Brandon Smiling: From the Billy Chase Chronicles (1) - 36. Entry 36

May 31

So, I apparently wasn’t off the hook after I got taken home last night.

First of all, I have to say this immediately, I WANT A PORSCHE SOME TIME IN MY LIFE! OMG!

Ok, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I can explain: I was taken home by Chandler last night (OMG #2!!) because Mr. Cross was too, um . . . ‘tired’ to drive. He apparently got driven home by Mrs. Cross because he had gotten a little too much ‘fire water’ in him. Marie told me that her Pop is not a heavy drinker and that it was really unusual for something like that to happen.

Chandler was first to volunteer to drive me home. He was like, “Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! Lemme do it! I’ll drive him! .” Like, WOW!

This, of course, meant that Jamie and Marie had to tag along though they were forced to get squished into the nearly nonexistent back seat of Chandler’s Porsche!

My GAWD what a car! I swear when he fired it up the vibration gave me an INSTANT boner! Whoa! I’d never thought a car could be so powerful! When we took off from the curb I swear I could feel the skin pull back off my skull a bit. You know, like when astronauts have to get spun around in that g-force amusement ride thingie they use. SWEET!

Much too quickly, we got back to my house. I hardly had time to finish listening to one of Chan’s Electropop things he says they play in the clubs downtown all the time. I swear we were thumpin’ along the road like we were in our own mobile club. We were all bopping our heads and Chandler was singing along. I notice he loves to sing almost all the time! I wonder why that is? Whatever, he sounds *really* good! It’s like he knows what he’s doing or something. I’ll have to ask Marie later why Chandler seems to be able to sing so well.

When we got home (much too soon) my Dad was still up so he came out to greet us even though it was 11 PM and way past his bedtime! Hehehe! I guess when you get old like my Dad you turn in early. I usually chalk it up to him having to go to work early in the morning, but . . . tomorrow is like Saturday so . . . uh why would he go to bed early on a Friday night?

Anyways, the lot of us got out of the Porsche and my Dad’s face was all like “OH,” hehehe. I must have been so excited because I’d just ridden in a high-end sports car that my Dad had to calm me down. He saw Jamie and Marie and smiled, but . . . then he saw Chandler exit the car and the whole mood changed.

My Dad, who had only been pleasantly surprised by our arrival, was now really shocked! He looked speechless as he saw Chandler exit the car. It was like he was seeing a ghost!

“Ch-Chandler? Chandler Cross? Is that YOU? Sunovabitch!” My Dad blurted, but not like he was mad. More like he was just, um, FLOORED by seeing Chan.

“HEY, Mr. Temple! Long time no see, Coach!” Chandler said to my Dad with a big smile, but he was blushing too. Something Chandler just can’t hide, I guess, with those beautiful rosy cheeks of his. It’s weird, but my Dad recognized Chandler as someone he knew very well! I was trying to remember why that is, but then I remembered that for a while there, my Dad had been the Choir Director at the Church. My Dad knows music and stuff, so he became the Choir Director for the Church for a little bit before Mama died. After that, he didn’t do it anymore.

They hugged and then my Dad invited us all inside, despite how late it was! I went to get juice for all of us and Marie managed to find our stash of Oreos and brought those out too. I think she’s basically a bloodhound when it comes to chocolate. Anyways, when we came back into the room Chandler was rattling on a mile-a-minute with my Dad listening really close and Jamie was just sitting there smiling stupidly per usual.

I guess I was giving them a funny look because they both stopped talking to look at me with a ‘why the hell are you looking at us like that for, Brandon?’ look.

“What’s up, Champ?” My Dad asked . . . embarrassingly. He hasn’t called me ‘Champ’ since I was eleven! The Cross’s didn’t seem to care so I guess I was just being embarrassed for myself.

“You guys, like, know each other?” I asked.

“Yeah, of course, we do! Oh, um . . .” Chandler started to answer but then seemed to think better of it. But then Jamie blurted, “Yeah! He used to be in the Church Choir when he was your age when your Dad was directing! Dontcha remember?” Jamie looked over at Marie and shrugged when we both looked confused.

