“Who do you think should go first?” Michael started.
A silence fell between them as Freddy and Michael sat next to each other on the bed. It felt very awkward for the both of them. Both of them had things to say to one another, but neither of them wanted to be the first to bring up their problems. Feeling a sense of impatience, Michael spoke up.
“Alright Freddy, I’ll go first.”
Freddy felt a sigh of relief. He did have a lot to say to Michael, but on the way over to his house, he started having second thoughts as to whether or not he was ready to bring them up. Allowing Michael to go first would help him build up the courage to speak his piece of mind.
“Freddy, I want to talk to you about what happened yesterday at Sofya’s house”
Michael got up to grab his knapsack and pulled out the notes that Freddy wrote yesterday, along with some notes that Michael wrote on separate sheets of paper. Michael got serious as he tried to make eye contact, but Freddy’s eyes averted his.
“I read over what you wrote down multiple times last night” Michael continued. “I read it so many times that I couldn’t sleep. That may have been why I was so sensitive today at school and for that, I apologize.”
Freddy continued to look down as he listened to Michael speak.
“I had some things I wanted to go over with you” Michael continued.
“This isn’t like a parent teacher conference, Michael!” Freddy snapped.
Michael jumped to the other end of the bed, surprised at Freddy’s sudden and sharp reaction. Clearly, Michael could tell that Freddy was on edge at the moment. He would have normally snapped back at Freddy, but Michael decided to let the slight go.
“Sorry” Freddy apologized. “As you can tell, I’m a bit on edge at the moment.”
Michael nodded and continued.
“On this piece of paper, you wrote that you woke up to your mother making you breakfast and then she asked you if she could go out for a short walk by herself.”
Michael put the paper down to look at Freddy directly. Freddy continued to avoid Michael’s eye contact.
“Freddy, why didn’t you offer to go with your mother on her walk?”
Freddy continued to look down on the floor as he composed himself for a moment. He looked up at Michael and showed embarrassment on his face.
“I don’t know” Freddy answered quietly.
Michael nodded with a neutral expression and continued.
“You said that when your mother left, you began to smell Ellie’s scent wafting in from the window. You went to shut it, but by the time you could, you already felt yourself on the verge of changing. In panic, you ran out of the house and into the street to get away from, what you referred to as, a ‘torture chamber.’”
Freddy nodded as he continued to listen.
“After running for several minutes, you realize that you made a mistake…”
Michael paused a moment to look at Freddy.
“That’s a first.”
“Cut the sarcasm, Michael!”
Michael raised his hands in resignation.
“You’re right. You’re right, Freddy. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t make those kinds of comments.”
Freddy didn’t know how much longer he could restrain himself. Usually, he let these sorts of snide little remarks go, but he was in no mood to hear them today. This was a serious conversation and he felt that Michael should be treating it as such. Sensing the tension in the air, Michael continued on.
“Anyways, you realize you made a mistake and knew you shouldn’t have left the house. Before you could turn around to go home, you felt almost like an hypnotic attraction to Sofya’s house.”
Michael paused for a moment to look Freddy in the eyes.
“Can you describe to me what this type of attraction was like, Freddy? Was it sexual? Magical? How would you say it made you feel?”
“I don’t know, Michael. I don’t know how to describe it.”
“This is why I wanted to ask about this yesterday, but ok” Michael mumbled under his breath.
“Hey! I wanted to tell you yesterday, but it wasn’t entirely my fault.”
“Freddy, please don’t start this right now.”
“No!”
Freddy stood up and commanded Michael to listen to him.
“You always do this, Michael. You always have to go around making sarcastic comments in tough situations. You’re always looking to put me down, tell me I’m wrong, tell me I’m stupid. Well, I’m not dumb and I’m not stupid!”
“I never said you were, Freddy. Where did you get an idea like that from?”
“Where do you think I got it from?”
Michael could notice a rising anger in Freddy’s voice, which prompted him to sush him and pat the spot next to him on the bed.
“No, Michael. I’m allowed to be angry with you. I have to let this out. I can’t take it any more!”
“Freddy, will you please sit down and let me finish? I’m trying to get to the bottom of all of this. You asked me to start and I’d like it if you’d let me finish, please.”
