Puppy for Sale
by James Matthews
Chapter 52
A Day At the Races to Realise my Finish Line
I waited at the lounge window for Hunter and his brother to pick me up. Even though I didn't know exactly what I was going to be seeing, the thought of spending a day with Hunter, away from school filled me with such excitement I could hardly keep still.
"He's late," I declared, looking at the lounge wall clock. I began to pace.
"What time did he say he would be here?" mum asked, grouping together some socks as she sat on the floor.
"Ten o'clock."
Mum looked at the clock. "Oh Puppy, it's just gone, calm down," she chuckled.
"Maybe he's changed his mind about me going, do you think I should call him?"
"And why would he do that?" she asked, looking at me smirking. "I really need to meet this boy; he seems to have quite an influence on you."
"Oh mum, he's so nice, really nice... do I look ok, I mean, do these jeans go ok with this top? I thought about wearing sweatpants, Hunter says he likes sweatpants, but I'm thinking maybe that's too scruffy. Maybe I should change."
"OH MY GOD, Puppy you look fine!" Mum was now really giggling, and although it was at my expense it was infectious.
"I'm really sad aren't I." I shook my head.
"Just chill, it's not what you wear Puppy, its what's inside he should be interested in, and I can see the attraction."
"Thanks, and yeah, you're right. I just want to make a good impression, you know, like he has never seen me out of uniform before."
"I'm sure you will, and will you come away from that window, the neighbours will think we have a stalker."
"Sorry, maybe I should wait outside."
"Puppy, can I ask you something?"
"Sure mum, what?"
"Do you think Hunter knows how to work a doorbell?" she asked, her face serious.
"Well, I'm not sure, I mean, he must have one right, or rather his parents. Oh, now I'm not sure, what if he doesn't?"
"Puppy, I'm playing with you, just get over here and sit your bum down on that seat."
I did as she asked as much as I didn't want to, I was nervous, and had buckets of energy that I felt needed releasing. I thought about going up to see Steven and Dave, but realised they had gone out to catch an early movie. Normally Steven would have some smart comment to make me feel at ease, but right now, all I had was mum, and she wasn't trained in Steven speak.
On the subject of Dave, it felt like he was finally starting to come to terms with the fact Hunter and I were an item and it really pleased me that was the case, with him even remarking that he hoped I had a good time. Despite Dave being the way he was, which was very annoying from time to time, I wanted nothing more than for him to be happy. Dave being happy meant I could finally relax and be a hundred per cent happy myself. There was still a long way to go but progress was being made, and that was good enough for me.
I heard a horn sound outside and almost went flying over the laundry basket as I clambered to get off the seat. I went to the window seeing a beat up old brown car parked across our driveway. Mum came up behind me and looked out too, a suspicious look on her face.
"My God, that thing looks like a death trap," she said, tutting.
"The car?"
"Yes the car, Puppy, look at it. I hope it at least has seat belts."
"Maybe it's the one Hunter's brother is using to race in," I mused, as I saw Hunter getting out of the car. He was wearing some kind of shiny black armless puffer jacket and beige jeans and my did he look good. "Oh my God he's coming to the door," I squealed.
"Funny, that's what people usually do Puppy. Go and answer it... oh and invite him in, I want to see what company you're keeping."
"Oh mum, please don't embarrass me, Steven warned me about this."
"Oh he did, did he, the cheeky so and so... look, I promise to be cool, ok?" she said, waving her arms around.
As the doorbell rang I swallowed hard and went to the door seeing Hunter's hot body through the frosted glass. Making a quick check of myself in the mirror, I turned the lock and slowly opened the door my legs feeling like jelly all of a sudden.
"Wow Jensen, you look great," he said leaning in and giving me a kiss on the lips.
"Oh, kissing already, must be love." Mum gushed. A searing heat went to my cheeks and I wanted to die.
"Muuuum!"
"You must be Mrs C, Good to meet you, I'm Hunter, or HT, whichever you prefer." Hunter held out his hand to mum and put on his best smile I imagined.
"My, quite the gentleman, you better tell me what you are hiding."
"Hiding?"
"Just kidding, why don't you come in for a few minutes, I wanna talk about that car of yours out there."
I slapped my forehead with my hand as Hunter was gestured in by mum. "I'm sorry," I whispered as he walked passed me. Hunter just grinned and went through to the lounge. I closed the door and followed.
"So, HT is it?" Mum asked in her best trying-to-be-cool voice." Hunter nodded. "Is that car safe out there?"
"Hmm, well it's a little beat up but yeah I think it's safe."
"So where is it you are taking Puppy today?"
