Kevin has said more than once that we need to get my friend Jason to visit us, and I figured I'd give that a shot. I knew he was living with a girl and that he had been for a couple of years. I hadn't spoken to him in several years, but I had kept up with him through our parents. His mom would tell my mom about him, and she would pass it on to me. My mom would tell his mom about me, and she would pass it on to him. It's a pretty dysfunctional relationship, but that's the way we've always been. Our phone conversations as kids never lasted more than a couple of minutes, and they were always to make plans to get together. We did our talking face to face. I had a crush on Jason in middle school and high school that at times was overwhelming to me, but it never materialized into anything physical. The summer after high school graduation, I finally came out to him. He was the first one. We were staying at a cottage on an island off Sarasota. We had just graduated from high school. I was going to Florida State in a couple of months, and he was going to the University of Florida. It was a late afternoon. The sea breeze had kicked in, and it was very pleasant where we were, on the back porch of that cottage. We were both stretched out on gliders. "Jason, there's something important I want to tell you," I said. My voice sounded nervous, I'm sure, because I was nervous. "You don't have to tell me anything, Rick," he said. "Yes, I do, and this is very difficult for me," I said. "You're going to tell me you're gay, right? And that you have a crush on me, right?" Jason said. I was stunned. I was totally taken aback. I couldn't speak. "You knew?" I asked, after awhile. "I've known since we were in seventh grade, and it's been a real struggle for me. I love you, too, Rick. I love you way more than I love my dumbass brother, and I've wanted to love you THAT way, too. But I don't, Rick. I can't, man," he said, and he started to cry. "I've tried to in my mind, and I just can't." I got up and got on the glider with him. I hugged him to me. In a few seconds, I got hard. "You have a hard-on, don't you?" he asked. "Yeah," I said. "But you don't." "No, but that doesn't mean I don't love you. I just don't love you THAT way. I wish I did, Rick. I love you so much more than I have ever loved a girl, but I don't know, man. It happens with them all the time, but it doesn't happen with you," he said. He cried, and I cried. "Rick, rub up against me, okay? I want you to get off. It's okay," Jason said. "No," I said, and I pulled back from him. "Why not? It's okay with me," he said. "Yeah, but it's not okay with me. It would have to be mutual, and I know you can't do that. Jason, you've been the best friend I've ever had, and I hope we can be best friends all of our lives," I said. "Me, too," he said. "We will be." Then we cried some more. I called him from work the day after our talk about coming out, years after I had seen him last. "Hey," I said, when he answered the phone. He knew who I was because his secretary had asked me my name. "Hey. What's up?" he asked. "A whole lot in my life in general, but today? Nothing special," I said. "I know about you and your boyfriend, Rick. And those kids y'all are raising. That's pretty awesome," he said. "I don't have anything like that to show for my life." "You have a girlfriend, don't you?" I asked. "Well, not at the moment," he said. "I thought you and a girl were living together. Did I get the wrong information?" I asked. "Naw. We lived together for a couple of years, but we split up about four months ago," he said. "I still don't know what to make of it. I mean, I thought we were in love, you know? I mean, I was. But evidently she wasn't. It was a clean break, too. She refuses to return my calls. She won't see me when I go to her office. It's like what we had never happened, Rick." "You've got my sympathy, brother," I said. Long pause. "Brother? We were brothers, weren't we? That's the way I always thought about you, Rick. You were my brother. I loved you so much, man," Jason said. I could tell he was tearing up. We hadn't talked in years, but it was like we had talked yesterday. "Why the past tense? Have your feelings about me changed?" I asked. That worried me. "No, not at all. We still are brothers, and I still do love you," he said. "It's just that we never see each other, and I thought maybe you didn't feel about me the same way you once did." "Nothing has changed on my end," I said. "But if you suddenly turned gay, we could still only be friends. I've got my man now, and it's permanent." "Your boyfriend?" he asked. "He's not my boyfriend, Jason. He's my spouse. His name is Kevin Foley, and he and I have made a formal, public, eternal commitment to each other. That's not going to change until one of us is dead," I said. There was a long pause. I wondered what was going through Jason's mind. "Are you still there?" I asked, finally. "Yes. I'm here, Rick. I'm