This chapter is dedicated to Jaxxdarkstarz like I promised :3 

And like I promised, here's your dedication :D This chapter is dedicated to Jaxxdarkstarz for the awesome comments and for being so cool and nice and wonderful :3 She comments on almost all of my chapters and she's a really nice person like I said, plus she's my outcast buddy XD I promised you a good dedication and here it is ^^ Thank you so much for being so cool and liking my story!

I hope you enjoy the chapter and leave many comments :3

-> Desyre

Salvador

                I watched Oliver leave my house without even saying goodbye. I wanted to talk to him, tell him goodbye, that it would all be alright or something. He looked so worried when he turned to look at me before Mina ushered him out the door and closed it. I turned immediately to glare at Ash. What was the fucking big deal?! I just had a friend over! Granted I hadn’t asked for permission and well he had slept in my bed, and all that but we hadn’t done anything!

“You’re grounded,” Ash said in a menacing tone of voice.

                I wasn’t buying any of that shit. She thought she could intimidate me like she did with pretty much everyone else but I knew it was just a front. I knew she was all mushy inside.

“Ok, but I still don’t get what the big deal is. I just had a friend over. He’s no different from Em or Dust mom. Why was it alright with them and not with Oliver?”

“Because you didn’t ask for permission and I’m not buying for a single second that ‘he’s like any of my friends’ crap Salvador. I’ve seen the way you look at him.”

                What? She knew? No way. She couldn’t know! I hadn’t been that obvious, had I?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right, whatever you say, but whenever he’s over you’re staying in the living room,” she said talking loudly.

“What? No way. Are you going to ask to be present for each of our conversations too?”

                That was too much. What if I wanted privacy? What if I wanted to tell him something I didn’t want them to know? It’s not like I could whisper or something!

“Don’t tempt me Salvador,” she said with a menacing tone.

“You know what? Do whatever you want, since clearly my opinion doesn’t count in this argument.”

                I turned and went right up to my room throwing my door and locking it. It had been so tempting to just tell her, “Fuck you.” I had escaped before I did any more damage but I was pissed. I could hear my mom yell at me to come back here, that we weren’t finished but I was sure finished with this stupid fight. I undressed and went into the bathroom, planning to take a hot shower to calm down a little. It worked like a charm, my muscles relaxed under the pressure of the water and I felt like I could finally breathe. I took a slow deep breath and let it out just as slowly.

                I hated being angry, it just wasn’t part of my nature, never mind fighting. I dried myself, brushed my teeth, and changed into a well-used pair of sweats and a Breaking Benjamin tee that had probably seen better days. I heard knocking on my door and I sighed, it was probably my mom still looking for an argument. I went to open it nonetheless and when I did, my mom was there, just not the one I expected. Mina was standing there with one of her warm smiles. Maybe she had good news? After all, Ash could have a bad attitude but Mina could be more stubborn and had very effective convincing methods that I didn’t want to know about.

“Can I come in?” She asked.

                I nodded and stepped aside to let her into my room. She looked around when she came in probably noticing that the piles of books in my floor had grown in height and number.

“We are probably going to have to get more shelves for you, before you cover your entire floor with books,” she said laughing.

                I just shrugged and sat on my bed. She sighed and sat on my chair.

“Look, Sal, you know how your mother gets sometimes. She didn’t mean most of what she said, or well, at least she doesn’t now. I talked to her when I came back and heard you slam your door. She told me what had happened and I managed to talk some sense into her,” Mina said sounding tired.

                I looked a little hopeful at that and I think Mina noticed because she gave me a small smile that looked wobbly.

“You’re grounded for two weeks for bringing someone without asking for permission,” Mina said.

                The hopeful look slipped from my face.

“I’m still grounded.”

“You should be glad, she had thought about a month at first but I managed to make it two weeks,” Mina said eyeing me, losing the wobbly small smile completely.

                My eyes widened at that.

“A whole month locked in my house? I’d go crazy.”

