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Face brushed by rising steam, Jordan stirred the contents of the pot with caution. The red-hot coils of the stove made his eyes twitch, as he thought of what would happen if his hand slipped.....Of course, in that way, he was more scared for clumsy little Riley than for himself, but apparently his friend had experience.
"Are you sure you trust me?" He glanced over his shoulder, only to get an equally-matched reply.
"Are you saying you're not trustworthy? It scares me a bit," Riley noted, standing on his toes to reach something high up in a mauve, wooden cabinet.
"No, but people have always argued with different opinions."
"Uum, Jordan? Some help please?" Riley failed to grasp the salad spinner high above his head. His face blushed from a combination of embarrassment and frustration and struggle. He somehow managed to laugh at his small build.
"Sure," Jordan abandoned his post before the stove to walk over to the cabinets. He wrapped his arm around Riley's tiny waist, gripping him as softly as he could. He then lifted the weight upward, raising him to a nice height. He could see the heat rising in the confused face above, not related to the stove this time, and added, "You wanted help."
"Well, that wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it worked." Riley returned to the organized mess of vegetables to his right; throwing the contents into the spinner.
In the refridgerator was a wide arrangement of dressings, yet a spark lit up in Riley's mind at the glance of his unfinished bottle of Ramune, "Shoot!" He proclaimed.
He dashed alongside Jordan, swinging open the cupboard. In the corner he found what he had been looking for and retrieved the pill bottle, "What?" He noticed Jordan's questioning face.
"What is that for?" Jordan moved around, hoping to see what exactly Riley was doing.
"My thyroid medication. Didn't I ever tell you about that? Anyway, I have hypo-thyroidism. It isn't anything serious; it basically means my metabolism is all out of whack." He gave Jordan a reassuring smiling, then gulfed the violin shaped pill down with the last of his Ramune.
"And suprisingly, I didn't know that, did I?" He was always glad to nose his way into other people's business. He resumed his position near the boiling noodles and quaint vegetables.
"You've got enough problems, besides, I told you it wasn't anything serious." Riley mindlessly grabbed the spoon out of Jordan's hand, plucking out a noodle and swallowing it. He seemed to be in a far greater mood than the days prior.
Jordan's face seemed to say 'Okay...that's odd....' as he gave Riley a look of befuddled confusion. He then noticed one of his noodles had been consumed. "HEY!" Smacking Riley's hand away, he declared, "No eating until it's done."
"Neh, it's a chef's puragotive." Riley shrugged; taking his hand back, stroking it gently. "Anyway, we're done for now. We just have to wait until she shows up, so we can re-heat everything. Suppose we should clean up, huh? Pick a color: red or blue?" He looked up with a small grin upon his face.
"What are you up to? I know that face." Jordan returned the smile.
"Just pick!" The small figure became slightly excited, swinging side to side.
"Ehmm.....blue..??" Jordan mumbled, looking around to make sure nothing was going to jump out at him.
"Okay!" Riley declared, pulling Jordan abruptly. He came to a halt in front of a closet, and swung the stiff door open.
"WHOA! I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore! Kimonos....??" The grimace suddenly slid off his face as he searched for the right term, "They are kimonos, right? And don't tell me..." He was interrupted when the pieces slowly came into place. "No way." was all that came out.
"Uh-huh! Come, they're only yukatas. I could put you in a montsuki. Please? It's a tradition; me and Daddy wear one whenever we have guests or some celebration." Riley began to plea. "You can wear a different one if you wish, just not the dragon one. That one's sacred." He added with a slight giggle.
"I almost don't want to ask. Sacred?" Jordan had already realized there was no escape.
"Uh-huh. It used to be Brian's, he wore it on his twenty-first birthday... Brian's dead now. He's Jeremy's older brother." Riley's voice trailed.
"Oh, I see." It was clearly the wrong question. Hopefully ditching the subject would keep the mood light. "When are we going to....put them on?" Jordan sighed, waiting for an answer.
"Now!" Riley tossed his friend the blue crane infested silk. "Here you can have the black obi! You can dress in this bathroom or mine, whichever you choose. I'll take the other." He waited for a reply.
"I'll take this one." Jordan walked no more than twenty paces from the closet and dissapeared behind the door.
Exactly seven minutes and twenty seconds later, he appeared to have had a little trouble. Riley was standing outside he door, giggling as Jordan appeared, satin cloth draped over places it shouldn't.
"Do you need a little help?" The giggling was reduced to a dull chuckle. The overly-pathetic and confused look plastered on Jordan's face seemed to answer the question itself.
"I think I need a lot of help." He pulled Riley into the small bathroom, leaving the door ajar.
"Oh, this is too funny. Here. First of all, you're not atttending a funeral!" He "untied" the obi and retucked Jordan's collar into is proper position. "Now then, this is how you tie an obi! Put your arms out to your sides." Riley leaned in slightly, raveling the enormous cloth around and around his friend's waist. "Okay, turn around." He waited for Jordan to turn, then continud to tie the obi, smacking the knot when he had finished. "Whew! There! My turn!" He giggled, picking out an ensemble for himself and flying into a near-by room.
