Secrets of His World - Chapter 1

"Do you really think I won’t have any chance with him?" Emily asked Damien.

Damien had been Emily’s gay guy best friend. He would never lie to me, she thought. He was the greatest friend any girl could ask for. He was also one of the cutest guys at Electrum High along with one of the most popular. He and Emily had been best friends since we were two. The only problem was that over the years while he got cuter and more popular, she had stayed the same.

Damien had short, shaggy, jet black hair. His facial features were perfect. His body was slim and tan - so tan it looked glowing at time. Emily had always thought of him as a God. The best part, too, was that he was Greek. It made him even more beautiful and popular. His eyes, to her, were the best part of him really, though. They were as bright green as leaves during the summer.

Emily, on the other hand, had shoulder length, curly, dark brown hair. Her body was just a regular teenage girls body; nothing too hot about that. Her eyes were a sapphire blue color and Damien always told her that they are so clear that he could read her emotions and thoughts through them sometimes; and she believed him.

"I don’t know, Em. Why don’t you just ask him or something," Damien muttered without looking up from his book.

"You know, for a gay guy that’s good at reading people and is always wanting to help, you sure don’t seem to want to help me. Your bestest friend," she pouted.

She turned to look at him. He was looking up from his book at her. She made a sad face and pushed her bottom lip forward. She knew he couldn’t resist her pouting face; he never could.

He sighed. "Fine. I’ll talk to Erin tomorrow. But you’ll owe me," he warned.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squealed. "You won’t regret it!"

He mumbled something under his breath that sounded like "I will if he doesn’t like you back". She ran over to him and leaned down to give him a hug. He grabbed hold of her waist and jerked her on top of his lap. For a gay guy he sure does like doing that to her.

"You know, sometimes I think you’re straight."

"You know, sometimes I think you only like me because I am gay," he replied. He pushed her back a little so he could look at her face.

She knew it didn’t help anything, but she had been in love with Damien since she was seven years old. She would never admit to it, but that didn’t matter. He knew her inside and out. He knew everything she was feeling all the time. It was hard to lie to him, and sometimes Emily even had to lie to herself about things in order for him to believe her.

They stared at each other for a moment and then Damien looked away. At times, you really would think he was straight. Sometimes, like when he looked at her like he just was, Emily felt it was easy to pretend he had the same feelings for her as she for him.

"I should probably get home," he said as Emily got off his lap.

"Aww! You just got here like three hours ago! You can’t leave me now," she whined.

"I am going to do you a favor tomorrow, for free even. The least you could do is let me go home." He chuckled and then got off the couch.

"Why don’t you just stay the night or something. I mean, you can even have the bed if you want! Please." She put on the pout face again.

"I swear, Emily. You are going to drive me insane one day. But…" he shook his head and then sighed. "At least let me go get my pajamas."

"Yay! Thank you, again. I love youuu." She hugged him again.

"Yeah, yeah. I love you, too. I’ll be back."

"’Kay."

She watched as he walked out of her room. Damien and she had spent the night at each others house since they were ten. They lived right beside each other in, him in the old Monroe house and her in the Lovett house. Most of the time they shared a bed, but here lately he decided it was best if one of them took the couch and the other took the bed.

She thought it was stupid considering he’s gay, but maybe he knew she was in love with him, and he wanted some space. I wouldn’t blame him, she thought gloomily. If I were gay and I knew he was in love with me, I’d probably do the same thing so that he wouldn’t get hurt.

It was just how she and Damien were. They were always getting into trouble and then lying about it. Making sure the other one didn’t get hurt by something or someone. Always backing each other up, supporting one another, everything a best friend should do for a best friend.

A few moments later he walked back into her room with a navy colored t-shirt and a pair of cotton pajama pants that were black. He might be gay, but he didn’t dress gay; although, he could do fashion pretty well. He had brought an old sleeping bag with rocket ships on it.

Emily smiled and tried not to laugh at his sleeping bag. He always thought it was good luck, so he never threw it away or let anyone borrow it. It was like a sacred thing to Damien. He had had the sleeping bag since they were twelve; five years now.

"I wouldn’t laugh," Damien told her sternly. "You still sleep with Mr. Cuddles. I don’t see why you’ve kept that thing for so long."

Emily gasped as if what he’d said had upset her. "I can’t believe you’d say that! You know why I keep him."

