Chapter 8
Later that night, Mindy, Jake and Red sat in a booth inside Sam’s Sports bar while they ate some hamburgers and drank some beer. They spent the last 10 minutes discussing their dilemma with Rocky.
“We need to figure out what's wrong with him,” Red told the other two.
“I can't believe what I saw. He was ah, he was,” Mindy stammered.
“A queen?” Jake blurted out.
Stefon walked past their booth.
“Maybe Stefon can help?” Mindy said the second she saw him.
“How?” Jake asked unsure of her suggestion.
“Well, since Rocky is acting gay, I was thinking Stefon could talk with him and find out what's going on,” she replied.
“What the hell, we have nothing to lose,” Red responded.
“Hey Stefon,” Mindy called out.
Stefon turned around and looked at Mindy. “Yes,” he replied.
“We have this little problem with Rocky. We were hoping that you could help,” she asked him.
“Oh yeah. I saw your problem at the game earlier. It's strange how today was the first time he has never harassed me. Why is he acting like, you know,” Stefon said while he walked back to their table.
“We're hoping you can find out what's going on with him,” Red asked in a polite tone.
“All I know is that he came back to his room the other night pissed. He was pissed because he had a meeting with a scout from the Pittsburgh Steelers and it took place at a gay bar,”
“I don't know. After all those times he harassed me, I just don't feel comfortable being around him. Besides, this could be one of his tricks,” Stefon said.
“Trust me. It's not some kind of trick. He's now gay and we need to get to the bottom of this,” Jake replied.
Stefon hesitated for a minute. “I'll do it for you Mindy. Only because you've always been nice to me.”
“Thank you, Stefon. Please let us know if you find out something,” Mindy said.
“Sure,” Stefon said then he walked away.
“Well, it looks like we're going to have some very long and busy days ahead of us,” Mindy said.
Jake and Red shook their heads in agreement.
Later that night, Rocky slept in his bed and cuddled with a teddy bear he bought at the mall the other night.
Jake lay awake in his bed and kept a cautious vigil on Rocky.
The sun rose in Bellwood for the start of another cool October day.
Rocky rose out of bed and wore a pair of lime green Speedos underwear.
He was Jake still asleep in bed while Rocky slipped on his silk bathrobe.
He walked to the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, Rocky walked out of the bathroom in his robe. He shaved and showered, and he now shaved every morning.
“Good morning,” Rocky said while he saw Jake’s eyes opened.
Jake stared at Rocky and was a little nervous about talking. “Good morning,” he replied after getting up the courage.
“It would be a pleasure to have your company for breakfast,” Rocky offered.
“Ah, I can’t. I got some school work,” Jake quickly replied.
Rocky could sense Jake didn’t want anything to do with him since they had always had breakfast together. “I understand,” Rocky replied with his feelings hurt.
An hour later, Rocky ate some breakfast alone. He asked Red to join him, but he also refused.
After breakfast, Rocky walked alone around campus in tight designer jeans with a light blue silk shirt, a few gold chains and his wooden clogs without any socks.
He now sensed that all his buddies wanted nothing to do with him since he turned gay. In fact, everybody on campus ignored him, and h looked very depressed.
Then after a few minutes of walking around campus, Rocky saw Stefon approach him.
“Good morning, Stefon,” Rocky addressed him in a friendly tone followed by a friendly smile.
Stefon anticipated Rocky to harass him and his friendliness was a ruse. He picked up his speed and walked past Rocky.
Rocky didn’t harass him and that got Stefon curious then he remembered Mindy’s request. “Ah, Rocky,” he said while he turned around.
Rocky stopped and turned around.
Stefon tried to think of how he could start a friendly conservation with the guy that was a bully. “I'm sorry about the practice game yesterday,” he said.
Tears rolled down Rocky's cheek. “I don't know what is happening to me,” Rocky answered between sniffles.
Stefon felt for Rocky for the first time in his life. “Would you like to talk about it?” he offered with a kind smile.
“I would love that,” Rocky replied while he wiped away some tears.
“Let’s head over to the Coffee Bean,” Stefon offered.
“Sure and by the way, I was thinking. Could you call me Bobby instead of Rocky? Rocky sounds like the name of a big brute,” he said.
“Okay, let’s head over to the Coffee Bean, Bobby,” Stefon said.
