Page 1 of Only Time Will Tell

Prologue

A memory Charlie is recollecting

There I am, sitting beside my mother’s hospital bed, holding her hand. The emotions I had felt that day came barreling forth as I suffered through the pain of losing her once again. Slamming into my chest, taking my breath away, the weight more than I could bear. The loss I felt when she passed hit me full on again as I relived those last few moments with her. My father and grandmother had just left the hospital, and now I was alone with my mother, the woman who was a constant in my life and bore witness as the cancer claimed her, taking this amazing woman away from me. The worst part was that there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to help take away the pain, let alone save her.

The ache in my chest increased with every beat of my heart, as I clutched my fist to my chest, in a feeble attempt to relieve it.

But why had my brain chosen this moment to relieve that painful memory?

Alex.

I must get back to Alex.

Reaching into my pants pocket, I slid the watch out, depressing the pin and shooting out a prayer that it takes me to him.

Chapter One

Alex

You can tell a lot about a person by sharing something as simple as a kiss with them. When my lips first touched Charlie’s, I knew. That kiss was everything–and more. Right then and there, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that we were destined to be together. Forever.

It was during third grade when Charlie and I first met. He transferred to my school mid semester. Quiet, shy, and he kept to himself, playing with no one whereas I’d been there since kindergarten, growing up with the same group of familiar faces and was never alone.

In the corner of the playground, he’d sit and watch us goof off, but never joined in. For some reason, on this particular day, a couple of the boys in our group started picking on him. I stood back and watched, waiting for Charlie to react, until they shoved him and he fell to the ground, and curled up in a ball. That wasn’t cool and I couldn’t stand back any longer. I don’t know why he wouldn’t defend himself, but he was a lot smaller than us and the pick on someone your own size comment I’d heard before led me to step in.

As one of the largest kids in our grade, the others tended to follow my lead and luckily, this time proved to be no different. After I yelled at them to knock it off and yanked Billy Jones off him, they backed away and left Charlie and me alone. I introduced myself and it was from that moment on we’d become inseparable. Sure, friends I had many of, but Charlie was my first and only best friend.

Our friendship morphed into weekend sleepovers at each other’s houses. He became a regular fixture at my family dinner table. We quickly learned that if we teamed up and helped with each other’s chores it went faster and gave us more playtime. We’d wander through the surrounding forest area our houses backed up to, poking at slugs, having pretend battles and visiting the nature center regularly.

We offset each other perfectly. Charlie was book smart where I was into sports and holding the reigning title of class clown. More often than not, Charlie would have to force me to buckle down and study so I could pass my classes and wouldn’t get held back. It’s one thing when your parents tell you to do your homework, that is an automatic ignore. But when your best friend pointed out all the fun stuff you’d miss out on if you failed, well that put a whole new perspective on it. Without him, I probably would’ve repeated several grades. Charlie remained my voice of reason through high school, college, and even into our adult lives.

The day Charlie came out to me is ingrained in memory and one I occasionally drew. Remembering how brave he was and that he trusted me with his deepest secret meant a lot. Sure, I’d kissed both guys and girls, but it was meh at best. My sexuality wasn’t at the forefront of my mind up until this moment.

My every waking thought was of Charlie, so when he told me he was gay, my life, our lives, just clicked. This was my chance to make him mine in all ways, and hopefully not ruin the friendship. Nothing was worth losing Charlie over. I remembered his words like it was yesterday, when this conversation happened during our junior year of high school. We were sitting in my basement engaged in an intense game of Mario Kart.

“Um, Alex?” Charlie asked, launching his on-screen attack.

“What’s up?” I responded, dodging a tortoise shell his Princess Peach sent sailing toward my Yoshi.

“I need to tell you something,” he said as he paused the game.

That kinda pissed me off because I was on the verge of knocking his pretty princess off the racetrack. “Dude, I can totally listen and play at the same time.”

“This is important, Alex, and I need your undivided attention,” he huffed.

I tossed my controller down and turned toward him. “Okay, spill it.”

Charlie fumbled with the controller in his hands, flipping it a couple of times before drawing a deep breath. “I’m…um.” He squared his shoulders and nodded to himself before finishing. “I’m gay.” Not being prepared for those two little, unknowingly long-awaited words, I sat there, stunned. Was it really going to be that easy to have the one person I wanted?

Hold it, what??? But that means - OMG, that means I have a chance??? Noting my inability to respond, which he took as a negative, his face reddened, and he stuttered, “I, uh, I’ve gotta go.” He stood and turned toward the door.

He was only two steps away when I grabbed his wrist. “Why do you have to go?”

“I’m sure you don’t want to be friends with a faggot like me,” he mumbled, looking everywhere but at me and that wasn’t gonna fly with me.

I tugged him down beside me and cupped his face in my hands. The pads of my thumbs gently wiped away the tears as they slid down his flushed cheeks. “I don’t ever want to hear that word come out of your mouth again.” And then I kissed him.

He froze for a moment before he finally kissed me back, melding our lips together, and when he sighed, I knew he was mine. That single life-changing kiss took our relationship status from friends to lovers.