The Fake Lover

Chapter Three

The three went for a drive around the city for the rest of the afternoon. They talked a lot, though Ohjiro wasn't listening very much. He spent most of the time staring out the window at all the sights that afforded him.

After some time, Di dropped Daryl at his home and the two went home, stopping for some take out on the way. With an arm load of Chinese food each, the teenager pushed into their house and went towards the kitchen. "Sazuki, Orzone, dinner's here!" he called out as Di followed in behind him.

The two boys came out and helped them with the food. “How was school today, boys?” Di asked his two youngest sons.

“It was boring,” complained Sazuki with a roll of the eyes. “Dad, can I please get my hair dyed?”

“That depends… what color?” asked Di.

“Maybe hot pink or something like that?”

"Oh, that sounds cool, can I get mine like that too?" pleaded Orzone, looking up at his father eagerly.

Di just sighed as he sat down with a plate of food. "If I let you guys have everything you wanted, we'd have no money left," he said, poking at his food with his fork, "besides, your hair looks great, why would you want to colour it?"

“Come on, please? All the greatest models do it!” complained Sazuki.

“Yeah!” agreed little Orzone.

Ohjiro rolled his eyes. “Why do you care about that? Being a model wouldn’t be that great. Aren’t they the ones that usually end up with eating disorders?”

"And I guess your pop stars are so much better, huh?" said Sazuki, pouting as Orzone stuck his tongue out at him, "and they look beautiful, anyway."

“It’s not pop, I prefer rock. Besides, at least in music people care mostly about the songs, not how much they weigh or any of that shit.”

“Son, watch your language,” warned Di. “I don’t want to hear it in this house.”

“Sorry…”

“Now…” Their father thought for a moment. “Sazuki and Orzone, if you get really good grades on your report cards, then I may allow you to dye to your hair. Maybe not hot pink, though.”

“Why not?” demanded Sazuki.

“Yeah, why not?” echoed Orzone. “Hot pink is really cool!”

"You don't even know what it looks like," said Sazuki, pointing at him with his fork.

“Yeah, I do,” countered Orzone.

“It won’t matter if you guys don’t do well in school,” their father reminded them.

As the conversation dragged on, Ohjiro just ate his food and began to ignore them. He wanted to go out again. It wasn’t supposed to rain again for a couple days, at least. So once he was done eating, he excused himself and took his plate to the kitchen, then went to his room. He needed some new clothes. Grabbing his wallet, he stuck it into his pocket, walking back out to the others again. “Hey, Dad, can you drop me off at the library please? I need to do some research,” he lied. He really wanted to go to the clothing store behind the library.

"Sure thing," Di replied, "but take your brothers with you, they need to study too."

“… Fine…” Damn it, he thought. I guess I’ll have to wait till they’re all asleep again to go out anywhere…

***

Finally, it was late at night. Finally, after hours of helping his brothers on their homework (and him reading stories on the internet), he could change and get out of the house for some fun. He still had a couple outfits he could try… and so this time he chose a dark blue dress with a longer skirt than the first one he had worn. He applied his makeup, pulled some purple shoes, and put on the wig. He brushed through the hair, making sure there were no tangles in it, and then he left the house again, after checking to see if anyone was still awake.

It was clear, and once outside the warmth of the evening was felt all around. Ohjiro walked quietly down the street, watching the lights of cars and listening to the background noise of people talking. He felt so… alive now.

He walked over to a restaurant, glancing inside. He wasn’t exactly hungry right now, but those desserts sure looked good… “Oh, hey,” said a familiar voice. Ohjiro turned to see the boy that Gerrard had called Alistor. And right there, next to Alistor, stood Gerrard himself.

"I didn't think we'd come across you, tonight," Gerrard said with a smile. Not knowing what to do, Ohjiro smiled back weakly and nodded. "Perhaps you could join us?"

Ohjiro just gave him a questioning look. “We’re about to go inside,” explained Alistor, pointing to the restaurant. “It would be a pleasure to have such a cute girl with us,” he then added, taking Ohjiro’s hand and planting a soft kiss on it, making the boy in drag start to blush.

"Forget him," said Gerrard, taking Ohjiro by his arm. "He does this to all the girls."

"Not all of them," pouted Alistor, folding his arms.

"Come on," said Gerrard, linking his arm with Ohjiro's, "it's my treat." Ohjiro smiled and looked away, his cheeks blushing a deep red. This was everything he'd been dreaming about for months. He was going out to dinner with Gerrard, and Gerrard was gentle and warm and was offering to pay.

Ohjiro smiled while looking out over all the tables. This was his dream, but at the same time it felt unreal, disassociated. It was his dream to go out with Gerrard, but as himself. To Gerrard, he was taking this girl on a date, not Ohjiro. That thought alone sent a sudden sadness through him, but he was able to calm himself soon after. Besides, this was all that he could have. Gerrard was straight, and would never offer anything like this to him if he knew that Ohjiro was really a boy, and a classmate of his even! Best to just accept it as it is, Ohjiro thought glumly as he sat down with the two other boys at a table. I just have to make sure he never finds out the truth…

"This place is great," said Alistor, pulling open a menu, "all of my favourite foods are from here."

"All foods are your favourite," added Gerrard, opening a menu for Ohjiro. "I recommend the lobster," he said, pointing to it on the menu, "though they sell pretty good steak here too."

Ohjiro looked at the menu a little, turning the page to the desserts’ section. He pointed at a very rich-looking chocolate ice cream cake.

