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What once Was... Chapter 21

*********WARNING!!! This story is intended for MATURE and RESPONSIBLE ADULTS ONLY*********

The fox is sound asleep in his bed. His bedroom windows wide open with a cool night breeze keeping the room cool with outside air. The faint sounds of the night insects fills the room, but not enough to keep anyone awake. It seems very peaceful in his room aside from the warm glow of ambient lighting from his PC tower being on and his phone's red light blinking every few seconds to indicate that missed message.

The fox tosses and turns in his sleep seemingly from his dreams he's having. The covers are thrown off the bed and he appears to be a mess. Suddenly, he sits up in bed. "Holy shit! Ok, I'm here still." He realizes his setting and looks at his phone, it's only 12:15 am, he's been asleep for a good while. He sees the unread message icon on his screen and starts to wonder. The decision on his mind is if he wants to read it now or later fearing it could be bad news. He looks at the phone screen lit by a greenish background at the time and the message indicator until it goes out. He turns it back on again and continues to look at the black envelope icon. He moves his thumb up to the soft key for the text messaging portion. He finally presses it holding his breath. It's from Joey. He opens the last message from him. It reads:

'<3 u 2 foxie, sorry had issues with step dad explain tomrrow k? Good night XO'

R.C. sighs some relief knowing he's not upset, but is a bit concerned with 'step-dad'. He ponders about that for a minute, then hits reply:

'Good night sleep well, hope things are ok with ur fam. Love R.C.' He hits send. He smiles a bit knowing someone cares and then he curls back up to go to sleep.'

The sounds of the WDVE morning show fill the room sending a signal to R.C. to wake up for school. He grabs some clothes and heads down for his usual morning routine of showering, eating and watching the news. Very typical, yet not a common routine for most his age. He gathers his belongings and heads to the elementary school where his bus pickup is. He's the first one there usually and stands in the middle of the parking lot spaces.

Moments later, a large bear named Tony arrives, he's about the same age. "Hey R.C." he waves to the fox.

"Hey Tony, how's the morning for you?" R.C. replies. He's tries to be friendly.

"Not too bad, it's nice out. I'm excited for football practice. Are you going to do basketball again?" Tony asks making conversation to pass the time.

"Yeah, probably. I got homecoming to work on for student council this year, too." R.C. adds.

"So may I ask, you drive already?" Tony asks.

"Yeah, I have my car and stuff. I just like to save money and not worry." the fox replies.

"I guess that's a good idea." Tony agrees with the fox.

R.C. adds, "I don't start my job yet, I'm waiting for the call when they want me to. I might end up doing the bus."

"Where do you work now, you were at Furrywood all summer." Tony asks.

"I'm at Laga in Oakland as a technical assistant and yeah last day was last week for FP. I am hearing rumors they want to start a haunted house next year or something." R.C. and Tony continue their conversation as the bus pulls up. Everyone at the stop gets on and takes their seat, R.C. usually sits alone and puts his headphones in for the duration of the 15 min ride.

Later, they arrive at school. R.C. goes to his usual waiting position in the Auditorium lobby near the front wall. No one usually bothers him as usual and he actually prefers it that way. He sits there pulls out his homework from the weekend and double checks it. The fox is very careful about his work and tries to maintain his GPA, sometimes he feels the work is mundane and beneath him, but tries to do it anyway up until he notices one of the teachers approach the hall to the C-wing where his locker is across from the cafeteria. The opening bell sounds and the onrush of students in the waiting lobby make their ways to their lockers in various areas of the school. R.C gets to his locker and enters it starting to exchange his weekend books and gathers his morning class books. On one book, he sees a folded up note, he grabs it and pockets it then makes his way to his homeroom, which is the graphics room.

He sits down at the station he's assigned to and reads the note left in his locker. It reads:

Hey R.C. I see you at your locker all the time and heard you're single again. Want to meet me and maybe have some fun later? I want to see you glow! Answer below and put this in locker 2531 by A213.

R.C. shakes his head and folds the note back up. The thought of fun entices the fox some, but thoughts of Joey enter his mind making him smile a bit. He starts to imagine the fennec right in front of him on his bed just laying there waiting for R.C. to join. His mind shows the fennec in his nude form laying in a pin-up style pose. R.C. recalls his smile and kissing that face. He wishes he could just be there right now with him. It feels so real to where he could actually just reach out and touch him.

The loud drone of the school bell snaps the poor fox back to reality. He gets up slightly embarrassed and heads off to the other side of the school where the locker room is. He makes it there in one piece just in time for the start bell to sound. In the locker room, the fox goes to his usual corner and changes quickly then heads to the weight room. Where Coach Gudenburr meets him. "Well there's the stud of the hour."

"Good morning coach." R.C. replies in return to the lion standing there in his jump suit ready to run his class with authority. He continues to greet everyone as they form their small groups at specific stations to begin their weekly routine. R.C. gets with a couple other football players and they start their routine. Everything seems as normal as usual for the fox.

