Profile
Name: A Sense Of Loyalty
Author: SakuraBlossom
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance
Chapters: 4
Words: 8242
Published: 8/26/01
Updated: 9/9/01
Complete: No
Description: Jam and Slash have always been friends, but now Jam's feelings are becoming stronger. Does he have what it takes to tell Slash? Rated P-13 for slight language and yaoi material.
Disclaimer (By Author): I don’t own Snowboard Kids 2 in any way, shape, or size.
Story
Chapter 1
Today was the day. I stared at the slowly falling snow from on my bed. It was the perfect day to go snowboarding, but I felt sick inside. I should be happy. I should be jumping for joy. But I felt terrible.
Today I was going to tell Slash how I really felt. Today…
What would he say? Would he be grossed out? Would he not like me anymore? Would he think I was weird? We’d been best bros for so long… I didn’t even know what to think. All I knew was that I loved him more than anything. I wanted to always be with him.
I knew that I had to tell him. I couldn’t keep this inside of me forever. If I did, than what if he found somebody else to love? Although it was only in my mind, I already could feel the jealousy building up inside of me.
Who cares! If I love him and he loves me, than that’s all that matters!
But then again, what if he doesn’t love me? What if he just wants to be friends? Or what if he doesn’t like me anymore after I tell him?
Questions kept running through my head. I knew I had to tell him. Knew I had to confess. But I felt like I had a million knots in my stomach.
It was still early. Only 6:00 in the morning. Slash and I were going to meet at the top of Sunny Mountain. Just the two of us. I knew that this would probably be the only chance I had to tell him. We rarely ever went snowboarding just the two of us. Somebody else was always there.
I decided to get up and get ready. There wasn’t anything else for me to do but wait. And all I could think about while I was waiting was what he might say.
I quickly made my bed. Then, picking out some warm clothes I went into the bathroom to take a shower. I was sure that my mom would wake up, come out, and call me crazy for getting up so early. I didn’t really care though. Just about the only person who would be able to get through to me right now was Slash.
When I was done and took the stairs four at a time and ran into the kitchen. I popped a bagel into the toaster. I was trying to go fast. Trying to keep my mind focused on anything, anything except for Slash. I grabbed my bagel as it popped into the air and took a bite out of it. I liked my bagels plain.
I was standing there, trying to keep my mind focused on the bagel I was eating when out of the blue, the doorbell rang, jerking me out of the trance I’d gone into. Wondering who would be going up to people’s doors at this hour in the morning, I went to investigate.
I don’t think I’d ever been more surprised when I saw Slash standing on the doorstep. My heart was pounding so hard that he had to have heard it.
"Slash! What are you doing here?"
"I thought that we’d go get some hot chocolate before we hit the slopes. It’s pretty chilly out here."
I could tell he was cold just by looking at him.
"Hot chocolate?" I wanted to go REAAAALLLY badly. Anything to be with you, is what my mind was saying. "Sure!" was what I actually said.
"Then let’s get going."
"Wait. I have to write a note to my mom that I left early. She’ll have a cow if she finds me gone already." I raced into the kitchen and found a pad of paper that my mom always kept by the phone. I wrote a quick message to her that I had left early to go get hot chocolate, than hung it up on the fridge with a magnet.
"Alright, let’s go!" I exclaimed when I rejoined Slash at the door. Then we both headed off into the chilly weather.
It was still pretty dark outside. Both of us trudged through the snow, dragging our boards behind us. It was at least a ten minute’s walking distance from my house to town. Maybe longer now because of the snow and low visibility level.
Should I tell him? I asked myself. It’s a ways before we get to town… But what if he doesn’t want to go snowboarding anymore afterward. What if he’s mad or shocked, or something? What will I say to my mom when I come home almost two hours early?
I couldn’t decide if I should tell him. Sure, this wasn’t going to be the only time that we were alone together, but I felt this sudden urge to spit it all out.
No. Wait till later. Now’s not the right time. It’s too cold. Too hard to see. Definitely not good weather to confess your love to somebody.
We didn’t say much on the way to town. I guess we were both taking up too much energy just staying warm.
When we reached café, we both relished in the warmth that came from the furnace. Slash ordered two hot chocolates for both of us and then we sat down at a table in the back of the room.
Neither of us said much at the table, either. We were enjoying our drinks too much. After just a short walk in this weather, we were both freezing. What was it going to be like snowboarding?
Slash was the first to say anything. "So, Jam Kuehnemund. How’s it been going?"
I gave him the look. He knows I hate it when anyone calls me by my full name.
"Sorry, Jam."
"Not much has been going on. Gets pretty boring around the house sometimes."
"Same for me."
Whenever he bent down to get another drink from his cup, I would just kind of look at him. He was so… so… no words that I knew would describe how he looked to me.
I was sad when I reached the bottom of my cup. One: I knew we would have to go back into the horrible weather. Two: I knew that I would have to tell him before we reached the slopes. Once we were boarding I couldn’t say anything, and afterwards, we were always pooped.
"Hell freezes over…" Slash stared outside. "It’s so cold out there."
I laughed in agreement.
"Oh well. We’ve roughed harsher weather than this."
"Like that tropical storm down at Turtle Island."
"That was funny."
Both of us stared outside for a little bit. When Slash finally finished his chocolate, he stood up to go throw his cup in the trash. I followed suit.
I pulled my hat down low over my head as we got ready to go back outside. It was uphill all the way to Not-So Sunny Mountain, so we would have to keep walking.
"Ready?"
"Ready as I’ll ever be."
Both of us stepped outside into the cold. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been before. The wind had died down and the snow was now coming down in soft little puffs. Walking is a lot easier when you don’t have hurricane winds blowing you back down the hill.
My heart was pounding in my ears. I was starting to sweat, besides the icicles that were practically growing on me.
We had been walking for five minutes when I knew I had to tell him. It wasn’t too far to Sunny Mountain now. If I waited any longer, than I knew I would be too late.
I took in a couple of deep breaths, wrung my hands out a couple of times…
"Slash?"
Slash turned around at the sound of my voice. "What is it?" He looked confused.
I stood there, fidgeting. "I…I…I…" I stammered. "I have to tell you something."
Slash walked over to me, his eyes boring into mine.
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. My throat was dry. I couldn’t stop stammering. "I… I…"
"What is it?" Slash asked.
Tears started to well up in my eyes. Why couldn’t I just say it? Why!?
Slash could see that something was wrong. He probably thought I looked really stupid…
I couldn’t stand it anymore. "I can’t!" I ran off as fast as I could, dropping my board into the snow. As I ran, the tears started coming freely. I covered my face in my hands, but kept running. I just wanted to get away from here.
Now what was Slash going to think of me? Why couldn’t I just say it? No matter what came of it, just saying it out loud would have been better than running away crying like that.
I could barely see. My eyes were blurring from the water pouring from my eyes. I’m not sure how long I ran. It seemed like forever, of course, moments like these always seem to last forever.
Suddenly, I felt a jerk of pain in my foot and I fell into the snow. I wasn’t sure what was worse. The throbbing pain in my foot, the sharp pain of the freezing snow, or the fact that I couldn’t, and didn’t, tell Slash how I felt.
I lay there, crying. Curled up in a little ball, I felt like I never wanted to leave this place. Wanted to stay here, away from everyone.
When my tears died down, all I could hear was the whisper of the wind. I rubbed the blurriness out of my eyes. When I could finally see again, I looked around. I didn’t know where I was. All I could see was faint wisps of snow being blown by across the ground by the wind.
I probably would’ve started crying again if it hadn’t been for the gloved hand that appeared in front of my face. Startled, I looked up into Slash’s face. He smiled and gestured to his hand.
I gently placed my ice-cold hand into his and he helped me up to my feet, getting me out of the freezing cold snow. I looked up at his face, trying to read his emotions.
"You don’t have to say anything."
I was trying to figure out what his words meant when he quickly moved his head toward mine, bringing our lips together. It came out of the blue; my eyes were opened wide. Kamei brought his arms around me and started in on a more passionate kiss. Getting over my shock, I brought my arms around him.
This felt different from anything I had ever felt before. It was like my life was complete now. Slash had made the bite of the cold and pain in my foot go away in an instant. I’d never thought this would happen.
Slash brought his hands up to my neck and into my hair. He kissed one last time before taking his head back.
"Aishiteru… Jam."
"Aishiteru."
Chapter 2
"I didn’t know if I should tell you because I wasn’t sure what you would say."
"It was the same with me, but when you were trying to tell me, I knew that you felt the same way."
We were back at my house, sitting in my room. Life was wonderful.
"I feel happier now than I ever have before." I sighed.
Slash smiled, than came in to kiss me again. Every time I kissed him, it was like the first time. I must have been in heaven.
*Knock, knock, knock*
Both of us sat straight up.