“He probably doesn’t, Jamie. Brandon and his Mom always used to go to an earlier Mass so she could get back home and start Sunday Dinner. I don’t suppose he ever saw Chandler at all during all that time. Chandler also, uh-hem, ONLY came to Church to sing and never stayed very long.” My Dad kind of smirked at Chandler who smiled blushed again and shrugged.

Ok, so backing up, now I know why Chandler sings so well. So . . .

“Well, what can I say. I liked the singing part. Didn’t care for the religion part. It stopped sitting well with me after, well . . . after I started getting ‘feelings,’ ya know.” Chandler looked sad suddenly and looked out toward the big picture window. He got a very far away look like he was remembering something that didn’t seem very happy.

“Mom and Pop never forced the issue, though. I guess they figured I’d have to find my own way to God, or whatever. They never took much stock in forcing us kids to believe in what they believe or whatever like some folks do. They’ve always been cool with me being me, I guess, and figuring things out for myself.” Chandler turned to look at me with a kind of intense look like he meant for me to understand something in what he was saying. He then looked back to my Dad and smiled, shrugged, and picked up his juice to drink.

“A-hem, yeah. Well, your Dad’s always been the open-minded kind. We miss you, though, Chan. I wish you’d come by and visit sometimes. I know a few of the young ladies in the current young adult’s choir still ask after you. You still got quite the fan-base there, Pal!” My Dad chucked and went to get a beer out of the fridge. I swear I saw Chandler roll his eyes a bit before he completely switched the subject to something we all could understand.

“OOO! Oreos! With DOUBLE-STUFF! So accurate!” Chandler said excitedly as he scooped up about five of the ten in the cookie tray! Geeze!

“DUDE! Save some for the rest of us, why don’t you!” Marie growled as she stomped over and ripped two right out of his hand! Hehehe! Chandler went and hid the rest behind his back and looked like an ornery little kid that didn’t want to share. That busted me and Jamie up laughing and made Marie groan and roll her eyes at all of us.

“Here I was gonna share with Brandon, but not NOW!” She scarfed both her cookies up like a vacuum. Ha!

My Dad reappeared with his beer and a package of Chips Ahoy! Now we were talking! I guess we like our cookies in my house. Hehehe!

“So, you guys got any plans for the weekend? Brandon’s all caught up with stuff around here so I, probably, won’t need him if he wants to go somewhere.” My Dad was looking at Marie when he asked this. Subtle, Dad! I shrugged because I didn’t know of anything to do. I was expecting to stay home, sleep in, and play video games all day.

“Wellll, I need to do a photo shoot for a school project I’m doing and I was thinking of going to Millennium Park to do it. If it’s ok with the folks, maybe you guys could come and help me out a bit?” Chandler asked while looking at everyone before his eyes rested on me. For some reason, I got the butterflies all over again!

“OO! OO! I WANNA GO! I WANNA GO!” Jamie was bouncing on the sofa! Marie looked excited too. I liked the idea of going because I haven’t been back to Millennium Park for a long while. It was actually one of the first places Dad took me to get my mind off of Mom’s passing. Maybe that’s why I had a nervous feeling about going back there. But, mostly, the ‘nervousness’ was not a sad feeling, but a really deeply excited feeling that I’d be getting to spend a *whole day* with Chandler helping him out!

“That’s fine by me! Brandon could use a trip out to the City, I think. It beats him sitting at home again all day frying his brain on World of Warcraft. Hehe.” My Dad winked at me and that made me happy and I smiled and oh BOY!

A small adventure with ChanChan and the Cross Squad! This could be epic! It’s true, I haven’t been out of this damned town since before the start of school now! With all the weird feelings with Billy and JOEseph and stuff, I could really use a break.

Plus, I get to go with CHANDLER! ~sigh~ A REAL Gay guy and one of the finest ones I think I’ll ever meet! He’s soooo . . . what’s a good word? (Looks up something in the dictionary):

Scrumptious!

I SOOO couldn't wait! Did I already say this could be epic? Well, it was!

More tomorrow.

This is Brandon the Millennial!