The Lost Boys

by Lilian Carmine

  I scrubbed fiercely, shampooed, rinsed, washed it all out and I was done. I could hear loud laughter coming from the bedroom, which meant the guys still hadn’t left. I grabbed a towel and dried myself quickly, dressing even faster. It was a good job I was fast because just as I put my last piece of clothing on, Harry barged in without knocking. He was still shirtless, his red and green tattoo curling up over his arm to his smooth chest. It gave him quite the sexy rocker look.

  “Harry!!” I yelled at him. All the excitement of the day had made me forgot to lock the door!

  His face was a picture of surprise and he gave an innocent smile. “What?! You’re dressed, and all! And I kinda forgot you were still in here. I can’t take it any more, this smell is sick!” he said, unzipping his jeans.

  “Harry!!” I yelled again, slapping a hand over my eyes fast, because he was already taking his boxers off.

  I heard him pushing the shower curtain away and turning the shower on.

  “You know, at first impression you seemed like a really, really shy guy,” I mumbled, peeking through my fingers. I thought it was safe to look again.

  Josh appeared at the bathroom door, curious about all the squealing.

  “Haaarry. Whatcha been doing?” he asked in a teasing voice. “Why is Joey all red in the face like that?”

  There was a lot of splashing going on inside the shower as Harry answered. ”I dunno. Something to do with me taking a shower. Joey, you’re like one of the guys now. It’s best that you start getting used to us.”

  “You know, he’s kinda right. That’s Harry just being Harry. You’ll get used to it . . . eventually,” Josh said, smirking.

  “Hey, sweet! What’s this orange stuff here?” Harry asked between splashes. “Hum, smells nice!”

  I rolled my eyes. There goes my very expensive, hard to get, special occasions only, tangerine shampoo.

  A wave of egg smell passed by me and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. It came from Josh. “Come on, Josh, let’s get your head inside that sink right now!” I said, pulling him to the bathroom sink.

  Then I helped Josh to wash up, rubbing soap all over his head.

  “That is reeeally good, Joey. You have magic fingers! Oh, yeah, that’s it!” Josh moaned loudly while I massaged his scalp.

  He kept gasping and moaning and doing all sorts of sexy noises, trying to make me blush, and I kept slapping his bare back, trying to make him stop. Sam, Seth and Tristan walked into the bathroom with a startled look on their faces mixed with curiosity in their eyes. I caught a bit of a scowl in Tristan’s eyes. He wasn’t very pleased with Josh’s playful noises.

  “We heard some weird sounds coming from here, and decided it was time to investigate. We thought it was time to put a stop to this, or join in the party,” Sam said, sniggering suggestively while Tristan and Seth ranked by his side.

  “Oh, will you just shut up!” I scowled at Sam, and tossed water over them.

  Josh was done with his cleaning, so I grabbed my towel and handed it to him. Harry had just finished his shower too and was stepping out now. “Hey, where’s the towel?” he asked, looking around the bathroom.

  “Oh, good God!” I said, slapping my hands over my eyes again.

  They all laughed really hard at my gigantic blush, but Tristan seemed pretty peeved and wasn’t finding Harry’s boldness as entertaining as the rest of the boys.

  “There she goes, all red in the face again!” Josh said between chuckles.

  “Harry, man, there’s a lady present! Try to act decent for a second!” Tristan admonished him.

  “Lady? Where? Tell her to leave before Joey kicks her butt outta here!” Sam joked, making everybody laugh hard again.

  “Someone give the man a towel!” Seth interjected on Tristan’s behalf.

  “Yes, please, give the man a towel!” I squeaked, all flustered. “There’s Tristan’s towel over there,” I said, pointing vaguely in the direction of the towel rack with one hand, the other still firmly covering my face.

  “You can look now, Joe,” Seth authorized after a few minutes of rustling sounds and the boys silently sniggering.

  I peeked slowly through my fingers and saw that Harry had a towel wrapped on his waist now and was already heading out of the bathroom. Seth was leaning against the sink, studying the damage to his blond mess of hair, and Josh was already outside, looking for his shirt. Tristan was leaning on the wall and Sam was slumped over the dirty clothes’ rack.