Freddy noticed that tears were beginning to fall down Michael’s face. The show of emotion softened Freddy and he went to sit down on the bed next to Michael.
“Anyways” Michael continued. “I…”
“No more sarcastic comments, please” Freddy asked before Michael could finish his sentence.
Michael could tell from the look on Freddy’s face that he was dead serious. Not wanting to piss off his boyfriend, Michael nodded.
“Fine, Freddy. I’ll try.”
“No, Michael, do more than try. I had a really bad day today and I’m not in the mood for you to be putting me down like this.”
“I’m not putting you down, Freddy. You’re imagining things.”
“Is it my imagination that I’ve spent the last several days changing into a dog?!”
Michael saw a tear form on Freddy’s eye. Michael went to wipe it, but Freddy pushed him away. This surprised Michael as normally Freddy would be receptive to his advances. He knew Freddy had to be in a lot of pain right now. Even though Michael was feeling hurt as well, he tried to keep his emotions in check, for Freddy’s sake.
“Freddy, I’m sorry. I know you must have a lot of things you’re dealing with right now, but can you please let me finish my questions? I’d like to get to the bottom of this and figure out how to beat this curse. I’m sure you do as well.”
Freddy sniffled as he nodded his head.
“We’ll talk about…” Michael said before pausing.
Michael tried to figure out a way of delicately saying this.
“We’ll talk about…what you want to talk about, or rather, what you need to talk about, after I get through this. Ok?”
Freddy nodded his head.
“Ok” Michael continued. “Anyways, as I was saying, you then wrote that you got to Sofya’s house and that you were fighting with yourself to turn away, but you couldn’t. Something was making you stay. Was it a person or a force or…”
“I don’t know, Michael. I just know that something was trying to make me stay.”
“An…”
“And before you say it again, no, I couldn’t have described it to you yesterday, even with the events fresher in my mind.”
Michael acknowledged this with a nod and continued.
“Anyways, you then wrote that Sofya opened the door and came out in an outfit that was turning you on and you didn’t know why. Freddy, are you sure that it’s the spell that made you attracted to her?”
“Positive, Michael, I have never, ever, ever had feelings for another girl before in my entire life. Ever. I don’t know why you would tell other people that I said I did or that I wasn’t sure or…”
“Wait, what are you talking about, Freddy?”
“You’re going around to your group of friends and talking about me behind my back, aren’t you?”
“Freddy, no. I’ve never said any of this stuff to my friends because none of what you accused me of saying is true and I never said it.”
“But you do talk about me behind my back, don’t you?”
“Freddy, I…”
“Say it, Michael, say you talk about me behind my back.”
“Freddy…”
Freddy angrily stared at Michael as silence passed between them. Michael wasn’t sure how to respond to this, as it could be triggered by a number of things. He already determined by Freddy’s comments about being stupid that he was angry with Diya for embarrassing him in front of the student body in the school’s cafeteria. Michael wanted to address this, while still showing loyalty to her as a friend.
“Freddy, why did you accuse me of telling people that you’re stupid?”
“What?”
“Earlier, you said that I told you were stupid. I’ve never said you were stupid. I’ve said…”
“Then why did Diya say that to me today for the whole school to hear?”
“Because she was angry at you for accusing her of hacking into the school’s fire alarm system.”
“What’s the big deal? She did, didn’t she?”
“Freddy, can we get back to back to the conversation at hand, please?”
“And you told Sofya that you thought I was stupid as well.”
“What?!”
“Sofya told me today…”
“You spoke to Sofya, today?”
“This…”
“I thought you told me you didn’t talk to her today.”
“I didn’t talk to her in class, today, but I spoke to her after school.”
“When were you going to tell me this?”
“When I had a chance to talk about the things that I want to talk about. Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to finish your piece, first, Michael?”
Michael knew that there was a lot he didn’t know beyond just Freddy’s encounter with Sofya yesterday. There was a whole lot more that Freddy was hiding from him and he wanted to get to the bottom of it before Freddy’s parents got home.
“You’re right, Freddy. I’ll finish reading my notes, first, but I realize now that there’s a whole lot of unresolved problems that we have to address.”
