Reflect the Past (02)

Reilly has problems in school. It is up to Kyle to figure out what when he gets a visitor at his house.

Reilly sat there on the floor crying. I got up quickly, completely forgetting I didn’t feel well and brought him into the health room with me. The nurse there looked shocked. “Dear heavens, what happened here?”

“Sorry to bother you ma’am” I said, with my Australian accent. “Do you have extra clothes?”

She passed us each a worried look, I was holding tightly onto his hand. Although, he continued to cry. The nurse gave us a shirt and I took him to the bathroom. “Put this on, ok?” I gave it to him. He continued to cry as I washed out the throw up on his shirt.

Reilly put it on, I looked back at him. It was larger than he was, and his tiny frame barely visible. “Am I really that disgusting?” he mumbled.

I rinsed out the shirt and twisted it to dry. He continued to cry and I felt really bad. “What are you talking about?” I asked. Whipping the tears from his face.

“When I kissed you, you hurled” he began to sob again. I pushed him away from me taking a deep breath.

“Look, it’s not that. I'm getting over a sickness; I was going to throw up with or without the kiss”

He whipped the tears from his eyes. “Would you go out with me?” he asked.

The only response I could think of was “huh?”

His tears faded and he glared at me angrily. He pushed me back and ran out of the room. I got up; in my hand was his shirt.

The nurse gave me a concerned look. “Would you like me to call your parents to pick you up?” she asked, realizing I was feeling uneasy again.

I nodded and laid down on one of the many available beds.

My dad came to get me. He had to wake me up and we walked to the car. “Couldn’t survive, huh?”

I shot an angry look at him. In my hand was Reilly’s shirt, now only damp from the water. “Someone confessed to me today” I looked down at the damp shirt in my hands.

My dad looked at me from the road and smiled. “Is she cute?” he joked. I clenched my teeth and bit my lip.

He watched me shake my head. “It’s a guy” I admitted, feeling safe since I didn’t actually agree to it.

“What did you say?” his voice was stern again. Clearly thinking about Matt, who was a playboy with boys.

I took a deep breath and sighed it out. “I said, ‘huh’. Then he pushed me down and left”

Dad looked at me confused. “This is your first day, isn't it?” he rethought it for a moment. Counting back to how many days I had actually been sick for.

“It is” I laughed. I went to telling him my entire day, and about Reilly. When I finished he sat quietly until we made it back to the house. We got out of the car and once inside I took an aspirin to calm down my surging headache.

Mom came from the next room and hugged me tightly. “Oh, thank goddess above that you are alright”

“It’s not like he got into a car crash” dad said, giving her a ‘welcome home kiss’ as part of their ritual upon coming here.

Mom smiled and took my dad’s hands, placing them around her hips. “So what happened today?” she lend against his chest.

“He got a confession” dad said, unhappily.

Mom became excited. “OH! Is she cute?”

“The she is a he” dad replied. Mom smacked him for his tone and ordered him to sit. Then redirected her attention to me.

“Is HE cute?” she asked. Smiling at me, and then glaring at dad. Who still hadn’t accepted Matt for dating guys, but was terrified of our mother.

“Well, he is probably the most feminine guy I have ever met” I scratched my head as I thought. Then looked to my hand which held his shirt. “This is his”

“Why do YOU have HIS shirt?” Dad got up, demanding.

“I told you, after that happened he cleaned up. When he was putting on the other shirt I cleaned out the puke from his shirt”

“Puke?” mom tilted her head.

“Yeah, our son barfed on him after he kissed him” dad waved his hand and smiled happily. Mom pulled a hair out of his head and laughed to herself. I began to wonder why they were married and had three kids together. “The hell woman!?”

Mom looked straight at me again. “So, then he confessed?”

“Sort of” I began to tell mom the same story I told dad.

She boasted with happiness “so are we going to meet your new boyfriend?” she shot an excited look and even danced a little.

“So ALL my children have boyfriends when only ONE of them is a girl?” Dad mumbled, in return was hit by mom again.

She took the shirt from me and sang to herself “I’ll clean this and you can return it tomorrow” she scurried off.

I sat down beside dad. He didn’t look happy. “Do you really hate gays?”

“HUH?!” he crossed his arms and thought. “No, it’s not like that. It’s just strange. Plus, I'm not gonna get any grandchildren”

I grinned; all he wanted were the grandchildren?

“But I want all of you to be happy and date whomever. Like your mother said, you will still be my son. So chose which ever. By the way” he turned to look over at me. “If you say yes, bring him over” his smile was very forced. I began to wonder if his speech was for real or if it was rehearsed for him by mom.

He got up and began preparing lunch. I lay down on the couch, now I felt better. In fact, I felt really good. My sickness felt like it was gone now for sure. Not only that, but I could only think about Reilly.

