TJ - 10. Chapter 10

TJ

Chapter 10

Sean was released Sunday with doctor’s orders to rest as much as possible. Keep the lights as low as possible. Avoid using his cell phone, computer, tablet, TV, and basically anything teenagers use to occupy their downtime, keeping them from going abso-fucking-lutely bat-shit-crazy. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I found Golem instead of Sean by Friday. Honestly, I didn’t envy him one bit. He was even told not to overdo it with his makeup work. The doctor actually told him to try to avoid thinking too much. Seriously?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…Sean got out and had to be a vegetable for at least a week, maybe longer, depending on if he suffered any more symptoms. Since he wasn’t supposed to use his phone, he handed it over to me. It was totally his idea. That way, I could take care of any messages that came over. The amount of trust he showed doing this one little thing made me love him even more. God, he turns me into such a fucking sap. I swear I’m as bad as a pine tree with how sappy I get sometimes.

Jacob and I decided to set up two areas for Sean, one, his room, the other the couch in the living room. We basically made sure he had access to anything he might need, like his painkillers for his arm, water, snacks, house phone for emergencies, pillows, and blankets. He could either veg-out on his bed or the couch depending on how adventurous he felt. We also let everyone know not to come over and see him, he needed to rest more than anything.

I will say, after his conversation with Castro, his mood didn’t go to that dark, depressed place he was in at first. That Sean scared me. The look in his eyes when I walked into his hospital room will haunt me forever. They looked sad and lifeless, like he didn’t have any happiness in him. The normal emerald green didn’t have the sparkle in them. I guess him venting his negative thoughts out to Alex set him straight. Well, not straight, but you know what I mean.

I left his house on Sunday evening around eight. I still had a shit-ton of homework to finish since I didn’t have a chance to work on anything over the weekend. Part of me, though, didn’t want to leave him. Kevin and Jacob noticed my reluctance to leave and assured me they would check on him throughout the night. I grabbed Sean’s phone and headed home. I finally fell in bed about one in the morning. Monday morning wasn’t much fun.

First thing I did when I walked in the school was to go by Robert’s office. He gave me a note letting Sean’s teachers know I was gathering his week’s assignments and bringing them to him. It also gave me permission to be off campus for an hour and fifty minutes each day, in case someone wanted to give me shit for driving out of the parking lot during fourth period.

The second the bell rang after Yearbook, I was out the door and in my car. When I walked through the back door, which Jacob left unlocked for me, I saw Sean laying on the couch staring at the ceiling. As soon as he knew I was there, he started talking

“Thank fucking God you’re here. I’m losing my miiiinnnnnnd. I don’t know if I can handle a whole week of this. I haven’t been able to do anything. I can’t play games on my phone or computer, I can’t read on my Kindle, I can’t watch TV, I’m not even supposed to read a hardbound book. This is literally killing me slowly. I’m wasting away from ennui. I’m finding patterns in the texture of the ceiling. There’s a creepy man’s face right over there you can only see if you’re lying right here and there’s only a little light. If I turn the lamp on he disappears. But the light from the lamp gives me a headache, so I keep it off. I can’t lay on the other end of the couch and look at a different part of the ceiling because of the cast. I’m trying to ignore him, but it’s like I can’t un-see him now. He’s there every time I glance that way and all he’s doing is staring at me. Aren’t you going to say something? Do I get a hello? Come on Teej, talk to me. Please for the love of all things sacred and holy, say something.”

I seriously had to stop myself from laughing at him. “Umm…not really sure what to say. Did you ask the creepy man to stop staring at you? And since when do you use words like ennui?”

“You can thank Aaron for me knowing that word. He was sixteen when I started learning to read and he thought it would be funny for me to learn my ABC’s from a book he found called The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Basically, a bunch of kids whose names are listed alphabetically die in some rhyming way. It begins with A for a girl falling down some stairs. B is some boy who was assaulted by bears. Well, N was Neville and he died of ennui. Pretty twisted huh? And, of course I haven’t asked him not to stare at me. It would go against my ignoring him strategy. Oh hey! Have I told you I love you yet?”

