Catch
him when heŐs straying
Eric/Jordan
Staal (cest)
NC-17,
this is a work of fiction, it is made up.
One
sentence challenge.
**
Everything
is quiet before; everything is quiet afterwards.
**
Eric
drives and Jordan sits in the passenger seat and reads road maps from cities
that Eric has lived in and he hasnŐt.
**
Eric
is thinking of ending the lease on his apartment, buying a new place.
**
In
the light from the dash Jordan traces the lines that lead from home to hockey,
from the rink to home.
**
When
he first left Eric called his parents every week and emailed his brothers
nearly every other day.
**
Jordan
works out the shortest distances from EricŐs house to the freeway, and,
consulting the interstate map to be sure, the fastest way from the US to Canada
to home.
**
He
still calls his parents, more often even, he calls his dad after a lot of games
during the season, and other things have fallen by the wayside.
**
Eric
washed his sheets twice, three times once Jordan left.
**
They
went to Sunday school, and church; they went to worship and to bible study
group as a family.
**
In
hot water and in cold with bleach and finally he threw them out.
**
The
streetlights hide more than they reveal the closer they get to the airport.
**
Eric
would daydream about hockey and pick his fantasy memorial cup team when he was
supposed to be reading the bible.
**
It
was no good, he could see the way the sheets were pulled out at the corners
when Jordan grabbed them, could smell JordanŐs sweat, could feel the grit of
skin and hair that Jordan had left behind.
**
Eric
threw out the pillowcases and the quilt and the blanket.
**
He
could taste Jordan on his pillows, tears and breath and hear JordanŐs pants,
his moans, in his sleep.
**
He
threw out the pillows as well.
**
He
put the blanket that he mother had given him on the bed in the spare room.
**
That had been
the worst sin of all, Jordan half awake, stumbling to the kitchen to get coffee
to take back to bed, with the blanket wrapped around his naked body.
**
He thinks his
grandmother may have made it, or had it given to her.
**
He wishes his
parents had had daughters to drop this shit on.
**
He slept with
the blanket around him for three days until he washed it in disgust and hid it
out of sight out of mind.
**
JordanŐs always
been gay, and EricŐs always known.
**
He always prayed
for Jordan, not salvation or anything crazy that isnŐt his to give, he just
prayed Jordan would be ok.
**
Not normal ok,
happy ok.
**
He couldnŐt will
his fingers away from where they were resting on JordanŐs face.
**
Eric makes these
little gasping noises when Jordan rubs up against him.
**
Jordan remembers
when the two of them used to be friends, remembers how much he missed it when
they werenŐt.
**
The skin inside
JordanŐs mouth feels very thin to Eric when he slides his tongue into JordanŐs
mouth.
**
Jordan doesnŐt
do anything except smooth circles on EricŐs back, hold him close with his arms.
**
Thin and tasting
of something that Eric canŐt identify, he holds JordanŐs head between his hands
and opens his mouth wider.
**
Jordan surrounds
him, swallows him down.
**
Eric is the
older brother; he isnŐt going to be the one to run.
**
Jordan shakes
his head, gasping for breath, when Eric pulls back Jordan sucks EricŐs thumb
into his mouth, and looks up from under his eyelashes.
**
JordanŐs skin
was so hot it stung, sent little tendrils of electricity from across his skin
onto EricŐs tongue.
**
Eric blindly
followed, walking into the dark, bouncing off walls.
**
Warm hands
parted his thighs, tracing the lines of his muscles under the skin.
**
There is a
twitch at the line of EricŐs neck and shoulder, an itch of a healing bite that
troubles him for days afterwards.
**
Eric would have
been perfectly happy to let Jordan have him in the kitchen, against the
cabinets that he kept the plates in, or leaning over the table.
**
They left the
lights off: pulled the curtains, shut the door.
**
Eric fell asleep
with his hand on JordanŐs stomach; he woke up with his face hard against
JordanŐs neck.
**
To scared to
face the day, Eric feels only relief that JordanŐs plane is leaving tonight.
**
Eric knows that
it isnŐt the plane carrying Jordan flying over him as he drives home; itŐs to
early for his overnight to Toronto to have left yet.
**
Eric knows that
itŐs wrong, but he thinks it anyway.
**
Yeah
me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin' nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin'
turns dancin' with Maria
While the
band played The Night Of The Johnstown Flood
I catch him
when he's strayin' like any brother should
Man turns
his back on his family he ain't no good
Well
Frankie went into the army back in 1965
I got a
farm deferment settled down took Maria for my wife
But them
wheat prices kept on droppin' till it was like we's gettin' robbed
Frankie
came home in '68 and me I took this job
Yeah me and
Frankie laughin' and drinkin' nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin'
turns dancin' with Maria
While the
band played The Night Of The Johnstown Flood
I catch him
when he's strayin' teach him how to walk that line
Man
turns his back on his family ain't no friend of mine.
Highway
Patrolman
