By: Ken J.E. Brown
It was a Saturday morning, and Tai, with his little sister Kari, were just leaving their apartment when they looked down the street and saw T.K. running up to them. They were going to their friend Matt’s house to give him a surprise party. T.K. ran up as they watched, and he leaned against the brick wall outside the building, catching his breath.
“Hi T.K.!” said Kari.
“Hey… what’s up?” asked Tai.
“Its (pant) Matt (gasp) he’s play- (wheeze) playing with his (cough) band tonight!” said the young, out-of-breath boy.
“What?! That’ll ruin all our plans!” yelled Tai.
“I asked him to think it over, but he said he could see you and Kari any night.” said T.K. guiltily.
“Well, its true. Why can’t we do this another day?” asked Kari.
“Because! Today is his actual birthday, and it just wouldn’t be right!” sighed Tai, exasperated by his younger sister.
“There’s some good news, though- Matt said he would come if I could find someone else to play for him and some way to make up for his missing it.” said T.K.
“T.K. … haven’t you been playing guitar for a little while, too?” asked Kari innocently.
“Uh… yes… I mean no…. I mean…” stammered T.K., blushing.
“Well then, you can take his place!” said Kari, a smile forming on her lips, while Tai tried hard to contain his laughter.
“I’m not nearly good enough to play in front of a crowd though!” T.K. pleaded. “Besides, he has so much fun when he’s playing that we would need something really special to convince him to stay home!”
“I can solve both problems. I’ll go with you to the concert T.K., and I know you won’t let me down, and Tai can come up with something good enough to keep him home!” Kari said, with triumph.
“Kari! Don’t just volunteer me for things!” Tai yelled at his sister.
“Don’t complain, just listen. I think it’s a great plan!” she said and walked away dragging the helpless T.K. with her.
After that, Tai drudged to Matt’s house to set up for the big party. The original idea would be that T.K., Kari, and Tai would all be waiting there for Matt to come home, and the rest of their friends would show up in the next hour or so. But, now it looked as though Tai, by himself, was Matt’s welcoming party.
“What does Matt like?” thought the now desperate Tai. “Games? Nah, they’d bore him too fast…. t.v.? Yeah right, for an active guy like Matt? Hmmm….”
Tai paced Matt’s living room, but couldn’t think of anything, so he went into Matt’s room to think there instead.
“What a mess it is in here! I’d be better off back out there! We’ll just… “(slams the door shut)” keep this closed!”
A second later, Tai heard a crash from inside and he nearly jumped out of his skin.
“What the hell?!” Tai cried as he rushed back in.
He looked around and saw glass at his feet… and a gold-rimmed picture frame. He carefully picked up some of the larger pieces of glass, and pulled out a picture with some worn-out ink on the back.
He turned the picture around and saw himself, beaming back up at him.
“Damn, he must have kept this hanging up nearby, probably on the door, which I just, like an idiot, slammed!” thought Tai, on the verge of panic. “But… why is my picture the only one he has hanging up?”
Tai took a closer look at the ink on the back, and read what he had written four years ago, when he had first met Matt in the digital world.
“Now I remember… before we all left, we all promised to stay friends, and I gave him this picture.”
The writing on the back said, “Matt, I’ve only known you for a few months, but I already feel we’re best friends. I would hope you’d never forget me, cuz I’ll never forget you!”
Tai was nearly in tears at what he had done. He had destroyed something that symbolized their friendship and how they had met, and he couldn’t forgive himself. He no longer felt like throwing a party, and decided to call it off.
He walked out the room with the glass in his hand, and walked over to the garbage near the door. He was just about to throw it out when the door burst open, and scared him so much he dropped it.
“OW!” screamed Tai, dropping glass all over his hand, as Matt walked in.
“Tai?! What are you doing here? And how did you hurt yourself?” asked Matt, rushing over to inspect his bleeding hand.
“Matt…” said Tai, crying from everything that had happened in the last half an hour. “I broke your picture… the one I gave you…”
“Tai! Don’t worry about that now! We need to get this glass out right away!” he said and rushed the worried Tai into his bathroom.
Matt then carefully took the glass out of Tai hand, with tweezers. Tai whimpered every time he brought them near, and it hurt Matt inside, to hear Tai cry because of something he was doing.
“Tai… please, I’m trying to help… I don’t care about the picture… I only care about you…” he said, putting down the tweezers, still holding Tai’s hand, while looking deeply into his eyes.
