"We don't have time this morning, but I promise you tonight is going to be paradise," I said to Tim when we woke up. "I'll let you fuck me." "Let me? You love it when you're the bottom," Tim said. "I know. That's why I'm going to let you do it tonight," I said. He was laughing so hard, he could hardly talk. Tim and I liked variety in our sex life. I know there were probably some guys who fucked each other every time they made love, but we only did it that way once or twice a week. There were lots of other ways to make each other feel good, and we did 'em all. "I can't believe you," he said, still laughing hard. "I don't know what you think is so damn funny, but I'm in a rush this morning," I said. "Are you going to eat breakfast with us?" he asked. "Yeah," I said. "If I can get it cooked." I wasn't really in so much of a rush that morning as I was nervous about what I had to do that day. That was the day I was going to plan the wedding. "Go cook," Tim said, and I went downstairs and did just that. I put the meat in the oven and cooked up three pans of eggs I scrambled the night before. Those were real eggs. Not that shit you poured out of cartons. If I was cooking breakfast, it was going to be the real thing. I had set up two packages of pre-cooked bacon and two packages of pre-cooked link sausages. I put a package of pre-cooked country ham on the cookie sheet, too. I did a pan of twenty-four biscuits. Those biscuits came frozen, but I had learned through experience that you could cook 'em much faster if they were defrosted. "This is a really good breakfast, Kyle," Justin said. "Thank you for making it for us. I just wish we had some gravy for these wonderful biscuits." "I'll cook you some real soon, Bubba," I said. "I know you love it, but I cook the meat in the oven on school mornings, and you can't make gravy in the oven." "I know you can't. I'm just griping to gripe. I probably ought to be thankful I've got something to eat," Jus said. I wished he didn't say shit like that. I knew him and Denny had had days when they hadn't had anything at all to eat, and that just about tore me up every time I thought about it. Still, that was part of their lives, and it wasn't something I could do anything about. The thought of my brothers being hungry, and not really knowing if they were going to ever get a next meal, almost made me cry every time it came to mind. * * * After my ten o'clock class, I had an appointment with a lady named Madeline at the Laguna Beach Hotel. That was where the wedding was going to be, and we had to get busy working on that sucker. It was already the last week of October, and December 26th would be here before we knew it. I had reserved the room the day after the guys got engaged, and they didn't even make me put down a deposit. Now this Madeline lady was going to help me get it organized. "Did you make any progress on the menu?" she asked, after we had said the usual "hello" things. "Yes, ma'am. I got it right here," I said. She had given me a printed menu and price list, and I had sat down with the four guys and decided what they wanted to serve. It was going to be very, very nice. My mama had just about said she'd cut my balls off and hang 'em around her neck on a chain, if it wasn't. She didn't say that word-for-word because she didn't talk like that, but that's what she meant. The first part of it was going to be the ceremony out back on the beach. They had a nice gazebo out there that was really pretty big. In fact, in the summer, they used that for a band and dancing. If it was cold or rainy on December 26th, we were fucked, and the ceremony itself would have to be inside. But more than likely, it wouldn't be cold. Probably in the high 50's or low 60's. It was scheduled for 4:30 in the afternoon, so it was going to be a sunset wedding. I thought that would be very beautiful, if the weather cooperated. Thanks to Father Jerry, we had the bases covered on the ceremony. It was the reception that I was worried about. I knew that in a lot of places they had a sit-down dinner for a wedding, but that wasn't the way we did it in the South. There was a big sit-down dinner after the rehearsal, called the Rehearsal Dinner, but the party after the wedding was a reception, sort of like a big cocktail party with tons of food. Traditionally, the groom's parents paid for the Rehearsal Dinner and the bride's parents paid for the Wedding Reception. But guess what? No bride in this one. My parents were going to pay for the reception, and Ty's parents were going to pay for the Rehearsal Dinner, which was going to be at our house on Christmas Eve. It was going to be fully