 

I woke in the morning; Matt sat next to dad, singing some song. Abigail talked to Matt about boys, which only made things awkward for dad. Mom came by me and handed Reilly’s shirt off to me. “Have a good day” she smiled.

Abigail and Matt led the way again. We got on the bus, I noticed that Henry and Bailey sat together and were on this bus. When Henry saw me he motioned me to sit with them. I did as I was told.

Bailey looked at me, and apologized, Henry did the same. “Sorry if we were impolite yesterday. It’s just, well you don't know Reilly so just try to stay away from him”

This only angered me, I couldn’t figure it out. Mr. Ruthless made him seem to be a great person. “Why?”

They looked at each other “well, because you just don't want to get to close to him. Trust us”

“Why are you trying to isolate him?” I demanded.

“We aren’t!” Bailey quickly defended. “It’s just. Jason said he’s a bit strange”

Henry nodded. “Who is Jason?”

They both shook their heads, as to shake off the memories. “Jason was his last boyfriend. They were pretty good together, but then Jason said that Reilly started cheating on him and being much needed. Even violent at times, he attacked him with a steak knife one time” Bailey explained.

I thought about it, it didn’t make sense. “You mean, he’s gay?” I asked, after caching up.

Henry nodded “Yeah, and he’ll probably go after you next”

The bus stopped at the school. I parted ways with Bailey and Henry and walked into Mr. Ruthless’s classroom. He smiled and welcomed me as I came in. I sat next to him, preparing to ask questions about Reilly.

He closed his book when I sat beside him. Motioning me to ask the question. “Do you know Jason?” I asked. Mr. Ruthless took his glasses off and whipped the lenses.

“I know of that boy. Reilly tells me everything”

“Then you know that they were dating?”

“I know that, this town has a pretty open opinion towards gays. It’s a very small town, but the gay population isn't too small”

I nodded in agreement, even though I didn’t know that. “Then is Reilly violent?”

“By no means is that boy violent. Jason was the violent one” his voice turned to pure hatred. “The other students do not know of this, nor do the other teachers. Reilly wants no one to know”

Mr. Ruthless quickly put his glasses on; I looked up to the way he was pointing. Reilly walked in, ignoring me and sitting down. I parted ways with Mr. Ruthless and to Reilly. “Hey, I got this cleaned for you” I handed him the shirt.

He took the shirt from me, but put his head down. Mr. Ruthless watched silently. “Reilly, how is that project going with you two?”

“I- we haven’t started” Reilly responded, quickly looking up. He avoided my eyes.

I sat next to him, pulling out a laptop of my own. “Want to work on it now?”

He didn’t respond, he put his head down on the desk. “Just go away” he whined. I continued to sit next to him, writing an advertisement of my own. The instructions on the sheet helped guide my work and by the time class started I had a plan for the advertisement.

Edward walked in with Bailey and they sat next to us. Bailey smiled, but Edward still seemed unprepared to apologize. Actually, I didn't want them to apologize to me, but to Reilly instead.

Once I finished the planning of the advertisement I showed it to Reilly. He refused to lift his head the entire time. The rest of class we sat there silent.

Lunch finally came; I was completely over my sickness today and decided to stomach lunch. When I walked in I saw Reilly eating alone, so I walked over to him and sat down. He looked up quickly, and then went back to eating. “I'm sorry if I offended you”

Reilly looked up, our eyes met. “You didn’t offend me. It’s just. Never mind” he turned away. I began to eat anyway and let the awkward situation pass over us. A few minutes passed before Reilly was covered in chocolate pudding.

Edward stood above him “sorry, didn’t see you there. S**t” he preceded to pouring the rest of his tray over Reilly’s head. I stood up and took the tray from him. It flew to the floor and echoed. The whole cafeteria went silent.

He looked at me, surprised. “Just go” I smiled, mimicking that sweet yet scary smile my mother always gave out. Edward backed away silently and returned to his seat with Henry Bailey and Seth. I grabbed onto Reilly’s wrist and pulled him out of the cafeteria. We walked all the way until we got to Mr. Ruthless’s class. He didn’t have class and allowed us to come in.

Mr. Ruthless looked at Reilly covered in an all assortment of food. “What happened now?” he asked. Wiping the food from his face and taking bits out of his hair.

Reilly stayed silent, and Mr. Ruthless looked over at me for the answer. “Edward poured his tray over his head” I said. Reilly turned around to glare at me.

“That kid again? Something needs to be done about him” Mr. Ruthless mumbled. I stepped forward.

“Again?” I asked. Mr. Ruthless nodded.

Reilly looked at him and told him not to tell me. I put my down; he must hate me after I threw up on him. “Hey, you have the shirt I washed from yesterday” I pointed out, after remembering. He nodded and pulled it out of his backpack.

Mr. Ruthless and I waited as he went to the bathroom to change. “Why are they doing that stuff to him?” I asked.

The teacher sat quietly, obviously keeping something from me. “It’s not my place to talk about Reilly’s problems. Would you try at least to be friends with him?”