Damien muttered something Emily didn’t hear. When they were fourteen they had been on an "almost date" and they almost kissed when they were interrupted by fireworks. As a result of embarrassment for almost kissing her gay guy best friend and him almost kissing his completely straight, head over heels for him, girl best friend they played a series of games. Damien had won a bear - the same on setting on Emily’s bed now - and had given it to her. She had named it Mr. Cuddles.

"You can have the bed if you want. I don’t need it tonight and I’m probably not going to bed anyway until two," Emily told him.

"Nah. I brought my bag for a reason. I’m going to sleep on the floor tonight and next time you come over to my house you get the pleasure of sleeping in my floor," he replied while he laid his sleeping bag on the floor and straightened it out.

"Ha. Yeah, right. You have a very comfortable couch. I’ll be sleeping on it, thank you very much."

"Not any more. We gave the couch away yesterday. You’ll have to sleep on the floor now."

"But… You would really make me sleep on the floor?" she asked incredulously.

"Yup."

"You’re cruel. I guess you’ll be staying at my house more often then me at yours."

He shrugged, but didn’t comment. Emily walked over to where he was laying on the floor. He was on his stomach reading a book. He probably won’t sleep until I do, she told herself. She stretched out on the floor beside him and watched him read.

"Do you need something?" he asked after a moment of her watching him.

"Nope. I just like watching you read," she told him matter-of-factly.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She smiled and he returned it then started reading again. Emily laid her head on her arm and continued watching him.

Every now and then she would see him smile at something in the book and smile herself. She loved watching him smile; it always made her happy. Emily couldn’t stand to see Damien cry, which he rarely did. But every time he did cry it was only in front of her.

She had only ever seen him cry three times though. Once was when his mother died and he came to her for comfort. The other two times were when his father and him had gotten in a fight over him being gay. She didn’t see why it was such a big deal to his father; he never really cared for Damien.

Emily didn’t notice that she had fallen asleep until she felt herself being lifted. Damien had finished his book with her watching and she had fallen asleep. Now she was being lifted by him and lain in her bed. She was only half-conscious of the fact that he kissed her on the forehead and told her good night.

After Damien had laid her in bed and got back on the floor she drifted farther into unconsciousness. Emily was having a dream about darkness. She could see herself in nothing but darkness with the only light being the blue glow of herself. She was walking around and trying to find a way out when something in the distance lit up. It was brighter than her light, and it was yellow instead of blue. She started running to it and had almost made it when a shadow appeared in front of the light. She stepped back a little to try and see it all. It looked like a man, but she couldn’t tell. Then it lowered its self and she could see that it had something above its head. She reached out to touch it, but never got there. At that precise moment the lights seemed to have turned on and she could see the figure almost perfectly. It still had a bright yellow glow to it that made it hard to look at. The things that she thought were on top of it’s head were actually attached to its back and rising above its head; they were wings.

The thing looked like some kind of an angel. It had huge black eyes and its wings were as black as coal. Its smile was a cruel one. It started to reach for Emily. She started to hyperventilate. He grabbed her by the arms and started shaking her and screaming her name. She could hear her name being called over and over. The voice that was calling her sounded like Damien’s though.

The calling continued as the angel shook her and shook her. It started leaning closer to her while it was calling. All of a sudden she jerked and was being held by Damien.

"Emily! Emily, wake up! Em! Please, wake up!" Damien called while trying to shake her awake.

She was now awake and crying. She leaned into Damien and he held her. He rocked her back and forth for a moment. Finally the sobbing and tears stopped. Damien pulled away to look at her.

"Are you alright?" he whispered.

"Yeah. I was having this dream. It started out good but then it just… I don’t know. Oh, god, I don’t want to have that dream again," she cried.

Damien rubbed her back to try and sooth her. "Shh. It’s okay. Shh. I’m here, Emily. I’m not leaving, I promise."

"Will you please sleep with me? Just tonight. I don’t want to sleep in the bed by myself. I don’t want to have that dream again."

"Yeah. I’ll sleep in your bed with you, but just tonight."

Damien crawled up beside Emily in the bed and got under the covers. He pulled her over to him. She laid her forehead on his chest and cuddled as close as she could to him. A few seconds after she got comfortable she felt his arms weave around her and pull her closer.

It was hard to breath like that, but she didn’t say anything. She felt safe in his arms. A few moments later she heard him snoring and felt him breathing deep shallow breaths. She smiled to herself and started counting how many times he inhaled. Before she knew it she was fast asleep in Damien’s arms.