catered, and, fortunately, I didn't have to fool with it. "This looks excellent, Kyle," she said, when she scanned the menu items we had selected. "If you don't mind my asking, why are you involved in this?" "No, I don't mind. I'm involved for several reasons. First, I love doing this kind of thing. Second, it's good practice for when I take over your job." She got this real worried look on her face, but I was just teasing her. "I'm teasing you. I'm not taking your job. I want Rooney's job," I said, laughing. "Phew! You had me worried there," she said, after she relaxed and realized I was bullshitting about all of that. "I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that," I said. "I do want to work here one of these days, though, as more than a bellhop, but that's going to be in a very long time. There's also a third reason I'm involved. My brother is one of the ones getting married, and my parents are paying for it." She got another stricken look on her face. "I didn't realize this was a Goodson family wedding," she said. "Yeah. There's no way you could have known. Jeff Martin is one of the grooms, and he was my real brother's life partner before my brother died. So I guess you'd really say Jeff is my brother-in-law, sort of. Anyway, that's the real reason I'm doing it," I said. "Oh, I know Jeff," she said. "He's a part-time desk clerk, isn't he?" she asked. "Yeah. You probably know every one of 'em," I said. "Jeff's marrying Tyler Jones, one of the bellhops. The other two are Chuck Jackson, who works in sales, and Tony Miller, who is the head of Information Services for the company." "Oh, my gosh! That sort of changes things, doesn't it?" she asked. "Why would that change anything?" I asked. "It sort of kicks it up a few notches in importance around here," she said. "Kyle, I'm going to make a recommendation, and I hope you're not offended by it. I'm going to recommend that you hire a Wedding Planner." I had seen a very funny movie about a wedding planner, and I had a vision of this little fairy in a Tinkerbell suit swishing around the place. I didn't know if I liked that idea. "I thought you were the Wedding Planner," I said. "Well, actually, I'm a salesperson for the hotel, and my specialty is weddings. That's true. But I handle the food and beverage end of it. There are a million other details that have to be taken into consideration. I know a woman who is very experienced and who has the best of taste. I don't know what she will charge, but I'm pretty sure it will be worth it for something of this scale," she said. "You're not offending me one bit. That's just somebody else I can learn from," I said. "Well, I suspect you'll learn a lot from her. If she's even available, that is," Madeline said. "Can you call her and find out if she'll do it?" I asked. "Absolutely," she said, and she got busy on the phone. That lady's name was Thelma something, and she was available. Madeline let it drop that it was a double gay wedding and that Gene Goodson's ex-son-in-law was one of the grooms. "I thought that would add to your enthusiasm," Madeline said to her. Pause. "Mr. Goodson's son, Kyle, is handling everything," Madeline said. Pause. "I know," Madeline said in a knowing tone of voice. I wasn't sure I liked that. Pause. "Wait till you meet him. But no cradle-robbing," Madeline said, and then she laughed and looked me in the face. If she was talking about robbing me out of the cradle, I had news for her. I didn't say anything, though. Madeline hung up. "She's very excited about doing it, Kyle. She wants a meeting with you, me, and the four grooms as soon as possible. Evenings are fine," Madeline said. "How about tonight?" I asked. "That's a little premature. She has some checklists and 'talking points' that she's faxing me. You and the grooms need to go over those to prepare for the meeting. I'm sure that material will be here in a few minutes, and you can give it to the guys to look at. Kyle, Thelma is a first-rate professional, and I know you won't be disappointed," Madeline said. "What's it going to cost?" I asked. I really didn't care, but I thought I should ask. She got this kind of pained look on her face. "Six thousand," she said, sort of doing her mouth funny. "But it's a double wedding, remember." "Shit, that ain't nothing," I grumbled out without thinking. