Love and War

Chapter One: The Stranger

Saturday February 6th 2010

Ryan Gabriel Tramblay

When someone’s watching you, it’s almost like you can feel it. That weightless beam of curiosity resting on you. The person’s glare is so strong, you’re forced to look up and find where the gaze is coming from. For me, I looked up into the eyes of The Stranger.

          “So, dude, what are you getting?” Damon Falconer my best friend asked me, his green eyes bright with excitement. “The lip piercing, the tongue or the industrial? The lip piercing is mega cool, but it’s impossible to hide. The tongue piercing is cool, but not as cool as the lip, but it’s easier to hide. The industrial’s not really cool at all, but your Mom would probably accept it way more than the other two.”

          Damon and I were sitting in the waiting room of the well-known town tattoo parlour X-Inkz. The room was dim with red walls and black accents. There were pictures of tattoos and people with piercings all over the walls. There was only one girl who worked there that I knew of; Piper Geoff. She was the older sister of Kristoff (who had somehow attained a mono-nym), the latest victim of TJ’s cheating.

          “I think I’m going to get the tongue piercing. It’s cool and easy to hide.” I looked over at Damon who was gazing at me in such a way under his eyelashes, it made me extra nervous. Ever since he admitted he was gay, I was a little jumpy about how he looked at me and the way he acted around me. I didn’t want to have to tell off my best friend because he had a crush on me. Without even knowing it, I had become a Stag Hag; the male equivalent of a Flame Dame; A guy with a gay friend.

        “Do you think it’s going to hurt?” I asked stupidly. I felt immature for asking that question, but come on we are immature. We’re two fourteen year old boys planning on getting piercing only to have them ripped out of our faces once our parents set eyes on them. Knowingly going into it knowing that a large sum of money was about to be paid and we would have to go through needless pain and painful healing. My plan was to hide the piercing until it was fully healed, and keep a spare stud on me. So when Mom found out and took away the original one, I could still wear the spare one to school without her knowing.

       Silence fell over my ears; that’s when I really noticed The Stranger. It is not polite to notice someone while they’re noticing you, but I couldn’t help it. It was like someone slipped glasses over my eyes, magnifying his gaze and finally allowing me to face the fact without distraction. He was watching me.

         The stranger had grey hair the colour of sterling silver. It gleamed in the grey light, and hung in front of his eyes in wisps. I know he had dyed it, because his eyebrows were a dark blonde and his eyelashes were long. His face was so interesting, I couldn’t look away. I just wanted to run my fingers over the smooth angular contours of his face. He had bright green irises, hidden behind his lids. He looked bored, un-amused, but amazing. His skin was pale and almost ghost white. The angles in his face were sharp and it gave him an edge. The way his nose sloped softly and his high cheek bones. He had thin shapely lips, which turned down slightly at the corners.

         The odd thing about him was the long jagged scar on his left cheek. I could tell he had tried to cover it up because I could see the powder clinging to the nearly miniscule hairs on his cheek.

         As soon as he noticed me noticing him noticing me his lips turned into a small smile. “Boy,” He whistled loudly, making the whole parlour to turn and look at him. His green eyes were traveling from the top of my unkempt and messy hair to the bottom of my feet. Up and down, just like an elevator “You look exactly like your brother.”