Who: Jeremy and Griffith When: Later the same Saturday morning. Where: The skate park What: Jeremy tries to teach Griffith to skate. Griffith shows off just how much of a klutz he is and how he's a magnet for bullies in need of anger management classes.
Jer laughed a little as he watched Griffith try yet another trick on his skateboard and clapped his hands as he walked over to Griffith to pick up the skateboard. "Alright that was close, you just need a little more kick to get up higher." He set the skateboard down again and gave Griffith a pat on the back and pointed. "Try again dude, you may be able to get to the ramp today!"
"Do you really think that was a good try?" Griffith replied, pushing his bangs away from his eyes. The little stunt had sent him stumbling and he had only just managed to stay on his feet. Usually Griffith would have been shaking his head right about now and giving Jeremy excuses on why he should just stop attempting to skate. But the other boy was giving him a pat on the back and asking him to try again and....Griffith nodded. "Could you show me this trick again?" Griffith asked instead, looking hopefully at Jeremy.
Jer smiled and shrugged. "Yeah sure." He took a few stepped then hopped up on the skateboard and rolled for a few feet before Jer landed himself a perfect alli, lifting the board up under his feet in a jump and landed perfectly before wheeling around the back then back up to Griffith. He skidded to a stop in front of his emo friend and stomped on his board, causing it up leap up into his arm. He Smiled then held it out to Griffith again. "Now come on, one more try. I'm sure you'll get it this time."
The look of concentration on Griffith's face as he watched Jeremy was almost comical. But he wanted to get this trick right, once and for all. This was their third visit to the skate park and Griffith didn't want to end up being a disappointment to his friend. That pessimistic part of him felt that he was just holding Jeremy back. Taking the skateboard with some hesitation, Griffith attempted to mimic Jeremy's movements. But he was a total klutz and ended up botching up the trick again. This time he feel on his ass. What made it worse was that a bark of laughter rang out to accompany his fall. Turning to look over his shoulder, Griffith blushed and turned away again when he saw that it was an older boy laughing at him.
Jer winced a little and hurried over to Griffith's side and knelt down. "Hey, you OK dude?" He looked Griff over to make sure there were no cuts or scrapes. He frowned a little, looking over his shoulder at the other boy at the park laughing at Griffith and glared. "Jack ass." He said, just loud enough for the other guy to hear as he helped Griffith sit up. "You OK Griff?"
"I'm fine." Griffith said quickly, looking at Jeremy as the other boy hurried over. Embarrassment was written clearly on his face, as the need to just throw in the towel and give up. Griffith's self esteem was fragile at best and the continuing laughter only made him want to crawl into a hole and stay there. "I...think I should just sit." He said then, giving Jeremy a sheepish look. "You can skate. I'll watch..." Griffith was already standing up now, bushing himself off. Sports just wasn't for him. He could live with that, and the disappointment that was creeping into his stomach. He was so focused on the feeling and in waiting for Jeremy's reply that he didn't realize that the boy who had laughed at him had skated up to them.
"Who're you calling a jackass huh?" The boy asked, getting into Jeremy's face as he gave Griffith a hard shove.
Jer frowned and helped Griffith up even though he was perfectly OK by himself. He picked up his skateboard and looked at Griffith. "No dude, its OK, we'll just go home." He turned only to be met by the face of the other skater. As the bully gave Griffith a shove, Jer felt a fire flare up in his chest.
He suddenly never hated anyone so much in his life than that guy standing in front of him right then and there. He just wanted to swing his skateboard and bash the punk in the face. He snarled and shoved the boy right back. "Hey! Step off dude! Don't shove him!"
He yelped as he was shoved. Staggering, Griffith's eyes widened at the unexpected violence. His first instinct was to apologize, and of course scamper off. But Jeremy was already shoving the older skater back and it seemed too late to get between them. But that didn't stop Griffith from trying though. "Jeremy..." He began already reaching for the other boy's arm. He didn't get to finish his sentence though because the older skater didn't look as if he was going to back down. Instead it was the direct opposite. Jeremy's shove seemed to have inflamed him further.
