Disclaimer: The console that supports the TV and the DVD player at home, well, I paid it with my money, so it belongs to me, just me and that's all. Glee? Oh, no, it's not still _ mine. My banker would be aware of it. However, I own the spelling and grammar mistakes.
So the last chapter was hard to write, I experienced moments of torture. Burt and Paul made me cry. I erased, rewrote, inserted passages crossed again, rewrote, and experienced a pure moment of solitude when I realized that I had totally forgotten Sam, debated extensively with myself to decide if I tried to insert him in this joyous mess or if I simply tacked him of the house for the evening. And the one coming is just ... You'll see. It could be useful to have tissues at hand, depending on your sensitivity and which emotions make you cry.
And if you are sensitive to the evocation of certain body fluids it would probably be best to avoid reading the end of this chapter. I can't tell you exactly what fluid to not totally ruin the surprise, but consider yourself warned. Not to mention that homophobic comments particularly shocking may have been used.
The first notes of "Stand" by Lenny Kravitz escaped the trendy smart phone resting on the nightstand. They were accompanied by a sleepy growl and a hand fumbled to stop it. Ten minutes later, the same melody disturbed the silence of the room once again.
"Okay, okay, okay, I get up."
Sebastian stretched like a cat in his large bed, and turned slowly swung to sit at the edge of the mattress, his eyes still closed. Elbows on his knees, he dropped his head in his hands and rubbed his face trying to wake up. Then he took the cell phone that had finally silenced. He tried to hunt the sand from beneath his eyelids to be able to read the time shown below the date (Friday, March 2, 2012, he could not read it more than the hour, but the date, he already knew). He beat desperately eyelids, trying to chase away the cloudy veil of his vision when Mika began to sing "Elle me dit"
Sebastian jumped, leaped the phone in his hands and he narrowly overtook it to pick up. He barely had time to approach the mobile to his ear that a strident voice fully ended to wake him up.
"Joyeux anniversaire*!"
"Chloe, you know what time it is?"
"If I remember my time zones and if I base myself on your foul mood (you're welcome by the way) I'd say it's time you rush in the shower and you gulp down a coffee ASAP or you'll end up being late."
"And isn't it time for your English class to work on your accent?"
"Oh shut up, you love my accent. Now go put your pretty little ass in your uniform."
"Hey, watch your language young girl. Fine, I'm going." He paused.
"Chloe?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you ... You're the first," he said in a little sad voice.
"I know Bass, I know." The girl replied, sad too, before adding, "Hey, remember, we Skype tonight when you get home from school, I want to see you open your gift. Have a good day."
Without giving him time to answer, she hung up.
He stood up, dragged himself to the large bathroom adjacent to his room, took off the boxer which had served him as pajamas and tossed it toward the laundry basket before slipping in the shower. When he went out, he noticed that the clothing had missed its target and laid on the immaculate floor. He dried himself and went to pick it up to put it in the basket. [1] He dressed, arranged his hair carefully and then walked to the door that separated him from the rest of the world. Hand on the doorknob; he took a deep breath, swallowing the remaining tears that had not flowed under the shower. He pinned his usual smile on his face and opened the door. Show time.
He walked through a long hallway which the walls were decorated with original paintings. The value of one of the works of this corridor could pay for at least two whole years in the most prestigious university of the United States. He reached a huge marble staircase, he avoided putting a hand on the railing gilded with fine gold to go down and restrained himself from looking up at the huge crystal chandelier. He turned left, faced the huge decorated wooden double door that opened onto the dining room.
He did then what he did every morning when his father was not at home: he turned again to his left and walked to a simple door, almost hidden to which he knocked twice to announce himself and came in.
And like every morning when his father was not there, he found the maid who was busy in the kitchen in jeans and T-shirt rather than simply ridiculous maid holding the master of the house required in normal time.
"Bom dia Lucía*"
"Hey, Sebastian! Feliz aniversário* "said Lucía as she finished filling a plate placed next to a cup of coffee at the end of the work plan. "Scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes?"
"Muito bem. Obrigado*."
Sebastian sat on the high stool in front of the work plan and began the breakfast which had been prepared for him by Lucía.
This woman of about forty years, Brazilian, was serving the Smythe since they moved to Westerville seven months earlier, after leaving Paris.