"Hi, boys. Can I come in?"
It was my mom. Both of us stood up and walked over to the door.
"Yeah, it’s fine."
My mom opened up the door and walked in. "What are you doing?"
"Not much, just kind of hanging out."
"Well, it’s getting pretty late… we need to eat dinner." She had a worried look on her face.
"What’s wrong, mom?"
"Well, I have a business meeting at work and I won’t be here for dinner. But this is the 4th time this week that I’ve been gone."
"We’ll be fine, Mrs. Kuehnemund." Slash put in.
"… Hey, I know. Why don’t you boys go out to eat at that new restaurant downtown?"
"Really?"
"Mm hmm. Here’s" she quickly scribbled something and then handed me a check. "a check. Just write in the amount that the meal costs. Oh, and here’s some money for a tip."
"Wow, thanks mom."
"It’s the least I can do for being gone so much." She looked at her watch. "Well, I’ve got to be off or else I’ll be late. Bye, honey."
We both watched as my mom walked out the door, then we just kind of stood there for a little bit. Slash was the first one to talk.
"Wow! Our first date."
"You’re right." I felt all warm inside. A whole night out with my one true love. What else could anybody want from this world?
"Let’s go." I followed Slash out of the door to my bedroom and then to the front door. We both put on our shoes and coats and walked outside to pick up our snowboards where we had left them on the front porch.
"Follow me. I know which restaurant my mom was talking about." I told Slash. Then we were off. Me in the lead and Slash following closely behind.
It didn’t take too long to get there. The restaurant wasn’t that far from the board shop, so it only took us about five minutes.
When we got there, we set our snowboards behind some bushes, not that anybody would want to steal them, and stomped on the rug to shake off the snow. There wasn’t much of a line to get a table so we sat down and waited for our turn.
"This is a nice place." Slash observed.
"Yeah. I’ve never been in it before but I’ve driven past it a few times."
I almost didn’t notice that the line was gone. There were some more people walking in the door so I took a hold of Slash’s hand and pulled him up to the desk.
"We’d like a table for two, please." I told the man standing there.
The man checked his list and his table chart before finally saying, "Right this way, please."
We followed the man to a cozy little table in one corner of the restaurant. A candle was centered in the middle of the table and a chandelier-like light was hanging overhead.
"Is this adequate?" He asked.
"Hai." Slash nodded.
The man left and both of us took our seats on either side of the table.
"This is like a dream come true." I told Slash.
"Mm hmm." The atmosphere was just right. I felt like reaching over the table and kissing him but I knew better than to do that in public.
Pretty soon, the waiter came and took our orders. I tried to order something that wasn’t very expensive and finally settled on a salad. Slash ordered the popcorn shrimp platter.
I was staring at him. I sat there almost in a daze. I must have been in heaven, I mean, sharing a table with him at a fancy restaurant. Today had to have been the best day in my entire life.
A very familiar laugh knocked me out of my trance. "Slash!"
"What?"
"Listen." We both listened. There it came again.
"Oh no."
I looked over to where the laugh was coming from. I knew it. There was only one person who could have a recognizable laugh like that. Linda.
There she was, along with the rest of the gang. They were waiting in line to get a table.
"Damn. I forgot all about it. They were all going to meet here to eat tonight."
I knew that we couldn’t let them see us here. One reason being that I had told them that I would be busy tonight. The main reason being that they would probably start to expect something.
"I have to go to the restroom." I said, getting up.
Slash, getting the idea, followed me into the men’s room. There wasn’t anybody in there at the time, thankfully. So as not to be conspicuous, I entered one of the stalls. To my surprise, Slash entered in behind me.
"Slash! What are you-!"
Slash broke me off as he came in to kiss me. He pressed me back up to the wall, kissing deeply. I felt warm and light as he brought his hands around my neck.
* * * *
I staggered back into my seat at the dinner table. Our food was already on the table, ready for us to eat. I smiled at Slash. We had only been in the bathroom about twenty minutes.
Luckily for us, Linda and the others had been put at one of the bigger tables on the other side of the restaurant. We shouldn’t have any problems with them unless one of them has to go to the bathroom.
I picked up my fork and started eating my salad. Slash started eating his popcorn shrimp. We ate silently for a little while.
Our waiter came up to our table to give us the bill, but then went back to his jobs elsewhere in the restaurant. It was pretty quiet over in our corner for a while.
When I had finished my salad, I looked at the bill and then took out the check that my mom had given to me. The bill was for $18.45. I was about to start writing it down on the check when I noticed that I didn’t have anything to write with.
"Slash. Do you have a pen or a pencil?"
"Sure. Here you go." He tossed me a pen, from I don’t know where.
I wrote down the amount on the check and then and then set it on top of the little black tray that they put the bill on. I also took out the money that my mom had given me and put it in the middle of the table.
"I’m done." Slash said, pushing his plate to the side.
"Me too. You ready to go?"
"Yeah."
I looked around. No sign of the gang anywhere. Good. While I was looking, I noticed that behind the restaurant was a large lake. It looked beautiful, the ice reflecting the glow of the moon.
"Hey, Slash. Let’s go out there." I pointed to the window where I could see the lake.
Slash followed my finger. "Sure." We both got up from the table and walked to the back door. It was chilly when we walked out, so I put on my jacket. Slash followed suit.
As we walked over to the lake, I saw a few other couples standing around. This must be a romantic spot.
Slash noticed a bench off to the side, looking over the lake. He motioned for me to come, not wanting to break the heavy silence that hung in the air.
We both sat down on the lake, a soft mist coming out of our mouths as we breathed. The glow of the moon made the snow seem sparkly. The whole lake seemed to be made of magic.
Stars covered the night sky. When I looked up, it looked like I was in a whole different world. Like I was somewhere up there in all of those little pricks of light.
Slash put his arm around me. It felt good, especially since it was I was starting to get a little cold. I leaned over on his shoulder. I was starting to get a little tired. So much had happened this day, but all of it was good.
Slash gently lifted my head with his hand. I looked up into his eyes. Beautiful, his beautiful eyes. He started to move his head towards mine.
"Slash." I whispered. "There’s people here."
"I don’t care." He said softly, right before his lips touched mine. He brought his hands up to the sides of my head. It was like magic. It was like nothing I had ever felt before.
So this is what heaven is really like.
Chapter 3
I packed up my school supplies and shoved them into my backpack, putting all the stuff I didn’t need to take home into my locker. I zipped up my back and then grabbed my coat before shutting the door of my locker. It was 3:00, the time when all kids should be home enjoying the short time left until Christmas break.
Picking up my snowboard, which I had left on the floor until now, I clambered through the crowds of pushing kids to get to the door. I could barely move an inch but at least I was making more progress than the day before. It was always a hassle to get through the hundreds of kids fleeing from their mind wrenching hours spent in the school building.
When I finally made it through the doors I took a deep breath of fresh air. It felt good to be outside.
"Hey, jerk!"
I kept walking, thinking they were talking to somebody else. Only when I saw his bulging muscles underneath his ragged shirt appear in front of my eyes did I even suspect that they might be talking to me.
"Yeah, we’re talking to you, jerk."
I looked up into his face, surprise written in my features.
"What do you want with me?" There were three of them. I’m not sure exactly who they were, but they were a couple of grades higher then me. Maybe even seniors, unless they were held back a couple of grades.
"We feel like kicking someone’s ass." The big one in front of me said, punching his fist.
"Well, mine doesn’t need kicking today." I said, quickly trying to walk away from them. However, one of the boys standing behind the first one grabbed me by the neck as I tried to walk by.
"You ain’t goin’ nowhere." He picked me up off the ground. I grabbed the boy’s hand, trying to loosen his grip on my neck, but nothing seemed to work. The three boys took me to the other side of the school building so that none of the teachers could see.
The boy holding me up pushed me hard against the bricks of the wall and got ready to punch.
"Wait a minute. I get the first punch." The one who seemed like the leader stepped up to me.
I struggled against his hand. "Why are you doing this to me? There’s lots of other kids here, you know." It was getting a little hard for me to breathe.
"Yeah, but you look like a wuss." The boy holding me stuck his face right up close to mine. "Got that, bucko?"
Suddenly, I felt an intense pain in my groin. One of the boys had kneed me right where it hurt. My knees buckled as the boy let go of my neck. I kneeled down on the ground, throbbing.
I heard the boys laugh at that. They must be getting a kick out of this. There was no way that I could ever have done anything to stop this.
Another one of the boys stepped up to me. Before I saw anything coming, he kicked me square in the face, sending me back into the wall. Sharp pain exploded in my face, but when I hit the wall, everything went black.
* * * *
I’m not sure how long it had been before I woke up. I was in the same spot I had been when the boys had beaten me up. The snow around me had turned red in some spots. I knew why when I felt my face.
