You Taught Me to Fly - Book cover

You Taught Me to Fly

T.E. Dowling

Chapter Four

The next day, Saturday, November tenth, I woke up at nine, as I usually do. By nine-thirty, I was downstairs, ready and anxious as hell.

Dave was nowhere to be found. My parents were at work. It was just me and Autumn. I noticed right away that she’d been crying, so I rushed over to her.

“Sis?!”

She fell into my arms, shaking.

“What happened?!” I asked.

“Dave and I had a fight about your secret.”

“He yelled at you?!” I couldn’t believe my brother would’ve ever yelled at our little sister. What the hell was wrong with him?!

“I deserved it.”

I gasped, horrified.

“No! Autumn! Sweet baby girl! That’s bullshit! God, I’ve been so selfish.”

This wouldn’t have happened if I’d told Dave when I told her. “I’m so sorry I put this on you.” I hugged her tightly.

“Luke. I’m okay. Stop it. Oh, and mom and dad overheard part of it, but I’m pretty sure they still don’t know.

“I mean, we didn’t say the words out loud, but we both knew what we were fighting about."

“That doesn’t matter now,” I said, my voice muffled by her hair, “but thank you.” I was seriously pissed at Dave.

If he was going to take it out on anyone, it should’ve been me, and by God, he and I were going to hash this out one way or another.

He was not going to get to me through our sister. She was not going to be collateral damage! God, why hadn’t I just told him? What had I been so fucking scared of?

This, a voice answered for me.

Autumn pushed away from me then.

“Don’t you have a date to get to?”

Just then, my phone beeped, signaling a text message.

My heart fluttered as I pulled it out of my pocket, too distracted to remind her that it wasn’t a date, just two guys hanging out.

My heart leapt seeing the confirmation text from Elijah.

Meet at park, ten-thirty, right? I had asked.

Yes. By the Gardens.

Gotcha. See you soon!

See you, too!

Autumn was smiling.

“What?” I asked her as I put my phone back in my pocket.

“You’re smiling, you big softie.”

I realized she was right.

“Shut up,” I told her, pulling her into another hug. “I’m gonna talk to Dave when I get home, though, about how he treated you.

This needs to be resolved and he’s going to fucking apologize.”

“I’m okay, Luke. I was just surprised.”

I kissed her hair. “Well, I’m making you breakfast, anyway. What do you want?”

She chose pancakes and eggs.

At ten-twenty, I arrived at the park and headed over to the Gardens. I won’t lie, I half expected him to stand me up.

I half expected this to be a joke, even though I knew better than to think that of Elijah. He, of all people, deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Being popular didn’t mean he was a jerk. He’d been nice at rehearsal and the dance, and he’d never given me any trouble.

To my utter delight, when I reached our meeting spot, he was already waiting for me on one of the benches near the pathway that led to the gardens.

He looked up as he sensed my presence and didn’t hide his smile. God, he was so beautiful.

Luke, I warned myself.

“Hey,” I greeted him, aware that I was smiling back. I mean, how could I not smile when he did?

The world seemed to light up when he smiled, because the joy always reached his eyes. I added: “I see you had the same ‘get-there-early’ idea as I did.”

“I always worry about being late,” he replied, “what with traffic and all, so I always aim to be early.”

“Great minds think alike, huh?”

If he was offended by my compliment (because it compared him to me) he sure as hell didn’t show it. His smile returned full force, and I found myself smiling just as widely.

“You’re quite the charmer when you want to be, Luke.” There went the butterflies in my stomach. “Thank you. So,” he reached into the backpack he’d brought, and pulled out two scripts.

I was surprised.

“Here?” I asked. But there were…people.

He nodded. Then, as if reading my mind: “You’d be surprised how little people pay attention here.”

I took one of the scripts he offered, acutely aware when my fingers brushed his.

Our eyes met and for a split second I thought I saw interest in those baby blues, but as I looked away, down at the script in my hands, I convinced myself I was imagining things.

Why would someone like him ever be interested in someone like me? This wasn't a date, this was...what, a rendezvous? A meeting?

