Hot Wheels - 14. Hunter, the Hunted and the Haunted

I was still waiting outside, it'd been almost an hour longer than my dad had promised to pick me up but I couldn’t help think that he lied, but he couldn’t tell it to my face. I spent the lonely afternoon replaying the short conversation I had with my new roommate; it was so surreal, I don’t know what to think about it all, but I am going to remain positive and believe that the two accidents had nothing to do with each other.

My thinking paid off because somehow time moved faster and I could see a car approaching quite hurriedly, it must be my dad. I got up quickly, brushing myself off and picking up my bag. The car stopped right before me and I couldn’t help but thank him for leaning over to pop the door open. It was actually something kind coming from him.

“Thanks, how you doing?” I asked awkwardly.

“Hi, uhm, all right… sorry I am late,” he said, sounding like he was annoyed with himself.

“No prob,” I said trying to make like it wasn't a big deal, I was just happy that he finally showed up. Maybe I should tell him that but I didn’t, the conversation ended there for the entire ride. I decided to lean against the window, eventually drifting to sleep.

The car came to a sudden halt and it startled me, ultimately waking up.

“Oh sorry about that,” my dad said, laughing.

“Where are we?” I asked when I notice that we hadn't stop near what looked to be his house.

“Thought we could get some dinner,” he said, getting out of the car.

I followed behind him as we made our way into a rather crowded diner. My dad walked right to the back, to a more secluded spot, telling me that he prefers to sit here.

“So, you come to eat here often?” I asked, trying to make some sort of communication.

“Yes, although I have been coming here less… trying to stay healthy.”

“So Dad… uhm, I am off for two weeks but I’m only planning to stay for one week with you and I’ll be at a friend’s for the other week...” I said hesitantly, carefully choosing my words.

My dad didn’t answer, he just scrolled down the menu as if he hadn't heard me.

“Ah! Who’s this fine young man we got here?” I looked up to see a waitress standing next to my dad with one hand on her hip and the other on my dad’s shoulder; my dad looked up and smiled at her uncomfortably.

“This is my son, Andrew. He is visiting me from college,” my dad said, rather proudly if I have to say so myself.

“Nice to meet you Andy! I’m Jacky, an old pal of your dad, we go way back.”

“Nice to meet you too,” I responded with as much kindness I could muster.

Jacky took our orders and when she left, silence fell upon us again and we didn’t know what to say. I heard my dad sigh in annoyance as if he was consciously deciding to bring up a subject for the sake of conversation. He set the menu down in front of him and tugged at its edges, he was nervous and so was I.

“So, you are going to a friend's house?”

I nodded “yes”. Suddenly I was unable to speak. I wanted to tell my dad about how my relationship with Everett had grown since he last came to see me, but I didn’t know how he was going to react; he already knew I was gay and but didn’t seem so accepting the last time I saw him.

“You might as well spit it out Andrew, this is as uncomfortable for me as it is for you.”

And so I did. I braced myself, taking a deep breath and like my dad, I started tugging on the edges of the menu. Without looking at him, I tried to tell him everything but as little as possible.

“Yeah, I am going to stay with Eevee - I mean Everett,” I blurted out.

“And?” my dad said in a suggestive tone.

“And… we are more than friends…” I said, my words getting softer as the sentence progressed.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” My dad stated.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect him to welcome my announcement with open arms, I didn’t even try to fight him.

“I think he should come visit you. I think the two weeks would benefit us and our relationship, if there is something we can salvage, we should take advantage of the opportunity.”

I was taken by surprise, not only was my dad open to mending our relationship, but if all goes well, he will allow Everett to stay with us for a week.

I nodded in agreement, and at that moment Jacky returned with our large order for two and we ate and spoke of normal things, barely scraping the surface of what my dad had mentioned earlier and that’s when I realized that we really did need more than a week to try and fix things.

After almost an hour we finally finished up and my dad and I left. The night was turning dark quickly, and we were driving down a road that only had tall trees on each side. Occasionally a truck would pass us, or my dad would point out nice farm houses. As it got darker, I popped my head out of the window and the fresh air blew in my face while I was watching the moon chasing along with us.