“Exactly, so be glad it’s just two weeks. And well you know what Ash means when she says you’re grounded, no television, no band practice, and no friends over,” Mina continued, sighing, sounding defeated.

“Oh Em’s going to love that. I can just picture her. She’s going to throw a party.”

                The sarcasm wasn’t lost on my mom and she gave me a disapproving look.

“She had originally thought about taking your bass and guitar, and your phone too but I told her that would be a little too much,” Mina said still giving me with that disapproving look that told me to be good, or things would get worse.

                My eyes widened again.

“She had been planning to take my guitar and my bass away for two weeks? I can’t live without my music.”

“Exactly, so again be glad it’s just that. There is another small little thing though,” Mina added quietly in the end.

                At that point I didn’t know what else to expect.

“What is it? You want me to do all the chores in the house for the whole two weeks?”

“Oh, I had forgotten about that. You have to do all the chores for a month,” Mina said looking apologetic.

“What? No way.”

“Yes way. Anyways that’s not what I was going to tell you. She also said that whenever you had Oliver over you had to keep your door open,” Mina said looking a little embarrassed.

“We’re not going to do anything. We’re just friends for God’s sake.”

                I was getting riled up again, and I really didn’t want to. I was grounded without friends and band and television for a week, I had to do all the chores in the house, alone, and they were one hell of a lot, for a whole month, and on top of everything I had to keep my door open whenever I had Ollie over.

“Sal, we’re not stupid, son, we’ve noticed how you look at him,” my mom said with a patient voice.

“I don’t look at him in any particular way.”

                This was so embarrassing, if both of my moms had noticed that, who was to say that Oliver hadn’t noticed too?

“You do Sal, you look at him like you did that other kid you liked in freshmen year. And you know how that ended. We’re just worried about you, ok?” My mom said still using a slow voice like she was trying to explain something hard to one of the kids in her class.

“Oliver would never do something like that to me.”

                If I had been able to talk I would’ve said that with a bitter tone of voice. I hated remembering what Brent had done to me in freshmen year and they always reminded me. As if I would forget something like that.

“You don’t know that son, at first that kid had been nice to you too,” Mina said softly.

“Oliver punched Brent in the nose to defend me, mom. Brent never did anything to stop the people that bullied me.”

“He did?” My mom said sounding surprised.

                Well, I guess I’d never really explained what had happened that day. I told them something had happened with Brent but that day I was so embarrassed and pissed that Ally had to drive us to the hospital, and that Brent had been let off the hook that I hadn’t wanted to talk about it.

“Yeah. Brent punched me and Oliver punched him right in the nose. I heard from Oliver that he broke it.”

                I felt a little smug at that. Served the asshole right. And now he had broken his fingers or at least had done some damage to his wrist after punching that wall because he carried his arm in a sling.

“Brent threatened him too, mom and he didn’t leave me and betray me like Brent did.”

“Brent threatened him?!” Mom said sounding worried now.

“Yeah, but Brent didn’t do anything to him. Oliver ducked before Brent could connect the fist with his face and Brent ended up hitting the wall.”

“Wow. That kid is something else,” mom said sounding like she couldn’t believe it and I guess nobody could really.

                Oliver wasn’t beefy like Brent, yet he broke his nose with a single punch. I guessed everyone thought Oliver was kind of a wimp because of his lack of what people would call substantial muscle development. He was lean instead of beefy, and lean was in the wimp category. I had seen him jogging in the afternoons a few times, and well I guessed he did some workout on his own or something, because he had enough force and muscle to break Brent’s nose at least.

“Anyways,” my mom said getting up from my bed where she had ended while we were talking. “You’re grounded for two weeks and have to do the house chores for a month, and you know the rules with Oliver.” She started walking towards the door of my room before she turned again and gave me the mischievous smile I had inherited from her. After all I was born from Ash’s brother’s sperm and Mina’s egg. “I think he likes you back by the way.” After that she just closed the door.

