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It was sophomore year of high school when Jim and his family showed up in Jonesboro, Georgia. Leonard came back to homeroom from winter break to find a new kid sitting in the desk next to his. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Jim.”
“Leonard,” he answered right before the bell rang.
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“I like your accent,” Jim said as they walked home. After they found out Jim lived three houses away, they started walking to and from school together. They sat together at lunch and occasionally went to each other’s houses, and Jim was just happy to have a new friend.
“I ain’t got an accent,” Leonard said in his soft southern lilt. “You’re the one with the accent.”
“It’s called non-regional diction, Bones,” Jim laughed. Jim had found out Leonard wanted to be a doctor, and from there the nickname was born.
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Three months later and they were sitting at the creek in the back of their neighborhood, jeans rolled up and bare feet moving slowly in the cool water.
Jim tilted his head, resting it lightly on Leonard’s shoulder. When Leonard didn’t tense or move away, Jim leaned more heavily against him.
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Jim started sleeping over a lot after that. His stepdad was mean and drunk and his mom worked a lot and wasn’t ever really home. Sam was usually out at a party or something, which left Jim with nothing to do except hide in his room.
So one night, after he was sure Frank wouldn’t notice, Jim went over and knocked on Leonard’s door. “Hello, Jim honey,” Mrs. McCoy said as she answered the door.
“Hello, Mrs. McCoy. Um, is Leonard around?” Mrs. McCoy just smiled and gestured towards the stairs.
Jim didn’t even bother knocking. Leonard was on his side, his cheek propped in his palm as he read. “You look like a Sears painting.”
Leonard startled, dropping the book. “Dammit, Jim. I lost my page,” he complained, flicking through the book.
“Whatcha readin’?” Jim asked as he flopped down on the bed. “Heart of Darkness,” he read. The cover showed a silhouette of a boat moving down a river surrounded by trees and plants. “Any good?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Read it to me?”
“Jim, I’m over a hundred pages in. I ain’t startin’ from the beginning.”
Jim shrugged, shifting until he was lying with his head on Leonard’s stomach. “That’s OK. Just start from where you are. I don’t mind.”
Leonard sighed, but Jim knew his annoyance was just a front when Leonard put his hand on Jim’s head and left it there.
“Was it superstition, disgust, patience, fear -- or some kind of primitive honour? No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze. Don't you know the devilry of lingering starvation, its exasperating torment, its black thoughts, its sombre and brooding ferocity? Well, I do. It takes a man all his inborn strength to fight hunger properly. It's really easier to face bereavement, dishonour, and the perdition of one's soul -- than this kind of prolonged hunger. Sad, but true. And these chaps, too, had no earthly reason for any kind of scruple. Restraint! I would just as soon have expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battlefield. But there was the fact facing me -- the fact dazzling, to be seen, like the foam on the depths of the sea, like a ripple on an unfathomable enigma, a mystery greater -- when I thought of it -- than the curious, inexplicable note of desperate grief in this savage clamour that had swept by us on the river-bank, behind the blind whiteness of the fog.”
When he knew Jim was asleep, Leonard carefully placed the book face down to mark his page and fell asleep himself.
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Jim woke first, grinning as he caught sight of his friend asleep above him. There was something warm, cased in the fuzz of sleep, and it propelled Jim forward to press a kiss near Leonard’s mouth.
“Hmm?” Leonard mumbled, shifting against Jim’s mouth. “Jim? What are you doing?”
“I---I’m sorry, Bones. I didn’t mean to---I just....” He looked like he was about to cry.
“Hey,” Leonard replied softly, brushing a hand over Jim’s cheek. “I liked it.”
“Yeah?” Jim asked.
“Yeah. But I think this will be better.” He pressed his hand more firmly to Jim’s cheek and kissed him properly.
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Ever since, Jim spent most nights at Leonard’s house. In fact, he’d practically moved in by the summer before their senior year.
Jim usually came over around dinner time, but one day in early August he was late. When he finally showed up, he was panicked and his eyes were red. “Jim? What the hell happened?”
Jim pushed past Leonard into the house, slumping down on the couch. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy hurried out of the kitchen to see what was wrong. “I’m moving,” Jim finally said, unable to look at anyone.
“What?” Leonard asked, his hands beginning to tremble.
“I’m moving in two weeks. Back to Iowa.”
“No!” Leonard cried out, grabbing Jim in a tight embrace. “No, no, no.” He felt Jim cry into his shirt. “Mom, Dad,” Leonard gasped. “Please.”
“Please,” Jim echoed in a whisper directed at Leonard. “Please, Bones. I can’t go. I can’t go.”
“It’s alright, Jim. We’ll figure it out.”
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Leonard’s parents tried to talk to Jim’s parents, saying that Jim could live with them since the boys only had one more year of school, and it really was no trouble, Jim was like a son to them. But Frank and Winona were adamant that the family had to stay together, even though they hardly saw each other.
Jim spent his last night in Georgia at the McCoys’, staying awake with Leonard all night, too afraid to go to sleep or even look away from each other.
In the morning, Frank honked the car horn outside, and Jim and Leonard stepped out onto the porch, followed by Leonard’s parents. Jim hugged Mrs. McCoy, who was crying, and shook hands with Mr. McCoy, before grabbing Leonard in a crushing hug.
“I love you,” Leonard said softly.
“Bones, please, don’t make me go,” Jim said, suddenly crying.
“You have to, honey. I don’t want you to, but you have to.”
“No! I can’t. I can’t.”
Leonard disentangled himself and Jim practically screamed. “Come on now, Jim. Your mama and Frank are waitin’.” Jim made an effort to hold back more tears and nodded. “That’s it,” Leonard said softly when Jim started backing away. “You call when you get there,” he said, and Jim gave a final nod before he got in the car.
As Jim and his family drove away, Leonard turned to his mother and began sobbing against her. “Oh, Lenny,” she said, rubbing his back. “You want some peaches and ice cream?” Leonard bit back an “I want Jim!” and nodded.
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They got as far as Atlanta before Frank turned them around. Jim had done nothing but cry in the backseat, alternating between quiet sniffles and heartfelt sobs.
Leonard was eating his peaches and ice cream on the porch when the familiar car pulled up to the curb, and he nearly choked as he saw Jim throw the door open and run towards him. “I can stay, I can stay!” he shouted, launching himself at Leonard. Leonard kissed him, his lips sticky with ice cream and peach juice, and Jim finally smiled.