After a tiring drive we finally turned off to a street with a couple of houses situated far from each other, like everyone had their own piece of land, and the houses themselves were of all sizes. Dad’s wasn’t as big as the others, it was small and comfortable, something I liked in a house.

It was all too clear that my dad was living too comfortably; he smiled as he walked into his home. He took my bags and I walked through the house by myself. I first came upon what must be his study, newspapers and books were scattered on desks and end tables, however it wasn’t a mess.

I heard my dad listening to an answering machine as I went upstairs. There wasn’t much here except for three doors, a bathroom, a separate toilet and a bedroom. I peaked into the latter and it didn’t look like the rest of the house, just a bed and the basics, no books, I suppose he really only uses his bedroom for sleeping.

“Hey Andrew, I am going to run across the street quick, one of my neighbor’s needs help with something, be back in ten.”

“OK,” I yelled out standing by his bedroom. I walked in and noticed that he didn’t even have a TV in his room, which is weird, well for me at least. There were two doors in the room, a double door which led to a small walk–in closet and another one which had coats hanging on it. The door was sort of concealed, one can say. I stepped closer and opened the door, but inside was nothing but darkness. By instinct I felt the wall and found a switch that dimly lit the room. The room had nothing but a large flat screen and a reclining seat; so, this must be his movie room.

I took a closer look and noticed that there was a towel hanging over the comfy leather chair and I thought it was odd- for some reason I picked up the towel and brought it right under my nose and the smell hit me like a bullet in the back. I had stumbled on my dad’s “movie room” where he undressed and watched something arousing and he cums and I must be holding onto a recently used cum rag, he must have used it right before I called.

I made sure to place it back the way I found it and ran downstairs, looking for a tap to wash my hands. My dad walked in quite quickly as he came right into the kitchen, not even noticing I was there, and from underneath a small table he pulled out a flashlight.

“What’s happening?” I asked, fearing that I would have to do some labor at this time of the night.

“Possible storm heading this way, nothing major but I have to make sure everything is locked up tight .

I nodded and stood tightly against the sink, it was only then that I noticed that the house was kind of dark and getting creepy. I was about to turn on some of the lights when I froze as I felt a tingly, warm sensation on the skin of my lower arm. I jumped and turned around but there was nothing, I couldn’t see in the dark. I saw a shadow move and jumping from the sink onto the kitchen table, knocking some plates around.

“Meow,” the shadow greeted.

“Oh my God,” I said, walking closer.

“Meow.”

“Jingles? Is that you?”

“Meow.”

I walked closer and rubbed my hands over the cat’s head, feeling rough hairs, I knew he needed a bath. I remember Jingles because he was our cat from when I was little, my mom told me he died but dad must have brought Jingles with him when he moved as a companion.

He sped off again. I might have startled him as I started to snicker in the pitch-black darkness of our kitchen. I got another fright as the lights suddenly lit up.

“Mr. Miller?” a deep, southern voice called out from the hallway. I quickly wiped the bit of tear out of my eyes and stepped out in the hallway to find a boy dressed in dirty jeans and tank top, his messy blond hair hanging in most of his face, he looked like he was a year or two older than me.

“Oh sorry, is Mr. Miller here? I been working on the truck and our damn power went out .He got an extra flashlight so I can fix it? I need to fix it over at my house,” he said with a friendly smile. Without saying a word I turned into the kitchen, searching for a flashlight in the same place Dad did.

I turned around and he was leaning over the table with his chin perched in his palm, he was staring.

“You must be Andrew. Your dad told me about you, and I thought you were some college uptight, but you look alright .”

“What a quick assumption to make, you don’t even know me,” I said, handing him the flashlight.

“Thanks,” he said and I walked him back out into the hall.

“Where’s your dad?” he asked, peeking past me.

“He is around, you better get going, it’s dark out,” I gestured but he wasn’t having any of it.

