Elliot Arthur Cross - One Frightful Date

One Frightful Date

By Elliot Arthur Cross

Published by Queerteen Press

Visit queerteen-press.com for more information.

Copyright 2013 Elliot Arthur Cross

ISBN 9781611529272

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the authors imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America. Queerteen Press is an imprint of JMS Books LLC.

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One Frightful Date

By Elliot Arthur Cross

Chapter 1

The alarm woke me up at six-thirty in the morning. I couldn't believe I forgot to turn it off. What a great way to start my summer vacation. The plastic alarm rested a foot from my bed, on the wooden nightstand on the right. I reached out and pressed the second button on the top to turn it off. Usually I pressed the first, snooze, but there was no need for that.

With no reason to get out of bed, I did what I assumed most of the other seventeen-year-olds in the country didturned on my side and went back to sleep. I dreamed about waiting in a train station during a light drizzle. I was completely alone, but the voice on the loudspeaker told me I had to wait for someone. Every time a train came into the station I got excited, but the mystery person never showed.

The second time I woke that morning I felt refreshed.

"Toshi, I said in a loud, clear voice, what time is it?

My alarm beeped and the robotic voice answered, The time is 11:46 A.M.

So Mom and Dad would be at work and my little brother would still be sleeping. I tossed the light sheets off and stepped out of bed. My feet instinctively took me to the dresser on the side of the room. I opened the top drawer and pulled out a cotton T-shirt. I felt the tag to make sure I had it facing the right way before pulling it over my head. I grabbed mesh basketball shorts from the middle drawer and stepped into them. Usually I showered before dressing, but the rules were out the window on summer vacation.

After running my hand along the top of the bureau, I found my cell phone. I held it up to my face and ordered, Call Quan.

"Calling Quan, the phone parroted. I waited a second while it rang and I assumed Quan scrambled for his phone. I didn't think he'd answer me before noon, but he might think it was his new girlfriend.

"Hey there, oh, hi, Bobby, my best friend finally answered. Why are you up already?

"Don't want to lose the daylight, I joked, as if I'd been up for hours and not thirty seconds. I don't want to sit around all day. You want to come over or something?

"Zoe's supposed to come over in a bit. I thought you were her canceling on me.

"And I thought you were going to work on that self-esteem of yours, I said. I'd spent countless hours listening to his insecurities about being half Vietnamese half English. I always told him that it wasn't 1950 anymore and that people didn't care, but he felt otherwise.

"Ha ha. Actually, hey, Zoe wanted to talk to you about something. Why don't you come chill over here? Quan asked.

"Is she going to bombard me with blind questions? I asked. I'd thought Quan could have handled all of that for his girlfriend since we'd been best friends since we were seven. I could just imagine having to suffer through the whole routineDo you see in your dreams? Can you cook food? What's it like not seeing colors? Can you use money? Do you watch TV?

"No, she won't. Least I hope not. Quan paused for a second. What was he hiding? I think you'll like it. Come on over whenever.

"Cool. I'm going to make food and then I'll stop by.

"Peace.

After stuffing the phone in my shorts' pocket, along with the house key I kept on the bureau, I left my bedroom and stopped outside my little brother's room. I didn't hear the TV in there, so I assumed he was still sleeping.

Good, I don't have to make lunch for the little twerp.

I reached the end of the hallway and navigated down the stairs, one hand on the smooth wooden rail. In the kitchen, I opened a bag of bread and pulled out two slices. They went in the toaster, which I started after checking the dial hadn't been turned to extra crispy. I hated that.

While the bread heated up, I pulled a plate and plastic cup from the cabinet and took out cheese and roast beef from the fridge. I arranged what I wanted on the plate and poured orange juice into the cup, keeping my thumb just inside the rim of the cup so I knew when to stop.

The toast popped up, I assembled the sandwich, and sat down at the table. As I ate, I wondered what Zoe could possibly want to talk to me about. Quan had told me that she moved from Rhode Island to here in Nashua, New Hampshire a few months ago, and I had only met her for about a minute in the week that she started dating Quan. She sounded nice enough.

I put my plate and cup in the dishwasher and slipped into my sandals by the front door, which I made sure to lock. We had a break-in while on vacation two years ago, so my parents were extra paranoid about things like that, especially since my brother had nightmares for a month afterwards. I'm told he looks like a miniature version of me, but our personalities are nothing alike.

After grabbing my aluminum walking cane, I left the house and found a warm noon waiting for me, complete with birds chirping from around the house, probably in one of Mom's feeders. I took eleven steps from the front of the house, turned right for thirty-two, and then another twelve more to the front of Quan's house. I knocked and waited a minute for him to let me in.

"Hey, what's up? he greeted me.

"Nothing. It was either read or chill here, I said with a shrug.

"I'm touched I beat sitting alone reading, Quan said. He was a smart guy, but not a reader like me. I had an entire bookcase full of books in braille and audiobooks.

"Don't be. I couldn't find my book, I joked. Quan stepped out of my way as I walked inside. Is Zoe here yet?

"She just texted meanother five minutes.

"Cool. I figured out what she wants to ask me about, I said with a grin.

"What? Quan asked hesitantly.

"If you're a good kisser.

"That stupid spin the bottle game was two years ago, Quan said. First time I played and every spin landed on a guy. And you wonder why I have self-esteem issues.

"Hey, you were a fine kisser. Better than the others. Sally and Steph jammed their tongues down my throat

"Lucky.

"And Mikey acted like kissing a boy would give him the plague.

"Yeah, Quan said, but at the time you had a huge crush on him.

"Which he killed that night, I shot back.

"I thought you got over him when he started his vampire phase and all he drank was clamato juice.

"Don't remind me, I said with a shudder, remembering Mikey's horrible breath. You want to listen to some music?

"Yeah. I got this new CD the other day, Quan said. It's a local band's first album. Give me a sec.