It didn't have romantic implications, is what I'm saying. Though my brain sure as hell wished it did.

“Where would you like to start today?” I asked him.

“I want you to tell me.”

I looked up, surprised again. “What?”

“You remember yesterday afternoon, right? When we practiced then?”

I nodded. Of course I remembered. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it…and maybe even...daydreaming...about it...Ahem.

“So I want you to challenge me.”

I swallowed hard at that. Challenge him? But what if I pi—

“You won’t hurt my feelings, I won’t get pissed off. This is all helping me. Think you’re up for it, Luke?”

Oh, I just loved the way it sounded when he said my name. I realized that if I wasn’t careful, this crush could get much worse, turning into something much harder to shake off.

“I’m nervous, but I’ll try my best.”

Elijah smiled a little. “You’re going to do great. So. Hit me with it.”

“Okay, so I noticed that you had a bit of a tough time with scene three, but it was really scene nine where you struggled the most.

“I’m not sure if it was because it was late and you were tired, or if it was because I can’t act but—” I stopped mid-sentence when he raised his hand.

“Luke,” there it was again, “I don’t need you to act. In fact, it’s better that you don’t, because it forces me to generate the emotions all on my own.”

Well, shit, now I just felt guilty.

He seemed to read my mind (again).

“No, it’s okay!” He giggled when I shot him a skeptical look (and that giggle stirred something within me that wasn't entirely unwelcome). “Really. It is. I like it.

“That’s why I asked you to help me today. You’re the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced in my acting career and I fucking love it.”

Hearing him swear for the first time sent my heart racing faster than I'd ever felt before, which led to the realization that my body was reacting in another way, at the worst possible moment.

I tried to distract him, even though…well…why would he be looking down there in the first place? Still…I was hyper-aware of my body at that moment.

After that, things went so smoothly that time just flew by. I had more fun today than I’d had yesterday.

There was something about the openness of our location; it made him more dramatic, louder, bolder.

I felt myself inching, bit by bit, towards that dangerous point of no return, and the closer I got, the more conflicted I became.

What I mean is, I wanted to fall in love with him. I’d never fallen in love before.

At the same time, I was pretty sure it’d be completely unrequited, and the pain I’d go through when I finally realized that he would never feel the same…

I didn’t want to feel that. I didn’t handle pain very well.

Around eleven-fifty or so, we suddenly heard yelling and the sound of running feet.

Looking up, I saw, to my surprise, that his friends were here, and they all looked angry. I didn’t have time to wonder why, because the next thing I noticed was just how close Elijah and I had gotten.

I quickly took a few steps back. As they reached us, one of them grabbed me, roughly pulling me further away from him.

“Dude, what the fuck are you doing?!” another one yelled at Elijah.

There were three others, not including the one yelling at Elijah, and the one holding me against my will.

Two of those three were heading my way, cracking their knuckles, while the third moved towards Elijah. So in total, there were five aggressors.

My arms were pulled behind me. I struggled against the hands holding me, which only made my captor tighten his grip.

I decided it was probably a good idea to stop struggling. As I’d hoped, his grip lessened to a bearable level.

“What the hell, guys?! Let him go!” Elijah demanded, but it was no use. The one that had moved towards him was successfully blocking his path to me.

“This will hurt a lot less if you don’t fight,” my captor whispered in my ear, “so please, fight.”

What the hell was happening?!

The one that had been yelling at Elijah, a tall guy, kind of bulky, with bright blonde hair and contrasting dark brown eyes, shot me a glare before answering Elijah's question.

"We heard about some lowlife hanging out with you, Eli, and when we found out who it was, we had to come rescue you. You're the king, dude! Top of the ladder!"

Then, the guy turned towards me, pure hatred burning in his eyes. "And you. How dare you try to ruin Eli's reputation! You're gonna fuckin' pay for that!"

“NO!” Elijah screamed, but it was too late.

Elijah's path remained blocked while the one that had spoken proceeded to punch me in the face, followed immediately by a punch to my stomach.