“Matt… I’m not worth caring about… I broke it and I don’t deserve to be your friend.” Tai cried, stifling back more tears.
“Tai, you mean everything to me. I couldn’t stand you when we first met, and I was always such a jerk to you, because deep down I was hiding my feelings… I love you Tai and I couldn’t live without you as a friend.” Matt said, and kissed his cheek lightly.
He then continued to take the glass out, ever so carefully, and soon it was nearly time for the party to start. Of course, it would be hard to surprise him if he had already gotten home.
“Matt… the whole reason we wanted you to stay home today was because we were gonna have a surprise party for you. Except now, I’ve ruined it. ” said Tai, miserable over his bad day.
“Well, you did a good enough job of surprising me! I don’t usually come home and find myself having to help my best friend take glass out of his hand!” said Matt.
Tai’s hand was wrapped up in a small towel, and had been washed out thoroughly. It should have been taken to a hospital to be looked at, but by the time the glass had been taken out, it was almost time for everyone else to start arriving, and they couldn’t just leave.
While they were waiting for everyone, Tai was relaxing on the couch, and Matt was acting as his personal servant, giving him anything he needed.
“More water? Maybe another pillow?” asked Matt, happy to make Tai happy.
“No thanks, I’m fine. But, could you give me a massage?” Tai asked femininely.
“Sure.” said Matt, and walked over to behind Tai.
He started to rub Tai’s shoulder blades and at the very back of his neck. He pressed gently on Tai’s skin, and soon they were both relieved of any tensions they had.
“Tai…?” asked Matt, after a few minutes.
“Yes?” Tai replied.
“Would you mind if I kissed you? If you don’t want me to, I won’t force it but-“
“No, I wouldn’t mind, in fact I would encourage it!” said Tai with a smile and he slowly got up to face Matt’s astonished face.
They both leaned forward into a passionate kiss, and Matt hugged Tai firmly around the neck.
“I love you Tai. I always have, and I always will.” said Matt, afterwards.
“Matt, I didn’t realize it at first but I love you too…” said Tai, and they both hugged. A second later, they kissed again, and for the first time both their lives felt perfect.
A second later, the door burst open with a loud yell from Mimi, Izzy, and Sora.
“We’re here! I hope we’re not too late, I just needed a few minutes to do my-“ said Mimi, who stopped in the doorway, blocking Sora and Izzy who were carrying presents they had brought for Matt.
“Mimi!” said Sora, annoyed.
Matt broke the kiss and looked at Tai for a second before running to the door to help them in. He gently pulled the stunned Mimi out of the way so they could get in.
“Thanks… hey! Tai! What’d you do to your hand?!” yelled Sora, and rushed over to where he was on the couch.
“Nothing much… I just cut myself a little getting the party set up, that’s all.” he said and gave a little smile.
“If it takes a whole towel to cover it, then you should be at the hospital!” exclaimed Izzy.
“No, I’m ok, really. Matt took care of me just fine.” He said and he smiled a loving smile at Matt, who was dragging Mimi over to a chair.
“Anyway, are we going to wait for everyone else to start?” said Sora impatiently.
“Yeah, I guess. You two can do what you want for now, but I wanna sit down with Tai for a few minutes.” Matt said, and walked over to the couch and sat on the ground beside Tai. When Tai hugged him, Matt leaned in closer, and Sora and Izzy finally got the idea. They left to look around the house for something to do on their own.
“When I told T.K. to find something to keep me entertained, I didn’t think he’d find me anything as wonderful as this!” said Matt and he turned around and kissed his new boyfriend.
The Day After
The next morning, Tai awoke to the sun shining on his face through his bedroom window. He couldn’t even remember how he had got there. He sat still for a second, trying to remember but he couldn’t. Could it all have been a dream?
He started to get up, but he found it hard, as something was weighing him down. He started to panic and in a tangle of bedsheets and blankets, he turned around to see Matt’s smiling face.
“Boo!” whispered Matt,” Good morning!”
“Agh! How’d you get here? How did I get here? What’s going on? What happened last night?!” said Tai, in an increasingly louder tone.
“Oh… well, if you’ll calm down, I’ll refresh you memory. Me and you left my house last night with everyone else, to see them all home, and you had the great idea that we go back to your house, as Kari had decided to have a sleepover with some of the other girls.”
“ When we finally got here, you were so tired from everything that happened yesterday… which reminds me, we have to go get you hand checked out… that you slumped down onto the couch and fell asleep right when we got in the door.”