Rocky now called Bobby and Stefon walked toward the Coffee Bean a coffee shop located just on campus.
A little while later, Bobby and Stefon entered the Coffee Bean coffee where they both ordered Café Lattes and a slice of key lime pie.
Many of the students in the shop glanced at Bobby and Stefon while they waited for their order.
“I can sense they’re laughing at me,” Bobby said and his feeling was hurt while he looked at the stares.
“You’ll get use to it,” Stefon added and patted Bobby on his shoulder to show his support.
They paid for their Lattes and sat down outside in the courtyard under a table with an umbrella.
“Can you tell me when you started having these new feelings?” Stefon asked while he took a bite of his key lime pie.
Rocky sat with his one leg over his other leg, and his foot nervously shook. He had his one hand on top of his knee. “It all started the other morning. I woke up feeling strange. Then all of a sudden, I became attracted to men,” he said while he looked around the area and saw a hunky guy. “Really attracted to men,” he added while he checked out that hunk while he sat down at a table about 10 feet away.
Two guys that sat close to Rocky and Stefon overheard them and turned around, and gave a Bobby and Stefon dirty looks.
“Do you remember what happened the day before? I mean, you were the same old Rocky because I remember you tormenting me,” Stefon said then sipped his Latte.
Bobby lowered his head in shame. “I know and I'm so very sorry for doing those things to you,” he said and sounded sincere.
Stefon sensed a changed man. “Apology accepted,” he said.
Bobby reached out and moved some bangs out of Stefon’s right eye. “Thank you,” Stefon said then ate some more pie.
“Well, the night before I woke up feeling strange, I met a scout for the Steelers at a bar called the Witches Brew,” he told Stefon.
“The gay bar?” Stefon asked.
“Yes, but I didn't know it was a gay bar. The scout, named Bernie, wasn't there yet so I ordered a drink called the Witches Brew. I drank it and it was very good so I ordered another one. While I was drinking the second one, someone asked me to dance. That was when I realized I was in a gay bar. I freaked out just as that scout walked to me and I ran out the door,” Bobby said then took a sip of his Latte. “I went to bed, had some nightmares then woke up and started feeling strange.”
“That doesn't give me much to work with, as nothing seems out of the ordinary except for going to the gay bar,” Stefon said then he thought about Bobby’s story while he sipped on his Latte. Then his eyes widened when he remembered something. “Wait, did you say a scout named Bernie from the Steelers?” Stefon asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Well, I remembered overhearing the Coach talking with a scout from the Steelers and his name was Steve somebody. Anyway, Coach said he would see him the day of the championship game,” Stefon said with a concerned look in his eyes.
“I don't know what's happening,” Bobby said while his eyes welled up a little. “All I know is that I'm now a peter puffer and now all my friends hate me,” Bobby added and started to cry.
The two guys that sat near them immediately got up from their table, moved to another one far away.
“Oh. Don't cry. Everything will be all right,” Stefon said with a reassuring voice.
Stefon reached out, and held one of Bobby's hands. He stopped crying a few seconds later.
They stayed and ate their pies, and drank their Café Latte's.
Later that night, Stefon met with Mindy, Jake and Red at Sam’s Sports bar. They ate dinner in a booth anxious to learn what Stefon discovered.
“I didn't find out much today while I was with Rocky. And oh, by the way, he now wants to be called Bobby,” Stefon said.
“Did you say Bobby?” Mindy asked.
“Yes Bobby. He believes that Rocky is too much of a thugs name,” Stefon replied.
“Okay, then what can you tell us about Bobby?” Jake asked.
“He is a changed man meaning he definitely joined my team,” Stefon chuckled.
Mindy, Jake and Red didn’t get his humor.
“Anyway, he appears a little more compassionate from the bully I knew before,” Stefon said.
“But why is he acting so gay?” Red asked.
“I don't know for sure,” Stefon said then sipped his tea.
Sadie Brooke cleaned a booth right behind Stefon, Mindy, Red and Jake. She slowly placed trash into a gray plastic bin while she ease dropped because their conservation had her intrigued.
“You didn't find out anything?” Mindy asked curiously.
“The only strange event that occurred was he had a meeting with a scout from the Steelers a few nights ago,” Stefon said.
“We knew that,” Red said.