  “Okay, I’ll get some more towels. Apparently you’re not going to your own rooms to shower anytime soon,” I mumbled, leaving the bathroom quickly while still fighting my monstrous blush.

  When I got back with a couple more towels, Sam was already in the shower. I looked at Tristan.

  “Come on, Tristan. I’ll help you wash the egg out like I did with Josh. You two got almost nothing at all on your heads, the sink will do just fine,” I said, pulling Tristan by the hand towards the sink.

  He sunk his head under the tap, while I turned the water on. I started to rub his hair, and the tingling sensation I got every time I touched Tristan came back, shooting pinpricks through my fingertips. I wondered if he was feeling it too. He shivered slightly and there were goosebumps all over his skin. I guess he was feeling it, all right. He let out a small moan of pleasure and I glanced sideways at the other side of the sink. Seth was leaning against it, observing us closely with an intrigued expression. Oh my God. Was Seth thinking I was touching Tristan in an unbrotherly way!? Because I sure was. He must have thought we were freaks!

  “So, I was meaning to ask you two about this,” Seth started to say, watching over us “Are you two twins? Or did one of you flunk a year of school?”

  Tristan’s head snapped up, bumping hard on the sink tap. He looked surprised at Seth’s question because we were obviously in the same academic year and appeared to be the same age.

  “He’s my half-brother,” I answered slowly. “Same father, different mothers. Tristan’s mom passed away (I wasn’t exactly lying about that) and he came to live with us.” That wasn’t exactly a lie, either. I was really proud at my fast thinking, though I realized my story meant that “our” father must have got Tristan’s mother pregnant while he was married to mine, or vice-versa. “Oh. Sorry about asking,” Seth mumbled awkwardly. “And sorry about your mom, man,” he said, very uncomfortable to have brought up the subject now.

  “That’s okay,” Tristan said with a weak smile.

  Sam peeked around the curtain and shouted, “Seth, you’re up! Can I get a towel over here?”

  I was relieved that Seth dropped the subject after that. I handed a towel to Sam and another to Tristan and left the bathroom to the boys. After a few minutes, everybody was properly showered and decently dressed again. Harry was still a little too excited, so we had to make a body pile-up over him, to calm him down. After everybody had climbed on top of Harry and he was properly immobilized, Tiffany arrived.

  Harry grunted a muffled “Help!” from under the pile, and Tiffany had to intervene, scolding us to stop piling up on Harry because he was thin and frail and we were going to break him. She was really bossy and had quite an imperious tone of voice, so everybody obeyed her promptly. After the pile-up, Harry chilled out and was a lot more calm.

  We retold the strip and eggs prank to Tiffany, then, each of us giving different points of views on the same story. It was a really fun day. I think the strip and egg prank would never be the same after The Lost Boys, that was for sure!

  Harry’s Prize

  We were hanging around in my room at the end of the week, trying to relax after a heavy week of exams. Seth was strumming on his guitar, Sam was searching for occult websites on his laptop, sitting at the foot of my bed while I looked over his shoulder. Josh was lying on Tristan’s bed, tossing a rubber ball up in the air, while Tristan nudged him with his foot, trying to make him lose his balance and drop the ball.

  It was a peaceful, warm afternoon. Right up until the moment Harry bus
ted in, all excited, with a piece of paper clutched tight in his hand. We all turned our heads to see him walking fast to the side of my bed. He held up the paper for everybody in the room to see, like presenting a crime piece of evidence to a jury.

  “Okay, everybody!” he shouted, bustling with cheer. “It’s time for me to collect my kiss!” We all stared at him, dumbfounded.

  Josh tossed the rubber ball to Tristan and extended his arms to Harry. ”I don’t know what you’re talking about, but come here, you!” he said, making kissing sounds, smacking his lips at Harry.

  Harry pretended he wasn’t seeing Josh and turned to me, waving his paper up to my face. “Come on, Joey. Promise is a promise!” he said, beaming widely.

  “What?” I asked, confused, staring at the paper being waved in front on my face.

  It was a Math test. A bright red “A+” was written at the top. Harry had aced the test!

  “Oh, my God, Harry! Congratulations! You’ve got an A plus, that’s amazing!” I cheered proudly.