“I took you to your bed, and I decided to sleep here in case you needed something. Oh… and nothing “happened” last night, Tai… I respect you enough to let you make your own decisions.” said Matt, getting out of bed, in his boxers (with little teddy bears on them), and stretching.
“Now, I dunno about you, but I’m hungry!” he said, rushing out into the kitchen before even getting dressed.
Tai thought for a moment, and he could remember almost all of what had happened, but some of it was still fuzzy. Well, he was hungry, so, breakfast didn’t sound like such a bad thing. He got out of bed and got some jeans on, but didn’t bother to put a shirt on.
“Tai, what d’ya wanna eat? I can make lots of different things.” Said Matt, calling to Tai who was heading to the bathroom to take a shower.
“Um… pancakes would be really nice!” Said Tai, smiling back at Matt.
“Ok, pancakes it is!” he said and got to work.
Tai walked into the bathroom, closed the door and tried to undress (slowly as he only had one good hand). He was having some major trouble, though, getting his pants off, so, eventually he called to Matt.
“Matt! I uh… need help...” said Tai, blushing even though Matt couldn’t see him.
“One sec!” said Matt, seemingly clanging every pot and pan in the kitchen together.
Matt appeared a few seconds later, and opened the door. He looked in and saw Tai standing there, shirtless, with his pants half-undone, and he blushed a deep red.
“Tai… you look like a sexy little angel!” squeaked Matt, as he rushed over to the half naked boy. “I wish I could take a picture… you’re just so adorable!”
Tai blushed more, and he looked into Matt’s starry eyes, ”Um… aren’t you forgetting that I need my clothes off to take a shower, and that I need help to do that, sweetie?” asked Tai innocently.
“Oh! I thought you just wanted to show yourself off! Oh yeah, sure I’ll help you.” Said Matt, still standing in the door.
Matt walked over to Tai and grasped the sides of his pants in both hands and slowly pulled them down to the floor, while not believing he was doing what he had dreamt of doing so many times before.
“Um… I need my boxers off too Matt…” said Tai in a quiet tone.
“Uh... right of course… we’re both fine with that right?” he said, trying to suppress any excitement in his voice.
Matt slowly moved his hands back up from the floor, along Tai’s thighs, until he got to his pelvis. He held both sides of Tai’s boxers firmly, and started to pull them down, while Tai watched him. He got them pretty low… when he smelled smoke from the kitchen.
“Matt! I think the pancakes are burning!” said Tai with slight alarm in his voice.
“Uh… maybe its your imagination?” said Matt, continuing with his removal of Tai’s boxers.
“No! Seriously!! I can see the smoke!” said Tai, lightly brushing past Matt to get to the kitchen.
“Damn it!” cursed Matt under his breath.
Shopping
Well, after they finally got the pancake crisis under control, it was getting towards noon, and Kari would probably be back soon. Tai didn’t want Kari to find out they were going out by seeing them wandering around the house mostly naked, so he convinced Matt into getting dressed. Then, he managed (on his own) to take a shower.
It was about 11:00 when Kari showed up.
“Good morning guys! Matt, you should have seen T.K. last night! He was awesome! The only bad part was all the girls asking for his autograph. But I fought them off, so its all good.” She said, apparently full of energy.
“Morning Kari.” Said Tai, not looking up from the newspaper.
“Really? Well, I guess I gotta go bug him about it then!” said Matt with a mischievous grin.
“Matt, maybe you should let him be… if he did really well, then you shouldn’t tease him about it.” Said Tai, still reading the paper.
“But...but...but… its what big brothers are s’posed to do!” said Matt, pleadingly.
Tai looked up for a second and stared at him, blinking a few times.
“… Ok, I promise I wont… whatcha reading?” said Matt, wandering over to Tai side of the table, and sat in his lap.
Kari eyed them both carefully, before saying “Right… I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.” and then walking into her room.
Finally, Tai got bored of reading the paper, and he kinda thought Matt was only pretending to be interested because Tai was, so he asked him, “So… what do you wanna do today?”
“I dunno… we could go to the mall, maybe with Sora or Izzy…” he said, making it obvious that he had been thinking about that for a while.
“Ok, I’ll call them both up and see if they wanna come. While you’re waiting, try and keep out of trouble.” Said Tai, and got up and walked to the phone.
Matt wanted to listen to some music, some LOUD music, but he thought it was better not to, for Kari’s sake. So he just sat down and watched t.v. in Tai’s room instead.