"Puppy?" Hunter twisted his lips. "Mrs C, we aint got no dog going with us, just my brother and Jensen here."
I tapped Him on the shoulder. "It's my nickname, just go with it," I said, shaking my head. Hunter just looked at me strangely and turned his attention back to mum.
"So erm, we are going to a drag car racing event, there will be people with modified cars there racing each other."
"And this event... does it have a safety fence... I mean, you know what happened to Richard Hammond don't you?"
"Oh, the cars we have there don't go anywhere near as fast as that, I promise you," Hunter started, starting to laugh, until he saw mum was still serious and the smile quickly faded from his face. He cleared his throat. "It's quite safe, and I'll look after him I promise."
"Ok, I'll hold you to that. Home no later than eleven Puppy and keep your phone on."
"Sure, I will... so can I go now?" I asked, still blushing from mum's interrogation of Hunter.
"Go, have a good time."
"Let's go Hunter... bye mum."
"Bye sweetheart, and nice to meet you Hunter."
"Nice to meet you too Mrs C, have a nice day."
Hunter led me out to his brother's car with mum standing at the front door to see me off I guess. It was the first time I was seeing Hunters brother too as I approached his side of the car. He had his window open and I could smell the familiar aroma of weed, like what Steven had given me with Billy a while ago.
"It's gotta be Jensen right? What a cool name, good to meet you bud," his brother said. He swapped the spliff over to his other hand and held out his fist. I stood there wondering what he was doing it for. "Hey come here little man."
"I did as he asked and he pulled at my wrist moving me right up to the car. He then took my hand his and rolled it up into a fist, just like his. Hunter just stood there grinning.
"Now we tap." He said.
"I tap my fist on yours?"
"Sure you do, it's a greeting... Hunter here says you been in a home, tough luck eh? Guess you don't know some of the urban hellos yet?"
"I guess not," I replied timidly. I looked back at mum who was still standing there staring. Hunter's brother was being nice to me though which must have been obvious as she didn't look particularly concerned. I just hoped she didn't smell that fucking weed he was smoking.
"Jensen, you gonna get in or not?" Hunter asked, holding the seat forward for me so I could get in the back. I walked round the back of the car and climbed in, tossing myself onto the back seat. Hunter threw the seat back and jumped in slamming the tin sounding door, before his Brother put the car into gear and pulled away.
"My brother here so useless at introducing dudes... I'm Taylor, made up to meet ya," he said, looking at me in the rear view mirror.
"Jensen, but you already knew that," I grinned.
"Jensen, or Puppy?" Hunter chimed in, turning round to face me.
I giggled. "It was my hands and feet that did it," I said, probably a cryptic response.
"Do I wanna know?"
"It's just my hands and feet were really big when I was small, and I kinda grew into them... you know, like Puppies always have big feet and then they stop growing and the body gets bigger. So anyway, they called me Puppy at the home and it just stuck."
"Would you like me to call you that, it is kinda cute."
"Its fine Hunter, Jensen is fine with me. I did used to prefer Puppy, but because now I have met so many new people I have got used to Jensen again."
Hunter turned back to face forward and I tried to get comfortable in the back seat which was filled with all sorts of rubbish. On the floor down to my right was a spare car tyre, and I couldn't help but wonder if Taylor had a serious fast food addiction judging by the endless burger boxes and empty drink cups tossed all over the place.
It was then I started to study Taylor... well the back of him anyway. I should point out that apart from being around the same size of Hunter the similarities ended there. Unlike Hunter's almost black hair, Taylor was light brown and dreadlocked, with endless ropes of matted hair coming down to his shoulders. He also seemed to have this thing some people have where they wear sunglasses when the sun isn't out.
Maybe it was the fashion, I wondered.
"So, Jensen, what are you into?" Taylor asked, once again looking at me in the mirror.
"Into?"
"Yeah, like, what do you enjoy? Apart from my brother of course."
I coughed. "Uh, well, erm... I guess I like movies."
"Is that it?"
"Jensen has been kinda isolated Tay, lay off him."
"Hey, I'm just asking... so is Hunter here the first BF you ever had, you know, cos you were in a home?"
"Well, yeah kinda... if you don't count a boy called Dave."
"Dave?"
"Haha, has Hunter not told you about Dave?"
"That guy needs to get laid, I swear," Hunter said, shaking his head.
"Yeah he is kinda annoying," I agreed.
"So this dude Dave, what happened there... a shit fuck or?"
I laughed at his forthrightness. "Uh, nah, it was more his possessiveness."
"Jeez, Hail to you man, I had women like that, bad news!"
"They are just as bad then?" I asked.