Dried blood hung down my nose, and my lip hurt to touch, which meant that it must have split open. I had a few other cuts, but they weren’t that bad. My groin still ached a little and it was hard to walk.
I stood up, surveying the area around me. No one was here, which means it had been a while since school had gotten out. The sun was still relatively high in the sky though, so I knew it wasn’t that late.
I took a few steps, but had to stop to rest. I knew it was going to take a long time to get home. I looked over near the front door to see if my stuff was still there. I saw my bag and my snowboard lying there, but that’s not to say if anything was still inside my bag.
I limped over to my stuff, cringing as I sat down. Amazingly, everything was still there. I guessed that one of the teachers near the door had made sure that nobody had taken anything. I bet they wondered, though, why anyone would just leave a bag and board there.
My jacket was gone. I had put it on when I’d gone outside. Those boys must have taken it. I was surprised they didn’t quickly grab my bag as well.
It was getting cold out. I shivered. Without my coat I would probably catch a cold, especially since the sky was starting to turn a reddish color, meaning that it would soon be dark.
It usually took me about ten minutes to walk home. With this limp that I’d developed though, it would probably take me over twenty. I knew my mom wouldn’t be worried about me because she didn’t get home from work until eight. I knew from experience that that wasn’t until long after the sun set.
I sat there a little while, wallowing in self-pity. I knew that I should start home, but I wasn’t up to standing, let alone walking home. I could try snowboarding. I decided against it though when I pictured myself running into a stop sign.
All of a sudden, I heard the school doors open behind me. Looking back, I saw a group of kids walk out. Must be from the school computer club. Not wanting to look like an idiot sitting here, I pulled my stuff over to the side of the building and sat down with my back against the wall.
I heard them laughing and talking, wishing that I could be one of them. Wishing that I hadn’t gotten beat up for no reason. Wishing that I wasn’t sitting here getting ready to limp home.
I heard a laugh. A very familiar laugh. I heard him talking, and then I was sure of it.
I turned my head towards them as they walked past and saw him. My savior. My love. He must have sense me because as he came into view he was looking straight at me. As soon as he saw me a look of concern washed over his face.
He ran up to me. "Jam?"
I looked up into his face. I would have laughed had I not been so weary. He looked kind of funny.
"What happened?" He bent down, examining my face.
"I got beat up."
"By who?"
"I don’t know. Some big guys… they looked like seniors."
Slash looked around. "You walk home, right?"
I nodded, then pointed to the street that I walked down. Almost everyone lived there.
Slash thought for a moment. "Hey. My house is closer. Why don’t we go to my house for a bit, and when my mom comes home she can give you a ride."
I smiled up at him. I wanted to reach up and kiss him, but the other computer kids were still within seeing distance. Slash reached down and put my bag around his back, along with his bag. Then he balanced both of our snowboards in his right hand.
"Here, put your arm around my shoulder." I stood up, and carefully reached around his neck. I felt some of the pressure leave my body as Slash took most of the weight.
"You ready?"
"Yeah."
We both started to walk home. It was sort of awkward, but it got us farther than it would have if I was the only one walking. Luckily, Slash’s house was only the third one down the street. Mine was like, about twenty houses down.
It was still cold as we were walking, but being with Slash made everything a little easier to handle. I could tell that Slash was having a little bit of a hard time carrying two bags and two snowboards, while also having my arm around his shoulder.
"I could carry something." I told him, not wanting him to do more work than he had to.
"Don’t worry, I’ve got it."
We walked along in silence for a little while. It wasn’t very far, but we were still going at a pretty slow pace. We passed the first house, and then the second house. Finally we made it to Slash’s house.
I pulled my arm from around his shoulder as he took his house key from his pocket. He unlocked the door and then pulled it open. "After you."
I slowly walked in. I had never been inside Slash’s house before. It looked a lot like mine, except that it seemed a little cozier. Perhaps though, that was only because it was Slash’s house.
I sat down in one of the chairs to relieve myself. Slash carried everything in and set in to the side of the door. "You wanna’ take off your shoes?"
"Oh yeah, sure."
I limped over to where Slash had put his stuff and slipped off my shoes, putting them on top of Slash’s.
"I’ll go get some med stuff." Slash said before heading into the kitchen. I watched him go and then sat back down in the chair. It felt good to sit down. It felt even better to be sitting down in a warm house, especially since it was Slash’s.
Pretty soon, Slash came back in with a little box of stuff. He sat down on the footrest that connected to the chair I was in.
"First we have to clean your face." He took out a wet cloth and brought it up to my face. I closed my eyes. The cloth was warm, so it felt good. When he was done, most of the blood and dirt was gone.
"I feel better all ready." I joked.
Slash laughed along too. Then he took out a little bottled of something. "Now, this stuff might sting a little."
I braced myself as he put some of it on the cloth. He brought it up to my face. It did sting. It wasn’t really bad, though. Mainly on my lip, because that was an open cut. "Ouch!"
"Sorry."
When he was done with that, Slash took the box back into the kitchen. I felt a little better, but I still ached all over, my groin especially.
"How do you feel?" Slash asked as he came back in. He sat back down on the footrest.
"Achy." I didn’t tell him, though, that it was mainly in my groin.
"I’ll give you a massage. I’m pretty good at that." The very thought of that made me feel warm inside. I sighed. "Okay."
I followed Slash into the bedroom and laid down with my stomach on the bed. Slash got up over me and gently place his hands on my shoulders. It was one of the most wonderful things I had ever felt. I had always wanted to get a massage, but I had never expected it to be from Slash. This was like an early Christmas present.
I laid there for a couple of minutes, Slash massaging my shoulders. I felt his hands start to travel down, across my back, until they were massaging my butt. All of a sudden, he stopped. I felt him lean down over me.
He kissed the back of my neck, and then wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace. I relaxed in his arms, letting myself become open to him.
* * * *
We sat on the couch in front of the TV; a bowl of popcorn was between us. We were watching some movie; I’m not sure what it was called. Slash’s mom had come home a little while ago, and I had called my mom, telling her that I would be home soon.
I couldn’t even feel any pain anymore from this afternoon. I felt like I was dreaming, and that any second I would wake up in my own bed.
"It’s almost 9:00, boys. Do you think that Jam needs to go home yet?" Slash’s mom asked us from inside the kitchen.
"Maybe I should." I whispered to Slash. "It is pretty late."
"Yeah, I guess so."
I looked around, making sure that Slash’s mom wasn’t coming back from the kitchen, and then brought my lips to touch Slash’s. It was a quick kiss, though. Too short for me, but it would have to do.
I got up from the couch and gathered up my things.
"My mom could give you a ride, you know." Slash told me from on the couch.
"It’s okay. I’m feeling better so it’ll be fine." I picked up my backpack and slung it over my back, and then held my snowboard in my hand.
I blew a quick kiss to Slash. "I’ll see you tomorrow."
"Bye" was all he said, but I knew in his heart he was also saying, "I love you", just like I was.
We both waved as I walked out the door into the cold. As I set my snowboard on the ground, I thought to myself: If this is what happens when I get beaten up, what would happen if something really bad happened to me?
Chapter 4
"Got any nine’s?"
"Nope, go fish."
The cream-haired toddler sighed and reached into the pile of cards. When he finally was satisfied that he had gotten a good card, he pulled it out. His shoulders slumped again, though, when he saw what it was.
I was playing Go Fish with Todd. Todd is this little two-year-old that I baby-sit every so often. He’s got the cutest little hair-do in the world. His hair is just the perfect color for it too.
Todd’s pretty smart for a two-year-old, so I can play games like Go Fish with him. He actually beats me most of the time too. But that’s only because I haven’t played games like Go Fish, Memory, and Old Maid since I was little.
This time it was my turn to ask him for a card.
"Got any two’s?"
"Uh-uh, go fish." He said snidely.
I picked up a card from the middle of the pile. I didn’t really care whether I won or lost.
"Got any five’s?"
I sighed, then regretfully handed him two of the fives, which had been residing in my hand for the last couple of turns.
"Yes." He replied, taking the cards from my outstretched hand.
Just as he had taken the cards, I heard the key turn in the front door. Both of us looked up as the door opened and in stepped Todd’s parents. They had gone out for a short dinner, since they didn’t get a lot of time alone.
"Mommy!" Todd ran up to his mom, giving her a big hug.
I stood up and walked over to them.
"So, did you boys have a good night?" She asked cheerfully.
"I beat him at Go Fish."
"Well that’s nice."
I was standing there; wondering if I should pick up the cards scattered all over the floor, when Todd’s dad spoke to me.
"I expect that you’ll probably want to get going. It is getting late."
"Doesn’t really matter to me."
Todd’s dad reached into his pocket and came up with a ten-dollar bill.
"Here’s your pay."
"Whoa, ten dollars?"
"Well, you have been sitting for us for a while, and you always do such a good job."