“… Well, that’s it for the 11 o’clock “Wake Up Call”. This is Cam Thomson signing off.” Said the news anchorman, while the camera faded out. Next, a commercial for Matt’s favorite punk clothing store, “Kuro Kabe” came on.
“Must… go…” he said, staring at the t.v. like a zombie. He ran out of Tai’s room, and took the phone out of his hand before he could say bye to whoever he was talking to.
“Meet at my store... soon… go!” he yelled into it, before dragging Tai to the door.
“Ack!” Tai barely had time to squeak before they were out the door. “Where are we going Matt?!” said Tai, who had managed to wrestle out of Matt’s grasp.
“To my fave store! They’re having a sale, and I wanted to see how you’d look dressed in punk!” he replied, still hurrying him on, while stared at them.
Tai decided just to give up right there, and started running by himself.
After about 10 minutes of running, they got there, thoroughly out of breath. They walked through the mall till they found Matt’s store, and saw Izzy waiting there for them.
“Hi! It took me a while, but I finally figured out what you meant by ‘my store’.” He said with a grin.
“Can’t talk… must look... clothes...” said Matt, still in his dazed condition. He walked into the store, which was full of mostly black, white, and gray clothes, dragging Tai behind him.
The three of them shopped there for a while, Tai glad that Izzy was around, so he had someone intelligent to talk to. Matt mostly just ran around the store, grabbing clothes he wanted Tai to try on. He piled about 10 pairs of pants, shorts, and shirts on Tai and then guided him to the changing room.
“Matt... I don’t know if black’s my color…” said Tai, while Izzy sat and laughed hysterically at the whole scene.
“Come on! Do it for me, Tai!” said Matt through an innocent smile. He couldn’t turn him down, so he closed the door and started getting changed, again having difficulty.
“Oh! And if you need help, I’m waiting right out here!” said Matt, in a cutesy little voice.
“Grr… I’ll get him back for this…” thought Tai, while taking his shirt off, to try on one that way much too tight for him. “I’m REALLY gonna get him for this!”
Meanwhile, Izzy and Matt were discussing how they thought Tai would look when he came out, when a really tough looking guy came into the store, and picked up a few leather jackets.
“Whoa… I’d hate to get on that guys bad side…” muttered Izzy under his breath, to Matt.
“I know what you mean…” he replied. Then they continued with their conversation.
By now, Tai had tried on 7 of the 10 shirts, (and all had been too small) 8 pairs of pants, (which were all either leather, or also too small), and no shorts because Matt had (knowing him) chosen the shortest ones in the store. Tai was getting frustrated, and his hand was starting to hurt, even though he wasn’t using it. He was about to get up and leave, when a big man he didn’t know walked into his room.
“Hey! Do you mind? This is a private changing room!” yelled Tai, regretting it instantly.
“Then you’d better leave! I’m here now, and I doubt you can make me move.” The man said, blocking the doorway that Tai was now trying to walk out of, with all the clothes. “Hey… why are you trying on all this girly stuff? Are you a girl?” the man asked and moved closer to Tai.
“Back off!” yelled Tai. Soon, Matt came into the small room, and his face was red with anger.
“Leave him alone! Come on Tai. He’s not worth talking to.” Said Matt, shoving the man aside and helping Tai through the door.
“Hey! Come back here!” yelled the man, coming after Tai and Matt.
Luckily for them, Izzy was waiting right outside the room, and had been paying attention to everything. He stuck out one foot and the man fell like a rock. Matt, Tai and Izzy then left, hurriedly, with Matt saying, “Sorry Eve! I’ll pay you back later!” (He, of course, knew the storeowner, as he came in there all the time). They dumped all but 1 shirt of the on the angry girl, and bolted for Tai’s house, with the man chasing them half the way.
Shattered Emotions
“Matt, remind me never to go shopping with you again.” Said Tai, as the three guys walked into Tai’s house. “Kari! I’m back!” said Tai, and didn’t get a response.
“Hmm… she left a note. Says she went to Matt’s to see T.K.. She says she’ll phone later, and that Matt is supposed to go home because his dad is worried.”
“Damn my dad! Oh well, I guess I’d better go then, no point in arguing. ”Said Matt. He walked up behind Tai and hugged him then kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll phone you tonight. You should go to the doctor and get your hand checked out already! Love ya!” he said, running out the door.
“Matt’s right. We should go get your hand looked at. If we don’t, it could get infected or something.” Said Izzy, walking slowly towards the door.
