A Good Muslim

A/N: Sorry for the unprecedented delay. I had to take a summer session physics class... and GOD do I hate physics. If there are any mistakes typos, grammar, spelling etc. don't hesitate to point them out my beta is super busy and I'm helplessly incompetent LOL. Please forgive me and please enjoy.



Translations:

Sabah al-Khair ya habibi- Morning my love

Wallahy- I swear to God

Warda- Flower

Mashy- Okay/Alright

Baba- Daddy

Mama- Mommy

Al-hamdu’li’llah- Thank God

Ha’raman ya Baba- Good prayer daddy

Gamee’an ya Ibni- May God accept it my son

Aywa ya Baba- Yes daddy

Sabah al-Noor- Good morning

Al- Fajr- Early Morning Prayer

Salat al-Jum’ah- Friday Prayer

Allah- God

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drive home was surprisingly refreshing. At first Shayne pointed out a couple of points of interest. Going into much detail about the ‘only places that meant Jack Shit in this backward town.’ Then about halfway into the drive, an unusually comfortable silence descended upon the pair.

The screeching of rusty rotors yanked Rasheed away from his scrupulous fascination with the faded burgundy upholstery between his thighs.

“You said Bishop creek, right?” Shayne asked uncertainly.

“Yeah- I think you gotta’ make a left over here and it should be a lil’ further up the road.” Rasheed explained.

In no time the red pick up had pulled up in front of Rasheed’s house.

“So-” Started Shayne, “You doing anything tomorrow?”

“School I guess.” Replied an uncertain Rasheed.

“We don’t have class on Friday.”

“Really?” Asked a surprised Rasheed, “But Why?”

“Yeah really. Our first day back is always a half-day, followed by a three day weekend.”

“Awesome!” Rasheed cried with a clap of his hands, “I think I’m starting to like Cosmos already.”

Shayne chuckled heartily in response. “So got any plans for tomorrow?”

Rasheed paused a second and thought it through.

“Well since I’m off, I’ll definitely have to go to Friday prayers… But I should be free afterwards.”

“Friday prayers?” Shayne curiously inquired, “What…did they move up Sunday mass?”

Rasheed couldn’t help but laugh at Shayne’s innocent inquiry.

“What-What did I say?” Shayne asked self-consciously.

“No, it’s nothing,” Rasheed said between intermittent bouts of laughter.

“So what’s so funny?”

“The whole ‘Sunday mass’ thing- ” Rasheed couldn’t help but to chuckle again.

A look of comprehension dawned on Shayne’s face, as he ran his delectable pink tongue across his pouty, pierced lip.

“So, you’re a Muslim.” Shayne said flatly.

Rasheed straightened up in his seat, never breaking eye contact with the other boy, “Yeah- yeah I am.” Rasheed said with an air of pride slipping into his voice.

A tense moment of silence passed between the pair as they sized each other up intently.

Shayne was first to break the silence, “Cool- So what time can I scoop you up?”

Rasheed released a ragged breath that he wasn’t even aware he was holding in.

“Five O’clock sounds good?” Rasheed asked.

“Perfect,” Shayne affirmed with a nod of his head.

Rasheed struggled to open the car door, the handle just jiggled loosely in his grasp.

He finally gave up on trying to figure it out, “Umm… How do I open it?”

“Sorry about that, it’s busted-“ Shayne chuckled embarrassedly. ”You gotta’ jiggle the handle from the inside and pull on- ”

Rasheed just stared blankly at the door, “you do it.” Rasheed cut in, as he sat back allowing Shayne to reach over him.

Shayne lithely situated himself over Rasheed’s body. Leaving only a tantalizing distance between them.

Rasheed found it incredibly difficult to resist the urge, to push back an errant bang concealing part of Shayne’s beautiful face. In fact it was difficult enough just to keep his hands to himself.

But in mere seconds the door swung open, causing Shayne to lose his balance.

His elbow slammed into the coarse wood grain of the dashboard. Pain to flashed thru the diminutive boy’s body.

Shayne toppled right onto Rasheed’s lap, clutching his battered elbow in hand.

