Confessions: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I had never really noticed how handsome Damien was until I found myself kinda staring at him as he stared out the window. I admit that he almost seemed like a work of art. He seemed like he was frozen, almost as if he was posing for an artist that was painting his portrait. The slight turn of his head revealed his collarbone, which protruded through the opening of his slightly unbuttoned shit, revealing his tight skin. His hair almost seemed to move by itself, as it appeared to be flowing from his head, over his shoulder, and down to his waist. Even though my glances at him were short and infrequent, he managed to catch me staring at him.

“What?” he said in an almost horse-sounding voice.

“Nothing” I said staring at the road.

“Oh, so I have to tell you what I think about now, but you don’t have to tell me?”

A little stunned by his unusual straightforwardness, I just blurted out haphazardly, “I was just thinking how you look like you could be a model or something.” 

“What?” Damien replied as if I had just muttered some inaudible words.

“You know, like one of those G.A.P or Abercrombie models.” I said still looking at the road ahead.

“Thanks…you’re not too bad looking yourself.” He said returning to staring out the window. 

I was a little puzzled over the words I had just said, and heard. What the fuck did I mean that he kinda looked like a model? What kinda shit is that to say to another dude? And what did he mean that I didn’t look to bad myself? Fuck it, I’m not gonna let anything, and I mean anything bother me tonight.

We both were pretty much silent for the duration of the ride after that. I occasionally glanced over to see Damien sill staring out of the window, as if he were watching the best damn movie that he had ever seen. I started to ask him what was wrong again, but I knew that he wouldn’t cave, at least not right now. I knew Damien well enough to know that even though he is typically a nice person, he’s stubborn as hell and won’t budge when his minds made up about something. I’d allow him to ponder a bit longer before I finally weaseled it out of him. We finally pulled into the driveway of my house as some of the other’s whizzed passed us, still blaring their horns. I shut of the engine and turned off the lights and looked over at Damien, who was still deep in his trance. I finally decided to give it another attempt.

“Bro, talk to me, what’s the matter?” I said in an almost begging tone. Damien remained silent as if he didn’t hear me. I repeated my inquiry.

“Hellooo, Earth to Damien” He turned to me disoriented as if he had just woken from a dream, or had been under some type of magical spell. 

“Talk to me” I repeated. “You’re starting to bum me out.” 

“I told you what was wrong Julian, so why do you insist on interrogating me?” Damien said crossing his arms over his chest and turning slightly toward me. 

“1) Because I know that you aren’t telling me something, 2) If we’re gonna be living together, we can’t be hiding shit from one another, and 3) How am I supposed to enjoy tonight’s festivities knowing that my best friends bummed out?”

Damien’s face softened as if he could sense my sincerity and good intentions. 

“You see” he said in a very low and shaky voice, “There is something that I need to tell you, something that I think you have a right to know before we move into an apartment together during college.”

Damien was really starting to scare me, “What, do you have some type of infectious disease or something?”

My comment didn’t lighten the mood as I had intended. Damien continued. 

“See, I’m-“

At that moment before Damien could even get his words out, the front porch light came on and the door swung open. It was my mother, she had obviously beaten us home and was now running almost at full speed toward my truck to congratulate us. 

“Well, whatever it is, it’ll have to wait” I told Damien, opening my door to greet my mother. 

“Yeah” he said with an almost apparent air of disappointment in his voice.

My mother hugged me so hard that I thought that she was trying to tackle me. You really would have thought that it was the last time that she would see me or something. 

“I’m so proud of you” my mother said pushing me away. “And I’m proud of you too Damien, you two deserve the biggest graduation party of the century.” 

“Thanks Mrs. Scott” Damien said walking over to the side of the truck that we were on.

“Well, I know that you two boys are going out to have a good time, so I won’t hold you up. But just remember, no drinking and no drugs.”

“Yes ma’am” Damien and I said simultaneously as we walked through the door into the house.

Damien sat on the edge of my bed with a nonchalant and aimless look on his face.

“Ah, Damien, you can go ahead and look through my things to see what you want to wear” I said as I was removing my gown. “I’m gonna take a quick shower.”

A vacant look occupied Damien's face following my words.

“Sure, okay” he replied shakily. 

In no time I was in the shower and out. I grabbed a towel off the rack and wrapped it around my waist. A few quick glances in the mirror later, and I was back in my room searching for something to wear. Damien was already ransacking my closet looking for something stylish to wear. I entered the open door and begin to rummage through the endless shirts and jeans until I found the outfit that I wanted to wear. Damien was on the opposite side of the closet looking for something to put on. I had gotten halfway out of the closet door before I remembered to get underwear. 

“Damien, toss me a pair of underwear.”

He began to fish through the top dresser drawer looking for a pair of boxers. By now, I had taken the towel from around my waist and was completely naked. When Damien found a pair, he took a few steps back and handed them to me without turning around, almost as if he was trying not to look at me. Like I said earlier, Damien and I are like brothers, between showers after games and practice, and staying over at the other’s house occasionally, we had seen each other naked plenty of times. But, I didn’t pay it any attention, and I grabbed the underwear. Even though I didn’t think anything of him not turning to face me then, I was quite sure that when I took the boxers from his hand that it was shaking. 

“Ah, Damien, you okay?” I said with concern.

“Yeah sure, why wouldn’t I be?.”

Damien resumed searching for something to wear, never turning to face me. I got dressed, and not so long after I saw Damien emerge from the closet with an outfit in his hands. He threw the outfit on the bed and began to undress. I was tending to my wet hair when I noticed him stop.

“C’mon man, hurry and get dressed before we miss all the fun”

Damien just stood there and looked at me for a moment. I could sense that he was uneasy about something, but I didn’t know what. At that point Damien grabbed the outfit from the bed and went into the bathroom and closed the door. Hmmm, that was defiantly new behavior. But being the dismissive person that I am, I didn’t pay it to much attention. 

A few minutes passed and Damien still hadn’t come out of the bathroom. By that time I had already finished all I had to do and was ready to roll. I didn’t feel like waiting for Damien much longer, so I decided to go and wait for him in my truck.

“Damien, I’ll be in the truck, hurry up” 

“I’ll be out in the minute” His voice sounded muffled.

A few moments later Damien emerged from the house and jogged to the passenger’s side of my truck. 

“Damn, what took you so long?” I asked being sarcastic and serious.

“Ah, I was just gettin' ready”

I didn’t take the conversation any further. I threw the truck in reverse, and sped out of the driveway, off to a night that wouldn’t soon be forgotten.