“Ok… but first can we get something to eat?? I’m starving… I didn’t get much of a change to eat this morning.” Said Tai, remembering their antics earlier in the day.
Tai and Izzy had been walking for ten minutes, talking about a few things, and they saw Mimi up ahead of them, looking for something in her purse.
“Hey! Mimi!” Izzy yelled and he and Tai ran up to her.
“Huh? Oh hi guys… I’m just looking for my lip-gloss. Chapped lips are the worst.” She said, still rummaging in her bag.
“Why don’t you come with us to get something to eat? It might be easier to look for it while you’re sitting down.” Izzy said, getting right to the point as usual.
“I guess so… I’m not really in a hurry, but there’s a sale on at the mall, and today’s the last day its on.” She said, closing her purse. “There’s a nice little coffee shop just around the corner. Let’s go there.” She said, leading the way.
They walked into the store, and smelled the aroma of coffee right away. Tai didn’t particularly like coffee, but it was a nice smell anyway. It was getting crowded in there, but it wasn’t too loud, and there was an empty table so they sat down.
Tai was staring absent-mindedly out the window. Before yesterday, he hasn’t realized how much he had liked Matt. But now he couldn’t get him out of his mind. He felt like he needed Matt to be with him all the time now, just to know he was safe. The earlier event in the mall had shaken him up, that Matt went places where dangerous people also went. He wondered what would happen if that man from the mall ever recognized Matt at one of his concerts… maybe jumped him in the alley on his way out…
“Tai? Is something wrong? You’re crying.” Mimi said, interrupting Tai’s thoughts.
“Yes… but I don’t know if you wanna hear about it… or if I wanna talk about it.” Tai said brushing away his tears.
“Come on, we’re your friends. Is it about… Matt?” Izzy said in a careful voice.
“Yes, it is. Listen, can we go to the doctor’s tomorrow? I want to go home, I need some time to think.” Said Tai in a soft voice.
“Ok… are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Izzy asked.
“Yes. I’m sure I’m just worrying myself about something I shouldn’t be, but I want to go home.” Tai said, getting up.
Mimi and Izzy got up too, and Mimi was now using her lip-gloss, that it had taken her that whole time to find. So, they said their good-byes, and split up. It was getting late in the day, it was about 7 p.m.
Tai thought about Matt the whole way home, and almost got hit by a car when he stopped in the middle of the street. After that he tried to put it out of his mind, at least until he got home.
Did Matt know how much he meant to Tai? Tai trusted him with all his heart, and wondered how it was he had never thought this way about Matt before. If something were to happen to him, Tai didn’t know what he’d do with himself.
He got home, and found the door unlocked. He walked in and saw Kari at the table eating some pizza pops she had made for supper.
“Hi Kari. How long have you been home?” he asked, while taking his coat off.
“Oh, about half an hour. Are you hungry?” she asked, walking over to the fridge, taking out the pizza pops.
“Yeah, I went out, but I wasn’t very hungry then.” He said walking over to the table where a plate, fork and knife where already waiting for him.
*Beep-beep-beep* the microwave started and Kari put the box back in the freezer.
“Oh, by the way, do you know where-“ she said, stopping in mid-sentence as she turned around. “What are you wearing?!” she almost screamed.
Tai looked down and saw he was still wearing the tight shirt he had bought with Matt earlier. “Er… I bought it earlier…” he said, blushing.
There was an awkward moment of silence then she said “So… is that what you and Matt were out doing earlier this morning?” she asked him in a quiet voice.
“Yes… Kari, if you haven’t figured it out yet, me and him are going out now, since last night. It was all because of your plan for his party… thanks…” he said, to his sister standing across the kitchen, which suddenly seemed so far away.
“I should have figured it out earlier, but I thought that you wouldn’t do that. Do you realize how hard this will be for T.K.? His older brother going out with the older brother of the girl he likes?!” she yelled across the room.
“Actually, I wasn’t really thinking of that! Maybe for once, I’d like to be happy with my life, and not have to think about the consequences?!” he said getting up, and running to his room, slamming the door.
Tai curled up in bed and started crying again, at himself for yelling at Kari, when it wasn’t her fault, at himself for worrying over Matt for no reason, and at life in general. He cried for an hour, and only stopped to answer the phone. He looked on the caller I.D. and saw it was Matt’s number. He stopped crying and picked up the phone, before Kari could.
“…Hello?” asked Tai in a quiet voice.
