Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 17:18:54 -0600 From: Karla Schulz Subject: Carrots and Celery Chapter Six Nangh. It's been the week from hell. Man I hate January. Exams suck on so many levels. But, enough about me. This is chapter six. Quite obviously, it comes after chapter five. You should read it. Like, now. I mean it. Right now. Get on with it already! Oh yeah, before you do, lets all take moment to express our gratitude to Nick, the man behind the magic, otherwise known as my official editor-type guy. I wait until after we've said good morning and kissed before asking, "To what did I owe the honour of your presence last night?" "They found out," "Found out what?" There's already panic in my voice, cause I have a guess and I'm pretty sure I've guessed right. "What do you think? About the gay thing, about us, school, everything," "So, so what happened? They didn't throw you out did they?" It takes a LOT of effort to keep my voice from sounding excited as I ask that question. "No. They were thrilled." "WHAT?" He shrugs. "As if they care about ME either way. This is just an excuse for them to show how understanding and loving and liberal they are one more time. You don't know how many cocktail parties Debbie will be able to get through just with this story. 'My son is so brave! He's come out at school, he's so confident about who he is. Just how we raised him to be. In some ways it's a hard time for us, but we're really pulling together as a family. When he told Doug and me, the first thing out of both our mouths was, "we love you, and we only want you to be happy."' Something like that, I swear. It's like the best thing I've ever done for Them." "Then why'd you come over? Not that I'm not glad you did," He sighs and slumps back onto his back. "I couldn't stand being around them right then. Do you know what the first thing She REALLY said to me was?" I shake my head. "Lay a hand on your brothers and we'll have you thrown in jail," "What the fuck!" "Yeah. Like I'd touch those trolls with a 10-foot pole anyway. But she can think whatever she wants, and play whatever shit liberal kiss-ass games she wants. I don't care anymore. I just didn't want to be there. It's too much sometimes," "I know love," Stay here forever, is on the tip of my tongue, but I say nothing, just lie back down and hug him. We still have 45 minutes until we have to be at school. At morning break I remember I need to return a book to the library and before he can insist on coming along I kiss Celery on the cheek and dash off. I feel a bit weird doing it, cause I've never needed Celery to give me 'space' before, but that's not really what this is either. It's just... okay. It's sort of me being stupid. The whole 'am I the girlfriend, do I need his constant protection' thing. It's not his presence I mind, heaven knows, just the idea that he has to be with me cause I can't handle myself. So yeah. Pretty stupid when you get right down to it, considering there's like no chance that's the way Celery's thinking about it in his head. I'm sure he just wants to be with me all the time. I'm an idiot. I'm half way to the library and already I've realized that. Is that like progress or something? Lets hope so. Anyway, I return my book, and I'm on my way back again, passing the bathroom when I'm suddenly faced with Brad Williams. He's smiling what I think is supposed to be a friendly smile. Immediately I'm suspicious. Brad has never been my friend, nor has he ever even been nice to me, in all the years I've known him. He's a jock, but not the non-jock kind who plays sports but doesn't play the part kind like Celery does. He's the kind of jock bad teen movies are made about, the kind of jock and person... Cherrie say, should be interested it. And now the lug's smiling at me. What's up? "Hey," I say. "Hey," Apparently now that we've gotten formalities out of the way, Brad seems to feel it's time to get down to business. He holds out a twenty and says, "Suck my dick," My mind is in such a state of shocked overload I don't even do anything when he shoves it into my frozen hand. I guess my freaked out blank stare was agreement enough for Bard, who starts to grab my arm and pull me into the washroom. That's enough to start to snap me out of my trance and cause me to yank my arm back, but before I can do more, I hear very familiar and angry sounding footsteps. My white knights back on the scene. "He's not fucking for sale Williams!" Celery says pushing Brad away savagely and glaring so hard you'd think that the look alone would be enough to incinerate Brad into dust. Not saying a word, Brad scurries off, though he does shoot us an evil look halfway down the hall. I look timidly back at Cel, hoping I'm right in thinking it's not possible he's mad at me too. He hugs me almost crushingly tight. "You okay?" Concern all over his face. "I'm fine," I say with a shrug once he's relaxed his grip and we're standing a few inches a part. "Thanks though, like I was so shocked I didn't even..." "Yeah, I saw your face and I knew what the dick must have been up to." There's still concern and rage in his eyes. "It's not that big a deal," He doesn't look even vaguely convinced. I grin, "Look, just think of what happened as nothing more than one of the inevitabilities of being out in high school. It was BOUND to happen. If not today some other time, but now it has and you managed to save the day yet again so there's nothing to be upset about any more. It's done. On with the show." "I just