“Oh the old folks crazy, ain't no storm coming, it’s just a bit of wind,” he said, still smirking for some reason.

Strange that he said that because with all that’s happening, the incident with Ian and his brother’s possible connection to Everett’s accident, Marco’s disappearance, living with my dad and now this guy, it felt exactly like a storm was brewing.

“I’m Hunter by the way . I live just down the street with my grams and papa and my dog Ben, come visit some time.”

I smiled at him uncomfortably and he left, meeting my dad at the door, they spoke for a while and my dad locked up behind him.

“He is such a good kid but he doesn’t want to go to school, so sad to see young kids wasting away,” my dad said with genuine concern. “Everything is fine, I’ll be out early tomorrow so you will be here alone, don’t wonder off, don’t speak to strangers and don’t wash the cat, Jingles hates baths . ”

“I know, I remember Dad.

My dad walked up stairs and I followed, both of us disappearing into our rooms after saying goodnight. I had forgotten to check where I would be spending most of my time. Thank god I wasn’t a brat, all that was in the tiny room was a bed, a closet, an empty desk and a window seat, which I liked, I had one at my old house when I was small. I undressed and got into bed, pulling a thick blanket over me . Finally I felt tiredness sink in and right after that a light drizzle started to fall, and I let all my worries escape me as I fell asleep.

The next morning, way before sunrise, I could hear my dad struggling to start his car. I felt obliged to help but just as I got up, I heard him getting it right and finally driving off. I got back into bed and I just couldn’t fall back to sleep. I was thinking about Everett, what was he doing? Was he missing me as much? I made a mental note to call him later on in the day. I must have been thinking about the boy longer than I thought because the sun was peeking through my window and I took that as a sign to finally start my day.

I did everything my dad seemed to ignore. I started with the dishes, which consisted of one plate, one cup, a tall glass and some utensils. The hamper was empty in his bathroom, which I thanked God for- I hate doing laundry. I fixed up his little office and dusted up the living room, and finally I cleaned his bedroom, all the while I had my eye on the secluded door in my dad’s room.

“Time for brunch,” I said to myself as I looked at the clock showing it was already 11: 25.

I fixed me up something, Dad didn’t have much in the fridge, so I ended up with a bowl of cereal that tasted like cardboard and I had some fruit along with it. I remembered that Jingles was probably famished by now and I sat down a bowl of milk for him, unable to find his cat food.

I had a quick shower and as I walked to my room with the towel around my waist I told myself not to forget to call Everett, the boner I was sporting also reminded me but it disappeared when someone knocked on the door. I walked out pulling up my jeans and a t-shirt over my head, wet hair still hanging in my face.

“Andrew, open up it’s me .” It was Hunter, almost beating down the door.

“What do you want?” I asked as politely as I could.

“Your dad told me to come check on you,” he said, walking past me uninvited.

“No he didn’t,” I said, pulling him back.

“Yes he did, last night, are you sleeping in the spare?” he asked as he walked up the stairs. I noticed he was dressed different from yesterday, cleaner.

I followed him and he was on my bed, sitting with his back to the wall.

“Did you bring any fun stuff? Games? Movies?” he asked as he looked around the room.

“No, just my clothes,” I said, standing uncomfortably.

“Well? You just going to stand there? Sit down Ape,” he laughed at his own joke and I rolled my eyes a little.

“You go to college?” I asked him, knowing he didn’t.

“Nah,” he said, looking at me and looking away again, fumbling with a piece of paper in his hands.

“Why not?” I asked seriously, and he noticed.

“Not my scene,” he said, trying to sound tough.

“Bullshit,” I said, which startled him. He looked at me now, his eyes battling with confusion.

“I can’t afford it and I ain't good at anything that someone would want to pay for me.”

I didn’t say anything. I knew he would say something along those lines and I might have made him feel bad.

“Andrew, do you smoke weed?” he blurted out.

“No! I don’t!”