“Hi Tai!” there was a pause for a few second, ”Is something wrong?” he asked, concerned.
“Yes, there is. I’ve been stuck in my room, crying, for the past hour. Kari and me were fighting over you and me. She says I can’t go out with you because of how it might affect T.K.. I don’t care what she says, I love you Matt… can you please come over? I feel so alone…” Tai said, almost starting to cry again.
“.. Oh Tai! I’m so, so sorry! My dad got really mad at me being out for so long yesterday, even though it was my birthday. I can’t go anywhere… please don’t be mad at me…” said Matt, in a slightly pleading tone.
More silence, then Tai said, ”I… guess its ok Matt… how long are you grounded for?” he said, feeling completely hopeless now.
“Could be anywhere up to a week… I can’t leave the house at all.”
“Will you call me? I can’t stand being away from you…” said Tai, wishing things would be perfect again, like that morning.
“Yes, of course I will… and I’m sorry, again, but I gotta go right now. Got chores to do… maybe if I’m good I can get off my grounding early. I love you Tai, and I’m always here for you!”
“Love you too, Matt…”said Tai before Matt hung up.
Tai sat and watched t.v. for another half an hour, not caring what was on. He was getting really bored, but he started to think- Matt might not be able to leave the house to see Tai, but why couldn’t Tai go see him? Maybe he could pretend Matt had forgotten something at his house when he was over earlier, and he was bringing it back to him. This plan made sense, so he snuck out of his room, careful not to let Kari hear him, (so he didn’t have to be yelled at again) got his coat, and left.
Tai spent the next forty-five minutes or so walking to Matt’s, although it was already dark out, and he was all alone, with only one good hand. He made it to Matt’s house fine though, and he rang the doorbell. He waited a few seconds and Matt’s Dad answered.
“Hi Tai. I’m sorry, but Matt’s grounded, and he already has company over.”
Tai stood there for a moment, and said “Oh, ok. I’m just here to give Matt the money he left at my house this morning.” He wondered who Matt might have over…
“Hmm… ok, but you can’t stay for very long, and tell Matt that his other friend has to go soon too.” Matt’s dad said, and let Tai in.
Tai walked up the stairs to Matt’s room, and walked in, while taking his coat off.
“Hi Ma…” Tai said but he stopped before he could finish what he was saying. He stopped taking his coat off, and stood in the doorway, not wanting to believe what he saw.
Matt and Sora were sitting on Matt’s bed making out, and they took a while to look up. There was a few seconds of very uncomfortable silence, and then Tai put his coat back on, and was running away, stifling back his tears.
“Tai! Wait!” Matt yelled at him as Tai slammed the front door.
“How could he do this to me? I trusted him, I love him… why? What the hell did I do wrong?! Maybe Kari is right, maybe I don’t deserve Matt, maybe I should stay the fuck out of his life. What difference does it make to him?! To anyone? I thought Matt… and even Sora were my friends, but I guess I was wrong. Matt was just using me, just like he’s only using Sora.” Thought Tai, his mind racing as he ran blindly, not caring where he was going in the dark, as long as it was away from his life, away from reality.
He stopped running outside of a house with all the lights turned off, and sat down on the grass, realizing that it was now raining. “Well, its not like anything worse can happen.” Tai thought bitterly. “My life is hell enough already.” He tore his coat off, and ripped off the shirt which Matt had bought him. “I don’t need anything to remind me of him! He meant the world to me, and he threw away what we had after just one day.” It was hard for Tai to believe it had only been one day since this had all begun.
He threw down his coat and shirt, and continued running in just a tank top, not caring where his mind was leading him. “I could run into the middle of the street and be run over for all I care… my life isn’t worth living anymore…” he said, heading towards a very busy street. He was dressed in almost all black, and the cars would not be able to see him before it was too late.
The lights ahead of him, blazing now, seemed to be waiting for him, rushing past in the blink of an eye. For one second he stopped, a few meters from the road, thinking, “Do I really want to do this? Are things as bad as they seem?” In his distorted state, he was worthless, that he should die.
As he took the few last steps, fate intervened.
He felt something heavy hitting him, and he hit the pavement. He started to lose consciousness, and the last thing he felt before blacking out was the rain spitting down on him from above, seemingly telling him even God thought was unworthy of living.
Kicked out of Paradise
It was a cold morning; the crisp air chilling anyone who dared leave their house. The sky was clear, without a cloud in the sky. The only thing that made the day seem odd was how quiet it was. Few birds sang, and cars were mostly all parked.