can't believe that creep thought he could do something like that to you!" "It's okay." I say firmly, rubbing his arm. "Just one more thing," I smile knowingly. "If he ever tries it again, Brad won't be?" Celery shivers a bit. "Damn I love you." "I love you too Cel," "You're not mad I was sort of stalking you?" I smile. "Not this time anyway. But we're going to have to do something about it just the same," He gets a guilty and fearful look on his face. Quickly, I explain my stupidity, "And the solution as I see it is for us to just go everywhere we can together, when we want to that is, and we'll just have to kick me in the ass a few times until I get over myself," Celery laughs. "That's one of your more brilliant plans," I smile. "I thought you'd like it." "Do you seriously think that though? That you're like the girl in our relationship?" "I know YOU don't see me like that, which is all that should matter. Like everything, it's just my stupid brain making something out of nothing. Now that you know, watch out for it, and give me a little push when you catch me at it - that's always worked before." "You can count on me," "I do," All say 'awww!' As it turns out, the being together all the time thing works out pretty well. Having him around to begin with sort of eliminates the 'out from the shadows leaps the manly hero!' aspect and makes me feel like we're more of a team. That of course is simply an added bonus to the most important thing, which is being around him. The rest of the morning, lunch and the afternoon until the break pass uneventfully. It's not until Cel and I are heading to the drink machines and he suddenly hisses in my ear, "What were some of those other inevitabilities of being out in high school?" I look around, coming up with a very unpleasant result for my search. Megan and Cherrie are slinking towards us in a power walk. In those heels, I can't believe they're not both on the ground in a tangled lump by now. "Kiss me," I say taking Celery by the shoulders and positioning him in front of me. He reaches over and does as I directed. It's not long before I forget we're only supposed to be kissing to put on a show for the bitch squad and am kissing him for real. Celery's the same. We don't release until the bell startles us. Break's about 8 minutes long, and we made out pretty much the whole time. Cherrie and Megan are long gone, and feeling like champions (the giddy, silly, in love kind), we peck good bye and head off to our 7th period classes. Okay, so here's the deal. I'm not freaked out anymore, not even a little bit. The talks with Celery and Kyle totally helped me get over my worry, but not my curiosity. I still think there's gotta be other guys (or, dear god, girls) out there that Celery will think are hot. There just HAVE to be. So, in the interest of, em, Science, I raided Kara's room while Celery was in the bathroom and now I've got a stack of 17 magazines and Tiger Beats loaded with hot guys to show him. "What's all this?" Celery asks, out of the bathroom, staring at me and my stacks of teen mags. "Just come here and look at a few of them with me," "Why?" He asks sceptically. "Uh, cause it'll be fun?" He rolls his eyes. "Humor me," "Fine," He says sighing heavily. We get through a couple of the magazines, me going "See! HE'S hot! You have to think he's hot!" every so often and Celery shaking his head at me, before I guess my humoring time is up and Celery stands, dragging me up to, and pulls me into the bathroom. He stands me directly in front of the mirror and points. "HE'S hot." He says firmly. "Okay?" I stare at myself for awhile, pouting. "Okay?" I smile, who am I to argue with his insanity? "Okay." He sighs, relieved this time. "So you're going to drop this now?" "It's officially dropped." He kisses my cheek. In a wonderful combination of corny and sweet, we both start humming 'I only have eyes for you' at the same time. Days start passing in a pleasant rhythm after that. No big major events. Really, it's just like normal life, the old normal life I mean, except for stuff like now when we're watching Buffy or whatever, instead of making fun of the commercials we usually make out during them and instead of those heavy, so-much-left-unsaid silences we talk for huge periods of time. We always talked, but it's different now. We can't seem to get enough of it, the talking thing. The making out thing also holds its own pretty well. Other than that, the only real new thing in our lives is having to spend much of our school days eluding Cherrie and Meghan who have allied themselves with the sole purpose of getting us to go straight and date them. After this happened, one can only assume they'd dump our asses and call it even. Still, when it's not frightening and annoying, it's quite funny. --- Our one week anniversary rolls around and Celery wanted to make a big deal about it, which is how I ended up here, at this Italian restaurant we love (cause it's so easy to imagine a bunch of mobsters coming in and eating cannelloni while planning hits). I've got no idea why, but I think he's nervous for some reason. We haven't even ordered yet but he's messing with his cutlery way too much, plus he's not saying anything, and since last Saturday that's ceased being normal. "You breaking up with me?" I joke, doing what I always do when I'm uncomfortable. I don't even score a pity smile, though he looks up from his glass. He actually shakes his head, like it was a serious question. This is not the kind of tension I handle well, or