Instinctively Rasheed wrapped his arms around the slight teen to save him from any further injury.

“Are you okay?” A deep-seated concern seeped into Rasheed’s voice.

“Yea-” Shayne gasped out in pain, “I hit my damn funny bone-Shit!”

“If it’s so painful, why do they call it a funny bone?” Rasheed asked off-handedly.

“That was so random,” Shayne chuckled out thru the pain.

Rasheed face grew bright red in response.

But Shayne paused to think about, “Shit- I dunno’… Maybe because it’s funny to watch?”

Both boys broke out into a soft chuckle and before they knew it, the car erupted in fits of girlish giggles.

When their laughter died down, they remained as is, taking a second to decompress.

Shayne instinctively nestled further into Rasheed’s quasi-embrace, causing Rasheed to tense up, if ever so slightly.

Rasheed cleared his throat, in the hopes of dispelling the feelings simmering within him.

“You feelin’ better?” He asked casually.

“Yeah,” Shayne replied as he attempted to get up. But found that he still had those powerful, sinewy arms wrapped around his slender waist.

“Uh,” Shayne smiled slyly, “you wanna let me up?”

Rasheed rapidly blinked his eyes in astonishment, as if to clear away the fog that clouded his mind.

“I promise I won’t get hurt again… If that’s what you’re worried about.” Shayne continued, with a devilish smirk gracing his ethereal features.

“Y-Yeah, sure thing.” Rasheed said as he unwound his arms from around the other boy.

Shayne got off of Rasheed. Sitting back down in the driver’s seat he began to nurse his aching elbow.

“Thanks a lot for the ride Shay… I owe you one.”

Shayne curiously eyed the hazel-eyed boy, “Owe me one? I figure we’re even- considering you were my knight in shining armor just a few minutes ago.”

“How could I deny a damsel in distress?” Rasheed teased as he climbed out of the truck.

They shared a quick smile and then Shayne waved his depart.

His beat up truck struggled to get back down the road.

Rasheed finally turned to his house when Shayne disappeared from sight.

Before he could fish his keys out of his pocket, the door burst wide open.

“Rasheed what are you doing home so soon?” Nahseema asked with a deep furrow of her brow, “and who was that in the red truck?”

To Nahseema, Rasheed’s silence seemed to speak in volumes.

“I knew it,” she screeched, “you’re cutting class. You and that hooligan that just drove off.”

“Mam-”

“Don’t ‘Mama’ me- Oh Allah what have I done to deserve such delinquency from my son? Where did we go wrong? What happened to my ba-”

Rasheed couldn’t take it anymore. He reached over and grabbed his mother firmly by the shoulders.

“Mama! --Wallahy it was a half-day today and had it not been for Shayne, I would have had to walk all the way back home from school.”

“A half-day?” She asked flabbergasted.

“Yes,” Rasheed sighed exasperatedly, “and schools not in session tomorrow either- we have a three day weekend. You can call the school to confirm all of this.”

Guilt welled up in Nahseema’s striking irises, but she quickly clamped it down.

“Very well then Rasheed,” she darkly said.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Although it was short lived.

“But you’re not off the hook just yet,” she rattled in her heavy Eastern accent, “who was that boy in the red truck?”

Rasheed went off into a lengthy explanation, detailing how he had encountered Shayne. Expressing the concept behind the ‘Buddy System’and further elaborating as to why Shayne had offered him a ride home.

“Shayne, huh?” She paused in contemplation. “He sounds like a nice enough boy.”

“Yeah-” Rasheed sighed, with a far off look overtaking his visage.

Nahseema’s quick eyes dart back to her wayward son.

A look of thinly veiled fury encompassed her features, “yes-yes that is all well and dandy. But you mustn’t allow this Shayne-” she practically spat out his name, “to detract you from your studies and your prayers.”

“Of course not Mama,” Rasheed monotonously droned out.

“Fine,” she huffed, “I have to go pick up Mouneer from school. He should be getting out soon.” She said with an anxious peak at the clock.

“You go wash up and get ready for dinner.”

“Mashy,” Rasheed mumbled as he trudged up the stairs.

