Mr. Right

“HELP!” I yelled for the fiftieth time. No one had come yet, and I was starting to get tired. I should have given up by the twenty-fifth time, but I didn’t want to just give up. Again, I gave him mouth to mouth, blowing breath into his lungs . James had turned a bright shade of blue now, and it seemed that all life had been gone from his body. Just when I thought that he was gone for good and I was going to give up, I jumped back as James came back to life. He coughed hard, spitting up water that I don’t believe that he ever swallowed.

“Are you okay?” I asked as he sat up.

James didn’t answer. He continued to cough, throwing up water as he crawled out of the showers. I turned off both shower heads and followed him out, wrapping a towel around his waist. He grabbed a hold on of the towel as he sat on a bench, breathing hard to get air into his lungs. “I’m fine.” he replied minutes later. He raised his head, and I saw that the color in his face was returning to normal.

“Do you need me to get help?” I asked. “Maybe a glass of water?”

“NO!” James snapped, causing me to jump as his voice boomed through the room. “No.” he said again, more to himself. He stared down at the floor and his face drew a blank look. It seemed like he was thinking of what just happened, and I didn’t want to bother him. Seeing that he was okay, I turned to get dressed but he called me back. “Wait!” I heard him say, “Spencer, wait.” I turned back around and sighed. Looking down at him, he took in a few deep breaths and stood up. Staggering to get his balance, he slowly walked over to me. I held my hands out as he got closer, just in case he fell.

Looking up at him, he smiled down at me and placed a hand on my cheek. His smile got bigger as he caressed my skin with his thumb. I felt uncomfortable as he touched my face, thinking that he was going kiss me---again. His smile was soft and I could feel the warmth coming off of him. Pulling my arms out further, I saw him start to sway back and forth. He looked sick and his face turned pale white. Seeing him start to fall back, I reached out and took his wrist and pulled him towards me. I panicked as I pulled him too far, and he was now falling towards me. I caught him just as he fell, but he was too heavy for me. Unable to hold him up, I fell to the floor and he fell on top of me.

“Ow.” I groaned, hitting the back of my head. I also groaned as James’ body pressed against mine, and I tried to push him off. It was no use; he was too heavy for me. I would have been able to pull him off, but with my recent fall I couldn’t.

I let out a frustrated sigh as I just let James lie on me, feeling his hot breath on my neck. Despite the fact he was lying on me, I was happy that he was breathing. I started to grow scared as I watched the hands on the clock. It was now four-thirty. I knew that swimming try-outs would get out soon, so all the guys would come running into the room to collect their things. Trying again, I pressed my hands on his shoulders and I pushed up. I smiled as I almost had him off me, but a sudden move by James, I found his body pressed up against mine again. He moaned as he came to, moving his hands up into my hair. I froze as I felt his fingers twist into my locks, his breath feeling even hotter on my skin. He moaned out again as I felt his nose nuzzle into my neck, kissing it softy. I gulped hard as I then felt his legs move and one go between my thighs. He nuzzled his nose deeper into my neck as he started to lick my neck, moaning even louder. I hissed out as I felt James tongue slide up my neck, biting my ear once he got to my earlobe. That got me, and with one fast motion I pushed James off me.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I yelled.

“Thanking you.” James replied, crawling towards me. “And repaying you for saving me…again.” he smirked.

“A simple thank you will be just fine.” I told him, getting up off the floor.

“Okay…” I watched James as he stood up; standing at attention he bowed lower at the waist. “Thank you.” he said his faced looking at the floor.

“You are a freak.” I told him, standing up as he still bowed.

“No I’m not.” James said, standing back up. “I am human.”

I burrowed my head in my hands and shook it from side to side. ‘He must have been living under a rock.’ I thought. Just then I felt James brush up against me and I jumped back. “Will you stop that?”

“I am sorry, but I want to thank you with something more.”

“So you are giving me your body? You can’t do that.”

“Yes I can. Because I am yours.” he smiled, pinning me up against the shower divider.

‘SHIT!’ the tiny voice in my head yelled. I heard the locker doors swing open and I closed my eyes, thinking that it this was a bad dream. I had my eyes shut for a few moments, hoping that everything will go away. However, when I opened them, I saw half of the boy’s swim team staring at me. They were all standing in the doorway; some of their mouths hanging open as they saw James’s mouth was just inches away from my neck. I knew now that life as I knew it was over.

