"Forever shall the wolf in me desire the sheep in you" ~ from the song "Beauty and the Beast" by Nightwish
******
"Are you sure you want to spend your last summer before college out in the middle of nowhere?"
Jamie sighed into the phone.
"Yes, mom. I'm sure. I need to relax."
"You call that relaxing? I'd be bored out of my skull."
"Yeah, well... It works for me."
She was silent for a few seconds.
"You know Craig..." Jamie groaned. "...is really worried about you. He misses you."
"Yeah? Well, I don't miss him one bit."
"Sweetie, this whole thing between the two of you is just a misunderstanding. I know you can work it out, if you'd just give him a chance... Let him come visit you."
Jamie got a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"You didn't tell him where I was, did you?"
Silence.
"Mom...! You promised you wouldn't tell him..."
"Well, you should have seen him! He was a mess, poor thing! I think you're being really cruel, Jamie! He's such a sweet boy."
"You date him, then!" Jamie shouted and ended the call.
Tiredly rubbing his forehead, Jamie collapsed onto the couch. A few minutes on the phone with his mother and his head felt like it was going to split open.
Alicia poked her head out of the kitchen doorway.
"I'm making coffee. Want some?"
"Yeah, thanks," Jamie sighed.
Alicia was the best friend of Jamie's father, Alan. They had been close since they were children, but when Alan married Jamie's mom, Sharon, they drifted apart. Sharon was jealous of Alicia and suspected Alan of having a thing with her, no matter how much he insisted that they were nothing more than friends. When Alan died in a car crash, Alicia decided to come to Jamie and offer her support. Sharon was less than pleased, but her kindness was just what Jamie needed then. He and his mother had never been on the same page. She found comfort in her friends, Jamie in Alicia. And, as time passed, Jamie and Alicia became very close. He began to think of her as a favorite aunt, someone he could tell anything. That's why, after having escaped a bad relationship (which also happened to be his first), he packed a bag and came to her house in the sticks to spend the summer there with her and her younger brother, David.
David... Jamie had never met him before coming here, but Alicia had spoken of him often. And when Jamie finally got to see him, he had been utterly speechless. Simply put, David was nothing less than magnificent. Seven years older than Jamie, he was tall and strong, with long black hair tied up in the back of the neck, a few strands shorter in the front framing his face perfectly. And his eyes... they were an unbelievably piercing silvery blue, and when directed at you, they took your breath away. Jamie was his exact opposite: small and slender, very light blonde hair and large, dark green eyes that made him a look a little younger than he actually was. Jamie had often received compliments for his boyish looks, but to him there was no question that David's powerful, dark appearance was so much more impressive.
Jamie went into the kitchen following the delicious smell of fresh coffee, and happily accepted a mug from Alicia. David was sitting at the kitchen table, and Jamie glanced at him, discreetly admiring the view. The morning sun was falling on his face, making his black hair shine, and delectably hugging his body was a black T-shirt with the famous Mr. Blonde quote from "Reservoir Dogs" printed on it. He looked up when Jamie entered the kitchen, but had quickly turned his attention back to the newspaper spread out before him on the table. Jamie sat down next to him in silence. He had tried to get to know David, but hadn't made much progress. David was never unfriendly, but he was very serious and closed off.
Alicia joined them.
"So how was Sharon?" she asked, sipping her coffee. Jamie grunted in response, and she smiled understandingly. Alicia glanced at the clock. Any minute now... Just then her cell phone rang, as she had expected. She left the kitchen to answer it. She spoke to her friend for a few minutes in a hushed voice, then hung up. Setting her facial expression as one of held-back sadness and disappointment, she returned to the kitchen.
"Everything OK?" Jamie asked. Alicia cleared her throat.
"Yes... Uhm... A friend of mine dumped her boyfriend, but they had cruise tickets for tomorrow... she's going anyway, and she asked me to come with her."
"Wow. Sounds like fun."
"Yeah, but... I'm not going," Alicia said playing with a loose thread in the sleeve of her shirt, making sure to pout ever so slightly. "I'd rather stay here."
"Oh."
There was a few moments of silence, and then David said quietly, not looking up from the newspaper:
"You should go."