Instead of doing as he was told, Rasheed decided against his better judgment that a little nap would be best for him. As soon as his body collapsed on top of the thick comforter, his eyes slid shut; welcoming the subtle embrace of the abyss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nature’s call served as his alarm. Rasheed bolted up right in bed and made a mad beeline for the bathroom.

After relieving himself, he finally paused for a minute to take in his surroundings. Sun light blared through the partitions in the vertical blinds.  Alerting him to the fact, that he had actually spent the better part of the afternoon, as well as all of the evening soundly asleep.

He was positive his mother would make him rue his existence for such slothful behavior. Especially, since he had missed three out of the five daily prayers.

He began stripping off his school uniform. The cold air rushed against his exposed skin, making shivers run up and down his lanky frame.

~Might as well make the best out of a bad situation. ~ Rasheed thought optimistically.

“I’ll pray al-Fajr.” He said aloud, as he stripped down to his boxers.

Of all the prayers that he had to perform the Fajr prayer was his favorite for two reasons. Firstly, it was the shortest prayer and secondly it was usually performed in the wee hours of the morning.

He especially liked the fact that he was at least guaranteed a few minutes of solitude after performing said prayer.

Rasheed returned to the bathroom and began performing his ablutions. After finishing he quickly ran back into the adjacent bedroom and toweled dry.

For Rasheed, the worst part about praying during the fall and winter seasons was performing ablutions. It left him very cold and exceedingly temperamental, add to that the occasional early morning rant from his mother and you had a formula for disaster.

Maybe it was his inert genetic make up talking, but he never did like the cold.

Slipping into a pair of cotton PJ bottoms and a thermal, he proceeded to make his way to the living room.

Once there, he rolled out one of the prayer mats and began his delayed ‘meeting with Allah,’ as his father would put it. He finished his supplications rather quickly and then made his way to the kitchen.

Rasheed was famished, having not eaten anything since yesterday mornings breakfast.

He settled on a bowl of Flaked Corn, with extra sugar. Since his mother never purchased the multitude of colorful, sugary goodness that he and Mouneer could only dream of.

The sounds of shuffling footsteps alerted Rasheed to his little brother’s presence.

“Mornin’ Sheedy,” came Mouneer’s sleep muddled voice.

“Mornin’ Mouneer,” Rasheed said with a frown, “what are you doing up this early?”

“No school today,” the child replied with glee in his ebony eyes, “Cosmos is so cool.”

Rasheed had to chuckle at his brother’s simplicity. “Yeah I know. I got no school today too. So what you wanna’ do buddy?” Rasheed asked the six year old.

“I wanna’ watch a lot of cartoons…before mama gets up.”

Rasheed nodded his head in understanding.

He ruffled the boy’s mop of ebony tresses, “Why don’t you go and watch your cartoons and I’ll make you some breakfast. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” Mouneer said with an excited huff.

“What do you want cereal…or something else?” Rasheed asked hesitantly.

“Pop tarts and waffles, please.” The child asked innocently enough.

Rasheed shook his head in refusal. “You know that’s not gonna’ happen…”

Mouneer smiled slyly.

He began his full on assault on Rasheed with the most watery, puppy dog eyes that he could muster.

Rasheed momentarily faltered, but quickly collected his scattered thoughts.

“Nope- it’s not gonna’ work this time pal,” he finally muttered, “how about some cereal?”

“Fine,” Mouneer muttered as he crossed his arms over his minute chest.

The petulant child stomped his way into the living room and seconds later; the sound of cartoon shenanigans flooded the house.

“Mouneer,” Rasheed called out over the ruckus, “turn down the volume!”

Ignoring his older brother, Mouneer turned up the volume to the max.

“Mouneer,” cried Rasheed, “please turn it down- you’ll wake up Ma-”

“Mouneer,” Nahseema suddenly bellowed from the top of the stairs.

Within seconds of hearing the sound of descending footsteps, the television was muted.

Nahseema walked into the living room with a livid spark in her bulging eyes. Her narrowed eyes swept across the expanse of the lofty room, landing on a nervous Mouneer. “That’s more like it,” she said with a brisk suckle of her teeth.