"I can’t take ten dollars."
Todd’s mom spoke up. "We insist. Todd just loves it when you come over."
I shrugged and accepted the ten dollars. Not that I wasn’t happy about it. Of course I was happy about it. Ten dollars! For one night babysitting! Now that was easy cash.
"We’ll call you again if we need you to sit."
"Sure thing."
I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. I picked up my snowboard, which was inside the garage and headed out into the bitter cold.
It actually wasn’t too cold outside. It wasn’t even snowing. It was the ice that made things bad. Whole streets were covered with thick, slippery ice. It was terrible weather to be out driving.
Luckily for me, the ice didn’t have a lot of effect on my snowboard. Sure, if I went on it the wrong way, then I would crash and burn, but overall, the ice had didn’t bother me at all.
I hopped on my snowboard when I got into the street and casually surfed the short distance home. That was another good thing about babysitting Todd. His house was only about two away from mine.
I laid my snowboard against the wall when I made it to my garage, then I walked inside.
My mom was sitting at the kitchen table, a whole pot of coffee in front of her. I can always tell when she’s had a bad day. She just looks tired, and she always drinks tons of coffee. She calls it her miracle medicine.
"Hi mom."
She replied with a quick wave, and then I started up the stairs to my room. You didn’t want to be around my mom much when she had a bad day.
I checked my clock on the way up. It was ten ‘o clock already. It didn’t feel that late, but then again, I would probably be ready to fall asleep once I actually got into bed.
Once in my room, I slipped into my pj’s and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I dropped my dirty clothes into the laundry hamper as I made my way back to my room. I yawned as I entered my room. That sleepiness was starting to kick in. I carefully unmade my bed, pulling the sheets all the way down to the bottom. I situated my pillows on the top, making sure that they were just right.
I walked over to the lightswitch on the other side of the wall. As I turned it off, I noticed a faint flashing light coming from my window. I walked over to the window to see what was going on.
The lights that I had seen turned out to be police sirens. This was unusual. We barely had anything that involved the police. As tired as I was, I decided to check it out. This could be something big.
I headed down the stairs two at a time and slipped on my robe. My mom was watching the sirens from the downstairs window as well.
"I wonder what’s going on."
I didn’t answer her. She might not want me going out in the cold, especially in my pajamas.
I slid my feet into my sneakers and as quietly as I could, I opened and closed the door behind me. I jogged out to the sight of the police car. It was a good two blocks away, but it didn’t take that long.
I one point I thought for sure that I was going to take a spill, but I righted myself just in time. I hoped to God that my mom couldn’t see me making my way toward the sight.
As I got closer I began to see that there were a lot of people gathered around in a circle. The police car was off to the right a ways, its siren blaring. A car sat in someone’s yard, as if it had swerved off the road to go around something.
"What happened." I yelled to one of the people.
The man who heard me turned around and looked. "A car hit some kid. It seems that the driver couldn’t stop because of all the ice."
This certainly pricked up my ears. Some kid?
I kept walking toward the group of people. The man had turned back around. Everyone was ignoring me. I pushed through the people to reach what had everyone’s attention.
When I saw him, I couldn’t believe my eyes. "Slash!"
I ran towards him. He was lying on the ground, wet snow was soaking into his clothes. He had an ugly gash across his face and the rest of him didn’t look much better.
"Slash, oh Slash…" I knelt down beside him. What had gone wrong? What did God have against me?
I pulled off my robe and layed it over Slash. "Did you call the ambulance?"
The police officer answered. "We did, but it will take a while for it to get here. The hospital is a little ways away. None of us wanted to move him."
I looked back to Slash. He looked so fragile right now, as if one little touch would break him into a million pieces. I didn’t want to look at him this way…
I took his hand into mine. It was as cold as ice. I shivered, both from the cold air that was sweeping through my bones and from the creepy feeling I was getting inside. How could this have happened to Slash? Why had this happened to Slash? He hadn’t done anything wrong.
It seemed like forever before the ambulance arrived. I could hear the faint siren on top of it getting louder and louder as it approached. I wanted to yell at them, wanted to scream and shout. Couldn’t they have gone any faster?
I backed up as a bunch of men came out of the ambulance and put Slash on a stretcher. I could barely watch.
I must have lost my shoes in all of the confusion, because the next thing I knew, they were gone. I never tied my laces very tight unless I knew that I would need to.
I ran up to the ambulance before one of the men shut the door. "You have to let me come with you."
"Are you a family member?"
"No…"
"Then I’m sorry, but I can’t let you come." He started to close the door, but I broke in again.
"You have to let me come… we… mean a lot to each other."
I don’t know if the man heard the tone in my voice or if he just took pity on me, but he let me come in. I jumped up into it.
It was so crowded in there that I couldn’t find a place to sit, so I just stood in a corner out of the way. Slash was still on his stretcher and people were doing all kinds of things to him.
My feet were freezing after being in the snow. Inside the ambulance it wasn’t much better because snow and water had come off the men’s boots. I stood there, freezing to death in my light pj’s.
The ambulance ride seemed to take forever. I felt as if every extra minute that it took to get there, one more minute was being taken off of Slash’s life.
I could tell when we were slowing down. The doctors hovering over Slash started to get ready to get Slash out of there. I was relieved. I didn’t want to stay in this ambulance any longer than they did.
As soon as the doors were opened up, all hell broke loose. Doctors came crowding in as the doctors inside came pouring out. Chaos was everywhere. By the time I got out of the ambulance, there weren’t a lot of people there.
I hop-skipped into the hospital doors to avoid freezing my feet off again. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do, though, when I got in there. I didn’t see any sign of Slash or the doctors that had been looking after him.
I sat down at one of the chairs in the waiting room. Questions were flying through my head. Was Slash going to be alright? What was I supposed to do? Has my mom noticed that I’m gone? Will I get to see Slash?
I didn’t cry. I think it was the shock. At a time like this, I would have expected myself to cry, but for some reason I didn’t.
My eyelids started to droop. I wanted to stay awake; I had to see if Slash was okay. I… had… to…
I fell asleep. Right there on the blue waiting room chairs, I fell asleep. It was a dreamless, restless sleep. If I had had a dream, it probably would have been a nightmare.
* * * *
I felt somebody pushing me. Somebody… calling out my name?
"Young man."
I groggily opened my eyes.
"Are you the young man that came in with the boy?"
I’m not sure that I had heard her correct. What boy? Where was I? She wasn’t my mother.
"Are you the young man that came in with the boy? The one who was hit by a car?"
I wasn’t sure at first what she was talking about. I didn’t know anybody that got hit by a car. I rolled over to go back to sleep. I was too tired to be answering questions right now.
"Please answer me. Wake UP!"
I jerked awake. I sat up and yawned, covering my mouth so as not to be rude.
"Are you the young man that came in with the boy?"
"What boy?"
She signed. "The one who was hit by the car. The doctors told me that you were the one who came with them."
I thought about that. I wasn’t thinking very straight right now…
The lady looked at her clipboard. "His name is… Slash Kamei."
I woke up with a start. "Slash!"
Suddenly, everything started to rush back at me. The accident, sneaking out of the house, riding in the ambulance, falling asleep on the chair.
"Is he alright?!"
"Follow me."
I stood up, shaking the sleepies out. Slash just had to be alright.
I followed the lady into a long hallway. We walked for a little ways, her high heels were clicking on the tile floor.
"It seems that the car caught him right across the jaw. Luckily, he doesn’t have any broken bones, but he will need to stay a little while."
"Can I see him?"
"If he’s awake."
We walked a little more. I started to wonder just how big this hospital was. Just then, the lady turned and walked into a little room. It was totally white, from the bed sheets to the walls.
I saw Slash sleeping in the bed. He looked so little lying there amongst the sheets. He had a bandage across his face and I could see a couple of bruises.
"Slash." The lady whispered. "Someone’s here to see you."
I saw Slash open his eyes. He looked at the lady, then he looked over at me. I saw his face light up.
"I’ll leave you two alone." The lady walked out of the room.
I walked over to Slash. "Hey, buddy." I knelt down next to his bed.
"Hi." He said faintly.
"Does it hurt to talk?"
"Not really." That was good. I didn’t want for him to talk if it hurt him. I wasn’t sure exaclty what to say though…
"Is it too bad?"
I looked at him for a little bit. "No. You’ll be out soon, but you look like you just go hit by a car."
He smiled at that. Jokes aren’t my high point, but I can make somebody smile when they’re in a hospital bed.
I’m not sure what came over me. I guess now that the shock had worn off, and I knew that he was alright, all my emotions just broke loose.
"Oh Slash." I started crying. I reached forward and put my arms around him. "Don’t ever do that to me again."
Slash held me as I cried. When I finally ran out of tears, I wiped my wet eyes so I could see. "I just don’t know what I’d do without you."