The next day at school, everyone knew about the locker room episode. On my way to my locker, I heard people calling me names. The word “Faggot” and “Fairy” were popular among the students, and a few of them made kissing noises. I tried to ignore all the calls until I got to my locker. I turned bright red as I stared at the word “FAG” sprayed in bright red letters on the bright blue locker. I knew that if people, who didn’t know already, would know after they saw my locker. I couldn’t do anything about the spray paint, so I just opened my locker and told the front office about it. All throughout the day I was getting called names, which were really putting me down. I wanted to curl up into a ball, and hide in the janitor’s closet for the rest of the day. As the day wore on, I found that it was only me who was being teased. Even though they saw James with me, he wasn’t being teased (which pissed me off). He should have had half of the torment I did, and I wanted to kill him for it.

At lunch I wanted to eat alone. I didn’t want to eat with Lorie or Sarah. I knew that Lorie would chew my ear off, so I ate in the art room. Unfortunately, Lorie came looking for me and ate her lunch with me anyway.

“It’s not true, is it?” she asked, looking at me with puppy dog eyes.

“About what?”

“You know. About how you and James are a couple.” she said the last part at a whisper.

“Hell no.” I cried. “We are not a couple.”

“Then why is everyone saying you are?”

“Because the swim team started that rumor. James had me pinned against the wall, and the team just assumed we were making out.”

“Were you?”

“NO!”

“I thought so. Besides, he is MY Mr. Right.” she smiled, still thinking how she was going to win James’ heart (and make him see that they are meant to be together).

I rolled my eyes and picked up my lunch, exiting the room so I could be alone. I suffered through the last half of school, ignoring the calls and names everyone was shouting at me. I couldn’t be happier when I heard the final class bell ring, and I rushed into the classroom. It was Chemistry. As I sat on my stool, I ignored the cat calls the other students gave me. But once James entered, I hid my head in my book and the calls got louder.

“Hi Spencer.” James said, taking a seat next to me.

“Hello.” I quickly said with no tone in my voice.

The bell rang again, and everyone went silent as Mr. Reed walked into the classroom. Putting down his briefcase, he took out a pile of papers and passed them out. “All right,” he said, his voice boomed through the room. “Today we start your science projects. I am handing out the guidelines for the project. And no, Skylar, you cannot do a baking soda volcano.” he said, seeing Skylar Thompson raise his hand. The class laughed as he turned a bright shade red, and dropped his hand. “I want your projects to be original, and no group will do the same project. So once you and your partner have an idea, tell me and I will let you know if you can do it.”

“Will we be able to choose are partners?” a girl asked in the back.

“I was just about to get to that.” Mr. Reed said, and my heart started to beat faster. I knew that this was not looking good, and I wanted to die. I watched as Mr. Reed smiled and crossed his arms. “No, you will not pick your project partners.” He then took a deep breath in and leaned up against his desk. “Everyone, look to the person next to you. They will be your partners.”

“Fuck.” I mouthed as my head hit the edge of the table. I hissed as I brought my head up and found I cracked my head open a bit. “Shit.” I breathed and I quickly wiped up the blood away.

“Spencer, what’s all the fuss about?” Mr. Reed asked. “I thought you would be happy, being that your project partner is your partner for real.”

I was shocked, and I felt like I should have been six feet under right now. My face turned bright red and I lowered my head again, banging it against the table once more. I didn’t want James to be my partner, and I knew now the school was going to make fun of this too. As Mr. Reed moved on to teach today’s class, I tried to focus on the lesson but that was hard for me. James kept on poking me with his pen, and kicking my stool with his foot. I told him to stop several times, but he kept on doing it. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and I stabbed him with my pencil. He let out a loud yell and everyone turned their attention to us.

“Mr. Hall and Mr. Moore.” Mr. Reed sighed, turning HIS attention towards us as well. “I do not want any of your love quarrels in my class. So if you would kindly wait for the end of---”

“We’re not lovers!” I yelled for the umpteenth time today. I was tired of this and I grabbed my things and stormed out of the classroom.

“Spencer?” I heard the one voice I didn’t want to hear. I hid out in the boy’s bathroom for the rest of the class, hoping no one would look for me---but I was wrong. “Spencer?” James called again, and I heard him stop right in front of the stall I was hiding in. “Can you come out?”