Rasheed strolled in after her, cereal in hand.

“Sabah al-Noor Mama,” Rasheed said neutrally, giving his mother a gentle peck on her cheek.

“Sabah al-Khair ya habibi,” she replied joyfully, having to rise on the tips of her toes to reciprocate the kiss. 

“Today is Salat al-Jum’ah Rasheed,” Nahseema said sternly, “it is the most important prayer of the week… and here you two are dilly dallying about, watching cartoons and all that nonsense.”

Both boys bowed their heads in silence. They knew better than to argue with Nahseema when she was on one of her religious tilts.

“Fine,” she huffed, “You two finish up your breakfast and then get ready. Your father wants to lead prayers and then quickly head off to work. Oh and Rasheed don’t feed your brother any of that sugared garbage. I don’t have to keep reminding you and your father of his medical issues. ”

“Okay Mama,” both boys chorused in unison.

Nahseema waved them off with a dismissive hand and head back up the stairs.

“You see the trouble you get us in Mouneer?” Rasheed asked with feigned anger as he set down the bowl in his hand.

“Sorry,” Mouneer muttered.

“That’s okay buddy,” Said Rasheed as he ruffled his brother’s lengthy ebony tresses.

The child pulled away from Rasheed’s touch with mock affront plastered all across his features.

“Well it was your fault to begin with- you should’ve just made me the pop tarts and waffles I wanted.” Mouneer chastised.

Rasheed shook his head in clear disapproval of his little monster’s tactics.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shortly thereafter the house came to life in a flurry of activity.

Tarek came hopping down the stairs on one foot, damning the armoire the whole way down.

“Warda, my love,” Tarek painfully called out. “I think it is time we get rid of that oversized armoire-”

“No way Tarek,” Nahseema hollered back from the kitchen, “you know full well that was a wedding gift from aunty Layla- may Allah rest her soul.”



Tarek entered the kitchen and gave his wife a quick peck on her lips.  Nahseema drew back slightly.

“Tarek the boys could see- what kind of example are we setting for them?” Nahseema rebutted.

“Mashy,” Tarek sighed backing away from her, “are the boys ready for prayer?”

“I don’t know love- why don’t you call out to them?”

“Rasheed-Mouneer,” Tarek called out, “Are you boys ready to pray?”

“Aywa ya Baba,” the boys answered back.

The family congregated in the living room once again. This time Tarek led the prayers while Rasheed followed his lead and Mouneer sat back and watched.

In a matter of minutes, Tarek and Rasheed had their prayer mats rolled up and stashed away to patiently await their next use

“Ha’raman ya Baba,” said Rasheed with an outstretched hand.

“Gamee’an ya Ibni,” Replied Tarek as he grasped his sons outstretched hand.

“So what are you doing today Rasheed?” Asked Tarek.

“Uhm- a friend from school offered to show me around town today. ”

“Really- a friend?” Tarek questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” replied a fidgeting Rasheed, “his name is Shayne.”

Nahseema had walked over to the pair, “Oh- you mean the boy with the red pickup?” She asked innocently enough.

“Yes Mama- him,” Rasheed replied.

“We’ll have none of that,” injected Nahseema with a shake of her waist length ebony hair.

“But Mama please,” begged Rasheed, “I have no friends here. what am I supposed to do?”

“Oh I don’t know- you can study, you can catch up on the prayers you missed yesterday while you slept like an ox,” she rambled on in her heavy eastern accent.

Rasheed looked at his father with pleading eyes, “Baba please,” he mouthed silently.

Tarek gave his son a slight reassuring nod of his, “Now-now Warda how do you expect the boy to flourish if he can’t socialize with his own peers?”

“Don’t give me that psychological babble,” she spat out. “I know exactly what my son needs and it isn’t some no good friend.”

“Nahseema,” Tarek’s temper flared. “He is my child as well- I refuse to isolate him from the world!”

Nahseema’s stunning hazel eyes widened in shock, “Tarek?” She asked with a keen look of hurt flushing into her irises.

Tarek sighed and ran tense fingers through his thinning hair.