Name: A Sense Of Loyalty
Author: SakuraBlossom
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance
Chapters: 4
Words: 8242
Published: 8/26/01
Updated: 9/9/01
Complete: No
Description: Jam and Slash have always been friends, but now Jam's feelings are becoming stronger. Does he have what it takes to tell Slash? Rated P-13 for slight language and yaoi material.
Disclaimer (By Author): I don’t own Snowboard Kids 2 in any way, shape, or size.
Story
Chapter 1
Today was the day. I stared at the slowly falling snow from on my bed. It was the perfect day to go snowboarding, but I felt sick inside. I should be happy. I should be jumping for joy. But I felt terrible.
Today I was going to tell Slash how I really felt. Today…
What would he say? Would he be grossed out? Would he not like me anymore? Would he think I was weird? We’d been best bros for so long… I didn’t even know what to think. All I knew was that I loved him more than anything. I wanted to always be with him.
I knew that I had to tell him. I couldn’t keep this inside of me forever. If I did, than what if he found somebody else to love? Although it was only in my mind, I already could feel the jealousy building up inside of me.
Who cares! If I love him and he loves me, than that’s all that matters!
But then again, what if he doesn’t love me? What if he just wants to be friends? Or what if he doesn’t like me anymore after I tell him?
Questions kept running through my head. I knew I had to tell him. Knew I had to confess. But I felt like I had a million knots in my stomach.
It was still early. Only 6:00 in the morning. Slash and I were going to meet at the top of Sunny Mountain. Just the two of us. I knew that this would probably be the only chance I had to tell him. We rarely ever went snowboarding just the two of us. Somebody else was always there.
I decided to get up and get ready. There wasn’t anything else for me to do but wait. And all I could think about while I was waiting was what he might say.
I quickly made my bed. Then, picking out some warm clothes I went into the bathroom to take a shower. I was sure that my mom would wake up, come out, and call me crazy for getting up so early. I didn’t really care though. Just about the only person who would be able to get through to me right now was Slash.
When I was done and took the stairs four at a time and ran into the kitchen. I popped a bagel into the toaster. I was trying to go fast. Trying to keep my mind focused on anything, anything except for Slash. I grabbed my bagel as it popped into the air and took a bite out of it. I liked my bagels plain.
I was standing there, trying to keep my mind focused on the bagel I was eating when out of the blue, the doorbell rang, jerking me out of the trance I’d gone into. Wondering who would be going up to people’s doors at this hour in the morning, I went to investigate.
I don’t think I’d ever been more surprised when I saw Slash standing on the doorstep. My heart was pounding so hard that he had to have heard it.
"Slash! What are you doing here?"
"I thought that we’d go get some hot chocolate before we hit the slopes. It’s pretty chilly out here."
I could tell he was cold just by looking at him.
"Hot chocolate?" I wanted to go REAAAALLLY badly. Anything to be with you, is what my mind was saying. "Sure!" was what I actually said.
"Then let’s get going."
"Wait. I have to write a note to my mom that I left early. She’ll have a cow if she finds me gone already." I raced into the kitchen and found a pad of paper that my mom always kept by the phone. I wrote a quick message to her that I had left early to go get hot chocolate, than hung it up on the fridge with a magnet.
"Alright, let’s go!" I exclaimed when I rejoined Slash at the door. Then we both headed off into the chilly weather.
It was still pretty dark outside. Both of us trudged through the snow, dragging our boards behind us. It was at least a ten minute’s walking distance from my house to town. Maybe longer now because of the snow and low visibility level.
Should I tell him? I asked myself. It’s a ways before we get to town… But what if he doesn’t want to go snowboarding anymore afterward. What if he’s mad or shocked, or something? What will I say to my mom when I come home almost two hours early?
I couldn’t decide if I should tell him. Sure, this wasn’t going to be the only time that we were alone together, but I felt this sudden urge to spit it all out.
No. Wait till later. Now’s not the right time. It’s too cold. Too hard to see. Definitely not good weather to confess your love to somebody.
We didn’t say much on the way to town. I guess we were both taking up too much energy just staying warm.
When we reached café, we both relished in the warmth that came from the furnace. Slash ordered two hot chocolates for both of us and then we sat down at a table in the back of the room.
Neither of us said much at the table, either. We were enjoying our drinks too much. After just a short walk in this weather, we were both freezing. What was it going to be like snowboarding?
Slash was the first to say anything. "So, Jam Kuehnemund. How’s it been going?"
I gave him the look. He knows I hate it when anyone calls me by my full name.
"Sorry, Jam."
"Not much has been going on. Gets pretty boring around the house sometimes."
"Same for me."
Whenever he bent down to get another drink from his cup, I would just kind of look at him. He was so… so… no words that I knew would describe how he looked to me.
I was sad when I reached the bottom of my cup. One: I knew we would have to go back into the horrible weather. Two: I knew that I would have to tell him before we reached the slopes. Once we were boarding I couldn’t say anything, and afterwards, we were always pooped.
"Hell freezes over…" Slash stared outside. "It’s so cold out there."
I laughed in agreement.
"Oh well. We’ve roughed harsher weather than this."
"Like that tropical storm down at Turtle Island."
"That was funny."
Both of us stared outside for a little bit. When Slash finally finished his chocolate, he stood up to go throw his cup in the trash. I followed suit.
I pulled my hat down low over my head as we got ready to go back outside. It was uphill all the way to Not-So Sunny Mountain, so we would have to keep walking.
"Ready?"
"Ready as I’ll ever be."
Both of us stepped outside into the cold. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been before. The wind had died down and the snow was now coming down in soft little puffs. Walking is a lot easier when you don’t have hurricane winds blowing you back down the hill.
My heart was pounding in my ears. I was starting to sweat, besides the icicles that were practically growing on me.
We had been walking for five minutes when I knew I had to tell him. It wasn’t too far to Sunny Mountain now. If I waited any longer, than I knew I would be too late.
I took in a couple of deep breaths, wrung my hands out a couple of times…
"Slash?"
Slash turned around at the sound of my voice. "What is it?" He looked confused.
I stood there, fidgeting. "I…I…I…" I stammered. "I have to tell you something."
Slash walked over to me, his eyes boring into mine.
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. My throat was dry. I couldn’t stop stammering. "I… I…"
"What is it?" Slash asked.
Tears started to well up in my eyes. Why couldn’t I just say it? Why!?
Slash could see that something was wrong. He probably thought I looked really stupid…
I couldn’t stand it anymore. "I can’t!" I ran off as fast as I could, dropping my board into the snow. As I ran, the tears started coming freely. I covered my face in my hands, but kept running. I just wanted to get away from here.
Now what was Slash going to think of me? Why couldn’t I just say it? No matter what came of it, just saying it out loud would have been better than running away crying like that.
I could barely see. My eyes were blurring from the water pouring from my eyes. I’m not sure how long I ran. It seemed like forever, of course, moments like these always seem to last forever.
Suddenly, I felt a jerk of pain in my foot and I fell into the snow. I wasn’t sure what was worse. The throbbing pain in my foot, the sharp pain of the freezing snow, or the fact that I couldn’t, and didn’t, tell Slash how I felt.
I lay there, crying. Curled up in a little ball, I felt like I never wanted to leave this place. Wanted to stay here, away from everyone.
When my tears died down, all I could hear was the whisper of the wind. I rubbed the blurriness out of my eyes. When I could finally see again, I looked around. I didn’t know where I was. All I could see was faint wisps of snow being blown by across the ground by the wind.
I probably would’ve started crying again if it hadn’t been for the gloved hand that appeared in front of my face. Startled, I looked up into Slash’s face. He smiled and gestured to his hand.
I gently placed my ice-cold hand into his and he helped me up to my feet, getting me out of the freezing cold snow. I looked up at his face, trying to read his emotions.
"You don’t have to say anything."
I was trying to figure out what his words meant when he quickly moved his head toward mine, bringing our lips together. It came out of the blue; my eyes were opened wide. Kamei brought his arms around me and started in on a more passionate kiss. Getting over my shock, I brought my arms around him.
This felt different from anything I had ever felt before. It was like my life was complete now. Slash had made the bite of the cold and pain in my foot go away in an instant. I’d never thought this would happen.
Slash brought his hands up to my neck and into my hair. He kissed one last time before taking his head back.
"Aishiteru… Jam."
"Aishiteru."
Chapter 2
"I didn’t know if I should tell you because I wasn’t sure what you would say."
"It was the same with me, but when you were trying to tell me, I knew that you felt the same way."
We were back at my house, sitting in my room. Life was wonderful.
"I feel happier now than I ever have before." I sighed.
Slash smiled, than came in to kiss me again. Every time I kissed him, it was like the first time. I must have been in heaven.
*Knock, knock, knock*
Both of us sat straight up.
"Hi, boys. Can I come in?"
