Another Jock Story

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


(Adam’s POV)

I was having a good day. I woke up with a silly smile on my face, and even my parents noticed how chirpy I was at breakfast. My mother looked at me curiously but I gave her a huge smile and went back to piling pancakes on my plate. I really have no idea why I felt like wings would spring out of my back and carry me away. But somehow it felt right. Right after breakfast, I carried the dishes to the sink, and mum started washing them before she turned to look at me and said with a smile :

“Okay, mister, spill.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Who’s the girl?”

“What girl?” I asked not understanding what she was going on about.

“You went to the party yesterday, then came back humming and now you keep smiling like a lovesick man, so who is she?” She demanded.

“It’s not like that.”, I protested

“Somehow I don’t believe you. You used to tell me everything.”

Ok, so she was playing the guilt card now. I sighed then I said.
“Honest, mum, there’s no girl. It’s just that I made a friend and we had more fun yesterday than I had in a long time.”

She looked at me curiously for some time then said “He must be special to get you in such a good mood.”

“Yeah”, I said smiling, “He’s different.”

“Well, why don’t you invite him over some day. Your father and I were talking lately how you don’t seem to be making friends here, and we were getting worried.”

“No need to worry mum, I’m fine.”

“So, is he on the team?”

“Gabe?”, I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of that.”No, he’s not.”

“I take it from your look that he’s not the athletic type.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Well, no matter, I always thought the more muscle you have the less brain cells you have left.”

“Hey!” I said indignantly. “Are you saying that I am stupid.”

“Of course not, honey.”She laughed “I just love to see that look on your face. Now, how about you take Onyx for a walk? The weather is quite nice this morning.”

With a last smile and wave to my mother, I called Onyx and we walked slowly towards the park.

Mum was one of the funniest people I have ever met. She always liked to make jokes, to see the good in life even though everything is crumbling around. She always said it was to make some balance in the family since dad was “too serious to her liking” when she was teasing him. Dad was cool, he trusted me enough to give me my space and let me choose for myself when it was my decision to make. All in all, I was a pretty lucky guy to have the family I had.

I always liked to walk Onyx, my dog, in the morning. That way, the park won’t be crowded, most people want to sleep in on Saturdays, and didn’t come until the afternoon. Which was fine by me, because, boy, Onyx was a skirt chaser, everytime he met a female dog, he would start his not so subtle flirting and I would have to wait until he finished flirting before moving on. Worse is when he sees a male dog, then he would start baring his fangs and scaring the poor animal into running away or whimpering pitifully. Because in case you haven’t guessed yet, Onyx was huge, even for a dog. Most people who met him were afraid and those who weren’t he would take great pleasure giving them the fright of their lives. He was mean like that.

But right now, he stopped walking, sat on the ground and seemed to be listening intently to something. When I tried to pull him he refused to budge. And after a moment he started whimpering softly and pulling on his leash. Figuring it would be easier for me to follow him than try to force him to leave, I allowed him to lead me to what looked like a secluded place.

When we got closer, I could hear heart wrenching sobs coming from a form huddled under a tree. When I looked closely I was stunned to see it was Gabriel. He didn’t seem to notice our presence, as the sobs kept wrecking his body. I never felt as much pain as I felt looking at him so miserable. Just yesterday, we were having fun and he was smiling. But now, he was in so much pain and sorrow and misery.

I felt a strong ache inside of me, and wanted so badly to shield him from whatever was hurting him and to find those who wanted to harm him and beat them senseless. Trying not to startle the crying form and scare him, I crept silently and knelt next to him on the grass, then I called to him softly.
“Gabe !”

First he didn’t seem to hear me, then he raised his head in my direction and I felt my heart clench. His eyes was red and told a story of their own of how long he had been crying. His cheeks were tear stained, and his lips were trembling through the hiccups and the sobs.

“Gabe! What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?” He shook his head silently, and I was afraid of the answer to my next question ;

“Did someone hurt you?” He shook his head again, but instantly a stronger sob shook all his body and he was crying harder than before. He wasn’t obviously in any state to talk or explain what happened. But I knew for sure that someone had hurt him, and that someone was going to be a very sorry person when I lay my hands on him.

I sat fully on the ground next to Gabriel, and when I saw how he was trembling, I put my arm on his shoulder and pulled gently close. Exhaustedly, he put his head on my shoulder, and we stayed like that for quite some time. Him leaning on me and crying silently, and me rubbing his back in slow circles and offering all the comfort I could. Then I felt his head rolling a bit and realized that he cried himself to sleep.

As gently as I could, I put his head on my lap, and started playing quietly with strands of his hair waiting for him to wake up. I saw Onyx coming closer, he sniffed Gabriel, let out a small whine as though showing his support, licked away a tear that escaped his closed lids. Then he laid down next to Gabe as though guarding him in his sleep.

