Poor Man's Son - 40. Chapter 39

August 21, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Will

“This city is sweet!” Tony declared as we walked around San Francisco. We’d spent the weekend at the beach, pretty much just surfing and hanging out. At night, he’d wanted to watch movies with his father in them, but then afterward he’d be depressed and escape back to his room. Then the next morning, he’d be his normal, pleasant self.

“Yep,” I said with pride, even though as a Southern Californian I wasn’t supposed to be all that into San Francisco.

“So what do you want to do next?” he asked.

“Let’s go see Alcatraz,” I suggested. “We’ll take the cable car.” I’d gotten tickets for Alcatraz already, but we had time before our tour left. We walked over to the Powell Street cable car line and waited for the cable car, with Pat watching us discretely from the car.

“Doesn’t that weird you out, having that dude watch you wherever you go?”

I sighed. “Well, like I said, it’s just part of the deal, part of who I am. I come from a really wealthy and well-known family, and they watch out for me.”

“Yeah, but he’s everywhere you are. It’s like you’re being spied on.”

“It’s not really like that. Pat’s a good guy; I like him. He doesn’t run and tell everyone what I do, and I don’t cause him problems. I guess if I had JJ’s guard, it would bother me.”

“What does JJ’s guard do?”

I laughed. “I saw one of his write-ups on a day with JJ. The dude even documented when JJ peed. It was ridiculous.”

“No shit? Now that would bother me.” We got out tickets and waited in line with all the other tourists, then got on the cable car when it was our turn.

“Here, you have to hang on the outside,” I said.

“Why?”

“It’s more fun that way, and you have a better chance of getting hurt. That makes it cooler,” I joked. He snaughed and did what I said. We took the cable car toward Ghirardelli Square, but true to form, Tony was focused on the thing with wheels.

“How do these things work?” he asked the conductor.

“Go to the museum. You can see the cable running, and they’ll explain it to you,” he said dismissively.

I gave the conductor a dirty look. “That thing he’s pulling, that lever connects the cable car to the cable that’s moving underneath us. It latches on and pulls us along. When he wants to stop, he lets the cable go, then pulls that other lever. That’s for the brakes.” We hopped off at the Cable Car Museum and spent all our time there. Pat ended up driving us to catch the ferry to the island.

“It’s so beautiful out here,” Tony said as he looked at the City from the boat.

“My dad and Robbie had an incident on a ferry just like this one back in 1980,” I told him.

“Really? What happened?”

“Dad took Robbie up here for a romantic day because they’d been fighting. They’d broken up, and my dad was trying to get him back. They were looking at the scenery, and Dad just decided to kiss him. Some guy from Oklahoma got all pissed off, and knocked Robbie off the boat and into the water.”

“No shit? So what did they do, throw one of those donuts out for him?”

“They’re life preservers,” I said, rolling my eyes. “No, the guy knocked Robbie out. Dad dove into the water and held him up so he could breathe until the Coast Guard rescued them.”

“Wow. That was pretty brave. Did they get back together then?”

“Duh,” I said.

“What were they fighting about?” he asked.

“I think Robbie was pissed off at my dad for messing around with another guy. They’ve both done that before.”

He shook his head, all pissed off. “I don’t get that. I don’t get how people can do that.”

“What? Cheat on their boyfriend or girlfriend?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I just don’t get that.”

I studied him carefully. “You never did that?”

“Fuck no,” he said, all pissed off.

“Dude, don’t get mad at me. I’m just asking. Shit, I don’t even know if you’re with someone right now, or what the deal is.”

“I’m not with anyone right now,” he said, as if that was some big admission. “What about you?”

“No,” I said. “I’m like you. I make a commitment, and I don’t break it. Seems like I end up getting shit on because of it.”

“You had girls, uh; I mean guys cheat on you?”

“Yeah,” I said sadly. “You?”

“Yeah,” he said. I could tell that really bothered him.

“What happened?”

He stared at me, like he was really unhappy that he’d opened up this much and even more unhappy now that he’d have to answer my question one way or another. “I was with this girl named Angela. She was really nice, and really cute, with big boobs.” He leered when he said that, and reminded me of Darius. Maybe this guy really was straight?

“You realize that means nothing to me, right?” I joked, even though I could appreciate an attractive woman, and boobs were pretty awesome.

“Yeah, I forgot,” he said, and smiled. “So I thought we were tight, then I went out of town and came back to find out she’d blown a buddy of mine.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Oh, it gets better,” he said, now on a roll. “So I rebound with this girl named Kelly, and I’m thinking things are good with her, only she has a thing for black guys. So I find out that she’s down on Washington Avenue cruising the clubs for brothers to fuck.”

“Damn,” I said sympathetically.