Matt woke up, feeling the guilt of what he had done the night before. He had what he had wanted for so long, Tai, but he had ruined that. Sora had come over to see him, and the moment Tai had walked in, she had kissed him, not the other way around. He had tried to tell Tai, but Tai was already out the door.
“I’m such an idiot!” Matt thought getting out of bed, kicking a pile of clothes across the room. “Its Sora’s fault too… I think I’ll go get her and make her apologize to Tai. Who cares if I get in more trouble from my dad?” He said, flicking the t.v. on, while getting dressed.
“Late last night, a young boy around the age of 16 was taken to the hospital from the highway on the outside of town. It seemed he was going to end it all by running into traffic, but someone saw him, and tackled him to the ground at the last second. Normally, we wouldn’t report something as unimportant as this, but the hero of the encounter, who says his name is “Izzy”, who had also called 911, had this to say, “I’m friends with Tai… I can’t believe he would do something like this... he had everything going for him…. something very bad must have happened.” Said the recording of Izzy’s voice, sounding like he was in tears near the end. Tai is still unconscious, and the police would like to know why such a bright young man would do something like this, and if anyone has any information, they are to either call the City Hospital, or the police. Well, that’s about it for our morning-“ but Matt was already out the door of his room.
“Matt! You’re grounded! You can’t go anywhere!” said his dad, as Matt ran out the front door.
He didn’t care, he was too worried about Tai. He realized that he had almost killed the person he loved the most, and ran now with misty eyes. He knew Tai would be mad, but he had to at least try and explain. He had to let Tai know it wasn’t his fault, it was Matt’s.
He didn’t stop running until he got to the hospital, asking the nurse at the front desk, “Do you… have someone named… Tai here?” he asked, his chest heaving up and down with every breath.
“Yes, he just came in last night. He’s in room 230. That around the corner, to the left.” She said, slightly startled by his sudden appearance.
“Thanks.” Said Matt, and started running down the hallway.
He found 230, but he waited a second, to catch his breath and to think. What if Tai was awake by now, and he kicked him out before he had a chance to explain? Would Tai hate him? He decided that he had to tell Tai what had happened, no matter what.
He opened the door and saw Kari and Izzy sitting beside Tai, who was still unconscious. “Matt!” Izzy said, but Kari didn’t even look at him.
“Is… is he okay?” asked Matt, in a shaking voice, seeing Tai lying there, bandaged up from his hard fall to the sidewalk.
“He’ll be fine. Just needs some time to rest… its just a good thing I saw him running down my street, and managed to catch up with him in time… I only recognized him because of the shirt, the one we all went out and bought.” Izzy told Matt as he walked in to stand beside Tai.
“Tai…” Matt said softly, putting his hand on Tai’s cold face.
Kari then got up out of her chair and said, ”Matt, you should leave. I know you had something to do with this, and that Tai would be very mad at you.” And her voice got louder after every word.
“Kari, would you leave me alone for a sec?! Maybe I just wanna see my BOYFRIEND, who is very important to me, and who also happens to be hurt. If you don’t like it, then leave the room or something.” He yelled across the bed.
“Guys! Calm down! I’m sure if you guys woke Tai up right now, he wouldn’t be very happy with either of you! Unless I’m the only one here who cares about him, you two should sit down and shut the hell up!” Izzy yelled, suddenly. Kari and Matt both sat down and stopped glaring at each other so they could watch Tai.
They waited there for 3 hours, barely talking, only answering the nurse who came in to check up on him. They all had lots to think about at the time. Izzy wanted to know what had happened to drive him that far; Kari wanted to know exactly what Matt had done, and whether this would stop them from going out anymore; Matt was worried about Tai, of course, and he kept going over everything in his mind, like some twisted nightmare.
Then Tai woke up, and they all leaned closer. Izzy had told them before to be quiet, and not to force to too many questions on him at once.
“Hi…” whispered Matt and Kari at the same time.
“… Why am I in the hospital...? All I can remember is the rain…” said Tai, staring into Matt’s eyes.
“You’re here because... you fell. You couldn’t see where you were going in the rain.” Lied Izzy, so that Tai wouldn’t have to remember everything right away.
“I remember lights though… cars, I think. I must have been near a highway… I was lucky I wasn’t killed…” he said quietly.
“We’re all lucky you weren’t killed.” Said Matt, now holding Tai’s good hand. Then he remembered, and said with a slight laugh, “At least we finally got you in here and got your hand looked at.”