I didn’t know how much time has passed before Gabriel woke up. All I knew was that the storm inside me wouldn’t calm down until I knew who hurt my friend. Actually, the word friend seemed very weak for what I was feeling for Gabe. I had many friends before, but never have I felt for them what I was feeling for the boy sleeping so trustingly in my lap.

I wanted so much to protect him, to keep all harm at bay, to see him happy. It was a very scary feeling. One I have never felt before.
A small movement interrupted my thinking and I looked down to see Gabriel waking up. He looked lost like he forgot why he was there, then put his fingers to his temples and rubbed them slowly. He jumped a little when he heard me say “Feeling better?”
It was then that he looked at me and his face went all shades of red it was adorable. “Much better, thank you. I’m sorry you witnessed that.” He mumbled apologetically.

“Headache?” I asked concerned.
He nodded and said “It’s alright. It will go away.”

“Do you want to tell me what that was about?” I didn’t want to push him but I really wanted to know.
He shrugged his shoulders and looked away.”It’s no big deal.”

“It must be if you cry that hard and that long.” He busied himself with watching Onyx as the dog approached him.

“It’s Onyx, my dog.” I said as I watched him extend his hand to pet the dog’s head, and Onyx, like a little puppy purred and put his head on Gabriel’s lap begging for more petting.

“Well, he certainly seems to like you.”I said amused “Usually he scares everyone away.”
He gave me a small smile and I noticed sadly that it didn’t reach his eyes. Then he went back to petting the head on his lap.


We have been sitting silently for a so long that I began to think that he wasn’t going to talk about the crying. Then he looked at me intently. I always thought that his eyes saw right into my soul but now, the feeling was even stronger, it was as though he was looking for something, for a confirmation of sorts. So I stayed right where I was, not averting my eyes until he found what he was looking for.

“I don’t cry that often.” He said in a soft voice.”Actually it has been years since I last cried. It seemed like everything was bottled up inside and was just waiting for an excuse to come back to the surface.”

He then looked straight at me and continued “I have always been lonely, even in my own family. I believed it was because I was different and that I didn’t take much effort in trying to get close to them. But despite everything, what I believed above all was that different or not, they still loved me. Even though we’re not close, they are my family and they love me as much as I love them. Never before have I thought that …” Tears filled his eyes again and I pulled him against me making shushing sounds until the tears dried, he drew back taking a shaky breath and smiled weakly “You must think I’m really silly to cry like this at my age.”

“That’s not true. I’d never think of you as silly. It’s OK to cry from time to time, it’s not healthy to keep everything inside.” I said firmly. I was starting to have an idea of what happened to him. It wasn’t that hard to put two and two together and I knew that Cannon had something to do with Gabriel’s state. So, I asked softly :”It was your brother, wasn’t it?”
He looked at me surprised, then looked away his eyes clouded with sorrow and misery “ It doesn’t really matter.”

“Yes it does. What did he say to you? ”

When he didn’t answer I said “Gabe, look at me.” His eyes wouldn’t meet mine do I gently grabbed his chin and lifted his face so that I looked straight into his pain-filled eyes. “What did he say to you?” I repeated.

“It’s not really what he said.”, he answered finally. “It’s just that today was the first time I knew what he really thought of me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Up until now, we had each our separate lives, we didn’t have much in common so I assumed that was why we weren’t close like brothers should be. But this morning..”

“Go on.” I urged him to continue.

“This morning, I discovered that he wanted nothing to do with me because he is popular and that really hurt. I was okay with cold indifference, but disdain just shocked me.” He whispered miserably.

“Oh, Gabe ! I’m sorry. Your brother is a moron.” A dead moron next time I see him.

“But he’s my family. And I am already so lonely.”

“Not anymore. You have me now, remember?” I said smiling and he smiled back tentatively.

“Thank you.” He said softly.

“Don’t worry. So are you feeling better now?” He nodded and said “Yeah, I have no tears left. I’ll be all right. ”

“Good, you know you can always talk to me if you’re not feeling well.” He looked at me for a long moment and then asked in a small voice “Why are you being so nice to me? I’m sure you have better to do.”

“Nonsense ! We are friends remember “ I decided to think about the unknown feelings I was having later .

“But why would you want to be friends with me?” He asked curiously.
‘Because I’m not like your dumbass brother’ I thought, then I answered “I told you, I like you, and we really had fun yesterday.”

He smiled at that and said “Yeah, we did.”


Right then, Onyx barked protesting undoubtedly about how we forgot about him, and he nudged Gabriel’s shoulder. I laughed and said “Well, it seems Onyx is inviting you to a walk.”

“I’d like to.”

“Great, then how about a cappuccino after that?”

“That sounds good ……… Adam?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you, for everything.”

“It’s my pleasure Gabe.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------