She had been surprised the first time the young man had come into the kitchen. It was barely a month after their settlement, Sebastian had not yet started the school year and the only special instructions she had received for those few days when the teenager would be alone at home, were to prepare him his meals and wake him up if he was still asleep at noon.
While she was taking a break with a coffee, about ten o'clock, there had been two knocks at the door of the kitchen. She thought she had dreamed and had nearly choke in her coffee when the door was open to the young man, messy hair, jeans and a well-cut shirt half unbuttoned. He had stood on the doorstep, looking at her, with his famous charming smile but a glimmer of interrogation in his eyes. She had sat her cup and they had looked at each other a moment before he decided to break the silence.
"It's really ridiculous that outfit."
She had been taken aback for a second and burst out laughing. He laughed too, the ice was broken.
From that day it had become a habit. Sebastian was taking his breakfast in the kitchen when his father was not there, which happened quite often.
The young man had learned a few words of Portuguese, not enough to hold a conversation but enough to create a bond between him and his father's employee. For her part, Lucía had not needed him to express with words his culinary tastes to find out what food to avoid and what dishes to prepare to make him really happy. They allowed themselves to talk about everything and anything the days when Sebastian had time.
Of course, there was a distance between them, something that prevented to forget that they had a relation of employer to employee. But it was far from disdain Sebastian's father stated toward the people who worked for him.
That morning, if Lucía was only the second to wish him a happy birthday it was that Chloe had the advantage of the time difference since it was already the middle of the day in Paris.
Once finished his breakfast, he thanked Lucía and took the direction of the Dalton Academy for the last day of the week.
The day was dragging on. The young man spent the entire morning scrutinizing his cell phone as if he expected a magical unicorn to spring up. And it didn't surprise anyone anymore, it never did about two weeks that his phone seemed to have been grafted onto the hand he didn't use to write or eat.
At the lunch break, he was alone in one of the common rooms of the school, staring at the screen of his phone as if it was going to make it ring when Nick and Jeff entered. They stopped when they saw their friend and exchanged glances. Obviously, they had something to do together and presence of the new Warbler's soloist compromising their plans.
They came, sat down next to him in the leather sofa and Jeff took the mobile from his hands.
"What's his first name?"Jeff asked while he had begun searching in the list of contacts saved in the smart phone. "You're over Blaine now, right?"
"Don't try Jeff, if he had his number, the poor guy would already have asked to change it. He's not the type to wait to be called."
"Still, this guy must have returned his head well for him to mope waiting for a call for so long."
"Oh, come on, he's just not used that someone resists him. Two weeks without news from the Apollo on which he has set his sights, it's much for his ego."
Sebastian stood up and faced them. He took his phone from Jeff's hands.
"It's fine guys? You know that I'm here and I'm not deaf?"
"Oops, I think you upset him, Nick."
"What? Me? It was you who started it."
"I leave you; you seem to have tons of things to discuss together."
And upon these words Sebastian left the room and the two others didn't even try to hold him back.
The last hours of the day were the hardest and Sebastian began to consider not going to the Warblers' practice for once. But he barely had time to leave his last class, Thad jumped on him.
"Sebastian! Good to see you here, I wanted to talk to you."
"Right now? We'll be late for rehearsal."
"No, we canceled it today, nobody told you?"
"Seems that no. I'll take this opportunity to go home earlier. '
"Hey, you forget me!"
"Oh yeah, true. Go. Tell me everything. Quickly."
"I need some advice ..."
"..."
"..."
"Thad, I have plans for the evening, so if you don't decide to talk very fast, you'll have to wait for Monday."
"About a girl."
"A girl? Are you serious here? You really think you're talking to the right person there?"
"I tried to ask David, but he had no time at all tonight apparently. Well, in short, there's this girl, we went out two or three times, we kissed and everything. And I'd like her to understand that ... well, you know… Whatever. But I don't want to be too blunt either."
"So, I summarize: you come ask ME tricks to SUBTLY make understand a GIRL that you want to JUMP HER? I have some advice for you: stop drugs! Now, if you don't mind too much, I'm expected so I'm going home."
"Yes, but wait a second, what do I do?"