  “No, no. No ‘Congratulations, Harry’! I want my kiss!” he deadpanned.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right!” Sam exclaimed. “You promised that, if anyone aces a test, you’d give them a kiss, Joey. Like you did Tristan that time he aced his History test.”

  A recollection started to drift in. Oh, yeah. Tristan had cheekily scored an A plus on his History test because, miraculously, the majority of questions had been focused on the 1940s and early 1950s. At the time, I had said that I’d give a kiss to any Lost Boy holding a test paper with “A+” on it. I rolled my eyes at Harry when I realized he was taking this seriously.

  “Harry, you know I was just joking around,” I said, pushing the paper away from my face.

  “You’re breaking your promise, then?” Harry said, faking hurt and betrayal.

  Soon the boys all joined in Harry’s defense. “Yeah, Joey! You did promise! You can’t do this to him! He never aced a test before!” they teased me.

  Tristan was surveying the scene with an amused expression, and then he looked at me. He shrugged and smiled, telling me silently he was okay with it. Everybody was still protesting at me when I stood up gracefully from my bed, and walked right up to Harry, putting both of my hands around his cheeks. The commotion stopped abruptly, like someone had just pressed the pause button.

  I looked up at Harry. Small laughter lines marked the corners of his vivid green eyes, registering his smile. I could also spot a hint of smug attitude in his gaze, like he was daring me to chicken out on my promise. So I leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips.

  It was a nice kiss, not hot and heavy, but deep enough to count as a real kiss. His lips were sweet and his scent hazelnutty. His lip ring felt cold and hard against the warm softness of his thin lips, giving a vibrant contrasting sensation. It felt . . . different to kissing Tristan. For a brief moment, I forgot I had an audience, but soon enough I remembered they were all watching intently and I quickly ended the kiss.

  “There you go, Harry,” I said, looking up at him. “I never break a promise.”

  I walked back to my bed, resuming the same position I’d been in before. I glanced quickly around the room. The Lost Boys all stared at me in shock. Harry was standing stock still in the middle of the room, and looked like he’d been struck by lightning. He had thought I would never dare to kiss him. It took a few seconds for everybody to realize what had just happened.

  “Hey! If I’d known that promise was for real, I would have studied my ass off!” Josh complained.

  “Harry, you’re so dead, dude!” Seth laughed, looking at Tristan, who was standing up from his bed now.

  Harry blinked, snapping out of his shock, and watched Tristan’s slow approach. A panicky expression crossed his face. He was a lot smaller and thinner than Tristan. He glanced sideways for help, or maybe trying to find an escape route. “H-hey, man. I-I was just kidding around! I thought she was gonna cave, or something, not . . . um, you know . . .th-this,” he mumbled apologetically, taking a step backwards.

  Tristan stopped a few inches from Harry and stared seriously at him. The room was silent, waiting for his reaction. I saw Sam’s body tense, ready to jump up and stop any fight that might break loose. I rose from my bed, ready to stop this nonsense too. I hadn’t meant to start any fights!

  Yeah, you didn’t, right? Kissing Harry like that? What were you thinking? A little voice whispered inside my head.

  Tristan moved his hand, and Harry flinched, preparing for the blow, but Tristan only slapped him lightly on the back instead. “Congratulations, man! Your first A plus! How do you feel?” Tristan congratulated him with a broad smile. We all watched the scene, astonished.

  “I-I-I . . . f-feel . . . okay?” Harry stammered, trying to recover from his second shock of the day.

  Everybody sighed, relieved at Tristan’s reaction. Seth reclined once more on his bed and grabbed his guitar again. Josh and Sam relaxed, laughing.

  Tristan walked over to the food counter, grabbing a bottle of water from it. “Joey always keep her promises, you know,” he said calmly, taking a sip. “It’s not like she enjoyed it, right, Joey?” he asked, a playful smile dancing at the corner of his lips.

  “I was just keeping my word,” I stated truthfully. I glanced sideways at Harry and caught him looking at me. He quickly snapped his eyes to the floor.

  “And no one can say Joey doesn’t offer you guys encouragement with your studies,” Tristan teased some more.

  Sam started rummaging quickly in his backpack. “You know what? I suddenly feel this strange urge to study now!” he said, grinning.

