Take Me to Church (boyxboyxboy)✅

Chapter 9

Jeremy

When I came home with my nose all swollen and disgusting, my mother had a fit. She wanted Liam and his family to pay for what he did to me; that was before she knew I was the one who started the whole thing. So, when my parents found that out, I never heard the end of it. They would have grounded me, too, but there was no time to ground me. By the time I got home everyday after school it was bedtime and before I could even go to sleep, I had to finish all the homework I didn't get to do on the train ride home.

Liam really did a number on me with only one punch to the middle of my face. I deserved it, but still...that was a strong punch. I knew I'd never hear the end of it at school although a few of the guys swore Liam would pay for what he did to me. I just wanted to forget the whole thing ever happened. If I hadn't been such a coward and tempted by money, then I would never have kissed Liam and Liam would never have thought I had a thing for him. He was a good kisser, though. I had to give him that.

And Nick...well, Nick was a different story. I had a huge soft spot for him. I liked the nickname he gave me. "Ugly" suited me at the moment. Nick was all about the truth. He was also a terrible liar. Father Davis kept Nick back more than once, sending me and Liam away to "get to work." He claimed he and Nick were working on a project together. What kind of project? I wondered. When he returned from Father Davis's classroom earlier today, Nick wasn't like the comedic, wise ass Nick people saw everyday. In fact, he didn't say anything. He was a terrible liar with a very bad poker face.

Genuinely worried about him, I couldn't let him walk home alone. I wasn't an asshole as I kept reminding him. I could see through Nick's fake façade. It was so weird because I felt like he could see right through me, too, like he knew me better than anyone else when I knew that was impossible.

There was something very innocent and pure about him, more than anyone else in the school.

Yet I knew he held these dark hidden secrets.

To be honest, I really, really liked Nick Kavanagh, more than I ever wanted to admit and I felt this need, this desire to protect him.

Nick and I walked for at least fifteen minutes, the time it took to get from the school to his house. Living on the outskirts of town, his house wasn't ginormous like the other houses we passed along the way. His house was definitely nothing like JT's. A split level house on a dead end street, Nick led me inside and up the five stairs to the main floor, but we didn't make it all the way up the stairs. Nick stopped at the top step with me right behind me. To the left was a small living room adjacent to an even smaller dining room facing the kitchen. It was more or less one big room with a half wall between them. To the right of the stairs was a bathroom and two bedrooms down the hall.

I could hear what sounded like the news on a nearby TV.

"Hey, Mom, I'm home," Nick said.

An overweight woman with short curly hair, glasses, and freckles peered out of the kitchen. She was nothing like I pictured his mother. Nick was almost platinum blond; this woman had medium brown hair. Nick had perfect white skin, no freckles at all and there was also absolutely no fat on him whatsoever. Nick had really nice skin actually, so nice I just wanted to touch it.

"This is Jeremy," he went on. "He's my detention buddy."

Detention buddy? I laughed to myself.

"Is that Jeremy Sawyer?" a familiar voice said and the salt and pepper-haired Morrie McGuiness suddenly stood beside Nick's mother. Mr. McGuiness wasn't really that old; he just went gray early in life. It sort of suited him.

"Hi, Mr. McGuiness," I said, standing behind Nick on the stairs.

"Have you two become friends?" he asked.