The Little Mistakes (boyxboy)

Chapter 28

I had always loved Fridays. Everything about them were so nice. They meant I didn’t have to go to school for the following two days. I could hang out with Eryn and not have to do chores or babysit. Fridays were always good to me. Now I dreaded them.

A typical Friday for me here in America was very distant from what I experienced back in New Zealand. They led to a lonely weekend in an isolated room in the basement. Then there were awkwardly uncomfortable dinners with parents who weren’t mine and a cousin who disliked me to a painful degree.

And this particular Friday night was even worse. I had actually woken up this morning feeling optimistic about it, though. Today Rikert had invited me over to watch a movie, probably cuddle, and have dinner. His parents weren’t supposed to be home all weekend.

Right after school, Rikert had practice and I did my homework while I waited. Then we went back to his house and he started to cook for me. We talked and laughed and I watched, admiring his movements and body and voice, while he did all the work.

Then when he was finally done, he had kissed me one last time before he said it was alright for me to go ahead and put my plate together. That was the easy part. The not-so-easy part came after that when it all fell apart and literally went crashing down to the floor.

And now Rikert was angry.

I could hear him fuming as he stood in front of me. I didn’t know why I had messed up like that. I couldn’t take it back, though. The spilled food and the broken glass at my feet were the evidence of how I’d ultimately screwed up. I didn’t even know how I tripped, but I just had. The water from my broken cup pooled around my socked feet. It all happened so incredibly fast.

Rikert had been startled just as I was when he had heard the initial crash. Then he was in front of me in a matter of seconds. I was frozen, not sure what I was allowed to do about this. I was shocked by my own clumsiness and partly terrified by what Rikert would do. I had never seen him look so genuinely pissed off at me before. And I thought that was saying a lot.

I stood still, wringing my now empty hands together almost frantically. My eyes were cast down to my mess on the floor, I couldn’t look at Rikert. Not when he was so upset with me. I was frozen on the spot. The swing of his hand was agile, and the crack of it across my face stung painfully. The loud slapping noise of flesh hitting skin and bone resonated throughout the room. I was sure I’d remember that sound for a long time to come.

The tears pricked at my eyelids, but I kept them in check. I didn’t move. Rikert was still centimetres away from me. I felt my knees begin to shake beneath me. I was scared. Rikert had never slapped me in the face before. And he had never hit me so hard. I thought I was going to pass out from fear. I wanted to so badly. Anything to get me away from this situation.

“Shit,” Rikert said, surveying the damage before us.

He was saying it more to himself than to me. I was worried about that. Would I get him in trouble with his parents for this? I really hoped that wasn’t the answer. From meeting his mother just that one time, she scared me. I couldn’t imagine what his dad was like. I was dying to know if his parents were nice to him or how they treated him.

I had been wondering a lot lately if they were the reason Rikert could be so temperamental like this. What if they hit him and that’s why he sometimes did the same to me? Maybe they caused all the pent up anger he had that he couldn’t control when I screwed up. In any case, I was still concerned.

No matter what, I loved him. He did so much for me that the cons of being with him were severely outnumbered by the pros. I didn’t ever want to leave him. And I didn’t ever want to see him hurt. I was starting to feel the guilt about what I had done. If Rikert really did get into trouble for me breaking a plate and a glass, I would regret it. Rikert would be upset with me and I would hate myself for possibly causing him pain.