Couple 1 Introduction

One can only hope in the fate of others.

The school field trip. The upperclassmen took it every year to the same exact place, which was the Cherry Blossom College. Hopefully the place the smarter kids would be getting into. Cherry Blossom was a small town near the border of Canada, in Washington. It rained nearly every day and the weather was cold, not to mention crisp. Cherry Blossom was a very esteem place, where most of their kids were well mannered and school orientated. Like I was.

I had been living in California for the most of my life. I grew up in Cherry Blossom but I barely remembered anything about it. When I was eight my father got a job in California and we moved. Then, Ten years later both my parents decided it would be a good idea to come back to Cherry Blossom. Though I wasn't quiet sure why. After all, all the students  may have been smart, but it was one of those towns who didn't take kindly to outsiders, specially people who had left, and then returned with no valid reason for it.

The Cherry Blossom College was a small portion of land on the outskirts of town. Not far from the high school. It had two large two story buildings split apart. One was the classes, the other were the office area's. Between them was the quad, and the cafeteria section. To me it seemed rather simple, but then again, not many got emitted to this so called elite school. Only those who took their studies seriously got in.

"Students stay in your respective groups and be sure to not leave the sight of your supervising teacher." The lead counselor yelled out to the small mass of kids. I wore the uniform like everyone else. The men wearing a dark blue button up shirt with a gray tie and gray pants. With your average, class of social workers, black shoes. I was away from the rest though, my respective group rejected me from the beginning on the bus when I had tried to talk to them. Not that I cared. The only thing I wanted to concentrate on, was my studies. My violet eyes followed them, two boys, and one girl with the exception of the lady professor.  "Let's make this field trip a blast" Man, was that guys voice annoying. I sighed and began to walk behind the group as we walked onto the campus.

"The first thing we'll be looking at is how large the classrooms are. Now you mustn't get in the college student's way, they are still taking classes while we are hear" Mrs.W told us. The woman was around twenty seven years old. Every day she showed up in a one piece dress, and the classic hooker heels. Wearing bright red lipstick to the max amount, don't even get me talking about her eye shadow. She was one of those girls who had a fling with one guy almost every night, but was still all broke about it in the morning. It had been a week since we moved and yet still she took her anger out on the class. I looked around for a moment as I glared over at one of the boys, who was whispering something to his buddy the girl giggling behind them.

"Hey River, why don't you go crying back to California, a big boy school like this will only swallow you and spit you out in pieces." He snickered. I sighed and scratched the back of my head. He wore the same uniform as me, but with dark brown short spiked hair, and green eyes. He was a few inches taller then me with a strong, worker like build. He was your average intimidating Jock, obsessed with Nfl football. His name, Kenton Black. After I ignored his insult, he scoffed and they returned their gaze towards the teacher continuing on.

The first place we stopped at was the library. A large section of the classes building with a high set place of books. It surprised me as to how many there were, dragging my hand over the spines of them all. I was tempted to grab  one and just start reading, but Kenton grabbed me by the collar and pinned me to the book case to my surprise. Making my lungs rid themselves of air for a quick moment as I scowled and clenched my fist. There wasn't much I could do against him, being smaller, and after all, his entire life he had probably been beating up outsiders straight into homeschooling. From observing his behaviors in the halls it wasn't surprising.

"Listen punk, you know your not welcome here, we know your not welcome here. So why are you still here. Why don't you run back to your family and go back to California. I don't care if you've lived here before or not, anyone who leaves Cherry Blossom has lost all respect for this town." His rancid breath made a shiver run down my spine as I lowered my face clenching my teeth down against my sharp canines. Situations like this made me nervous, I only just did what my parents told me, I was a good student I always got A's, but somehow there was something in the back of my mind that had always bothered me. The teacher called for us. He clicked his tongue in arrogance and annoyance. "Fine, if you won't listen to me, why don't you just stay in this library until the field trips over. Not like your going to go here anyway, they won't accept someone like you to this school. Not if you even bribed them with your rich family." My family wasn't rich, in fact, were an average  income household.

Like he had told me, I stayed in the library. Sitting down at one of the rectangular shaped wooden tables. The librarian didn't seem to mind. The old man just continued through his papers and on the computer. I sighed and set my head against the table, groaning as I heard a sound from the door. Walking through the double doors was a tall college student. Who looked to be some years older then me, he had blonde hair with bright blue eyes. A silver piercing at the top of his right ear. Wearing a uniform quiet like ours, just with a silver shirt and a blue tie, with blue pants instead of the other colors. He looked around for a bit and then a smile grew on his face as he went over to the librarian.