just a little emotional right now," he said. "Please don't think I was, in any way, trying to trivialize your relationship with Kevin. I knew you guys had made a commitment. It was more or less habit, or a slip of the tongue, calling him your boyfriend. Please believe me." "Jason, I never for a second thought you were trivializing our relationship, man. Hell, we call each other 'boyfriend' sometimes, too. I just didn't know if you knew the nature of what we have. That's all, buddy." I paused. "Phew, this is making me pretty emotional, too." "I can tell," he said. "I'm sure you can. But listen, I didn't call just to shoot the shit and cry. I called to invite you to come see us," I said. "When?" he asked, rather eagerly. "Whenever you can make it," I said. "Can you get any time off work?" "Yeah. I've got a ton of days built up," he said. "How about Thursday?" "Day after tomorrow?" I asked. "Yeah. Is that too soon?" he asked. "No. That's fine. Oh, man, I can't wait to see you. I can't wait for Kevin to meet you and for you to meet him. And the boys. Our boys are unbelievable, Jason. They're going to love you, and I hope you'll love them," I said. We worked out the logistics. He lives in Ocala, Florida, which is about a four-hour drive away from Emerald Beach, and he said he would leave "first thing Thursday morning." I didn't exactly know what "first thing" meant, but Jason had never been a lay-a-bed as a kid. In fact, on the scores of occasions when we had spent the night together at either his house or mine, we were often "up with the chickens," out on the water with our surfboards. He said he'd do a MapQuest to use to get to our house, so I gave him our street address. I made sure he had our home phone number, and my cell number, too, in case the MapQuest didn't work out. After we hung up, I sat at my desk, staring into space and thinking about Jason. We had unbelievably good times together when we were growing up. Our relationship was so close that I'm sure some of our friends wondered if we were boyfriends. I wasn't out at the time, so maybe they didn't, but we were every bit as close as Tim and Kyle or Justin and Brian are. The physical component was absent, of course, but it could very easily have been added, as far as I was concerned. One time he was spending the night at my house. We were thirteen or fourteen at the time. We had long since given up having one of us sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag, and we routinely slept in the same bed. I don't know what our parents thought about that, if they knew, but that was what we did. That one particular night Jason had a wet dream. He was in just his briefs, as I was, so he was a mess, of course. He woke me up. "What?" I asked groggily. "I just came on myself," he said. "You did what?" "I came. I shot a load in my sleep," he said. "You had a wet dream. I have them all the time," I said. "Go back to sleep." "I know I had a wet dream. And that's the point. My Jockeys are wet, and I'm going to take them off," he said. "Okay," I said. Whatever, I thought. "I want you to take yours off, too," he said. "Please." "Okay," I said. I pulled my briefs down and tossed them onto the floor next to the bed. I was back asleep before they hit the carpet. The next morning we woke up hard, of course. I can't remember if I had ever seen his erection before, but that morning I did. And he saw mine, too. At that point in my life, I had vague notions that I was somehow different from the other guys, and I was beginning to believe that I might actually be gay. That morning, my "morning wood," which doesn't feel particularly good or sexual to me, became a sign of my full-blown sexual arousal in a matter of seconds. I jumped up and ran into my bathroom. I tried to pee, but I couldn't. It was at that moment that I knew, beyond any doubt, that I was gay. Sitting there thinking about that moment made me start getting aroused. I immediately put the image of Jason's penis out of my mind and stood up to go tell Kevin that he was paying us a visit. I told Kevin about talking to Jason, and he was excited that he was coming to see us. Then I told Kevin about what I had been thinking and about how I had started to get aroused. "Do you feel guilty about that?" he asked me. "Well, yeah. I do, Kevin. It worries me that I reacted that way," I said. "But what did you do when you felt yourself starting to get hard?" he asked. "I came down here," I said. "Do you understand what that means, Rick?" he asked. "It means I have to be super careful around Jason when he's here," I said. "No, that's not what it means at all, Babe. I mean, I don't want you screwing Jason, but you've told me several times that Jason isn't capable of having sex with a man, anyway. What it means, Rick, is that your commitment to me, to us as a couple, is much greater than physical desire or pleasure. I mean, you could have gone into your bathroom, jerked off, and never even