The rest of the morning up until lunch goes the same as usual, no random threats or any questions about his love life or relationship status. A few remarks about his ex girlfriend did pop up, but as usual, he dismisses them. He makes it to lunch and sits at the table with Eva and a couple others. Eva smiles at R.C. and waves as he settles down with his lunch. "Hey foxy!" Eva exclaims. "Thanks for helping me out this weekend."

"Ah no problem." R.C. smiles. "We have to do it again sometime?"

"For certain, just let me know, you know I'm usually off Friday and Saturday." She says. "You're always great to hang out with." She moves around to sit next to him.

"And you are also." He replies back hugging her.

"So how did things go yesterday after you dropped me off?" Eva asks.

R.C. looks around making sure no one is within ear shot, "Went well, my parents made dinner for us and we talked a bit. Not much else, though."

"Sounds like fun, how did your parents take it?" She asks.

"Well, I don't know really." R.C. shrugs.

"Did you tell them, everything?" She tries to ask without revealing too much in case anyone hears.

"Not quite everything, I'm still quiet about that." R.C. replies back.

"Oh yeah, I'm still in the same boat, but I have no one to show for that." She sighs. "I hope one day."

"You will find someone, I know it." He says. The two continue to discuss other things as their friends join in mostly related to raves and other topics up until they're dismissed from the cafeteria. The two hug and head their separate ways. R.C. stops at his locker and quickly changes out his bookbag for the afternoon classes and some morning ones for his assignments.

The rest of the school day goes as normal for the fox. No one really harassed him, or knew of, him dating a guy. This made R.C. feel a bit of relief as he feared the worst. He makes his way out to his bus and takes his seat pulling out his phone and checking for missed calls or texts. He has one phone call, it's from Club Laga and he calls his voicemail. He listens intently, the message says, "R.C., we'd like for you to come down and sit with our monitor engineer, Ryan on Wednesday to get you acquainted with the system here. Load-in starts at 4:30 pm sound like a plan? Call me back when you get this." R.C. immediately hangs up and calls the club back. He gets a hold of Ron, the club manager and expresses his interest.

The two hold a good conversation, Ron expresses his gratitude for joining and helping out while being a member of the Groove team while R.C. is happy to be the link in the relationship between the rave production teams and the Club itself where more events could possibly be held in the future. The conversation ends and R.C. sits there smiling brightly knowing he's landed an excellent job which lasts the way home from his school.

R.C. walks in his house and finds his mother sitting and watching the daily soaps. "I got a really good position at the Club." He tells her.

"Oh that one in Oakland? What are you doing?" she asks.

"I'm starting Wednesday working with the sound monitor engineer, he's the one who controls the feedback to the performers so they can hear themselves." R.C. explains leaving his mother slightly confused. R.C. is known to sometimes get really carried away when he explains something he's really into.

"Well, I guess that's good, what's the pay?" She asks.

"Depends on the show and turnout, the manager said between $30-$100 a show on average." R.C. explains.

"That's not too bad." she says.

"I also get free admission to any show if I don't have to be there." He says. "But I also get a plus one."

"That's ok, all my concert days are behind me, I think Pink Floyd in '94 was our last one, and that was your first one." She explains.

"Oh yeah, I recall that one, the Division Bell tour, that was amazing!" He excitedly exclaims almost forgetting his father is sleeping.

"You know he's sleeping, right?" his mother scolds him.

"Yeah, I just got a little excited." R.C. apologizes

"So, who can be your plus one?" She asks "That is if I ever see a show I want to go to, I don't think my ears can handle the abuse, especially if you'll be running sound."

"My partner I guess, I think I can ask if I can take you or you can pretend to be a date, haha." R.C. jokes with his mother.

"That would be funny. So anyway, I heard rumors about you today in school. Some girl came up to me and said you were dating someone new. She wouldn't say anything else." his mom states. R.C. slightly panics inside. "Then again you always date and breakup like yesterday's business. It's not good for you to do that. Maybe you should settle down a little before dating again?"

"I'm trying to, I just get caught up I guess?" R.C. makes up his answer trying to appease, then his phone beeps indicating a text. He pulls it out and looks at it, It's Joey: 'Hey u home yet?' the fox replies quickly and says, 'yes talking 2 mom gimme a bit'. He puts it back in his front pocket.

"Oh who's that?" his mother asks.

"Joey, the guy who was over yesterday?" He replies back casually.

"Can I ask you something about him? He seems a bit different." She asks looking at her son.

"Uh yeah?" R.C. sits down nervously.

"Is he gay?" She bluntly replies.

"Um, that's something I don't know really?" R.C. blushes slightly as he slides his paws under his butt seated on the couch.

"He just seems like it, I don't have a problem with him being that way, that's his choice. Not like I have anything to do with it." His mom replies.

"Oh that's cool." R.C. says nervously. The fox's mind starts to race. He thinks to himself, "oh no she knows, she probably thinks we're dating. She's going to hate me!"

