Forgotten

Caden couldn't believe what had just happened. Jonathan had kissed him… more than once, and had even had him in his lap, but then -- he just left. Caden heard someone coming down the stairs and turned to see that it was Liv.

"Hey Cadey, how'd it go?"

Caden honestly felt like smiling and crying at the same time. "H-He k-kissed me."

"WHAT?!" At that, Liv ran over and took Caden by the shoulders, "WHERE?"

Glancing up at her oddly he said, "In the living room, where else?"

Sighing Liv said, "No, not where as in where were you; where as in where did he kiss you!"

"Oh." That made sense. "On the l-lips. Three t-times."

"THREE!" Liv started to dance around singing, “Operation Get-Caden-With-Jonathan was a success! Wait, where is he?"

At that Cadey's face slowly started to crumple and he started crying, "He ran a-away."

Gently soothing her best friend Liv said, "Oh, baby. Why don't you go back to sleep, the doctor said you should get your rest." And she slowly helped him up the stairs and put him to bed. She took a seat on the air mattress Cadey had occupied earlier and looked up at her friend.

As soon as she was sure that he was asleep she silently stood and crept out of the room, pulling out her cell phone and dialing Jonathan's number. She had called it six times before it was finally answered. "H-Hello?" Jonathan said in a groggy voice. It almost sounded as if he'd been crying.

"How could you do that to him!" Liv hissed. "You kissed him, and not only once but three times and then you left him here without a single word. You just dashed his hopes. You better have a damn good explanation because I will KILL you if you don’t. Actually, I might kill you even if you do; jury’s still out on that one. Start talking."

After a minute of silence Jonathan said, "I don't know if I can… date him."

This just ignited Liv's fury even more, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW?!” She quickly lowered her voice as she glanced at her bedroom door at the top of the stairs. “It's yes or no, and after what you just pulled it better be yes. You can’t just kiss a boy like Cadey and expect it to mean nothing. I told you, I told you if you hurt him I would beat you to death with a blunt instrument!"

"Have you ever met my father!? He's like the damn pope! No, he’s worse than the pope; he thinks the pope is too liberal. His religion is his life, and he’s forced it to be mine too. Not only does he frown upon homosexuality he loathes it to his core. I swear if the Bible didn’t say ‘thou shalt not kill’, he’d string up all the fags he could find,” Jonathan whispered defensively into the phone.

“How the hell could I bring home a boyfriend? He’d be condemning us both to hell, disowning me… No. I-I can’t. Besides, even if I kept it a secret it’d get out somehow. Secrets in a high school… there’s no such thing! And I’m NOT going to have some secret affair with some kid I barely know!” The words stung in his throat -- Caden was more to him than that but he couldn’t acknowledge it.

“I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt him but I can’t be with him! Besides, my dad thinks I’m in love with you!”

"WHAT? How did that happen?"

"I’d just gotten off the phone with Caden when my dad came in and took one look at me and asked who the girl was. I couldn’t make something up on the spot so I just said described you."

Liv sighed and said, "Jonathan, listen, I know that you’re in a jam. But you really want to be with Caden, don't you?" She needed to know.

"Yes!" he said instantly, almost surprising himself by his intensity, "More that anything else in this world."

“Good. Then this is what you have to do. You are going to come back here tomorrow at the same time, and you better look your very best. Then you’re going to ask Cadey out.”

Before Jonathan could interrupt she hurried on, "And then you’re going to take him to your house, get your mom and dad and tell them straight out that you and Cadey are going out and if they have a problem with that than to hell with them. Besides you always can always come here. Now then," Liv said satisfied, anything you want to add in the mixture?"

At his stunned silence she said, "Good, and Whyte, you had better follow those orders to the letter or I will personally run you over!" And she hung up.

* * *

Cadey tiredly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he got into the shower. He sighed happily as the warm water hit his sore body. He was careful not to aggravate his bruises as he soaped himself up. The water soaked his fiery red hair and he poured some of his favorite shampoo into his hands. It was cinnamon scented and it reminded him of his mom before the accident.

He remembered the day that Mrs. Gibbons had first bought it. He had been admiring the bottle in the hair care aisle at the grocery store. She had seen him studying it closely and had taken it from him and set it down in the shopping cart.

“No, Mrs. Gibbons, you don’t have to --”

“I want to,” she had said with a warm, knowing smile. “Besides, it’s good to have a few things around the house in case a guest comes to visit.” She cupped his chin in her hand and smiled at him. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes as he allowed himself to be wrapped in her arms.

That had been a few years ago and ever since then Stacy always made sure to have a bottle of that shampoo waiting for Caden when he came to stay with them. She had known it was somehow important to him and later that day he had confided in her that it was the same shampoo his mother had used when she was still alive.

As he lathered the creamy shampoo into his hair he felt incredibly grateful for having met Liv all those years ago. He could honestly say that he wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for her and her mother. His thoughts slowly drifted over to what had happened yesterday. He brought his hand up to his lips and smiled. Jonathan had kissed him.

But then he left -- just ran off, an evil voice in his head spoke. Sighing again, Cadey finished showering and got out. After drying off he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Staring back at him was that small, thin boy with bright green eyes and fiery red hair. Not really all that remarkable. He wondered what Jonathan could have seen in him.

He pulled on his skinny jeans and a light blue shirt over his long-sleeved white undershirt and started to comb the insane mop of what he called hair. After getting it how he wanted, which meant nice and fairly straight, he took out his make-up bag and started to apply his thin layer of eyeliner.

He really didn't want to leave the house today, but Liv had said that they were going to getting out and he needed to look good. So after he was finished he pulled on his battered old converse and made his way down the stairs where he grabbed a pop tart. "Hey Baby, Liv is already outside and she said for you to meet her out there."

He nodded and thanked Stacy as he walked over to the door, grabbed a jacket and opened the door to see none other that Jonathan Whyte.

And damn was he sexy. Wearing jeans that were a bit tighter than usual, he had on a grey shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes and was wearing a grey, black, and white fox jacket with his hair in a cute mess. Caden suddenly felt extremely self-conscious -- Jonathan looked so damn good and he didn't.

But when Jonathan saw him he smiled the biggest smile Caden had ever seen. Jon bent down slightly so that his face and Caden's were level. "C-Caden, I wanted to ask you something…”