mentioned it to me. I would never have known that. But you didn't do that. You didn't want to. Am I right?" "I didn't even think about doing that," I said. "I got kind of scared of myself, Kevin. You're right. As much as I love Jason, as much as I care about him, I belong to you." Kevin got up from behind his desk and took me into his arms. He kissed me tenderly. "You continue to amaze me," he said. "I don't know what I ever did to deserve you, but I thank God every day I have you. I'd love to make love to you right now, but I've got a sales meeting in about three minutes, and I absolutely have got to be at it. But you know what, Rick? As good as making love to you right now might be, it wouldn't make love. The love is already here." I was incredibly touched. It was almost too tender, in fact. I had to make a wisecrack or I would surely go to pieces. "I think I'll go see if I can find Kyle and Justin to see if they want to jerk off with me," I said. He laughed. "You shithead. Get out of here," he said, and he kissed me again. * * * "So, who is this guy?" Justin asked. I had told them we would be having a guest day after tomorrow. "He's my best friend from childhood, Jus, and you damn sure better be nice to him. I'm warning you," I said. "Rick, do you think we would ever disrespect you by not being nice to a friend of yours?" Justin asked. I had meant it as a joke, but he was dead serious. "I was teasing you just now, Jus. I know y'all would never not be nice to my friend," I said. "Well, you better know it. I don't know about Goodson, but I'm going to be as nice as I know how to be," Justin said. "See, that's the thing, though. You don't know how to be all that nice," Kyle said in retaliation. "I know how to be just as nice as you taught me how to be, Kyle," Justin said. "I think he got you last, Kyle," I said. "I know it. Y'all all shut up. So we need to have a party, don't you think? Maybe a couple of parties," Kyle said. "We don't need to have anything special, Kyle," I said. "Sir, I beg to differ. Your best friend of all your life is coming to see us, and we're not going to celebrate that? Not where I live, Mister Mashburn. I'm thinking a real nice dinner party Friday night. My parents, Tim's parents, and Kevin's parents. Your parents, too, Rick. Saturday night, a friends' party. What do y'all say?" Kyle asked. "I say that's too much, Kyle. Not my parents or Rick's parents. Yours and Tim's are local, so that's fine, but not the long-distance ones. I mean, I've never even met Jason. He doesn't need to meet my parents on this trip. Besides, they were just here last week," Kevin said. "Okay. No long-distance parents. I think that's a big mistake, but I'll grant you right of refusal. I think they should be the ones to refuse, but what do I know?" Kyle said. "Next time he comes, Bubba," I said. "All right. Next time. Does he like shrimp?" Kyle asked. "I think he pretty much likes everything, Kyle. He did as a kid, anyway. Remember, I haven't even talked to him in years. Until today. But my guess would be he still likes everything," I said. "Just plan whatever you want to serve." "I'm thinking shrimp and grits. We have never had that, but I've had it in Charleston a bunch of times. Cheese grits, highly seasoned with onions and garlic, with sautéed shrimp. I know it sounds gross, but I guarantee it's good. We'll have a salad with that, and stuffed artichokes for appetizers. It's going to be good. Trust me on this one, Rick," Kyle said. "I trust you, Bubba," I said. * * * "First thing in the morning" for Jason must have been six o'clock because he got there at nine o'clock. That was Central Time, so he must have started at six Eastern Time. Since I didn't know what time he was going to get there, I took the day off just in case he got there early. I was glad I did. "Oh, man," I said. "Taylor, you look mighty good." "So do you, Mashburn," he said, and we hugged long and hard, just laughing with delight. It was so damn stupid that he and I hadn't gotten together in such a long time. Holding him in my arms in that hug wasn't quite like holding Kevin, but it sure felt good. "Would you like some breakfast, or some coffee, or something?" I asked when we broke our hug. "Coffee would be great," he said. "Okay. Let's go make it," I said. I was so happy to see him, I didn't want to let him out of my sight. "Are you here by yourself? Nice house, by the way. Very nice," he said. "Thanks. Yeah, I'm here by myself. Everybody else is at work. I'll call Kevin as soon as I get the coffee on. He told me to call him as soon as you got here so he could come home," I said. "Who owns this place?" he asked. "Kevin and I do. This is our home," I said. "Man, this place is really, really nice. God, look at that pool. And it's on the water, too. Wow! Is that your boat out there?" he asked. He was looking out the kitchen window. "Technically it belongs to one of the kids, but, yeah. It's ours. It belongs to the