Brownsville Tales, Jayden & Cade, 8

Jayden walked out into the bright sunshine in the quad outside the locker room and stopped.

Metaphorical lightning bolts, thunder crashes, or whatever – he felt thunder-struck for sure. There, in the bright sunshine and framed by the shadowed wall behind him, all alone and looking around, was a vision, a kid, a boy. A new kid in school – he hadn't seen him there before, but he'd seen him a million times, in his dreams, because he was kind-of like Cade must look now.

Years ago, Cade Caldwell was his mate, his best friend ever. They met, way-back, somewhere around the time when they first started school and they were as thick as thieves until they were torn apart at about 9 years old. That much he remembered clearly and wished he didn't because it still hurt even though that was years ago.

Cade. He hadn't heard anything of him in a long, long time. They wrote letters to each other, (by hand! On paper!), when Cade first went away. But that stopped somewhere around the time that the old house burnt down.

It was too hard to do anyway. All writing did was remind him that his best mate was a long way away and never coming back. Not good.

He'd never forget him, but he tried to move on. Life was for living, not just for remembering how good it used to be. It was funny though, he could go all day without thinking about him, and often did, but when he slept Cade was always there, in his dreams. Always.

That was mad, but dreams are like that – they show up everyone's crazy side. Sexy dreams about Cade, often 'wet' dreams, were crazy because they never did anything like that in real life. They used to sleep together sometimes, but nothing like that ever happened, they were just kids.They didn't even cuddle, but he wished now that they had.

Jayden was not gay. He had girlfriends, lots of them, but he'd never actually had all-the-way sex with anyone. Not yet anyway. When he did, it would be with a girl. No way was he interested with a boy, except maybe Cade – in his dreams.

But, that boy standing there . . wow! He was sex on legs. He looked like Cade – like he would if he was older and way better-looking than he ever really was. So, who was he?

“What're you looking at?” An arm draped around him and his current girlfriend, Kristal, was in his face. “Should I be jealous?”

“No, Sweets, you should not. I'm checking to see if there's any better-looking than you – there isn't.”

“Don't you forget it!” She beamed her brilliant smile and kissed his cheek.

'Good save!' Jayden congratulated himself, but they sprang apart when old Mr. Hewitt cleared his throat behind them.

“Yes, well.” He took his glasses off and wiped them on his jersey, peering myopically at them as he did. “School is no place for that sort of behaviour,” he grumbled. “Keep it for the back row of the movies.”

He walked away, banging into a handrail. Jayden and Kristal shrugged and he grinned when she rolled her eyes. “Crazy Old Man. C'mon Boy, time for school.”

He was glad to have her as his girlfriend, anyone would be, but she could be bossy at times.

'Where did the new kid go?' He looked around but couldn't see him. 'Well, he's new. Probably had to go to the office for timetables and stuff.'

The kid wasn't there for the first period, but then came in, led by Mrs. Eakin, the school secretary. She spoke briefly to Mr. Erickson, then said to the kid, “You'll need someone to show you around for a day or two.”

She scanned around the room and smiled when here gaze stopped on Jayden. “Of course! Kristal, move to another seat please. Cade, go and sit with Jayden. He can look after you.”

He went over, sat in the vacated seat and smiled shyly. “Hello, Jayden.”

The penny dropped. Jayden's eyes opened wide, as did his mouth. “Cade? Bloody Hell, it is! Cade! I didn't know you – boy, you've changed.”

“Not really,” Cade replied. “Only on the outside. Good to see you again, Jayden - really good.”

“It is, isn't it?” Jayden grinned widely. “Great to see you too! Where've you been?”

“Okay, Boys – enough.” Mr. Erickson interrupted. “You can talk later, now is my turn. Chapter 3, page 57, Class.”

It was the longest lesson ever. Minutes were like hours and time dragged so slowly. Neither of them was at all interested in the teacher up at the front. All they wanted was to be out of there. There were so many years to catch up on.

They couldn't talk, but no-one could stop them looking. They both sat there, stealing glances and grinning goofy grins. The bell rang, at last, class was dismissed and they were out of there like greyhounds out of the starting gates.

The best place for a private conversation was out in the middle of the netball courts, so that was where they went. Others gravitated to the nooks and crannies where the teachers and prefects watched them closely.

Everything was right in their world – everything! Cade was so excited, he had to stop himself from jigging up and down like a little kid.

They looked different. Cade was tall, well built with wide shoulders and a slender waist. He had short, spiky blond hair, blue eyes and a healthy glowing tan. Jayden was just as tall, but skinny with it. He was all knees and elbows and looked as if the scaffolding was up but the body wasn't built yet.

His neck was swanlike, long and thin, and his boyish face with its ruddy complexion and big brown eyes, still looked like a kid's. As if to compensate, his dark hair was long and shaggy. They were both fine-looking boys.

“You're back and in the Highschool. Does that mean you're back for good?”

“Sure does. Dad's got the manager's job at the mine.”

“Whoa – big time!”

“He thinks so.”

“Good for him. So, where are you living?”

“Up the Coast Road. They've bought a house at the 9 Mile.”

“9 Mile? Damm. We're living out past South Beach. You'll be on the bus going north and I'm on the one going south”

“Yep. We'll still be living a long way apart.

“Closer than Aussie though.”

“Oh yes,” Cade grinned, “Much closer than that and that's all good.”

“Yeah,” Jayden grinned back. “Real good. It's great to see you again. I thought you'd never come back.”

“I was always coming back. Just didn't know when.”

“There you are!” Kristal pushed into the conversation. “No need to babysit the new kid all the time, y'know.”

“He's not a new kid,” Jayden objected. “This is Cade and he's an old, old friend. When we were little, we were as close as brothers. Cade, this is Kristal, she's . . umm.”

“His girlfriend.” Kristal finished for him “Nice to meet you. See you later. C'mon, Jayden, come around to the back of the library, I've got something for you.”

“Umm, yeah, okay. Catch you later, Cade. We've got English next, in room6, it's back down there.

Jayden let Kristal drag him away. He had to really, he had a reputation to maintain. Cade, alone and disappointed, went to see where Room 6 was.

At the corner of the library, Jayden looked back. Cade had been stopped by 4 girls and they were chattering excitedly at him.

Cade looked over at him, their eyes met, he grinned, waved and turned back to the girls.

'He looks at home there,” Jayden thought. 'I guess he would. A stunning-looking boy like him'll be a big hit with the ladies. He's the new kid in town too. They're going to be all over him.”

“Come on, Jayden! We haven't got all day.” Kristal grabbed his shirt and pulled. He had to go with her before he lost all of his buttons. He'd rather be with Cade, but he had a girlfriend, a bossy girlfriend and there was his reputation, so he let her lead him away.

Cade still had one eye on him and he saw Jayden disppear around the corner after his hot-stuff girlfriend. What was her name again? He'd forgotten already. It didn't matter anyway, it was not her he wanted to be with. Lucky Kairau!

'Well,' he decided. 'Not much I can do about that, but I wish it was me with him.' He turned his attention on the girls.

It was quite flattering really, like he was a rockstar or something. He could get used to this.