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"You told me to come right away. You said it was something urgent. But, do you mind telling me what is 'it?'" The pale beauty rest against the moss infested rock alongside the riverbank, staring at his feet.
"I know not of this 'it' you speak of." Another figure walked out from a position behind an oversized oak tree, grinning like he had just won the lottery. After observing the frusterated reaction of his friend, he continued,"Okay fine. Y'know when I fell asleep in math class?" His voice trailed off into the distance before he could finish.
"Yes, you fall asleep in math class every day. If you don't mind, could you please be more specific?" The pale continued to stare at his feet. People say that shyness was a curse born onto him.
"Well, Mr. Smart, this time, did anyone strange walk into the room? I mean, someone who wouldn't normally be there." his gaze fell straight into the eyes of the timid character below.
"You should already know the answer to that. I don't pay attention to people. And stop bullying me, you know it won't lead to any good." His answer was short and bland, still staring at his gray boots. There was a tension swaying with the zephyr, one of malevolence. He knew the feeling all too well; he hated knowing.
"You're no help. And I'm sure you know that's not really what I wanted to ask." He sounded very unsure, and picked his words carfully, for after many years of friendship he knew Riley was smarter than you would expect. "Well," he swallowed hard, it felt as if there was a boulder lodged in his throat, "I'm.....going away. I mean-- I'm moving. We don't know where yet, but......" He couldn't stand looking anywhere but the wet autumn leaves below his awkwardly placed feet.
Riley said nothing, he could think of nothing poetic to say. No poetry could ever come from this, even the flowing grace from his face fell away. His eyes now locked onto his friend's, his lips parted slightly, there was a line of fear brushed across the boy's face.
He leaped from his perch in a sudden bound, coming across Jordan hard. He took up as much of his friend's body as he could, engulfing him in his arms with his face buried in the black cloth, and squeezed.
A muffled sound escaped Jordan's mouth, as he gasped for a breath from under the weight. "Ah! Wha--" he stopped mid-sentence. He knew, or at least he thought he knew, what was going on in Riley's head. Gently placing his hand on the subtle dark hair at the level of his eyes, he whispered, "I don't want to go."
Riley had not expected such a gesture to be returned to him. The sudden sadness of it all only deepened the wound. A tear escaped from his face onto Jordan's shirt as he squeezed harder, "Please don't." He began to plead, "You can come live with me, Jeremy won't mind, honest he won't! He-" Riley choked on the sobs. The one friend, the one mentor, the one gaurdian was to leave him to his lonesome. He could not be left to his lonesome, he was very well aware of this fact.
Looking down at the new wet stain on his shirt, he tried to loosen the glue that held Riley to him. "Hey, I'd surely move in with you if I could, but you know I can't!" It wasn't helping. "You don't know, though, that you look kinda funny when you're crying. A new sight for me." He didn't know how to make this
seem any better. He felt as if it almost wasn't fair to Riley. Even at a new school, a new house, and a new town, he would be better off than his best friend. Ouch, that
hurts.
"Haha, very funny." Riley replied sarcastically, smearing the tears with the sleeve of his gray fleece. It helped little for the tears only kept coming. It seemed as though he was trying to draw up courage the way he held his breath. Instead, he unlatched the necklace he wore around his neck and held it out to Jordan. "Remember this? It is yours now." Riley could not bring himself to look into Jordan's eyes, but a small smile crept across his face in the midst of his remembrance.
"What? No way! You never take that off!" He pushed Riley's hand away, "I could never accept it." He hoped the crying would stop, it just about broke
his heart in two.
But Riley persisted. He took hold of Jordan's wrist, prying the fist open, gently placing the dragon pendant inside and closed it. "Please? It'll help." He replied with that glazed over smile still on his face.
"It'll help...??" At the time, he didn't know just how true that would be, but he continued, "Okay then...but I think you're going insane." he gave Riley a strange, but humourous look, and slipped the chain, warm from being held, around his neck. He examined himself in the relective water of the river, and nodded. "Looks pretty hot, huh?" He knew the question always tweaked Riley's nerves, but he said it anyway.
And Jordan was right as Riley winced from the comment,"Don't ruin this." He sighed looking at the reflection of a sixteen year old musical prodigy and his best friend. The dizziness of the past five minutes made his head spin as Riley felt his body rocking back and forth against the riverbank and his feet crumbling beneath him. The sensation was yet to leave him since the age of twelve; he knew the steps. First he would become dizzy, second he'd fall, then he would begin to cough and most likely end up vomiting. It was an unknown disease that came to him every time he became emotional.
At the sight of Riley's stumbling, Jordan reached out and grabbed his shoudlers before he face-planted in the river. "HEY! If you're gonna upchuck, don't do it in front of me. " He sat Riley down on his rear, and poked him on the forehead. He then walked 5 feet away, his back turned. He had delt with this many-a-time before, no sweat.
Riley turned for a brief moment, just to see Jordan's back, then was silently sick. He started to cough the way he always had, the way a smoker coughed. But Riley did not smoke; in fact, if it had not been for the anti-drug sessions at school he would still not know what a cigarette looked like to this day.
He cleaned himself in the river, washing away the left over residue from the corners of his mouth. Jordan still stood five feet away with his back turned. Riley ventured the five foot gap that divided him from his friend; resting his head on Jordan's shoulder, trying to catch a breath. The sensation of vertigo had passed, yet he still felt awkward. He separated Jordan's arms from his sides, where they seemed to be latched, and hugged him once more. "...Sorry..."