It was my mom. Both of us stood up and walked over to the door.
"Yeah, it’s fine."
My mom opened up the door and walked in. "What are you doing?"
"Not much, just kind of hanging out."
"Well, it’s getting pretty late… we need to eat dinner." She had a worried look on her face.
"What’s wrong, mom?"
"Well, I have a business meeting at work and I won’t be here for dinner. But this is the 4th time this week that I’ve been gone."
"We’ll be fine, Mrs. Kuehnemund." Slash put in.
"… Hey, I know. Why don’t you boys go out to eat at that new restaurant downtown?"
"Really?"
"Mm hmm. Here’s" she quickly scribbled something and then handed me a check. "a check. Just write in the amount that the meal costs. Oh, and here’s some money for a tip."
"Wow, thanks mom."
"It’s the least I can do for being gone so much." She looked at her watch. "Well, I’ve got to be off or else I’ll be late. Bye, honey."
We both watched as my mom walked out the door, then we just kind of stood there for a little bit. Slash was the first one to talk.
"Wow! Our first date."
"You’re right." I felt all warm inside. A whole night out with my one true love. What else could anybody want from this world?
"Let’s go." I followed Slash out of the door to my bedroom and then to the front door. We both put on our shoes and coats and walked outside to pick up our snowboards where we had left them on the front porch.
"Follow me. I know which restaurant my mom was talking about." I told Slash. Then we were off. Me in the lead and Slash following closely behind.
It didn’t take too long to get there. The restaurant wasn’t that far from the board shop, so it only took us about five minutes.
When we got there, we set our snowboards behind some bushes, not that anybody would want to steal them, and stomped on the rug to shake off the snow. There wasn’t much of a line to get a table so we sat down and waited for our turn.
"This is a nice place." Slash observed.
"Yeah. I’ve never been in it before but I’ve driven past it a few times."
I almost didn’t notice that the line was gone. There were some more people walking in the door so I took a hold of Slash’s hand and pulled him up to the desk.
"We’d like a table for two, please." I told the man standing there.
The man checked his list and his table chart before finally saying, "Right this way, please."
We followed the man to a cozy little table in one corner of the restaurant. A candle was centered in the middle of the table and a chandelier-like light was hanging overhead.
"Is this adequate?" He asked.
"Hai." Slash nodded.
The man left and both of us took our seats on either side of the table.
"This is like a dream come true." I told Slash.
"Mm hmm." The atmosphere was just right. I felt like reaching over the table and kissing him but I knew better than to do that in public.
Pretty soon, the waiter came and took our orders. I tried to order something that wasn’t very expensive and finally settled on a salad. Slash ordered the popcorn shrimp platter.
I was staring at him. I sat there almost in a daze. I must have been in heaven, I mean, sharing a table with him at a fancy restaurant. Today had to have been the best day in my entire life.
A very familiar laugh knocked me out of my trance. "Slash!"
"What?"
"Listen." We both listened. There it came again.
"Oh no."
I looked over to where the laugh was coming from. I knew it. There was only one person who could have a recognizable laugh like that. Linda.
There she was, along with the rest of the gang. They were waiting in line to get a table.
"Damn. I forgot all about it. They were all going to meet here to eat tonight."
I knew that we couldn’t let them see us here. One reason being that I had told them that I would be busy tonight. The main reason being that they would probably start to expect something.
"I have to go to the restroom." I said, getting up.
Slash, getting the idea, followed me into the men’s room. There wasn’t anybody in there at the time, thankfully. So as not to be conspicuous, I entered one of the stalls. To my surprise, Slash entered in behind me.
"Slash! What are you-!"
Slash broke me off as he came in to kiss me. He pressed me back up to the wall, kissing deeply. I felt warm and light as he brought his hands around my neck.
* * * *
I staggered back into my seat at the dinner table. Our food was already on the table, ready for us to eat. I smiled at Slash. We had only been in the bathroom about twenty minutes.
Luckily for us, Linda and the others had been put at one of the bigger tables on the other side of the restaurant. We shouldn’t have any problems with them unless one of them has to go to the bathroom.
I picked up my fork and started eating my salad. Slash started eating his popcorn shrimp. We ate silently for a little while.
Our waiter came up to our table to give us the bill, but then went back to his jobs elsewhere in the restaurant. It was pretty quiet over in our corner for a while.
When I had finished my salad, I looked at the bill and then took out the check that my mom had given to me. The bill was for $18.45. I was about to start writing it down on the check when I noticed that I didn’t have anything to write with.
"Slash. Do you have a pen or a pencil?"
"Sure. Here you go." He tossed me a pen, from I don’t know where.
I wrote down the amount on the check and then and then set it on top of the little black tray that they put the bill on. I also took out the money that my mom had given me and put it in the middle of the table.
"I’m done." Slash said, pushing his plate to the side.
"Me too. You ready to go?"
"Yeah."
I looked around. No sign of the gang anywhere. Good. While I was looking, I noticed that behind the restaurant was a large lake. It looked beautiful, the ice reflecting the glow of the moon.
"Hey, Slash. Let’s go out there." I pointed to the window where I could see the lake.
Slash followed my finger. "Sure." We both got up from the table and walked to the back door. It was chilly when we walked out, so I put on my jacket. Slash followed suit.
As we walked over to the lake, I saw a few other couples standing around. This must be a romantic spot.
Slash noticed a bench off to the side, looking over the lake. He motioned for me to come, not wanting to break the heavy silence that hung in the air.
We both sat down on the lake, a soft mist coming out of our mouths as we breathed. The glow of the moon made the snow seem sparkly. The whole lake seemed to be made of magic.
Stars covered the night sky. When I looked up, it looked like I was in a whole different world. Like I was somewhere up there in all of those little pricks of light.
Slash put his arm around me. It felt good, especially since it was I was starting to get a little cold. I leaned over on his shoulder. I was starting to get a little tired. So much had happened this day, but all of it was good.
Slash gently lifted my head with his hand. I looked up into his eyes. Beautiful, his beautiful eyes. He started to move his head towards mine.
"Slash." I whispered. "There’s people here."
"I don’t care." He said softly, right before his lips touched mine. He brought his hands up to the sides of my head. It was like magic. It was like nothing I had ever felt before.
So this is what heaven is really like.
Chapter 3
I packed up my school supplies and shoved them into my backpack, putting all the stuff I didn’t need to take home into my locker. I zipped up my back and then grabbed my coat before shutting the door of my locker. It was 3:00, the time when all kids should be home enjoying the short time left until Christmas break.
Picking up my snowboard, which I had left on the floor until now, I clambered through the crowds of pushing kids to get to the door. I could barely move an inch but at least I was making more progress than the day before. It was always a hassle to get through the hundreds of kids fleeing from their mind wrenching hours spent in the school building.
When I finally made it through the doors I took a deep breath of fresh air. It felt good to be outside.
"Hey, jerk!"
I kept walking, thinking they were talking to somebody else. Only when I saw his bulging muscles underneath his ragged shirt appear in front of my eyes did I even suspect that they might be talking to me.
"Yeah, we’re talking to you, jerk."
I looked up into his face, surprise written in my features.
"What do you want with me?" There were three of them. I’m not sure exactly who they were, but they were a couple of grades higher then me. Maybe even seniors, unless they were held back a couple of grades.
"We feel like kicking someone’s ass." The big one in front of me said, punching his fist.
"Well, mine doesn’t need kicking today." I said, quickly trying to walk away from them. However, one of the boys standing behind the first one grabbed me by the neck as I tried to walk by.
"You ain’t goin’ nowhere." He picked me up off the ground. I grabbed the boy’s hand, trying to loosen his grip on my neck, but nothing seemed to work. The three boys took me to the other side of the school building so that none of the teachers could see.
The boy holding me up pushed me hard against the bricks of the wall and got ready to punch.
"Wait a minute. I get the first punch." The one who seemed like the leader stepped up to me.
I struggled against his hand. "Why are you doing this to me? There’s lots of other kids here, you know." It was getting a little hard for me to breathe.
"Yeah, but you look like a wuss." The boy holding me stuck his face right up close to mine. "Got that, bucko?"
Suddenly, I felt an intense pain in my groin. One of the boys had kneed me right where it hurt. My knees buckled as the boy let go of my neck. I kneeled down on the ground, throbbing.
I heard the boys laugh at that. They must be getting a kick out of this. There was no way that I could ever have done anything to stop this.
Another one of the boys stepped up to me. Before I saw anything coming, he kicked me square in the face, sending me back into the wall. Sharp pain exploded in my face, but when I hit the wall, everything went black.
* * * *
I’m not sure how long it had been before I woke up. I was in the same spot I had been when the boys had beaten me up. The snow around me had turned red in some spots. I knew why when I felt my face.
