I started reading Jeff's Web log when my grandfather showed it to me. I don't know how he found it, but he read it pretty regularly. It was about this family of gay guys in Emerald Beach, Florida. They had, like, this incredible net, or web, of people, some gay, some straight, who made up this giant family. Kevin and Rick were the center of it all. The next tier coming out from them were their foster sons. Some were real foster sons, some were former foster sons who still lived there, and some were honorary foster sons. And some of the honoraries lived there, too. That was a hard bunch to keep straight. As best we could tell, Kevin and Rick were twenty-six or twenty-seven, and they had been in a committed relationship for a long time. Jeff was one of the oldest "foster sons." He was about twenty-two, we thought. Jeff had a partner named Tyler, who was his age, and they didn't live with Kevin and Rick anymore. But they were still very much a part of the family. Jeff wrote about his daily life in his blog. It was everything from how much he hated his last accounting class, to how much he loved Tyler, to how much fun he had had with all of his "brothers" the previous weekend. He focused a whole lot on the family, though, and the stuff they did together. I lived with my grandfather, and I had lived with him since my dad basically put me out when I told him I was gay. That was the ultimate crushing moment of my life, when he called me a "goddamn queer." I'll never forget that moment, and I'll never be okay with using "queer" as a synonym for "gay." I know "queer" is a politically-charged word in the gay community, but just like I'll never say "nigger" in reference to an African American, I'll never say "queer" in reference to a homosexual. That's just me. My grandpa is an unbelievable guy. He is my mother's dad, and he's in his fifties. He's awesome, though. I used to spend all summer in Kentucky with him when I was growing up, and I felt totally at home with him. I had come out to him the summer before the shit hit the fan with my dad, and he had been totally cool about it. "Grandpa, you don't hate me, do you?" "Hate you? Where have you been, Trey? I love you, and I'll always love you," he said. "People are gay. That's just the way things are. You didn't choose to be gay, any more than your dog chose to be a Lab instead of a Beagle. I don't ever want to hear you say anything about that again, and I mean it." "Yes, sir," I said. I had some good friends in Kentucky, too. One was my best friend, a guy named Eric. The truth of the matter was, I was in love with Eric, and I had been for several years. It was a hopeless situation, though, because I knew Eric didn't have a gay bone in his body. Eric was incredibly good looking, and he had a physique that was awesome. He probably had a body-fat ratio of about 7%, and he was very athletic. He weighed about 200 pounds, though, so there was a whole lot of muscle there. But the thing about Eric was, what you saw was by no means all you got, as good as that was. He was intelligent, funny, kind, sensitive, tolerant, and just an all-around nice guy. Anyway, when I moved to Kentucky after I came out at home and got booted, Eric and I got a lot closer. I was in love, and I had to take the risk. I figured one of three things would happen when I told him how I felt. One, he'd kick my ass (or maybe only try to, because I thought I could hold my own in any ass-kicking that went on) and never talk to me again. Two, he'd say he didn't give a shit if I was gay, and he still wanted to be my friend. Three, he'd say he was gay, too, and was in love with me. That's what I prayed for, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I devised a plan using Jeff's blog. Eric didn't have a computer at home, but he and I fooled around some on mine. "Eric, have you ever seen a blog?" I asked him. It was early on a Saturday afternoon. I had to do something at Grandpa's church that would take a couple of hours, and Eric was going to wait at our house for me to get finished with that. The original plan was that he would do homework while I was gone, but I knew he pretty much had finished it all in school the day before. That would be a perfect time to read Jeff's blog. "I don't even know what that is," he said. I figured he didn't. I mean, he was computer literate and all, but he didn't really spend that much time surfing the net. "It's like an on-line journal or diary. I read one that this guy in Florida writes, and it's really cool. Do you want to take a look at it?" "Sure. I guess so. If you like it, I'll probably like it, too," he said. My plan was to get his reaction to the idea of gay teenagers. If he thought the whole thing was disgusting or something, then I'd know not to try coming out to him, at least not right away. On the other hand, if he thought that family was as cool as I thought they were, I'd tell him about myself. I wouldn't say anything about being in love with him. I mean, it's one thing to find out your best friend is gay, but it's another thing altogether to find out he's gay and in love with you. "I need to get going. I'll be back in a couple