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say 'shit,'" I said, saying it again, like the dumb fuck I was. She laughed pretty hard at that. "Kyle, I wish you were ten years older. I'd never let you get away," she said. I kind of laughed a little bit. "I'm taken," I said. "I'm not one bit surprised," she said. Yeah, but you might be surprised if you knew who I was taken by, I thought. I didn't say anything, though. "Well, what do we do next?" I asked. "Let me see if that fax is here yet," she said. She got up to go check on the fax. In about five minutes she came back with five copies of the material for me and one copy for her, too. That damn thing was six pages long, and I knew there was no way on God's green earth I could have come up with six pages of anything about a wedding. I noticed a good bit of it had to do with the bride, though, so maybe it wasn't going to be all that bad. I did notice something about the bachelor party not being the night before the wedding, and that reminded me that was something else I needed to get on. I thought maybe Kevin and Rick could be in charge of that. * * * I didn't waste any time getting those papers to the guys. Chuck, Jeff, and Tyler were right there in the building. In fact, they were all having lunch in the employees' room, and ole Tony was there with them. "Hey, Bubba," Tony said. He was the first one to see me. "What are you doing here?" "I came to have lunch with my boys," I said. "Go get you a plate," Chuck said. "Okay," I said. I went into the kitchen where the employees' line was, and, of course, I had to say hello to all my buddies in the kitchen. Say what you will about work being hell, and all, but you develop friendships with people you work with. I got me a good plate of food, and I took it back into the break room where the rest of them were. "What brings you to the Laguna?" Jeff asked. "Planning y'all's wedding, that's what," I said. "Oh, you didn't know we called it off?" Chuck said. If I hadn't had me a good bowel movement that morning, I would have let go right then. That would have forced a stench-evacuation of that place. I'm sure the shock was all over my face. "When did this happen?" I asked. I was about ready to cry. "When I figured out how to get you last," Chuck said. "Goddamn it, Chuck!" I said. "You cocksucker!" "Shhh. Not everybody knows about me," Chuck whispered. They all were laughing their asses off. I knew it was funny, but I was a little too stunned to laugh, yet. Finally, I did. "Chuck, that's about the best anybody has ever gotten me. If I had a cap on, I'd take it off to you, son," I said. "You do have a cap on, Kyle," Chuck said. "Oh. Sorry," I said, and I went to take my cap off. I wore 'em so much, I couldn't really tell when I did or didn't have one on, but I almost never wore one at the table. I knew it wasn't polite, but my cap was in the car. I had taken it off to meet with Madeline. I must have looked like a total dumbass trying to take off a cap I wasn't even wearing. And they all laughed when they saw me do it, too. "All right, Chuck. You got me last, Bubba. Again. Just beware," I said. "It was a risk, but it was worth it," Chuck said. "You take your opportunities where you find them." "Jeff, protect me from any more 'got you last' things, okay?" I said. "No," Jeff said, and everybody laughed. "Here I've been working my balls off for you guys all morning, and that's the thanks I get," I said. "Working your balls off with Madeline? That wouldn't be hard to take," Chuck said. "I know. Don't you wish she was a guy?" I said. "She told me if I was ten years older she'd be after me. She's hot, all right." "How would you know?" Jeff asked. "The same damn way you'd know, Bubba," I said. Jeff blushed up a storm, and everybody laughed at him. "Just because we're gay doesn't mean we don't know what a hot girl looks like," I said. "Very true," Chuck said, and Tony swatted his arm. They both laughed. "Y'all leave me alone so I can eat," I said. They had mostly finished, but I hadn't even started eating yet. I didn't know if there were four better guys on earth than those four. Jeff was my favorite, of course, but the other three were right next to him in my heart. "Okay, here's the deal," I said between bites. "We got us a Wedding Planner, and we need that. It's a lady named Thelma. I don't know her last name. I missed it, if Madeline even said it. She faxed us this shit, and the five of us need to go over it before we meet with her. She's the boss of this thing from now on. She bosses me, and I boss you four. You got the chain of command?" "Yes, sir, Bubba," Jeff said, grinning. "Jeff, y'all might think this is a pain in the ass, but I'm accountable to my parents for this. And y'all all know why," I said. "We know, and we're all very appreciative, Kyle. We're not going to stop teasing you, though," Chuck said. "If y'all ever stop teasing me, that's the end of our relationship," I said. "Well, we won't," Chuck said. "Er, Kyle . . . wipe your