“Nahseema- Warda,” he said cupping her cheeks with his large hands. “He has so much to offer the world and the world- no matter how harsh it could be, has plenty to offer him.”

Nahseema took a silent minute to mull over what her soul mate’s words of wisdom.

She crossed her arms over her voluptuous bosom, “Fine, he can go.” She mumbled.

“Really Mama?” Rasheed asked as his face split into a full-blown grin.

“Yes really,” she replied. “But under two conditions- first you are to tell me everything that you know about this boy and secondly you are to introduce us to one another.”

“Of course Mama,” Rasheed readily conceded. “Anything that you want.”

“Humph,” she snorted. “Yes- anything that I want, indeed.” She muttered sarcastically.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In no time at all, the serene blanket of evening had descended upon the town of Cosmos.

Rasheed found himself pacing the lengthy expanse of the kitchen, repeatedly.

He felt, like he had been waiting for Shayne forever. For God’s sake his father had already gotten home and today was supposed to be a late day for him.

Rasheed was just about to give up hope and turn in, but a light tapping sound alerted him to a presence at the front door.

He bolted to the door and yanked it wide open.

Shocked green irises regarded the caramel complexioned beauty, “hey,” Shayne greeted off-handedly.

“Hey,” replied an easily distracted Rasheed.

“Sorry I’m late. I got- ”

Rasheed was too mesmerized by the pale expanse of skin that peeked from beneath Shayne’s fitted black button down.

“So we cool?” Shayne asked with a tilt of his head.

“Huh?” Uttered a startled Rasheed.

Shayne realized that the boy had been completely zoned out, “Earth to Rasheed! Are you there bud?”

“Yeah- Yeah you’re cool,” Rasheed replied breathlessly.

At Shayne’s raised eyebrow, Rasheed scrambled to correct himself.

“I-I mean it’s cool,” he reiterated, with a fierce blush overtaking his cheeks.

“So,” Shayne changed the subject, “you ready to go?”

“Yeah, sure” Rasheed replied wholeheartedly.

But then he remembered that he had to make introductions.

“Well, let’s get going.”

“But, first I want you to meet my parents- I mean only if you don’t mind?”

“Oh- having me meet your parents already, huh? Does this mean I’m a keeper?” He teased with a wink of his eye.

Rasheed vigorously shook his head from side to side. “No- I mean yeah- but it isn’t-”

Shayne placed a reassuring hand on Rasheed’s shoulder. “It’s cool bro, I totally understand. Lead the way.” He said with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

Nahseema sat ramrod straight in the living room. Keenly listening in on the exchange between her son and his new acquaintance. 

Tarek couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his wife’s overbearing antics.

“Warda, please stop this madness,” Tarek pleaded.

“Shhhh,” she hissed, “how do you expect me to hear anything if I have you buzzing in my ear Tarek.”

“That is the point Warda,” Tarek replied crossly.

Nahseema’s scathing retort was lost upon hearing the sounds of approaching footsteps.

She quickly pretended to busy herself by reading her worn copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book.

When both boys stood in the doorway to the living room, she set the book down and rose to greet the boy standing in front of her with Tarek in tow.

She eyed the minute teen up and down. From his dyed hair to his piercings, she did not like one single thing about him.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Mansoor,” Shayne greeted politely. “My name is Shayne, Shayne Fowler. It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” he said with and out stretched hand.

Tarek lightly gripped the teens hand, “the pleasure is all ours. So you know Rasheed from school huh?”

“Yeah, We’re in the same home room.”

“That is excellent,” replied a beaming Tarek, “it is most fortunate that Rasheed was able to find a friend so soon.”

“Well I actually found him,” Shay said playfully.

“Well, whatever the case maybe, it is a pleasure to have met you. But I’m sure you boys don’t need us holding you up any longer.”

Mouneer had came barreling down the stairs, “Hey” he squealed at the new presence in the house. “You must be ‘Sheedy’s friend.”

“Yeah,” Shayne replied, “so what’s your name lil’ bud?”

“I’m Mouneer and I’m six years old.”

“Wow you’re all grown up, aren’t ya’?”

“Yup,” Mouneer replied with a proud smile. But his juvenile brows quickly furrowed.

