Chapter 28: Forgotten Worries

Forgotten Worries


“So whose this dude?” David asked me from over the chain link fence. Tom and I had been sitting in my back yard in the afternoon, and David and John, his little brother, had just gotten home from somewhere.

“This is Tom. Remember I told you I was going to have someone staying here over the summer?”

“Oh yeah. Aren’t you from England?”

“Yeah.” Tom spoke up, his voice soft, his gaze friendly. “No where near London though. That’s the only place that people over here know about. London.”

“Ah. I’ve never been to England. Hey John! Get your ass over here. Charlie, too!” David yelled over to his brother and friends.

“Ooh, Storm, can I play your guitar?” Charlie asked, limping over. He had knee surgery earlier in the year, and was still recovering.

“I don’t feel like going in to get it. Later?” I answered Charlie. He nodded. “Hey, do you guys all want to do something? We’re really bored. We were thinking about either going to a movie or going to play Laser Quest up in Greece.”

“Laser Quest?” Dave asked, interest sparking in his eyes. I nodded excitedly.

“You know. I had a birthday party there a long time ago. You hook yourself up to a vest, you get a gun, and you shoot at people?”

“Oh! Yeah!” Dave said. “How much does it cost? And how would we get there? Charlie, Adam and Paco are all staying for the night.”

“Um, it costs I think seven dollars for one game, or twelve for two games. I called them earlier. They’re open until eight, so we definitely have some time for two rounds. I was going to invite Kaley, but she’s out with her boyfriend.”

“Colin?” Dave asked. I nodded. “Here, let me go ask my mom.”

“Dave?” I yelled after him. “Ask your mom if she can take you guys. I can’t fit seven people in my truck.”

“Alright!” He yelled back. I looked around me with grim satisfaction. If Roger had been around, he would have probably tried to kill all of the boys surrounding me. Oh well. It was four days since I last heard from him, and I knew he wasn’t physically hurt. Which meant he was just ignoring me to piss me off.

“Guitar?” Charlie asked me hopefully. I shook my head.

“I don’t want to go all the way upstairs and grab my guitar when you’ll probably only be able to play it for a few minutes. When we get back here. Oh, are all of you okay with going to Laser Quest?” I asked them belatedly. I had assumed, and was correct in assuming that they all thought it was an awesome idea.

“Hey Storm, you mentioned you knew someone who owned a recording studio?” Paco asked me. I nodded. He was a decent guitarist, and had a band with Adam, Charlie, and another person. They had been wanting to get recorded for some time, and I told them I’d give them the contact information.

“Its somewhere on the east side of the city, but I’m sure they’d give you a discount because they know me. Well, either way, Terry’s a really nice guy. He doesn’t creep me out like some people.”

“Stop talking about my brother!” John snickered. I raised my eyebrow at him.

“Maybe I was talking about you, you little runt.” I said. He leaned against the fence, a superior and smug smile spreading across his face.

“I’m taller than you. Remember?”

“Sure. But I’m still smarter than you.” I said, equally smug.

“How’s the boyfriend doing?” John asked me. I shrugged, trying not to allow my face to turn dark and annoyed.

“I wouldn’t know. Haven’t spoken to him in four days. So he’s either in jail, injured, dead, sick, or most likely, just pissed off because I have a male,” I gestured to Tom, “staying at my house for two weeks. He hates other males.”

“Hey, does he hate me?” John asked. I nodded, being honest.

“Anything that has a penis, he’s jealous of and wants to hurt.”

“Even Sam?”

“Even the dog.”

“I personally wouldn’t put up with that.” Tom spoke quietly, and I shrugged.

“Normally he’s not this bad. But then again, normal is riding in a car with a boy, or speaking to them at school. Its not like I put up with it. I don’t encourage it. Most of the time, its cute. Not retarded like this.”

“Mom said we can go, and asked what time!” Dave shouted from his back porch.

“We can go right now, if you want!” I yelled back. “Doesn’t make a difference to me.” I lowered my voice. “I should probably go make sure that it’s alright with my mother, though.”

“You mentioned it earlier, didn’t you?” Tom asked me. I was used to his accent by now, and the others stared at him blankly.

“Translation: You mentioned it earlier, didn’t you?” I said to Paco and Charlie. Understanding dawned upon their faces. “And yes, I think I told her that we were going to go up to laser quest today sometime.”

“What about Steve and Christy?” Tom asked. “Didn’t you want to bring them?”

“Ah, never mind about them. They didn’t pick up their phones, so they’re probably busy anyway.”

“Mom said get over here and into the van!” Dave yelled.

“Tom and I will be there in a second!” I yelled back.

“You ready for this?” I asked Tom as we walked towards the house. “You ever played laser tag before?”

“Nope. Just paint ball. And we played some wicked games with BB guns last year. I still have a scar on my knee from where one of them went in.”

“Ouch.” I slid the screen door open and walked inside, the dogs jumping on me as usual. Surprisingly, they had gotten along well with Tom, settling right away into the idea that he was going to be staying at the house.

“Mom! Dave and John’s mom is going to take us all to Laser Quest for the evening because they have a van and I only have my truck!” I yelled into the living room seconds before I walked in. She looked up from the newspaper.

“That’s fine, Storm. Do you have money?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know how much it costs and when it closes and stuff?” She asked, concern lining her face. Anyone – including myself – would love my mother. She made sure that I had money, and would have offered if I didn’t.

“Already checked it out earlier today.”

“What about dinner?”

