Joshua Chasez was pretty much an easygoing thirteen-year-old.
He loved his family, his siblings were cool enough to keep around and his friends were awesome. He loved life and life was supposed to love him back.
But then there was Fat Tony.
Fat Tony was Jefferson Middle School’s resident bully. He was the tallest kid in the entire school. Plus he was left back once in third grade and again in sixth so Fat Tony also had a major age difference to lord over every student. That and his ginormousness. The teen had more than a hundred pounds on Joshua. And Joshua was skinny. So obviously, there was no competition between those two.
Ever since Fat Tony was transferred to Jefferson last year, he’s made it a personal goal to make sure every student quivered in fear of him, Joshua especially. Something about the scrawny thirteen year old called to the fifteen year old bully. He would search for Joshua everyday during their lunch period and make his life hell.
But Joshua could only take so much of being taunted by Fat Tony and his cronies without doing something.
So he hid.
And preferably in spaces that were tiny so Fat Tony could not fit. Today’s hiding place being inside the neighboring elementary school’s jungle gym. The steel and wood monstrosity was really designed for eight year olds, so Joshua had a tight fit. He planned to wait there for the two periods without being seen by Fat Tony. He could easily see within close range of anyone’s feet approaching and remaining hidden from outsiders.
Once the bell rang ending fourth period, Joshua was the first kid out of Mr. Encinzo’s class. He flew outside with his book bag and lunch clutched tightly until he made his way inside his hiding place. He folded his legs and tore into the ham and cheese sandwich he got from the corner store earlier today.
He could hear his classmates talking and playing a field away from him. He longed to go there with them. But he didn’t want to get another sore stomach from fat fists or be called a “pansy”, “candy ass” or the ever-popular “faggot” today.
So he ate to his heart’s content in his hideaway.
That was until he heard the slapping of running feet on the pavement. He couldn’t be seen from anyone outside the gym because he was covered in the shadows. He stilled as he heard the person run closer.
“Please don’t let them find me. Please. Please. Please,” Joshua chanted silently and closed his eyes. He held his breath when the big feet were centimeters away from him. It only seemed to be one person. And their shoes were, well…shoes. Not the normal pair of hundred dollar plus sneakers all the boys seemed to wear. These were shiny spit polished shoes, shiny spit polished boy shoes. Joshua could just imagine the name-calling the owner of said shoes had to have endured.
Before he was allowed to even imagine the names the kid was called, the shiny shoes were out of sight and the person in said shoes scurried into the tight crawl space head first, colliding with Joshua’s mouth.
“Hey! Get out!” Joshua loudly whispered into the intruder’s head.
“Please! Sorry! Just please let me stay here?” The kid asked as he dragged the rest of his body into the small space.
“No!” Joshua whispered angrily. All he needed was to be found by Fat Tony and his goons.
“Please?” The kid finally turned his face to plead with Joshua.
Whoa. He felt his stomach drop. “Why should I?” Even though Joshua already knew he’d let the kid stay with him, he liked having a little power.
“There’s this gigantic living and breathing Sasquatch that is scouring all over the playground to terrorize me.” He held a hand over his heart for emphasis.
Scouring? Terrorize? Sasquatch? Joshua has never heard a kid his age use words like that. “You mean Fat Tony?” Josh asked in an emotionless tone.
“That mountain of monstrosity has a name?”
Joshua looked this kid up and down taking in the shiny shoes, pressed khakis and peach buttoned polo shirt, a big difference from the normal jeans, t-shirts and sneakers the boys wore at Jefferson junior high. Joshua felt bad for the kid because along with his curly blonde hair and blue eyes, his appearance were a surefire ‘kick my ass, please?’ sign for Fat Tony.
“Did your mom dress you?” Joshua felt sorry for the kid. He wouldn’t last the week.
The kid looked offended and touched his clothes with pride. “Of course not.”
Joshua shook his head. “You must be new.”
The new kid tilted his head. “Why would you say that?”
“First of all, everyone in Jefferson knows everyone. And two, you wouldn’t dress like that. And since you’re new, you can stay. But you have to be quiet.”
The new kid folded his legs like Joshua and faced him. “What’s wrong with my clothes? I know the colors look good on me.”
Joshua rolled his eyes. This boy was different from any other boy he knew, any other boy he ever met. “Vain much? I thought I told you to be quiet?”
The new kid ignored Joshua’s last question and introduced himself. “I’m Justin Randall Timberlake. But you can call me Justin.” He held out a hand.
Joshua nodded in greeting and eyed Justin’s hand warily. “Uh…yeah. Joshua Chasez.”
