Double Date: Part Two

Luis arrived at Jeff's place exactly at the time they had agreed on. Luis was an advent timekeeper, and he didn't like getting late, especially for important things. He rang the doorbell at Jeff's place and patiently waited. Jeff's mom was the one who answered.

"Hi, are you Luis?" she greeted him warmly and he nodded, "Welcome, Jefferson says he will be with you in a few minutes."

Luis was shown into the house and waited for Jeff at the lounge. It did not take long for Jeff to come down. He had already heard Luis ringing the doorbell and did not want to keep him waiting.

Luis was not expecting Jeff to dress like that when he descended the staircase. He had worn a pair of khaki shorts that revealed his thighs and pressed tightly against his buttocks, a slim fit pullover and hair that had been visibly applied too much blowout. He stared at him for a second before commenting.

"You appear prepared for the occasion,"

Jeff flushed a shade of red and replied, "Thank you, I like to dress according the activity."

"I didn't know the library needed such a  outrageous outfit. You look like a gay man who's desperate for sex." It was Winnie, Jeff's older sister. She had a mission of making Jeff's life miserable and wasn't hesitant to do so when the chance came. Although she was really smart, Jeff tended to call her stupid whenever she interfered with his life.

"Well this gay man might just snatch your boyfriend so watch out," Jeff retorted. Fortunately for him, his loud mouth usually had just the right answer for her whenever she was overboard. Seeing that she was defeated, she stuck her tongue out at him and went ahead to the kitchen to prepare a snack. Jeff called out to his mom to tell her that they were leaving. Jeff was about to open the door when his mother called them back.

"Don't tell me you are leaving and yet I haven't prayed for you," she excused herself.

"Mom! No!" Jeff hissed at her. His mom, on seeing that, was clearly hurt but she didn't let it show for long. Instead she kissed them both goodbye, much to the shock of Luis, and led them outside. Luis waited until they were out of earshot.

"Why didn't you want your mom praying for us?"

"Trust me. Her prayers are long enough for us to go to the library and back in the evening. She would probably have started even asking for forgiveness for the sins of the cattle you keep in your ranch," Jeff answered lightly.

"How did you know we had a ranch?" asked Luis, surprised that Jeff knew and yet he didn't tell him.

"Ummm…" Jeff stalled, looking for an excuse. "Michelle told me. She said that all the girls that were mad about you actually did a research on you."

Luis halted. All of a sudden he started laughing so hard that Jeff wondered whether he had said something wrong.

"When you find a better excuse please come and lie to me again," he told Jeff, tears in his eyes. "Everyone in school knows that I'm gay."

Jeff felt like killing himself. He had just been caught lying. Lacking another answer to give him, he shrugged his shoulders and continued the journey with his head down, too ashamed to look at Luis.

They finally arrived at the library. They entered and went ahead to the reception to pay for the entrance fee. However, they found that the secretary was not yet at her station and had to wait until she came back from wherever she was. Finally she arrived, and greeted the boys asking what she could do for them.

"We would like to access the library please," Luis replied.

The secretary looked at them sadly and told them, "I'm sorry but your reading adventure has been interrupted today. The library is closed due to a book club function. I had put it on a poster outside, but I guess someone must have ripped it off the wind could have taken it."

Luis and Jeff looked at each other and shook their heads. That would be the only chance they had of entering the library, as during the weekdays they were usually at school and the next Saturday was too far. Jeff decided he couldn't waste his chance. He turned to the secretary.

"Excuse me my dear. Seeing how much your beautiful here and the way that Mac lipstick is perfect on you, will you please just allow us to use the library?" He flashed a set of puppy eyes that dropped the secretary's guard. He then moved close enough to her and whispered seductively. "We have a very urgent matter that we need to find out."

Luis was astonished to see the secretary's cheeks all pink as she blushed profusely. She looked up to both of them and smiled.

"Well I suppose I could let you in. The book club function is only on the second floor. Which part of the library are you going to?"

"The history section," Jeff replied sweetly.

"Okay, you'll go to the far end, and then you'll climb the staircase up to the third floor. After they, go to the farthest end of that hall and on the right you'll see the History section," the secretary guided them.

"Thank you," Jeff said and winked at her, causing the secretary to fan herself with a paper. They went ahead to the staircase.