"Sure they are, in fact worse... ever heard the saying, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?"
"No."
"Well look it up Jensen my man, you'll see what I mean... or you can just watch the movie, A Woman Scorned," he sniggered.
Taylor pulled up top a set of traffic lights and lit up another joint passing it straight to Hunter. I watched as he took it and inhaled deeply on the spliff, holding it in for a few seconds. What became apparent was that Hunter had done this before, I could tell.
"You want sum?" he asked in a strained voice.
I shrugged. "Why not."
"Jesus, you're with me and you ask the questions," he smirked before passing me the joint. As like before I coughed my lungs up on the first puff but soon learned to control it. Before long I was starting to feel very relaxed, and rather loose tongued.
"So does anyone else get horny smoking this stuff or is it just me," I asked, the question feeling totally normal coming from my mouth.
"Not any more, now I smoke it just to chill out, but Jensen, I know what you are saying. When I first started smoking green, I guarantee after that first joint I would be in my room jerking off."
"Hmm, So how old are you, I'm kinda having trouble guessing," I asked Taylor as he pulled away again.
"Twenty... two, weeks ago in fact."
"Yeah, I got him a blow up doll," Hunter announced, grinning from ear to ear.
"And I put it to good use before I got a little heavy with it and it exploded winding me."
That was it, we were all now in hysterics. Hunter was rocking back and forward in his chair, laughing so much no sounds were actually coming from his mouth. I was in an equal state almost, my stomach starting to hurt. Taylor was doing big belly laughs banging on the steering wheel as we came off a slip road and on to the motorway.
"Ha-happ-happy birthday for two weeks ago," I tried to get out through my tearful laugh.
"Thanks dude."
A little while passed and we all started to settle down again. I felt numb from the waist down but it was a good feeling all the same. Hunter was turning round every now and again and stroking my leg as we cruised along, each time causing me to produce a stupid grin on my face.
"I hear you are taking part in this car event Taylor?"
"That's right man, I'm the driver in my mate's small four man team, we are hoping for at least forth today."
"Not hoping to win?"
"Ha, nah, we don't have that kind of budget, but for amateurs we are pretty respected. There are some teams who spend ten times as much as us and we still beat them, so if we get forth I'll be happy."
"Cool, So how long does it last?"
"There are twelve heats, I was thinking that we might be done by six. You guys are welcome to come back to my place if you want, for a takeaway. I don't recommend eating anything at the race, it's fucking expensive and tastes like cow shit."
"Jensen, do you wanna do that?" Hunter asked me.
"You're the boss, I'm just happy to be with you."
"You see Tay, what did I tell you, aint he sweet?"
"Haha, yeah, he's a cool guy," Taylor agreed, making me smile.
I was starting to get a feel for what this event was going to be like as Taylor drove his car across a bumpy muddy farmer's field, over to where lots of other cars had parked up. Judging by the amount I saw I would have estimated there was about five thousand people here. Rows of cars as far as the eye could see took up this makeshift parking lot.
Taylor pulled up next to a slightly smarter looking vehicle and switched off the engine. The two of them got out before Hunter pulled the seat back for me to get myself out. Stepping onto the moist mud I felt my sneakers sink in an inch or two. I looked down seeing wet mud surrounding my bright white footwear.
"It gets drier," Hunter remarked looking at me looking.
"No worries, maybe I should have worn those sweatpants now," I said, as mud started flicking up onto my jeans as I walked.
"Hmmm, you should have called me and said, I would have definitely talked you into that. A pair of tight boxers as well, to really show off that big old dick of yours." Hunter niggled his nose in my ear before putting arm round my waist.
"Uh, do you think you should be doing that... I mean it's nice and all, but what if people see?"
"So what if they do, can't I show off what a hot guy I'm going out with? Besides, almost all of the people here are on Ecstasy, meth, pot or drunk on booze."
"Huh?"
"Yeah I left that bit out just in case it freaked you. This is kind of a weird event."
"Weird? As in..."
"Well they will have a few rock bands playing music over on that big stage over there," Hunter pointed. "Also, this is a place where people come to get laid, do drugs, drink loads of liquor and watch the cars race. It can get pretty messy, but I always have a good time, Annnnd, you can even have a drink yourself without the parents knowing."
"Wow, sounds like fun."
"It is, but I have promised your mum I would look after you, so we might just have the one drink, which Taylor can get for us, but that's it."
"So how long has your brother been coming here?" I asked, spotting Taylor now way up ahead. But then Hunter and I were walking quite slowly.
