The Cursed Son and the Hand-Holder

Kenneth was no role model. He started smoking when he was only sixteen, behind his parents’ backs, of course. He wasn’t proud of it; slowly killing himself and lying to the people who had raised him. But, you know, with time those things stop meaning much. Who cares if you die a bit younger than you should? Who cares if you lie a few times? In the end, everyone lies, so it’s not like it matters.
Kenneth absent-mindedly lifted his arm from the mahogany desk and pressed the cigarette to his lips, taking a deep breath before pulling it out again. He shaped his mouth into an “O” and blew out three thick smoke rings that lasted a few seconds before dissolving into ghostly gray air.
“I’m telling you, Ross,” he said, quite pleased at his accomplishment. He had been practicing that for weeks and it was finally starting to work. He crossed the room as he spoke, finally sitting in a bean bag next to the king-sized bed. “This new girl of yours is no good.”
Kenneth was, as usual, in Aidan Ross’s apartment. The light streaming from the half-covered windows announced a light, warm morning, and invited them outside, but Aidan had the day off from work and decided he’d stay in.
Ross was a couple of years older than Kenneth, with curly brown locks that looked auburn in the bright sun, and pretty, tiny, blue eyes that sparkled whenever he smiled. He was handsome, to say the least; and all that, added to his charming personality, made him the talk of the town and it’s most prized possession.
Aidan lifted his gaze to meet O’Hara’s. “And why is that?” he asked, shifting on the bed and rested on his left side to get a better view of the younger boy.
“I think she’s gonna leave you too.”
“You don’t even know her yet, you moron,” Aidan protested.
Kenneth shrugged and stared at the ceiling. He was aware that he didn’t know the girl yet-- but they always left Aidan. He wasn’t sure why; Ross was a great person: always kind and selfless, and most of all, he always had his back.
“You’re meeting her tonight, though. And cooking dinner.”
The younger boy remained silent for a bit longer, perhaps still thinking about the other one, before finally speaking.
“What’s her name, again?”
“Kiara.”
A light smirk appeared on Kenneth’s face.
“I used to have a dog named Kiara.”
Aidan lifted his body from the bed and threw a pillow at his friend. “Fuck you.”
“Just kidding. Never had a dog, mom’s scared shit-less of them.”
Ross rolled his eyes and stood up, heading for the door.
“Where you going?”
“I’m having a shower.”
Kenneth let out a muffled sound that resembled an “okay”, and for a while stared at the place where Aidan was, until he realized he was no longer there.
He threw himself on the bed and shut his eyes. Joining Aidan in the shower-- that would be interesting. He burst out laughing. Where did he even get that idea from?