“Not only that, Michael, but you’re hiding a lot of things from me. You accuse me of hiding things from you…”
“Which you do.”
“…yet here you are, going around to your friends, and Sofya, of all people, and putting me down to them like I’m some dumb jock.”
“Freddy, what are you talking about?”
Freddy stood up again to face Michael.
“Michael, do you know how I put myself on the line today to defend you at lunch?”
“What are you talking about, Freddy? You didn’t defend me one bit in front of your friends .”
“I did, actually. When Daniel was saying all sorts of nasty things about you, I stood up for you and told him he was being a piece of shit and that you are an amazing, smart, caring and loving boyfriend and that he only wished he could have the type of relationship that we have!”
Michael wasn’t aware that any of this had happened, which caused him to be genuinely surprised.
“And when he made a dig at me” Freddy continued “I nearly choked his life out.”
“Freddy, what the hell is wrong with you? You could have gotten yourself suspended.”
Freddy felt a sense of regret as he sat back down next to Michael.
“I know, Michael. That’s why Duane had to stop me before I went too far. I don’t know what came over me. It’s like, something about that comment made me snap.”
“What comment?”
Michael looked on with curiosity as Freddy felt a tinge of shame come over him.
“He said I was your little pet.”
“Oh Freddy.”
“No, Michael. I don’t need your sympathy.”
“Freddy, I’m just trying to help.”
Freddy paused for a moment to look at Michael, whose face had tears rolling down like a stream. This caused Freddy to start crying as well as the two of them embraced in a long hug. The feelings of euphoria were short lived, however, as Michael pulled back.
“So it’s true that they think I’m a control freak” Michael said through tears.
“Michael, I....”
“It’s true, isn’t it? That’s what your stupid friends say behind my back.”
“They aren’t stupid!”
“They are stupid, Freddy! Don’t you see what they are like?”
“Michael, stop it!”
“No Freddy! Is today the first time you’ve noticed what a jerk Daniel is? Is this the first time you genuinely saw what a piece of shit he really is? Don’t tell me that you’re that naive!”
“My friends aren’t stupid, Michael!”
“They are, you dolt!”
Freddy looked on in silence as Michael put his hand to his mouth.
“So it is true” Freddy said as he moved away from Michael on the bed. “You do tell people that I’m stupid.”
“I don’t, Freddy.”
“Do you expect me to believe that? You just called me a dolt just now!”
“Freddy, you’re not stupid, but you are incredibly naive.”
“Then why did Diya call me stupid today? Did you tell her I was stupid?”
“No, Freddy, it’s because if it wasn’t for Diya, Sofya would have had her way with you.”
Freddy looked at Michael with surprise.
“So Diya did hack the schools fire alarm system? Freddy asked.
“Yes Freddy” Michael replied. “And when you left, the principal came up to her and called her into his office. She could have been suspended or faced criminal charges. She has a whole life ahead of her. She knew what the risks were, but she did it anyway because she knew I was worried that something was wrong with you. She put herself on the line, for you, because she’s my best friend and she wanted to help me help you.”
“Why would she want to help me if she thinks I’m stupid?”
“Because she knows you’re my boyfriend and she knows that by helping you, she’s helping me. I didn’t ask her to do it, Freddy. She volunteered on her own. She did it totally on her own volition without any prompting from me, at all, whatsoever. And now, she could be facing serious trouble because of her actions to help you out and I haven't heard from at all her since lunch. I'm worried sick.”
“Wow, I had no idea.”
Freddy was genuinely shocked that Diya had gone out of her way to help him like that. Michael was right. If it hadn’t been for the fire alarm malfunction and the flooding in the school halls, Michael wouldn’t have been able to reach him in time to save him from Sofya’s advances. Freddy could only savor the moment briefly before Michael interjected.
“Which is more than you can say about any of your friends.”
“What?”
“You can’t possibly expect me to believe that you have never, ever heard Daniel and your other team mates say despairingly things about me behind my back before this afternoon.”
“Michael…”
“Don’t even try it.”
Michael’s words cut like ice through Freddy as the truth hit very hard.
“Tell me the truth, Freddy. Have you heard your teammates talk badly about me behind my back before?”