nose. It's really, er . . . pretty gross." He said that so serious and straight that I thought I had me a big hairy booger hanging out of my nose. I got my paper napkin up to it right away. There was nothing on the napkin when I looked at it in my lap. God almighty! Did I knock it into my plate? Ewww. "That's much better," Chuck said. They were all laughing so I knew something was up. "Your nose isn't nearly so shiny now, Kyle. Got you last," Chuck said, and they all laughed. I was going to get him back, by God. I used my best acting skills. "I don't know why y'all have been picking on me so bad today. All I care about is getting your wedding organized so it'll be a happy day for all four of you, but all y'all care about is getting me last and all that shit," I said. My voice was trembling, and I knew I sounded like I was about to cry. "Bubba, we were teasing you," Chuck said. "Please don't be that way, Kyle. We love you, man. You know that." He had been the biggest culprit that day, and he knew it. I knew it was all in fun, and that's the way I had taken it. He most reminded me of Rick: friendly, likeable, good natured, kindhearted, without a ruthless bone in his body. He was an all-around good guy, but he was fixing to get it. "I thought you guys liked me," I said. "We do. We love you, Kyle," Chuck said. "Kyle, I have to get back to work. Say it and get it over with," Jeff said. I looked at Jeff, and he looked at me. I couldn't keep it going any more. I busted up laughing, and so did he. "Goddamn it, Kyle," Chuck said. "I hate you, you little shithead." "You ain't playing Got You Last with an amateur," I said. "I can see that," Chuck said. "That's the best I've ever seen." "Oh-ho, no, Chuck. I've seen much better and much longer," Jeff said. "I really do need to go. Kyle, do you want to come over tonight to go over that stuff?" "Yeah. What time?" I asked. "Seven o'clock," Jeff said. "And you really are a little shithead. But we love you." I knew those four guys loved me, and I damn sure loved them. I loved Jeff so bad sometimes it hurt. It was totally non-sexual on my part, and I figured it was on his part, too. Jeff was my brother Clay to me, and there was no sex or incest involved in that, I can guarantee it. Clay was my idol, and Jeff was my idol, too, because he had belonged to Clay. I was so glad to be involved in his wedding to Tyler I could bust. "Here. Y'all take a copy so y'all can look at it," I said, handing a copy of the papers to each one of them. "Okay. I might have some time between now and then," Jeff said. I went over to their house that night, and we got a lot of decisions made. There was a special list of questions for double weddings that I guess people having single weddings didn't have to worry about. For instance, one wedding cake or two? One groom's cake, two groom's cakes, or, in their case, four groom's cakes? They decided on two and two. We met with Madeline and Thelma a couple of nights later, and I felt really good that everything about the wedding was going to be really nice. The wording of the wedding invitation took a while to get right, but we eventually did. They were going to be engraved, instead of printed, but that was on my mother's instructions. Thelma was going to take care of that. I didn't know what the difference was. "I think this is going to be good," I said, after we met with Madeline and Thelma. Chuck wanted to talk to me when we were leaving the hotel that night. "Kyle, if I hurt your feelings the other day, I'm really sorry about that, man," he said. "I never intended to do that. I love you, and we all love you." "What are you talking about?" I asked. "At lunch the other day. I was pretty harsh on you, and I didn't mean to be. I'm sorry if you took offense," he said. I had a hard time remembering what the hell he was talking about. Then I remembered it was lunch the day before yesterday. "Shit. That wasn't nothing, man. Do you want to be my brother?" I asked. "Yeah. Of course I do," Chuck said. "Well, then, you're going to have to keep that shit up, and I am, too. That's what I expect out of my brothers, man, and I hope you expect the same thing out of me," I said. "See?" Jeff said. Chuck reached up and flicked the bill of my baseball cap. "Just don't ever do that again. Don't ever touch my cap again. Them's fighting words, Chuck," I said. Jeff took my cap off my head and threw it across the parking lot. It went off like a Frisbee. "Unless your name is Jeffrey Martin, I reckon. Now, go get it, Jeff," I said. "No," Jeff said. I knew that was what he was going to say, but Jeff also knew all that cap stuff was pure bullshit. He was letting