Chapter 7

Jonah

"Liam, I'm going over to campus to buy my books, do you want to come with?" Liam was sitting at the kitchen table peeling and eating an orange. I had the day off so Liam had stayed back from program. He nodded while stuffing a section of orange into his mouth. "We can take a walk around so I can figure out where my classes are too."

I let Li finish his fruit before we both tied up our converse; Liam's bright purple and mine dark blue, and he grabbed his trusty old messenger bag before we left the apartment, heading for the bus stop that I'd be using on a regular basis to get to school.

"Can I get some skittles for the ride?" he asked as we passed the corner store.

"No Li, you had some yesterday. Sugar's not good for you."

He narrowed his eyes at me so I ruffled his hair, hoping to take the cross look off his face. "I grew a half inch since we last measured, because of the skittles," he argued.

"No, you grew a half inch from all the veggies and protein we make you eat," I countered.

"Whatever."

I chuckled, "there's my surly teenager." That made him crack a smile and he took my hand the rest of the way to the bus stop. On the bus ride I talked to Liam about what he wanted to do after he graduated. He still had a couple of years, but I hope he wanted to go to college, maybe even U.C.L.A. like me.

"Nah, I just want to paint. I don't need college," he told me.

"No Liam. You're smarter than me. You need to get a college education and U.C.L.A. has a great art program, I checked." Liam just shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his DS. "I guess that conversation is over," I sighed.

"Why do I have to decide this now?" he asked, looking up from his game, "it's like, 3 years away."

"It's good to have a plan Li, know what you're working toward. I knew I wanted to be a doctor, so I took classes I would need to get into a pre-med program. AP Biology, AP Chemistry, even advanced math classes. You like drawing, painting and writing, so you might decide to take more English and art classes."

"Okay."

"Okay..."

"Okay, I'll take English and Art."

"So you don't want to talk about this?"

"Not really." 

He looked back down at his game, "I don't like thinking about the future."

"Why?"

"Because it scares me, I like things the way they are now."

"What do you think will change Li?"

"You'll go off and become a doctor...when I'm 18 Brett doesn't have to be in charge of me anymore, so he'll probably go off and Aiden will marry Tonya or some other girl and go live on a ranch and be vegetarians."

"Liam, you know better than that. I can't speak for Brett or Aiden, though I know they'll always be around for you, but I'm not going anywhere...you and me are going to be together always, if that's what you want."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Huh...like how?"

"We'll figure that out when the time comes, but just know that we'll always be together...unless you don't want to be, but I'll always want it, that I can promise you."

"I'll always want it too," he said confidently, taking my hand. I looked down into his smiling face, sweet and innocent and hoped it would always be this way.

The bus stopped at the next stop, we still had about 10 minutes to go before we got to the U.C.L.A. campus. People filed off and just before the bus was ready to get going again, 3 boys ran down the aisle from the back. We were seated near the front, me by the window and Liam in the aisle seat.

"Hurry up," the driver called, "ain't got all day!" They were laughing, but Liam and I were only focused on each other.

"Faggots," the last one yelled and shot his hand out, slapping Liam in the back of the head. Fury filled me and I shot up, the boys jumped off the bus and I jumped over Liam to go after them. Before I had a chance, the bus driver closed the door and pulled back into traffic.

"Stop," I yelled, "let me out!"

"No kid, sit back down," he ordered. "They were just a bunch of dumb punks, nothing to waste your time on."

"But...they hit my friend!" I growled.

"I'm telling you, it's not worth it and we've already left them in the dust." 

I leaned down looking out the window as the bus continued and he was right, we were well past their stop and I could no longer see them. I turned back around to check on Liam. I figured he'd be pretty upset, but he looked unfazed. I walked back down and he moved over so I could sit take his seat.

"Are you okay?" 

He nodded his head, looking at me with concern. I rubbed the back of his head. "Did it hurt?"

"No," he breathed out. "It was no big deal, nothing I'm not already used to."

I looked at Liam's face and I think that the fact that he wasn't crying, hurt more than the brave face he held. He'd been through so much in his almost 16 years; his abusive father, a mother he hardly ever saw and then lost in such a brutal manner. On top of that, being the smallest in his class and constantly having to deal with bullying, so often that it was now commonplace. I hated it.

"It's okay," he soothed, reaching over and wiping a stray tear off my cheek. "I don't care about them, I really don't. All I care about is you and Brett and Aiden...and Benji and Ajax...Joe is cool too...Oh! and Tonya and Harry. Why would they matter when I have all of you...especially you." His thumb wiped off one last tear from my face and I pulled him into a hug.

"I love you Liam," I said as I pulled him into a hug, "I love you so much!" I whispered the last part in his ear as I squeezed him tight.

"I love you too Jo." 

He patted my back and kissed my cheek. "Now turn that frown upside down...I think our stop is coming up."

"You goof," I laughed. Looking out the window, I saw he was right and we grabbed our stuff as soon as the bus pulled to the curb. I threw my empty backpack over my shoulder, ready to fill it with all of my first semester books and Liam had his bag with his sketchbook and pencils, always ready when inspiration hit.

We walked hand in hand onto campus and I really didn't care who looked at us funny. I knew what was important, just as Liam did. We had each other.

I pulled out the campus map I'd been mailed and together we figured out the way to the bookstore. Twelve hundred dollars later and 7 near heart attacks as I found each book and looked at the price tag, we were heading toward the student center to grab some lunch. Thank god for the grants and scholarships I'd received or none of this would ever have been possible. I picked up two U.C.L.A. T-shirts, one for each of us with some of the money I earned at the hospital; I had an inkling or maybe it was my hope, that Liam would be joining me here once he graduated High School.

