Mystery Boy

Ronnie, Jacky, and I took Charming over to Ronnie's house. Ronnie carried him through the front door and I followed after him, Jacky behind me. There was a man sitting in Ronnie's living room who I assumed was his father, so I stopped and waved with the arm I wasn't using to carry in the bag of toys and dog food.

"Hi, I'm Air-"

Jacky pushed me forward, "Lets go," he told me, pushing me down the hallway. There were four doors in this hallway and all of them were shut. Ronnie led Jacky and I to the last door on the right and Jacky shoved it open. Inside was a twin-size bed with black sheets, blankets, and pillows. The room surprisingly wasn't that dirty, just a few shirts laying on the carpet along with a couple discarded books.

Ronnie set Charming down on the floor and laid on his bed, stretching out with his arms behind his head. Jacky sat in a chair that looked like it was only used when Ronnie played video games. I rolled my eyes at the two of them and sat down on the floor, petting my dog as he sniffed around the room.

"Charming," I called, "Mommy lives right next door so if you ever get scared have Daddy bring you over." Ronnie rolled his eyes at that but stopped when I glared at him. "I'm not kidding, Ronnie."

Ronnie chuckled. "Okay," he said, "If your dog gets scared I'll bring him to you."

I grinned and nodded my head. I pulled the bag of dog things over to me and rummaged through it. I pulled out a blue and white spotted dog bowl and set it on the floor in front of Charming. "This is your food. Daddy will feed you every morning," I said extra loudly, looking at Ronnie pointedly.

Ronnie waved his hand at me. He leaned forward on his bed and reached into the bag, pulling out the giant bone that he had picked out. He ripped the plastic off of it and held it out to Charming, who sniffed at it and then tried to bite it. "This is a manly dog treat," Ronnie said in a deep voice, grinning as I chuckled and rubbed Charming's wrinkles.

"How cute," I cooed as Charming tried to devour the bone, biting it with his little teeth. After a few minutes I hopped up and threw myself onto Ronnie's bed, next to him. Ronnie gave me an odd look and asked, "What are you doing?"

I shrugged, brushing my blonde hair out of my face. I clapped my hands a couple times and called for Charming. "Come here, baby. This is your new bed."

Ronnie started saying "No, no, no," over and over again but I kept clapping for Charming who was trying to hop up onto the bed. He was uncoordinated and stumbled when he walked so when he tried to jump he went flying into the edge of Ronnie's bed and hit the ground again.

"Charming!" I called as I climbed over Ronnie, "Are you okay, baby boy?"

Charming just look at me with big brown eyes. I smiled and reached to pick him up, leaning over the edge of the bed and realizing that he seemed like the heaviest dog in the world, from this angle. I was laying across Ronnie's thighs, reaching my arms out for Charming so Jacky reached down and picked up the chunky dog, handing him to me as I slid off of Ronnie.

"Thanks," I said as I pulled him onto the bed in between Ronnie and I.

Jacky just nodded and sat back in his chair. I glanced at Jacky as he sat with one leg crossed over the other. His black hair was choppy and stuck out around his head. It was shorter around his ears and then got longer again on each side. It was the color of midnight and shiny. There was a bandana wrapped around his forehead, holding his bangs down so that they fell into his pale blue, almost grey, eyes. His ears were gaged so much that I could stick my fingers through and the tattoo on his neck was shades of red, white, and green, although I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be since his hair came down and covered most of it. Jacky held this air of mystery around him. Like you shouldn't get to close or a bomb would explode but on the other hand he was simple enough to hang out with a guy like Ronnie, someone straight-forward and outgoing.

Even though Jacky seemed like it sometimes, he wasn't the "tag-along guy" or the sidekick. He was as much part of the action as Ronnie was, just in a different way. Jacky was quiet and reserved but I knew that he wasn't always so shy or gentle. Neither of these guys were people who I had ever expected to hang out with but now I was sitting on Ronnie's bed with a dog that we had just co-adopted. This wasn't ever the life that I had expected, surely not that I would soon be going to a Las Vegas public school.

I stayed at Ronnie's until it was time for dinner, then my father yelled my name from the doorstep of his house, knowing I could hear him. Jacky and I both stood up at the same time, both deciding to leave and be home for dinner, I assumed. We both said goodbye to Ronnie and walked out of his room. This time I stopped Jacky before he could stop me from introducing myself to Ronnie's father. There was a younger boy sitting on the couch too, and I waved at them.

"I'm Airea, the new neighbor," I said awkwardly, "My Dad bought Ronnie and I a dog, I hope that's okay..." I trailed off, wringing my hands.

The younger boy popped up. "Ronnie has a dog?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I can't keep him at my house because my step-brother is allergic but Ronnie said it'd be okay if Charming stayed here. If not, I mean, I guess I can beg until we get Decklan some allergy pills but I took Ronnie's word for it. I guess I should've asked you first, I'm sorry. I'll just go get Charming and take him home. I didn't mean to impose. How rude of me," I rambled, feeling panic set in as nobody stopped me. I wanted the neighbors to like me, especially since his son was like my only friend.

When I looked up from the floor, where my gaze had drifted to during my speech, I noticed that the boy was chuckling at me and the older man had a smile on his face. I stopped talking and looked at them with confusion in my eyes as Jacky stood next to me, a small smile on his lips.