                What? Oliver likes me back? No way. I mean, I noticed some signs but I just thought that I was over-thinking things. Could it be that he liked me too? Oh God, I had to know, I had to ask him, but… how? I couldn’t just go over there, even if I wasn’t grounded, and ask him. And I could bet you my bass that he wasn’t going to ask me directly either. And anyway, I wasn’t sure if he liked me too. I would have to wait until I was sure to tell him something, I didn’t want to be the idiot to ruin our friendship. We could go out after my lockdown was over. Not in dates but just go out, get to know each other, maybe I could even bring him to band practice.

                That was actually a pretty good idea. It would make it a lot more enjoyable and seem less like a torture. No, I couldn’t do that, Em had a crush on me, but then again maybe if I brought Oliver over she would notice the way I supposedly look at him, and get the hint that chicks didn’t do it for me. It could work, but then I would be using Oliver. I had to tell her before I brought him to practice, but I wondered, how would that work? Would she let him stay? Would she be jealous of him? Right then I heard my phone buzz somewhere in my bed and got pulled out of my thoughts. It took me a while to find it because it had fallen to the small space between my wall and my bed, but I finally did and opened it. It was a text from Oliver and I couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Hey, how bad is it over there?”

                Aww, he was worried about the argument with my mom. He was so nice to me, how could mom think that he’d ever do something like what Brent did to me?

“Not as bad as it could be. I have complete lockdown for two weeks, without band practice or friends, and I have to do all the chores for a whole month.”

“I could help you after my own lockdown ends. I’m grounded for two weeks without friends too, not that I have any apart from you. I also have to do the chores during those two weeks.”

“Sure you do. You have Em and Dustpan.”

“No, they’re your friends not mine.”

“Ollie, in the whole time that I’ve known them they haven’t brought anyone to the music classroom, not even their boyfriends or girlfriends.”

                There was a long pause during which I thought Oliver wouldn’t answer at all. I even locked the phone again and put it down, getting up to do something else when I heard it buzz. I couldn’t help the smile and the stupid thought: he answered.

“I don’t know what to say to that.”

“You don’t have to say anything, you just have to know that they’re your friends just like I am.”

                There was another long pause and finally my phone vibrated in my hand.

“You left your CD here. I noticed it when I came back and saw the little bag on my bed.”

                Hmm, a change of subject. Well, I thought I could cut the guy some slack.

“Oh, that’s true! Just give it to me on Monday, it’s alright.”

“Is this your favorite band?”

“Yeah.”

“What do they play?”

“Rock.”

                And we spent a while exchanging text messages, talking about music and books until I heard Ash calling me. I rolled my eyes and told him I’d text him later. I spent the rest of the day doing any type of chore you could imagine. I even had to weed the garden. Stupid and unfair, I tell you. By the time I was done, I was so tired I wanted to just collapse into my bed and sleep for the rest of eternity. When I was showered and ready for sleep, I did just what I wanted and collapsed on my bed, dead to the world in less than a minute. I got up the next morning, going to shower and getting ready for school still sleepy, my body aching like I’d done a workout or something. As I was leaving for school, on time by the way, under the threat of having an extra month of chores if I was late even for a single minute, I noticed I had messages on my phone. I unlocked the touch screen and read them. There were just two simple messages. “Good night” and “Good morning.”

                I couldn’t help the stupid smile that spread on my lips. God I had it bad, no wonder Mina and Ash had noticed. I left the house, refusing to eat breakfast and grabbing a single cracker to eat on my way to school. I was lost in my own thoughts until I heard the bell ring and noticed I was in the classroom and that class was starting. I noticed Oliver was sitting a few desks away from me, he probably hadn’t seen me yet. When the class ended I went to tell him good morning but he left before I could say anything. I sighed and went on to my next class and the next after that one until the bell for the recess rang.

                I went to wait for Oliver by his locker. When he approached and saw me standing there, he looked surprised. I didn’t blame him, he probably thought I hadn’t come to school since I hadn’t entered the classroom half an hour late like I always did. I smiled at him and he gave me the usual small hint of a smile back. He put his books in his locker and started walking towards the music classroom naturally. I followed him and we walked in companionable silence. When we got to the music classroom Em and Dust hadn’t arrived yet.