Freddy fell silent for a moment as Michael looked on with concern. After composing himself, Freddy replied.
“Yes.”
“And what did they say?”
Freddy paused for another moment before he responded.
“They say that you’re manipulating me away from my friends. That you’re too clingy and you don’t give me any space. That you control my life and that I’m your bitch.”
“Freddy.”
Michael scooched closer to Freddy as he tried to touch his face. Freddy attempted to swat it, but he changed his mind and let Michael keep it there.
“Do you believe the things they say about me?”
Freddy looked at Michael as he tried to give an answer that would be honest, but also not hurt Michael’s feelings.
“There are grains of truth to what they say.”
“Oh…”
“Michael.”
Freddy put his hands over Michael’s face and looked him in the eyes.
“Michael, I never said anything bad about you behind your back to any of my friends. Ever. Even if I may have wanted to, I held my tongue, because I love you and I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“But you agree with them” Michael replied as he pushed Freddy’s hands off his face and took his hand off his.
“No.”
Michael gave him a look of disbelief, not buying what Freddy was selling.
“Not really” Freddy confessed.
Michael stared at Freddy, still not buying his answer.
“There are parts of what they say that aren’t far off from the truth” Freddy confessed.
“Oh my God” Michael responded by slapping his knees.
“Michael, it’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like, Freddy? Am I your master? Are you my little pet who wants to break free and go off and sniff other bitches? Am I like those bitches who won’t let their man live a little?”
“Michael stop!”
“Then what about what they are saying about me is true? Huh Freddy? What?”
“Stop trying to control things! You always want to control everything!!!”
Freddy’s voice boomed so loud that he could hear Ellie starting to act up in the yard. Embarrassed, he put his head down as Michael stood and watched him in silence.
“Freddy” Michael said cautiously. “You’re right.”
Freddy looked up at Michael with a beet red face. Tears were continuing to flow as shock came over him from hearing what Michael had just said.
“You’re right, Freddy. I admit it. I am a control freak and you’re not the only one who has pointed this out to me.”
Freddy looked at Michael in confusion.
“Sofya said this to me yesterday while you were outside.”
“Michael, no.”
“She said I suffocate you too much. She said I’m always telling you what to do and that I don’t give you a free hand to let you live a little. She said I never let you make decisions and that you ran over to her house not because you felt some animal magnetism, but because you were just being rebellious.”
“It’s not true, Michael.”
“Yes it is.”
“No, the part of being rebellious isn’t true, but…”
“Yeah Freddy, I get it. The rest of it is.”
The sharpness in Michael’s voice caused Freddy to go silent.
“While I was reading your notes yesterday” Michael continued “that’s something that ruminated in my head again and again. Nothing you said necessarily triggered it, but all I could think about was that I’m a little too controlling in everything you do when we’re together. Why do you think we’re sitting in this bedroom tonight, Freddy?”
Freddy had a genuine look of confusion on his face.
“Because I said we should come here?” Freddy asked.
“No, Freddy” Michael responded. “Because I let you choose where to go to talk about this.”
Freddy’s face continued to show confusion as Michael pressed on.
“When we where deciding where to go to talk about all of this, I relented and let you have your way. Normally, I would have insisted that we go to my place and I would have made you do it. In fact, a part of me still wishes I had because for all we know, your father or mother or your brother or who knows who else could be on the other side of the door listening in to everything we’ve been saying up until now.”
Truer words have never been spoken.
“But you know what, Freddy? I let you have your way on this, even though it went against my better judgement. Even though it went against my better instincts to do to it, I allowed you to have your way on this.”
“Michael...”
“You want to know why?”
Freddy nodded.
“Because I’m not a control freak and I didn’t want you or other people to continue to get that impression of me.”
“That’s it!?” Freddy shrieked as he seemed genuinely angry. He jumped up from the bed and started pacing around the room.
“Freddy, what’s wrong with you?” Michael asked as he walked over to join him.
Michael attempted to touch Freddy, but was met with a slap on the hand and a scolding look.
“Is that what you took away from all of this?” Freddy asked in anger.
“Freddy…” Michael responded nervously.