family," I said. The dogs were outside, but they both came in just then. They each barked once, but then they sat down side by side, waiting for a command. They wanted to meet our guest. Jason got a real happy grin on his face when he saw them. "Who is this person? and this one?" he asked. "This is Trixie, and this is Krewe," I said. They both wagged their tails even more than they had been wagging them when I said their names. "Girls, this is Jason. Trixie, come and meet Jason." She barked once and came over to meet a new friend. She sat down, as Brian had taught her to do, and she extended her paw for Jason to shake. He did it, laughing with delight. Then we did the same thing with Krewe. "My God, Rick. This is unbelievable. Did you train them to do that? That's incredible," he said. "No, one of the kids trained them. He's actually working as a dog trainer at a prison right now. I wish I could train dogs like Brian can," I said. "Well, he must really be remarkable," he said. "He's working at a prison?" "Yeah, he is, and he is remarkable, Jason, but all the kids are remarkable. How many books have you published?" I asked. "Published? I'm lucky I've read one," he said. I laughed. "I know. Me, too, but one of our guys has published a book, and he's getting ready to publish another one soon," I said. "He's nineteen years old." "My God! I thought these kids are waifs and orphans," he said. "Some of them are, but waifs and orphans can have talent, too, you know? Brian, the dog trainer, is, essentially, an orphan. He just won a scholarship to Tulane worth $120,000, and he was valedictorian of his class. And he finished high school a year early." He whistled softly. "That's what I'm talking about, man. These kids are totally awesome. Another one of ours, Tim, won the same scholarship to Tulane that Brian did, and he was valedictorian of his class, too. His partner is Kyle, the one who did the book. I'm telling you, Jason. You and I never knew kids like this when we were in high school. These guys are un-fucking-believable, man," I said. I got Kevin on the phone, and he said he'd be here in a few minutes. I poured coffee for Jason and me. "I see there's an ashtray on the table. Is it okay if I smoke?" Jason asked. "Of course it's okay," I said. "I don't smoke anymore, but Kevin and a couple of the boys do." "You don't smoke anymore? You fuck! Why'd you quit, man? I thought we were going to go down together," he said, grinning. "Well, I took up running. Triathlon," I said. "Yeah, my mom told me about that. The Ironman, or something like that?" he asked. "Well, I did the Ironman once, but I'm pretty much out of tri now. Now I just run. I've run two or three marathons a year for the last couple of years. I had a bike accident training for tri, and Kevin wanted me to quit. I wasn't enjoying it all that much, anyway, so I did. I quit tri. No more freezing-ass swimming in the Gulf and no more bike. I still ride my bike occasionally, but not to train. Just for fun. Anyway, back to smoking. I'm running a marathon, okay? The only thing I can think about the last ten miles is how bad I want a cigarette. How fucking stupid is that?" I asked. He laughed hard. "I see your point. I can see it now. Kevin hands you a lit cigarette as you cross the finish line," he said. "He did it. He fucking did it, 'cause I told him I wanted him to," I said. "People were taking pictures of me right and left, and then I thought, They're making fun of me. Smoking a cigarette crossing the finish line in a marathon is just too fucking stupid, even for me. That's when I quit." "Does it bother you that I'm smoking? Because I can put it out, if it does," Jason said. "Hell, no, it doesn't bother me. Like I said, three of 'em in the house smoke. I'm a grown-up now, Jason. I rule my own life," I said. Kevin came in just then, and we kissed hello. I don't know if that embarrassed Jason or not, but that's what we always do. "Kevin, this is my life-long best buddy, Jason Taylor. Jason, this is my partner, Kevin Foley," I said. They shook hands, and then Jason grabbed Kevin in a hug. Tears came to my eyes. Happy tears. Very happy tears. That was so good to see. * * * Tim, Kyle, and Justin came home around 12:30. Jason, Kevin, and I had been sitting in the den, getting acquainted and catching up. They always come in through the back door, and we heard them in the kitchen. We hadn't yet done anything about lunch because we knew they would be home around lunch time. They came into the den kind of sheepish. I was surprised. Not at Tim, but at Kyle and Justin. "Hi," Kyle said. "Come here and meet my brother," I said. I introduced the boys and Jason, and they shook hands all around. I wished the others had been there, but they didn't get off until 5:00. In some ways, though, it was probably good that Jason would get to meet them in smaller groups. Meeting seven boys at one time might be kind of overwhelming. "Have y'all had lunch yet?" I