"Looser has no business being here. He can barely skate." The guy was jerking his thumb at Griffith, once again getting into Jeremy's face. "Why are you coddling him huh? You two queer? Is that it?"
Jer snarled and his fingers tightened around his skateboard and glared at the older boarded. He glanced at Griffith. "I'm sorry Griff." He said in a hushed voice then turned back to the bully. "Dude just lay off!" He glared at him and grabbed Griffith's hand, trying to be the bigger man and looked at Griffith. "C'mon, we can go."
His eyes darted from Jeremy to the older boy. It was an understatement to say that Griffith was not used to situations such as these. He was reminded of Times Square and those really weren't good memories at all. Relief flooded through him as Jeremy grabbed his hand and said that they were leaving. That seemed like the best option at the moment. But it didn't seem that the guy was going to let them leave. Maybe he was drunk or just hot tempered Griffith was not going to get time to know for sure. Already the boy was stepping closer and snarling at Jeremy.
"I'm not going to let you off for calling me a jackass." He reached out and grabbed Jeremy by the front of his shirt. And then his other hand was shooting out, balled up fist aimed at Jeremy's face.
Jer tried to be the bigger man, he wanted to be the good guy now. He was with Griffith, he had to be a gentleman, or try to anyway. He wanted to, but the jerk didn't seem to have any of it. Jer released Griffith's hand as he turned and was punched squarely in the face. Jeremy let out a grunt in pain and stumbled back a step. He was paused in a fit of shock and lifted his hand to his nose, which was now bleeding. He looked at the bully then glared, his fist clenched into a fist. Even after this...he had to be a gentleman for Griffith, no matter what. His mother would be very disappointed in Jer if he started a fist fight in front of Griffith. He glared at the bully. "Dude...step off!" He shouted and shoved the older skater back again in a final attempt to get rid of him.
"Jeremy!" Griffith squealed as Jeremy was punched, and quickly made a grab for the other boy's hand again. They had to get out of here, the older skater didn't look like he was going to back down. Shoving him didn't seem to achieve anything except make him angrier. "Lets go." Griffith said hurriedly, and just started to pull Jeremy way, leading the other boy to Arthur's car. It was a good thing they had come to the skate park in the car, at least sitting in one would be safer.
Opening one of the car's doors, he mentioned for Jeremy to get into the back seat. And then Griffith was puttering around for some tissue paper. "Is your nose broken?" He squeaked. Wondering if Jeremy would be well enough to drive and generally over-worrying like he always did.
Jeremy snarled at the bully as Griffith pulled him away. He lifted his hand to stop his nose and lip from bleeding. He let Griffith lead him away and did as he was told, all the while glaring at the bully, wanting to use his powers to drown the guy from the inside out.
He turned his head to look at Griffith and sighed, completely ignoring his injury or any of Griffith's panic. "Are you alright, man?"
He found them! The packet of tissues Claudia always had stashed away in the glove compartment. She was always complaining about how Arthur was so messy if they ever stop by any drive-troughs and how Griffith himself always hogged the napkins provided. At the moment Griffith couldn't love his sister more for being such and anal retentive. Slipping into the backseat, he pulled a couple of tissues from the packet before blinking at Jeremy. "I'm fine." He said then, reaching out tentatively for the other boy's face. "I guess that guy was really hot tempered..." But he didn't care about the bully.
"Do you think your nose is broken?" He asked again, gently wiping blood away from Jeremy's lips. "Maybe you should lay down? That's what people do for nosebleeds. And when we get back to the school you should see the nurse." Griffith didn't talk alot. But when he did, it seemed that he talked too much.