of hours," I said, and I left. When I came back, Eric was still reading Jeff's blog. "What's up?" I asked. He turned away from the computer and looked at me with a really strange look on his face. "Why did you want me to read this?" he asked, all serious. "I just think it's neat, that's all. You and I talk about being brothers all the time, and I don't think we could be any better friends if we were real brothers. Those guys in that blog are brothers, too," I said. "You know, don't you?" he asked. "Know what?" I replied. "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?" he said. "Say what? Eric, man, this is crazy. What is it you think I'm going to make you say?" I asked. "That I'm gay, Trey. It's true. I'm a fag, man. And what's more, I'm in love with you," he said. Since then, I've tried to imagine what the look on my face must have been like. That was more than I had dared hope for, and I really had no clue. "So am I, Eric. And I've been in love with you for years. As long as I can remember, in fact. Why do you think I wanted to come up here every summer, Eric? It was so I could be with you, man. When I'd go home for school at the end of the summer, it just about broke my heart every time. You were all I ever thought about," I said. "It was the same for me. I can't tell you how many times I've come this close to telling you," he said, holding his fingers a fraction of an inch apart. "If I had told you, and you didn't want to be my friend anymore, it would have destroyed me, I think. I'd rather be in the closet and still have you as my friend, than be out of the closet without you." "Does your mom know?" I asked. "No, nobody knows but you," he said. "She might suspect it, but we've never talked about it. What about you?" "Yeah, they know. I told Grandpa last summer, and he was wonderful about it, of course. I told my parents when I went home at the end of the summer, and and my dad blew up. My mom was okay about it, but my dad said some things to me that I'll never forget. That's why I'm living here," I said. "Did he kick you out?" "Not officially, but it was so tense there that nobody had any peace. Grandpa suggested I move up here and go to school, and everybody thought that was a good idea," I said. "Now it turns out to be the best idea ever." "God, I feel so good right now, Trey. Can I have a hug?" We grabbed each other in the biggest bear hug I had ever been a part of. We held each other, and I could feel that both of us were rock hard. I took it to the next level and did something I had wanted to do for years. I kissed Eric. Over the next weeks, Eric and I explored each other physically, and we had a great time doing it. All the while, the love between us was growing. Grandpa understood, even going so far as buying us a bunk bed that had a double bed on the bottom and a single bed on the top. He was so great. He had absolutely no experience with the gay world, but he recognized that what Eric and I had wasn't a crush or a mere attraction. He knew we were destined to be a couple forever, and he did everything he could to foster that. Eric and I were sophomores, and we were both on the football team. We were JV basically, but we both suited up for varsity games, just in case we were needed. And we were needed several times during the season. Nobody in that school had any suspicion whatsoever that we were gay, and we were careful to make sure nobody caught us looking at each other like we were in love. There was a freshman, though, that changed everything. He was gorgeous. Not a jock, by any means, but just a really good looking kid. We saw him being picked on. He was bullied, pushed, called names, slammed into lockers between classes. They were calling him "queer" and "fag" and "homo." "That boy is no gayer than we are," Eric said one day. "We've got to do something." "What?" I asked. "What if we write him a letter saying he's not the only gay guy on campus?" Eric asked. "We don't have to sign our names or anything, but I know how all alone he feels. We'll just tell him that we're gay and that we understand. Hell, he might not even be gay, but something deep inside tells me he is." "How would we get it to him?" I asked. "We can slip it into his locker through one of those air slots," Eric said. "I really think we need to do this, Trey. We don't have to sign the letter. But I think it's something we need to do." Eric and I put a lot of thought into what the letter was going to say. We talked it over with Grandpa, too, and he said he admired our courage and concern. He basically thought it was a good idea. We slipped the letter into Aaron's locker during the last period of the day, so he would get it just before he left campus. He rode the bus, and we wrote on the envelope for him to wait until he got home to read it. We had heard that he got a lot of shit on the bus, and we didn't want some dumbass homophobic redneck seeing it. By lunch the next day, it was all over campus. Aaron had asked his bus driver that morning if he could make a little speech, and he basically came out to everybody on the bus. In effect, he said, yeah, I'm gay. So what? If you can change