"Long time no see Mr.Takagan. Has the book I reserved come in yet? I'd love to read it as soon as possible." He said in a melodic tone, he seemed  almost, too happy. Yet then again, his appearance was something out of a fairy tail. A good looking man like that, he had probably dyed his hair. I observed him carefully as the librarian gave him a book. It looked to be a romance novel of some sort. A Japanese Manga to be more specific. He took a seat right in front of me before I could notice as a shiver ran up my spine and I looked away embarrassed slightly. He began flipping through the book with a smile on his face, for a few moment he was silent. "Your one of the Seniors aren't you. Why are you in the library?" He blurted it out as if it was a normal thing to ask someone.

"I...well. Wanted to stay in the library. There are so many books here." My voice cracked under the pressure. Being with a upperclassmen was so embarrassing, specially one that looked so good. My face flushed as my heart quickened its pace. Stupid! Why are you getting so nervous around someone you just met. I shook my head as he looked at me, suddenly placing his book down he stretched over and inspected me.

"Say. You look familiar." I looked up and met his eyes sparkling at me as I shivered up and down. My face blushed and turned red and got up.

"EXCUSE ME I MUST BE GOING" I yelled and took off towards the door. I heard the man yell for me, but I was already through the door, going after my group.

"I'm Home" I called as I entered the house. Today had been a long day when I thought about it. After I ran out of the library I had to explain to the school what had happened. Kenton ended up being punished, though it only made him hate me more obviously. I held a bag full of groceries my mother asked me to get for dinner tonight. I set it down on the table and instantly headed towards my bedroom up the stairs. This house was old, it was the same house we had lived in ten years ago. I could remember a few of its features. A two story house with an additional small attic. The bottom floor consisted of the living room, the kitchen, and my parents office. While all the bedrooms were up stairs. Three bedrooms two bathrooms. One in my parents rooms and one in the middle of the hall where  me and my younger sister had to share. My room was at the very end up the hall,  to the right. The wood floor  scraped against my shoes as I entered the room and took them off, setting them gently down on the table as I flopped down on my bed with a heavy sigh.

My  room was rather plain, not to mention small. The bed was long ways against the wall, right above was the window. Across from it was the desk, it had  enough space on it to hold a laptop and do my work, with a small lamp to boot. The closet was a long slide door closet, a few feet from the edge of my bed. A small white carpet covered part of the wooden  floor. The room was paint a deep green, and the curtains kept the room dark eating every source of light it could. The fan in the middle of the roof had an attaching light, the switch was near the door to the left of the closet.

My eyes followed the strange patterns on the roof as I closed my eyes to rest for a little bit. Until I heard the door bell ring. Who could be here right now? Where were my parents and sister anyway. As I sat up I yawned covering my mouth with my hand as I opened my door and ambled down the stairs. As the door bell rang again, "Alright, alright, I'm coming" I called out and placed my hand on the door handle. As I tugged it open, I saw the man from the library, the college  student. I blinked for a moment almost half thinking it was a joke. As  his face lit up and he came close to my face,  making my face turn red.

"So it was you. I thought it was, I'd know you anywhere River!" I laughed as he placed his hand on my head. I groaned a slight bit and looked at him. Who the hell did this guy think he was. I certainly had no idea who he was, and yet he knew who I was. I placed my hands on his wrist and removed his hand dropping it towards him.

"Excuse me?" I scoffed scowling at him. As he only chuckled and apparently,  invited himself in, as he stepped in pressing me back into the walk area. As he quietly shut the door behind him I raised an eyebrow. Great, did I just let a robber into my house? And one damn good looking one too. NO, I shouldn't be thinking about that. I may have been gay, but that didn't mean I looked at every single guy  that passed by. I shook my head lightly as he placed a  hand on my chin. I looked at him in surprise.