Gerrard’s eyes widened a little. “You have quite a sweet tooth, don’t you?”

Ohjiro just smiled and nodded at him a little. He absolutely loved sweets, especially chocolate.

Gerrard laughed lightly and turned back to the meals. "Alright, alright," he said, "but what would you want for dinner?"

Ohjiro looked slowly over the menu. He wasn't too hungry, since he'd already eaten earlier with his family. Still, to keep up the idea that he was here to eat, the boy ran his finger over the menu and pointed to a light chicken salad.

“Okay,” said Gerrard. “That looks kind of good, actually. What are you getting, Alistor?”

“Hmmm…” The other boy continued to look at his menu, before finally deciding, “I think I’ll have the steak myself. What about you?”

"I'll go for the chicken, I think," he said. "It's the night for it, I think."

Ohjiro widened his smile some more and watched as the two of them talked between themselves. The waiter came and went, Gerrard ordering Ohjiro's food, and returned with drinks for all. Juice all around the table, after the waiter had refused to get Alistor anything with alcohol in it. I guess they come here enough to know their ages, thought Ohjiro. I wouldn't dream of being able to afford coming here often.

As the night grew later and the boys finished eating, they went outside into the clean, fresh air. Ohjiro had to get home; the hours kept ticking by. “Maybe I can walk you home?” offered Gerrard, seeing the ‘girl’s’ distress. Seeing the hesitation, he corrected himself, “Perhaps to your friend’s place again?”

“You’re not gonna ride in the car?” asked Alistor.

“No,” Gerrard told him. “I feel like being a gentleman and walking her back to her friend’s house.”

"Suit yourself," Alistor replied, shrugging his shoulder and jumping into the car.

As it drove off, Gerrard turned to Ohjiro and smiled. He lightly took hold of the boy's hand and headed off down the street with him. Everything truly did seem like a dream come true. He was being walked home by his crush! What could be better than that? Well, other than the fact that Gerrard being gay would be a major plus, but it couldn’t be helped. In the back of his mind, Ohjiro quietly wondered if it would be too much to hope for a kiss goodnight, but knew that that particular wish most likely would not come true tonight.

"There was a beautiful sunset earlier," said Gerrard, staring up at the sky dotted with a million tiny lights. "The few clouds were a brilliant gold against the orange sky," he continued, "it was the kind of sight that made you know it was going to be a special night."

Ohjiro just looked at him, really wishing he could just speak to him, but the risks were too great. If he revealed his true self to Gerrard… that would definitely end the perfect dream right there. He didn’t want it to end like that.

Gerrard’s gentle touch to his cheek stole his attention right then, and Ohjiro looked up into the boy’s smiling face. “I hope this isn’t too much to ask, but… could you please tell me your name?” Holding his hand up to Ohjiro, he added, “You can spell it on my palm, if you want.”

Oh shit, thought Ohjiro, what am I going to do here? His thoughts raced for a few seconds until he decided what he was going to do. He was risking a lot with this, but he lightly pushed Gerrard's hand out of the way and leaned towards his ear. "Aiko," he whispered to him and, trailing along his sudden rash of boldness, as he leaned back he gave Gerrard a light kiss on the cheek.

The other boy brought his hand to his cheek where Ohjiro had kissed him, and smiled lightly. “Heh, you spoke,” he said softly, smiling at ‘Aiko’. “You have a lovely name, Aiko…”

Ohjiro smiled back at him, blushing a little after realizing just what he had done. I’m so going to pay for this in the future… He just kept digging himself further and further into this hole he put himself in. Still… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all? He could date Gerrard as this fake girl, couldn’t he? He just wanted to spend time with him after all. And whenever Gerrard would want to take it further… Then I would have to disappear from his life, he thought glumly.

"This is your friend's place, right?" asked Gerrard. Ohjiro turned and looked up to see his home. He felt a mixture of relief and reluctance at being home, as though it meant he had to say goodbye to the boy who had stolen his affections, this dance around his secret would finally come to an end. He smiled a faint smile, and turned his eyes forlornly to Gerrard.

"I had a great time at dinner," Gerrard said, giving Ohjiro's hand the gentlest touch. Ohjiro felt his cheeks burn as his eyes looked down at the ground. "Maybe next time it could just be the two of us?"

The question caught Ohjiro by surprise, and he looked up at him in shock. He wanted to shout ‘yes!’ but he held back. This wasn’t going to end well… It really wasn’t… but… He nodded at Gerrard, a nervous smile plastered on his face as he did so though.

Gerrard returned the smile and took a small piece of card from his pocket and pressing it into Ohjiro's hand. "Call me next time you’re free, okay?” he said with a smile and leaned down, matching the kiss to Ohjiro that he had given on the cheek.

Ohjiro just stared at him. His cheek was tingling where it felt the touch of Gerrard's lips. This was too perfect.

After a small goodbye, he watched as his perfect crush walked away, heading back to his own home most likely. Ohjiro sighed as he went to the door of his house, unlocking the door and walking in. The whole night had seemed like a dream to him. Gerrard’s lips… they were so soft and warm, better than he had ever imagined. He really was like… the perfect guy…

“Who are you?”

The sudden question made Ohjiro jump, and he turned to see his younger brother Sazuki standing in the hall, a small glass of water in his hand. “Uh… hi…”

“Ohjiro??” The boy’s eyes got wide as he came closer, tugging off the wig. “W.. Why are you dressed like a girl??”

Oh, crap…