those guys know that there wasn't anything they could do to piss me off. Really. And I appreciated that. "I'm letting it go this time, Jeff. I've got about thirty more caps at home. I don't need that one, even though it was my favorite," I said. Jeff took off to get my cap, which really wasn't that far away. He handed it back to me, and I put it on my head. "Kyle, the four of us are your big brothers, man," Jeff said. "Like four Clays?" I asked. "Exactly, Kyle. Only he's not here for you anymore, but we are. We're not Clay. Nobody could be Clay but Clay, but we can still be your older brothers, Kyle," Jeff said. "I still miss him so bad, Jeff," I said. "I know you do, Kyle, and I do, too. But I've found a new love, and I know you love Tyler," Jeff said. "Tyler's the best, Jeff. I'm just glad you didn't have to choose between him and Clay," I said. "Me, too, because I couldn't have done it. Thank you so much for being so good to us. All four of us," Jeff said. "It's my gift to you, you know," I said. "Yeah, I figured that. Thank you, my brother," he said. "I want to thank y'all for being my big brothers, but I come with a package, you know?" "Absolutely. We know. Tim, Justin, and Brian, right?" he said. "That's exactly right. I don't go nowhere without those three, especially Tim," I said. "Do you ever think about what the future's going to hold for you and Tim?" he asked. "Yeah, I think about that a good bit," I said. "But that's a long way off, man. I mean, think about it. Tim wants to be a doctor, and Brian does, too. That's four years after college. Minimum. Then they have to do residencies. That's another three to five years. I can see myself living away from here for thirteen years, easy. We'll be back here a lot, of course, but to work here? That's a damn long time. There's no question in my mind that Tim and I will still be together, and I feel sure Justin and Brian will still be together, too. But that's a long time," I said. "Do you feel a lot of pressure because of the business?" Jeff asked. "Not really. In thirteen years my daddy will be fifty-six or fifty-seven. Kevin and Rick will be forty. That's not really all that old at all. I know we joke about how old they are, but forty isn't really all that old," I said. "I know. Are you okay with the Townhouse Boys?" Jeff said. "I'm totally okay with you guys," I said. That was it for that night. I tended to think of the Townhouse Boys as a family, but it was really two couples who happened to be best friends. I tended to think of Tim, Justin, Brian, and me as a family, too, but we were just two couples, too. In my mind, all ten of us, including Kevin and Rick, would spend the rest of our lives together as a very close-knit family, but I also knew that wasn't necessarily so. I was real happy for the Townhouse Boys because they were so happy. I prayed to God every day that what He had brought together by chance would stay together.
"So, what do we do about Sean?" Rick asked the night we got home from St. Augustine. Sean had been pretty much the only topic of conversation between us since the beating happened, and we still didn't know what to do. Rick and I were in the den at home that night. Most of the boys were studying or shooting pool or something, but Kyle was at some kind of meeting for his frat. He hadn't even gone to church with us. He came home just then. "Hey! What's up?" Kyle asked, when he came into the room. "Not much. What's up with you?" Rick asked. "This meeting tonight was about the Ironman that's coming up. Guys, I can read your faces like a book. You're worried about something," Kyle said. "Yeah, we are, Kyle. We're very worried about Sean," I said. "Well, you should be. He's bad news," Kyle said. "What do you mean by that?" Rick asked. "That beating he took in St. Augustine. I warned him about that. Rick and Kevin, that boy's out of control," Kyle said. "I know you won't say anything he told you in confidence, but you can't withhold something that's life-threatening," I said. "That would be immoral, Kyle." "I know, Kevin. I know what's moral and immoral, man. Gimme a fucking break, okay, Kevin?" Kyle said. "Calm down. I know you do, man. I'm sorry I said that, Kyle. What's going on with him that you can say?" "He wants to see a counselor. I know that much," Kyle said. "He told me I could tell you that. I think he's deeply fucked up. I dunno for sure, but I think he's got some real problems with his parents." "Those bastards have basically written him off," Rick said. "I think they're both doctors, but they teach at a college," Kyle said. "They don't see patients anymore." "They're both Ph.D.'s, not M.D.'s," Rick said. "Okay. I know what that means," he said. "I don't think they like Sean very much, though." "I know. They haven't had any contact with him since he came here, and that's been--what? Two months?" Rick said. "And they missed his birthday." "About that long," I said. "I think I'll call Tyrone Williams tomorrow to see who he might recommend as a counselor." "Call Jerry Taylor, too," Rick said. "He might know somebody."