“Is it really all about what other people think of you or think of our relationship? That you don’t care about being a control freak as long as people don’t think you are one?”
“Freddy, no….”
“Michael, it’s not about whether or not having your way makes you look like a good person or not. It’s about whether or not letting someone else have their way every once in a while make them feel good. You’re not doing me some favor by letting me have my way on where we go to have argument. And if you were that strongly opposed to it, I would have just let you take me to your house and we could have yelled and screamed at each other there!”
“Freddy…”
“Michael, do you know how I felt about you when I was stuck outside of Sofya’s house yesterday after being thrown out, not by her, but by you?”
“Freddy, I did it because…”
“I was worried sick! I was scared and fearful that something bad was going to happen to you!”
“Well, why don’t you show this type of enthusiasm in defending me when your friends say horrible things behind my back?”
“I…”
“You don’t, Freddy! I know you too well. When your wonderful ‘friends’ say all that nasty, horrible shit about me behind my back, you don’t normally give the heroic defense as you claimed you did today, which I don’t even believe happened…”
“Of course it fucking happened, Michael! The whole school saw it!”
“If that was the first time you ever bothered to stand up for me in front of your friends, then why didn’t you do it the thousands of other times that they’ve said the same sorts of shit about me in the past?!”
“Because I was a coward and stupid!”
“See, you admit it.”
Michael put his hand over his mouth again.
“Freddy, I didn’t mean that.”
“You have some nerve, Michael, you know that? You lie to me all the time and you have the nerve to go and play games and accuse me of plotting all sorts of horrible, devious plots behind your back. I admit, I was a coward. I should have defended you in front my friends as vigorously as I did at lunch today during all of the other times they’ve said similar things about you in the past. It was stupid of me not to do it before. It was a big mistake and I feel horrible about it, Michael. I felt, and feel, horrible about how I wasn’t a good boyfriend to you, which, as you should note, I wrote down on that fucking stupid piece of paper you keep reading from, because I was a fucking coward. I should have done better. I should have stood up for you more than I have in the past.”
“I highly doubt you really feel all that badly about it.”
“Of course I do!!!”
“Why, Freddy? Why should I think that you care so much when it seems that, when I’m not around, you don’t really care all that much about me to stand up for me and show your support for me to your friends when they say horrible shit?”
“Because I love you and I’m sorry!!!!!!”
Michael was in shock over hearing such a thing in the way he heard it. He could see Freddy’s face was beet red and tears flooded down like a faucet. Michael’s own face felt blushed and he had tears rolling down his cheeks as well.
“I love you, Michael! I love you! I love you! I love you so much that I put up with all of the shitty things you do because I love you and I care about you so much. I’m a jerk and I should have said more to defend you like I did today and I promise you, from the bottom of my heart, that from now on, I will defend you to the ends of the Earth if anyone, even my best of friends, say something horrible and nasty about you when you aren’t there and even when you are there, too. And what pains me in saying this is that I’m pouring all of my emotions out on the line for you and yet you won’t show the same in return.”
“What are you talking about?!”
“Michael, it’s been over a week and I’m dying inside! I’ve been dying inside because all I’ve been waiting to hear you say is how much you love me in return! You haven’t sent one heart emoji since this stupid fucking curse started! The words haven’t passed once from your lips this entire week!”
“You haven’t made it easy for me, Freddy!”
“And you think you have?! You’ve made it very difficult for me too, but you know what, I still said it because I love you and, for the life of me, I can’t understand why you won’t say…”
“I love you Freddy!!!!!!”
Freddy’s rage immediately dissipated as Michael began sobbing uncontrollably.
“I love Freddy! I love you Freddy! I love you! I love you! I love you! I’m sorry I haven’t said it at all in the last week, but God damn it, Freddy, I love you!!!!!!”
“Oh Michael” Freddy said in a calmer voice with a slight bit of lust strewn in. “I’ve been waiting to hear you say that all week.”
Freddy immediately ran into Michael, grabbed him tightly and began to engage in a passionate make out session with him. Their hands ran all over each other as Freddy moved Michael to his bed and threw him on top of it. Freddy proceeded to kiss Michael all over his neck as he took his face in his hands and forced Michael to look at him.
