Title: Valentine

Author: Lia

Rating: R or NC-17

Summary: A simple first date on Valentine’s Day turns into something more.

Warning(s): Possible explicit sexual content and mentions of child abuse.

Disclaimer: None needed. I own it all.

Note(s): This was supposed to be my Valentine’s Day 2004 story but the computer ate the file and I lost the disk. Yesterday I was cleaning and guess what I found under my bed!

It all started in the cafeteria at Brookdale Highschool on the Tuesday before Valentine’s Day. Cory and Melinda Evans were sitting at their usual table in the back of the cafeteria, eating and observing everyone who walked through the door. Melinda was, anyway. Cory had stopped eating and had become fixiated on one person as soon as that person had walked through the door.

Adrian Chappell.

Adrian wasn’t exactly popular in school but everyone knew who he was and it was hard to miss him. He was a drama queen, loud, flashy, and beautiful. His thick, mostly likely dyed, black hair hung down past his shoulders. He had the kind of face a make up artist loved: even features, high cheekbones, and full lips. Accompanied by deep brown eyes that could melt a heart of stone, he was irresistible.

“My God,” Melinda said when she saw who her cousin was staring at. Again. “Just go ask him out.”

“He’s probably straight, Melinda.”

“Honey, any guy who looks like Adrian is not straight.”

“Even if he isn’t, he’s still beautiful.”

“And the problem is?”

“Why would he want me?”

“Have you looked at yourself lately, Cory?”

Cory wasn’t beautiful or pretty like Adrian. There was nothing feminine about him. But he was attractive. Brookdale’s star soccer player, Cory had developed well. He was muscular but still lean. Though a natural blonde, he had bleached his hair even lighter. His eyes were green. He never wore make up and was happiest in jeans and tee-shirts, sweatshirts when it was cold.

“Go talk to him, Cory.”

He sighed. “I can’t.”

“I dare you.”

“What?”

“I dare you to ask him out.”

“What? No, Melinda. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Look. He’s getting up.” Adrian had risen from the crowd of students he always ate lunch with and was headed toward the front of the cafeteria with his lunch tray.

“All right.” Cory gave in. “But not here in front of everyone.” Maybe if he said he’d do it sometime Melinda would leave him alone. And maybe he would ask Adrian out sometime.

“Cory! He’s leaving. There won’t be anyone in the halls now. Go!”

“Melinda…”

“Go, Cory!”

Cory went. What if he did ask Adrian out? The worse he could do was say no. And he might even say yes. “Adrian,” Cory said, following the other boy into the arts corridoir.

He turned. And smiled. Then he spoke. “I saw you watching me in the cafeteria,” he said. “I hoped you’d follow me.”

“You did?” was the only thing Cory could get out.

Adrian nodded.

“Would you…Do you want to…I mean…”

Adrian raised one eyebrow. “Well?”

“Are you doing anything on Valentine’s Day?”

“I hate Valentine’s Day.” Valentine’s Day meant nothing to Adrian. His parents didn’t celebrate it because they were always working or fighting. Adrian himself had never had anyone to celebrate with. It was just another day.

Well, then. What are you doing this Saturday?” This Saturday was Valentine’s Day.

“Nothing.” He admired Cory’s way of rephrasing the question.

“So would you want to go somewhere with me?”

“Where?”

He hadn’t thought about that. “I…don’t know.”

“Here.” Adrian had pulled a pen from somewhere and, seizing Cory’s hand, he wrote:

Adrian Chappel

555-3186

“Call me when you decide where we’re going. I’d love to stay here and talk but I hear the canvas calling my name and I’m sure you want to get back to Melinda and tell her you scored. So I’m going back to the art room. Come see what I’m doing sometime if you’re interested.” Then he was gone.

Cory went back to the cafeteria and resumed his seat beside Melinda. “Well?” she asked.

Cory shrugged. “He didn’t say no,” he informed her. “On the other hand, he didn’t say yes either.”

“What did he say?”

“To call him when I know where we’re going.” Cory held out his hand for Melinda to inspect.

“That means he’ll go,” she informed him.

“I know, Melinda.”

Deciding where to go was a major problem. For the next two evenings Cory and Melinda spent the time they were supposed to be using for homework trying to think of somewhere for Cory and Adrian to go on Saturday.

“How about a movie?” Melinda suggested.

“Adrian is enough drama by himself. I don’t need any more.”

“How about a nice restaurant?”

“He’s a vegetarian.”

“Take him shopping.”

“I’m not that rich.”