“So I didn’t go out with anyone for a while, until earlier this year, when I met Teresa. Damn, I really fell for her.”

“Uh oh,” I said, anticipating problems.

“Yeah. She was all wholesome, said she was a virgin. My mom was making wedding plans for us, she was that perfect. Then she goes off to Cancun for Spring Break and turns into a fucking whore.”

“So you’ve been single since then?”

“No, I actually gave her a second chance. I figured that maybe not everyone’s like me, and maybe I need to be more forgiving. Only she did it again, this time with the dude who used to be my best friend. So now they’re a couple. It’s so fucked up.”

“Wow,” I said lamely. That comment coincided with our arrival at Alcatraz, and truncated our conversation. He was into the tour, but I had a feeling he would have enjoyed just staying at the cable car museum. To entertain him, I would have to think of things that involved vehicles. He was almost melancholy by the time we got back on the boat. “You OK?”

“I shouldn’t have unloaded all that stuff on you,” he said.

“Why not? I think I learned more about who you are in the last two hours than in all the time we’ve spent together.”

“I’m not like you guys. Your whole family, they’re all so open, talking about their feelings and shit. I just don’t do that. I don’t open up to many people.”

I smiled at him but he looked away, so I put my hand on his shoulder. He flinched at the contact. “Thanks for picking me to be one of them.”

And then things moved in slow motion, or so it seemed to me. His face pivoted and his eyes locked on mine. I just gazed into his brown pools, the gateway to his soul, willing him to open up more. “You think guys still get knocked overboard for kissing on this boat?”

“I’m willing to take the risk,” I said. He moved forward and I felt his hands on my hips, pulling me to him. Then his lips were on mine, and all the kisses I’d had before that I thought were so magical; compared to this, they seemed like a kiss I got from my grandmother. I just fell into him, letting my whole being flow through my mouth and into him. It was a surreal experience, one that seemed to last forever, but still wasn’t long enough. When he finally pulled away from me, I was standing there, dumbfounded and breathless.

While I was on cloud nine, he was freaking out. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t want to lead you on.”

I was still too dazed to really think clearly. “Dude that was the most amazing kiss I ever experienced in my life.”

He grinned briefly, and then got nervous again. “Yeah, but I shouldn’t have done it. I mean, I don’t want you to think that...I mean...I know you’re gay, and I’m not gay, and I...”

“Tony,” I said, using his name to get him to focus on me. “It’s OK. Even straight boys can appreciate a good kiss, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, and smiled more genuinely now. I guess I’d given him the rationale to let himself off the hook. “They can.”

We found Pat waiting for us and got in the limo for the ride home. Neither one of us said much. I was wondering what was going through that gorgeous head of his, but even if I had shitty gaydar, I wasn’t stupid. That was no playful, fucking around kiss. That kiss had meaning.

 

August 25, 2000

Escorial

Palo Alto, CA

Will

“I thought you weren’t going to ride horses,” I joked as we trotted along.

“I’m doing it aren’t I?” Tony said, pretending to be grumpy.

“And really well too,” I said.

“I told you I was good at sports.”

“So this is a sport, and not a vehicle?” I joked.

“You come back and visit me, and we’ll see how you do. I’ll snag another BMX bike and we’ll hit the trails.”

“I’ll try it,” I said. I’d do pretty much anything he wanted to do. If he hadn’t cast a spell over me before, that kiss had done it. I was kind of disappointed that he hadn’t tried to do it again, so last night I’d tried to initiate it myself. We were going to bed and I’d walked him to his room and stopped outside the door. He’d been really nervous, so I moved in and wrapped my arms around him, which really made him uncomfortable. I thought he’d lean in and kiss me, but instead he just turned it into a hug, and not even a very good hug. It was frustrating and annoying, not to mention a little humiliating, to throw myself at this guy and have him totally blow me off. I’d tossed and turned, analyzing the shit out of it, and decided that I wasn’t going to force the issue. If he wanted me, he’d have to make the move. Then it was up to me to decide if I wanted to respond or not. Like I wouldn’t.

“I won’t let you get hurt,” he said, and while it was a nice sentiment, that annoyed me too. Ever since we’d gone to the City, he’d treated me almost like a chick. Suddenly he was all protective of me. I was just waiting for him to start opening car doors for me.

“I think we should see just how good you are at riding,” I said, with an evil smile. I kicked the stallion to spur him into a slow canter, and Tony’s horse followed along.

“Fuck! What the fuck are you doing!” he shouted.

“Just relax,” I said, as the horses cantered over the gentle curve of the hill. “See. It’s nice and smooth.” I reined in the stallion and brought him back to a walk, and then Tony’s horse did the same.