“Michael, I’ve been waiting for so long to do this. I’m so horny right now I could explode. Please Michael. Please let me fuck you.”
Michael slapped Freddy across the face as shock overcame him. Freddy began to rub his face as Michael looked at him angrily.
“Get yourself together, Freddy!”
“What the fuck, Michael?”
“Freddy, you’re still under the curse, remember? You could have turned back into a dog again right there on the bed.”
“So what, Michael? Don’t you want to try having sex with a dog?”
“First of all, Freddy, no, I don’t. Secondly, even if I did, what if your parents and brother came home. How do you think they’d react to seeing Fido pounding their son’s boyfriend like I was some bitch?”
Freddy took a moment to process this as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.
“Yeah” Freddy replied. “I guess you’re right.”
Freddy positioned himself to the end of the bed as Michael got up to join him.
“I love you, Freddy. I’m sorry I haven’t said it in over a week, but I’ve had a lot of emotions that I’ve been dealing with and perhaps I just had a hard time putting them aside to tell you that I care. I do love you or I would have abandoned you a long time ago.’
Freddy looked up at Michael with a confused look on his face.
“If I didn’t love you” Michael continued “I would have ditched you at the park that day when I caught you butt naked on top of a stray dog. If I didn’t love you, instead of chasing after you when I caught you on the bottom of Sofya having her way with you, I would be the one running away and never looking back. There are so many times in the past that I was ready to walk away from our relationship, even before this whole curse started happening to you, but you know what, Freddy, I didn’t. I didn’t because, yes, maybe I don’t say it often enough, but God, I love you so much.”
Freddy’s tears had begun to dry as he looked at Michael with a smile on his face.
“Maybe I don’t always show my love in the way that I should” Michael continued. “Maybe I should be more open about it the way you are, even when I know you’re not always sure that you feel that way when you say it. But remember Freddy, if I haven’t totally cut you out of my life for good, it’s because I love you.”
Michael motioned Freddy to give him a hug and two the embraced in each others arms.
“It’s getting late” Michael said as he pulled back from Freddy. “There’s so much I didn’t get a chance to say to you tonight that I wished I could.”
“It can wait” Freddy replied.
“But before I go….”
Michael took the notes and ripped them up onto the floor. Freddy looked at Michael, not understanding why he did that.
“…we need to devise a strategy for dealing with Sofya.”
“Why did you rip up those notes?”
“Because, Freddy, it doesn’t really matter what the nuts and bolts are of what happened at her house yesterday. I read some of those things over and I know a lot of it is absolute bullshit and I’m sure she told you a lot of lies about what I’ve said and feel about you as well. Knowing that she is manipulative with people’s emotions and knowing that she’ll pepper in grains to truth to sell her lies, we need to figure out how we’re going to deal with her when we have to see her again.”
“This Friday…”
Michael looked at Freddy with a mix of surprise and concern.
“I told her that you and I were going to go over to her house on Friday” Freddy continued.
“Why did you confirm us for something without asking me first?” Michael asked.
“Because she put me on the spot and I didn’t have the strength to tell her no. Plus, I figured that the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can figure out if her father really is the wizard so we can defeat him and end this curse once and for all.”
Michael looked silently at Freddy. Freddy was nervous that Michael would get mad at him again before Michael motioned him to give him another hug.
“It’s ok, Freddy. You’re right. I want my boyfriend back full time. Let’s defeat the wizard together.”
Michael stood up to leave as Freddy followed him. After gathering his belongings, Michael made his way down the stairs with Freddy before they landed at the front door.
“It's getting late. We can devise a strategy tomorrow before we go. What time did Sofya ask us to come over?”
“7 o clock”
“Ok, its a date.”
Michael gave Freddy a long and passionate smooch before they parted.
“I love you Freddy” Michael said as he walked out the door.
“Wow…. Freddy responded in a sort of daze.
Freddy couldn’t believe that he heard the words come out of Michael’s mouth for the first time in ages; unprompted at that. Maybe things were going to turn around after all. Walking up the stairs to his room, Freddy didn’t notice before he closed his door that someone was hiding behind in the shadows. When they stepped out from the darkness, one could see that it was….