“But the scout set up the meeting at a gay bar called the Witches Brew. And there are two weird things about this. One being, I recall over hearing Coach talking to a scout from the Steelers on the phone, and the Coach said he would meet the scout on the day of the championship game. The other being that Coach called the scout Steve whereas Bobby said the scouts name was Bernie,” Stefon told them.
Sadie couldn’t resist and moved closer to their booth.
“I never heard of the Witches Brew,” Jake said.
“I can imagine Rocky, I mean Bobby, was furious about being in a gay bar,” Red said.
“He stated that this scout, Bernie, wasn’t there when he first arrived, so he ordered a drink called the Witches Brew,” Stefon added.
Sadie cracked a smile, as she couldn’t resist, and she walked over to their booth. “Did you say Witches Brew?” she asked while she approached their table.
“Yes, is there something wrong?” Mindy asked.
Sadie pulled up a chair from a nearby table and sat down at their booth.
She glanced over at Jake, and smiled at him then she looked at everybody else. “Legend has it that there were two lesbian witches that lived here in Bellwood back around the 1690s. They made numerous potions with one of them called the Witches Brew. It was a potion that turned anybody gay after they drank it,” she said.
They all stare at Sadie in disbelief.
“No way,” Mindy replied in disbelief.
“A gay potion?” Red added in disbelief.
Then Stefon’s eyes widened when he remembered something. “Wait, I remember Professor Ruby talking about that during a history lesson about the Salem Witch trials,” Stefon told everybody.
Jake and Red thought about that lesson.
“I remember,” Jake said and Red nodded in agreement.
“I find that hard to believe,” Mindy said still in disbelief.
“If you ask me, it looks like Rocky is living proof that the potion exists,” Sadie said.
“Is there some type of cure?” Red asked curiously.
“If you're talking about a potion to reverse the Witches Brew, I don't know if one exists,” Sadie responded.
Mindy reached out, and grabbed one of Sadie's hands. “Would you please help us find a potion to reverse the Witches Brew?” Mindy asked her with pleading eyes.
Sadie hesitated. “I don't know. Rocky's a real macho asshole,” she replied.
“Please!” Jake asked with pleading eyes.
Sadie looked at Jake, and smiled indicating she's becoming attracted to him. “I'll need someone to assist me. How about you Jake?” she said.
Jake smiled indicating he wanted that assignment since he had always had an interest in Sadie. “I'm all yours.”
“Okay. I'll help. The first thing we need to do is talk with Professor Ruby,” Sadie said while she glanced over at Jake.
“Great. Sadie and Jake can find a potion to reverse the Witches Brew. Stefon can keep tabs on Rocky or Bobby. We can meet here for updates. Red and myself will try to track down this so called Steelers scout and see if he knows anything,” Mindy instructed everybody.
“Jake, why don’t you meet me outside the history building in the morning at ten. We’ll have a little discussion with Professor Ruby. Maybe he knows of a potion to reverse Rocky,” Sadie said.
“You got it, Jake replied with a smile.
“Let’s all meet here tomorrow at four to quickly discuss our findings before my cheerleading practice,” Mindy told everybody and they all nodded in agreement. “And Stefon, could you bring Rocky back here at eight?” Mindy added.
“You mean Bobby,” Stefon corrected her.
“Yes, I mean Bobby. Then we can talk things over with him,” Mindy replied and her eyes welled up a little thinking that she had lost Rocky forever.
Sadie got up, and walked over to the booth behind them. She picked up the gray bin, and walked away toward the kitchen.
“I sure hope she can help,” Red asked with doubts.
“You got that. I don't want to marry a gay man,” Mindy said.
“A gay guy probably won’t marry a woman,” Red corrected her.
Mindy looked depressed at the thought of losing her boyfriend.
Ernie and Mitch sat at the bar, and they turned around, since they heard everything.
“We better keep an eye on them. I don't want our plans fucked up,” Ernie told Mitch.
Ernie took out his cell phone from his pocket. He punched in a phone number. “Hey Uncle Cecil. We got a little snag. Some of Rocky’s friends are trying to figure out how to make Rocky normal again. We need to figure out a plan to prevent this,” Ernie said into his cell phone.
“Come right over and we’ll come up with something,” Cecil replied from Ernie’s cell phone.
“We’re on our way,” Ernie said then closed his cell phone.
“Let’s head over to my Uncle’s house,” Ernie told Mitch.
Ernie and Mitch walked away from the bar and rushed to the front door.