Dried blood hung down my nose, and my lip hurt to touch, which meant that it must have split open. I had a few other cuts, but they weren’t that bad. My groin still ached a little and it was hard to walk.
I stood up, surveying the area around me. No one was here, which means it had been a while since school had gotten out. The sun was still relatively high in the sky though, so I knew it wasn’t that late.
I took a few steps, but had to stop to rest. I knew it was going to take a long time to get home. I looked over near the front door to see if my stuff was still there. I saw my bag and my snowboard lying there, but that’s not to say if anything was still inside my bag.
I limped over to my stuff, cringing as I sat down. Amazingly, everything was still there. I guessed that one of the teachers near the door had made sure that nobody had taken anything. I bet they wondered, though, why anyone would just leave a bag and board there.
My jacket was gone. I had put it on when I’d gone outside. Those boys must have taken it. I was surprised they didn’t quickly grab my bag as well.
It was getting cold out. I shivered. Without my coat I would probably catch a cold, especially since the sky was starting to turn a reddish color, meaning that it would soon be dark.
It usually took me about ten minutes to walk home. With this limp that I’d developed though, it would probably take me over twenty. I knew my mom wouldn’t be worried about me because she didn’t get home from work until eight. I knew from experience that that wasn’t until long after the sun set.
I sat there a little while, wallowing in self-pity. I knew that I should start home, but I wasn’t up to standing, let alone walking home. I could try snowboarding. I decided against it though when I pictured myself running into a stop sign.
All of a sudden, I heard the school doors open behind me. Looking back, I saw a group of kids walk out. Must be from the school computer club. Not wanting to look like an idiot sitting here, I pulled my stuff over to the side of the building and sat down with my back against the wall.
I heard them laughing and talking, wishing that I could be one of them. Wishing that I hadn’t gotten beat up for no reason. Wishing that I wasn’t sitting here getting ready to limp home.
I heard a laugh. A very familiar laugh. I heard him talking, and then I was sure of it.
I turned my head towards them as they walked past and saw him. My savior. My love. He must have sense me because as he came into view he was looking straight at me. As soon as he saw me a look of concern washed over his face.
He ran up to me. "Jam?"
I looked up into his face. I would have laughed had I not been so weary. He looked kind of funny.
"What happened?" He bent down, examining my face.
"I got beat up."
"By who?"
"I don’t know. Some big guys… they looked like seniors."
Slash looked around. "You walk home, right?"
I nodded, then pointed to the street that I walked down. Almost everyone lived there.
Slash thought for a moment. "Hey. My house is closer. Why don’t we go to my house for a bit, and when my mom comes home she can give you a ride."
I smiled up at him. I wanted to reach up and kiss him, but the other computer kids were still within seeing distance. Slash reached down and put my bag around his back, along with his bag. Then he balanced both of our snowboards in his right hand.
"Here, put your arm around my shoulder." I stood up, and carefully reached around his neck. I felt some of the pressure leave my body as Slash took most of the weight.
"You ready?"
"Yeah."
We both started to walk home. It was sort of awkward, but it got us farther than it would have if I was the only one walking. Luckily, Slash’s house was only the third one down the street. Mine was like, about twenty houses down.
It was still cold as we were walking, but being with Slash made everything a little easier to handle. I could tell that Slash was having a little bit of a hard time carrying two bags and two snowboards, while also having my arm around his shoulder.
"I could carry something." I told him, not wanting him to do more work than he had to.
"Don’t worry, I’ve got it."
We walked along in silence for a little while. It wasn’t very far, but we were still going at a pretty slow pace. We passed the first house, and then the second house. Finally we made it to Slash’s house.
I pulled my arm from around his shoulder as he took his house key from his pocket. He unlocked the door and then pulled it open. "After you."
I slowly walked in. I had never been inside Slash’s house before. It looked a lot like mine, except that it seemed a little cozier. Perhaps though, that was only because it was Slash’s house.
I sat down in one of the chairs to relieve myself. Slash carried everything in and set in to the side of the door. "You wanna’ take off your shoes?"
"Oh yeah, sure."
I limped over to where Slash had put his stuff and slipped off my shoes, putting them on top of Slash’s.
"I’ll go get some med stuff." Slash said before heading into the kitchen. I watched him go and then sat back down in the chair. It felt good to sit down. It felt even better to be sitting down in a warm house, especially since it was Slash’s.
Pretty soon, Slash came back in with a little box of stuff. He sat down on the footrest that connected to the chair I was in.
"First we have to clean your face." He took out a wet cloth and brought it up to my face. I closed my eyes. The cloth was warm, so it felt good. When he was done, most of the blood and dirt was gone.
"I feel better all ready." I joked.
Slash laughed along too. Then he took out a little bottled of something. "Now, this stuff might sting a little."
I braced myself as he put some of it on the cloth. He brought it up to my face. It did sting. It wasn’t really bad, though. Mainly on my lip, because that was an open cut. "Ouch!"
"Sorry."
When he was done with that, Slash took the box back into the kitchen. I felt a little better, but I still ached all over, my groin especially.
"How do you feel?" Slash asked as he came back in. He sat back down on the footrest.
"Achy." I didn’t tell him, though, that it was mainly in my groin.
"I’ll give you a massage. I’m pretty good at that." The very thought of that made me feel warm inside. I sighed. "Okay."
I followed Slash into the bedroom and laid down with my stomach on the bed. Slash got up over me and gently place his hands on my shoulders. It was one of the most wonderful things I had ever felt. I had always wanted to get a massage, but I had never expected it to be from Slash. This was like an early Christmas present.
I laid there for a couple of minutes, Slash massaging my shoulders. I felt his hands start to travel down, across my back, until they were massaging my butt. All of a sudden, he stopped. I felt him lean down over me.
He kissed the back of my neck, and then wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace. I relaxed in his arms, letting myself become open to him.
* * * *
We sat on the couch in front of the TV; a bowl of popcorn was between us. We were watching some movie; I’m not sure what it was called. Slash’s mom had come home a little while ago, and I had called my mom, telling her that I would be home soon.
I couldn’t even feel any pain anymore from this afternoon. I felt like I was dreaming, and that any second I would wake up in my own bed.
"It’s almost 9:00, boys. Do you think that Jam needs to go home yet?" Slash’s mom asked us from inside the kitchen.
"Maybe I should." I whispered to Slash. "It is pretty late."
"Yeah, I guess so."
I looked around, making sure that Slash’s mom wasn’t coming back from the kitchen, and then brought my lips to touch Slash’s. It was a quick kiss, though. Too short for me, but it would have to do.
I got up from the couch and gathered up my things.
"My mom could give you a ride, you know." Slash told me from on the couch.
"It’s okay. I’m feeling better so it’ll be fine." I picked up my backpack and slung it over my back, and then held my snowboard in my hand.
I blew a quick kiss to Slash. "I’ll see you tomorrow."
"Bye" was all he said, but I knew in his heart he was also saying, "I love you", just like I was.
We both waved as I walked out the door into the cold. As I set my snowboard on the ground, I thought to myself: If this is what happens when I get beaten up, what would happen if something really bad happened to me?
Chapter 4
"Got any nine’s?"
"Nope, go fish."
The cream-haired toddler sighed and reached into the pile of cards. When he finally was satisfied that he had gotten a good card, he pulled it out. His shoulders slumped again, though, when he saw what it was.
I was playing Go Fish with Todd. Todd is this little two-year-old that I baby-sit every so often. He’s got the cutest little hair-do in the world. His hair is just the perfect color for it too.
Todd’s pretty smart for a two-year-old, so I can play games like Go Fish with him. He actually beats me most of the time too. But that’s only because I haven’t played games like Go Fish, Memory, and Old Maid since I was little.
This time it was my turn to ask him for a card.
"Got any two’s?"
"Uh-uh, go fish." He said snidely.
I picked up a card from the middle of the pile. I didn’t really care whether I won or lost.
"Got any five’s?"
I sighed, then regretfully handed him two of the fives, which had been residing in my hand for the last couple of turns.
"Yes." He replied, taking the cards from my outstretched hand.
Just as he had taken the cards, I heard the key turn in the front door. Both of us looked up as the door opened and in stepped Todd’s parents. They had gone out for a short dinner, since they didn’t get a lot of time alone.
"Mommy!" Todd ran up to his mom, giving her a big hug.
I stood up and walked over to them.
"So, did you boys have a good night?" She asked cheerfully.
"I beat him at Go Fish."
"Well that’s nice."
I was standing there; wondering if I should pick up the cards scattered all over the floor, when Todd’s dad spoke to me.
"I expect that you’ll probably want to get going. It is getting late."
"Doesn’t really matter to me."
Todd’s dad reached into his pocket and came up with a ten-dollar bill.
"Here’s your pay."
"Whoa, ten dollars?"
"Well, you have been sitting for us for a while, and you always do such a good job."
