The One #watty2019

Eight

In the years to come, the Homecoming of my Sophomore year of high school would forever remain a giant pillar in the biggest events of my life, even with the crazy stuff that happened later on in my life (including the incident with the pipe bomb, but we'll get to that later). The events leading up to it, that occurred during it, and the consequences thereafter would be felt for years to come. Perhaps even longer. It's a point from which I can connect so many dots that my life begins to look like a spider web. Most of it started from the first time I saw Kayla but Homecoming...that right there was a fucking flare.
If I had known what would happen...I don't know if I would have changed it. There was joy, there was pain, there was danger...but it all needed to happen. And you'll understand why when I get to the end of it.
However, I think it's important to first talk about my first day working at Gamestop. It doesn't necessarily inform anything surrounding Homecoming but the job would end up being an important part of my life so I think it needs its due as well. After all, it's a first job. For good or bad, you always remember those.
"Training' consisted mostly of Paul showing me how to work the register, how to enter in info for the rewards cards, and what to do with inventory in the down time. Honestly, if I was looking for something super involved (and I wasn't), this wasn't the job for me. You put the games out, you make sure you're up-to-date with game info, and you sell the stuff. That's about it.
"The only thing that sucks is we don't have a game system hooked up behind the counter to play when it gets slow," Paul said as I helped him stock some used games.
"Well, you've got the TV," I said, pointing at the screen that was stuck in the back corner of the store, "How bad can listening to the five same previews over and over and over be?"
He flipped off the television. "Answer your question?"
I laughed. "Pretty clearly. Hey, Paul, how many of these have you actually played?"
He put his hands on his hips and scanned the rows of games. "Honestly? Most of them."
"And how many have you actually liked?"
"Enough to play again? About ten percent."
I pulled a face. "High standards?"
He put away the last of the games and walked back to the counter. "No, just not enough time on my hands."
"Not enough time to play most of these games?" I asked.
"Not enough time to play them again," he said, straightening the shelves behind the counter, "I went through the entire Mass Effect series without doing a single side quest."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously, that's how little time I had."
I leaned on the counter. "Sorry, man."
He shrugged. "Whatever. Like I said, we need a game system behind the counter so I can catch up. I basically live here."
"Nice."
Someone approached the counter with a couple of games clutched in their hands. Paul looked up, then looked at me. "First customer, bro. Go for it."
Hoo, boy. Not that I was nervous about selling anything (you punch some numbers on the register, take their money, thank you and come again) but I was hoping I had the whole professional attitude down. I'd been practicing a little in the mirror and with Kayla. She had kept giggling at my 'professional' attitude so it hadn't really gone anywhere. And I'll admit, here attempts at being a 'random customer' were just as hilarious as my attempts at being a 'professional employee' so we were both to blame.
"How are you today, sir?" I asked to the thirty-something gentleman who stepped up to the counter.
"I'm fine," he replied, distractedly.
"Were you able to find everything you need?"
"Yeah, quick question. Which one?" He held up two games: Injustice: Gods Among Us and the latest Mortal Kombat.
"Big into fighting games?" I asked, taking each and looking at them.
"Yeah. I got enough money for one. So...which one?"
I looked at the guy. Fairly ordinary guy, nothing about him that bespoke a particular leaning towards ultraviolence or fantasy violence. I drummed my fingers on both games. "What do you like better?" I asked, "Action movies or fantasy movies?"
"Huh?"
"When you watch movies, do you prefer fantastical stuff or just straightforward bloody action?"
He looked a little confused. "Um...I guess...fantasy?"
"Awesome," I said, putting down Mortal Kombat, "What was the last superhero film you saw?"
"Man of Steel."
"What did you think?"
"Loved it," he said enthusiastically, though I could tell he still wasn't sure where I was going.
"Okay," I said, holding up Injustice: Gods Among Us, "This game? You can punch Zod so hard, you can see the curvature of the Earth." His eyebrows raised. "This game...you can play as Batman and punch the Flash straight through buildings and then slam him head-first into the ground. You can be anyone...beating anyone."
"Damn..." he said, taking the game.
I picked up Mortal Kombat. "Hey, I'm not talking down this game," I said, "It's solid. Solid, gory action. But you want to feel like you're a king among superheroes, pick up your controller, select Superman, and start hurling people across the screen."
"Sold, man," the guy said, putting the game on the counter, "Thanks a lot!"
"My pleasure, sir."
I rang him up and he left with a goofy grin on his face. I turned to Paul. "So how'd I do?" I asked.
"Fuckin' A, man," he said, extending his fist for a bump, "I don't think you'll have any problems here."