  Josh grinned evilly too. “Me too! Hey, pass me one of those books, Sammy, my boy, will you?” he teased, grabbing a book that Sam tossed over. It landed on my mattress, and I rolled my eyes at the suddenly avid students in the room.

  Harry went to sit on Seth’s bed, as far away from me and Tristan as possible. He had a shy look on his face and didn’t dare say a word after that. He just sat there, silently listening to the rest of the guys joke around. Sometimes he would take a sly peek at Tristan or me, but it was almost imperceptible. After a while, Seth went to have a shower and Josh and Sam left to do their things. Harry followed quickly on their heels. I closed the door after they had all left, and turned to look at Tristan, who was resting his back on the headboard. He extended his arms, inviting me in. I shuffled over, trying to act cool, but there was still a lingering awkwardness hovering in the air.

  “It will take some time for Harry to be his normal self again,” Tristan said with a smile in his voice, suddenly breaking the silence.

  “You didn’t need to give us that scare.” I scowled.

  He chuckled softly. “I know, but it was so much fun.”

  “I . . . we were all worried there for a second,” I mumbled.

  “You should know better. I would never hit him!” Tristan scoffed.

  “Well, if I know Harry, he’s going to freak out about this for a couple hours, then he’ll forget all about it,” I predicted, snuggling my face against Tristan’s chest. I hoped I hadn’t screwed things up between Harry and me. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship with that stupid kiss promise. I hoped he’d really just forget all about it.

  “Yeah, well. Your kiss is not a forgettable experience. I speak from experience,” Tristan said in a knowing tone. “Harry is a good guy. And he likes you a lot,” he murmured thoughtfully. “You two would be good together . . .”

  I raised my head from his chest and frowned, something clenching painfully at my heart, sinking heavily between my lungs.

  “Tristan, don’t say that,” I whispered. I didn’t like the sorrow I had sensed in his voice.

  “I reckon Harry will be good for you. Or Josh, he likes you a lot . . . and Sam. They’re all great and they all love you. Any one of them would take good care of you,” he said, mostly to himself. “If I’m . . . gone at the end of the year . . . they’ll care for you.” And his eyes glazed a little, as if he was
watching something on the distant horizon.

  “This isn’t funny, Tris,” I mumbled, upset. “I know you’re not jealous of the boys, but this is taking it a little too far.”

  He blinked a couple of times, the harsh tone in my voice making him snap out of whatever dark thoughts he seemed to be delving into at that moment. “I’m sorry, Joey. I don’t know what came over me.” He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back in his arms to kiss me.

  “You gave up, that’s what came over you. For a moment there, you gave up on me – on us,” I said, trying to avoid his eyes.

  “Never,” he murmured in denial, planting soft kisses on the curve of my neck.

  “Stop it, Tris. It’s not funny!” I said, even more upset, my eyes brimming with tears.

  “Come on, Joey! I was just saying that because I know it’s never going to happen! I’ll never leave you!” he said, changing his somber tone to a playful one and brushing his lips softly over my neck, making me shiver.

  Damn him! I couldn’t stay mad at him while he was kissing me like that! While I was lost in his arms, all my worries seemed to vanish away. He kissed me until I was no longer upset, until he felt I was happy and content in his arms, and my heart was light again because he was with me, and that was all that mattered.

  The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. We went to bed early, as we all still had a few last exams the next day, but I lay wide awake in my bed for a long time, thinking of Tristan and the boys with a heavy weight sinking in my chest. Something dark lurked around us, and I could do nothing but watch it approach, silently and merciless. It was only a matter of time . . .

  That night I dreamed I was laying in the bed in my room back in Esperanza, in Tristan’s arms, but when I turned to him, he was gone and it was Harry that was holding me. I rested my face on Harry’s smooth chest, while my fingers lightly traced his amazing tattoo. I felt this unbearable sadness, because Tristan wasn’t there with me any more. It was shattering my soul and I felt tears streaming down my face. Harry kept holding me, telling me everything was going to be all right. But I knew it wasn’t. He held me close and he caressed me, but I couldn’t stand the pain and the sorrow taking over me. It was too much for me to bear.