Chapter 6: Needle in the Hay

Chapter 6Needle in the Hay

May had some unusual showers that year. Justino sat beside the window, eating a bowl of oatmeal. Maybe there was noise at the front of his door. He couldn’t quite make it out. What was it?
“Justin!”
It was Laura.
“Yeah ma?”
“Are you alright? You were not answering.”
“Yeah, just… I’m… I’m good.”
“You know if anything is wrong, you can come to me about it,” she said with some concern.
She pulled up a chair next and sat next to him.
“You have been staring out the window for some time now.”
“Hm… Yeah…”
“Min dreng, please, tell me if something is the matter.”
“I will, ma.”
“Alright… if you need anything, let me know, min dreng.”
…
Justino got off his bike, parking her in a field about a block from the school. He walked in with everyone else, disappearing into the massive crowd of students all wearing the same uniform. Dissociating time again. Another lesson that’ll go in one ear and out the other. And that’s exactly what happened.
Later on, during PE, he snuck off to go smoke by the dumpsters. He figured he was alone. Janitors don’t give a shit, and the average student at Weston wouldn’t be caught dead there. Then he heard someone approach. Fuck.
“Hey. Dipshit.”
“What,” asked Justino, bothered and entirely unwilling to turn around and face whoever had just intruded upon his peace.
“You ruined my girlfriend’s shoes, asshole. I’m gonna make you regret it.”
Justino turned around, bearing witness to a rather imposing young man by the name of Thaddeus Evergreen. Allegedly, he was the captain of the football team at Weston. If it was true, he physically fit the stereotype. Certainly taller than Justino, but doubtfully more capable in a fight.
“You? You’re gonna make me regret smudging dirt on that walking Bratz doll’s shoes?”
“She has a name! Use it, asshole!”
“Listen… I don’t feel like fightin’ right now. So Imma give you a chance to rethink what you’re doin’,” said Justino as he put out his cigarette.
Thad looked to his right and left before getting a bit closer. His posture changed entirely. Seemed he wasn’t actually there for a fight. Justino was mildly intrigued. He lit another cigarette.
“What do you want, white boy?”
“I actually… I actually wanted to thank you,” he said. “She’s insufferable. She deserved that. Mind if… Mind if I have a smoke?”
“Uh… sure?”
Justino pulled out a cigarette for Thad and lit it with an old fashioned zippo lighter. Thad coughed hard on his first drag.
“Baby’s first cig, huh?”
“…Yeah,” answered Thad as he recovered.
“So what’s your story?”
“I never shared this with anyone before… I figure you don’t give a shit about anyone in this school, so… maybe I can tell you.”
Justino sighed.
“I don’t particularly care to know, but… sure. Whatever. Lay it on me.”
“I… I think I’m gay.”
“Well that’s hardly surprising. But, good for you finally getting it off your chest.”
“That’s kinda rude.”
“I dunno watchu want me to do with that information, boss.”
“I… I guess I don’t either.”
They lean against the wall in silence, smoking.
“Hey,” asked Thad, “what’s your name?”
“We ain’t friends.”
“I… I didn’t… My name is Thaddeus. I go by Thad.”
“Just fuckin’ witchu. My name’s Justino.”
“You’re a prick… But at least you’re real about it.”
“Ain’t got time to be nobody but me,” answered Justino as he flicked off the ash from his cigarette.
“This is gonna… I… Justino, do you wanna have sex?”
“Uh… The fuck?”
“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have—”
“Hm…”
Thad stood absolutely still in shock.
“‘Hm’? What do you mean HM?!”
“Know what. Sure.”
…
Justino gargled salt water to get the taste out of his mouth. Didn’t seem to be doing much.
“Fuck. Everything tastes like dick.”
“Sorry… I… I feel really bad about this,” said Thad as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“I agreed to this, dipshit, don’t feel about it.”
“R-right.”
They sat in silence.
“So this never happened, Thad. You tell anyone about it, I’ll fuckin find your ass. That ain’t a threat, that’s a promise.”
“Ok, ok, I got it… don’t tell anyone. I wouldn’t anyway. I want you to have something though.”
Thad hands Justino a key and an address.
“This your house key or some shit?”
“No, no, it’s… It’s a place I found in the desert. A place for being alone. I used to go. I don’t… I don’t go there anymore. Not enough time lately. I thought maybe you… might… want it?”
Justino raised an eyebrow.
“Oookay… thanks?”
And with that, the two of them parted.
…
Justino rode home later that day trying not to think about what he’d just done to himself. There was quite a lot he was trying not to think about then. He knew he had to deal with it all eventually, but just not today. He stopped by a pawn shop on the way home and figured he should probably get something for Laura. Some sort of apology for the shit he was putting her through. He walked in, disregarding the wary gazes he received from the clerk, the other customers, and the lady sweeping the floor. He reached for an old lamp with a sculpture of the little mermaid on it.
“This one, please,” he said, placing it on the counter.
“That’ll be 25.99. Do you plan on paying for that, young man?”
Justino reached into his pocket and pulled out two twenty dollar bills. He wasn’t going to dignify her with a response.
“Hmph,” the lady said as she took his money, counted his change, and printed his receipt.
“Have a nice day,” he said as he left.
He got home about twenty minutes later.
“Ma, I’m home,” he said as he entered the manor. He was never going to get used to the fact that he now lived in an actual manor built for a Danish royalty.
Laura walked down the stairs into the parlor room. She regarded him with suspicion.
“You’re home late, Justin. Is there a reason?”
“I got you somethin’ ma.” He took out the lamp, carefully holding it in his hands.
“Oh… Thank you, min dreng. I will put this in my study. Come, you must eat,” she said, calling him into the dining room. He knew better than to protest, though he dreaded eating. No doubt, every last bite was going to taste like dick.
“Where’s Liv,” he asked as he set his bag down.
“She is in the garage practicing drums right now, she already ate.”
He walked into the kitchen and saw someone sitting in his chair that he didn’t recognise. Who the hell was this person?
”Maman, qui est-ce?”
She stole the words right out of his mouth, even if he spoke no French.
”Ton frere, Francoise,” she said as she brought out a pot of Honsekodssuppe. “For Helvede, I keep telling you he is a part of our family now and you keep forgetting.”
Justino takes a seat across from her.
”Uh… ma, who is this?”
”You don’t recognise her? Min dreng, it is Francoise.”
”Wait… Francoise? Like, ‘beats me for fun’ Francoise? Olivia’s older sister? THAT Francoise?”
“Justin! Be nice,” said Laura with mild shock.
”You look different,” he said. Truthfully, she did. Last he’d seen her, she seemed every bit the perfumed aristocrat he thought her to be. Now she looked like she frequented industrial clubs in Paris every single night, featuring a full on mullet. The change certainly seemed a bit jarring—though to be fair, he hadn’t seen her in 3 years. She rarely if ever came to America.
”You got uglier,” she said.
”I see you learned English too.”
”Both of you, stop it! You have been causing me such grief ever since you were small.”
“You never asked me if I was ok with letting him become part of our family.”
”Francoise, enough! Both of you, be quiet and eat.”
Dinner is good, but unfortunately a very quiet and tense affair. More miserable still, the food did indeed for Justino taste like dick.