And I didn't. Customer after customer came in, most knowing exactly what they wanted while others needed some advice. The most difficult ones were the parents who were trying to shop for their kids; the kids were gamers but the parents were not and trying to guess what the kids would like had more than a few scratching their heads. Thankfully, I kept up-to-date on the popular stuff so I knew what to recommend so the kids at least stayed with the trendy stuff. Frankly, I preferred the busy times. In the slower times, I had to restock or just lean against the counter and daydream. I wanted to text people but that's a big no-no on the job.
It was only when I took my break a couple hours in that I was able to finally text Kayla.
Me: Hey beautiful :)
Kayla: Hey, working man :) how's everything going?
Me: Not too bad. Missing you though.
Kayla: Awwww <3
Me: I'm off in a couple hours. What do you wanna do?
Kayla: Sorry, baby, I gotta go to the doctor's.
Me: Are you okay?!?!?!
Kayla: I'm fine! I promise. Just a checkup.
Me: Okay. Good.
Kayla: I'm sorry to worry you, baby.
Me: As long as you're okay, I'm fine.
Kayla: I will text you when I'm out and we can hang afterwards.
Me: Sounds great. I have to get back to work.
Kayla: Get back to making the moolah ;)
Me: Lol will do <3
I had just put down my phone, a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to see Kayla until later that night, when my phone suddenly buzzed. It was Joe.
Joe: Hey, man, what you got planned for after work?
Me: Nothing. Why?
Joe: Wanna grab a bite? Got something I need to talk to you about.
Me: Sure thing, man. I'll meet you at Five Guys.
Joe: Burger Time!!!!!
Me: Lol indeed.
Well, that was something to look forward to, at least. I remembered his somewhat jealous tone when he had talked about Kayla and me. Was he going to ask for advice? Maybe. I punched back in and walked back out on the sales floor, hoping that I wasn't going to suddenly become a relationship guru in addition to a gaming one. At least games were easier to figure out.
"I think I'm bi," Joe said.
I had just taken a bite of my burger and now I choked on it, heaving as I tried to dislodge the meat and tomato from my throat. Joe helpfully thumped me on the back and my airway was finally clear. "I'm sorry. Please repeat that."
"I think I'm bi," Joe repeated, looking at me apprehensively.
We were at Five Guys, sitting outside on the red tables where you were in constant warfare with the wind to keep it from blowing your napkins away. Joe was leaning against the table, staring me down as he let his words sink into my head. I'll admit, it wasn't a quick process. Joe was bisexual? Well, I didn't expect that. But...well, so what if he was? No law against it.
"You think you are or you know you are?" I said.
He thought about it. "I know I am," he said.
"All right."
He blinked. "Just like that?"
"Yeah," I said, taking a mercifully smooth bite of my burger, "So you're bi. Big deal. Guy or girl, whoever's with you is gonna be lucky, man."
He heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God," he said, laughing shakily, "I thought...well..."
"Dude," I said, clapping him on the shoulder, "Why would I care who you wanna date?"
He shrugged. "It's just...I don't know how to tell my parents."
"Do they need to know?"
"I mean...They probably should, right?"
"Look, they probably assume you like girls. If you were gay, it would probably be worth telling them you're more into guys. But both? Let them think whatever they wanna think. If it affects something, then just tell them you're batting in both leagues."
He crammed a fistful of fries into his mouth. "I guess. It's not exactly something you're prepared for, you know?"
"Can't say I do know. But I get where you're coming from." We sat in silence for a little bit. "So are you straight down the middle or do you still prefer one over the other?"
"I mean...gun to my head, I'd go with girls, if only because guys don't have..." He mimed squeezing a pair of boobs.
"Amen to that," I said, toasting with my Sprite.
"But there's something about guys too. I don't know...just the fact that they're...strong and tough. It just does something for me. Something like what boobs do for me but different."
"You got any particular guy you have your eye on?" I joked.
Joe put his burger down and wiped his mouth slowly. His eyes moved back and forth, as if he were having a mental argument with himself. He muttered something.
"What?" I said.
He took a deep breath and said, "Brad."
That one...I was definitely not prepared for. In my mind, I'd always seen Brad and Joe as basically the same guy, if only because they made such a big effort to seem like that. I mean, Brad had sports and Joe had woodwork (the naughty part of my brain wanted to make a joke at that), but they'd basically always been the muscle of our trio. Now Joe had a crush on Brad. Damn...
"I assume Brad knows nothing about this."
"You kidding? He'd kick my ass."