me, please do it. The people on that bus were shocked, or so I was told, but then everybody sort of got all right about it. There wasn't any more teasing on the rest of that trip to school, and nobody "accidentally" bumped into him when they were getting off the bus at school, like they usually did. Eric and I sat with other football players at lunch, and Aaron sat with two girls who were friends of his. Eric and I kept an eye on him, and two or three people came up to their table and chatted with him. We had never seen that happen before, that's for sure. Things got better and better for Aaron as the week moved on. Friday afternoon we caught up with him. "How's it going?" I asked. Aaron wasn't a big guy, and he was sort of effeminate, too. I'm sure when he saw two big football players coming up to him, he got a little scared. "Okay," he said. "Your name's Aaron, right?" I asked. "Yeah," he said. "I'm Trey, and this is Eric. We're the guys who put that letter in your locker," I said. He did a double take when I said those words that would have made a movie actor proud. "Are you going to the game tonight?" Eric asked. "No," he said. "Why don't you go and then come over to Trey's house afterwards and hang out with us," Eric said. "Spend the night, even." He did just that, and it was the beginning of a great friendship. Since then, Eric and I have taught him a little bit about gay sex, and now Aaron has a boyfriend of his own, another football jock named Billy. Eric and I sort of got inspired by Aaron's courage in coming out, and we've now come out to our friends and teammates. And really, to the whole damn school. The trip to Emerald Beach was a unanimous decision. Without Jeff and his blog, and without those Florida boys for Jeff to write about, probably none of the good things that had happened would have taken place. When Justin called to invite us to the cookout at their house, it was like a fairytale coming true. No pun intended.
We had a good ole time with those boys from Kentucky. That was one place I had never been and hadn't really even thought about going until we met them. I didn't know what there was to do there, but I figured with a couple of hours on the Internet, I could scare us up some adventures. I would have had a better time with them if our dress rehearsal hadn't been for shit. People kept dropping lines, forgetting words to songs, missing dance steps, you name it. Even though that was our only official dress rehearsal, we had been going through the whole play at every rehearsal since before Spring Break, and I had never seen us do as bad as we did that Wednesday night. Mrs. Storm was pissed, too, I could tell. I thought at one point she was going to make us do the whole damn thing over again that night, but she didn't. When she talked to us after it was over, she didn't pull any punches, and that was good. She wasn't crazy or screaming or anything like that, but, by God, she let us know we had screwed up royally. "Let's go get something to eat, Kyle," Philip said to me when she dismissed us. "I'd like to, Bubba, but I can't. We've got company at the house, and I promised them I'd get home as soon as I could," I said. Philip and I were alone in the parking lot, and he put his hand on my butt. "How does this thing feel?" he asked. "Get your hand off my butt," I said. "What the hell are you talking about, how does my ass feel? It feels fine, but you're fixing to have a broken hand in just a minute." He laughed. "It's not every day you get it reamed out like you did tonight," he said. "And I'm not talking about what you and Tim do, either." I laughed, too. "I know. She was pretty pissed off, wasn't she?" "I'll say. Although you didn't get it as bad as some people did," he said. "I think we all deserved it, though," I said. "You hide and watch tomorrow night, though, son. Danny Zuko is going to be one stud horse, I guarantee it." "You've got that thing tomorrow morning, too, don't you?" "Yeah," I said. "That's when it's going to start," I said. The next morning we were having a school assembly to give out Honor Roll certificates and shit like that from the third grading period. We were also going to do three songs from the play as a way of advertising it to the students. We had been selling tickets for over a week, but people were going to get a taste of what the play was like. That auditorium seated fourteen hundred people, and our goal was to have it full all four performances. I didn't know if it could happen or not, but we were going to try our best to make it happen. The morning after the party and the dress rehearsal, I was up like a shot. Missing that rehearsal on Tuesday night had done me a world of good, and I had slept until nine o'clock the next morning. Kevin or Tim or somebody had put my phone right next to my head, and Kevin called to get me up. I had slept straight through for more than twelve hours, and I felt like a new man when I woke up on Wednesday. I was still feeling the good effects of that, too, on Thursday morning. "Babe, I'm going to go ahead and go on to school, okay?" "You're not going to eat breakfast?" Tim asked. "Yeah, but I'll stop