Alicia looked at him intently, concealing her triumph, then turned to Jamie, smiling.
"I'm sorry, Jamie, but could you excuse us for a minute?"
"Sure..."
Jamie left the kitchen. After having been to the bathroom and taken care of a few things in his room, he returned. Alicia beamed at him.
"I think I'll go on the cruise anyway, Jamie. If that's okay with you? David will still be here to keep you company."
"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You just have a great time."
"Thank you, kiddo. Well, I guess I'll call Jenny, then I'd better start packing."
Alone in her room, Alicia raised her arms in a victory-gesture. David had taken the bait hook, line and sinker. She felt a tad sorry for laying a guilt-trip on him, but she believed it was for his own good. She also wasn't used to playing the match maker, but she just couldn't sit idly by while her brother went through his life alone. Especially not when such a golden opportunity was right under his nose.
David had been seemingly indifferent to Jamie when she introduced them to each other, but Alicia wasn't fooled. She had long ago learnt to see past his stony face, and she knew Jamie had made a deep impression. And it was clear that Jamie really liked her brother, and if there was one person on this world who could be understanding about David's... situation, she was sure it was Jamie. She hadn't brought Jamie here to set him up with David, but now she simply couldn't help herself. She only hoped that giving them two weeks alone together while she stayed at her friend's house would be enough.
"Let's hope this works," she said to herself and crossed her fingers.
******
The following morning, Alicia said goodbye to Jamie and David and left with her friend. The two young men spent most of the day in silence. It was starting to make Jamie uneasy, especially when he noticed that David sometimes watched him with that icy stare of his. Jamie could never guess what David was thinking about him, if he was thinking about him at all, and it made Jamie nervous. Still, Jamie made up his mind: if he and David were to spend two weeks in each other's company, David needed to be defrosted a bit. So in the evening, he cautiously tapped on David's door and entered when he heard a: "Yeah?". David was stretched out on his bed, a book in his hand.
"Hey," Jamie said, fighting down the urge to throw himself at him. "Uhm, I was thinking about watching a couple of movies. Wanna join me?"
For a second David just looked at Jamie blankly, then he smiled. It was the first time Jamie had seen a genuine smile on his face, and suddenly he felt warm and tingly all over.
"Yeah, sure," David said, putting his book away.
Alicia was a real movie-lover, and had a good collection: somewhere between two- and three hundred DVDs. Jamie spotted "Dances with Wolves", a favorite of his, and pulled it from the shelf.
"How about this?" Jamie said, holding it up. As soon as David glanced at the cover, he stiffened and looked hard at Jamie.
"Or... we take something else... if you don't like this one," Jamie said, suddenly feeling very uneasy.
"No, it's a great movie..." David said, his expression softening. "I was just in the mood for something with a faster pace."
"Oh, okay."
After a few more minutes of choosing, they went the "Lethal Weapon" way, but Jamie paid more attention to David than the screen. It was so wonderful to see him relaxed and smiling; he seemed like a completely different person. As darkly sexy and exciting as he was when he had his stony expression, he was even more beautiful when he laughed; his whole face seemed to be glowing, and it made Jamie's heart flutter.
When they'd finished the movie they made popcorn and watched all three sequels, and when they were done with them they got started on "Army of Darkness". It had been a long time since Jamie had so much fun, since he'd been so at ease, since he'd been so... happy. With a smile of satisfaction, he dozed off.
"Jamie?"
Jamie awoke. David was leaning over him, stroking his cheek. His silver blue eyes were looking at him with such intensity that he gasped. "Oh... Please... kiss me," he thought. But David didn't. He just gave a vague smile and said:
"It's late, Jamie. Go to bed."
Jamie stared disappointedly as he walked away, up the stairs.
******
Alone in his room, David leaned heavily on the door.
"Oh, God," he muttered and put his hand on his groin. Hard as a rock. Jamie had been so incredibly beautiful just now, asleep on the couch. He had wanted to take things further so bad... but he couldn't.
"Have you forgotten?" his inner voice said. "You can't let your guard down. These are dangerous feelings. You can't give in to them. It wouldn't do either of you any good. If he found out... he would be disgusted. He would fear you, hate you. And then you would be even more miserable then you were before."