except to be in the middle of when I'm around Celery. So, lame as can be, I start babbling about the menu and the decor. I'm off on some nonsense track about mafia connections running the place when Celery finally ends what I assume was not only my own but also his misery. "Carrots," it's not much of a start but it stopped me talking anyway. "I'm um, well," he's dying. Not exactly a banner night for either of us apparently. "Are you ready to order?" No word of lie I almost yelled out loud from surprise. I don't know exactly when she showed up, but our waitress is standing by our table, her little pad out, all ready to take our orders. I never even really looked at the menu for real yet, to look for what I wanted, but I always get the same thing anyway. So does Celery. Again, creatures of habit. "I'll have the tortelleni with the marinara sauce please," "And I'm getting the tortelleni also, but alla pana," She nods, smiles, takes our menus and leaves us staring at each other again. "What's going on?" I finally demand, unable to stand it any longer. Celery's face sinks so deep into misery I could start to cry just looking at him. "Oh love, what's wrong?" I ask reaching over to take his hand despite the fact that we're in a public restaurant. It's sort of dim and not too crowded, but I would have done it anyway. "Nothing's wrong," He says shaking his head. "Really. I just wanted this to go well and for us to have a good time but instead I'm all uptight and nervous and now so are you and it's all messed up." "What is?" "This," he says, spreading his hand over the table. I grin. "You're nervous cause of dinner?" I laugh. "That's nothing to be nervous about! I swear, I'll force us both start to having fun if it'll make you feel better," "It's not just dinner," "Okay, what else is it then?" He stops looking around me and starts looking into me. "I don't want you to freak out," Yep. That's calming me right down. "I'll probably freak out a lot more if you don't tell me and keep me guessing. Cause if you do that I'll just come up with all this crazy stuff in my head and have a total wiggance, so please just tell me," "It's not really a telling, it's more of an asking," "So ask," I'm impatient, I'm nervous, but I'm trying not to sound that way. This is obviously hard for him. How hard hits home and I interrupt his beginning attempt at asking whatever's on his mind. "Whatever it is, let's make sure you know beforehand that I love you and am not getting sick of you or anything insane like that, okay?" He smiles. "Thanks," that's like the same thing as okay, right? "You still have to ask you know, I'm not letting you off the hook that easy," As I say it I notice I'm smiling too and I realize I've relaxed. Because we DO love each other and he'd never do something to hurt me intentionally, so what could he possibly have to ask me that could be so bad or freak out inducing? "Okay. Before I ask, let me just say I know how stupid it probably is to be nervous and maybe even to be asking, but I'm going to anyway," I'd be squeezing his hand except it's lost underneath the table. When it emerges, it's brought a ring box along for the ride. "Can I keep you?" Oh. My. Goodness. I stare at the box and he stares at me. I can feel his nervous eyes boring into me. I make a weird noise and he flips open the box. It's a ring alright. One of those plastic ones you get out of machines for 25 cents. It's orange and says 'love' in green. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. I don't know whether I'm SUPPOSED to laugh or to cry. Then I look at him, and a few different things happen in my brain very fast. The first thing is that I realize this is a way out. I know the nature of the ring is my escape route, if I need it. I can laugh, and I'm sure Celery would laugh with me, and we could act like it was a joke. Not a bad one either. Very convincing set up. But looking in his eyes I can't laugh. There are those beautiful eyes, begging to be taken seriously. I stare back at the ring. A second or two more passes and my brain suddenly and furiously returns from vacation. Can he keep me?! I'm already his! "That's not a question you had to ask Cel," I say, trying not to sound harsh. "But since you did I'll answer." Our eyes are fixed on each other. "You've always had me. I may not have realized it at the time, but you did. From day one. So yes, of course you can keep me. Please don't ever give me away." His hands actually shaking, Celery takes out that ring and slips it on my finger. I notice he went for the traditional ring finger. But in many ways, he's a traditional boy, my fiancé. "Sorry it's not a diamond," He says with just shy of a grin. "This is better," It is, too. It's more from the heart. He didn't get this kind of a ring to take the pressure off himself, he did it to take the pressure off me. I'm positive he was looking out for me, knowing a real ring might freak me out too bad. So serious. He knows me well and Celery's always taken care of me like this. He almost always knows just how to act to put me at as much ease as is possible in a situation. Plus the colors, there's no telling how many machines he went to looking for something like it, how many quarters he had to put in to get the right colour scheme. I look down at my ring, wiggle my finger a bit. No question, I'd take this over a diamond any day. "I'm also sorry I made you nervous," "That's okay. I understand why. Celery, it might not have gone exactly to plan, but love, I think this went pretty