“Even though I’m a big boy, momma and ‘Sheedy won’t let me do what I want,” he pouted.

Shayne stooped down on his haunches until he was eye level with the child. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Sure! I promise I won’t tell.” Mouneer said secretively as he leant closer in too Shayne.

Suddenly the child giggled.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “Your face is a lil’ prickly.”

“It’s cool lil’ man. I’ll take you out sometime and we can do anything you wanna do.” Shayne whispered in his ear.

Mouneer’s eyes lit up, “you promise?” he feverishly asked.

“Yeah pinky promise,” Shayne said with an extended pinky.

Mouneer locked digits with Shayne and gave hive a suffocating hug.

“Ugh- I can’t breathe and if I can’t breathe- we can’t do that thing we talked about.” Shayne laughed out.

The child relinquished his grasp on Shayne, “Sorry.”

“No prob’,” Shayne said as he got back up and ruffled Mouneer’s silky ebony tresses.

Rasheed couldn’t help the grin that spread across his features as he watched the delightful exchange between Shayne and his brother.

“So can we go now Baba?” Rasheed asked hopefully.

“Of course you can,” Tarek said embarrassedly. “You boys drive safely and try not to get into any trouble!” Tarek called out after their retreating figures.

To Tarek’s utter relief, Nahseema had remained uncannily quite during the whole exchange.

“So,” Tarek started, “what do you think?”

She could not figure what to make of that boy. In her firm opinion there was something most definitely- off about him. And she would not rest until she knew what it was.

“Warda?” Asked a perplexed Tarek.

“I’m going to bed Tarek,” She muttered as she made her way out of the living room. “Good night.”

She had left Tarek even more perplexed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drive to the center of town was uneventful. It turned out that the first stop for the night, was the town’s diner: Elroy’s.

Shayne figured that burgers, fries and shakes were the perfect way to start any evening. To his utter dismay Rasheed’s stomach happily chorused it’s agreement rather loudly.

They parked out back in the parking lot and made their way to the diner’s only entrance. Shayne held the door open for him

Rasheed was taken aback by the diner’s obvious Nineteen-Fifties décor. It was refreshing in a small town kind of way.



They grabbed the nearest booth. Patiently they waited for their waitress to come by and take their orders.

A short, blond strolled up to the booth. Her nametag read: Katy, “So what are you boys having?” She asked as she pulled out a blue pen from behind her ear.

“Two Cheeseburger deluxe- You want bacon on yours?“ Shayne asked.

“No, I can’t have bacon.”

“Right, sorry about that it slipped my mind.”

“Okay so one with bacon, one without, and two shakes- what flavor do you want?” Shayne asked looking over in Rasheed’s direction.

“Vanilla is good,” Rasheed replied.

“Make that two vanilla shakes. Thanks.”

Katy curtly nodded her head and made her way back to the kitchen, leaving an awkward silence in her wake.

“So tell me a bit about yourself,” Shayne said in an attempt to break the silence.

“I dunno there’s not that much to say,” Rasheed muttered shyly.

“No need to be shy- I’ll go first,” Shayne volunteered. “Go ahead and ask me anything.”

“Uh- what do your parents do?”

“My mom woks security down at the school. It makes my life a living hell, trust me.”

Rasheed couldn’t help but smile at Shayne’s candor. “How about your dad?”

“My parents are divorced,” Shayne said darkly.

Rasheed was taken aback, “I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t know.”

“It okay,” Shayne replied, “I’m not. My father’s a no-show and when he does decide to show up, he makes you wish he never had.”

“You told me your dad works for the army right?”

“Yeah-”

The sound of the door swinging open momentarily drew both of their attentions away from the conversation.

A tall, muscular man in a red and black lumberjack button down and trucker hat had waltzed in to the diner. His dirty hiking boots tracked mud all over the linoleum floor.

Katy marched over to them man with an air of anger, “Floyd look at what yer’ doing to my floors. I’ma be her all night cleanin’ up that damn mess you just made.”

“Hush up that pretty lil’ mouth of yours woman and get me a cupa’ coffee will ya’. I could think of better things you could be doin’ with that mouth than harpin’ my ass to sleep.”

