aterovis_bleedinghearts.pm6 (19 page)

Jake thought for a moment then made up his mind,

“Yeah, sure. Can I ask you one more question, though?”

I was hesitant but I agreed.

He again leaned in and lowered his voice even more,

“Do you think Seth was really killed in a mugging? I mean, you were there, but that seems unlikely to me.”

I was so shocked that for a minute I couldn’t even say anything. At last I was able to ask, “What do you mean?”

“Just that it seems strange that the only openly gay student at our high school gets mugged and killed two weeks after school starts. Call me suspicious, but that sounds fishy to me.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I wondered for a second if I was being set up, red flags were going up everywhere. I remembered Judy’s words, ‘Watch your step carefully,’ she had said. I decided that this was very good advice for this situation.

“Why does it matter to you?” I asked cautiously.

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He looked around again. Why did he seem so para-noid? “We’ll talk about it later, okay? When do you want to meet?”

“How about after school? You can meet me at my car. You know what I drive right?”

“A black Beetle, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Todd parked next to it this morning. I’ll meet you there, but wait for me; I have to talk to Mr. Johnson after school for a few minutes about an assignment that’s late. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay,” I said, “See you then.”

Gilly and I were leaning against my car talking after school, Gilly waiting for Todd and me waiting for Jake.

Neither of us had mentioned the kiss from the night before. We were studiously avoiding that topic. People were still straggling out but most of the cars were gone from the student parking lot by now.

“So how for real is your Aunt Judy?” I asked.

“Who knows? Why? Did she get to you last night while I was gone?” Gilly asked as she tucked a flyaway strand of blonde hair behind her ear. I nodded and she went on, “We don’t really take her all that seriously, but there have been some eerie coincidences.”

“Like what?”

“Well, by far the freakiest thing that ever happened was last Christmas. She told Uncle Rick that he was soon going to be alone and that’s why she bought him a puppy. Uncle Rick was mad because Elliott, his partner, was allergic to dogs and they’d been together for a long time. A week after Christmas, Elliott died in a car accident. Uncle Rick still has the dog; he named it Enigma.”

I felt the hairs on my arms stand up again. “So is she like a psychic or something?” I asked.

Gilly laughed, “Don’t let her hear you say that. She 164

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gets so mad when somebody calls her psychic, even if they’re just joking. She says for the most part she just sees stuff that other people miss, that she’s just more sensitive. The rest, she says, comes from God. Its not like she’s an operator for one of those cheesy 900 numbers. Why? What did she say to you?”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“When did she talk to you, anyway?”

“While you were inside.”

“Her and Todd both?”

“Well, Judy when you went in the first time and Todd the second.”

“Why is my family stalking you?”

We both laughed as Jake came running up to us.

“Speaking of stalkers, “ I laughed, “here comes another one.”

“What? Why am I a stalker?” Jake asked, confused.

Todd walked up just then. “Because you’re a creepy little psycho,” he said with a grin as he ruffled Jake’s hair.

“Knock it off, Todd, or I’ll tell everyone about the magazines under your bed,” Jake said good-naturedly.

Todd shot him a strange look, as if he wasn’t sure if he was serious or not, but apparently decided he wasn’t.

“Are you two goobers ready?” he asked.

“I’m going to go home with Killian and then he’ll drive me home,” Jake said as he shifted his backpack from one shoulder to the other.

Gilly gave me a surprised look, which I’m sure I returned in kind. Todd gave me a look I couldn’t quite identify, then shrugged and said, “Suit yourself. Gilly, you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” she said slowly and with a lingering look at me got in the car. After they had driven off and Jake and I were in my car, I asked him, “So, where to?”

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“Wherever, somewhere we can talk in private and not be overheard,” he said.

“What’s all this cloak-and-dagger stuff about, Jake?”

I asked him as I started the car and pulled out.

“I just need to talk to you about some stuff and I don’t want to be heard.”

“What stuff? About Seth?”

“Partly.”