and get something," I said. "I've got to perform at the assembly this morning, and I don't know if she's going to want us in makeup or not. Plus, I'm pretty wired, you know?" He laughed. "I know you are, and I know you're going to do great, both this morning and tonight," he said. I leaned over and kissed him goodbye. My dick got so hard when I did it that I thought it was a rocket ship taking off for outer space. That didn't usually happen with a simple goodbye kiss, but I guess it was just part of my overall excitement, or something. I had to get out of there, though, before I crawled all over him. The thing at the assembly that morning went really good. Those dumbasses gave us a standing ovation. Of course, we had picked three of the best songs in the play to do for them. We did "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightnin'," and "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee." If those three didn't suck them in, I didn't know what would. The show was going to start at seven, and we were all in the dressing rooms by five. There was a boys' dressing room and a girls' dressing room, and there were quite a few people in the boys' one. The costumes weren't very elaborate. In fact, mine was just jeans, a tight white tee shirt, and my black leather jacket. Oh, and I had a letterman's sweater I had to wear at the end. The girls had more costumes than the boys did, though. Danny and Kenickie and all those guys were supposed to be tough, and they were all supposed to smoke. Mrs. Storm told us that when she was in that play in college, they all really did smoke on stage, but that was before things got so strict about smoking. What we were supposed to do is roll up a pack of cigarettes in the sleeve of our tee shirt. She told us to bring empty cigarette boxes, but me and Philip had full packs. Depending on how nervous I was, I figured I might have to step outside and have me one or two. That was strictly against the rules, of course, but it wouldn't be the first time it had been done, that's for sure. We were using all canned music off a CD, and when that opening music started, and that guy who sang the overture song on the CD got going, I felt like my body was about to bust. I had so much energy that I thought I could have swum the whole Gulf of Mexico. It was like there was a volcano inside me, ready to erupt. When I got on stage for "Summer Nights," I knew it was going to be a great show. And it was. The audience was charged up, and you could feel the electricity and excitement coming off them. Every one of my people was there front and center, and the Kentucky boys were right there amongst them. I had so much fun that I thought I might could do that for a living. Of course, I figured that was out of the question, probably, but I knew I would always be in plays, if I could. * * * We were home by eleven o'clock, and I took a quick shower. There were showers in the dressing room, but they would be crowded. I had taken off the grease paint with that cold cream stuff they had for that purpose, but I felt real sticky and yucky. I cleared it with my two PE teachers that I would be "on special assignment" the next day, meaning my ass was going to be home in bed. Tim had a dentist appointment at ten o'clock the next day, and I wondered what mischief he and I could get into before he had to leave for that. It was just to get his teeth cleaned and examined, and ordinarily his dad did it on, like, Saturday afternoon, or something like that. But I had made him make a regular appointment with my dentist. Even though Doc was a dentist, that wasn't the kind of stuff he did since he became an oral surgeon. Plus, I'm no fool. I wanted Tim home with me. We had sort of a mini-party after opening night, but it didn't last too long because the next day was a school day and a work day. Everybody said how much they enjoyed the play and how good I was. Jeff had taken pictures for the Web page, and those had turned out good. Speaking of pictures, I still had that damn book to fool with. The editor I was assigned to had written me email to say she had gotten all she needed from that CD I had sent her. Now all I had to do was work with the copy. They had one of their in-house people write a draft of it, and they were going to be sending it to me for me to look at and work on, as needed. The key to the whole thing was "as needed," and I was pretty sure it wasn't going to need much of anything. The owner of the gallery in New York where my pictures were on sale had written a preface and had worked with the writer on the copy. There wasn't any way in hell I could do better than those people. Besides, you buy a picture book for the pictures, not for the words in it. Once the play was over, I would be able to concentrate on getting that done. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights were sell-out crowds at the play, and the Sunday matinee was about three quarters full. Tim, Justin, and Brian went all four times, and Kevin, Rick, my parents, and Chad and Gage went Thursday night and Saturday night. My parents brought a lot of their friends with them on Saturday night. We had a cast party late Sunday afternoon and early Sunday evening at Kevin and Rick's house. A bunch of people went in the pool, but everybody wore suits, since it was a mixed crowd. We served them hotdogs and hamburgers, plus baked beans, potato salad, chips, and stuff like that. It wasn't much, but everybody seemed to have a good time. I had a wonderful time doing that play, but I was glad it was behind me. Time was starting to march on, that was for sure. I only had two more weeks of my college class. The exam was on May 4th, but I wasn't worried. I had made an A on my research paper, and that bad boy was 50% of the grade. Justin got an A, too, and he was doing really good in his other classes, also. Prom was on May 9th, and my graduation was on May 27th. Before I knew it, my school career was going to be over, and I couldn't wait.
Kyle was the busiest person I had ever known. During the two weeks after we got back from our trip to Washington, I'll bet we didn't see him more than five or six times for more than ten minutes at a time. I knew Tim was really missing him, so I made it my business to spend as much time with Tim as I could. The weekend after the play, Kyle and Tim slept at their condo. By themselves. That was the first time they had ever done that, and I knew it was so they could have uninterrupted time together. They were at our house both mornings, but I knew they needed that time together away from the rest of us to recharge their batteries. When they showed up Sunday morning, I had never seen two people more in love than they were. We were all going to Gainesville the weekend after that for the State Science Fair. We had to be there on Friday to set up our exhibits. The judging was on Saturday, and the awards banquet was Saturday night. We would come home on Sunday. "Are the projects all ready, guys?" Kevin asked us Thursday night before we were supposed to leave the next morning. "Everything's finished. They're all packed in the Suburban," Tim said. "What about the rest of your stuff? Y'all are taking your suits, aren't you?" Kevin asked. "Yes, sir," I said. "We're all packed, but Justin and Kyle are still putting their stuff in the suitcase." The people going on that trip were Kevin and Rick, me and Justin, Tim and Kyle, and Tim's parents. Kyle's parents were supposed to go, too, but something important had come up, and they couldn't. It felt so good to me to have adults care about what I was doing and what I was involved in. My mom and step-dad had never really paid attention to anything I had done at school, but my new family paid attention to everything. They really cared about me. We were only taking one suitcase for the four of us, and two hanging bags for our suits. We only needed two changes of clothes, plus our suits. We were just going to be gone two nights. * * * The only time I had ever been to Gainesville was when we went there when Clay died. The State Science Fair was going to be on the campus of the University of Florida, and I had never seen it. The first thing we did when we got to Gainesville was locate the building where the Fair was being held. It took us about an hour to set up our displays, and it wouldn't have taken nearly that long if the guy in charge of it had been able to locate his master book so he could tell us where to set up. I didn't like the looks of that. He seemed really disorganized. "What do you expect from a hog but a grunt," Rick said, in reference to the Science Fair Director. We laughed. "What's that supposed to mean, Semi-hole?" Kyle asked. "The first official name of Gainesville was Hogtown, and I'm not making that up, Kyle. Check the history books," Rick said. "What was the first official name of Tallahassee? Half-assed, Florida?" Kyle said. "Kyle, that is so incredibly funny," Rick said. "You know what? I think you have become Danny Zuko. That's why you were so good in your play. There was no acting required, Kyle." "What do you mean? I thought Danny was pretty cool," Kyle said. "We haven't done a 'got you last' in weeks, Kyle, but we're building here, Bubba," Rick said, laughing. "I know," Kyle said, also laughing, "but I don't know where it's going." "Danny was very cool for a street thug, Kyle," Rick said. "Yeah, but he got the girl, didn't he?" Kyle said. "I rest my case," Rick said. All of us screamed with laughter. "You shit," Kyle said. "Okay. You got me last. Here, I'm even going to take my hat off to you." Kyle was wearing a baseball cap, as usual, and he took it off. When he did, his long hair that he had grown for the play flowed around the sides of his face. I thought that jet-black long hair looked beautiful, but I knew that wasn't going to last forever. Tim told me he spent a good fifteen minutes every morning taking care of it, and he cussed up a blue streak the whole time he was doing it. "When are you getting your hair cut?" Rick asked. "What do you mean? I got it trimmed," Kyle said. "I know, but you look like a girl," Rick said. "Kyle, don't listen to him," Kevin said. "Your hair is gorgeous, and there isn't any way in hell you will ever look like a girl." "Kevin, I'm not listening to him. What