When the doorbell rang, Aidan was sprawled on the couch, his eyes fixed on a reality show playing in his television and his mind somewhere else. He quickly stood up and straightened his v-neck green sweater, flipping his hair as he made his way to the door so that his brown locks wouldn’t restrain his vision.
On the other side of the red door stood a dark-skinned girl, with straight black hair down to the middle of her back and a big, beautiful smile. She greeted Ross with a quick “hi” and a peck on the lips and entered the apartment without an invitation.
“Three plates?” the girl asked. Aidan didn’t have a chance to answer. “Oh, right. That friend of yours, he’s having dinner with us, isn’t it?”
Aidan stepped closer to her and put both is arms around her waist.
“Yeah, he is. I’ll ask him to fuck off later,” he explained, slowly closing the almost nonexistent space between them.
At that moment, the sound of heavy coughing came from the kitchen division. Both Aidan and his girlfriend looked over, only to see a dark-haired boy leaning against it, with a smirk on his lips that quickly transformed into a nice grin. He walked over to the couple and reached out a hand.
“Hi, I’m Kenneth. You must be Kiara.”
“Yeah, that’s me,” she smiled back.
“Wanna hear something funny?” No one protested --even though Aidan showed a certain will to do so--, so he carried on. “I used to have a bitch named Kiara.”
The girl’s smile quickly faded and Kenneth could swear Aidan’s eyeballs were gonna pop out at any moment. He couldn’t figure out why, so he carried on.
“She was a cute puppy, don’t look so shocked.” He faced the opposite wall and carried on, a bit nostalgic. “I kind of miss her though. Died of poisoning when I was ten. Mom always said she wouldn’t make it until my fifteenth birthday. Guess she was right.” Suddenly, he snapped out of it and put on a charming smile. “Either way, it’s nice to meet you, Kiara.”
Kiara smiled, yet again, and thought that Kenneth was the most absurd person she had ever met. However, throughout the night, Kiara changed her mind about it, and even began to wonder if she had chosen the right guy.
Kenneth’s ever-constant grin lit up the living room and he was truly charming when he wanted to-- even more than Aidan. His wavy dark hair kept covering his amber eyes, and he constantly pulled his hair back to uncover them. Kiara had noticed, as soon as she’d seen him, that he was much more handsome than her date, but only now did she start to realize how alluring he really was.
“Wait, you cooked this?” She looked surprised, as Kenneth merely nodded. “Aidan, I think I chose the wrong guy.”
Both Kiara and Kenneth burst out laughing; Aidan smiled, but he wasn’t nearly as amused. As usual, his friend was right-- she was gonna leave him too.
“Oh, don’t take it the wrong way, babe,” Kiara let out, torn between frustration and amusement. “We’re just joking.”
She gave him a small peck on the lips to prove her point. It wasn’t very effective.


It was past midnight when Kiara finally left Aidan’s apartment. They had spent forever talking on the dinner table, when Kenneth remembered that there was a Dr. House marathon that night and he was supposed to be watching it. And Kiara giggled of happiness, a giggle the boys found extremely annoying and heard way too many times, as she was a huge fan too; so the three ended up on the couch watching the five episodes, with Aidan almost falling asleep and the other two completely enthralled by Hugh Laurie’s acting.
In the end, Kiara left the apartment, complaining about a headache, but would definitely make it up to Aidan. He just kissed her goodbye and waited until she was gone to, at last, talk to his best friend.
Kenneth was sprawled on the couch; just like he himself had been a few hours ago.
“You never had a fucking dog.”
“What?”
“You know what I’m talking about, you dick,” Aidan shouted.
Kenneth looked quite innocent, but gave his facade up in about three seconds. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Alright. I was testing her, seeing if she was smart. She’s not dumb, but she’s no Brainiac either. And that giggle? That’s torture, man. She should interrogate murderers and threaten to giggle at them until they confess. At least she’d be useful.” He analyzed his friend’s expression, and then decided it was safe to proceed. Aidan was a bit enraged, but he definitely didn’t seem willing to intervene in defense of Kiara. “Either way, like I said... she’s gonna leave you.”
Aidan was ready to spit something at him, but instead he chose to bite his lip and sit next to him on the couch. As silence settled, Kenneth focused on finding out what was on at that time of the night.
“How do you do that?” Kenneth looked away from the TV and searched for his friend’s beautiful blue eyes.
“Do what?”
“You know. Whenever I bring home a girlfriend, you suddenly turn into Brad-fucking-Pitt, charm the shit out of her and she just... leaves me.”
Kenneth looked away from his friend and focused on the Glee episode that was playing. Suddenly, he felt like he had never paid enough attention to that brunette girl’s clothes and they were truly interesting. Very vintage. Also, very out of his grandma’s closet; and her sisters’ box of clothes from when they were five. He could feel Aidan’s gaze on him. The girl had a rather big nose, didn’t she? And an annoyingly high-pitched voice, too.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to.”
“It’s okay.”
Aidan’s hand patted his leg, and he knew it was code for ‘move over’, so he found a comfortable position to lie in. Soon, Aidan was laying behind him, head resting on his hand, elbow resting on one of the couch’s pillows.
“Are we gonna watch Glee all night or are you gonna look for something decent?”
Kenneth let out a muffled laugh and changed the channel.