asked. "No, sir," Kyle said. "Well, let's go get some lunch," I said. "Where do y'all want to go?" "Starfish?" Kyle said. "Okay. Y'all take a car, and we'll meet you there," I said. "Okay," Kyle said. "Those guys aren't gay, are they?" Jason said. "Oh, yes they are," I said. "They don't exactly fit the stereotype, do they?" "Not at all. But neither do you two," he said. "Well, maybe the stereotype's wrong," I said. "Yeah, but Rick, I know some gay guys who act very gay," Jason said. "So do we. We've got one in the family, in fact. Murray. But Jason, a stereotype doesn't apply to everybody in a given group. In fact, in the gay community, at least as far as we know it, it doesn't really apply to most," I said. "You'll see. You're going to get a chance to meet our friends. You would never even suspect that most of them are gay, if they didn't tell you." "Well, I knew you were," he said. "Yeah, but not by my mannerisms, right?" I said. "No, never that. But you never dated girls, and you used to look at boys when we were out somewhere the same way I looked at girls. With lust," he said. "You shit," I said, laughing. "You know it's true, Rick. I'm sure nobody else ever noticed, but nobody else was as tuned into you as I was. Remember?" he asked. "Yeah, I remember. We were pretty much inseparable, weren't we?" I asked. "Yeah. I'm sure some people thought we were boyfriends, and I wanted so bad to be gay when I figured out that you were. It just couldn't happen, though. I don't know why," he said. "You couldn't be gay 'cause you're straight, dumbass," Kevin said. Kevin and Jason had clicked, just like I knew they would. "I guess," Jason said. * * * The rest of that weekend went by in a blur. We did all the sports stuff we usually do, and I knew Jason was having a great time. Kyle and Philip took him out SCUBA diving, and they rented equipment for him at the dive shop they go to. That's a wrinkle in Jason's interests that had developed since he and I had hung out, and he had a damn good time with those boys. They caught a mess of lobsters, too, and Kyle got a bunch of good fish with that spear gun Tim had given him for Christmas. The dinner party Friday night was real nice, and Kyle outdid himself with the food. "Son, I think these grits are about as good as any I've ever had," Rita said. "Thank you, Mama," Kyle said. "You can't believe her about those grits," Kyle said, when he, Jason, and I were in the kitchen after dinner. "She thinks every fucking thing I do is the best." We laughed. "They were mighty good, though, Kyle," I said. "They were okay. Mine were a little lumpy, though. That's okay, though. They tasted good, even though they had some lumps," he said. "Kyle, I think your parents love you very much," Jason said. "Oh, I know they do, Jason. But you didn't hear my daddy say nothing about those being the best grits he ever had. 'Cause they weren't. He's more objective than she is," Kyle said. "Your mama's supposed to be prejudiced in your favor, Kyle," Jason said. "Well, she got that part right, I guess, 'cause she damn sure is," Kyle said. * * * "I don't want to leave here. Ever," Jason said. "I know, but it's Sunday afternoon, and you've got to work tomorrow. And so do Kevin and I, and the boys, too," I said. "Rick, can I come back here sometimes?" Jason asked. "Son, you are always welcome here. Anytime you want to. If you could live with a house full of queers, you could move in," I said. "This isn't a house full of queers, Rick, at least not the way most people think of that term. This is a house full of love, man. But my job, and all . . ." "I know. But you're always welcome here, Bubba. You're my brother, man," I said, and tears started down my face. "I know," he said, and he was crying, too. "Whoa! I've got to pull myself together. I really do need to go. Thank you so much, Bubba. I love that term, by the way. Bubba. It's what we are, isn't it? All of us in this house." "Yes," I said. The emotion was too strong. I was crying like a baby. "Okay. Well. I love you, Rick, and I always will," Jason said. "I love you, too," I said. We hugged once again, and he took off. * * * "That Jason's a real nice guy. Why does he want to be a friend of yours?" Justin asked that night in the den. "Shut up, you fuck," I said to him. "I know you're teasing Justin, Rick, but Jason really is a nice guy," Kyle said. "I hope he's going to come see us again." "He will," I said. "Guys, I was so proud of you all this weekend, I can't even say," I said. "Thank you." "For what?" Kyle asked. "For making Jason welcome. For putting on those parties. For being your wonderful selves," I said. "You're welcome, Bubba, but you don't have to thank us. He's your brother and best friend. What were we going to do? Not be friendly to him? Treat him like shit? You don't know us, if you think that could ever happen," Kyle said. "No, I know that could never happen. You guys behaved like I thought you would," I said. "You hear that? That was thunder. More rain for the wicked. I can't believe the amount of rain we've had this summer," Kyle said. "I heard on TV that we're about four inches above drought level now. And that drought has been going on for four years. I guess that's good," Kyle said. "Yeah, it is good," Kevin said. "I don't know why, exactly, but it is. That's what the experts are all saying."