“What would you say if I told you that I had some weed and wanted to try it out with you,?” he said, looking at me excitedly.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

Hunter slapped my arm and laughed. He wasn’t joking, he took out the joint and lit it up. He was quite hesitant to smoke it, the smell filled the room quickly.

“I was curios and so I went out and got some, I never smoked because I wanted someone to smoke with and then when I saw you, I thought I should take the opportunity.”

Hunter closed his eyes and finally placed the burning, wrapped piece of paper between his lips. He inhaled a bit, and blew it out into my face, and he was a natural.

“I didn’t cough!” he yelled out excitedly.

“This is a bad idea,” I said to him, pointing to the joint in his hand.

“You’re turn,” he said.

I didn’t want to join Hunter but he was persistent, holding the joint up to my nose to take a little “whiff”

“Yeah no, this isn’t working for me,” I said as I gently pushed his hand away. He took another small hit of the weed before putting it out and back into his pocket.

“Yeah I thought I needed to get high in order to do this.”

Hunter awkwardly jumped forward and placed his lips against mine, after a quick second he parted his lips from mine, he looked straight into my eyes, looking for some sign of approval I suppose.

“I’m sorry,” he said, but I don’t think he was telling the truth.

“Why did you do that?”

“I thought you would like it,” he answered.

That moment time slowed down and I really saw Hunter. He was trying to be this rough, tough country boy, but he wasn’t. His masculine features were striking, I knew he would thrive in a more social setting, he would be so popular but he didn’t want to, he couldn’t.

“I have to call Everett!” I yelled out in sudden realization. I jumped off of the bed and headed straight to the downstairs hallway, my head feeling like it was going to explode.

“Who the hell is Everett?” Hunter asked as he followed me to the hallway where the phone hung.

“That’s none of your business, you should leave now!”

Hunter looked hurt and betrayed, why? He was to blame, not me.

“If Everett is someone you are seeing then don’t go blowing it, nothing happened, you did nothing wrong, I won’t say a thing.” Hunter reassured me, but I wasn’t going to believe everything could just get fixed so easily. Hunter finally backed off and left me alone. I had the phone In my hand but I didn’t make the call, instead I went back up to my room and thought of what had happened and it occurred to me that nothing did, nothing that could damage anything between Everett and I.

I decided to call Everett and get it over with, hopefully Hunter wouldn’t be coming around here anymore, and I couldn’t deal with that too.

I dialed Everett’s number and he took a while to pick up, but after a couple of rings he finally did.

“Hello?” he answered.

A smile broke across my face as I heard his voice again for the first time. “I can’t believe you have a telephone ring on your cellphone, idiot”

“Andy? Is that you? Andy!” He yelled out like a girl from the other end.

“Yes it’s me,”

“You waited an entire day to call me? You Moron!” he joked.

“I need to ask you something,” I said, drastically changing the tone of the conversation.

“No! I don’t want a proposal via telephone call, get your butt over here and do it the right way!”

I ignored his joke and blurted it out anyway, “My dad wants you to come visit, instead of me coming to you,”

“Oh,” Everett immediately responded.

“Yeah, I guess that’s OK,” he said awkwardly.

“I don’t think I can wait another week though, but Dad really wants some alone time.”

“Anyway, you can hide me in your closet or something?” he replied, laughing.

“I wish, but I will call you tonight, I miss you so much,” I sulked over the phone.

We said our good byes and I hung up, wishing that I had talked a bit longer.

“So the bf is coming, ooooh,” I heard a familiar voice.

I looked up and Hunter was towering above me with a mouth full of bread.

“I fixed me a sandwich.”

“You need to leave!”

“And you need to learn how to lock the door,” he said as he swallowed down the last pieces of bread.

I got up and walked over to the door, showing him out but he just stood and looked at me.

“Look, my grandparents are having their afternoon nap, I got nothing else to do.”

I admit, I felt bad for Hunter but I didn’t want to get close to him, in some ways, he reminded me of Marco.

I nodded and closed the door as I lead him to the living room. I had gotten us something to drink and we both sat down and watched TV.