“Jake, we’re in a moving car; as far as I know there is no one in the back seat, I think it’s safe to talk.”

“Okay. It’s just that this isn’t easy for me. I’ve never told anybody this before.”

“Told anybody what?” I shouted in exasperation.

“I’m gay!” he shouted back.

I almost drove off the road. Once I had the car back under control, I looked over at him. He sat slumped in the seat, staring at his hands in his lap.

“It’s okay, Jake,” I said softly, “I’m not going to hate you or anything.”

He looked up hopefully. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. You know why?”

“Why?”

“I’m gay too.”

His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened in surprise. “Wha...?” I couldn’t help but laugh at his expression. “I mean I wondered...but what about Gilly?”

“Gilly and I are just friends.”

“But...but...you told everybody that you are going out.” His face was a study in confusion.

“It’s kind of like a cover; so that no one knows I’m gay for right now. I think more people will talk to me about Seth if they don’t know I’m gay. Not that I’m ashamed of it or anything. I was at first, I guess, like it was something I needed to hide, but Adam has taught me that it’s just a part of who I am, like being left- or right-handed.”

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“Adam?”

“Adam is Seth’s dad.”

“You live with him now, right? Were you and Seth...?”

“We were just friends.”

“And you think that something happened besides a mugging too? I mean, why else would you want to talk to people about Seth without them knowing you are gay?”

“Ya know what? You’re a lot smarter than you let on,” I told him.

“I’m not sure if should take that as a compliment or not,” he said with an adorable grin. I noticed he had a dimple and almost ran off the road again.

“Take it as a compliment,” I said as I blushed. I could tell he was still grinning even without looking at him.

“I’ll do that, on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“That you’ll keep your eyes on the road while you’re driving.”

I burst out laughing and he quickly joined in. All of a sudden I realized that without having a clear destina-tion in mind I had been driving on autopilot and now I found myself at home.

“Well, this is where I live now,” I said as I pulled into the driveway, “I didn’t really mean to come here, it’s just where we ended up, but since we’re here, you wanna come in for a few minutes?”

“Sure, why not?” he said. He flashed me another one of those killer smiles and I felt like I was melting.

We went in and I made introductions. After Adam went back to work on his computer, Jake and I wandered up to my room to talk. After we were settled at opposite ends of the bed, I started back into our earlier conversation.

“So you think Seth was murdered?” I asked him.

“Well, yeah, I mean, it’s the only thing that makes 167

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sense to me. I just don’t understand why the police aren’t doing more.”

“Well, we think it was more than just a mugging too.

Adam thinks that maybe the police are purposefully ignoring important information.”

“Like what?”

“There were letters, in Seth’s locker. The police dismissed them, but we think that means that the killer has to go to our school. Or at least has a contact there that must know something. Did you have any classes with Seth?”

“No, but I saw him a lot in the halls and stuff.”

“Did you ever see him with anyone?”

“Mostly just you.”

“Anybody else?”

He thought for a minute then spoke slowly as if he was carefully considering each word, “This is hard. Not just hard to remember who I saw him with, but I also feel like I’m casting suspicion on anyone I name. But anyway, I saw him with Zack, Jesse, and Asher once; another time I saw him with just Asher. I saw him with Becky Rosinski. And I think I saw him with my cousin Marcus once.” He hesitated for a moment before continuing on quickly, “And I saw him with a few different people I don’t really know but none of them looked like they were really ‘with him’ with him, maybe just talking to him after class, you know.”

I started to ask him about the hesitation, but decided not to right now. It bothered me that Asher had talked to him twice. He never told me that. Could that be what he was hiding? Or was there more? I pulled my mind away from that line of thought and forced it back onto the present conversation.

“Did he look angry or scared or uncomfortable with any of them?”

Once again, he thought for a moment before answer-168

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ing. “It’s hard to say; maybe so with Zack, Jesse, and Asher, and when it was just Asher. Not really with Becky. I couldn’t tell with Marcus ‘cuz I just saw them from behind.”

