80. His Future and Everything

-Sky-

It was Monday afternoon already. Meaning we had only two days left of our camping trip! I really wished we could stay there for weeks! But no, two nights, and we would head back home and return to our normal life with school and malls and the slightly suffocating city. I loved to be here, out in the wilds, surrounded by birds and animals and fresh air.

I sighed, trying not to get too sad about having to go back home. There were good things at home as well. And we were going to have camping trips more often from now on. My parents promised that to me. And Max wanted to have our own camping trips as well! Maybe Troy and Luke would like to come with us sometimes!

Okay, I was back to being excited again. I was sitting on the ground with at least a dozen squirrels running up and down my body, trying to get the food I was feeding them. I had a big back of hickory nuts in my hand, and they were trying to get to it.

"Come on, guys. There's plenty for all of you," I chuckled when one of them managed to sneak past my hands and dive into the bag.

"There's more coming," I heard Max's voice, and turned to look at him.

If there was a way for him to look even more handsome than he already did, it was accomplished by letting a couple of squirrels sit on his shoulder. I couldn't help but stare at him. He was sitting on the ground close by, with his legs crossed. He, too, had nuts in his pockets and a few on his hand, and he watched with a smile how a small squirrel tried to build up some courage to take a nut from him. His long hair was hanging free like a dark curtain or a frozen waterfall down his shoulder, and on the other one, he had a squirrel munching away his food.

I wished I had my phone with me, so I could take a picture.

And as if the gods of the forests had heard my wish, I saw my mom grabbing her phone and capturing that moment for me. She was laughing lightly when she looked at the picture she just took.

"You'll need to send it to me," I told her.

"Sure thing, sweetheart," she said and returned to the log she and Freddy were sitting on. "He's just so darn cute!" she added, pointing at the squirrel who was happily still sitting on Max's shoulder.

Yes, the squirrel was also cute.

"Did you know peanuts are actually not very good for squirrels? There's not much nutrition for them," I asked Max.

"I didn't know that," he said. "I'm guessing that is why we're feeding them these instead," he said, grabbing a few more nuts from his pockets.

"Yeah. There's a lot of different nuts that are way better than peanuts, and it's even better if they still have shells. They also eat veggies and fruits and seeds and even insects," I explained.

I watched Max while the little squirrel finally took the food he was offering and scurried a foot away to eat it. Max laughed lightly, making my heart melt on the spot. Then I looked at my mom. She had learned a few things about Max during the past couple of days, and she had finally understood that Max truly was the sweetest guy. She had finally accepted Max as my boyfriend, and I was ridiculously happy about it. She and Max were getting along so well now! Well, I guess my Mom never actually hated him, she was just worried, and maybe the worst part for her was to accept the fact that I wasn't a little kid anymore.

"Dinner is ready!" I heard my dad's voice coming from our camp.

"You heard him. Time to say goodbye to our little friends," Mom said cheerily and stood up.

It was easier said than done. Well, it turned out to be impossible to do, so that was why we had a bunch of squirrels as our dinner guests. It was funny really. We had set up our camp under a bunch of big trees in the middle of nowhere – meaning five miles away from our original campsite where we spent the first night – and the squirrels quickly swarmed the place in hopes of getting more food from us.

I really loved the forest around us. There was a small creek close by, running down toward the lake. Everything around us had turned into beautiful, red-and-yellow scenery, and there was absolutely no one else there. It was so peaceful.

If you ignored Freddy, who was running after one of the squirrels who just stole one of his socks. I filmed it, obviously.

Later that night, when the squirrels finally gave up, and we were all getting ready to go to sleep, Max and I crawled into our tent. Max called his mom to let her know everything was going great, and I listened quietly, enjoying the sound of his hushed voice. When he ended the call, he lay down next to me and turned on his side to give me a smile.

"I can't believe it's almost eleven already," he smirked. "We're such rebels for staying up so late!"

I laughed at his words and snuggled closer to him. "Was your mom asleep already?"

"In bed, apparently, but not asleep yet," he said and rested his head against mine, placing his hand on my side. "I'm so happy they let me come with you guys. This is really great. I really like this place."

"That's great," I whispered in happiness. "I wish we didn't have to leave at all..."