"So do you like him? You two are close it seems." His mom notes. "Just never seen you so friendly with any of your friends like that."

"Um he's a nice friend yeah. I just want to be a nicer person to others for once, I like to keep my friends." He rapidly fires back. R.C. looks at the TV watching the main character slap another for something, probably sleeping around. "OH wow, a slap!"

"Haha yeah, apparently Sami isn't to happy with Kristen again." She looks at the TV explaining the storyline of the segment on TV. R.C. sighs quietly knowing he got out of this inquisition. The next scene shows two other characters, male and female, making love in their bedroom. R.C. turns away in disgust. "R.C.? What's up?"

"I don't like watching that, too fake." He says.

"Haha I don't blame you there. Scripted to make it look steamy." His mom laughs.

"I was referring to the actors, they're so not real." R.C. explains. "I like more down to earth ones. That girl has too much make-up on and her boobs are way too big. and that guy is way too toned, who really looks like that, rather be thin and such." He realizes what he said and immediately shuts up.

"It's done to get us to watch, haha. You'll learn if you ever decide to pursue that career as an actor. Gotta make yourself look better than the average." his mom replies back.

"Yeah, I just rather be real and nothing fancy. I'll take a real girl any time." He adds.

"You seem to have good tastes, too bad most of them don't for you. So who's the lucky girl this time?" She asks. "I probably know them. Is it Katie finally? She lives down the block here."

"Katie's just a friend, besides she's with Cory I think still. He's on the football team." R.C. says.

"She's adorable R.C.! She calls me her mom, too you know! Plus you always liked her." his mom goes off on Katie who's an adorable vixen fox one year ahead of R.C. She's always been very nice to his mother in school and R.C. has had a crush on her since middle school. The two always have been good friends since 2nd grade when R.C. moved to his current home. She's always been someone to stand up for him and they supported each other. R.C. tries to avoid dating close friends like that knowing those probably won't end well.

"Yeah, but I've known her as a friend since a long time ago. I rather just keep it that way. I like her, though." R.C. sighs.

"It's ok I was just teasing." his mom laughs. "Just when you feel ready and comfortable with someone, go for it. Anyone that you feel is right."

"Thanks." R.C. simply says.

"I'll promise you one thing, I won't get upset at who you date, ok? As long as you're happy, I'm happy. That's my goal as your mother." She adds.

R.C. nods, "Thanks again, I'll try to make you happy. I'm going to head up and do some assignments I got so I can relax a bit." He dismisses himself and heads up with his book bag. He enters his room and sniffs around a bit muttering to himself, "Still smells of us, I miss him already." He turns the fan on, pops a CD into his old Sony CD player and listens to his recent mix CD at a low volume as to not wake his father up. He turns his monitor and PC on and lets it boot up as he pulls out his work. Some of his work is from American History, some French assignment, and Pre-AP Calc, nothing too harsh, yet. He logs in his messenger and starts his assignments. They don't take the fox long to complete at all as he breezes though them.

He gets back on to his PC and notices 7 message windows popped up as he worked. One of which is Joey and he starts to explain the discussion he had with his mother. Joey laughs at him a bit and still encourages him to maybe tell his mother about it someday soon. R.C. promises to one day.

The other messages are from his friends and he explains his new job to them, the other one is from Valerie, his usual go to for private time. R.C. dismisses it not feeling up to anything fun. He logs on to the local rave board to check out what's going on and to keep up on existing topics of interest. He clicks around aimlessly looking for anything to catch his eye concerning an event or topic he can contribute to. While looking at the boards, his messenger throws an indicator sound. It's Joey. The fox smiles and replies, "hello there.

How are you doing, Joey?

I'm fine, I want to say hi before I head to work tonight.

R.C. replies back, "Wait, you have another job?"

Yes I just got this one as part of my classes. It pays really great!

What do you do?

I'm a home nurse. I basically go to houses and babysit home stricken patients.

R.C. replies back, "That's good, I knew you always wanted to get into it." R.C. sits back and realizes that this means he would work nights and the fox wouldn't see Joey as much. Then again, he also realizes that he himself has a new job at the club working evenings. R.C. then sends a message, "Well, I also got the job at the club, I really wanted this! Guess we both are starting off well."

R.C. and Joey continue to IM each other for a while then realizes it's almost time for his dad to wake up, which means dinner, would be ready. R.C. heads downstairs to the smells of his mother's cooking, this evening it's Liver with green beans and a side of cornbread. He greets his mother as he grabs food from the stove. He then makes his way to the table where his mother is sitting.

"Hello R.C." his mother says, "So I have a question for you."

R.C. sits down and looks at his mother, "Ok? What's up?"

"Do you think you should tell your father who you are dating?" She asks slightly concerned knowing his father is much more conservative on relationships.

R.C. freezes up during that statement. "Uhh? I don't think so."

As R.C. replied, his father comes in the room, "Tell me what?"

R.C. nearly faints...

END