He probably would at that. Not that he was a homophobe or anything but when's the last time your best friend came up and said he had the hots for you? Shit.
"What do you want to do about it?" I asked.
"Nothing," he replied, "I'm not going to do anything. I just...wanted you to know. I needed to tell someone."
"And I won't tell anyone else."
"Thank, man. This doesn't weird you out or anything, does it?"
"Why would it?"
He shrugged again and finished the last of his burger. "It's not like I had some practice people to talk with first. Didn't know how you'd react."
"Joe...don't worry about it. Nothing's changed."
And nothing had, at least as far as I was concerned. If Joe and Brad actually hooked up, that would be something else. Brad wasn't gay or bi, as far as I knew, but he and Joe were very close and...you know what? If they hooked up, good for them. Now, if Joe asked me to be his wingman with Brad, that would be a whole other story. I was going to have to think about this.
If he started getting interested in me, he'd be fighting Kayla.
We were throwing away our trash when my phone buzzed.
Kayla: Hey handsome! I'm out of the doctor's :D wanna come over?
Me: Hell yes! Give me a bit.
It wasn't anything I was worried about. Joe was still one of my best friends and I still trusted him implicitly. We would just have to see where it led.
"Hey, man, I'm gonna go hang at Kayla's," I said, "You in?"
"Sure thing. Give me some time to think."
"You won't have much time to think when we're playing Super Smash Bros."
"But I rule at that game, Jack!"
"...You'll see."
The next week passed fairly uneventfully. Craig seemed stunned and furious that Kayla and I were still together but he didn't try anything, my warning that he needed to stay away still hanging above his head. I didn't think for a second he would stay away permanently but it was nice to have a little bit of space from him for whatever time we could.
Joe and Brad continued to be their affable, goofy selves. I tried to push Joe's thing for Brad out of my mind but it hung around constantly, adding new light to small things: the way Joe would laugh at one of Brad's jokes, the way they would bump each other, his gaze lingering on him a second longer than it had to. No one else noticed. It was just like with my parents and the twins and, much as I liked to help everyone, it was getting kind of aggravating being burdened with this extra knowledge. Before long people were going to start asking me to help them fix stuff.
We had a new teacher in gym class, a straight-laced woman named Ms. Pritchett. There was no word about what had made Coach Walburn go off the deep end (and I wouldn't find out for another few months) and no one seemed very interested in dwelling on it. For the next week, she would roll out a cart of basketballs and just say, "Go." It became monotonous fairly quickly but she was clearly a substitute until we could find someone else suitable and we didn't complain. We could be wrestling, after all.
Kayla and I did not have a repeat of what happened after auditions but it was something that was constantly on our minds. A happy memory of something intimate we had been able to share. Our kisses and make-out sessions now were less about the physical pleasure of it (though we enjoyed that) and now seemed more about emotional connection. When our lips met, I felt our hearts beat as one. Her smile now caused my heart to skip every time I saw it and even when we were apart, I saw her face clearly in my mind. I had every detail of her beautiful face outlined and etched solidly in my brain.
Is all that very sappy? Yes, but since it was Kayla, I didn't care. And sappy stuff usually makes me cringe.
It was during the third week of school that the announcements started pushing the Homecoming events: court voting, the parade, the game, and, most importantly, the dance. I hadn't really gotten involved in the Homecoming events last year (except for the dance) and I had no real interest in pursuing them this year. We had to vote for the Homecoming Court (based on nothing more than popularity) but the parade didn't seem to promise any excitement and the game was a lot like any other except with the 'Homecoming Game' label attached to it. Hell, for something that's supposedly based around alumni coming back (a...home-coming, if you will), I haven't seen many alumni racing to get back here. Maybe they're too busy drowning out memories of the rat-hole we call high school with frat parties and dorm-floor shenanigans. Ah, college. A more innocent time.
But the dance was something I was looking forward to, if only because I could make a romantic night for Kayla out of it. Take her to dinner, to the dance, maybe relax on her porch and look up at the stars...yes, I know, sappy. I don't care.
The Friday before Homecoming week was when tickets started going on sale. As soon as gym class ended, I beelined right for the kiosk and purchased Kayla and my tickets.
"Jack, you don't have to," Kayla protested, "I don't mind paying."
"I'm a working man now," I replied, signing our names on the sheet, "Besides, aren't I your sugar-daddy now?"
She grinned. "If that's the case, maybe I should introduce you to shoe-shopping." Hellfire and oblivion are contained in those two words and I hurried us into the cafeteria before she had the chance to pursue the idea further.
"So we going to make a night of it?" Joe asked when we sat down.
