push me away and surely lose me. I'm only human, Ralph Macpherson. I can't wait forever—not even for someone as wonderful as you are.' He spun around to leave.

'Wait! Don't go yet,' Ralph pleaded.

Jack slowly turned to face his distressed companion.

"Isn't it ironic?" he thought. "When he wants us to be together, I don't want us to. When I want us to be together, he doesn't want us to. Sigh."

'Please, Jack . . .'

'What? Do you want another kiss?' Jack mocked. 'Is that what our relationship is going to be like now, Ralph? Two friends on the surface, but whom sneak insignificant kisses at every opportune moment!'

'There's hardly anything "insignificant" about your kisses,' Ralph said quietly.

'Am I supposed to be flattered? Well, I'm not!' Jack smirked to himself. 'Actually, I am. But still, Ralph, come on! There's more between us than that. You know that!'

'Oh? And this is coming from the school whore!'

"Ouch."

'But you agree that there is something between us?'

Ralph closed his eyes.

'Yes.'

'Then what's the problem? Why can't we be together?'

'I . . . I don't know!' Ralph exclaimed, running a hand through his hair in agitation. 'When I'm away from you I feel . . . and when I'm with you it's like . . .' Such was his distress that the teen was unable to complete a full sentence.

'You feel like the world just fell apart and glued itself back together again?' Jack suggested. 'Like the universe just collapsed into oblivion and was re-formed in a matter of seconds? Like time is so still that everything seems to pass you by at the speed of light?' He gently took the other's hand in his. 'I feel all those things, too, Ralph. And when I'm with you, when we're together, everything just feels so . . . right!'

'But I have bore my heart to you before, Jack Merridew, and it seems to lead me to nowhere but pain. You're the fucking school whore, for goodness' sake!' Ralph suddenly grinned. 'Ignore the pun.'

'I am not the school whore,' Jack retorted. 'I was the school whore. And yeah, I had some fun times, but now I'm willing to give it all up for you. What happened, Ralph? Only a few days ago you were willing to give up everything for me—even your own beliefs—and now . . .'

'I did some serious thinking over the weekend,' Ralph said. 'And I thought I had made up my mind about you, but then you showed up on my doorstep on Sunday and everything got all screwed up from there.'

'Give me a chance to prove myself to you,' Jack begged.

'What? To prove you aren't a whore?'

'Well, yeah,' the teen admitted sheepishly. 'But then again, I will be if you want me to be . . . but only for you.'

'You're really weird, Merridew, but what you said was kind of sweet,' Ralph said, stroking Jack's cheek tenderly. 'Okay, I'll give you two days. If you still haven't proved yourself by that time, then I guess—' Ralph shrugged, '—it was never meant to be.'

"Two days. My trial period will end the same day the bet does!" Jack vaguely thought, but he also realized that he didn't care anymore, not now that he finally had Ralph just within his grasp.

'Okay, two days,' Jack agreed. Then he leaned in to plant a chaste kiss on the other's cheek. He was rather surprised when Ralph turned his face, thus causing their lips to meet instead. What started out as a simple kiss soon became much, much more. Jack sneakily slid his tongue between the silken petals of Ralph's lips. He then tasted the hot flesh that was offered to him, laying claim to every inch of it.

Ralph groaned passionately and pressed himself firmly against Jack's hard body; he marveled at the way they seemed to fit so perfectly together. He wrapped his arms tightly around the latter's neck and widened the opening of his mouth for a deeper invasion.

'Wait!' Jack cried out, wrenching himself away from Ralph. But he soon soothed the worried expression on his companion's face with a reassuring smile. 'Don't look at me that way, Macpherson. It's not that I don't want to. It's that we shouldn't do this . . . not here and not now. We have a class to get to.'

'Since when have you been so concerned about school?'

'Since your grades depended on my decisions,' Jack replied with a wink.

Ralph chuckled softly and the two of them made their way to their homeroom, stooping down to collect Ralph's scattered belongings on their way. Unknown to the two teens, a dark shadow followed closely behind them, wandering just beyond their range of view each time they turned around. Whether its presence was for the better or for the worse remains to be seen . . .