"I don't know, you wait for Monday to ask David. In the meantime, you masturbate, you want a course perhaps? I'd love to give you a hand if you want. Or blow something else. [2]"
"OK, that's fine; I knew I shouldn't ask you. I don't know why I still listen to Trent's bullshit ideas."
"We wonder yes. Thad, have good weekend."
Sebastian went home, eager to talk to Chloe. He didn't notice the car parked in the driveway and he paid no more attention to the fact that the door wasn't closed while Lucía had completed her service. He was about to climb directly to his room but voices coming from the living room attracted his attention.
"Move it, he's already there."
"Damn, I told you that Thad would never keep him long enough."
"I told you we should have skipped the last class."
"Yes, Jeff, we all know how much you love skipping school!"
"You find this code or what?"
"Well, come on you, if you're so smart."
"Hey, twins, could you keep your voices down?"
"You've been wrong, you see, he's not home yet."
Sebastian, amused by this exchange, advanced to the door of the room to find Jeff, Nick, Trent and David bickering around a laptop sitting on the coffee table.
"For burglary, you'll have to learn discretion. And I've rarely seen burglars bring computers where they make their breaks." Sebastian said in a sarcastic tone.
"Surprise missed. Smile guys." Trent threw while everyone turned to Sebastian with clenched smiles.
"Uh... Happy Birthday?" David said as naturally as possible, followed by the three others.
"Who told you that it's my birthday?"
"Chloe," replied Nick.
"And how did you come in?"
"Lucía" said Jeff.
"But we didn't think that we couldn't connect Wi-Fi without the code." David added.
"And you need to log in because ..."
"For Chloe. You don't plan to open her gift without her anyway?"
"One more question ..."
"No more questions as long as we don't have the damn code!" Nick got angry.
"OK"
Sebastian sat down in front of the computer and entered the codes.
"I can ask my question now?"
"Facebook, you know what it is? Chloe does. Go! Log in Skype so we see what she looks like!"
"Nick, you seem very enthusiastic. Is that my little sister had promised you a striptease?"
"Your sister?"
"My sister!"
While they were talking, Sebastian had connected Skype and a fifteen year old little blonde girl had appeared on the screen.
"Who will give me a striptease?" She asked amused, pretending not to have heard the part that suggested that she does it.
"Nick had offered, but seeing his face it looks like he deflates."
Nick stepped into the webcam shot, looking a little embarrassed.
"Bonjour*."
"Wow. I'm willing to have this striptease now." Said Chloe laughing, seeing Nick turn red. "I'm kidding, relax. Well, I can see the others or you play it solo under the spotlights you two?"
They made space and the three others settled in front of the camera, each sitting on the floor or on the couch, and presentations were made quickly.
"Well, which one of you is my brother's boyfriend?"
"Chloe!" Sebastian's voice resonated in the room.
"What Bass? I don't have a right to know?"
"No worry, he's a little on edge since he met his prince charming but the guy has not called back."
"Jeff, stop your nonsense! You're all against me tonight or what?"
"He was already tensed since the fiasco with Blaine anyway."
"Blaine?"
"The Warblers' former soloist who changed school for his boyfriend Kurt. Sebastian tried to flirt with him, but the pips are well hooked, so he has been turned down."
"Trent, you won't start too! I'm single and I'm fine thank you! End of discussion. We can switch to something else?"
"Yes, open your gifts for example."
Sebastian's eyes rested on the coffee table next to the computer where there were four gift packages which he had not paid attention to.
The first was a little bigger than a sheet of paper, the thickness of a pocket book, wrapped in gold foil, embedded in a profusion of silver curling ribbon.
The second was smaller, rectangular also surrounded by a colored paper, slightly scratched in places.
The third was a small bag in glossy white, closed by a ribbon of green almond.
The last box was a simple elongated as those jewelers give when they sell a bracelet.
"Uh ... I see where these two come from, but the other two ..." He said, pointing to the first two packages.
David took a feigned indignation.
"Is he insinuating that we would have invited ourselves without bringing a gift?"
"I guess so. With the evil we gave ourselves!"
"OK, OK, I see, you broke your piggy banks to offer me two presents."
"Wow, calm, still not, who do you think you are?"
Communicating door between the living room and the kitchen opened and Lucía came with a cake.