With a aggravated huff Katy strode past their booth and ducked behind the counter.

Rasheed, having gotten bored of watching the new arrival turned back around in his seat. He was just about to proceed with the conversation, but he couldn’t help but notice that Shayne had gone extremely pale.

“Hey are you okay?” Rasheed asked, concern oozing from every pore in his body.

“Yea-yeah, I’m fine,” Shayne said as he turned away from Floyd’s direction and brought up a trembling hand to conceal part of his face.

“You sure? Because you don’t look so good,” Rasheed pressed.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Let’s just get outta here,” Shayne request as he dipped into his pocket and tossed a Twenty on the table.

Shayne tried to barrel past Rasheed; making a beeline for the kitchen. But Rasheed’s agile hand gripped onto Shay’s wrist.

“Let go,” Shayne muttered low enough for only Rasheed to hear.

“Listen is it something I did?” Rasheed asked cluelessly.

“No- just let go,” Shayne pleaded. But it was too late.

The commotion had caught the unwanted attention of Floyd.

“Would you look at this bullshit? Bunch of fuckin’ fairies having a powwow.” Floyd said rather loudly as he approached the pair.

“What you havin’ a lil’ lover’s tiff with your fag boyfriend?” Floyd barked as he shoved Shay away from Rasheed.

“I turn my back for one second and the town get’s over-run with fags and fairies.”

What shocked Rasheed the most wasn’t the fact that this man’s ignorance obviously overpowered his stench of stale tobacco and alcohol.

What shocked him was that Shayne remained passive and silent towards this man’s aggressions.

Rasheed could no longer hold his tongue.

“Back off,” he said calmly stepping between Shayne and Floyd.

“Oh ain’t that sweet,” Floyd cooed. “The lil’ fairy needs his fag boyfriend to defend him.”

“I said back off,” Rasheed repeated himself taking a slight step back with his hind leg.

“Yeah- and what if I don’t homo?” Asked Floyd as he poked Rasheed Square in the chest.

In a flash Rasheed had grabbed the man’s wrist and locked it back behind his hulking back. Forcing the giant of a man to take a knee.

“I warned you- I told you to back off,” Rasheed said clearly.

Floyd tried his hardest to break free of the grapple lock. But the more he struggled the tighter the grip seemed to get.

“You keep moving around like that and you’ll wind up dislocating your shoulder,” Rasheed said callously, with a tightening of his grip on Floyd’s arm to emphasize his point.

Floyd let out a guttural howl in response. It seemed to kick start Shayne’s body back into action.

He ran up to Rasheed and begged him, “Please let go of him- he’s my father…”

He instinctively relinquished his hold on the man. Rasheed’s stunned silence spoke in volumes.

Floyd sprung up off of the floor, nursing his aching arm. “I’m gonna kill you for that cheap shit you just pulled.” He barked advancing on Rasheed.

At that moment Katy burst through the double doors of the kitchen, “What the hell is going on out here?”

“Nothing,” Floyd grumbled. “Just about to kick some homo ass.”

“Floyd you better get goin, before I call the Sherriff.” Katy warned.

Floyd fumed in silence.

“Go on get,” She repeated her warning with finality.

Floyd grumbled something to himself as he stooped down and grabbed his hat off of the floor. He slicked back his ebony locks with his good arm and firmly fixed his hat in place.

“This ain’t over yet homo- not by a long shot,” he shot at Rasheed.

Rasheed was still too shocked to respond to Shayne’s dad’s feeble threats.

“As for you,” he said addressing Shayne, “I got a different reckoning coming your way- just you wait and see.”

With that said Floyd strode out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tension in the truck was literally thick enough to cut with a knife. Everything in Rasheed told him that he had to apologize. Even though he really had nothing to apologize for.

“Shayne I- I’m-” Rasheed babbled.

“No,” Shayne interjected. “If anyone should be apologizing it should be me.”

“I shouldn’t have hit him. It was my fault.”

“I pride myself on being a realist, ‘Sheedy. I think it’s safe to say that my father is an asshole and he deserved everything that happened to him and some.”