“So, what’s England like?” he asked as he starred at me. It was weird, seeing the fascination in his eyes, what could make me so special? I felt like a piece of art being displayed in a gallery.

“It’s OK, it was pretty quiet where I grew up.”

“Cool, did you like leave a boyfriend behind?” he asked.

“I liked someone, but no… What about you?” I replied.

“I had a girlfriend when I was fifteen, it was nice but we didn’t go well together, I don’t know…”

“Maybe it’s because you’re gay?” I offered, trying to catch him out.

He thought for a while before looking at me. ”No, I don’t think I am. I like people, not gender; that being said, I have liked more boys than girls, but I definitely don’t like labels.”

I accepted his answer as true and felt some sympathy for him.

“Do you want to go bowling with me?” Hunter asked again.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Don’t worry man, look I’m going to go check up on my grandparents and I’ll pick you up at 8, OK?” he said as he sped off.

“Hunter, not tonight,” I said firmly and I guess he got the message. I instantly regretted blowing him off, the look of displeasure on his face was saddening, I thought maybe I should call him back but I guess he must have ran off after I have been so insensitive towards him.

The moment he left I told myself not to freak out, just because I am with Everett does not mean having a friend should be something to be ashamed of, right? If I tell Everett about Hunter he’d know that it was innocent from my part at least. The phone rang and I picked up, it was my dad and he had called to tell me that he would be home in a few. I waited him out until I finally heard him pull up in a patch of land next to the house.

I walked out and saw that Dad had gone grocery shopping, so I grabbed some of the bags. As we stepped into the house, my dad awkwardly hugged me after we put down the bags onto the kitchen table.

“How was your day son?” My dad asked with his back turned to me as he was already starting to unpack, I followed after him.

“It was OK, Hunter was here…”

“That’s nice, do you guys get along, or is he too wild for you?”

What a weird question I thought to myself before answering Dad. “Yeah he is all right, he wanted to go bowling, but I decided not to go,”

My dad nodded and continued to unpack.

“I got a call from your mother today,” he announced carefully, but this time he stopped and looked at me.

“Oh… I am sorry,” I heard myself say.

“Why? She asked if I have been to see you and I told her you’re staying here, she was happy.”

“Well, I’m glad… and I’m glad to be here, Dad…”

My dad smiled again and stepped closer to me, kissing me on my forehead. I thought it was something odd to do, but I guess it makes sense; he doesn’t realise I’m not a little boy anymore, like the way I was when he left.

The thought brought up a touchy subject, the reason I am here I suppose, and so I just spewed it out. “Why did you go? Why did you leave us?”

My dad broke eye contact with me and backed off, but I gave him a chance to collect his thoughts.

“Mom and I weren’t happy, Andrew… we fought and that wasn’t a good environment for you to grow up in,” he said, but it wasn’t enough, not for me.

“What were you fighting about?” I asked, almost demanding an answer.

“Andrew, that was in the past. I don’t want to dig up corpses, OK?”

“Tell me, tell me if you want things to be better between us. What did you do, huh?” I got emotional at the thought of my dad trying to evade my question.

My dad turned away from me and announced the answer as he violently banged his fist on the wooden table.

“Your mother was seeing another man; I caught her twice, I forgave her but she never stopped.”

What do you do when the person you have hated for ten years tells you that you have been wrong all this time? I felt embarrassment settle in me, completely soaking my insides.

“I know what you are thinking, Andrew, but know your mother is first and foremost human. She still took care of you, you couldn’t have turned out better, and for that I am thankful”

We had a quiet dinner at the table that squeaked every time somebody moved. I didn’t say anything until I realised that the small dinner we were having was really good, a chicken and mayonnaise salad with some freshly baked rolls. “This is really good,” I said, with my mouth stuffed.

“It’s not very nice to talk with food in your mouth, Andrew,” my dad said, also with a mouth full of food. That was the first time my dad showed a sense of humor. I have always conjured up his stern visage, but as we sat there, it peeled away, and like the peeling of an onion, I felt tears trickling down my face.