"Well I don't blame you for not remembering me, its been ten years after all. It's me Damon Knowles. Everyone calls me Deren though. I say River you've grown up to be quiet the looker, your eighteen now right. The girls must flock to you like crazy" He didn't exactly have everything right. I looked away for a moment and slapped his hand away.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember anyone called Damon, or Deren for that matter. You must have the  wrong River." I sneaked a peek at him. His gaze seemed surprised until it softened and he wrapped his arms around me, as he hugged me close. I became flustered as my heart sped up and I struggled against him. "W...What the hell man!" Though he over powered me easily and held me tight against my struggle. His scent, it was like fresh rain, as I narrowed my eyes and tried to calm my breathing, the touch seemed so familiar like from a long time ago.

"Aishiteru"

My eyes opened wide as I looked up at Deren, he smiled at me and released his grip. "Remember now?" He questioned. As I nearly hiccuped and covered my face with one of my hands in an embarrassing act. This was the guy I was best friends with when I was eight years old. He was around seven years older then me, but I had honestly been attracted to him since the beginning. Now he was older, I was older. I looked up at him flustered as Deren grabbed my hand and removed it from my face.

"YOU BLEACHED YOUR HAIR" I blurted out touching his head as he blinked at me. Deren's  natural hair color was brown. I remembered now. But this made for a more difficult situation. My life long crush had reentered my life, and now I was horribly confused about everything. As Deren chuckled and pulled my hands against his face, I breathed heavily and looked down. No, he was a guy, and I had liked him ten years ago, but this was now. Besides, it was a Seven year difference. It would make him feel like some sort of pedophile. "....would, you like me to make some coffee?" I asked shyly.

"Coffee would be great, I'll wait in the living room, then we can catch up on things, I haven't seen you in Ten years something exciting has to have happened." He rambled patting me on the back as he vanished to the right of the stairs through the opening into the living room. From the tip of my vision he sat on the couch and turned on the tv. I looked away and took a deep breath moving into the kitchen to make some Coffee.

Deren was fifteen when we met, my dad was the one who introduced us. He was the son of a friend and someone who was very close to me. Even though I was young, I was smart enough to understand what couples did and such. At the time I had a crush to admire the older man. Though that didn't make this less creepy. After we moved, I had been obsessed with being able to date him when I got older. Middle school was hell after one of the students spilled that I was attracted to men instead of women.  I was bragged by names, and bullied to no tomorrow. Eventually I went into a deep depression and was pulled into homeschooling. All through school up until this year. Where my father decided it would be  a good thing for me  to return and study here. He told me that Cherry Blossom had been a very gay friendly environment from the start. It surprised me that my family didn't mind me being attracted to men. In fact my younger sister seemed thrilled to have a gay brother. And now I had to run into him here and now, and it was making my feelings sky rocket. I couldn't possibly be in love with him, I knew nothing about him, or his life.

I stepped into the living room and handed him a cup of Coffee. "Here." I said and sat  down on the other  couch away from him. I sipped on my own cup and looked away. His presence made me uneasy, was it sad that I wanted him to touch me? To kiss me? Just wanted to make sure that these feelings were still the same ones from Ten years ago, which seemed, rather unrealistic. Like something out of a Manga. I shyly sat legs pushed together as Deren drank his coffee, and turned off  the tv facing towards me.

"So, how've you been?" His voice was soft, comforting, like an  angel.

"Okay....its  been a while since I've been able to go to a public school." I mused.

"Really? You were the social butterfly when you were eight, what happened?"

"Middle school kids in California didn't like me because I was different. My parents pulled me out before I got hurt. Though with homeschooling I still went twice a week. Plenty of girls asked me out."

"Not surprising with your looks, so, did you fall in love with any of them?"

"...No." I looked away my face red. "I rejected all of them"

"Whyyyy?" Deren exclaimed. I glared at him.

"Maybe I just wasn't interested" Deren blinked at my sudden attitude. As he placed his hand on my head.

"Are you alright, your face is all red." He came closer to me as I recoiled my face blushing. He was too close, too close. I shut my eyes expecting something to happen when I heard the door open and the voices of my family come into play.

"RIVER sorry we're late, we had  to go to Kate's school for  something" I jumped away from Deren as he stood up. My father the first to enter  the room.

"Ohh...Hi dad" I laughed and waved at him. "You remember Damon don't you?" I said. Well, wasn't that just way too good timing?