"I'm Russel," Ronnie's father greeted, a smile on his face, "This is Riley, Ronnie's younger brother and Brad is around here some where." Ronald waved his hand towards the hallway.

I nodded and said, "I'm Airea Tollefson."

'Russel' nodded once. "You're Tom's daughter."

I nodded too. "Yes sir."

Russel laughed and stood up from the couch. "Just call me Russel." He turned and walked into their kitchen, "Are you staying for dinner, Airea, Jacky?"

"No," Jacky and I said at the same time, taking a few steps in that direction. I looked at him and chuckled as he smiled and motioned for me to continue talking. So I did. "My father wants me home for dinner. Plus, I think they'll make me take a shower or something if I smell like dog too much."

Russel chuckled as did Riley. Riley wandered over to me and smiled, standing a few feet in front of me. "Are you dating Ronnie?" he questioned, causing me to choke on my own saliva. In my "past life" nobody would've ever assumed that a guy like Ronnie and a girl like me would ever even be in the same room let alone be dating. This was something I'd have to get used to.

"No," I told Riley lightly, "I'm not dating your brother."

Riley nodded once with a thoughtful look on his face and then he looked to me. He was about my height so I was guessing that he couldn't be much younger than Ronnie, maybe a few months or a year at most. Riley grinned at me and took a step closer. I eyed him as he got even closer with a silly smile on his face. "So," he murmured, "Would you want to go out with me sometime?" He looked up to me with the same chocolate eyes that were in Ronnie's skull.

I stuttered for a moment as Riley waited for an answer, oblivious to my discomfort. I looked to Jacky with pleading blue eyes. My eyes were a darker color blue than Jacky's, whose were almost a grey color. Jacky just laughed at my plea for help and then after a minute I stepped a little bit closer to Jacky. I reached blindly and grabbed his hand, slipping my fingers in between his cautious ones. I looked into his eyes for a moment and saw the confusion, I silently begged him to go with it for a moment, then I turned to Riley, hoping that Jacky wouldn't blow my cover.

"I can't," I frowned at Riley, "I already have a boyfriend."

Riley was already looking at our connected hands. He went from standing up straight to slouching his shoulders. "You're dating Jacky?"

I smiled at Jacky, feeling his fingers tighten around mine, and then I nodded. "Yeah. Sorry."

Riley eyed the two of us for a moment. "I didn't think you had it in you, Vincent," Riley said after a few moments, "You're always so god-damn quiet, I thought maybe you were into my brother or something."

My jaw dropped as Jacky coughed awkwardly. I collected myself and held onto Jacky's hand tighter, standing up straighter. "He is not!" I claimed, pushing Riley with my free hand.

Riley laughed as Jacky stood there, not saying anything, like usual. I smiled at Jacky and rested my head against his shoulder. "We're gonna go," I told Riley, pulling Jacky's hand, "I'm late for dinner."

Riley nodded. "I'll see you around, Airea."

I waved with my free hand and pulled Jacky out of the front door. I smiled up at him but didn't release his hand, knowing that Riley was probably watching, forming a crush or something like that. "Can I walk you home?" I asked, standing in the yard and wrapping my arms around his thin waist, so that our hips were touching.

Jacky glanced at the way I was holding onto him uncomfortably and I pulled back automatically, forgetting that people around here weren't as touchy-feely with their friends, especially ones they'd only known a few days. "I'm sorry, Jacky. I didn't mean-"

"It's okay," Jacky cut me off, offering a smile.

I smiled back at him as he reached and took my left hand in his right. He started walking in the opposite direction of my house so I assumed that he was going to let me walk home with him. When we were a few houses down from Ronnie's, Jacky spoke. "You're different, you know."

I looked up to him, shocked that he was actually talking to me. He usually was so quiet, answering with few word answers and shakes or nods of his head. I realized that I probably should reply to him. "I-. How?" I asked, looking up to him.

Jacky shrugged.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Oh no, Vincent, now you have to answer."

Jacky looked down to me and smiled. Then he nodded. I could tell that he was thinking about his answer so I gave him a minute. "The girls around here," he started, "They aren't as happy as you seem."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, feeling as his fingers started to tap patterns on the back of my hand, subconsciously.

Jacky sighed but tried to explain himself the best he could. "They always want to be the prettiest, or the coolest, you know?"

I nodded.

Jacky continued, "You're not like that," he told me, "You just want to be happy."

I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "Doesn't everyone?"

He nodded once, causing me to smile.

"But you're not like the boys where I'm from either," I stated, causing him to frown and his eyebrows to bunch together.

"Why not?" he asked, looking slightly disappointed.

My eyes grew wide and I grabbed onto his arm. "It's not a bad thing," I stated quickly, "All the boys at my old school want is to get closer to me so that maybe they can get in my pants. Boys are so ignorant, you know. The boys at Westlake act like they've never seen a girl before and they stumble over each other trying to impress the girl that they, and 50 other boys, want. They're all so loud and pompous acting. You're so calm and quiet," I stated, a little smile on my lips, "It's different."

Jacky was still frowning when I looked up to him. After a moment asked, "Bad?" while looking down to me.

A smile crept onto my lips as I shook my head. "No," I stated, getting a better grasp on his hand, "Just the opposite."