THE UNPRECEDENTED PURPOSE

Part 6

"Go out with me." he simply said.

"Huh, aren't you a bit strange?"

"No, I like you. You seem nice and you are the honest type. You are handsome and from the looks of you, intelligent. What's there not to like"

"I am not gay."

"A straight man would not be looking at me the way you do. He certainly wouldn't be holding my hand. You probably thought you weren't gay before but that is okay. It happens."

"Who is Leo?"

He tensed but still answered, "the love of my life."

I pulled my hand away and he didn't object. He let me and I felt as if someone had stabbed my heart.

"Ohh ...."

"We all have a story. We all carry a baggage. Mine is him."

"You are very straight forward."

"It has been known to be a fault in me I agree but I like it this way, it creates less problems."

"Okay."

"Is that okay to dating me?"

I almost choked on my drink when he said that and how serious he looked.

"I am sorry." I laughed, "It is a little weird. Haven't you ever gotten in trouble behaving this way?"

"No, I would never ask another person out." he looked too serious with his answer and I started to think maybe he was autistic or a little retarded but I was I falling in his 'trap'.

"So how did you approach Leo then?"

"I didn't, he disappeared before I could ask him out. I wasn't good to him and I said something that probably hurt him." he cocked his head to the side smiled as he said that.

"Ohh ....."

"You like that word too much. So tell me what do you like and what make you you?"

"Mmmmmh, never been on a date so this is strange for me. I am, I dont know. This is weird." I said and it truly was because I felt like I could suddenly tell this man all of my life story and it would be okay. He will not pity or judge me. He made a low sound that seemed to resonate in my body and a purring sound came out of me. He smiled and stretched his hand palm open asking for mine. I held his.

"It's okay. You don't have to make a decision now. I am sorry that I have overwhelmed you, its okay." he said as he rubbed my wrist and somehow the confusion in my head was gone. So I smiled and finished my drink.

He didn't say anything even when I picked my things, thanked him and left. His eyes held a sorrow that I knew wasn't for me and his mind seemed so far away even while he had been sitting there with me. Whoever that Leo was had messed up the guy.

For weeks to follow he would come and watch me play and leave just before the game ended after putting a gift in my things. He always knew which one was mine and when I changed, I would see him sniff it out. He was a strange one but I didn't mind. Because I thought he was autistic, I didn't want to overwhelm him. My friends teased me about him but I didn't mind. He was the first person I was attracted to as long as I could remember. Yet I still had not figured out whether I was gay or not.

"TJ, you have been spacing out. What's wrong? Are the headaches back?" my dad asked.

"No, it's just some school stuff."

"Okay but don't stress yourself. We don't want you to end up back in hospital." mom said.

I know they were afraid and worried for me since I still had episodes of severe migraine and hallucinations even if it was after four years since I was released from hospital. They loved me and I had come to accept it. I didn't know my family and so they made one for me. My sister Abby who was away visiting relatives and them had welcomed me into their home with no reservations. The police were still looking for my real family and any day things would change but before then, I was stuck being TJ and this was my family and I was okay with that.

Anchor came several times but he still didn't talk with me. It was like he just came to assure himself I was real. Which made me question how similar to his Leo I was.

"Hi, you waited for me today?" I asked when he was still standing there after the game.

"Yes, I came to say goodbye ......."

"You are leaving me?" I asked almost in a panic and he pulled me to himself tightly then sniffed my neck.

"No, I am not leaving you but I have to travel back home for a while."

"For how long?"

"A week at most. I promise I will come back. You still haven't answered me about going out with me so .........." he smiled and wiped the tears that had fallen on my cheeks.

"Okay, one week. Only one week."

"Yes, one week. There is enough chocolate pellets to last you the week. When you put the last pellet in your mouth, I will be there."

"Even if I manage to finish them today."

"No," he chuckled." Discipline. One week."

He said as if he was talking to a child and I huffed but let him hug me and leave.

That week proved to be the longest days in my life. I was moody and easily irritated. I refused to play and sat mopping at the bench. I didn't eat even a pellet of the chocolates he'd left. I tried to find his home but there was so much security surrounding his existence that I hit a block all the time. It had gotten so bad that the campus security had told me point blank to stop looking into him. A group of very strange men had also cornered me and asked me to stop unless I wanted me and my family to be dead. They called him his highness and I wondered what kind of gang he was into.