When Rick called me, I thought it was an incredible coincidence. I had been thinking about him for days, and I had even thought, at odd times, of giving him a call. I hadn't called because I didn't have his number, and every time I thought of it was some odd moment when a call just wasn't possible. He said he wanted me to come up to visit, and I snapped up the invitation in an instant. I hoped at the time that I hadn't sounded too eager, but, once I got there, any doubts I might have had vanished into thin air. He was still my best friend, and we were still soulmates, as we had been as kids. The first thing I noticed about Rick when I got there was his physique. He has always been a very handsome guy, but he had really worked on that body. He told me he's a runner, and, indeed, he ran on a treadmill every morning I was there. But he had spent hours in the gym, too, and not just standing around talking, either. That boy is solid muscle. When I hugged him, I thought, I've grabbed a tree. His body was that hard. That was probably the best weekend of my life. Before that, I thought the best weekend was when Florida beat FSU in the Sugar Bowl for the National Championship, but that doesn't hold a candle to seeing Rick again and meeting his family. And a family it definitely is. Kevin and I clicked in about thirty seconds, and we were both teasing each other and having fun in the first five minutes. It was so totally obvious to me that those two are in love. Looking back on my own romantic past, I know my attachment to my girlfriends was never like that. It made me a little jealous of Rick, but I was happy for him at the same time. Everything about that place is the best. I mean, their house is truly awesome. It was built into the side of an incline, I guess you'd say, that sweeps down to a bayou. The lot has plenty of big oaks on it, which is always a plus in my mind, and they have a gigantic swimming pool. It's probably three times the size of most home swimming pools. It needs to be, though, once all the kids and friends and dogs get in it. They have a dock and a great boat, but probably the best thing is the building they call the clubhouse. That place has just about everything a teenaged boy could want for recreation, and I know they make constant use of it. Thursday night we hung out in the clubhouse. "Let's go, Taylor," Rick said. "Let's shoot some pool. Who else wants to play?" Kyle and Justin both did. Whoa! What a pair they are. Neither of them had a shirt on, and I was able to admire them in just their shorts. Kyle has black hair and the face of an Abercrombie and Fitch model. The hair pattern on his chest is picture perfect, and he had a pretty dark five-o'clock shadow. Kyle is very well built, but he isn't muscle-man-ish, like Justin is. Justin is a blond, albeit somewhat of a "dirty blond," and his physique is thick, tight, heavily muscled. They're the same height, but I think Justin probably outweighs Kyle by twenty-five pounds of muscle, or more. Where Kyle is hairy, Justin is smooth. They both had outstanding tans, too. "You two are pretty good-looking guys," I said, and they both beamed. "Are you turning queer on us here?" Justin asked, grinning. "No. I tried that, but it didn't work," I said. "But you guys don't think straight boys notice what other guys look like? Grow up, fellas." They laughed. "Kevin's brother -- and he's our brother too -- is straight, and we've talked to him about that stuff, so we know," Kyle said. "I appreciate the compliment, and that's all I'm gonna say. Rack the table, Bubba." Justin racked the table. There was a constant stream of jokes and profanity and teasing the whole time we played. Those boys are just like my friends in Ocala. They might be gay, but nobody, not even the most virulent straight guy in America, would feel uncomfortable with them. We were just four ordinary guys shooting pool and drinking beer. Everybody was out there in the clubhouse. Some of them were watching a DVD; some were reading; Brian was on the computer. It was the most natural, normal evening I had ever spent. When it got a little cooler, we went outside. The boys stripped down to skin to go into the pool. "You want to join us? We usually swim naked, but you don't have to," Rick said. "How many times have you seen me naked, Mashburn?" I said, dropping my shorts and underwear. "Iono. Couple million?" he said. He was imitating Kyle, and it was funny. "I'm on top o' dat," I said, imitating Kyle myself. "Kyle. Did you hear him grumble?" Rick said. "Yeah. He did pretty good