"What was that?" asked Luis, as they walked up the stairs.

"It's some superpower of mine," Jeff replied cheekily. "I just turn on the puppy eyes and boom! Someone's under my spell. I like to call it The Charm."

"Who do you use it on?"

"I don't mostly use it, but sometimes I use it on William's secretary to get free chocolate bars from the staffroom, or on Julliana whenever I haven't done my assignments so that she could let me go," Jeff naughtily replied.

"Oh God!" Luis remarked and they started laughing. They suddenly kept quiet when the book club came into view. They could see some of the attendees hunched up at a corner reading a book. Both boys' eyebrows Rose after realising that the book was Fifty Shades Of Grey. They then tiptoed all the way to the third floor, hoping that no one would notice them. They heaved a sigh of relief after finally reaching the third floor.

"What kind of book club reads Fifty Shades Of Grey?" Luis exclaimed as they searched for the history section.

"I could swear that I had seen the bulges of almost twenty men in there. Are they trying to convert it into an orgy?" Jeff remarked and they giggled.

They finally found the History section. They then got into the searching of suitable books. Luis was the first to find one.

"Hey, I think I found one," Luis called at Jeff, waving a book titled 'The Fall of Gaffernon'

"Gaffernon?"

"Yeah, but you do Geography so you wouldn't know. Although they don't teach us that in History until Grade Eleven," Luis explained. They sat at the library desks and began perusing through the book.

"Here," Jeff pointed to a paragraph and began reading it.

"The myth about the Expiravit of Middlewood is perhaps the most common story that is used to explain what really happened to Gaffernon at that time. It is said that a young princess from afar had come to take back the invaluable Dragon Pearl Necklace from the then Queen, Gaia Smith. It is said that she was caught stealing it, and opted to jump out of the window rather than be locked in the dungeons. It is that fall that led to her death with spears piercing through her body. However a few days later, the King and Queen were reported to be missing, with nothing but blood stains on their bedroom. It was perceived that the princess had come back for her revenge, thus she earned the name Expiravit, Latin for 'ghost'. However, it is unclear what had happened the day of the disappearance, and after the people had shifted to the democratic government they opted to change the castle into something more appropriate and useful for the town, thus it was converted to a school, Algernon High, or what is known nowadays, Arabella Academy."

"Wait, so you mean I have been learning in a century-old castle?!" Jeff exclaimed.

"Could be even three centuries, it was a castle for the ruling families of Gaffernon," answered Luis.

"At this rate I might even find our house is older than that school."

They were interrupted by the sound of three people rushing from the stairs into their floor. They were two boys and a girl. Luis and Jeff instantly recognised them from Panterbaker High. They rushed to hide behind a bookshelf and watched silently as the three made their way into the corner. Then to Jeff and Luis' complete dismay, they began kissing and fondling each other as the two boys placed the girl on the table. Luis was further shocked when Jeff took out his phone and began recording the three, he gave him a shove and dragged him silently to the stairs where they eventually left, but not after a resistance from Jeff who wanted to get more footage of the three.

"What was that for?" Luis asked as they both laughed at what they had just witnessed.

"You know we have a feud with those assholes. I just wanted some leverage," Jeff defended himself. "I knew that wasn't a book club."

They decided to go back home and rest, ready for tomorrow's regroup. Luis took Jeff home, and they stopped to say their goodbyes at the front gate.

"Now I know why Marcus likes to hang out with you. You're so much fun to be with," Luis confessed.

"Don't make me choose because you're going to be very disappointed," Jeff replied.

"If I would have been brave I would have approached you before he did"

"So you've been stalking me?"

"No, but I've been seeing you," Luis said, giving Jeff one of his signature smiles. Jeff felt all energy leaving him at that smile.

'I'm never going to get over that smile,' he thought to himself.

"You're still a stalker."

"Call me whatever you want," Luis smirked.

"I guess it's time for me to go," Jeff sighed. "It's been beautiful, today I mean."

"Yeah," Luis replied, his blue eyes glowing. "Goodbye Jefferson."

"Don't call me Jefferson," Jeff joked. "No one calls me that except my mother."

Jeff then entered his compound and walked up to the porch. He paused before knocking the door and turned back, hoping that whoever had brought him was looking back too.

And he wasn't disappointed.