“Then I don’t know, Cory. Why don’t you call him and ask what he wants to do?”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Cory, having memorized the phone number that had long since been washed from his hand, stood and crossed the room to the phone. He punched in the number and, after three rings, the phone was picked up.

“Hello,” a little girl’s voice said into the phone. “This is the Chappell residence. Jenna speaking.”

Wow, Cory thought, she’s so polite for a little kid. Aloud he said, “May I speak to Adrian?”

“Ooooh. Are you his boyfriend?”

“Umm…” Cory wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. “We’re working on it,” he said finally.

She giggled and shouted, “Adrian! There’s a boy on the phone! He wants you!”

Cory heard the sound of another phone being picked up. Then, “All right, Jen. Hang up. Now.”

She did and, seconds later Adrian said, “Hey. Have you decided yet where we’re going?”

“No. That’s why I called. Is there anywhere in particular you want to go?”

Cory could tell Adrian was hesitating before he said, “The carnival is this week.”

“Which carnival? The MidWinter Carnival?”

“Yes.”

“I thought that was next week.”

“No. It’s this week. But if you don’t want to go-“

“No. I do want to go,” Cory assured him. “Should I pick you up?”

“Yes, please.”

“What time? Around six or something? That way we’ll beat the crowd and be able to get a good parking spot.”

“Okay.”

”All right. See you then.” Adrian and Cory had three of six classes together and Adrian had spending part of lunch with Cory and Melinda so it would actually be ‘tomorrow.’

“Well?” Melinda asked when Cory hung up the phone.

“The MidWinter Carnival,” Cory told her, sitting down again.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot that was Saturday. Now, about what you’re going to wear…”

“That,” he told her, “can wait.”

Time dragged. Finally it was Saturday. And with Saturday came Melinda. “What are you doing here?” Cory asked when he emerged from the shower and found her in his room.

“I’m here to help you get dressed.”

“I’ve managed just fine on my own for the last seventeen years.”

“You’re going out with Adrian. You can’t go all preppy or it’s gonna look weird.”

“So?”

“Got any leather?”

“Of course not.”

She sighed. “Those jeans I got you for Christmas?”

“They make me look totally gay.”

“Honey, you are totally gay.”

“But the world doesn’t have to know that.”

“You’re going out with Adrian. They’re gonna know.”

“Well not-“

“The jeans, Cory!”

He opened up the bottom drawer of his dresser, pulled out a pair of jeans and threw them at Melinda.

She threw them back. “Put them on.”

He did. Either they weren’t as bad as he remembered or Cory was more gay than he thought. “Satisfied?”

“No. Now you need a black shirt.”

“Why black?”

“Because you look good in black.”

“Which one?”

“Beatles tee-shirt.”

Cory found the shirt in question and put it on. “Well?”

Melinda studied him, then nodded. “Not bad.” She went to his colset, pulled out a pair of Doc Martens, and came back. “Put these on.”

He did.

“Good. And you’re going to wear your leather jacket, right?”

“No, Melinda,” he said sarcastically. “I thought I’d freeze.”

She ignored him. “You’d better get going if you want to get to Adrian’s house by 6:00.” She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Call me tomorrow if I don’t come over.”

“I will.”

Cory, in his father’s Corvette, arrived at Adrian’s house at exactly 6:00. Adrian met him at the door wearing black flare leg jeans, a wide black belt, and a tight red long sleeved shirt that didn’t quite reach his jeans. “Oh, good. You’re here,” he said. “Come on. My mom wants to meet you.” He took Cory’s hand and led him inside, taking care to shut the door behind him. “Mom!” he called. “Cory’s here!”

“Don’t shout inside, Adrian.” A woman who had to be Adrian’s mother came down the stairs.

“I’m sorry.”

Cory looked at Mrs. Chappell. It was easy to see where Adrian got his looks. Mrs. Chappell was between 5’2” and 5’3”, the same height Adrian would be if he weren’t wearing platform boots. She had the same black hair, the same brown eyes, and the same porcelain skin.

“It’s nice to meet you, Cory,” she said. “I’m Lyn Chappell. It really is too bad you can’t stay but perhaps you could come to dinner one evening.”

“Yes, thank you,” Cory told her. “I’d love to come.”

No, Adrian thought, you wouldn’t. He was keeping Cory as far from his father as possible. Aloud he said, “Cory, shouldn’t we be going?” He pressed close to Cory and Cory absently wrapped one arm around him.

“Yeah,” he said. “We should.”

“You have money, Adrian?” Lyn asked.

“Yes, Mom.”

“I’ll see you later then. Call if you’ll be out past midnight.”