"It's alright. I'm glad you're okay. And what's up with all the hugging?" He obviously wouldn't admit it, but he liked seeing Riley this way, which wasn't often, so Jordan soaked them up, like a dry sponge meeting water. "Not that I don't enjoy hugs." He waited a moment. " What would you like to do now?"
"Doesn't matter to me. Whatever you feel like doing, I'll follow." He yawned into Jordan's shirt. "Heh, sorry. You know, you're awfully quiet tonight. I didn't do anything wrong did I? I'm sorry if I did... I'm saying that far too much. Do something stupid, something to make me laugh, so I won't keep having to be sorry for something. We're supposed to cherish the time we have together, or at least that is what happens in the books I read." He dove under Jordan's arm, wrapping it around his own shoulder, bearing his teeth to him in a wild smile. Another "curse" Riley had been born with, no matter what the issue was, he could always find some fault he had committed, even if the sitaution happenned to be one of rejoicing. Doctors said it would drive him over the edge before he turned twenty-one; this was a joke, naturally, but some believed it to be true.
"Are you saying I do stupid things?!" He fell back for a moment. "Can't argue there. And what kind of books do you read. For some reason, I don't see you in a pink nightshirt curled up on the couch giggling while reading a thick novel titled 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' or 'Sun Kissed', but what you do when you're not with me is none of my business!" He grinned at the thought.
"Oh, you're hilarious!" He chuckled slightly, "No, I read Fitzgerald and romantic era novels. And no that's not what you think, so don't say anything. I'm just glad we're not in public." Riley sighed. "How the hell did I ever become friends with a kid like you in the first place? Aaw well, can't complain can I?" The tears had stopped and a crisp, warm hearted smile now adorned Riley's face. "Where to?"
"I don't really know how we became friends, but don't hurt yourself thinking about it!" He started walking a bit faster and turned left, "How about to the restaurant down the street?" He pointed in front of him, "I'm hungry."
"Alright," Riley chased afterhim, "Just note I don't get paid until Yuesday, so I'm a little low." He tried to push the awkwardness into the back of his mind, but to no avail. A sudden pulse snapped in his veins, some hidden nerve made him bllind. Static raced across his memory, it felt as though his head was swelling. Riley fell to his knees, elbows propped against the cement path. The tighter he held his head, the greater the pulse, each one more intense than the last.
"Riley? Riley!" He could hear Jordan's cries from in front of him, but could not see him, could not feel h for him.
The pulses shook his body, his world caved at its core. The pulses rendered him useless. Nails digging into his scalp. Then, nothing. Darkness.
Jordan continued to scream Riley's name. Over and over. Hysteria swallowed up any common sense he had left. His fears, the very thing he feared most. It was here. Having no knowledge in the medical field, he fumbled in his back pocket for his phone. His hands shook, as if his was victim to Parkinsons' disease. A deep breath and he gained enough mental strength to dial the three keys. "9....1....1....." he mumbled to himself. His voice shook with the same case of Parkinsons' as he followed the directions given to him by the smooth voice of the trained specialist who answered. 'Everything is okay' he told Jordan. Eveything's okay. Everything's okay. Everything's okay.
At least an hour later, the sour feeling that surrounded his stomach and chest still lingered. The white-washed walls of the local hospital seemed to enclose him, in his cold chair at Riley's bedside. His best friend's eyes had not opened in what seemed like days, his vitals closely monitered on beeping machines. Jordan hated hospitals, but this was no average case. This is just a splendid ay to spend some of out last days together.... This thought was suddenly interrupted when Riley's eyelids slowly fluttered open. "Good morning, sunshine! Have a nice dream?"
"...Sorry...I'm sorry..." His eyes wandered, half opened, as though he was searching for something. The hand free of the blanket took hold of the bed's railing and lifted the rest of the body upright. "I didn't-" He was at a loss for words; no aoplogy could ever repay the debts he had just made. He would most likely be put on bed rest for quite some time, ruining the time he had tacilty planned with Jordan. Instead of running by the river, they would sit in his dusty room and play gin all day, or something of the sort. Riley did not want to wake up, he wanted to sleep, for all this to be a dream he could rework in his mind until perfect and never return to the dream again. He wanted time to stop, just for him, just for the hours lost. "I'll make it up to you- somehow- I promise." He gave his best smile.
"Don't be sorry, it's not your fault." Jordan replied, "I'm just relieved it's over. And I've still got about a week until I leave, don't get your panties in a knot!" He chuckled and grabbed Riley's limp hand. He poked it a few times before setting his chin down on top of it. A strange action indeed, but he felt the need to touch Riley in order to console him. He took a deep breath and a yawn escaped his lips. "If you're not going to sleep, Mr.-Patient-sir, then I'm going to." He closed his eyes in his current position. Ah, what a day....
Riley took back his hand from under the weight of Jordan’s head, letting him fall onto Riley’s stomach. He placed his hand through the knots of vermilion hair, patting them gently. “Nighty-night.” And closed his eyes once more.
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copyrighted 2006-2007
Untitled
By:TheFullmetalNinja&A Victorian Perfection
 pixelated - parfait · Sun Dec 31, 2006 @ 05:29pm · 0 Comments |
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