We explored the campus together and found all of the buildings I would need to know. Afterward, I took Liam to another part of the campus. The Fine Arts center. We walked inside and the whole bottom floor was a big open lobby full of student artwork. Liam walked around, his eyes big as saucers looking at all the different types of visual and tactile expression, as a sign described it. There seemed to be more students in this building than at the other buildings we toured, so I imagined they held summer programs or made studios available for the students' use.

We walked by a lounge and Liam peeked in. 

"Hey, you can come in here," a voice called out. I peeked around the corner with Liam and saw several artsy looking students hanging around drinking coffee. The one who had called out, a young man who looked to be about 19, with shoulder length blue hair was sitting on a counter, another guy standing in between his legs with the blue-haired guy's legs wrapped tightly around him. They both had friendly smiles, so I tugged Liam in with me.

"What's your name?" Blue hair called over, looking at Liam.

Liam looked around and at me and once he realized the boy was talking to him, he blushed slightly and looked down. I stood behind him, placing my hands on his shoulders. "It's okay Liam," I whispered.

He looked up at the boys and took a few steps forward. "I'm Liam, and this is Jonah," he said bravely and my heart soared with pride.

"Hey Liam," blue hair said, "I'm Seth and this is Corey. Those guys are Serena, Josie, Dez..." he looked around Corey, "Paul, Caleb, Jan...Sofia and Toby." 

Liam and I looked around the room at everyone, knowing there was no way we'd remember their names, but they all smiled and waved hello. "Guys, this is Liam and Jonah."

"Do you go to school here?" Corey asked.

"I'm starting in September and Liam hopefully in a few years," I explained.

"Are you an art student?" The girl, I think named Dez, called over.

I turned my head to the pretty dark haired girl, she was dressed in a purple bohemian style sundress. "No, I'm going into pre-med, Liam's the artist."

"Really," Seth said, "Cool. What do you do Liam?"

"I draw," he said barely above a whisper, pulling out his current sketch book. He passed it over to Seth, which blew my mind, and the whole group came over to look at it with Seth and Corey. They were all amazed, 'oohing' and 'ahing' over the different sketches.

"These are amazing," a girl in a pair of cut-off cargo pants said. She wore an orange tank top that matched her short spikey hair. Another girl leaned over her and kissed her ear causing the first one to turn around and give her a long kiss on the lips.

Some of the others showed Liam their own sketches and we ended up spending the next two hours with this group of people. Seth and Corey spent a fair amount of time making out and I watched Liam peek at them, sometimes blushing, but mostly he looked pleased. Like suddenly, he realized he was not all that different.

When it was starting to get late and I said we had to go, Seth and Corey asked us to come back and see them again, they told us what days they were usually around. We walked out as a group and some of them showed us their art pieces in the lobby gallery.

On the way back to our apartment Liam couldn't stop talking about the people he had met, how cool they were, how cool the Art Building was, "Did you see them...nobody cared when Seth was kissing Corey and those girls...the one was sitting in the other's lap. And I think those two blond boys were together too..."

"Caleb and Sofia were a couple too," I added, "they all just accept each other for who they are. That's what it's often like after you leave High School Li. Not everywhere of course, but you find the places where you fit in."

"Yeah...they were so cool!"

Aiden and Brett weren't home when we arrived at the apartment and had left a note that they wouldn't be home until late, so I made the two of us dinner which we ate while watching 'Game of Thrones' on Netflix. Later in the evening I sent Liam off to brush his teeth while I cleaned up the kitchen. When I joined him in bed, he was sitting against the headboard reading The Hunger Games.

"Today was a fun day," he said, not looking up.

"It was kiddo, thanks for coming with me." I flopped down on the bed, relaxing my head on the pillow and closing my eyes.

"So, I guess I'm going to go to U.C.L.A. too Jojo. It was pretty cool."

"That sounds like a great plan, Li. I'll be on the 8 year plan with med school, so we can hang out between classes."

"That'll be cool." 

I heard him toss the book on the night table and crawl down and over next to me. I lifted my arm so he could lay down on it, while I rolled onto my side to face him.

Before I had a chance to open my eyes I felt his small mouth press against mine, his lips kissing me and his small hand reach behind my head to pull me closer. I was stunned at first, my lips parting in surprise and he used this to his advantage, even further blowing my mind. I knew it was wrong, but it felt so good and I found myself kissing back. My first kiss and his first kiss. I heard a small whimper as he pressed closer into me, but after a little while, I slowly came to my senses. I loved Liam, I loved this kiss, but he wasn't ready for this...or what this could lead too. When we broke for air, I took his face in mine and held it back a few inches.

"That was amazing Li," I whispered. "Our first kiss." 

His small smile was accented with a blush. "But we're not ready for this." I caressed his face gently with my hands, I had to make sure he didn't take this the wrong way. "I promise you, I'll wait for you. You'll have my second kiss, my third kiss and every kiss after that. But until we're ready, we should keep things just like they've been. Okay, love?"

I watched his face closely, trying to read the expression in his eyes. I could see him thinking it over and then his mouth turned up into another small smile. 

"Okay...but I won't make you wait too long Jonah."

"There's no rush. I don't mind waiting as long as you need."

Liam tucked himself into my side and I kissed the top of his head. I reached over and turned off the light, then pulled him close rubbing soft circles into his back. "I love you Leelee."

"I love you Jojo."