All the air rushed out of me, replaced by intense pain. The other two (who were not holding me or blocking Elijah) decided to join in.

Elijah loudly protested all of this, trying and failing to get past the friend blocking him.

Suddenly, there was a shrill whistle; I managed to look up in time to see the friend blocking him reflexively flinch away. Elijah pushed past.

“WOULD YOU STOP?!” He roared. He shoved everyone not holding me captive away from me, and then glared fiercely at the person behind me, who immediately let me go.

I fell to the ground, too weak to stand. Elijah dropped to one knee beside me, his hands gently resting on my arm and my back.

I was shaking pretty badly, but at least I wasn’t bleeding much. At least...I hoped I didn't have any internal injuries that I wasn't aware of.

My lip was split, and my nose was bleeding a little, but that was it. My stomach hurt the most, but I didn’t think any of the injuries were life-threatening.

With a look of fury I'd never seen on someone's face, Elijah turned to his friends.

I got the sense that this guy was not someone to piss off, as all his friends--now huddled together--looked nervous.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! He’s never done a goddamned thing to any of you!”

The one that had thrown the first punch, the blonde-haired guy who I assumed was the leader of the group, was the only one now looking confused by Elijah’s anger.

The other four seemed to have some common sense that this had not been the right course of action.

“His brother ran into us in town and told us where you were.”

Dave set this up?!

“Said he was hanging out here with you. You have a reputation to uphold at school, Elijah.

“Hanging out with scum would damage that. We just did what Zach would’ve done. Plus, he’s a faggot. We beat up faggots.”

I briefly wondered who Zach was.

Elijah slowly stood, so much anger coursing through his veins that now his hands were shaking.

“You seem to have forgotten, Andrew, that I’m also a ‘faggot’,” he did air quotes around the word, “So why the fuck haven’t you beaten me up?”

Andrew, the blond guy, stared blankly for a moment before he found his words.

“Well, you’re obviously the exception, given your popularity at school. That loser is at the bottom. He needed a lesson.”

Elijah stood still, his anger simmering, before he punched Andrew square in the face.

“Fuck you, Andrew!” He exploded. “If any of you care about me," he said, turning to the other four, "you’ll walk away right now!

“You’re going to stop picking on anyone who’s different from you! I honestly expected better from you! Jesus Christ. I can’t even right now!”

He gathered the scattered scripts, stuffed them into his bag, zipped it up, and slung it over his shoulder before he continued.

“And for the record, this meeting was my idea. Zach is wrong!

"I treat people as equals, because they’re human beings and they deserve at least that!”

He helped me up. “I don’t want to see any of you until Monday! I’m in charge of my life. NOT YOU! Remind Zach of that, too! And tell him he can go fuck himself.

“Oh, and if you spread the word that Luke is gay, I’ll come after each and every one of you, and I’ll make it hurt.

“I know all your worst fears, so think about that before you make your next move."

With his rant over, he helped me to our cars. I saw the problem. If he drove me home, as I think he planned, my car would be left here.

It seemed best to drive myself home. I felt pretty sure I could handle that. It wasn’t far.

“I can dr—”

“You’re not driving, Luke. I am. Give me your keys.”

Oh. He was going to drive me in my car? But then...

“What about your car?” His very nice car, I had to admit. I wasn’t sure exactly what model it was. I think it was a Dodge? Don't hold me to that.

“I’ll get it later.”

“But what if—”

“Luke, I’m sorry for being blunt, but shut the fuck up and get in the car.

“I’m taking you home, I’m cleaning you up, and you’re going to let me!” He let out a breath. “Please!"

Despite the pain that was becoming more noticeable, I also felt a pull towards him.

“Okay,” I said, chuckling softly. I was also amused, it seemed.

My laugh made him soften a bit; a small grin tugged at his lips, the emotion partially replacing the anger in his eyes.

“And stop laughing,” he muttered through the smile as he helped me into the car.

That only made me laugh more. I must have a concussion because he was right, none of this was actually funny.

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