for a Yankee," Kyle grumbled back. "Yankee?! Where da fuck you think I'm from?" I said, imitating his grumble. "Sarasota. Ain't dat Yankee? Rick's a Yankee, so you must be, too," Kyle said. "Let's get that fucker," Rick said, and he and I chased Kyle around the pool. The dogs were barking and running with us. I could tell they had no intention of biting Rick, but I wasn't so sure they didn't want a piece of my bare ass. Kyle finally jumped into the pool before we caught him, and Rick and I jumped in right behind him. Both dogs came in with us, and we jumped all over Kyle to dunk him. It was great! The other boys came in, and we had a pool fight like Rick and I used to have with our friends when we were kids. I hadn't done that in years, and it was so much fun. The dogs seemed to know we were playing, and they played with us, even going so far as jumping on Kyle's back to push him under. There were so many laughs and screams of "shit" and "fuck" that you couldn't keep up with them all. We finished our pool time with some volleyball. Rick and Kyle were the captains, and it was very interesting to me to observe the order in which they chose their teams. Rick eventually chose me for his team, but he chose me last. I had never been chosen last in my whole fucking life. His first choice was Murray, who is absolutely pure gay stereotype. Kyle's first choice was Denny. He doesn't really act all that gay, but I could tell from one glance that that boy is no athlete. The teams ended up pretty even, though, despite their unorthodox way of choosing. "You didn't think I was going to choose you, did you?" Rick said to me after we had gotten out of the pool for the night. The boys, who all had to work the next day, had gone into the house, presumably to go to bed. It was just Rick, Kevin, and I still outside. Kevin and I were having drinks, but Rick was drinking bottled water. "No! What the hell's wrong with you? You were supposed to choose me first. I've always been the first choice," I said. "Kyle knew that, too, Jason," Kevin said, "and that's exactly why you weren't chosen first. I'm sure that throughout their lives, Murray and Denny have always been the last ones chosen for a team at school. But here things are different. Those boys are almost always chosen first or second. It's kind of like a self-concept thing, you know?" I thought about that. "My God. Everything here's about building those kids up, isn't it?" I asked. "Absolutely, Bubba," Kevin said. "We're talking about kids who have been severely abused, in some cases. Little Pete was homeless, living in his rusted-out car in a parking lot in Atlanta for two months after his druggie mother and her boyfriend abandoned him at sixteen. Murray's mother vanished, and Denny's mother and sole caregiver is in prison. We found Justin naked and in shackles in a motel room, abandoned. Brian was tossed out by his mom and stepdad when he was fourteen. He was then put in a couple of foster homes. He ran away from the last one, in Tallahassee, because the guy was trying to rape him. Tim and Kyle are different. You'll meet their parents tomorrow night. We got Tim because his dad was in the Navy and assigned to a ship in the Indian Ocean during the war in Afghanistan. His mother is a basket case in a mental hospital, and his dad turned to us for help. His dad has since remarried. Kyle was Timmy's boyfriend, so he came along as part of the package." "That Kyle's an impressive kid," I said. "Oh, yeah. Kyle's the head kid. No question about that. He's the one who did the book," I said. "He's also a multi-millionaire." "Really? He sure doesn't act like it. He's one of the most down-to-earth kids I've ever met," I said. "And one of the cutest, too, I might add." "There goes another stereotype, right?" Rick said. "I'm sorry, but you guys are rocking my world," I said. "That's our job, Jason," Kevin said. "Tomorrow night is a big family dinner, and you'll get to meet Tim and Kyle's parents. Saturday night, though, is a party for our friends. Wait until you meet them. You'll be totally amazed." "All gay?" I asked. "No. Not at all. And not all male, either. You'll see naked girls running around here. Naked straight girls. There's a doctor; a couple of lawyers; a CPA; several engineers; a bunch of high school and college students, gay and straight; a high school math teacher; a priest; businessmen. It's quite a mix," Rick said. "My God! It sounds like it," I said. "You know the rainbow flag, don't you? The gay flag?" Rick asked. "Yeah," I said. "Well, every color will be here Saturday night. I don't think there are any transsexuals in the crowd, but there'll be some of everybody else," Rick said. "How many people are we talking about?" I asked. "I don't know. Probably seventy-five or eighty," Rick said. "I think Kyle planned to feed eighty-five." "Whoa! So many?" I asked. "It's not every weekend that the bestest buddy of my life comes to see us," Rick said. |