"Sorry?"
"Homecoming," he said, flicking a French fry at me, "We going to dinner and the dance together?"
I snorted. "I already have a date," I said, putting my arm around Kayla.
"As a matter of fact," she said, pretending to think, "I don't remember you asking me to the dance."
"Kayla, will you—"
"Yes."
I grinned at her. "Sorry, Joe, I'm taken."
Joe banged his head on the table a couple of times before looking up. "I meant, are we going as a group? Not together, numbnuts."
I laughed. "Of course," I said cheerfully, "Who are you two lunkheads bringing?"
"Ourselves!" Brad said proudly, "Free agents, baby! Who am I to deny all the ladies access to the Bradster?" I looked for Joe's response but he didn't seem perturbed.
"Would you guys mind if Alan and Amanda came along too?" I asked, "I don't wanna dick them over for a ride."
"Are they going...together?" Joe asked, raising an eyebrow. Don't grow too much of a brain, Joe.
"No they aren't going together," I replied, trying to sound like I was laughing it off, "They're just coming along for the experience."
"Hey, Jack, do you think Amanda would be up for dress shopping this weekend?" Kayla asked, "My mom's taking me out looking for one tomorrow and we'd be more than happy to invite Amanda and your mom to come along."
I shrugged and said, "I don't see why she'd have a problem with it. You can ask her on the ride home."
"Awesome!" she squealed, "What about your tux?"
"Got one already." Which was true. Dad decided a couple of years ago, before I started high school, that it would probably be cheaper just to buy me a tuxedo for proms and fancy occasions rather than have to rent one every single time.
"You gonna model for me?" she asked with a wink. Joe and Brad leaned on their hands, gazing at me.
"Maybe the night of the dance," I replied, coloring.
"Awwww," she pouted, "You're gonna make me wait that long?"
"Yeah, Jack," Brad whined, "You're gonna make us wait that long?"
This continued for the rest of the lunch period and even in theater class, Kayla dropped some heavy hints that she would like to see me in my tux beforehand...for 'measuring' purposes. Uh huh.
The past few days in theater class had been spent examining and discussing the themes and subtext of The Winter's Tale, something that everyone in the class found about as appealing as a prostate exam from Edward Scissorhands. Rehearsal for the play wasn't supposed to start until after all of the Homecoming events (they needed the auditorium for quite a few things) and so everyone was expected to be well-versed on the play by the time we got started. Want to know the best way to kill something you love? Overanalyze it.
Kayla actually fell asleep on my arm while Ms. Locke yammered on about the implications of mental disease, especially in a society in which inbreeding...and right there is where I'm going to stop talking about that particular subject. Guh. Normally I would have woken Kayla up so she wouldn't miss anything but I liked the feeling of her resting on my shoulder, her mouth hanging open slightly and her eyelids closed so delicately, she seemed like she was always on the verge of waking up. Her hair fell to the side, the red hair bow only doing so much, and spilled onto my shoulder so her lighter hair and my darker hair mixed together in a swirl of light and dark. It was all I could do not to lean back in the sofa and fall asleep with her.
The bell at the end of class woke her up and she stretched, yawning. "Did I miss anything exciting?" she asked.
"Just a lot of stuff about inbreeding."
"Thanks for making me miss the fun stuff," she pouted. I opened my arms in apology and she happily enfolded herself in my embrace. "Mmm," she said, "Best kind of apology."
"So a hug equals a Get Out Of Jail Free card?" I asked.
"For small things, yes. For bigger things, I'm upping the price."
"How about this?" I leaned and gave her a soft, warm kiss on the lips. I swear she almost melted in my arms.
"That'll do it," she gasped when we came apart.
I grinned. "Hey, I gotta stop by my locker real quick. You want to come or just wait outside for me?"
"I'll wait outside. See if I can catch Amanda and plan something for this weekend."
"Sounds good. See you in a couple."
I hadn't visited my locker a lot so far this year, mainly because I rarely needed to take anything out of my backpack. I packed what I needed for the day at home and left the rest in my room, usually scattered around the floor. But on weekends, whatever I didn't need was banished to the black hole of my locker, to be forgotten about until next week. Sorry, math and history textbooks, but your services will not be required this weekend.
I had just reached my locker when someone behind me said, "Hey, Jack."
I turned to find Jessica leaning against the lockers next to mine, grinning. "Hey, Jessica," I replied, putting down my backpack, "What's up?"
"Not much. You know Homecoming tickets went on sale today, right?"
"Hard to miss," I said, taking out the textbooks I wouldn't need.