"I hope you've been waiting for me to open gifts."
"We had to restrain Chloe, it was the hardest."
"Nick, I'm maybe 6 000 miles away, but my ears work very well and I've heard!"
Lucía put the cake on the coffee table, which began to be very loaded. Then she walked around the couch and leaned over the boys to be in the camera shot.
"Hello Chloe."
"Hello Lucía. Well, we're all here now? Can we start? Well, if Nick doesn't find me too hurry."
"What time is it for you, beauty girl?"
"Nick, if you want to hit on my sister, you can do it another day? When I'm not here for example!"
Sebastian cut conversations catching colorful package and opened it. A broad smile appeared on his lips when he discovered an English edition and illustrated by the author of the Little Prince by Saint-Exupery. He opened the book on the first page, there was a dedication: L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux, on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur*. Your little sister, who misses you. Nick read the sentence over Sebastian's shoulder.
"What does that mean? I'm not very good at French."
"It means that in love we shouldn't stop at appearances. Not only in love although."
David, who was on the opposite side to gifts tried to lean over to get their package saying "you should probably not open our in fact, we'll change it..."
"No way," says Sebastian catching the little white bag before anyone had time to steal it.
"How did you know it was this one?"
"I had one chance on two."
"On three." Trent corrected.
"On two. I know very well where this one comes from." Sebastian dropped showing the gold package.
He untied the green ribbon and opened the bag. He put his hand in and pulled out a tube of lubricant apparently cherry flavored.
"We thought you could use it if ever Mr. Mystery decides to show up. Or else, you can always use it alone, thinking about him."
"Wow! Jeff, too much information. I don't want to imagine that!" cried Chloe.
"Because it's with another man?"
"Because he's my brother. He sleeps with whoever he wants, but I don't want details. Besides, if you want to tell me about yours it's not the same."
"OK, I don't want to know that either. So, where does that one comes from? "Sebastian asked, grabbing the box.
"Lucía idiot." the four Warblers launched in chorus.
"Lucía but..."
"Open it before you speak."
He slowly opened the box, embarrassed at the idea that the employee had spent part of her meager salary in expensive jewelry. But then he discovered a bracelet made of braided cotton threads, forming patterns in black, white and gray.
"This is a charm bracelet. You have to make a wish when we clip it and then you have to keep it on until the wear makes it fall off itself. And that day, the wish comes true."
She walked around the couch, knelt beside him. She took the bracelet in a hand and wrist in the other. She passed the wristband around his wrist.
"You're ready to make your wish?"
Sebastian nodded. She made three knots to keep the strap in place.
"There, now you go back to your normal life and you let time work."
"It's official, our gift sucks guys." Trent complained.
"You did well knowing that you knew nothing ago just ten hours and you have had course almost all the time in between." Chloe laughed. "Well, I have a lot of fun but now I'll leave you, I'm dreaming of crumble in my bed."
"Sweet dreams little sister."
"I can send you a picture if it helps."
"Nick, you raise one floor, you find a shower, you open the cold water and you put yourself under please!"
"Oh, fine, I was kidding."
"Good evening everyone. Bye." Chloe said before disconnecting.
They ate the cake talking about everything and nothing. And when they had all gone at 7pm, nobody had thought to notice that there was still a package to open. To the great relief of Sebastian who was in no hurry to open this particular package and especially not in public.
He cast a glance at his cell phone but it didn't choose these few hours inattentive to ring. He didn't really know what call he expected actually. Neither on that day, nor over the past two weeks. He grabbed his presents and went to his room.
He put the book on his bedside table to read it (or rather read again) soon. He placed the tube of lubricant in a drawer of his desk, smiling at the crazy idea of his fellow choir's friends and he threw the last packet on the bed without opening it.
A new look at his phone told him two things: it was 7:30pm and no, nobody had tried to call him since the last time he checked. He loosened the tie of his uniform and unbuttons his shirt. The evening promised to be long and lonely.
Then he took off his uniform and changed. He spent the next two hours to drive to Lima to meet at Scandals, without knowing what he was up there.
He had several proposals. He was not fooled, this place was the only gay bar in the area, and it attracted many perverts and desperate people hungry for flesh. And he might show off in front of his friends in real life, quickly getting fucked in the toilet of this dump by a fifties married man; it was not exactly what he wanted. Then he politely but firmly refused the glasses which were proposed, being content to simply enjoy the music to dance.