I have a lot of friends at school, mainly through debate and speech activities, but there is one boy--John Harrelson--who really fascinates me. He is a sophomore, like me, and he is probably the smartest guy in the sophomore class. I’m trying to take as many AP courses as I can, and he is, too. The difference is, I have to work my tail off to make A's, whereas John seems to be able to do that without much effort. When everybody is panicking about a test or some big project, John just seems to chill out and not worry about it. Of course, he always makes A's on everything. John is also one of the best looking guys in the sophomore class. He is about five-nine, has beautiful brown hair and eyes, and he has an average build, pretty much like me. He’s very competitive in debate, but he doesn't go out for sports of any kind. He wears nice clothes, and he seems to be well liked by everybody. He is just a nice, nice guy. "Denny, is it true that you live in a house full of gay guys?" John asked me one afternoon after school. He and I were in the library working on--what else?--debate. "Yeah, it's true," I said. "Don't you feel weird and out of place there?" he asked. "Not at all. We're like a big family. I'm closer to some than to others, but we all consider ourselves brothers," I said. "Do any of them ever try to come on to you?" "Nope," I said. If only they would, I thought. "I think I would find that weird," he said. "They're just normal, everyday guys," I said. "One guy is pretty effeminate, but he's as nice and sweet as he can be. Nobody rags him about it. And he's lost a ton of weight, recently, too." "Is it that Murray kid?" he asked. "Yeah. Do you know him?" "He's on the team, or didn't you know that?" he said. "Of course, I knew it. He's a sophomore, but he's a novice this year," I said. "I don't know how good he is, though. I've never seen him debate." "I've worked with him and his partner once or twice, and he's not bad. Getting back to where you live, is everybody there gay?" he asked. I smiled at him. "Yes, including me," I said. "Does that bother you?" "No. Not at all. How did you know you're gay?" he asked. "I'm not really sure it was just one thing. I always felt different from other guys. I grew up in Blountstown, Florida, which is a little hick town near here. I totally didn't fit in with all the redneck guys there. All they were interested in was hunting, fishing, football, and pussy, more or less in that order. I came from a very poor family, and I couldn't have participated in those activities, even if I was interested. I actually did a good bit of fishing in the summer with a cane pole, but that was to get food, not for sport. When I was around twelve, I started puberty, and that's when I started noticing guys all the time. I couldn't keep my eyes off them. I did as much reading about being gay as I could, and I decided I'm gay," I said. "Do your parents know?" "I don't really have parents, except for Kevin and Rick. They're the guys who run our home," I said. "When you were noticing the guys, what would happen? Anything?" he asked. He was getting a little more personal than I thought normal curiosity would have dictated, but he was so incredibly cute I decided to answer his questions. I also thought he might be trying to work out his own sexual orientation, and I figured it was pretty brave of him to even ask me these questions. "What do you think happened?" I asked. He lowered his voice. "Did you get, like, an erection or something?" he asked in a pained voice. "Yeah. Often I did. I still do, in fact," I said. "What about yourself? Do you notice guys?" "Yes," he whispered. "Do you masturbate and think about guys?" I asked. "Not so loud," he whispered again. "And, yes, I do." "Do you think you might be gay?" I asked, very softly. He already had big tears in his eyes, and they started streaming down his face. "Yes," he whispered, "and I'm scared to death. I'm supposed to be a good kid, and all I can think about is naked guys and guys having sex with each other. We have Net Nanny on our computer at home, but I figured out how to get around that thing. I spend a lot of time on the Internet looking at gay porn, and I'm so ashamed of myself. Sometimes I wish I were