"Well..." she drawled, stretching so her shapely legs were in plain view, "I've decided it's finally time to call in that favor you owe me."
I stood up and looked at her. She was looking at me out of the corner of her eye, like a cat judging the distance to a tasty-looking bird. "The one you could have told me last week and didn't?"
"I like anticipation," she replied.
"I bet you do, Ms. Drama Queen." She giggled at that. "All right, what's the favor?"
She stood up, planted herself proudly, and declared, "You're going to take me to Homecoming."
This is about the point where the big dramatic music that's been playing in the background suddenly fades apologetically as the record winds down. After all the anticipation, the knowing smiles, the tension every time she passed me in the hallway...just for that? I mean, yeah, it was still a very obvious 'no', but I kind of expected something larger. But hell, who was I to complain that it was this simple?
"No," I said.
She was genuinely stunned. "Excuse me?"
"I already asked Kayla and she said yes."
"Then tell her you have to go with someone else."
"Jessica...remember when I said the favor had to not jeopardize my relationship with Kayla?"
"It's just a dance, Jack. She can come too."
"Well, telling my girlfriend that, sorry, I have to take another girl to Homecoming so our date is off? Yeah, that's going to jeopardize the relationship. So...no, sorry. It'll have to be something else."
I entered the combination of my locker while she tapped her long nails against the locker next to mine, making a noise like rocks hitting sheet metal. "Jack," she said slowly, "You said you owed me anything."
"I said I owed you a favor. We never said I couldn't reject it."
"So apparently what Craig did to me isn't worth it?"
I sighed, knowing I was going to have to be an asshole. "Jessica," I said, turning to her, "I like you, okay? You're a nice girl. You don't deserve what happened to you. No one does. But if you're asking me to make up for it by rejecting my current girlfriend, then I'm going to have to put her before you. I'm sorry, okay?"
She sighed, chewing her lips fiercely. "Jack...I don't normally toot my own horn..."
Root toot toot tooty toot! "Yeah?"
"I'm hot shit," she said softly, sliding closer to me, "I'm the hottest girl in the class, maybe in school. I'm...look, I'm not trying to be a bitch or anything, but you're kinda lucky I want you to take me to Homecoming. Come on, Jack, it's not that bad."
"Jessica, I promised Kayla. My girlfriend." She twisted her lip. "And yeah, you're too good to go with me. You're going to be freaking Homecoming Princess, no problem. Aren't you supposed to go with whoever is crowned Prince?"
"For pictures and stuff, yeah, but—"
"Jessica, it's going to have to be something else, okay? I can't go with you to Homecoming."
"Can't or won't."
Going to have to be an asshole again. "I won't. Why do you even want me to be your date?"
"What do you care?" she asked, her voice so icy I got chills, "You aren't going with me anyway." She turned and stalked away, her feet slamming the ground with each step. Fuck, I may have just made an enemy with one of the most popular girls in school. The Queen Bee. And I might feel the sting soon.
Kayla could instantly tell, because of her mind-reading powers (I've proven they exist, remember), that something was wrong. "Baby, what is it?" she asked, taking my arm as I exited the school.
"Jessica called in her favor," I said dully.
Kayla's eyes flashed and she gripped my arm so hard, I think it bruised. "What was it?"
"She wanted me to go to Homecoming with her."
She blinked, also struck by how less-than-Apocalypse Jessica's request was. "That's it?"
"Yeah. I still said no. I have a date."
She squeezed my arm and kissed me on the cheek. "You're the best, Jack."
"I don't know. She got pretty pissed. You might want to watch your back."
"You can watch mine," she said, turning around and sticking out her butt teasingly. I took a swat at it, trying to get in my long-overdue spanking, but she dodged and leapt on my back. "And I'll watch yours."
"Since when am I your horse?" I asked.
She giggled. "You love it."
"Yeah...I do..." I felt like something else was going to come, something spoken from my heart, but it faltered somewhere along the way. It crashed with a hiccup in my throat.
"Then get a move on!" she giggled, kissing me on the neck, "Mush!"
I sighed and started walking toward our group of friends who, judging by the looks on their faces, were reading all sorts of taunts for me. What fun.
Kayla was even less interested in the Homecoming events than I was so the majority of the next week was no different than the previous one. Craig was still keeping his distance, a background annoyance made up only of dirty gazes, but now Jessica was starting to throw me dirty looks as well. She always managed to catch me when I was with Kayla and I couldn't help thinking she was under the impression that I was showing Kayla off, like, "Ha, ha, this is the girl I'm taking to Homecoming, not you!" I'm guessing, though. I would never pretend I understood the female mind.