“No!” I yelled. I heard James sigh, and the next thing I knew he was crawling under the stall door. “What that-” I gasped.

“Spencer, don’t get mad at me. I just want to talk.”

“I don’t want to.” I pouted.

“Listen,” James snapped at me, pushing me back and I fell on the toilet. “I want to talk, and you are going to listen.” My mouth fell open as I heard his voice boom around the tile room. I had never heard him talk like this, and I started to get scared. His eyes turned a bright red, and he started to tower over me. He looked taken over by a demon, and I began to recite the Lord’s Prayer in my head. He looked down at me for a moment or two, but then he calmed down. “I am sorry.” he said, his eyes and size returning to normal. “I don’t know what got over me.” he lightly laughed, and he shook his head. “Anyway, I am sorry that everyone is calling you gay. I did not mean for that to happen; I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Will you forgive me?”

I sighed, thinking if I should accept his forgiveness. A part of me didn’t want to, but being that my mom told me to forgive others… I felt I had to. “Fine. But I don’t want you to be hanging around me anymore. Got it?”

“As you wish.” James smiled, and bowed slightly. “But we do have to meet sometime.” he said, crossing his arms and shifting his weight.

“For what?”

“Hello.” James laughed, knocking on my head. “The science project.”

The project had slipped my mind. I was too pissed off with how Mr. Reed told us we were lovers that I forgot all about it. “Oh, right.” I said, embarrassingly. “Could we get together sometime this week to discuss it?”

“Sure, we can meet at your house.”

“No, we will meet only at the library. Nowhere else.”

James laughed. “I don’t want to work there. People work better at their home, so yours will be fine. If your mother allows it.”

I thought about James working at home with me. As I thought about it, I thought how my mom was going to be there. I smiled as I knew she would have her eye on us, and that if James pulled something, he would get kicked out. “Sure.” I smiled.

“Perfect.” James smiled back. “We can meet after school on Friday.”

“Okay, I will tell my mom about it then.”

“See you then.” James said, bowing again and unlocked the stall door.

When Friday came around, I asked if I could have a friend over after school.

“A friend?” she asked. “You know I don’t like your friends over.”

“I know,” I told her. “But it’s for a school project. He will only be here for an hour or two.”

“He? You mean you found a friend that’s a guy?“

“Yeah, he’s new.”

“Fine. But only an hour, okay?”

I nodded and I told James what my mom told me. “No problem.” he replied at the end of the school day. We then began our descent down the road to my house. When we got to my house, I found my mom had set out a plate of vegetables and fruit for us. We had just set out bags down, when she came back in with a pitcher of water in her hands.

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to get home so soon.” she said, noticing me and James. “It doesn’t matter though.” she sighed, setting the pitcher down on the coffee table. “Hi, you must be Spencer’s friend he was talking about.”

“Um, yeah.” James replied, shaking my mom’s hand. “I’m James Moore. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” my mother’s smile got bigger. She went back into the kitchen and we began to get to work.

As I set out my science book, I noticed how James had tensed up. He was looking at something, and I followed his gaze. He was looking at the water pitcher, and he looked frightened. “James?” I questioned, snapping my fingers to bring him back to reality. “James!” I yelled, this time he snapped back to normal.

“Sorry. Um…could you move the water pitcher, please?”

“What? Are you afraid of water?”

“No, I just…I feel uneasy with it around me. You know…with everything that happened with the shower and all.”

I rolled my eyes and I took the picture of water back into the kitchen, only to bring back a glass for myself. “Okay.” I sighed, picking up my book once again. “What do you think we shall do?” I asked him.

James didn’t say anything; he still had that petrified look in his eyes. I guess he was staring at the small water glass, and I placed it out of his sight. He was okay after that, and we got back to work.

“I am sorry, honey.” my mom said thirty minutes into our project. “But I just got a call from Miss. Lemon, and she needs my help down at the church. Will you boys be okay?”

“Yes we will.” James said with a smile.

“No.” my mind said, seeing my plan unravel.

“Okay, I will see you two later.” she smiled, and with that she went out the front door.

“Alone at last.” James smiled, and I felt like I was going to be raped right here and now.

“Yeah.” I replied nervously. “I think we should take a break.” I told him, and we got up and stretched out joints.

“Where does this room lead to?” James asked, wandering over to the basement door.

“That leads to the prayer room.” I told him.

“The prayer room?”