"Hey – you and I will have our own adventures," he said reassuringly. "We'll look up all kinds of places to go, and once we have a car, we can start going even further! Road trips! Maybe we can even travel around the country and–"

I just had to kiss him. I had no strength to stop myself. I kept falling in love with him over and over again.

"I take it you like the idea," he said, once I finally let him continue.

"Yes," I chuckled. "I can't wait."

I guess it was the fact that he was making plans for the future that got me so weak for him this time. I couldn't even imagine a life with someone else, because Max and I fit so perfectly together. He wasn't such an animal enthusiast as I was, but he loved animals nonetheless, and I was really getting into building scale-models and learning more about architecture, especially the history of it, and I sure loved watching him play, even though I didn't understand the love for the game itself.

So... hearing him planning camping trips for us in the future was so heartwarming to hear. Just knowing that he was planning on staying with me for years made me ridiculously happy.

And for a moment, I dreamed about the word, forever.

-Luke-

I was so mad.

When Troy suddenly wanted to go home, I knew something was up. I knew he wasn't telling me the truth, or at least the whole truth. I knew it had something to do with his father. I saw it in his eyes.

I was nervous the entire day. I couldn't focus on anything. I waited the entire time for him to call me or come back. And when he did... The fear in his voice and the sounds coming from the background, I really felt like I was going to have a heart attack. That scared the shit out of me. I just jumped off the couch.

"Ma! We need to get to Troy's! Now!"

She didn't waste a second. I didn't need to explain anything to her. She was already getting her keys. I forgot all about my leg. I couldn't feel the pain as I hurried to the car, hopping as fast as I could to get to it. I just dove into the backseat.

Once we arrived at Troy's, I saw people leaving the house in a hurry, but since Troy wasn't with them, I couldn't give a damn. We hurried inside, my heart racing and fearing for the worst, but then I heard that asshole upstairs.

I would've strangled him anyway, even if he hadn't called us freaks. I was so mad. I had no control over myself. I could only see his face. And I wanted to kill him on the spot. I probably would have, if Ma hadn't pulled me off him.

I was still so very mad.

Troy was sleeping already, but I couldn't even close my eyes. I had heard too many stories about parents hurting and even killing their own children for being gay. That thought wasn't leaving my head, not even now, while I was holding him. It was quite dark in my room, but I could still see the bruises on Troy's arms. I caressed his skin slowly, hoping to erase the dark areas, but they were only growing darker. Thrown down the stairs...

My hands were now shaking from the rage I had inside me. I tried pushing all those thoughts out of my head, so I wouldn't end up waking up Troy. I hugged him gently and rested my head against his. His scent soothed me down. The words he spoke to me pushed out almost everything else.

"I love you..."

I would never let anyone hurt him ever again.

*****

Apparently, I did fall asleep at some point. I couldn't have slept more than a few hours, but it was something at least. My leg was aching and for a moment, I worried I screwed up the healing process already, but then I felt a pair of lips on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Troy, forgetting all about the stupid knee.

When I moved, he looked up at me with a mischievous smile on his lips. I couldn't help but smile as well when he kissed my cheek without saying a word. And then, before I even noticed it, he was sitting on top of me, pressing his lips on mine this time.

"You lost already," he chuckled, but he didn't move away.

"You're being unfair," I told him as an excuse.

"How?" he asked, faking his innocent voice while moving a little on my lap. There were nothing more than two layers of thin cloth between us, so yeah, he was being extremely unfair.

I pushed him up to take a better look at him. His bruises were getting bigger. His smile faded when he noticed I was looking at them. I wasn't smiling anymore. I had lost it the second I laid my eyes on the dark areas. Then I looked up at him, but he avoided my eyes, so I pulled him back down and hugged him tightly.

I knew he was acting like he was doing great. He acted tough and kept saying he didn't give a crap about his father, and I knew he was being honest about that, but... It wasn't that simple. He was attacked by his own father. The man who Troy was supposed to be able to trust was about to send him away to a really bad place. I heard the story. His father was really close to succeeding in his plan.

There was no way Troy could just shrug off something like that. No matter how much he hated his dad, it had affected him. Ever since we got home from their house, Troy had stayed within my reach. That was a clue. Deep down, he was worried. Maybe even scared.

"Everything will be all right," I told him quietly.

He just nodded as he hugged me back just as tightly.

