Changes - Part 2.2
Changes
Part 2.2
by Dego
Author's Note: This is a very long story about a fox. If you're not interested in sitting in for the long run, don't read it and don't give me a bad vote. The story is split into 10 sections and numbered 2.0, 2.1, 2.2... and so on. Part 1 may be read from my profile or searched. Generally, I will post a new section each day, but specifics about this can be read in my journal. Please enjoy.
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Jack and Charlie gathered their school supplies from upstairs and left for the bus stop a little after Charlie's dad had left for work and his mom left to go shopping. They walked to the bus stop mostly in silence, since they had already said a lot of what they wanted to say to each other. Charlie got on first once the bus arrived, then felt his heart sink. He caught eyes with Lucas, the tiger that had revealed his secrets to Charlie: his bisexuality and family problems because of it. Charlie didn't know what to do; he waved nervously as he passed Lucas heading for the two empty seats a couple rows back. Lucas looked crushed, which hurt Charlie as well. The fox took the window seat on the left, and Jack followed him into the seat beside Charlie. Charlie looked at the floor as the bus rolled away until Jack said, "What's wrong? Was it that tiger with the pained look?" Jack imitated Lucas's puppy dog eyes of sadness, and, being a puppy, forced a cruel laugh out of Charlie.
"No, stop it!" Charlie said as he forced himself to stop laughing. "I think I really hurt his feelings."
"Oh." Jack realized, then stopped mocking the tiger. He looked ahead over the seats in front to see if he could spot Lucas.
Charlie paused a moment while Jack searched, then asked "Do you... Do you mind if I go apologize to him?"
Jack looked down at Charlie. "No, no, not at all."
Charlie got up and squeezed past Jack into the aisle, where he crouched down and quickly moved up to Lucas's row to avoid detection by the bus driver who would have yelled at him for getting out of his seat while the bus was moving.
Charlie swung around the seat to sit next to Lucas, who turned around in surprise as Charlie settled in.
"Wha, what? What's your problem?" Lucas asked.
"I wanted to apologize." Charlie said firmly. "It's not that I don't like you, I've just... found someone. I sit with him now."
"I... uh... oh." Lucas slumped his shoulders and sat back in his seat. Charlie smiled apologetically, then leaned forward and licked the tiger on the nose as an apology. That made him blush, but before he could respond Charlie had slipped out of the seat and already started down the aisle.
He sat in the aisle seat next to Jack, who had scooted to the window seat, and said, "It should be ok now. I apologized."
Cryptically, Jack replied "Mmhmm," then turned to look out the window.
Charlie wondered if that was it. Jack was staring out the window, so Charlie faced forward and was silent. He wondered if Jack had seen the apology and felt jealous. Had he just cheated? He stewed in guilt and was almost at a breaking point of saying something to Jack when he felt a little tap on his leg. He looked down to see Jack's paw resting on his leg, palm up. Charlie looked up at the akita, who was smiling at the fox. Charlie grinned as understanding dawned on him; he reached over and took hold of Jack's paw, then rested their paws in the crease between Charlie's right leg and Jack's left. Charlie grinned a huge smile as he looked at the connection, then pondered a question: "Does this mean we're dating? Boyfriends?" The fox looked up at Jack, who seemed to immediately sense Charlie's question. "We're a couple, aren't we?" he said quietly.
"Yes." Charlie whispered, then smiled.
The bus arrived at Northledge, Charlie's junior high, and the furs siphoned off the bus like wine out of the bottle. Charlie and Jack's lockers were both upstairs, pretty close to each other, so they took the same route to get there. The pair decided to be fearless, and held paws all the way there. Some furs curled their lips in disgust, some nodded and gave a thumbs-up, and others were just indifferent or didn't notice.
All except for one.
Charlie and Jack walked upstairs together, and right as they reached the top of the stairs one certain otter caught a glimpse of the pair as he was heading to his locker. He looked appalled, yelled out "what the hell!?" then rushed over and smashed down on the fox and akita's clasped paws. The impact forced them to separate and look at the fuming otter standing in front of them. It was Ethan, the sophomore from Charlie's theater class.
Ethan was an anti-gay.