Jeremy sighed and laid back on the seat of the car, but turning so his head was on the seat towards Griffith. He tried very hard to block out the bully's laughing which he heard as the older skater was leaving. He let Griffith treat him and winced a little. "I dunno if its broken." He looked at Griffith.
He suddenly felt very defeated and embarrassed and looked away, pouting and glaring at his own failure to kick the crap out of that older skater. Maybe if he ever saw him around the skate park when Griffith wasn't around he would give the other skater a well deserved lesson.
"Oh..." Griffith didn't know for sure either and that fact had him even more worried. On one hand, he felt that he should hurry back to the school so that Jeremy could get treatment. On the other hand he didn't want the other boy to drive without first getting some rest. "You need to get more comfortable." Griffith said then, making a decision. He scooted away from Jeremy, and in the same motion took hold of the other boy's arm and started to pull him down so that he could lay on his back. Jeremy could put his head in Griffith's lap. In all honestly, Griffith was too worried to shy right about now.
He continued to clean the blood off the other boy's face, being as gentle as he could. "I'm sorry..." This was when the apologies came in. "If I could skate better....I probably wouldn't get laughed at."
Jer didn't argue, he was too mad at himself and furious with that other guy to worry about anything else right now. He lay down as Griffith suggested and rested his head on Griffith's lap, trying his hardest not to get blood on anything. The bleeding was slowing down.
Jer let Griffith clean him up a little then suddenly lifted his head up, trying to half sit up but not lifting his head off Griff's lap more than a few inches, to comfortt him. "Don't say that! That guy was just an asshole! It wasn't you're fault Griffith. Please don't say that, man." His tone was a mix of sensitivity and anger.
He jerked his hand away from Jeremy's face as the other boy lifted his head. The last thing Griffith wanted to do was press down too hard on the other boy's face. The bleeding seemed to have slowed down but Griffith wasn't a medic and he didn't want to take anything for granted. "Please relax..." He said then, looking down at Jeremy. His hand moved, fingers brushing against the side of the other's head, silently telling him to lay back again. "Then I won't say it." Griffith voiced, though it was obvious that he still blamed himself. He tried to change the subject as best he could.
"But thank you in coming to my defense. And...holding back." Griffith had noticed how Jeremy had wanted to lash back but didn't. And he was happy for that.
Jeremy looked at Griffith sternly and frowned, sighing as he lay back down in his lap. He looked away, letting his slowly bleeding nose get pressed gently. It stopped bleeding a few minutes later. Jer looked at Griffith again sternly. "Don't blame yourself. Please."
Jeremy looked at Griffith again. "I had to. He was making fun of you and shoved you. It...made me really mad." Jer stammered a little and tried to calm down. He took a breath. "I didn't want to look like a jerk...
Griffith continued to apply as much pressure as he dared to Jeremy's nose. He sighed in relief as the bleeding seemed to stop, but made no move to have Jeremy sit up again. "It made you really mad?" Griffith asked then as he looked down at Jeremy. Curiosity had crept into his words. The same curiosity that kept popping up whenever Jeremy did something for him and Griffith couldn't quite put his finger on the reasons behind them. His fingers brushed against the side of Jeremy's face before he pulled his hand back and away. "You weren't acting like a jerk at all." Griffith said then.
Jeremy stayed where he was, far too comfortable in Griffith's lap. He almost forgot they weren't together, it sort of just felt like it was....well, he wasn't complaining. He gently leaned into Griffith's soft touch then looked back at him. "Thanks....sorry, I just...wanted to protect you." Griffith sighed and looked away again, mumbling. "I hate jerks like that...like that asshole Weston." Most of that last sentence was under Jeremy's breath.
Protect him? Griffith stared at Jeremy a little. He wouldn't be surprised if Arthur had said that to him. Or Claudia. But they were his siblings...Jeremy didn't have a reason for feeling that way. Or did he? Griffith was already opening his mouth to ask that question when the name 'Weston' stopped him. "Who's Weston?" He asked then...or rather blurted. He was in one of those moods where curiosity got the better of him and he couldn't stop blurting out certain questions.
