There were sounds coming from the television set downstairs. Curled up in bed, yet unable to sleep, Lake could barely make out the muffled noises emanating from down below, coupled with the occasional burst of laughter. Eyes slipped open to look at the slumber figure beside him, and Lake leaned up in the bed to press a soft kiss to his forehead before carefully climbing out of bed. It was nearing the end of summer, and the night air wasn't as chilly and cold as Lake had expected it to be. Tiptoeing from the bedroom and onto the landing, he could make out the voices a little more. What was odd was that he could just make out his own voice coming from the lounge.
Making his way to the room, he found Tatyana seated in the dark, a blanket pulled around her shoulders, arms curled around a stuffed bear. Her eyes were focused on the screen before her. Lake's own gaze drifted to the screen. It was no ordinary movie the girl was watching. They were home movies. Made by Lake and his friends back when he attended high school. A smile formed on his lips, and he carefully made his way to the girl's side, sitting down beside her. Arm snaked around her shoulders and pulled her closer, gaze remained on the moving pictures.
.
"Lake, put that thing away," commanded a female voice.
Lake turned the camera upon the young female seated at the desk in the dorm room.
"Oh c'mon, Martha. Just think, when we're old and Zak's fat, we can look back on these and laugh at Zak's hair cut," Lake replied from his spot behind the camera lens.
"Hey! I'm not going to be fat!"
Lake turned the camera onto the male seated on his bed. He had a pen pushed behind both of his ears, and once he noticed the camera was upon him, promptly gave it the middle finger.
"And this, kiddies, is Zak Taylor. If he's your Daddy, I feel for you. But don't worry, your Godfather Lake will rescue you!"
"You're not being a Godfather to any of my kids. I'm not ever having kids until I'm old."
Martha chuckled. "Zak, you're thirteen; you class being twenty and over as old."
Spinning on the spot, Lake settled on Martha once more. Creeping up to her, he zoomed in on the homework she was doing. "You answered that question wrong," he said, pointing to one of the mathematics problems on the page. "The answer is pie."
Martha rolled her eyes and waved Lake away. "The answer is not pi. I haven't even done that question yet."
"Pffft...Pie solves everything! C'mon, Zakky, we're going to see if there's any apple pie to eat!" Lake spun the camera around in his hands to face himself and he grinned. "This was Lake Dale, thirteen and a half, bringing you the latest from Constance Billiard Academy."
.
Tatyana snuggled against her father. "You were cute when you were thirteen," she said, lifting her eyes to look up at Lake while the picture on the screen showed a school corridor rush by as the one holding the camera jogged along. There was shouting, cheering and giggling by all involved. It mostly featured Zak attempting to do cartwheels and handstands and failing miserably.
.
Lake was seated cross-legged on a bed, singing Disney songs to himself as he tapped away at the laptop perched on his lap. He was dressed in his school uniform and his blond-brown hair was pushed back from his face by a bright blue headband.
"For all you ladies out there in video land, this sexy young thing is Lake. Sadly, he's off the market, because he's..." A pause, coupled with a chuckle. "In touch with his feminine side."
"Are you making some kind of dating video?" Lake asked, looking up from the laptop. "Because you're not doing a very good job."
"And you can do better?"
Behind them, the door opened. Zak spun around and aimed the camera at Elliot who wandered in. Lake shifted off the bed and took the camera from Zak's hands. "This, everyone, is Elliot. He's not gay, but I really am trying."
Elliot frowned, folding his arms at his chest. "I'm not gay, Lake. I like girls."
"I'll tell your boyfriend you said that on your anniversary," Lake replied with a giggle. "Let's have an on-screen kiss for the world!"
"No!" both Zak and Elliot said in unison. Lake turned the camera upon his best friend and zoomed in as close as he possibly could on the male's face. He looked a little older than in the previous clip, but not by much. His hair cut was still pretty much the same mop of dark hair.
.
Tatyana laughed softly, curling up in his father's arms. Lake may have not been her father biologically, but he was the closest thing she had to one, although most of the time he was more girly than her own mother. Dimitri was the rock that kept everything together - the source of masculinity in the family. Her mother was away so much that perhaps subconsciously Lake had taken up the role of mother to make up for the gap Noelle left behind whenever she went off on her world travels. She tilted her head back in an attempt to look at the man's face, a grin curled at her lips.
"We should show Uncle Elliot this film."
Lake snickered. "Nah, he still says he likes girls. But it would be fun to see his expression when faced with a younger self. He was only a second year there. We're getting close to where Dimitri starts getting mentioned."
True to word, there came a Russian voice from the television set. It was again in Zak's dorm, but Lake wasn't around. Zak was merely chatting to Dimitri, telling him about what it was going to be like now that he was moving in with him. It wasn't long though, before the door burst open, the camera swung around and there Lake stood in his school uniform and completely soaked through. He wore a huge grin, raced in and grabbed the one holding the camera and dragged him out of the room, ending that particular clip.
"How come it took you two so long to actually meet?"
Lake shrugged. "I never bothered to actually get to know him. He was Zak's roommate, but we rarely ever interacted much since he was rarely ever there. It was later in the year when I finally discovered him - or he discovered me - I don't really remember."
"What did you think of him back then?"
Lake grinned and motioned to the screen again.
.
"This sleeping mass is called Dimitri," came Lake's voice. "I said that right, didn't I, Zak?"
"I cannot believe you two are doing this to him..." sighed Martha.
"Hush and pass me the whipped cream."
"I'm not touching his man-bits," protested Zak who hovered near Dimitri's bed where he lay sleeping like a log.
Lake moved around the bed, capturing the slumbering form from all angles. "You know, he's actually quite hot when you think about it," he mentioned in passing, reaching out with his free hand to pull back the blankets to reveal the male's bare chest.
"I am trying not to think about it, Lake," Zak replied, reaching over with the can of spray cream and squirting it over the fifth year.
Lake snickered. "I'm tempted to lick some off."
Behind them, Martha sighed. "If you keep saying things like that, Lake, I'll suggest to him in class tomorrow that you fancy him."
"You wouldn't be lying," giggled Lake, scooping some of the cream on the tip of his finger and popping it into his mouth. "Now, Zakky, the chicken feathers."
.
There was a gasped from the teen as she watched a younger version of Dimitri tormented by his fellow school mates - one of which he shared a room with, and the other his soon-to-be boyfriend.
"He was furious the next day, and Zak has never admitted to doing it. He'd told Dimitri earlier he was having a sleep over with me. The next few nights he stayed with Zidget. I've never told Dimitri it was us either."
"Nice to find out eventually," came a voice behind them both. Lake flopped onto his back to look at his love, a wide grin on his face. Tatyana smiled sweetly at the Russian man, waving a hand shyly. "I wouldn't have objected to you licking it off....Instead of covering me with chicken feathers and writing on my face in pen."
Lake chuckled. "Well, you know how the world works. Karma and all that. I'll buy some tomorrow when I go grocery shopping."
No comments:
Post a Comment