Cory paid the 7.00 entrance fee for the two of them and they walked onto the usually vacant lot. Today, however, the lot was far from vacant. The MidWinter Carnival company had set up a variety of rides and games everywhere, along with the restaurant tent and gift shop. “What do you want to do first?” Cory asked Adrian.

“I don’t know.” His big dark eyes looked around, taking in everything visible from their vantage point. His eyes stopped on a game booth with a menagerie of stuffed animals in every color of the rainbow.

“Find something?”

Adrain nodded. “Can you do that?” He pointed to the booth with the multi colored menagerie.

“I can try if that’s what you want.”

“Yes.”

“All right.” He took Adrian’s hand and they went in that direction. “But I’ve never won anything in my life.”

“You won the championship game last year.”

Cory looked at Adrian in surprise. “How did you know that?” Cory had scored the winning goal in the game that decided the 2003 state soccer championship.

“I was there.”

“You like soccer?”

“I wasn’t watching the ball,” Adrian admitted.

“Then what was the point of-“

“I was watching you.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you say something?”

“I thought you were straight until I saw you staring at me at lunch Tuesday. What are you if you aren’t straight?”

“I don’t know yet. Just that I’m not straight.” They stopped at the game booth Adrian had indicated. Cory paid a dollar and was given five baseballs. The object of the game was to get all five baseballs into jars they would barely go into. Each jar was marked with a point value from 100 to 500. Additional points were awarded for getting one ball into each jar.

The first ball went into the 400 jar. Then . “Well?” Cory asked when the last ball came to rest. “What do you want?”

Sebastian’s big dark eyes looked around again, this time at the colorful stuffed toys hanging from the walls and ceiling of the kiosk. Suddenly he pointed to a stuffed white tiger, big enough to hug but small enough to carry around easily. He looked up at Cory. “That one?”

“If that’s what you want.”

Adrian let go of Cory’s hand to collect his animal. Holding it with his left arm he slipped his right hand into Cory’s again. “Thank you,” he said smiling.

“You’re welcome,” Cory told him. “Where to next?”

Over the next three hours they made their way around the carnival, going on every ride except the ferris wheel because Adrian claimed to be afraid of heights. Cory had been persuaded to try several more games but won nothing of any importance. It was 9:00 when Adrian said, “I’m hungry.”

“What do you want? We can get something here or go somewhere else if you want to.”

Adrian considered. What was there heare? Probably just fastfood and junkfood. Didn’t sound apprealing. If they went somewhere else… “Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“The café.”

That wasn’t much help. “Which one?”

“The one in Victorian Village.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t think it has a name. It’s in that old brick house across the road from the bridge.

“That a café? I thought someone lived there.”

“the first floor is a café. The second is a thrift shop. And there are two attic rooms Sarah rents out to overnight guests.” Or in Adrian’s case, let him stay for free when things got bad at home.

“One of your artsy places.”

“Kind of.”

“No wonder I haven’t been there.” Cory didn’t care much for art.

Cory thought it still looked like a house up close. The only difference, to him, was the small sign, almost invisible from the road, that said ‘Sarah’s Café’ and the few tables on the porch outside. “Come on, Cory,” Adrian pulled on his hand impatiently. “I want you to meet Sarah.”

Cory gave up his perusal of the building and let Adrian pull him inside. Once inside he was further convinced that this was someone’s house. The room resembled a comfortable living room more than a café. There was a big screen television, and antique couch and loveseat, and several shelves filled with books.

Seated on the couch, flipping channels on the television was a girl Cory took to be no older than himself and Adrian. “Sarah!” Adrian called when he saw her.

“Hey.” She turned off the television and stood, holding out her arms. Adrian went to her and hugged her. “I thought you weren’t coming in tonight,” she said. “Something about a date with the hottest guy in the world or something.”

Adrian’s face went red. “Uh-huh,” he said.

“So where is His Highness, The Queen Of Glitter?”

“What?”

“David Bowie!”

Adrian smiled. “This is Cory, Sarah,” he said.

“Well.” Sarah looked at Cory. “You’re no David Bowie,” she said. “But you aren’t half bad either.” Then, to Cory’s surprise, she hugged him. But her motives were soon made clear. “I love Adrian like a brother,” she said into his ear. “If you hurt him in any way I will personally cut off your balls and feed them to you.” Then, as if nothing had happened, she turned back to Adrian. “With the carnival in town business has been great today. The dining room is filled nearly to capacity.” Capacity was twelve people. “But I’m sure there’s room for two more. I’m on break so tell Liz I said you can have whatever you want. No charge.”