"Huh?" Jer looked at Griffith again. "Oh, no one.Just some guy I got into an argument with when I was doing this little project to help my mom." He shrugged a little. Why would Griff need to know about that asshole of a porno director that Jer had to deal with that one time. It was a one time thing in his life he wasn't proud of and he used the money to help his mom. That was not how Jer wanted Griffith to see him. He just shrugged and looked away again. "I'm just glad you're ok. He didn't hurt you right?"
He didn't want Griffith to be harmed in any way. Maybe next time Jer was at the skate park alone and he would run into that bully and he could give him a big hit square in the chest with a solid attack of ice. But he pushed that out of his mind.
The name was ringing a few bells in Griffith's head though. Like he had heard of it before or seen it somewhere before and had forgotten. "Oh...alright." He said, nodding a little at Jeremy. He wouldn't push if Jeremy was reluctant to give up the information. Already, Griffith was feeling sheepish for poking his nose into something that clearly wasn't his business. "I'm fine." He told Jeremy then, a little smile curving up the corners of his lips. Looking away, Griffith looked for some place to stash the bloody tissues. He didn't think Arthur would be too impressed if he shoved them under the seat.
"Are you feeling alright to drive?" He asked then, looking at Jeremy once more. "I think we should go straight to the nurse's office once to get your nose checked out."
Jeremy smiled up at Griffith. He shifted a little before finally pulling himself up and sitting up and moving so that he was sitting right next to Griffith, his nose clearly red and bruised but no longer bleeding. He gave the emo boy a small nudge and smile. "I'm glad you're ok dude." He laughed a little, looking down then back at Griffith.
"Whatever you say Dr.Griffith. We'll see the nurse." He chuckled a little and gave Griffith one of his half hugs, slipping his muscular arm around the emo boy and hugging him a little. "Yeah, I'm good to drive.
"I'm not a doctor." Griffith replied, his smile growing wider as Jeremy teased him. "If I was, I would be able to say for sure if your nose was broken or not." He hoped it wasn't. Jeremy didn't deserve a broken nose just because he couldn't skate properly and attracted bullies like it was no body's business. He was about to move up into the front passenger's seat but Jeremy stopped him with a hug. It was a friendly gesture, but it made the question that Griffith had shoved into the back of his mind come to the forefront again.
"You said that you wanted to protect me." He looked at Jeremy and blushed. "Why?"
Jer had started to move up to the front seats of the car but stopped and looked at Griffith again. That question made him pause. He thought for a moment, lifting a hand to push his shaggy skater hair from his face then thought for a moment. What was he supposed to say about that? He wanted to protect Griffith because the emo boy was his friend, he was a boy that he liked, he was a nice, innocent, and friendly guy who only was trying to learn how to skateboard simply because Jer had persuaded him to. He just thought for a second then looked at Griffith again.
"You don't deserve that. You shouldn't be laughed at or teased. I just wanted to protect you from that fucker...sorry, that jerk." He nudged Griffith again. "You're too nice a guy. You don't deserve it, man. You don't."
He listened to the other boy's earnest response and felt the blush on his cheeks deepening. Griffith couldn't help noticing how much Jeremy was holding back for him, the realization making his stomach do flip flops. "T-Thanks..." Griffith replied then, stuttering a little as he said that simple word. But such a response didn't seem enough really and he reached out, giving the other a clumsy hug. "I appreciate it." Griffith said, the words mumbled because his mouth was against Jeremy's shoulder. And then he was slipping away and moving into the front passenger's seat.
Jer returned the hug and smiled as he gave Griffith a pat on the back and then pulled away, watching Griffith move to the front. He followed a bit after and climbed into the driver seat and put the keys in, started the car then looked at Griff with a small smile. "Buckle up."