Foul Play

A/N: I’m going to keep the chapters short until I expand on the concept a little! But I’m totally glad you guys liked what I have so far, it’s really encouraging to my own anxious feelings toward writing right now. :P

Just some notes: First, sorry for not writing a proper disclaimer! And next, for anyone that has read my older stuff, I just would like you to know that it WILL be finished eventually. That includes Cultured Spirit. Thanks for your continuous support. :)

Chapter One: The Sun Holds A Grudge

x.x.x.x

Two months ago, the peak of summer hit. It was the beginning of July, and the sun literally radiated through our windows and smothered our air conditioning. Usually in a situation like that, I’d huddle in the deepest corner of my room where it was the slightest bit cool and down lemonade like it was nobody’s business.

But on a particular Sunday afternoon, I was confronted with the doorbell. Peeling myself off the hardwood floor, I smoothed down the wrinkles in my shirt and walked to it carelessly. My parents were on vacation with my little sister to Costa Rica, leaving me happily behind due to my irrational fear of airplanes, so it wasn’t like anyone else was going to take the initiative.

The floorboards creaked uneasily around my feet, groaning as though the stifling weather was harmful to even the furniture. Stepping carefully over the mountain of shoes at the door, I peered through the window and raised a brow in question.

“Hey?” Combined with my quiet tendency and surprise, my greeting was less than hospitable. Finally getting over it, I opened the door to its full width and invited Alec inside. “Thought you were staying at Hannah’s cabin for the summer.”

To be honest, I was a little bitter. I had enough acquaintances, mostly due to Alec merging his friends together, which included me. But it was never a question as to who each other’s best friend was – we just were. I forced him to watch sci-fi movies, renditions of old comic strips, and he forced me to play baseball (which, surprisingly, I found I was actually decent at). Neither of us expected to drift at all when Alec got his first girlfriend.

It happened during Christmas of eleventh grade. Mistletoe slammed into generous amounts of eggnog could only mean a few couples merging from the holiday season. I never expected Alec to be one of them, but there he was at school after the break. Bright red with the flush of cold, and the embarrassment of his news, he caught me at my locker and whispered as if it were a shameful secret. Her name was Hannah Westner, and their first kiss tasted like peppermint.

Alec’s face was flushed for a different reason that July. Later on, I had to scavenger my mother’s medicine cabinet for any ointment. His skin was never overly pale, but sensitive. He learned that a bit late.

“Screw Hannah,” Alec said, looking a bit lost.

We never spoke of their relationship after that. It was pretty obvious what happened when, after the summer, Hannah was dating Gerald Newman. He had sunburn too, I noticed.

I sighed out loud, making sure he heard as I led him to the kitchen. By then, he didn’t need any instruction on how to get there, but I acted like a host anyway. It was the distance that had formed with his suddenly detached attention toward me for the past seven months. “Want some lemonade?”

Alec went to the cupboard and pulled out two tall glasses, his green eyes round and vulnerable. I was surprised to find out his stress wasn’t due to his broken relationship, but due to his worry about me. “I’m an idiot, you know?” He slid into his favourite chair, the one across the window, and the sun immediately illuminated his strictly brown hair. “Hannah’s a whore, and I missed your stupid Star Trek marathon to hang with her.”

I blushed. “It wasn’t Star Trek. It was a documentary on a 1950s comic strip and –” I paused, noticing the mixture of humor and indifference on Alec’s expression. “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter.” Alexander Freedman was a hard person to hate, so eventually I relented. “I have it on tape.”

The invitation was clear. Alec beamed and after sucking half his lemonade through a straw, we walked over to his house to pick up his things.

He ended up staying the rest of the summer.

x.x.x.x

“And that concludes the most boring four hours of my life,” Alec yawned as he turned around in the couch, almost immediately falling asleep.

“All right, all right. After that, I think you deserve my forgiveness.” I walked over to my bed, pushing away the covers. It was still too hot for bed sheets. “I mean, if I found some parts a drag, I wonder how you were holding up.”

“Oh, Quin...” Alec smiled, his arms stretching above his head as he tried to get comfortable. “Such an easy person to please.”

I wasn’t tired, but Alec had almost resorted to taping his eyes open during the broadcast. “Wait til you realise I hold grudges.”

Alec didn’t respond, and after a thoughtful look at his huddled form, I realised he was definitely knocked out. It felt good to have him back. I was a little selfish and dependent, I knew that. He was one of the only people I could talk to, partly due to my lacking social skills, and partly due to the fact you just had to trust Alec. I think my dependency was also due to the fact I had never had a best friend, or even that great of a friend before, and the experience was not something I was willing to give up.