do you expect from a hog but a grunt?" Kyle said. "Ohhhhh," we all said. "Okay, Kylie, you got me last on that one," Rick said. He and Kyle were grinning at each other, and I knew there was probably all kinds of silent communication going back and forth between them. They did that. "Besides, I really think your hair is beautiful," Rick said. "I know," Kyle said. And it was. It was incredibly full and thick, and it had a few waves in it that made it interesting. I didn't know what he used in it, but it had a really healthy shine. This is going to sound really strange, but the thing it most reminded me of was Trixie's coat, which was magnificent. After we set up our projects, we went for a drive around campus. That was the biggest college I had ever seen, and it was enormous. It was like a city, and some of the buildings were fifteen or twenty stories tall. There was an older part of campus that had really beautiful gothic-style buildings, and there was the newer part that had more modern structures. We stopped at the Student Union building to get a snack, and it was huge. There were people all over the place, too. "Stop looking at them boys," Justin said to me. We grinned at each other. "I know what you're doing. You're picking you out one for the weekend," Jus said. All six of us laughed hard. "Two can play that game, Bubba," Kyle said. "Look at that one over there. He's the one I'm going after." Kyle was referring to a boy who must have weighed 500 pounds and who had a real bad case of acne. He had a huge bowl of ice cream in front of him, and he had it all over his hands. He pushed his glasses up a time or two, and he got the ice cream all over the glasses. Justin, Tim, Rick, and I were trying not to laugh. Kevin immediately went into "parent mode." "Kyle, don't make fun of people like that," Kevin said. "Make fun? What did I say to make fun of him? I just expressed my physical attraction to the man," Kyle said. "Kyle, you ain't got enough dick to get in between those ass cheeks to do him any good," Justin said. We did all laugh at that. "Kyle, you are making fun of him, and you know it, son. He can't help the way he is," Kevin said. "Look at what he's eating, Kevin. And I'll bet that ain't the first one like that today, either," Kyle said. When he said that, Kevin and Rick looked at each other, and they both went into serious parent mode. "What do the rest of you think?" Rick asked. "I agree with Kyle. That boy's a pig," Justin said. "That's just his dessert that he's eating first. He's got two more big plates of food on his table, and he's sitting by himself, so they must both be his." Tim and I kept quiet. We knew something was coming. "Do you think he wants to be as fat as he is?" Kevin asked. "Probably not," Kyle said. "What would make a guy eat like that, Kyle? I'm sure he knows what other people think of somebody that big. Think about it, now. Why would anybody do that to themselves?" Kevin asked. "I don't know? Do you think it's because he doesn't have any friends?" Kyle asked. "I think it's deeper than that, Kyle. I'm speculating here, okay? He might have some kind of rare disease that makes him gain weight. Some people have glandular problems that cause that. My guess, though, is that it's a manifestation of self-hatred. He takes comfort in eating because he doesn't get any comfort anywhere else in his life. He basically hates himself. For what reason, I don't know. I do know, though, that he's a substance abuser. Instead of drugs or alcohol, his substance is food. He probably can't help himself," Kevin said. We were all real quiet, thinking about what Kevin had said. Finally, Kyle said, "I was making fun of him. And from what you said, me making fun of him for being fat would be like him making fun of me for being gay. It's something neither one of us can control." "You hit the nail on the head, Bubba," Rick said. "That's exactly right." "Well, guess who feels like a dog turd right now?" Kyle asked. "You don't need anything else. You just ate that pie. Plus, they don't serve 'em here, anyway," Justin said. That broke everybody up. People at the tables around us were looking at us, wanting to know what was so funny. They wanted to be part of the fun, but it would take a lifetime for that to happen. "You asshole. You got me last, didn't you?" Kyle said to Justin. "I reckon," Jus said. * * * We checked into our hotel and relaxed a little bit. We had a reception to go to at 5:30, hosted by the Texas Instruments company, and we all went. It only lasted an hour or so, and a big shot from the company talked about the need for scientists and how those of us in the State Science Fair were going to be the next generation of scientists for our country. He wasn't very subtle at all. He said that Texas Instruments was proud to sponsor part of the Fair and to sponsor that reception for some of their employees of the future. That was pretty obvious, I thought. After the reception, we all went out to dinner at a really nice restaurant. Doc and Sonya treated, and Doc let Justin and Kyle order drinks. The waiter didn't even blink when they gave their orders, either. Tim and I had had