Tai smiled and said, “Yeah.”, still looking into Matt’s light blue eyes.
Kari interrupted and said, ”We should tell the nurse he’s woken up.” She waited a sec, then since neither Izzy nor Matt got up, she walked out.
“I’m glad you’re okay Tai. We should get everyone else over here. I’m sure they’d want to know.” He said, making up a reason to leave them alone.
Matt moved closer to Tai, and their eyes were still locked. “Tai… do you remember why you were running last night? Izzy lied before, about why you fell. You were running away, and he stopped you before you ran into the heavy traffic…” Matt told him, and almost started crying again.
“Matt, I remember everything. I just thought it’d be better not to worry those two. The only things I don’t know are why Izzy saved me from myself and why you did it…” he said, and couldn’t look at Matt any longer.
“Tai, Izzy stopped you because you didn’t know what you were doing. You made a decision without knowing all the facts… and it wasn’t my fault. It was Sora’s… I don’t expect you to believe me, but I’ll get her to explain. I know you’ll probably hate me for it anyways, but I had to come here and tell you the truth… I couldn’t run away.” Matt said, still looking at Tai.
There was about a minute of silence between them until Tai said, ”You know, that’s exactly what I was doing. I was running away. I wanted to find some fast way to get rid of my problems, because I couldn’t deal with the thought of losing you. It was selfish, I know that… I just wasn’t really thinking. And you’re wrong… I don’t hate you… but I can’t trust you that much again, at least not for a long time. We can still be friends, but that’s it.”
“Tai… for what its worth, I still love you, and I always will. Now, you really should rest more… I’ll try and come back to see you, but I already left the house after being grounded, and my dad’s not going to like me telling him ‘I’m going to see my ex. boyfriend.’ ” Said Matt, as he got his coat and stood up to leave the room.
Before he could stop walking away, Tai asked him “Could you at least give me one last goodbye kiss?” Matt turned his head, walked back over to the side of the bed and knelt down so that his face was right beside Tai’s. They both closed their eyes and kissed one last time.
Then Matt got up, and said, “I’ll see you later, although I know I’ll get in more trouble.” And then he turned and left.
Tai waited for a few minutes, still going over everything in his head, and Izzy came back in. “There, I called everyone up. Joe, T.K., Mimi, Sora… of course, T.K. knew that Matt had already come here, and he said he would ask his dad to go easy on him for running out earlier.” He said, sitting down in his chair again.
“Izzy… how do you know if you love someone? I don’t know what I mean when I use the word anymore…” asked Tai, staring up at the ceiling.
“Well… I’m not good at this kind of stuff, but I’d say if your whole life revolves around that person, and that you would cease to exist without them, then you love them…” he told Tai.
“Hmm…” Not even a minute later, Kari came in, with the nurse.
“Sorry I took so long,” the nurse apologized, ”I was a bit busy with someone else.”
“So was I…” thought Tai, and he stared out the window into the cloudy sky.
EPILOGUE
All of Tai’s friends came and saw him, at least one a day, Matt coming the most often. Sora never explained what had happened, and she was always very quiet when she visited. She was sorry that she had caused all that trouble, and she only went because Matt had asked her to. Tai still acted happy and cheerful, although inside he wasn’t.
Matt went and saw Tai as often as he could, and Matt’s dad eventually let him off grounding, because Matt always found some way to sneak out anyways. He and Tai were still friends, much to his relief. After Tai got out of the hospital, they were still the best of friends, and went shopping together at Matt’s store again, but something was missing between them now…
Izzy was interviewed for the news, after saving Tai’s life. They had to put lots of make up on him because he kept blushing. “It was nothing special… I just saved one of my best friend’s lives. Wait, I guess it was something special.” He said, laughing a bit.
Kari was happy that Tai and Matt were split up, and she and T.K. started going out, right after Tai got out of the hospital. She never got mad at Tai for "not being normal” again, but that was only because neither of them wanted to bring it up. But, besides that, Tai and Kari were as close as siblings can get.
In the end, you could say everything turned out fine. Tai and Matt never dated each other again though, and while that made Kari happy, Matt spent many lonely nights crying himself to sleep… Sora eventually moved away, having so much guilt that she didn’t want to deal with, and Izzy ended up going out with Mimi for around 5 years. Then they broke up because he forgot what her favorite brand of lipstick was. Anyway… I won’t say “And they all lived happily after,” cuz that would be a lie. But, at least they were all alive… and that was good enough for them.
END