“That pizza place is right across the street. We can always eat when we get home, too. And there’s Wegmans, for pizza as well.”

“Okay. Have fun.”

“We will.”

“When will you be home?” She asked, returning her attention to the coupons in the newspaper.

“Probably around eight or nine. I have my cell, so I’ll call you if we’re going to be late.”

“Fine with me. We’ll leave a note if we go out anywhere.” She looked across the room briefly, to my father asleep in the reclining chair. “Right now he’s taking a nap.”

I headed upstairs to grab my wallet and my cell phone. In vain, because I knew in reality there wasn’t going to be any missed calls on it, I checked the display. Nothing. Maybe it was Roger’s way of breaking up with me? Well, no. He had been gone longer than four days before. Seventeen was the biggest amount of time he had left while I had known him well. That wasn’t really his fault. He had lost his phone and got stuck on a work crew away from home. Then he found his phone and the battery was dead. Or something like that. Seventeen days? That was hell. I could handle four or five.

I headed back downstairs, Roger still on my mind. I was over the worst of the pain, so to speak. There was a certain rhythm to missing someone, one I had figured out. Day one, everything’s alright. Day two and three are the worst, and then four and five it starts getting better. You start wondering if they’re dead around day seven or eight, and then it just kind of numbs out into being pissed off at them after that. Of course, you cry about every other night, but during the day, as long as you’re surrounded by others who are engaging you in conversation, its alright.

“You ready?” I asked Tom. He nodded. I looked him over and shook my head. “You might want to change. Its mostly black lights in there, and your white shirt is going to stick out like a sore thumb. I’m in all black.”

“You’re always in all black.” Tom commented. I nodded. He was right. Black suited me – you didn’t have to color coordinate, and baggy clothing made it harder for people to hit on you. Unfortunately, I still got a few rude bastards eyeing me. Biking was the worst – you had to dress light.

“This work?” He asked me, pulling a black shirt out from one of his suitcases. I nodded.

“It should.”

I waited patiently for him to strip. To his favor, he had a six pack of abs, but that may have just been because he was so damn thin. It was like they never ate over in England. Well, no. He ate a lot here. He just had a fast metabolism. Like my father. He threw the shirt on and grinned at me. Another point to his favor – he was kind of cute. In a short and scrawny guy sort of way.

Tom wasn’t at all what I expected, I decided as we walked out the screen door and into the backyard. The dogs whined behind the door, but I couldn’t go back and let them out because then they’d try to get through the fence to the neighbors’ yard. Tom was very shy in ‘real life’, and fun to be around. He made a good friend, and despite Roger’s absence, I was beginning to enjoy myself. We swam, we watched TV, it was like having an older brother around minus all of the fighting over who got what. Even my dad seemed to like him, which was odd. I really hoped my parents didn’t think Tom and I were secretly dating.

I made sure Tom shut the gate behind us, and I walked up to my neighbor’s back porch. They were like my other brothers, and I generally approached their back porch to get into their house. Usually it was easier for them as well, their mom was always in the kitchen, in the back of the house.

Seeing the boys lined up in the kitchen for something or another, I just opened the door and walked in with Tom in tow behind me.

“Hey everyone. We’re here.” I announced unnecessarily. Our arrival was heralded by Dave and John’s dog, Lassie. No, I’m not fucking with you. They named their dog Lassie.

“Go to the van.” Dave’s mom suggested to all of us. Dave led the way through the narrow hallway and out the door. His mom asked me to wait a moment.

“You’re in charge of all of these guys, okay? Make sure they all stay together.” His mom said to me.

“Yup. What time are you coming to pick us up?”

“Eight thirty. Be outside of Laser Quest by then. Media Play is right by there, so you guys can shop around after Laser Quest closes, for a little bit.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I agreed. I followed Tom out the door. He had been waiting patiently for me. He apparently didn’t feel completely comfortable among the boys yet.

“Hear that?” I asked him, my tone serious. “I’m in charge of you.”

He laughed at me as we walked out the door. “Bollocks.”


“Okay, cadets.” The man announced from where he was standing. It was an hour later, and we were in the ‘briefing’ room for Laser Quest. “Y’all need to repeat after me. I will not run, jump, sit or kneel!

Everyone shouted after him, no enthusiasm in their voices.

“I want more than enthusiasm than that. Next rule: I will not run!”

“I will not run!” Everyone shouted, a little bit louder.

“I will not cover my sensors!” He shouted, and everyone repeated him, some more quietly than others.

“And the final rule: If I am in trouble I will shoot my laser up into the air and scream ‘Ranger Ranger’ and stay still until help comes.”

Everyone shouted the final rule and the person in charge nodded in approval. I looked at the group of people standing around me. Everyone had the dumbest looking lighted vests on, with guns attached via cord to the vests, holsters on the left.

“Get ready…get set…go! You have ten seconds to find a place to hide!” The garage sized door leading to the play arena opened slowly and all of the people filed out. We were actually a small group in the area. There were at least fifteen other people playing in this round.

“Are we sticking together?” I asked Tom as we made our way through the maze. I was showing him a spot I had found last time I was at Laser Quest. It was hard to remember exactly where we had been, but it was the best spot on the second floor because you could see most of the playing arena, and get a lot of sniping shots, instead of being the victim.

“Sure, why not. For a little while.” He shouted to me. Our lasers made a funny beeping noise, and then lit up. The game had begun, and I took my first shot at the person standing in front of me, oblivious to what was going on. Score.