The situation made me uneasy, the entire time I ended up hiding in the Kitchen distracting myself by cooking dinner. Kate, my younger sister, sat at the table on her cell phone. As I lied out some snacks for her, mainly celery sticks. I wiped my hands on my apron and looked down as Kate lifted her head. "Brother, vegetables are boiling over" I looked over and the pot was over flowing with water. I cursed under my breath and turned off the gas quickly with a sigh. Putting on the mitten I opened the oven and pulled out the chicken. I turned off the gas on the gravy as well and turned off the fan turning around and leaning against the counters as I let a deep breath escape my throat. Honestly, what was I doing today. Kate brushed back her long blonde hair. "I'm going to go talk with mom and dad about the play I was invited to. They seem too distracted by Damon. And it certainly seems to bother you." She stood up and I looked at her.

"Wait, who said it bothered me." I objected grabbing her wrist. The teen turned around and glared at me.

"I watch too much Yaoi to know what's going on. You like him, but you don't think it's right because he's your childhood friend and he's older. But trust me, the last thing I need is a gay brother who has 'boyfriend' problems." I went to object but before I could she slipped through and vanished around the corner. Flustered, I dragged my hand through my hair my violet eyes looking at the wooden floor. At my apron mostly. Just thinking about it gave me a headache. I turned and walked towards the fridge, opening it I pulled out a Dr.Pepper and opened it. Drinking it as I turned Deren was standing in the doorway smiling at me.

"You finish dinner already. Man, your amazing at this" Was this some kind of sick joke to him? I looked away my eyes glistening with tears I tried to hold back. Setting the soda can on the table I delicately felt the ring with my soft fingers. The sharp metal poking into my skin. Making a clinking noise. As Deren tore a piece of the chicken off.

"Hey, wait a minute, you aren't supposed to eat yet" I stumbled on my feet over towards him and fell into his chest. Before I knew it, he was looking at me blinking. My face turned red as my heart rate quickened its pace. My hands against his chest, he felt so warm. All I wanted was for him to touch me, something I had longed for, lusted for, and yet somehow it felt wrong. Deren placed the chicken down before eating it, and placed his hands through my hair on my head. I gasped and recoiled, as his hands slipped through, he grabbed my wrist.

"Hey.....are you alright"

"I...IM PERFECTLY FINE" I yelped as I felt his grip tighten. He turned me around, and his face was close to mine. I could feel him breathing, his lips almost touching mine as I shyly grabbed onto the front of his shirt, shivering. I closed my eyes as he pressed his lips against mine, the sweet scent of fresh rain wafting over me from him. As I felt as if I was going to faint, my head throbbed, and all I could do was surrender. Until when he let go I finally pushed him off me. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" I exclaimed wiping my lips against my sleeve. No....I wanted it to stay. I looked at him with a menacing glare.

"What did it look like, I kissed you" Deren placed his thumb against the edge of his mouth, he flicked it, as I growled.

"That's sexual harassment, leave now!" I pointed towards the exit. As he looked at me with an angry face. Well what else did he expect me to do, I couldn't just give into him, it wasn't like me not at all.

"What about your parents? How are you going to explain the reason why you kicked me out of their house." He questioned authoritatively. No, I wanted him to stay, I wanted  him, his body, his curves all of it. But, I was afraid, I was afraid not being able to let go, I clamped my fists  shut. As I looked at the ground, my heart  wouldn't stop beating, and my body wouldn't stop shaking. Sweat ran down from my face. What the hell was this feeling, I didn't like it, it was lustful. Deren let out a heavy sigh and I looked up at him as he turned around. "Fine, I'll leave, I see I've over stayed my welcome." He went to leave, I went to chase after him but stopped myself. no.....don't leave me I thought as I covered my face with my hand. Deren slipped a piece of paper on the table. "There's my number, text me if you need anything" Then, he was gone. He  grabbed his coat and left. I slide down the wall and hugged my knee's to my chest, but only for a moment as I aimlessly stood up and entered the living room.

"Dinners ready, serve yourself.  Deren went home, said he didn't want to stay too late. I  have a test to study for so I'll be in my room" I removed myself from the scene and placed myself at my desk with my laptop in my room. Placing my head against the table, as I looked at the number he had left for me on the kitchen table. I then pulled out my phone, and added him as a contact, but I didn't do anything else. I threw my phone on the desk and groaned leaning back in the chair. As I pulled my hand over my hot forehead, moving strands of hair away.