“Yeah, my mom spends about most of her time down there. Just praying for everything you can imagine.”

“Do you go down there?”

“My mom makes me go down there every other day.” I told him. “I don’t really like that room. I feel like I am being watched.”

“Really, do you think it is haunted?”

“No. My mom got our church to bless the house.”

James laughed. “Wow, your mom is hard core when it comes to religion.”

“Yeah. Hey, where are you going?”

“Down to the room. I want to see what it looks like.” he smiled and continued down the stairs.

“Wait!” I called, and I followed him down into the room. “My mom doesn’t like guests in here.”

“She doesn’t like guests at all.” he replied. “I can tell.”

I said nothing, and stared around the room---except for the pentagram on the floor. It was set up like Lorie had in her parent’s basement, but ours was a bit different. A large shrine was built at the far wall, and there was soft music playing. Prayer candles where lit everywhere, and the room smelt of lavender. The whole place felt peaceful and James went over to the shrine.

“This place is holy ground.” he said, sounding different as his accent was gone. “There is no evil here. I like it.” he then sat down and sighed. “I can stay here forever.”

As I stared down at James, I felt like he was someone different. Upstairs, I felt he was uncomfortable and scared. But here, he looked peaceful and happy. Also, a few times over the past week I felt like something was watching him---something evil. When he passed out in the shower, I felt like he was taken by something (no one just dies in the shower like he did). And the water James threw up did not come from the shower head. The more I wondered, the more I thought that he was not part of this world. I then worked up enough courage to shake him from his peaceful state.

“James…what are you?”

“What?” he asked, looking up at me.

“What are you? I know you’re not from this earth.”

“What do you mean? I am. I am from this world.”

“No you’re not. What’s been happening to you does not happen to normal people.”

James didn’t say anything. He just laid on the floor, staring up at the crucifix my mom had on the wall. He shook his head, and I saw that he was thinking things over. With a long sigh, he sat back up and shook his head again. “You got me. I am not from this world.”

My mouth dried up once he told me this. I couldn’t believe it. My heart started to race as he stared up at me. I wanted to run back upstairs, locking James in the basement till my mom got back. But my feet weren’t moving. Instead, I just stood there and looked at him. I swallowed hard as I saw James stood up, and my heart race even faster. I started to get scared, and I clenched my eyes shut as he reached out. I wanted to scream and swat his hand away as he caressed my cheek. Instead, my eyes rolled back into my head and I fainted.

“Spencer.” I heard a voice in the distance. I moaned as I started coming to. I didn’t know how long I was out, but it seemed like a few minutes. I slowly opened my eyes, and realized that I was back upstairs. I smiled, thinking that my mom had carried me up. But I was wrong.

I screamed as James’s face came into view, and I fell from the couch to the floor. “What are you doing here? Stay back.” I yelled at him, seeing him come towards me.

“Spencer, calm down. I won’t hurt you.”

“My ass you won’t! I know what demons can do.”

James sighed, staring down at the floor with his hands on his hips. “I am not a demon. If I was a demon, then I wouldn’t have been able to go downstairs. That room is holy.”

I calmed down a bit, thinking over about what happened. He was able to go into the family prayer room, but yet he was not human. Standing up, I sat back down on the couch and stared at James. “If you are not human,” I asked, “And you’re not a demon. Then…what are you?”

James smiled and scooted closer to me, leaning in as far as he could go. My eyes widened as I felt his hot breath on my skin again, and my heart raced. His smile got bigger and looked me over once. “You seriously don’t know who I am?”

“Should I?”

“Yes, you summoned me. Or should I say…you created me.”

“What?”

James laughed, and pressed his body against mine. “Can’t you see it?” he breathed, his lips brushing up against mine. I knew what was coming up next, but I didn’t know how to stop it. He had my arms pinned down beside me, and both his legs were between mine. My mouth dropped as James moved closer, pressing his lips softly against mine in a sweet kiss. He smiled as he backed up an inch, laughing as he leaned forward again. This time he slowly slid his tongue into my open mouth. I jumped as I felt his tongue slide across mine, and he moaned out as he started playing with it. He played with it for a while, and then he pulled out and pressed his head against mine.

“Who are you?” I asked again, my eyes watering.

James laughed as he slowly moved a hand under the front of my shirt, licking the shell of my neck. “I am your Mr. Right.” he said, and he pulled me down to the floor with him.