well. All in all? And anyway, the night is still young, who knows what kind of crazy fun we might get into." He smiles, it's an easy, simple smile. There's nothing complicated or troubled behind it, just happiness. "I love you," "Of course you do. I'm great!" The rest of the night is normal. We talk and laugh, stuff ourselves, play footsie and make bedroom eyes at each other. As we're leaving I categorically refuse to let him go home for the night and Celery's floating so high in the clouds of my answer he doesn't take much convincing. We take a cab home and have a very hard time not holding hands. For a night that started out so weird, it's ending pretty great. I'm having difficulty trying to remember feeling better. I was his before -- no question -- but there's something awesomely wonderful about having it be official. I tell him so once we're wrapped up together on the couch watching The Dark Corner. What's The Dark Corner? I'm in such a good mood, I'm just going to tell you. No hassling what so ever. The Dark Corner is this block of shows on YTV that are supposed to be scary or horror or something. Buffy, Dead Last, Vampire Highschool, that kind thing, and then a bunch of other stuff so cheesy it's impossible not to love. "I thought it was right, to make it official like that, and I figured it was my turn to make the conscious first move," I pull him over by the chin and kiss him. "I'm very glad you did." We go to bed around 11, unusually early, as we're unusually tired. I mean, it's not everyday you get engaged, is it? It's not a regular thing for me anyway. We try to stay up in bed talking, because there's so much to talk about, but we've barely gotten out a few words each before we're both fast asleep. We make up for it in the morning. The only hindrance is we're constantly talking over top of one another in our excitement, which leads to laughing, followed by kissing, and then the whole thing starts all over again once we get settled down and try to talk again. It's weird, in some ways, nothing's changed, but in others, it's like last Sunday morning all over again. The same wonder and excitement, that same feeling of discovery. We're having so much fun talking and cuddling we're late for brunch. Mom has to call up to us, and even then, it takes us awhile, because she shouted, "put some clothes on and get your asses down here," which coming out of your mother's mouth is both hilarious and unbelievably embarrassing. At the table I'm still slightly red faced, but Celery's calm and beaming. Or is it glowing? Both really. Kyle says a quick grace and then we start eating. I'm halfway through my croissant when Celery suddenly announces, "We're engaged!" My eyes bug out. I drop my croissant. Everyone else is about the same. It's one of those times I wish it was possible for me to get mad at Celery. Or even like, annoyed. I actually give it a try for a second, but the look of pure happiness on his face makes it totally futile. His grin's a good enough encouragement for me to wear one, and I enlace our fingers, almost daring someone to give us a problem -- not that I really expect one from this crowd. Sure enough, mom's tearing up, so's dad, Kyle's smiling so hard it seems like his cheeks are gonna split, the twins are looking stoked, and Kara's clapped her hands together, eyes shining. She's a real romantic, that girl. "Congratulations!" Kyle says, and he earns himself 5 hearty 'here-heres!' I decide to save them the trouble of clinking their spoons against their glasses and lean over to kiss Celery. It makes him so happy I don't even remember to feel embarrassed about kissing him in front of my parents. "Thanks guys," I say, almost choking up myself. Too much love in the room and all that. Mom gets up and starts the rounds of hugging, for some reason Kara runs off into the living room and comes back with a bunch of photo albums, and before you know it we're all sitting cross legged on the floor, flipping through them. My dad's a picture freak, and the pictures of just Cel and me take up whole albums, a few of them. It's cause we've always been such hot kids. Yeah right. Well, Cel anyway, but really, I think it's probably because dad knew Celery would always be a huge part of all of our lives, and so he's there in the photos as much as any other sibling. It gives me a happy, thinking about that. I'm way too lucky for words. I really am. We spend practically half an hour standing in the doorway kissing and whispering before Celery finally makes it out the front door. I watch him down the street and once he's out of sight, turn around to see Kyle laughing silently and shaking his head from the stairs. "Make something of it punk," I challenge without losing my delirious grin. Kyle walks right over and hugs me. Me and Kyle love each other a lot, but we've never really been huggers when it comes to each other. For that reason, I'm extremely moved, and hug him back hard. "You've come a long way little brother, I always knew you could do it too." "Its all thanks to you of course, couldn't have done it without you." Joking, but serious too partly. Joking's the only way I can stand to be serious most of the time. You figure it out. Kyle hits me on the back, a love pat type thing. "Since really, you should be each others, let me just be both your best men, and we'll call it even." I grin. "Okay Kyle, sounds like a plan." I go up to my room, and lie on the bed grinning at the ceiling like a fool for ages before I turn off the light and go to sleep.