"I can’t take ten dollars."
Todd’s mom spoke up. "We insist. Todd just loves it when you come over."
I shrugged and accepted the ten dollars. Not that I wasn’t happy about it. Of course I was happy about it. Ten dollars! For one night babysitting! Now that was easy cash.
"We’ll call you again if we need you to sit."
"Sure thing."
I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. I picked up my snowboard, which was inside the garage and headed out into the bitter cold.
It actually wasn’t too cold outside. It wasn’t even snowing. It was the ice that made things bad. Whole streets were covered with thick, slippery ice. It was terrible weather to be out driving.
Luckily for me, the ice didn’t have a lot of effect on my snowboard. Sure, if I went on it the wrong way, then I would crash and burn, but overall, the ice had didn’t bother me at all.
I hopped on my snowboard when I got into the street and casually surfed the short distance home. That was another good thing about babysitting Todd. His house was only about two away from mine.
I laid my snowboard against the wall when I made it to my garage, then I walked inside.
My mom was sitting at the kitchen table, a whole pot of coffee in front of her. I can always tell when she’s had a bad day. She just looks tired, and she always drinks tons of coffee. She calls it her miracle medicine.
"Hi mom."
She replied with a quick wave, and then I started up the stairs to my room. You didn’t want to be around my mom much when she had a bad day.
I checked my clock on the way up. It was ten ‘o clock already. It didn’t feel that late, but then again, I would probably be ready to fall asleep once I actually got into bed.
Once in my room, I slipped into my pj’s and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I dropped my dirty clothes into the laundry hamper as I made my way back to my room. I yawned as I entered my room. That sleepiness was starting to kick in. I carefully unmade my bed, pulling the sheets all the way down to the bottom. I situated my pillows on the top, making sure that they were just right.
I walked over to the lightswitch on the other side of the wall. As I turned it off, I noticed a faint flashing light coming from my window. I walked over to the window to see what was going on.
The lights that I had seen turned out to be police sirens. This was unusual. We barely had anything that involved the police. As tired as I was, I decided to check it out. This could be something big.
I headed down the stairs two at a time and slipped on my robe. My mom was watching the sirens from the downstairs window as well.
"I wonder what’s going on."
I didn’t answer her. She might not want me going out in the cold, especially in my pajamas.
I slid my feet into my sneakers and as quietly as I could, I opened and closed the door behind me. I jogged out to the sight of the police car. It was a good two blocks away, but it didn’t take that long.
I one point I thought for sure that I was going to take a spill, but I righted myself just in time. I hoped to God that my mom couldn’t see me making my way toward the sight.
As I got closer I began to see that there were a lot of people gathered around in a circle. The police car was off to the right a ways, its siren blaring. A car sat in someone’s yard, as if it had swerved off the road to go around something.
"What happened." I yelled to one of the people.
The man who heard me turned around and looked. "A car hit some kid. It seems that the driver couldn’t stop because of all the ice."
This certainly pricked up my ears. Some kid?
I kept walking toward the group of people. The man had turned back around. Everyone was ignoring me. I pushed through the people to reach what had everyone’s attention.
When I saw him, I couldn’t believe my eyes. "Slash!"
I ran towards him. He was lying on the ground, wet snow was soaking into his clothes. He had an ugly gash across his face and the rest of him didn’t look much better.
"Slash, oh Slash…" I knelt down beside him. What had gone wrong? What did God have against me?
I pulled off my robe and layed it over Slash. "Did you call the ambulance?"
The police officer answered. "We did, but it will take a while for it to get here. The hospital is a little ways away. None of us wanted to move him."
I looked back to Slash. He looked so fragile right now, as if one little touch would break him into a million pieces. I didn’t want to look at him this way…
I took his hand into mine. It was as cold as ice. I shivered, both from the cold air that was sweeping through my bones and from the creepy feeling I was getting inside. How could this have happened to Slash? Why had this happened to Slash? He hadn’t done anything wrong.
It seemed like forever before the ambulance arrived. I could hear the faint siren on top of it getting louder and louder as it approached. I wanted to yell at them, wanted to scream and shout. Couldn’t they have gone any faster?
I backed up as a bunch of men came out of the ambulance and put Slash on a stretcher. I could barely watch.
I must have lost my shoes in all of the confusion, because the next thing I knew, they were gone. I never tied my laces very tight unless I knew that I would need to.
I ran up to the ambulance before one of the men shut the door. "You have to let me come with you."
"Are you a family member?"
"No…"
"Then I’m sorry, but I can’t let you come." He started to close the door, but I broke in again.
"You have to let me come… we… mean a lot to each other."
I don’t know if the man heard the tone in my voice or if he just took pity on me, but he let me come in. I jumped up into it.
It was so crowded in there that I couldn’t find a place to sit, so I just stood in a corner out of the way. Slash was still on his stretcher and people were doing all kinds of things to him.
My feet were freezing after being in the snow. Inside the ambulance it wasn’t much better because snow and water had come off the men’s boots. I stood there, freezing to death in my light pj’s.
The ambulance ride seemed to take forever. I felt as if every extra minute that it took to get there, one more minute was being taken off of Slash’s life.
I could tell when we were slowing down. The doctors hovering over Slash started to get ready to get Slash out of there. I was relieved. I didn’t want to stay in this ambulance any longer than they did.
As soon as the doors were opened up, all hell broke loose. Doctors came crowding in as the doctors inside came pouring out. Chaos was everywhere. By the time I got out of the ambulance, there weren’t a lot of people there.
I hop-skipped into the hospital doors to avoid freezing my feet off again. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do, though, when I got in there. I didn’t see any sign of Slash or the doctors that had been looking after him.
I sat down at one of the chairs in the waiting room. Questions were flying through my head. Was Slash going to be alright? What was I supposed to do? Has my mom noticed that I’m gone? Will I get to see Slash?
I didn’t cry. I think it was the shock. At a time like this, I would have expected myself to cry, but for some reason I didn’t.
My eyelids started to droop. I wanted to stay awake; I had to see if Slash was okay. I… had… to…
I fell asleep. Right there on the blue waiting room chairs, I fell asleep. It was a dreamless, restless sleep. If I had had a dream, it probably would have been a nightmare.
* * * *
I felt somebody pushing me. Somebody… calling out my name?
"Young man."
I groggily opened my eyes.
"Are you the young man that came in with the boy?"
I’m not sure that I had heard her correct. What boy? Where was I? She wasn’t my mother.
"Are you the young man that came in with the boy? The one who was hit by a car?"
I wasn’t sure at first what she was talking about. I didn’t know anybody that got hit by a car. I rolled over to go back to sleep. I was too tired to be answering questions right now.
"Please answer me. Wake UP!"
I jerked awake. I sat up and yawned, covering my mouth so as not to be rude.
"Are you the young man that came in with the boy?"
"What boy?"
She signed. "The one who was hit by the car. The doctors told me that you were the one who came with them."
I thought about that. I wasn’t thinking very straight right now…
The lady looked at her clipboard. "His name is… Slash Kamei."
I woke up with a start. "Slash!"
Suddenly, everything started to rush back at me. The accident, sneaking out of the house, riding in the ambulance, falling asleep on the chair.
"Is he alright?!"
"Follow me."
I stood up, shaking the sleepies out. Slash just had to be alright.
I followed the lady into a long hallway. We walked for a little ways, her high heels were clicking on the tile floor.
"It seems that the car caught him right across the jaw. Luckily, he doesn’t have any broken bones, but he will need to stay a little while."
"Can I see him?"
"If he’s awake."
We walked a little more. I started to wonder just how big this hospital was. Just then, the lady turned and walked into a little room. It was totally white, from the bed sheets to the walls.
I saw Slash sleeping in the bed. He looked so little lying there amongst the sheets. He had a bandage across his face and I could see a couple of bruises.
"Slash." The lady whispered. "Someone’s here to see you."
I saw Slash open his eyes. He looked at the lady, then he looked over at me. I saw his face light up.
"I’ll leave you two alone." The lady walked out of the room.
I walked over to Slash. "Hey, buddy." I knelt down next to his bed.
"Hi." He said faintly.
"Does it hurt to talk?"
"Not really." That was good. I didn’t want for him to talk if it hurt him. I wasn’t sure exaclty what to say though…
"Is it too bad?"
I looked at him for a little bit. "No. You’ll be out soon, but you look like you just go hit by a car."
He smiled at that. Jokes aren’t my high point, but I can make somebody smile when they’re in a hospital bed.
I’m not sure what came over me. I guess now that the shock had worn off, and I knew that he was alright, all my emotions just broke loose.
"Oh Slash." I started crying. I reached forward and put my arms around him. "Don’t ever do that to me again."
Slash held me as I cried. When I finally ran out of tears, I wiped my wet eyes so I could see. "I just don’t know what I’d do without you."