some drinks a few times with our guys, but that was just absolutely not our style. Rick never had a drink, either, which seemed sort of strange to me since he was pretty wild in comparison to Kevin. Parents. Who knows? The next morning we were at the Science Fair bright and early. We didn't have time for breakfast, so Justin and Kyle went out looking for fast food. They brought back a huge sack full of biscuits and drinks for everybody. Most of them got coffee, but Tim and I got juice. My judging interview was at ten o'clock, and Tim's was at 11:30. I wasn't a bit nervous for my interview, and the team of judges that talked to me were really, really nice. I was able to answer every question they asked, and I even elaborated on a few of them. I felt good about that. "How'd it go?" Justin asked me, as soon as it was over. "I thought it went really well," I said. "I'm so proud of you, I could bust," he said. That made me really happy because I knew he was telling the truth. Justin was a bit rough around the edges, and so was Kyle. And so was Rick, for that matter. That was probably what Tim, Kevin, and I loved about our guys the most. After Tim had his interview, we went out to lunch. Then we went back to the Science Fair to look around. Tim and I weren't graduating that year like Kyle was, so we needed to check out the competition. I thought my project was probably a dead-end street, but some of those we saw had "potential Ph.D. dissertation" written all over them. I wasn't interested in getting a Ph.D. I was more in the M.D. or D.V.M. track. The veterinarian field was attractive to me, but I was pretty convinced I wanted to be a human doctor. Ed Foley was our mentor, and he wanted us to both be M.D.'s like him. There were worse things. We all went to the awards banquet that night. We were at a table for ten, and there were eight of us. The other two people at our table were a boy from Apalachicola and his teacher. The teacher was the science teacher in the school, and he taught everything. The boy's project was in chemistry, and we talked about it a little bit. He was the first State Science Fair entry from his whole school district in, like, ten years. There were ten other people from our district there, but I didn't know them and didn't care about them. They were all from other high schools, not ours. If that kid from Apalachicola wasn't gay, then neither was I. He showed every sign I had ever seen, and I wasn't one who dwelled on gaydar. They had no doubt put them at our table because they were sort of close to us, geographically. "Let's step out for a minute," Justin said. Kyle and Kevin got up, and I knew they were going out to smoke. "Where are they going?" that kid asked. "They're going out for a smoke," I said. "Oh," he said. "Who exactly are they? They're not in the Science Fair, are they?" "Justin is my partner," I said. "And Kyle's mine," Tim said. "Kevin's mine," Rick said. "Partners?" the kid said. "Yeah. We're all gay, and those guys are our partners," Rick said. "Kevin and I are married." That boy looked at his teacher, and the teacher just shrugged. "That's why we have to get away from Franklin County from time to time, Brett," the teacher said. "Y'all are gay?" Brett said. "Yes, they are," Doc said. "Is that problematic for you, Brett?" "No, sir, Doctor, not at all. I've just never known any gay people before," Brett said. "Yes, you have, son. You just didn't know they were gay. And they might not have known it, either. But they're everywhere. Count on that," George said. They all came back in just as the awards were starting. I was a nervous wreck, and I knew Tim probably was, too. When it came time for my category, I held my breath. Then I heard them calling my name for first place. They all jumped up and hugged me, and I went up and got my medal, certificate, and a partial scholarship to the University of Florida. Wow! We were on pins and needles when it came to Tim's category. They called out the third place, and he didn't get it. Then they called out the second place, and he didn't get that either. Then they called out first place, and the winner was Timothy Murphy. Everybody at our table jumped up. Our people, at least. We were clapping hard and making noise. Two first places! Who would have ever thought it? We were outrageous in the noise we were making, but we were both going to Houston for the International Science Fair. "Congratulations to the two Emerald Beach boys, but I think we might want to calm down just a little bit," the M.C. said. I think we all felt a little bit embarrassed, but not much. We were so happy and so excited. I guess the faggots on North Lagoon Drive could excel in a lot of things. For me, it was affirmation central. That night I knew several things about myself. First, I knew I was as smart as I needed to be for anything I might want to do. Second, I knew my talent lay in science and math. Third, I knew I had a back-up system that was almost unbelievable. Four doctors, two lawyers, several big business men, and I had the best partner and the best friends in the world. And two incredible dogs. What more could anybody ever want? |