dead." "Where do you live?" I asked. "About a mile from here, on Appleyard Court. Why?" "I'll walk you home, and that way maybe we can talk more freely outside," I said. "Okay," he said. "Denny, please don't tell anybody I told you all of this. He would kill me if he ever found out about it." "I won't, but who would kill you? Your father?" "Yes. I mean, he wouldn't literally kill me, but I can only imagine the mess I would be in," he said. "I won't tell anybody. Come on. Let's go," I said. Once we were outside the building, I used my cell phone to call Tim to tell him what I was doing. He was supposed to pick me up at 4:30, and I didn't want him to come all the way to school and me not be there. * * * We had to walk past a Burger King on the way to John's house. "Do you want to stop for a snack?" I asked. "Yeah, but I don't have enough money," he said. "I don't think they'll take a credit card." "I have money," I said. We ordered and took a seat at the back of the mostly-deserted restaurant. I had had a big lunch, but I was always hungry at that time of day. Evidently, John was the same way. "Do you know how Dairy Queen got pregnant?" he asked. "No. How?" I knew this was a joke. "Burger King couldn't handle his whopper," he said. I thought that was pretty funny, and I laughed. I could tell he liked the fact that I liked his joke. "I'm going to tell that one to my brothers," I said. "Some of those guys are hilarious and keep us in stitches, but I don't usually have much funny stuff to say. Thanks for telling me that one." He got serious again pretty quick. "Denny, if I'm gay, what am I going to do? I just can't be gay. God wouldn't have done that to me," he said. "Yes, you can be. I mean, I'm not saying you are, but if you are, you can be happy being a gay guy. I am, and everybody in my house is. There are nine of us there right now, and we also have a ton of gay friends. I mean, everybody gets pissed off sometimes and depressed and has bad days, but it's a very happy atmosphere in the house. There's real love there. You need to spend some time with us so you can see that," I said. "What about sex?" he whispered. He looked around and saw that we were the only people in the place, but he still kept his voice really low. "What about it?" I asked. "Have you ever had sex?" he asked. He spoke so low I could barely hear him. I nodded. "Up the butt?" he asked, again barely audibly. "No. Not that way," I whispered back. "Would you ever do that?" he asked. "I probably would. I know some of my brothers do it that way, and, the way I figure it, they wouldn't do it if it weren't good," I said. "I'm going to ask you something really personal right now, and I hope you don't mind," he said. Oh, I thought, a personal question for a change. Then I felt kind of bad for thinking that. This was probably the first time he had ever had a chance to talk with a gay guy about things like this. "What is it?" I asked. "Do you have an erection right now?" "Yes. And I had one back at school, too," I said. "Do you?" "Yes. I've had one since we first started talking in the media center," he said. "I noticed," I said. "You did?" He seemed horrified. "Yeah. I'm gay. I check out stuff like that. Although I think some straight guys do, too," I said. "And I know girls do." "Denny, I haven't been totally honest with you. I don't just think I'm gay. I know I'm gay," he said. I got a big grin on my face. "What?" he asked. "Congratulations. You just came out of the closet," I said. He chuckled. "Now I can write my 'coming out' story for comingoutstories dot com. I've read every one on that Web site," he said. "I wouldn't do that just yet. I've read a bunch of those, too, and I think maybe you have a long way to go with coming out," I said. We were both quiet for a while, finishing our burgers and fries. "Denny, I feel so good right now," he said. "Thank you for talking to me. Would you like to maybe have a date with me sometime?" God, YES! I thought. "I sort of considered this, like, maybe our first date, John," I said. He grinned so hard when I said that, that I thought he was going to tear his cheeks open. "Me, too. I really like you," he said, and he blushed. "I like you, too," I said. I glanced at my watch, and it was already 5:30. I knew most of the others were already home, and I knew they were probably wondering where I was. I decided to call Tim to see if he would be willing to come get us. It was already dark, and there were several more tables of people in there then. I dialed Tim's number, and Kyle answered. "Hello," Kyle said. "Kyle?" "Yeah. Who's this? Denny?" "Yeah. May I speak to Tim, please?" "What do you want? He's been