“What about the others?”

“I’m not sure.” His eyes flickered away and again I had the distinct impression that he wasn’t telling me everything. This time I decided to not ignore it.

“You have to tell me everything, Jake,” I told him gently.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, whatever it is you’re not telling me. I can tell you are trying to protect someone or something, but this is really important. I need to talk to everyone who had anything to do with Seth, because even if they didn’t kill him they might know something, maybe even something they don’t even know that they know.”

He sat there for a few minutes before he finally seemed to make up his mind. “Look, Killian...there is another person that I saw him talking to, but let me talk to that person first please. Don’t push it right now.”

“Why are you protecting this person? What if they are the one that killed Seth?”

“I just can’t believe that about them. Please, just give me a chance to talk to them first.”

“Okay,” I gave in with a sigh.

His whole face lit up with that smile as he impulsively jumped across the bed and tackled me. We wrestled on the bed for a few minutes before he finally got the advantage. He had my body pinned with his and my arms held down to the bed above my head. His face was just inches from mine when our eyes locked and we both froze. We stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity before he suddenly leaped back.

“I’m sorry,” he said sounding slightly out of breath even though I knew we hadn’t wrestled that hard.

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“For what?”

He seemed at a lost for words, so I took pity on him and got up off the bed. “Never mind,” I called over my shoulder as I turned on the computer.

“Hey, Killian,” he said, “Can I ask you a question?

You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Well, that certainly piqued my curiosity. “Sure, ask me anything.”

“Do you...like anybody?”

“Like how?” I asked him, even though I knew what he was asking; I just wanted to hear him say it.

“Like as in...are you attracted to anyone?” He blushed a furious red and I couldn’t help but smile, so I quickly turned back to the computer so he wouldn’t think I was laughing at him.

“Yes,” I said simply.

“Can I ask who?” came his timid reply.

“Sure you can ask, doesn’t mean I’ll tell you, though,”

I was enjoying this way too much.

“Why not? Don’t you trust me?” I could tell that this was serious question for him and I realized that I wasn’t being very sensitive. I left the computer trying to log on to AOL and walked back over to the bed. I sat down next to him and looked directly into his eyes.

“Yes, I trust you, Jake. You seem to be a very honest person and I really like spending time with you. I hope we can be friends, but I’m not quite ready to talk about who I’m attracted to. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I think so,” he said, “I should be getting home.

Do you think you can drive me home now?”

I felt awful. I could tell I’d disappointed him, but what could I do? Tell him I was attracted to both him and his cousin?

“Yeah, sure.”

Just then I heard a familiar voice say “Welcome.”

“You’re online,” Jake said with a small smile.

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“Yup, sounds that way,” I laughed.

“You’ve got mail,” the voice continued.

“Let me shut this down and we can go,” I told Jake.

“No, go ahead and check your mail since you’re on. I can wait a few more minutes.”

“Okay, thanks.”

There wasn’t anything of any importance except a short letter from Kane saying that nothing had changed, but at least Eve hadn’t hit him again. I shut down the computer and I drove Jake home. We made small talk during the ride and he thanked me a dozen times for talking to him and giving him a ride before he got out of the car.

I was pulling out of the driveway, which had two enormous bushes on either side of it, when Aunt Judy stepped out in front of my car. I slammed on the brakes and managed to stop just short of hitting her. I was very glad I hadn’t been going any faster. My heart was pounding in my chest as I went to open the car door, but she motioned me to stay where I was. She walked around and climbed into the passenger seat. Today she was wearing her hair loose and flowing, and it hung down almost to her waist. Her face was deathly pale and she was wearing a black loose-fitting dress that swept the ground as she walked. Her nails, which had been bright red the night before, were now painted black. All in all, she looked rather like a red-haired Morticia Adams.

“Do you always have to jump out of shrubbery? I could have hit you!” I accused her angrily once she was in.“But you didn’t,” she said calmly, “I needed to speak to you in private.”