He looked at me, as if wondering what evil would come next, when in fact we did encounter evil, or a biblical representation of it. All of a sudden my horse reared up when he came upon a rattlesnake. The damn snake rattled and hissed, while my horse bucked around with me on it. He ultimately trampled the unfortunate thing to death. “Damn,” Tony said. “That’s a little freaky.”

“No shit,” I said. “I think that’s enough riding for the day.” We headed back to the stables.

“Do you run into snakes very often?” he asked.

“No. Usually they sense the horses coming and get out of the way. This one must have had some attitude issues,” I joked. “You have snakes in Missouri too.”

“Yeah. I don’t usually see them when I’m biking, but I’ve seen them on float trips.”

“Float trips?”

He laughed. “You never been on a float trip?” I shook my head. “Next summer, you’re coming out to St. Louis and going on a float with me and my friends. You get in a canoe and just float down the river.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah. It’s a good excuse to drink lots of beer, and show off your sexy body.” I laughed at that.

“Do you float down the Mississippi?”

He looked at me like I was an idiot. “No, that’s too big and nasty. You float down smaller rivers. It’s fun. You’ll like it.” If I was with him, I knew I’d like it.

“Sounds sweet.”

When we got back to the house, we instinctively wandered to the kitchen. I was pleasantly surprised to find my dad and Robbie there. “Hey!” I said enthusiastically, and gave them both hugs.

“You were riding?” Dad asked.

“Yep. Saw a snake. Scared Tony to death,” I joked.

“Right,” Tony said, and did his Tony look, with the non-rolling rolling eye gesture.

“I hate snakes,” Dad said. He turned his attention to Tony and shook his hand. “Good to see you again Tony. This is my partner, Robbie.”

Robbie almost did a double take when he saw Tony. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said. “You look so much like your father.”

“So I hear,” Tony said. “Nice to meet you too.” He turned to me. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

“Cool. I’ll see you at dinner.” That would give him an hour or so to himself.

As soon as he left, Dad was all over me. “He’s cute. So are you and he, uh...”

“Fucking?” I asked, to freak him out. It worked. While he was mentally spluttering, I answered his question. “No, we’re friends.”

“No wonder you’ve been up here all this time,” Robbie said, grinning.

“He is pretty nice to look at, isn’t he?” I joked, raising my eyebrows.

“That he is,” Dad said. “I figured that you could fly back with us on Sunday.”

That kind of took me aback, but it made sense. Tony would be gone on Sunday anyway. “Works for me.”

 

August 26, 2000

Escorial

Palo Alto, CA

Gathan

“Happy birthday, dear Ella, happy birthday to you!” Everyone was singing, including me, trying to be happy and cheerful, but that was impossible. The last few weeks had been like heaven on earth. Kristin and I had stayed at Escorial and just spent time together, getting to know each other better, and making love almost non-stop. We took some side trips to see the area, sometimes with people, sometimes on our own. We’d watched Will try to get into Tony Carbone’s pants with no apparent success, which kind of surprised me. I figured that he would certainly succeed. Shit, if the guy fucked around with me, why wouldn’t he fuck around with Will? Maybe it was the age thing. That made me feel guilty, but only temporarily. I had so many more things to be upset about.

Tonight was our last hurrah, our last big party before Kristin and Tony went home. Stef was flying them out tomorrow on his plane, sending them home in style, but that didn’t make it better. I thought about how I was before I started going out with Kristin, and how I was now. Before, I’d had these rages, these uncontrollable bouts of anger. I’d been ready to jump in and fight over the stupidest things. With her around, I felt a calmness, a serenity, which I’d never experienced. Suddenly, all the shit that had seemed so important before seemed like bullshit now. It just didn’t matter. I didn’t even think about Fred, and when I thought about Zach, it was with sympathy, not disgust. It was like she balanced me.

We finished singing, and Ella looked over at me nervously. She’d had to deal with this kind of separation when Darius was gone, so she knew what was coming. I had no idea what I was in for, but I was sure it would be really painful, and really unpleasant. I put on my game face and smiled at her, but she knew me better than that. So did the girl next to me.

“We’ll be alright, Gathan,” Kristin said.

“I love you so much,” I told her sincerely.

“I know you do. I love you too,” she said, just as sincerely.

We turned back to watch Ella open her presents. She got lots of cool shit from everyone. The coolest gift of all came from Stefan, of course. He gave her a small box, which I was sure would have jewelry in it, but when she opened it up, there was a set of car keys in there. The fob had the unmistakable Mercedes logo on it.

She shrieked and jumped up and gave Stef a big hug, and was so excited she could barely stand it. “You got me a car?”

“You require transportation,” he said, as if that were the only reason.

“Stef likes to buy people cars,” Brad said.