When he kissed me, it had only confirmed my selfish  feelings. That I loved him, that I wanted him all to myself. Who would think that at eight years old, and then meeting him again Ten years later when I was eighteen would I fall for him. He has such a beautiful face, it was hard to believe. Then again, the girls always complained that all the good guys were gay, taken, or fictional. It was logical....that he was all three. At his age, he probably had a boyfriend, or a girlfriend. Or even better yet, I was dreaming all of this and I was torturing myself for some reason. It wasn't like I had some awful burden. Sure I was bullied for being gay, but it wasn't anything to be depressed over right? I looked at my phone. Maybe I really should call him? Or maybe....text him? No, I was tired. Tomorrow was Saturday so I could sleep in, sleep was the main thing I needed, specially after this night.

Author's Note

What do you do when a past lover shows up? Critique welcome. Specially with grammar I need to work on that.

Reviews

[Harrisen Viator]

Very well written so far, I have a few grammatical errors, but other than that it's not bad.
Paragraph 9: you spelled "quiet" instead of quite.
Paragraph 14: I don't know, but this sentence looks a little weird to me, might want to see about revising it, although it could just be me, "One in my parents rooms and one in the middle of the hall where me and my younger sister had to share."
Paragraph 15: *painted "The room was paint a deep green, and the curtains kept the room dark eating every source of light it could."
Paragraph 16: I'm not sure that you need this sentence, "Where were my parents and sister anyway."
Paragraph 17: I'm not sure why this sentence is there. "I laughed as he placed his hand on my head." Because River seems annoyed and bewildered at why the dude is there, I'm sure that if he put his hand on your head it would be a bit shocking, don't you think?
Paragraph 18: "And one damn good looking one too." put a comma before too
Paragraph 19: "I say River you've grown up to be quiet the looker, your eighteen now right." *quite
Paragraph 24: "In fact my younger sister seemed thrilled to have a gay brother." Place a comma after 'in fact'
Paragraph 37: (I included the mini paragraph dialogues as paragraphs): "As I lied out some snacks for her, mainly celery sticks. I wiped my hands on my apron and looked down as Kate lifted her head. "Brother, vegetables are boiling over" I looked over and the pot was over flowing with water."
I'm sure that you would be able to convert this into one sentence, because I feel like it would flow better that way.
Paragraph 39: "I turned and walked towards the fridge, opening it I pulled out a Dr.Pepper and opened it." I'm from Texas, so here's something I don't know if you already knew, but Dr Pepper has no period after the Dr.
Paragraph 46: " I slide down the wall and hugged my knee's to my chest," I think you meant 'slid'
Last paragraph: "Sure I was bullied for being gay" Comma after 'Sure'

Those are just grammatical errors that I saw, and I didn't mention it, but I did notice there is no punctuation when you have dialogue.
Other than that I thought it was very well written, and I'd love to continue reading it!

[Rivaxorus]

Thanks for pointing those out ^w^ I'll get right on editing them when I can, I'm just super tired and hungry right now.

[Astro]

Well Seimei, I'm sorry I have taken this long to read this piece. It is a really good narrative, and I commend you on taking the point of view of a gay male as your protagonist. Unfortunately, like earlier pieces I've read of yours there are some issues with grammar, the "then" instead of "than's" and verb tenses that are a bit off, " I slide down the wall and hugged my knee's to my chest" and some mis-uses of words like in 'emitted' in this sentence, " not many got emitted to this so called elite school." which should have been 'admitted'. The beginning is far to close to Stephanie Meyers town of Forks unfortunately, and the young love scenes are far too reminiscent of scenes from 'Twilight', but setting aside, you could still have a really good story with these characters and their 'alternative' relationships. One thing I would say though, is that the emotion of your piece made me gag less than Stephanie Meyers descriptions did, and that's a good thing. Keep it up.

[Rivaxorus]

Really? I've read the twilight books before, but I didn't reference them for any of my romance things O.o Thanks for the grammar stuff though. I need to work on that badly.

[Astro]

I wasn't saying that you referenced the Twilight books, just that there are some eerily close similarities, that might hinder you in getting this story published. Maybe I'm wrong but, in 'Twilight' the town of Forks is in the northwest of the US, just like your story, the Bella character lived there then moved away and then moved back, the Jacob character and Edward Character surprise Bella at home. Those similarities you might want to tweak a little bit that's all. As I said earlier I thought the majority of it was great, you are really coming along in your narrative ability.

[Rivaxorus]

Oh okay xD I mainly just had the location near canada because of later on in the plot they take a trip there and the main character wants to move there....but yeah ^w^