in the bathroom for twenty minutes taking a shit. I think maybe he fell in," Kyle said. "Could somebody come pick me up?" "Yeah. Where are you?" "I'm at the Burger King on Front Beach Road," I said. "What are you doing there?" "I had a date this afternoon after school," I said. "We walked here from school and lost track of time." John was grinning about me saying we had a date. "Way to go, Bubba! I'll come get you. What about your guy? Does he need a ride, too?" Kyle asked. "Yeah," I said. "No problem. I'm proud of you, Denny," Kyle said. "I'll be there in ten." "Kyle, this is John Harrelson," I said. "John, this is Kyle Goodson, my brother." I introduced them when Kyle got there. "Are you related to Stuart Harrelson? Is he your brother?" Kyle asked. "He's my cousin," John said. "If that's the case then you must be good people, John. Me and ole Stuart go all the way back to Cub Scouts, and he's a good ole boy, that's for sure," Kyle said. "Is he gay, too?" John mouthed to me about Kyle, and I nodded. "Wow!" he mouthed back. We were in the middle seat of Kyle's truck. "What's Stuart doing now? He went to Ole Miss, didn't he?" Kyle asked. "Is he still there?" "Yeah," John said. "Is he playing football? He went there to play football, didn't he?" Kyle asked. "I need to follow that team better than I do. I consider Stuart Harrelson a very good friend." "Yeah. Stuart's still playing football. My brother is Buddy Harrelson," John said. "Do you know him?" "Well, I know of Buddy, but I don't really know him. He was a senior when I was a freshman. What's he doing?" "He's at Florida. We think he's going to vet school next year," John said. "We need to hook ole Buddy up with Brian, don't you think, Denny?" Kyle said. "Yeah, probably," I responded to Kyle. "He's talking about Brian Mathews. He's another one of our brothers, and he loves animals, especially dogs." I said to John. "You're kidding. That guy is awesome," John said. "I know," I said. When we got to John's house, Kyle said, "Y'all can kiss each other goodbye. I won't look." "KYLE!!!!!" I said. "What? You know you want to kiss him. Do it, Bubba. Nobody gives a shit," Kyle said. I really did want to kiss John, so I laid a little peck on his lips. I could tell by the look on his face that John was an extremely happy boy, and so was I. I walked up to John's front door with him. When I got back to the truck, I started to get into the middle seat. "Come sit up here with me, Denny. What is this with sitting in the back, man?" Kyle asked. I did what he said. "Thanks for coming to get us," I said to Kyle. "No problem. Let me tell you something, Denny. That boy right there is quality people. First rate. I know a bunch of the Harrelsons, and you won't find much better than that. That's for sure. They have that big ole hardware store and lumber yard out on the Parkway. That's the best hardware store and lumber yard in the county. "Let me tell you a little story. Two, really. A couple of years ago, I was trying to buy some two-by-fours to build a booth for Homecoming. I needed eighteen of 'em. I was told I could get 'em a lot cheaper at Lowe's or Home Depot or Scotty's or someplace like that in town. The way they did it was you paid for what you wanted at the register in the store and then drove around to the lumber yard to pick up the goods. "I told the girl at the register what I wanted, and she told me they didn't carry those. Now, can you imagine a lumber yard not carrying two-by-fours? I couldn't. I told her to look it up on the computer, and they didn't have but 15,000 of 'em in stock. So I paid for 'em and drove around to pick 'em up. They had 'em all right, but every one of 'em looked like a fucking snake. They were all bent and twisted and full of knots. I thought, shit, I'm not buying this crap. "I got my money back. Then I went to Harrelson Hardware. I told the man what I wanted and what I was going to do with 'em, and he showed me wood that was just as straight and true as your hard-on. They were a dollar apiece more than the ones in town. Sure, I paid $18 dollars more for 'em, but surprise, surprise! You could actually work with 'em, and almost knot free. "I don't exactly know what the point of this story is except that the Harrelsons are good people, and they've got good, straight lumber. Probably good, straight dicks, too." I laughed so hard when he said that last line that I almost wet my pants. He laughed at his own humor, too. "You're incredible," I said, still laughing. "I ain't incredible. That's a true story," Kyle said. "Why would I lie about shit like that?" "That's not what I meant," I said. "I know. Thank you, Bubba," Kyle said. |