forget-me-not, neil

I Love You Too

Neil had continued going to his rehearsals regardless of his father's threats. I begged him not to go, Lord knew what Mr. Perry would do to him if he found out. But Neil kept going anyway, and I thought I was stubborn.

Truth is, I was worried sick about him. I knew his father wasn't a great man. But I also knew that Neil liked to be tough, sometime's tougher than he was. He always told me his father was nothing that he couldn't handle, but that didn't mean I liked him gambling with it. I know it's his life, but he's so important to my life. What if his father pulled him from Welton? What if he really did send him to military school? I couldn't bear to lose him.

After a few weeks of his secret rehearsals, Neil asked me to come with him to one. I had helped him rehearse his lines dozens of times now, I'm sure I knew the play by heart.

"I want you to meet everyone, more importantly I want them to meet you. You are the reason my lines are so crisp." He puts his hands on my hips and pulls me closer to him.

"I don't know Neil, this is your thing, I don't want to over step-"

"I want you to overstep, Todd, don't you get it?" He slides his hands towards my back, pressing our chests firmly together. "I literally want you everywhere." I laugh, and kiss him gently.

"I suppose I could join you for one,"

"Yes!" He pulls me in tight to a hug, "You won't regret it, once you see how amazing I am, you'll find me even more irresistible."

He pulls back from the hug, keeping his arms around my shoulders. He smiles softly, staring deep into my eyes.

"I really love you, you know that?"

For a moment, I have no idea what to say. I've never had anyone say that to me. Not that I can remember. But then again, I've never had a Neil.

I pull him tightly back into our hug.

"I love you too Neil."

Later that afternoon, I sat in the very front row of the theater watching with some other friends of the performers, watching the actors flaunt around the stage. Neil truly was really good, maybe even the best one out there. That might be a little biased though, seeing as he was my boyfriend. My boyfriend, I thought to myself, I have a boyfriend and his name is Neil Perry. And he is the most beautiful boy in the world. Just then, a smiling face on stage caught my eye, and I grinned back at it. He winked at me, before mouthing the words I love you, to which I replied I love you too. That was when I heard a loud bang, and Neil's eyes went wide staring at something far behind me. I looked back, to see a fuming Mr. Perry storming down the steps of the auditorium.

"Neil Perry you get your ass off that stage immediately!"

The director stood up in an attempt to get in his way. "Sir we are in the middle of something you can't just-"

"I want my boy off that stage damn it." He blew right passed her up the steps to a frozen Neil who was as white as a sheet. As his father grabbed him by the shoulder of his sweater, his eyes switched to me, tears welling up in them as his feet stumbled, trying to catch up to his father's pace. Mr. Perry dragged him down the stairs, face red like a beet. I stood up, not sure what I could possibly do to stop the barreling train that was Neil's father, but I stepped out into the aisle anyway, right in the path of Mr. Perry. When he reached me, still holding Neil behind him, he shoved his finger into my chest.

"You stay away from my son you hear me?"

Neil's watery eyes had now turn into fat tears rolling down his cheeks. As his father shoved me aside, Neil reached out to grab my hand, our palms just barely connecting. Our fingers grasped desperately at each other, but it was no use, before anyone could process what had just happened, Mr. Perry had already made it back to the entrance, his grip on Neil never loosening once.

.

As I fell asleep later that night, I had a dream about Neil and I. We were outside, the sunshine was beautiful. I was sitting on the grass, with my back resting up against a tree, a book clenched open in my hand as I read to him. Neil was sitting on the grass in front of me, slouched against my stomach, my legs on either side of him. My spare hand lay draped over his shoulder, my fingers intertwined with his own. It was much like the many other times we had sat like that, me reading to Neil as he fought to stay awake, slowly drifting off with his head leaning on my arm and my hand in his. But this time it was different. It was warmer, safer. Like nothing could touch us. Like nothing bad could happen. If only it were all real.