“Do you prefer Josh or Joshua? I wish I had a name like yours cause I adore nicknames. I mean you could shorten my name to Just but that’s a word. And I don’t really care for that. So Justin it is. Sometimes I add the Randall for a little pizzazz when I feel the need.” He smiled brightly.
“Okay,” Josh said slowly. “Look Justin, I think I should school you to the rules here at Jefferson. I don’t know where you are from-”
“Oh, I’ve been to many schools all over the world.” Justin interrupted, using his hands to assist his point. “My mother is an actress, well for the theater. I was born here in this city but the stage called my mother before my birth and after, so I grew up in many different countries.”
“Yeah that’s nice.” Joshua nodded but it really didn’t faze him. “Listen, okay. In America, we have bullies. And Fat Tony is our resident bully at Jefferson. He’s fifteen, big and really dumb. Always ready for a fight and always looking for new people’s asses to kick. And it seems you’re it.” Joshua shrugged carelessly.
“Yes. That I know. He pulled me to the center of the court to personally greet me by calling me the most horrific names.”
“Let me guess, ‘faggot’? ‘Fruit fly’?”
“Yes and ‘fairy’. I take offense to being called such derogatory names. Never in my thirteen years of life did I have to put up with being discriminated against. I am gay but that doesn’t mean-”
“You’re gay?” Joshua was in awe that Justin could let it roll off his tongue so easily. That he was so sure about his sexuality at thirteen. He was still questioning himself and was a little jealous of Justin’s confidence.
“Yes.”
“As in you like boys?”
“Yes.” Unbelievable, he did it again.
“And not girls.”
“Correct.” And again.
Joshua squinted his eyes at his talkative friend. “And did you tell Fat Tony this?”
Justin had a habit of using his hand when he talked. They flitted all over the place. “Well I didn’t get the chance to.”
“Don’t.”
“But I should-”
Joshua quickly shook his head and smiled bitterly. “Trust me, they would make your life a living hell until June. And not only him.” He stared into the new kid’s eyes so Justin could see the seriousness in his own.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” The two eyed each other in silence. Joshua took another bite out of his sandwich while Justin watched him eat. He felt…weird. But it was a good kind of weird.
“You’re hiding from Fat Tony?”
Joshua nodded his head. “I don’t stand a chance against him.” That would be like a twig standing up against a boulder.
“Well this hiding spot is ingenious,” Justin complimented enthusiastically.
“Do you always talk like that?”
“Talk like what?”
“You know, Sasquatch and scour and ingenious and stuff.”
“Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s. Well it’s…” Joshua was trying to think of a way to not offend his new friend.
Justin gave a quicksilver smile. “You think I flame?”
Joshua nearly choked on the bite of food he was in the process of swallowing. “Well I-I-I,” he stuttered.
“No, it’s okay. My old boyfriend Bernard would always tell me I was very dramatic.”
Joshua got a bewildered look in his eye. “Boyfriend?” He couldn’t believe that Justin had a boyfriend or so openly talked about him.
“Do you have a problem with me being gay?”
"What?" He asked in shock. "No!" He said loudly and then remembered where he was. "No. No," He said quietly. "I mean if I did, I would have kicked you out. It's cool with me."
“Really? Most boys would take offense at being caught around someone gay. I mean unless you were gay yourself…” Justin chuckled but Joshua didn’t join in. He looked to his friend and stared. “Are you?”
“What? No.” Justin continued to stare and Joshua felt compelled to share with new kid. God help him but he did. “I mean maybe.”
“Oh you're still confused?" Justin grabbed Joshua's hand and Josh felt a jolt of energy from just touching Justin. Justin, however, patted his hand consolingly. "It's okay. Lots of us have been there. You'll figure it out.”
“I can’t believe I told you.” He didn’t pull his hand out of Justin’s hold.
“I have that effect on people,” Justin winked. Justin didn’t let go of Joshua’s hand either.
“You want a ham and cheese sandwich? I buy two everyday so it’s not a problem. I mean if you don’t already have lunch.” Joshua finished off awkwardly, blushing a bit towards the end.
“Ham and cheese? Sure why not. Thanks so much Joshua.” Justin smiled brightly.
Joshua quickly went into his backpack and pulled out the other wrapped ham and cheese sandwich. “You’re going to have to either bring lunch with you and hide or try and buy lunch here and face Tony.”
“I think I’m going to stick with the plan you’re following,” Justin said with a smile. He daintily unwrapped the sandwich and picked up a half. “Thank you, Joshua. You’re the first person to actually talk to me today other than the teachers.”
Joshua frowned as he ate his sandwich. “You’re the new kid,” he offered as an explanation. He was a young man of few words.
“Well I like that you’re talking to me.” What Justin didn’t know is that if he never barged into Joshua’s hiding spot, Joshua wouldn’t have talked to him either. “I like you.” He stated out of the blue and happily munched on his lunch.
