To Go From There

I lay in bed for awhile, staring at the ceiling. I didn’t have anywhere to go, or anything to do. I couldn’t really do anything that would put stress on my body, which meant no running or cleaning. It frustrated me.

“What to do, what to do,” I muttered. I looked around before pushed myself to stand. I walked slowly to my bookshelf. I grabbed a random thick novel, one Mom had gotten me. I plopped back onto my bed and began to read. I must’ve been really into the book because when I sat back, my stomach growling loudly, a few hours had passed. I pulled myself up once more and wandered downstairs. I quickly made my lunch, a grilled cheese sandwich with a glass of root beer and a pickle spear. I went back to my room and that was pretty much the highlight of my day. I didn’t really do much beside read. If something was downstairs, like the ringing phone, I didn’t go to get it. I didn’t feel like it. I was tired, and lazy. I merely curled up on my good side and read my book, like a nerd.

Yes, I am very thrilling, aren’t I?

However, towards the end of the day, which seemed to be about 5 o’clock, I got too bored and headed back downstairs to the billiard room. I opened the dartboard that hung on the wall and smiled. I wandered away to get something and came back. I grabbed a tack from the wall and pinned it up on the board. I grinned, grabbed my darts and walked back to the mark Mom had put on the floor in bright pink masking tape. She loved that stuff, had a roll in every room. I don’t even know how long it was ago that we had a roll of normal tape. Even our duct tape is pink. Mom’s big on pink.

I held up the dart between my thumb and pointer finger gently. I lined the point up with the board and drew my arm back a little before flicking my wrist forward, letting the dart go. I watched as it flew. I was a little rusty, so it landed off center.

I positioned myself with a new dart. I took a deep breath and stopped, staring straight ahead.

“Key. Air. Nan.” Mom barked. I looked up from the table, where I’d been doodling on an envelope lazily.

“Yes, Moth. Er?” I smirked. She plopped down beside me, with a grin.

“C’mon. I’m gonna teach you something awesome!”

She quickly bounced out of her chair, leaving me in the dining room, staring after her. I got up and sluggishly followed behind. I found her in the games room, setting up a board on the wall. It was the dart board.

“You’re gonna teach me darts?” I asked.

“It comes in handy at bars… Not that I would know,” she quickly amended, winking at me. She laughed gently to herself before retrieving the darts and coming to stand beside me. She put the darts on our pool table and grabbed the pink tape from the corner pocket. She ripped some off and leaned down, pressing it into the tiled floor.

“Alright, let’s learn how to play darts!”

I sighed.

Mom.

I threw a dart at the board and it landed in the center, right between Kellen’s eyes in the picture I’d tacked there.

“Ouch… That looks like that hurt,” Rhys said. I looked up, and found him standing in the doorway behind me. I wasn‘t even slightly frightened that he came out of nowhere. He was there, and it made me happy.

“You know, I don’t even care. He sucks.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him again.”

I stared at him, trying to read his expression. But I got nothing.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry about it. I promise, he’ll never bother you again.”

I groaned and put the darts down. I walked towards him, putting my hands on his neck.

“Please. PLEASE, Rhys, tell me that you didn’t.”

He smiled only slightly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answered. He leaned down and kissed me, putting his hands on my hips. I had showered that morning, throwing my running clothes away and putting on a pair of jean shorts and a Merlotte’s Bar and Grill t-shirt.

“You’re lucky,” I mumble. He pulls back, resting his forehead against mine.

“Yeah, I know. But, guess what?”

“What now?” I asked, sighing.

“I’m grounded again.”

“RHYS!”

“What?”

“What are you doing here then?” I asked.

“Mom’s waiting outside for me. I just had to inform you that I’m officially being sent off to Timbuktu.”

I groaned and kissed him on the corner of his mouth.

“You’re stupid, you know that?”

“Yeah, I’m well aware.”

“You should go.”

He frowned.

“Yeah, guess so.”

He started to walk away when he stopped and turned to face me.

“No. I forgot something.”

“What’s that?” I asked. He walked back towards me, all but swept me into his arms and crashed our mouths together. The kiss turned quickly into something heated. He lifted me up easily and sat me on the pool table. His hands wandered all over my torso, up and down while he inconspicuously slipped his tongue past my lips. It was overwhelmingly amazing, but something seemed wrong about it.

A horn blared from outside.

Rhys stepped away, detaching our lips and our bodies losing contact. I whined a little, like a child whose toy was taken.

“I’ve gotta go. Bye Kiernan.”

And with that, my Rhys was gone. I stared after him, a bit confused.

Hmmm, well, that was weird. It was almost as if his tongue tasted like goodbye.

I shrugged it off, chalked it up to the pain killer I had taken with my lunch and went back upstairs after putting my darts away. I sat back on my bed, staring up vacantly at the ceiling.
I kept thinking about my very first kiss, all those years ago.

“Kiernan? What are you doing here?” George asked, opening the door to his house. I looked down the calm suburban Nashville street and then back at the boy before me. He’d only been gone for a few months and I’d missed him so much.

“Hey George. Mind if I come in? I’m really tired.”

“Yeah, sure, come on in.”

He lead me to his living room where I sat down on his familiar blue and white checkered couch. He sat beside me, still looking a little weirded out. I looked him up and down before chuckling. He was still the same old George I knew, with his wild black hair and wide brown eyes. He was all angles and elbows at this point, not yet having grown into his frame completely. He was going to be quite handsome, once he filled out and wasn’t as awkward anymore.

“I didn’t want to be alone anymore,” I finally said several silent minutes later. George looked sad for a moment.

“You know, you’re never truly alone. Not really.”

I smiled.

He leaned towards me and pressed our lips together for a sweet, short, innocent kiss. He pulled away and grinned.

“Your mom must be pissed!”

She was. Extremely. She screamed at me for close to an hour when I finally got home at the end of the summer, right as the new semester began. She quickly forgave me though, when I told her all about George and my crush on the boy.

I heard feet on my stairs, and I sighed, sitting up and peered out the door. I waited. It was Gen, I could tell from how light the footsteps were. Rhys’ were much heavier.

“Holy f-” Gen started to curse as she entered my bedroom. I looked like hell, all thanks to Kellen. My face was swollen, and discolored. I would’ve looked worse with the sling on. But I ditched that about an hour after I woke up. It was hindering my ability to laze around and do nothing properly. So yeah, she was a little caught off guard. But after Rhys’ kiss at the hospital and how he comforted me as I broke down, I didn’t care quite as much. Plus, that kiss on the pool table.

I was on cloud nine. No one could bring me down.

Or so I thought until Genesee frowned and said, “Mom’s dead, Kiernan.”