He accepted a glass anyway. A man of about 25 years, a Carlos. The name made him smile; reminding him the nurse and the attendant he had met when he visited Dave. The lad was not bad; why not give him a chance. They chatted amicably, danced a little together. But at the time of separation, neither of them thought to offer to exchange their numbers.
Sebastian went home, a little moody, dragged himself to his room, lay down on his bed, crushing the gift package that he had forgotten to have put there. He raised himself a little, pulled it from beneath him and threw it into a corner of the room.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. Two in the morning. No missed call. No unread SMS. He placed it on the nightstand beside The Little Prince. He closed his eyes but sleep fled from him. He stood up, turned on his computer, went into the bathroom to undress in front of his computer and came back wearing only his boxers. He started the Internet, his Facebook page opened automatically. He looked absently what was new. Not much other than status and comments from four of the Warblers about an encounter with a charming French girl and a good night with a friend and a cake. Nothing to make sleep come.
He opened a new window to connect to a video site and launched one at random. At the images more than suggestive, it soon began to feel tight in his underwear. He took it off and without further ado; he took his tensed cock in his hand. He made a few strokes somewhat uncomfortable. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out the tube of lubricant cherry, shrugged his shoulders and poured a small amount into his hand. He resumed his strokes slowly with a little sigh to feel more comfortable. Slowly he quickened his movements, increasing the pressure of his fingers. It only took a few minutes for him to release, spilling several cum shots on his fingers and his belly.
He took a tissue in the box on his desk to wipe, rolled it into a ball and threw it into his wastebasket. He put his boxers up. But sleep seemed still not willing to visit him.
On an impulse, he opened his Facebook page and in the search bar, he tapped David Karofsky.
He probably wouldn't have. He was not prepared to see it. All these hateful comments.
You get a good eyeful in showers fag?
The queers like you have nothing to do in the football team! Audition for cheerleaders instead
Don't talk to me anymore dirty homo, forget we have been'' friends''
How can you do that to your parents, they must be ashamed of you!
Not even able to successfully kill yourself. Try again.
Filthy gay
Rid us of your presence fagot, go burn in hell
Fuck a girl, you will heal
Better luck next time
You can still sit straight? You're so lousy that even degenerates of your kind don't want your ass?
Go back in your closet homo [3]
Sebastian felt sick. He ran to the bathroom and didn't even have time to fall on his knees before the toilet that his stomach contracted, sending a stream of acid bile through his throat. He immediately regretted to have nothing swallowed solid since his birthday cake. Sentences in his head and turned his stomach rejected them one by one.
He finally collapsed on the carpet in the bathroom, folded on himself. Belly tensed, throat burning, heart racing in his chest, face bathed in tears, drums reasoning in his head. He remained there a long time, unable to move, curled up, shivering, and crying with rage. There he fell asleep, exhausted.
He woke up around 5 am, dragged himself to his bed where he collapsed, rolled under the duvet. He went back to sleep instantly.
[1] So during this time, he's naked, hence the rating. OK, I'm the only one that it makes laugh, I go... Yes, no, actually, I'll stay for the rest of the story anyway.
[2] Here is a perfect example of the fact that translation is a little betrayal. The English version of this line (if grammatically correct) is so much better than the French version. No subtle suggestion of hand job and blow job in the original version.
[3] The author wishes to clarify that these comments are absolutely not a reflection of her thoughts, quite the contrary. Moreover, at the end of this text, she will have to take a cure of chocolate not to depress for having spawned these horrors.
*little translations for those of you who don't speak French or Portuguese at all :
Happy birthday.
Hello Lucía.
Happy birthday.
Very good. Thank you.
Hello.
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.
The last one is actually a quote from The Little Prince so this translation is one of the "official" translations of this quote. If you didn't read this book yet, I highly recommend you to because it's a beautiful book. It's one of this children's book that you can read all your life and still catch a message for your life. Well I have somewhere a copy of it in English, but I can't remember where I placed it, so I searched it on Internet, found a site of quotations of the book… There are multiple translations for the same sentence so you may not find exactly this one if you read it.
