The Journey
Chapter 10
By Sunshine Boy
The dream started the same as always, with Dan in the grassy field by the river. He was lying on his back in the soft grass completely naked. He looked up and right on queue, Sara Tibbs, the girl whom he'd had a crush on for a short time in grade 10, was standing at his feet looking down at him, also completely naked.
"Hey Dan." She whispered as she knelt down, her legs straddling his. She ran her hands up his chest.
"Hey." Dan grinned as she started planting kisses on his chest. He closed his eyes just for a moment and suddenly her mouth found his and he received the sweetest kiss, humming softly he opened his eyes, "AGH! SAM!" he shouted in horror at the face looking down at him.
"Shit!" Dan shouted and bolted up in bed.
"You okay?" Sam whispered.
"Yeah." Dan gasped.
"Are you sure? You called my name?"
"Yeah? Umm ...sorry. I just had a bad dream."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Umm...no, I'd rather not."
"Fair enough." Sam said, he was now sitting up in his sleeping bag and facing Dan but Dan could only see his silhouette in the faint light. "Are you sure you're alright?" Sam asked raising his hand as if to touch Dan then dropping it back to his side.
"Yeah. Sorry to wake you Sam, it's okay; I guess we all have nightmares, must just be homesickness or something. Goodnight." Dan said as he lay back down on his side with his back to Sam. He didn't go back to sleep, his heart and mind were racing. 'I called his name?!?! He was in my dream, what the hell!?!?' Dan's mind raced away for a few minutes then he stopped long enough to listen for sounds of sleep from the other side of the tent. As he listened he heard a soft sigh followed by slow regular breathing.
'Well at least it didn't bother him or he'd still be awake.' Dan thought. But Dan had no idea that at that moment, Sam was just as awake as he, and his mind was racing just as hard.
Gradually sleep started to assert itself over Dan's fitful mind. Next thing he knew he was ridding in Beau's car.
"Sup Dan?"
"Ummm...nothing." Dan looked out of his window not wanting to talk.
"Sure there is, you only ummm when your nervous about something. You gonna tell me?"
"I want to, but I'm scared." Dan said.
"Hang on a sec." Beau said as he shifted gears and flew the car over a motor home in front of them. "Why are you scared?"
"I'm just scared of what this means."
"You like Sam." Beau said calmly.
"Exactly!" Dan said half relieved and half shocked.
Suddenly Dan was sitting on the couch in his living room across from his mother. "Who's Sam?" She demanded.
"Ummm...I...I...don't know, he's like my best friend but I haven't known him long enough."
"You like him." She grinned wide but her smile was menacing not warm.
"No no...I care about him."
"What else?" Dan was on the grassy hill at school talking to Beau.
"When I talk to him, I get this tight feeling in my chest. It's like my stomach is really empty and my heart is burning...then when we make eye contact, sometimes I can't look away, and I can't think."
"And...?" Beau insisted.
"I had this dream."
"Ahhhh..." Beau said almost knowingly.
"No no...it's not like that Beau I don't..."
"You like him better than me." Sara Tibbs stood over him once more, "You think he is better."
"No! It's different than that." Dan insisted.
"Tell us how Mr. McKinnon." Dan's physics teacher ordered and Dan found himself standing at the front of the room next to his teacher with a stick of chalk in hand. Now Dan had lost all control of himself, he couldn't seem to move or talk for himself. It was like someone else was operating his body, someone who didn't know what he was saying, and didn't care.
"Sam's so, so innocent, so soft and yet he's strong and smart." He heard himself say. "I want to hold him."
Suddenly Dan was back in the car. "NO!!"
"No what?" Beau asked still very calm.
"Beau I'm not gay I just like Sam, I think he's a nice guy okay."
"I didn't say you are gay."
"Good cus I'm not."
"Fly Dan."
"What?"
"Fly away Dan." Beau insisted.
Dan spread his arms and flew through the roof of the car and up into the sky. He watched Beau's car slip away slowly under him. Then he was engulfed in clouds and there was a brief bit of turbulence before he blinked and Sam was smiling down at him.
"Morning. Sorry I woke you but breakfast is made." Sam said.
*
As Dan ate his eggs he remembered the health videos he'd seen in school. He remembered one in particular, at the time he thought it was made a hundred years ago but looking back it was probably only in the 80's. There was this doctor, he was talking about how during the early stages of puberty some kids feel strongly attracted to members of the same sex but the feeling only lasts a short time.
'But I've already gone through puberty. Then again, perhaps this feeling can happen at anytime. That's probably all it is. I just have to wait this out and try not to make an idiot of myself in the process.' Dan winced as he thought.
"What?" Sam asked noticing the strange look on Dan's face.
"Huh? Oh it's nothing. Hey these are good eggs bud." Dan smiled and Sam smiled back instantly, "Thanks."
*
"Alright, I can do this... I know I can do this." Beau mumbled as he walked across the summer school campus.
"Hey Beau."
"Hey Tonya." Beau smiled.
"I didn't know you took summer school classes."
"Uhh... no, just here to visit a friend." Beau lied.
"Oh, well see you around."
"Umm, no, I'm early. Mind if I walk with you for a while?"
"Sure."
Tonya and Beau walked around the campus together for a few minutes just talking. The whole time Beau was trying to find an opening, trying to find the courage and then finally it happened,
"Hey Tonya?"
"Yeah?"
"Would you like to...you know, maybe go see a movie together?"
"Sure."
"Sure?" Beau squeaked, coughed and tried again. "Great." He smiled.
"Call me." Tonya said then proceeded to give Beau her phone number. Then she smiled and walked away.
Beau floated all the way around the campus and back to his car.
*
"Hey Beau, Dan's mother just called, she asked if you could come to her house and explain something to her as soon as you have time." Beau's little sister said when Beau stepped through the door.
"Sure." Beau grinned in a state of perpetual bliss.
*
The bliss wore off quickly as Beau drove to Dan's house, along the way he started to go over and over exactly what he said to Tonya and was starting to worry that he'd said exactly the wrong thing and she was now trying to think of a way to dodge the date. Then his mind shifted to Dan's mother and he began to worry that she must have found something out, he would have to think on his toes.
"Ah Beau, please come in."
"Hello Mrs. McKinnon, what's up?"
"Well I was just thinking about Dan; wondering what he's up to and how far he's traveled. I was about to phone you to look it up for me but then I started to think that that isn't really fair to you. You have your own life and while I realize that you care about Dan also, I know you don't want to spend your days catering to his mother. So, I have one last favour to ask."
"Sure." Beau said feeling nervous and puzzled.
"Can you show me how to look up Dan's status on my computer here at home?"
*
"Doctor Riley, come and look at these readings please."
"Sure Greg, coming."
"Doctor, I think I was right about these two, look at the base harmonics, the spectrum analysis even. Plus the computer has isolated and authenticated the first marker already."
Doctor Riley took off his glasses and looked at the screen.
"They are very close, you may be right."
"So what are we going to do?"
Doctor Riley took a deep breath. "Just keep processing the results."
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