After a moment, I heard Alec’s voice wake me up from the subconscious level of sleep I was in. “Huh?”

“Ointment. This shit hurts like Hell.”

I quietly held in my laughter. He heard it anyway and gestured rudely as I kicked his bag toward me. The ointment was, of course, at the bottom of piles of dirty clothes and socks, and after finally rescuing it, there was an array of Alec’s life surrounding me. “Catch!”

My pitch was perfectly aimed... to hit Alec squarely in his jaw. “Thanks for that, man.”

Smirking I shoved all of his junk to a corner with my foot. “Anytime.” He dropped the small bottle on the table next to the futon as I felt my toe jam against something hard, unlike the rest of Alec’s sweatshirts.

Bending down, carefully making sure Alec’s snores were once again audible, I pushed away his iPod and soccer jersey to reveal a cheap looking notebook that was abused with scribbles and tears.

That was the night I learned Alec had a habit of writing down small, important details of his life. As if speaking to the coils of his scribbler somehow held off the urge of acting out on his feelings. And, I’m not gonna lie – it wasn’t the last time I looked into the pages to discover more of the depth to him that I hadn’t known before.

Most of the recent pages were uninteresting and about Hannah, so I decided to hunt for a date closer to when he had met me. The passages were short, never more than a few paragraphs, if that, but there was one that immediately stood out. It was three pages long, single spaced, and the words crammed together, marching across the lines as if trying to hide the one next to it.

But eventually, they pulled away from each other long enough for me read something that I probably should never have touched. An intimate sentence, obscured with the frost that suddenly fled through me, despite the heat.

And dropping the notebook instantly, I fell off my bed in my hurry to get it back to its proper place.

Alec never suspected a thing – and two months later, when we parted ways and I settled into the front row of my Honours English class, he was still oblivious.

Of course, I wrongly assumed that there was no point in confronting him. Things were exactly as they always were; and why shouldn’t they stay that way?

x.x.x.x

The day was brief and not exactly useful. A handful of course summary sheets were tucked under my arm as I walked upstairs to my locker. I wondered idly to myself why teachers felt an entire class was necessary to go over a syllabus, I mean, I had already gone through most of it on the bus ride to school.

“Man, I love it when class is easy.” Alec’s bag landed on my foot as he worked his combination, the locker next to mine opening with an unpleasant creak. “Although, I guess it’s not really ever easy for you... do you really need all those scholarships?”

I didn’t need them, really, not all of them. But they were a nice bonus to working your ass off. “Yeah, actually.”

He shrugged off my perfectionism, and seemed immediately distracted. Managing to notice his distraught manner, I nudged him slightly. “What’s up?”

“Nothing... nothing. Just looking for Hannah.” He hadn’t spoken of his ex-girlfriend since that first day of summer, and even though I knew there couldn’t have been much of a relationship if Alec was gay, I felt an uneven misery settle in my gut. “She’d hate my hair, you know.”

The mixture of green and brown was already so ordinary to me, that I had totally overlooked the fact that it was, in fact, different. “Screw Hannah,” I repeated his words, and turning his eyes to me, Alec smirked in agreement.

We didn’t get off at the exact same stop, but they were pretty close. He was first, and I was surprised when he didn’t get up and leave. The bus continued on onto my street and I rolled my eyes. “Have you been expecting an invite over?”

Alec shrugged off my words with a slanted smile. “Since when do I need an invite?”

x.x.x.x

Being in a relationship is a joke.

At least my last one definitely was. An entire hoax: a delusion of chocolate cake, awkward dates and pouty lips.

I’m not going to lie. I miss Hannah like Hell, but breaking up with her was the only option. Of course, everyone thinks she dumped me, even Quin, because there was absolutely no fathomable reason for me to let go someone as fucking beautiful as her.

Except for the fact that I’m gay, and she was getting suspicious.

I first thought she would be able to distract me from Quin – from his awkward laughter, sarcastic personality and horrible taste in movies; all of them attributes that I never thought I could find attractive. But in trying to detach my romantic feelings toward him, I detached myself completely.

I think he still resents me for it, at times. And a smart boy with a grudge can be a dangerous thing.

x.x.x.x

A/N: I hope you sort of get the POV thing. If I haven’t made it clear what I’m doing, please let me know and I’ll work on it. :)

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