“I thought you hadn’t come to school.”

“Yeah, I guessed so, but no I was just on time for the first time in like five years.”

“Wow. The world’s going to end.”

“No, I’m not doing it willingly. Ash said that if I was late, even if it was a single second, I’d have an extra month of chores.”

“I’m sorry, I’m the reason you’re grounded.”

“Don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t regret letting you stay even if they had taken away my bass and my guitar.”

                Oliver blushed a pale tone of red and turned to look somewhere else. Hmm, maybe he did like me?

“I listened to the CDs yesterday by the way. Breaking Benjamin is really good, and I admit they’re not shit.”

                He gave me a small smile at that. I laughed silently remembering the day we talked for the first time.

“See? Told you. Did you listen to the other one? That girl has a great voice.”

“Yeah, I liked it too. Feel free to recommend me music whenever you want.”

“I was already planning to do it even if I didn’t have your permission.”

                He made it look like he was indignant because of that but I could tell that he was just fooling around. I laughed and he laughed along with me, and that’s how Em and Dust found us, laughing our asses off.

                The remaining two weeks were only survivable because I could still see Oliver and Em and Dust in school, but more than that, it was because of the long hours Oliver and I spent texting. We talked and talked and talked about everything and nothing all at once. He told me about his life in the city while he was in the orphanage and I told him about the band and how we wanted to be professional and sell albums someday. We talked and discussed every stupid little thing that went through our brains but it still wasn’t anything all that important. It wasn’t my past or his past. I thought neither of us was completely ready to talk about that yet. Well, at least I wasn’t. But by the end of the two weeks, I knew almost everything about Oliver, except for his past, and he knew everything about me, except for my past too.

                The day the lockdown ended I was actually excited to go to band practice and listen to Em bitch at me. I wanted to bring Oliver, but I hadn’t told her about my pitching for the other team yet. Today, I have to tell her today. I told Dust to meet Oliver on his way to the music classroom and to be sure they were a little late. Dust looked reluctant but he agreed anyways. When the recess came I walked to the music classroom like I normally did, but felt horrible for what I was about to do. When I got there, Em was already waiting there sitting on one of the desks.

“Hey Em.”

“Hey Sal,” she said and I could swear she sounded a little sad.

“Hey, Sal I need to ask you something,” she said right when I was about to tell her we needed to talk.

                I was a little taken aback to be sincere but I told her to ask away anyway.

“Do you like Oliver?” She said turning to look at me.

                My eyes widened and I made a very loud swallowing sound. That wasn’t the question I had been expecting. I didn’t know what I had been expecting but it sure as hell wasn’t that. I thought about lying to her for a few seconds but then decided against it. She was my best friend I couldn’t lie to her. I sighed and nodded.

“How did you know?”

                She gave me a rueful smile, and I felt like shit.

“Because you look at him the way I always wished you’d look at me.”

“Oh God, listen Em, I’m sorry that this is the way things turned out to be, but it’s just that…”

“You’re gay. I know, I’ve always known. I was just being my usual stubborn self not wanting to see it,” she said giving me another sad smile.

                I sighed again and sat next to her and hugged her tightly.

“We’re still good?” Em said in a small voice turning to look at me.

“Of course we are, Em. I was actually worried it would be too awkward or too hard for you and that you’d stop being my friend.”

“Nah, I’m good, I’m a strong girl. My destined one will appear someday,” Em said with small smile. I sent a small prayer to the skies that she’d find whoever it was soon.

                I sighed and stayed there in the floor with Em. That was how Oliver and Dust found us when they came in. When I saw Oliver I couldn’t help but smile at him, remembering that today was finally the last day of my lockdown. We had already made plans of going to the city that weekend and I had to say that I was looking forward to spending the entire day with Ollie. Maybe this time the day would be perfect. And if it wasn’t, we could make plans to try again. And well, I couldn’t say I’d complain if the day was never completely perfect and we had to try again for the rest of eternity.