Chapter 2

“Eighteen last March,” Father Nate replied. “Older than

the others here but I just can’t kick him out. Where would he go?

You’re just out of high school yourself, right?”

“Graduated two years ago,” Alex said. Almost reluctantly

he turned the photograph over, trying to ignore those eyes, those

curls, that stare. He started to read the survey Jamie had filled

out in a thick, tiny block print. Owens, Jamie David. Eyes:

Blue. Hair: Blonde. Sex: If you’re cute, why not?Alex

suppressed a grin. “I’m twenty.”

Father Nate smiled. “You’re in college, right?” When Alex

nodded, he said, “That’s the kind of thing Jamie needs to see. Most

days I can’t get him to show up at school. He’s not graduating this

year, that’s for certain, and I don’t even think he really cares.

He needs guidance. Someone to show him what he’s missing. Someone

who’s been there before—someone he can look up to.” Someone like

you,he implied, but he didn’t say the words out loud.

Alex scanned the rest of the survey. Hobbies: Sex, music,

sex, basketball, video games, clubbing. Did I mention sex?

“He’s…” He searched for the word he wanted. “An average teenager,

eh? Likes sex.”

“Don’t let him scare you,” Father Nate replied. “He talks

a good game but it’s just a front. I think he’s lonely. He just

needs a friend.”

Or someone to fuck,Alex mused, but he kept the thought

to himself. “I’ll meet him.”

What did he have to lose?

* * * *

Father Nate led Alex down the hall. He stopped at

another closed door, and through the thin wood Alex could hear the

steady rhythm of a radio, cranked to a rap beat that shook the door

in its frame. “He likes to be the center of attention,” Father Nate

whispered as he opened the door. “So he keeps his music loud.

Everything’s loud with him.”

Inside, a long table took up most of the room. Two chairs

flanked the table on either side, and a beat up boom box sat on the

scratched tabletop. A bare window let the sun slant in across the

table to wink off the radio’s chrome buttons. In one of the chairs

Jamie lounged, wearing jeans tight enough to cut off his

circulation and a baggy button-down shirt, his legs propped up

insolently on the table. Beneath him the chair leaned back on two

legs, and he slapped his knees in time with the music, bopping

along to the rap under his breath. He didn’t look up as they

entered. “Jamie?” Father Nate prompted.

Jamie ignored him.

Father Nate reached across the table and clicked off the radio,

plunging the room into a sudden silence.

“Hey!” Jamie cried. Nowhe looked up, anger

clouding his face. He frowned when he noticed Alex. With a surly

nod he asked, “You my new friend?”

“This is Alex,” Father Nate explained.

Alex wondered where his patience with this kid came from. It was

obvious Jamie didn’t want to be here, in this room, with the two of

them… Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. Maybe this was too

much for Alex to handle. “He just wants to talk to you a bit,”

Father Nate continued. “Just get to know you, is that so bad?”

Under the weight of Jamie’s gaze, Alex cleared his throat. Those

dark eyes were an impossible shade of blue—the photograph didn’t do

them justice, and once Alex looked into them, he couldn’t seem to

look away. He felt that gaze boring into him, deep into his soul;

he felt as if this young man could see every part of him, could

hear his innermost thoughts as if he shouted them out loud. He’s

only eighteen,Alex thought. Two years younger than me. He’s

not all that.

Then Jamie smiled, those pouty lips curving into a sunshine grin

that Alex couldn’t help but return. “I like you,” Jamie declared,

and Father Nate laughed. “You can stay. Talk to me. What do you

want to know?”

Alex glanced at Father Nate, who motioned at the other chair in

the room. “I’ll check on you guys in a little while,” he said as

Alex sat down. With a wink he left the room, closing the door

behind him and leaving the two of them alone.

Alone.

Alex stared at Jamie across the expanse of the table and

wondered what he could possibly say to start things off. He was

never good at introductions…what made him think he could do this

Youth Outreach program anyway? Why did he think he’d be a good

influence on someone’s life? Jamie watched him closely, and Alex

wanted to say something witty to make this sullen guy smile at him,

but he couldn’t think of anything at all. “So you’re Jamie,” he

said, hoping that would start something

Jamie shrugged and moved his feet to the edge of the table,

knees bending as he rocked back and forth in the chair. “You’re

going to fall,” Alex warned him. With that barely there grin, Jamie

set the chair down on the floor with a loud thump.