Chapter 8: Home Alone. Well, not really...

Everyone knows there's good things & bad things about being sick. The good is that you miss school, have the day to yourself & you're home alone. The bad parts are that there's nothing on tv, you can't talk to friends & frankly...you're sick.

And today, I was sick. I had a migraine & the night before I had thrown up a lot. Chris tried to fake being sick, mostly because whenevr he was sick, they usually fell for it. But this time, mom caught him trying to touch his uvula with his finger to force himself to puke. So he got sent off to school.

For the whole day, I planned on just watching tv, going on my Facebook & MySpace, sleeping & eating a bunch of Cheese Doodles.

After a few hours of watching I Love Lucy, I got up to change into some other pajamas. These ones were getting a bit small.

So I went into my room, got out a loose fitting shirt & threw it on over my head. Just as I did, I heard something coming from the living room. It was the stupid family pictures that kept falling over from the wind that was blowing through the windows. I was burning up, so I had opened it. Four times already they had fallen over. I found some Sox pajama bottoms & slipped them on.

I went back out to the living room to where my show was paused. I looked for the fallen picture frame. It was still on the table. That was weird.

"HEY!"

I must have jumped a million feet into the air. I turned around quickly & stared at whatever the hell almost put me into cardiac arrest.

"Travis?! What are you doing here? You scared the crap out of me!"

"I wanted to spend the day with you" he beamed.

"How'd you know I was sick anyway?"

"Well you weren't in school so I figured I'd come home & see if you were here. And here you are."

"You can't just leave school, can you?"

"I'm an A, B student, I don't think one day of school missed will kill me."

"How'd you get in here anyway?"

"I opened the door & came in, how do you think?"

"Travis, I love you & all, but I'm just not feelin' up to visitors today. Sorry babe."

"I'm not leaving & you can't make me" he snickered.

I sighed.

"Fine, you can stay. But we're not fooling around, I don't feel good. And since I've been throwing up & feeling faint, you're gonna have to help me throughout the day, ok?"

"You got it."

"Even though I might throw up sometimes..."

"Yup."

"All that gross...nasty barf..." I was trying to make him see that he didn't need to stay.

"Yeah I know. Don't worry."

I looked at him. Wow, he really cared about me. I smiled softly.

"Thanks."

Claiming that being from Oklahoma made boys sick-proof, Travis stated that he hadn't been sick even once in almost four years. That being said, I curled up to him on the couch while we watched I Love Lucy, Will & Grace & a few other shows that were being shown.

After watching a paper view horror movie, all the gore & blood got to me. Now I wasn't a wuss at all when it came to that stuff. But this made me feel queasy this time & told Travis I had to go. He was kind enough to help me to the bathroom.

My fever was also making me feel uncomfortable. I told him I needed to step outside so I could cool down, but he told me that being out in the cold in only pajamas wasn't the most brilliant idea. Ugh. The bad definitely outweighed the good when it came to being home from school.

I guess nobody ever complained about Travis leaving, considering there were no callers later on in the day when everyone was home & Travis told my folks that he had come over to help out. After that, he let himself out, but not before giving me a quick kiss when no one was looking.

**********

I felt a lot better the next day. Unfortunately, I felt good enough to head back to school.

"Hey Connor. Were you sick yesterday?" asked a lot of people. I told them I was & most of them hoped I was better. Some people couldn't have cared less, but were just curious.

Travis got a 'special note' to help go to all my classes with me to make sure that I would be all right.

As we started walking home, a conversation started.

"So how ya feelin' Conn?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I told you a million times today, I feel perfect. I'm not sick anymore."

"Well when we get to my house, you just go & take a nap or somethin'. That ok?"

No, it wasn't.

"Travis, I appreciate everything you've done for me, really. But I can take care of myself. I'm not a little kid anymore. But thank you."

"It's no problem dude, I'm happy to help. You're sick & I feel like I should try to do something about it."

"Yeah but you can't. And plus, I'm not sick."

"Connor I can at least try, can't I?"

I only looked at him for a moment.

"No."

He raised an eyebrow, wondering why I was refusing to get help, which I didn't need.

"Travis, I'm a big boy. And I can take care of myself. If I really need you, I'll call or IM or text or something, but other than that, I'm fine, really."

"And..."

We looked at each other.

"Lately Travis, you've been acting like we're a much older couple plannig everything in our future. We're still kids Travis, & there's still a lot of things that will affect our futures. I love you. But I still can't tell if I'm actually IN love with you..." I said, killing a little of me on the inside to say that.

He didn't say anything for a little while. Neither of us did.

I hoped that I hadn't just stabbed him in the heart by saying that, that I loved him, but might not have bee IN love with him. I imagined myself on the other side of hearing. It must have hurt. But knowing Travis, anything went.

"You're right" he said after a while.

"You mad?"

"I was at first. But now that I think of it, I feel the same way. I mean, you're right, we've only been together for several months & for all we know, this could be nothing more than just teen lust, right?"

"Yeah."

"I hope it's not though."

I thought for a moment. I didn't want to lie, but I did want to be realistic.

"I hope it's real too" I replied.

We walked until we reached his house first.

"So I guess if you can take care of yourself, I'll let you go & I can go do whatever I guess" he said as he started walking up the stairs to his apartment building.

I laughed.

"Hey, just 'cause I said I can take care of myself doesn't mean I don't want your company."

"Ahh, so now you admit you need me?" he said with a grin.

"No, but I want you. Maybe in more ways than one" I whispered.

"Ooh la la" he laughed.

We started walking again, this time, back to my house.

When we finally got there, we opened up the door & immediately started throwing ourselves all over each other. We closed the door so nobody saw us. We made our way over to the couch, me on top of him. I sprang my hands to his belt & started to unhook it while he ran his hands over my chest underneath my shirt.

"Guys?"

We stopped instantly. We turned our heads to the person sitting in the chair reading a book.

"What are you doing home early?" I asked.

"We had an early release day..." Chris said back. He still looked shocked about what he had seen. Well...ALMOST seen.

"Oh" Travis & I said. We slowly got off each other & fixed ourselves up. We had no clue what to do now. Regular teens being caught having sex by their parents is one thing. But almost being seen by your 11 year old brother when you're about to subconsciously have gay sex right in front of him...well that's a whole other matter.

"Is that what you guys do everyday when you get home?" he asked flatly. I couldn't believe he wasn't more shocked. I would've been surprised & maybe even a little bit grossed out, but he wasn't.

"Well...I think that's kind of a personal thing Chris" I told him.

"So that's a yes?"

I grunted.

"Fine, yeah. It's a yes. We don't do it every day, but a lot."

He nodded his head.

"Would you guys have done it if I had said 'guys'?"

Travis & I looked at each other. Realistically, probably.

"Well, I don't know. But thankfully, you spoke up before we scarred you. Now go do your homework."

"...I am. Well, I was. But then my big brother almost scarred me by having sex with..."

"LEAVE Chris" I said firmly.

"Aww man" he said in that typical kids voice as he got his stuff & left the room. He headed towards his room, leaving Travis & I alone in the living room.

"See? If you were sick, we'd be at my house, not having sex in front of your brother" he sneered.

"Oh shut up" I laughed, jabbing him in the arm.