I nodded “I’ve been trying, but he’s making it difficult”

“I heard” he laughed. I put my head down; Reilly really did tell him everything. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. He seemed to have taken a liking to you”

“I guess. He won't talk to me now though” I stopped talking once Reilly came back. He sat at his desk and ignored us. I made my way over to him and sat down. “Hey, want to come to my house?”

Reilly jumped up, his face pure red. “Ah, no. Err, I mean, yes. Well” he looked back at Mr. Ruthless who was smiling and motioning to go ahead. He looked back at me. “Sure” he chocked. I laughed and watched him, which made him really nervous.

 

The end of the day couldn’t have come sooner; I met up with Reilly before we left the building. “We’ll walk” I said. Remembering Henry and Bailey would be there. As we walked Reilly kept changing his speeds. He’d be walking fast, ahead of me, slowly behind me, and other times right next to me. It was sort of funny.

We made it to my house; I opened the door to let him in first. He walked through, being sure to take his shoes off before entering. Dad came to the door first. “Wondering when you’d get here, Matt and Abigail said you didn’t get on the bus” he glanced over at Reilly and then understood. He walked off before I could answer.

Reilly became hesitant to walk in, I pushed him threw and held onto his hand. Mom met us with a huge smile. Dad had obviously announced it; he also had a new fresh red slash on his cheek. From her, obviously.

Abigail sat at the table and watched us come in, with a huge smile. What is up with this family?

“You’re Reilly, aren't you?” mom asked, in her fake American accent. Dad glared at Reilly, which was obviously freaking him out.

I lend forward. “Yeah, this is the guy that confessed to me yesterday” I was still holding onto his hand. He began to shake, and held onto my hand tighter. “We’ll be in my room” I smiled and pulled him to the stairs.

Dad lend over the stairs up at us. “Keep the doors open, Matt brought his boyfriend over too. Reilly, want to stay for dinner?” he forced a pleasant tone through his thick beard.

Reilly looked up at me, I nodded. “If you want to” he turned back to my father and nodded. We got up to my room, and he sat on the bed. “I don't have much stuff; all my stuff is still in boxes since I got that sickness”

“You got sick when you first came here?”

“Yup, actually, not until I first got sick on the plane here. We thought it was just motion sickness but I was throwing up blood. I had a parasite in my stomach after eating some terrible food, it popped and it was seriously painful. After that, I would get frequent colds and the flu for no reason. That’s why I didn’t go to school until this quarter”

“You're okay now though?”

“Yeah, I was only getting over the flu”

He smiled at me “that’s good”

I laughed “why, worried about me?” I rested by the bed on the floor. His face was turning bright red the closer I got to him.

By my door came a huge bang, I turned around to see someone I hadn’t seen before. He looked very pissed. “You damn s**t” he glared right at Reilly, who had lowed himself from the bed and curled up next to me.

Matt came running next to him. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked. Matt’s boyfriend?

“Him, that’s the damn s**t I was talking to you about”

Matt’s eyes opened wide eyed. “You’re the one that attacked him with the knife?” he asked. Running into my room and straight to Reilly. I pulled Matt back.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded. The other guy walked in and sat with Reilly. I couldn’t keep both at bay and instead screamed loudly until mom came.

“What is it?” she asked. Watching Matt and I brawl.

“I am sorry ma’am. But this guy is bad news, he is horribly violent” he lifted up his shirt to show a deep scar from a knife. Reilly watched it with horror. “Reilly is a s**t that sleeps around with anyone and attacked me when I wanted to end it” Matt nodded.

“That’s a lie!” Reilly yelled. He pulled up next to me, he began to cry again.

“Don't be fooled, Kyle. That’s what he does” the guy said.

“Reilly maybe it’s time you leave” mom said sadly. Reilly looked up at her. Matt’s boyfriend agreed.

“Please, that’s a lie” he pleaded. Desperate to be heard. “It’s not true! I didn’t!”

“Oh you didn’t attack me with the knife!?” Matt’s boyfriend demanded.

“No! Well, yeah but”

“See” he held out his hand to gesture over to Reilly. He began to shake.

“Mom, can I talk to you?” I asked, she nodded. I pulled Reilly and we walked into the hallway. “I really don't think Reilly would do that”

She picked up the basket where she left it and turned to me. “Figure out what this is all about and talk to me later” she said. Leaving me with Reilly. I turned back into my room and ordered them both to leave, they did.

I sat down on the bed as he curled up into a corner. “That was Jason” he shook rapidly and sobbed. Mr. Ruthless said that Jason was bad.

“What happened with you two?” I asked. He sat up, and began to tell me the story of his abusive boyfriend, Jason, and what he had to do to get out.

 

Author's Note

How is my story coming along? Personally I think Kyle is a bit strange, and so is Reilly. -_- Geez these two...