Ella was absolutely beside herself. Everyone looked at her amused, but I understood where she was coming from. Up until this year, a car was a pipe dream for Ella. She didn’t have money saved up for a car like I did, because she didn’t work. She focused on school and her extracurricular activities. Part of that was because of Wally and Clara, and their ideas about how a young lady should be raised, but part of it was just being protective, not wanting her to be out working in public where Fred might be able to get to her. When I’d gotten my Dodge, I’d gotten my independence, my freedom to go wherever I wanted. Ella could only look on at me with envy. But now, Stef had given her not only a car, but her freedom as well. None of these people understood that. She looked at me and grinned, and I winked at her to show that I got it.

We all got up and went out back to see El’s new ride. It was a Mercedes Benz 230SLK, white, with a white leather interior. “I got a Mercedes convertible for my birthday when I was almost your age,” Claire said. “It served me well.”

“It is just amazing,” she said.

Tony was all about the car. Will told me he was totally into any kind of vehicle. “Dude, this is the 230 model. It’s got the supercharged engine. It will fly!”

“It certainly is pretty,” Ella said, oblivious to the issue of horsepower.

“Now you’ll be able to come see me on campus, instead of me having to drive up here all the time,” Darius said. I’d wager he drove up to see her anyway. That was assuming, of course, that he opted to live in the dorms. He was still angling to stay here at Escorial instead.

The two of them took off for a drive, while the rest of us migrated to the patio to enjoy the lovely summer evening. It was so different here from Claremont. There wasn’t any humidity, and as soon as the sun went down, the temperatures really dropped, making it pleasant even on those rare occasions when the day was hot. There were no thunderstorms, there was no rain; it was as if the globe conspired to ensure that Palo Alto had nice summers. On the other hand, the thunderstorms could be exciting, and I missed the greenery. Everything here was golden brown, which was pretty, but not like the green topography of the Midwest. And there were no fireflies. How weird was that?

“What are you thinking about?” Kristin asked as she slipped her arm through mine. I used that as an excuse to lead her off to the side, to a bench that overlooked the Bay, where we could be alone.

“There are no fireflies,” I said.

She laughed. “Homesick?”

“I will be when you leave.”

“Remember how I was all freaked out about the Turkey Day dump?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said nervously. Was she just going to go ahead and dump me now? What the fuck?

“I’m not worried about that anymore.”

“Why not?” I demanded, and then softened my harsh tone with a joke. “You think I’m too ugly to meet new people?”

“You can if you want to,” she said, with her tone implying that if I could, she could.

“I only want you,” I said.

“I think we’re strong enough to make this work,” she said seriously.

“You’d say that to make me feel better, even if it weren’t true,” I joked.

“No, I wouldn’t,” she said, still very serious. “I really mean it. You’re the man for me. I’ve suspected it for a while; I’ve known it since we started dating, but now I’m sure of it.”

The effect of that statement was to turn me into a complete baby. “I don’t want you to go!” I said, almost sobbing, as I pulled her into a bear hug.

“I don’t want to go either, but I have to. You got your budget done. We can see each other every other week. We’ll be fine.”

“How are you going to handle your parents trying to poison your mind against me?” I asked.

“You’re assuming we even talk to each other,” she observed acidly. “I’ve only called them once since we left Claremont.”

“You’ll talk. You’ll live in the same house,” I said.

“It’s a big house,” she joked.

“Let’s go back to our room and make love,” I said, with a desperate need to be one with her again.

“Later,” she said. “I promise.”

“Alright,” I said, pretending to pout.

She got a mischievous look on her face. “You like cars?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Come on,” she said. She took my hand and led me over to the garage, and wandered through the cars until she found Brad’s yellow Ferrari. My mouth dropped as she walked up to the trunk and bent over the car, sprawled across the glass hood. She hiked up her skirt, offering herself to me.

“You didn’t wear any panties,” I said, as I unzipped my shorts and walked up behind her.

“When you’re around, they’re always off anyway,” she said. Her playful tone changed as I entered her. We’d made love so much now, that we knew how our bodies worked, and how to fully pleasure each other. I started off with long, slow strokes, letting her really enjoy the feel of my dick inside her, and keeping my own body under control so I didn’t blow too soon. Then I slowly picked up the pace until we got really into it, only this time, I just really fucked her, pounding her like crazy, while she lay there over the glass hood, moaning and panting.

“So fucking good,” I said in between pants.

“You’re gonna make me cum!” she shrieked. “Ahhh!” I felt her pussy throbbing around my cock as she came, and like it usually did, that set me off too. After we finished, we looked around the garage nervously, worried that someone saw us, and then I checked to make sure none of our bodily fluids spilled onto this amazing machine.

She pulled me into a hug as we walked back to the house, making us pause. “This is going to be really hard on both of us, but let’s try to have fun tonight. We’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.”

“Deal,” I said.