Rasheed blushed furiously. He was completely unprepared for Shayne’s level of frankness.

“Yeah- but still,”

“No buts- what you did was- it was the right thing to do. If you hadn’t been there…”

Rasheed shuddered at the mere though of an injured Shayne.

“Just tell me one thing?” Asked a curious Shayne.

Rasheed nodded his head, “sure.”

“Where in the hell did you learn how to do that?”

Not being accustomed to someone fawning over him except his mother. Rasheed blushed furiously.

“It’s just that we move around a lot- and some of the places we go- some of the places we go around not so friendly to my kind of people.”

Shay’s brow furrowed in clear confusion, “your kind of people? What do you mean?”

Rasheed loosed a heavy sigh and looked off into the distance, “After 9/11, some people didn’t differentiate between the good Muslims and the bad ones. Hell even if you looked like a Muslim that was more than enough to have you lumped in with the crowd. To those people we were all the same.”

A somber look crossed Shayne’s features and he nodded his head in understanding.

“Ignorance and intolerance, breed hatred and anger. If those emotions are left to fester then the only outlets that those people have are violence. Namely bullying. So my father had me take self-defense classes and they really paid off.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re very deep,” Shayne replied off-handedly.

If it was possible for Rasheed to morph into a giant tomato he was pretty sure he would have, with all of the heat that was radiating off of his cheeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Within a matter of minutes the truck had come to a full stop in front of Rasheed’s home.

“I got the door to work so you shouldn’t have to much trouble getting out,” Shayne said with a playful smile.

Rasheed chuckled, “well it’s good to see that you’re very handy. Half the time I can’t even get the microwave to work.”

Both boys laughed in unison.

“You can kick ass- I can’t. I’m handy- and you’re not. What can I say we compliment each other perfectly.”

“Yeah I guess we do,” Rasheed mumbled as a pair of stunning emerald eyes transfixed him.

Shayne leant forward, “I wanna’ thank you for everything.”

“I should be thanking you- I had a great time.”

“Yeah me to,” Shayne whispered as he edged closer to Rasheed.

“’Sheedy?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re blushing.”

“S-sorry,” sputtered Rasheed.

“It’s alright- it’s kinda’ cute,” Shayne whispered, his voice heavy with lust.

“It’s kind of hot in here,” Rasheed said nervously. “I’m hot-are you ho-”

Shayne bridge the remaining inches between them and captured Rasheed’s lips in a passionate kiss. The rest of Rasheed’s muffled sentence was lost upon deaf ears.

At first Rasheed tensed up. His digits clenched tightly into the fabric of his blue denim jeans; surely bruising the supple skin that lay beneath.

But shortly thereafter, he relaxed into the kiss, allowing Shayne to take full reign of the kiss.  As tongues clashed and intertwined, a low groan escaped from Shayne. He grasped the back of Rasheed’s head and brought him forward for another bout.

Shayne's hand's opted to grasp onto Rasheed's ass. Kneading the voluptuous flesh every so often.

Rasheed hesitantly began to explore the inviting warmth of Shayne’s readily offered body. His trembling hand's ghosted over rosy pale nipples, eliciting groans of ecstasy from Shayne. Shayne could no longer tolerate such subtleties.

The shorter teen grasped onto Rasheed's roaming hand by the wrist and guided it further down past his naval and into the waistband of his snug jeans. A light bed of tangled curls assaulted Rasheed’s fledgling sense of touch.

Suddenly Rasheed tensed up again and pulled away from Shayne; yanking his hand out of Shay’s nether regions. A look of sheer horror crossed his face, closely followed by a furrowed brow of guarded confusion.

Shayne slightly pulled back, mewling in protest. “What’s wrong?” He asked in between short pants.

“I can’t do this- it’s wrong.” Said a panicky Rasheed.

“Wrong?” Asked Shayne with raised eyebrows.

Rasheed pushed Shayne completely off of him and bolted out of the pickup. Leaving an aroused and extremely confused Shayne in his wake.

“You really fucked it up this time Fowler-” Shayne said to himself as he brought his forehead to a rest on the cool steering wheel.