"It's held twice a year, he first came here when he was seventeen. That's when he first got invited to be on the race team. They used to come here to do drugs and drink with his friends, but on the second event he got talking to a friend of a friend who was in one of the teams and used some of the money he had saved while working to buy a small stake in it."
"And the rest..."
"They say is History, exactly! C'mon lets catch him up."
Hunter and I made our way down a grassy hill and positioned ourselves in front of a tall wire fence. Over in the distance there was a long tarmac road which went on forever in a straight line. At one end there was around thirty weird and odd looking cars all parked up with guys in different colour bibs all talking and mingling around the different vehicles.
I was just about to ask Hunter if his brother was with them when one of the rock bands he had mentioned sprung into life making the crowd scream and cheer.
"This is the time things start heating up," Hunter shouted, rocking his head to the beat of the music, smiling.
"Do you guys want me to get you a drink?" Taylor yelled, coming up behind us.
"What?" Hunter asked, pushing his earlobe outwards.
"I SAID, DO YOU GUYS WANT ME TO GET YOU A DRINK?"
"Oh yes please, anything will do, but not beer, is that ok Jensen?"
I just nodded, never having experienced anything like this before.
Hunter led me along the metal fence we were at, until we reached the start of the make shift drag track. With our drinks in hand we swigged back on them waiting for a glimpse of Taylor getting ready for his turn to race.
I looked at Hunter for a brief moment, captivated by his dark complexion, rich with expression and thought. Every time I caught sight of him lately felt like I was falling deeper and deeper for this enigma. Wild dark eyes were luring against a soft welcoming face complete with the most perfect chin that sat totally in-line with the rest of his features.
I sighed!
"What?" he mouthed, catching me staring. I leaned in against him putting my face to his ear.
"I think I might be falling in love," I announced.
"What a lucky guy, do I know him?"
Hunter started to laugh and I punched him on the arm with him feigning pain and shock.
"Don't make fun of me; it was really hard to admit that." I retaliated, grinning.
"Why?"
"Because it's like admitting a weakness somehow. I dunno, it's quite hard to explain."
"Weakness, is that a problem? I told you, I'm going to look after you; the last person you should worry about looking weak in front of is me."
"I know, and I hope you mean it. I guess it's like having a fortress that the enemy thinks is impenetrable, but by telling you I might be falling in love is like telling the enemy where the weak part in the wall is."
Hunter smirked. "So, now I'm the enemy and I'm looking for a weak point in your fortress?"
"Grrr, You are purposely trying to make me squirm over this aren't you?"
"Haha, no of course not but you are winning the contest of trying to explain how you feel in the most complicated way. Let me see if I can help you."
"How?"
"By telling you this... Jensen, I AM in love with you, and have been for a while. End of story!"
With that, almost as if to seal his sincerity, he pulled me into him and paced the gentlest of kisses on my lips. So soft and slow that when he pulled away it felt like my lips were being tugged by his as they tried to separate.
"So it's official?" I asked.
"Official?"
"Yeah, I really am a love sick puppy!"
"Oh, that is so bad Jensen!" Hunter shook his head, his fingers placed against it.
"Anyway moving on, what car does your brother drive in..."
I didn't get the chance to say anymore as Hunter took me in his arms and gave me the warmest of hugs. I felt safe in his strong arms as they wrapped around me. I nestled my head in his neck thinking how protected I felt in amongst the loud music, cars and huge crowd all screaming around us.
I knew from that very moment I would remember this day for the rest of my life no matter what happened. Being here at this great open party with all these people... with Hunter I realised something that probably had not occurred to me in such clarity before.
He was mine.
Finally I had found happiness in everything it felt. My family, my friends and now my boyfriend. Along the way I had also learned so much, about life, about the world and now I was starting to learn about love. There were times when I thought about giving up on life, once even sailing close to doing just that, but as I looked into Hunter's eyes I was glad I hung on. The huge mountain that I had once stood at the bottom of was conquered at last.
I was even due to see Cindy again for the first time since our brief encounter at Burger King and it was an event I was so looking forward to. It was going to be a mighty reunion and I couldn't help get a tingling inside when I thought about her chilling in my kitchen just chatting, like the old days. We had lots to catch up on and we were going to make the most of it. Steven also seemed to be excited, which didn't take a lot of brain power to work out why. I had a feeling she was going to have him under her thumb within her first visit.
Now THAT I was looking forward to seeing.
It suddenly occurred to me I had everything I wanted and needed, and while I stood there in my boyfriend's arms I closed my eyes for just a second and said the first prayer of my life. I thanked God for giving me a second chance at life, and asked of him one more thing, and that was to take down that sign in the window.
This Puppy was no longer for sale!
The End
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