It was still early, so we spent quite some time in bed, just talking and kissing and teasing each other. Well, he did most of the teasing, but I didn't mind. He seemed to be in terrible need of attention and I was more than happy to give my everything to him. I had to admit... He was... really good at teasing. Everything stayed innocent enough, but he was getting curious. I, on the other hand, suffered from major brain-freezes every five minutes.

It wasn't easy to believe I really was in a relationship with the guy I had been only dreaming about for so long.

And now I had to keep stopping his hand from wandering to places...

Later, when we were having breakfast downstairs, I was still thinking about it. Us. About his curiosity and my unbelievable luck. But those thoughts were soon replaced by the memory of that phone call from yesterday. I had the feeling it wouldn't stop haunting me any time soon.

I kept an eye on Troy the entire time, and there definitely was something in his eyes that wasn't there before. I didn't even want to think about what would've happened if Stephanie hadn't been there, standing by his side against Mr. Dominic. Even if Troy had been able to escape alone, his mental scars would be much deeper now if she hadn't been there. I was sure of it. It was getting clearer to me as I watched the two of them talking.

"My brother should be here in an hour," Stephanie was saying, when I tuned in. "He has a van, so if there's anything you want us to get for you, just name it. I'm sure my brother has enough room to keep your stuff safe until we figure things out."

"Well... If you could take my computer, that'd be great. And the rest of my clothes, and... no, never mind..." Troy said, trailing off.

"We can take anything you want. We can pack your whole room and take it with us if you want – we have time. I heard your father is being held in custody until at least tomorrow," Stephanie spoke.

"I don't have anything special... Just my game collection..." he said almost shyly.

"Then we'll take your collection to safety," Stephanie said reassuringly. "We'll just need quite a lot of boxes..."

"You know what," Ma joined the conversation, "We have plenty of boxes."

Troy was turning really shy all of a sudden, so I took his hand in mine. "Yeah, we have a hell of a lot of empty moving boxes in the attic. We can also keep the games there."

"Sounds great," Stephanie said with a smile.

"I have the day off, so I can come with you guys to get them," Ma continued.

"No – I'll go. You don't have to," Troy tried to object, but he was hushed right away.

"Nonsense! I need you to stay home and keep an eye on my son," Ma said and patted his shoulder. "You know he'll start jogging or something if there's no one watching him!"

"Very funny," I chuckled. Troy laughed as well.

I was sure he knew that there wasn't a single person in this house who would let him return to that horrible place ever again.

"You don't have to worry about a thing," Stephanie told Troy with a warm smile on her face, and she placed her hand on top of Troy's. "We got this."

Since my mom was at work, Troy and I were left alone when Stephanie's brother came to pick her up. I watched her give Troy a big hug before they left, and she promised to call him later in the evening. I could tell Troy didn't quite believe her, and that he was wary of her. I couldn't blame him, so I could only hope that Stephanie was a woman of her word.

After they left, we built a small nest in our living room. Troy's console was plugged in to our television and we started playing some game he hadn't tried out yet, but it was clear he wasn't in the mood for it.

"I should've gone with them," he said at one point, tossing his controller away.

"Don't worry about it. They just want to help," I told him, and put my controller aside as well, and pulled him into a tight hug. "You need to rest."

He was silent for a while, resting his head on my shoulder. "I can't," he finally admitted.

"I know," I whispered. "But you don't have to worry about anything. I won't let anything or anyone hurt you, even if I'm dead. You hear me?"

He looked at me and I saw a bunch of emotions on his face, but then he laughed lightly.

"So, you'll protect me even as a ghost?" he asked.

"I'll be the scariest motherfucking wraith there is," I told him, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I'll make every horror movie look like a cartoon for children if someone hurts you." He laughed louder and swung his leg over my lap to sit down on me. I put my hands on his waist while he wrapped his arms around my shoulders before leaning in to give me a warm kiss. "No one hurts my sunshine," I added, when he pulled back.

He was smiling brightly again. At least for now, the fear in his eyes was gone.

"I'm so glad you waited for me," he whispered with tears in his eyes.

"I would've waited for eternity just to have a chance with you," I told him.

I would have waited for a thousand years just to hold him. I'd been ready to wait for the rest of my life, even though the odds weren't in my favor. Far from it. But there he was, in my arms, like we were in one of those amazing dreams I used to have about him.

My sunshine. My boyfriend.

My everything.