Still in the bathroom, Jordan stared at himself in the mirror, sighing as he noticed how much he felt like he was wearing a dress. He walked out, gently shutting the door behind him, and stood silently, waiting for Riley, not wanting to go any farther in fear of walking in on him, as he was not sure exactly where he had decided to change.
A scream and clash could be heard from a room two doors down. Jordan raced into to see Riley in the proccess of tying his obi, curled into a ball in the corner of the Japanese-inspired room.
There was mixture of questions and shock in his voice as Jordan hurried to Riley's side. He wrapped his arms around the little ball known to be clumsy, and noticed the shards of glass on the floor. He had noticed only seconds too late, and a drop of blood formed on his heel as he bent to comfort Riley. "Ack!" He was now aware of the other shards of glass around them and that Riley was trembling, "What happened?"
"Who are you?!" A woman shrieked from the other side of the room. She threatened, stepping closer to the boys, with a hint of maliciousness in her eyes.
"Momma, don't!"
The fearful eyes of Riley met with those of his mother, shrouded with angst and anguish. The bond broke, and their eyes parted like waves at sea.
So this is the lady we're supposed to spend a whole evening with. She seems just divine. The sarcasm flowed through Jordan's thoughts, as he struggled to make up his mind as to what to do. He stayed, still on his knees, Riley next to him, until he felt the cold eyes on his.
Riley gathered his remaining articles and flew out of the room, leaving Jordan with her. "What's the matter with you?! Do as you told! I asked you a question, now ANSWER ME!"
The breath was knocked straight from Jordan's chest at the notion he was alone again. He stammered before replying, "Uh...I'm Riley's friend. Jordan. Riley asked me to join you here tonight." Why should I tell you though, really!?
"He asked you to come tonight did he? I wonder why that may be, hmm?" She loomed over him, her hand cupping his chin in the hopes of seeing the rising fear in his face. She became slightly disappointed with the defiant expression she recieved and drew her hand back, "WRETCH!"
As the blood rushed to the side of his face where her hand came in contact with Jordan's face, turning his cheek a dark rose colour. "Don't think you can defile me so easily!" He stood up, a tear raining down and trickling past the stinging flesh. "SERIOUSLY! You can't expect your own flesh and blood to be okay with YOU!" He roared in clear agony.
"How DARE YOU speak to ME in such a manner? Who do you believe yourself to be?! A messiah?!" Jordan waited for another slap of the hand, ready to defend himself yet again, but she suddenly lost balance and rolled to the ground.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Riley stood, face turning a vivid red, in the doorway. Jordan stared in shock, he had never heard Riley yell like that.
"Well, well, look who has finally produced a back bone. I congratualte you on the factor, yet... On the other hand..." Judith rose to her feet, smirking as she enclosed her once-son.
Fear shook Riley to the point where it became visible to the naked eye, fear locked down every nerve in his mind as he stood drowning in the stuffy atmosphere.
Jordan raced over to cover him, hesitating before putting his hands up in defense. As she approached them, they heard a metallic sound from the front door. Or at least Jordan did. He whipped his head around as someone walked in the door, staring in awe at the scene.
Ran stood, terrified for she had not been warned of Judith's visit. She immediately turned and ran as fast as she could, anywhere to get her away from the mess. Jordan could her her crying, screaming into the kitchen phone for Jeremy to pick up his cell phone.
Judith payed no attention to the girl or her pleas, she merely advanced her march towards the boys.
Riley obviously couldn't speak, and Jordan had no clue who the girl was. Okay, he had half a clue, but he didn't know what to do.
"What exacly do you want? Why are you here if you despise them so much!" Jordan almost spat the words. She continued to loom over them, taunting.
"What do I want? I think Riley knows. Tell me, dear." Her voice turned sickly sweet as she notioned for someone to answer.
"Neh?! Uuh..." Riley snapped from his haze; tears pooled over from the mixed emotions. He knew nothing of what his mother expected from him. He feared the truth would seek it's way out.
Jordan let his guard own slightly to hear the answer, turning to face his friend.
"Oh, dear me, I guess he doesn't know. The very reason disowned him! I advise you to do the same!" She sneered, grabbing Jordan's shoulder.
"Why would I! In fact, he's the very person I care about most! I see absoluely NO reason why you shouldn't! Not one!" The roaring continued.
Riley simply broke down, fell to his knees and wept like a child. "STOP IT! Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop IT!" He took a tight hold around his ears, desperatley trying to drown out the arguing. He couldn't bear to hear it. He believed his delicate little heart to break right at it's core. The emotional stress formed into physical pain in his chest, as he clutched it; where his heart was.
Jordan left his position to calm Riley; gently taking the sobbing being into his arms, rocking to and fro. "Shhhhh....shhhhh." While whispering, he raised his head to eye Judith, the satisfaction radiating from her face. Sickening.... he thought.
"Are you happy now?" he said. That was actually supposed to stay in his head, but it must've escaped with his last breath. He pulled Riley closer, stroking the wimpering child-like boy. Slowly closing the clenched eyelids, he wiped the tears from Riley's cheeks with his hand.
 pixelated - parfait · Mon Jan 15, 2007 @ 07:26pm · 0 Comments |
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