Joshua nearly choked. What did he mean exactly by “I like you”? Joshua felt his cheeks get warm at thinking of the possibilities. It’s not that Joshua liked boys definitely per se, but if Justin meant it in the ‘liking boys’ kind of way, it wouldn’t be really bad.
He chanced a look at Justin but he was munching and gabbing about some play in France he last saw and was a stage hand for and yadda, yadda, ya… Joshua didn’t really care. Justin was kind of cute. He had blue eyes that gleamed happily and pink lips that never quit moving. Those nice, plump and really, really pink lips. Open. And close.
And open.
And close.
God.
“Joshua, are you ok?”
Joshua took his eyes off Justin’s mouth very quickly and drunk his chocolate milk. “Yeah. I thought I heard someone coming our way.”
“I asked if you had Mr. Singh. He’s my homeroom teacher.”
“Oh no.” He shook his head and hoped that he was not blushing. “I’m in Mrs. Chen’s class. What’s your schedule like?”
“Well,” Justin placed his sandwich back onto the deli paper and used his hands to speak. “I have Mr. Singh first. And then math, I won’t even try to say the man’s name because I’ll only embarrass myself.
“Mr. Krishnamachari,” Joshua said out loud before he could blink.
“Wow,” Justin said with wide eyes.
“After having him for two years, you get the hang of his name,” Joshua shrugged. “Go on.”
“I have science after that and then a double period of lunch-”
“Like me,” Joshua blurted out. Justin smiled brightly and this time Josh knew his face was pink.
“That’s great. We can hide together.” Justin suggested. He looked over his hands as he ate.
Joshua looked down at his chocolate milk canister. “Uh…yeah,” Joshua didn’t want to look at Justin’s face right now.
“I mean if you don’t mind.” Justin’s eyes dimmed.
“No!” Joshua said loudly. He took a deep breath and said softly, “I mean no, I don’t mind.”
Justin giggled. “Good. I thought you didn’t like me. I tend to be a chatterbox.”
“I like you.” Justin widened his blue eyes and Joshua gulped. “I mean, I like you enough. I mean…” Could the earth swallow him now please? “I mean I don’t mind you being a chatterbox. I mean- I’m not calling you a chatterbox. I-” This was not going well. Joshua was getting flustered and making a total idiot of himself.
Justin smiled and placed a hand over Joshua’s. “It’s ok. I get what you mean,” he winked.
Joshua didn’t want to think dirty thoughts now. He was losing control of his hormones. And if he let the testosterone flow, he really didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of Justin.
“Um, do you want some of my chocolate milk? It’s still cold.” Joshua offered shyly and looked at Justin touching his hand. His hand was so warm and so soft. It was turning his brain to mush. “I don’t have any straws though.” He looked into Justin’s eyes. When did they get so blue? He stared briefly. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Justin whispered. Joshua nodded his head dumbly.
“Okay,” Joshua echoed lowly. He didn’t remove his hand from under Justin’s. Justin didn’t remove his hand as well.
“The milk?” Justin asked with a smile in his eyes.
“Here,” Joshua handed it to Justin with his other hand. He didn’t want this feeling to end. Justin took the milk bottle and sipped.
“Mmm. I love chocolate milk.” Justin said, not taking his eyes off Joshua’s.
“Me too.”
“I- What’s that?”
Joshua stopped his mooning and listened. He didn't hear a thing. Justin sat up and moved closer to Joshua. Joshua turned his head to face Justin and his nose nearly collided with Justin's mouth. When did he get so close? "I don't hear anything," he said quietly. He licked his lips nervously. God, there was something about Justin, something about the way he felt around him.
“Must have been my imagination.” He didn’t move his face.
“Oh.” Joshua couldn’t move…even if he wanted to.
“Yeah.”
They watched each other and all Joshua could think is lean, lean over and kiss those lips. Now! And that’s what he did. He pushed his face the few centimeters separating them and pressed his lips against Justin’s for two seconds.
Justin blinked a few times and opened his mouth to say something but Joshua cut him off. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, I-I-I mean I.”
Justin placed his hands on Joshua’s shoulders. “I know,” he said calmly.
Déjà vu. Justin seemed to always calm Joshua down. Joshua could not stop his heavy breathing or his staring. “I didn’t mean to.”
Justin eyes gleamed. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
Justin nodded his head slowly. Then he kissed Joshua this time. He wasn’t as hasty as Joshua. He took his time and sipped at Joshua’s lips. He licked around Joshua’s chocolatey lips and licked his tongue. He eased away to look into Joshua’s eyes. “I meant that.”
“Okay.” Joshua smiled.
It was the beginning of something great.
The End