I chuckled. “Sean, did you take one of your pain pills today?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t like feeling this fuck-did up. Did I just say fuck-did?”

I nodded while smirking. “Yeah babe, you did. I think the word is fucked.”

“Oh yeah. Well, you know what I think? I think you’re fucking sexy as hell and you should come over here and let me suck your dick. I haven’t had your cock-a-doodle-doo in my mouth in for-ev-er. For-ev-er. Did you know I love The Sandlot? For-ev-er.”

“Babe, you’re fucking loopy as fuck right now. I need to record this.” While I spoke, I started recording a video on his phone. This was too funny to pass up. Thank god his phone pulls up the video app quickly, because the next thing he said was priceless and I got it on camera.

“Did you just call me Lupe? Hell yeah! That’s my new name.” He looked at the camera completely deadpan and spoke in a horrible Puss-in-Boots-Antonio-Banderas accent.

“Hola, I’m am Lupe. Lupe Rodriguez. You may call me Lupe.” I saved the video to show him later when he was sober and sent a copy to my own phone.

I asked if he was hungry. I was hoping if I got something in his stomach, he would be a little more coherent. He nodded, so I went to make us a couple of sandwiches. I wish I had recorded everything he said while we ate, so I could be certain I was quoting him exactly the way he worded everything.

The conversation started with a discussion of Doctor Who. He was so excited because he figured out why the producers and writers introduced the character, Missy. He concluded they were prepping the audience, so they could introduce…insert dramatic pause…a female Doctor. I didn’t want to tell him I came up with the same theory and posted it on a message board. The other users told me, quite emphatically, I was wrong. There was no way they were going to do a female Doctor. I guess we’ll see. Personally, I think when Peter Capaldi is finished with his run, we’ll have a woman playing the Doctor. Think about it, what other purpose would Missy serve? It’s not like The Doctor and The Master, or Missy which is short for Mistress, would fall in love and live happily ever after. The Doctor loves River Song, aka Melody Pond, who happens to be the daughter of the second worst companion ever. The worst being Martha Jones. Isn’t it ironic? One of the absolute best companions is the offspring of one of the worst? Amelia-fucking-bitch-face-Pond.

Next, he changed the subject and wanted me to help him get a message to Roland. We needed to tell him to NOT enter the tower.

“Because all it will do it start the whole fucking thing over again. The Man in Black would head across the desert and guess what. The fucking Gunslinger will follow. Seriously, I read seven books to find out the first line from the first book is the last line of the last book. What was the fucking point of it all? Oh, and don’t get me started on the fact the fucking bastard killed Oy. Not Roland or Flag. King did that. How can you kill off ‘Ake’s best friend? I cried when it happened. And to do it with you as a character in the fucking scene? How narcissistic do you have to be to put your actual self in a piece of fiction you wrote? I think it was a chicken-shit ending.”

I agreed with Sean, King ruined The Dark Tower. The movie is supposed to come out next summer. Maybe that will redeem it, although, I’m not sure how. Idris Elba, a black English actor, is playing Roland Deschain. I mean everyone knows Clint Eastwood should play Roland, but since he’s way too old for the part, at least get Hugh Jackman. I guess there is no hope for redemption for The Dark Tower. Pity. I thought it was a literary masterpiece till the final book. Then it proved to be nothing but a piece of shit.

When I looked at the clock and saw it was 12:35, I told him I needed to head back to school. He frowned and stuck his lip out in a pout. I could tell the effects of the pain killer were starting to wear off. He started looking tired and he could carry on an actual conversation about something relevant. I told him to only take half of one pain pill, go upstairs, lie down, and take a nap. Then I whispered in his ear.

“If you’re still asleep when I get back after three, I’ll wake you up in a very special way.” His pout turned into a smile.

“Oh yeah? How are you going to wake me up?” He asked with a sexy smirk.

I kissed him quickly on the lips and started towards the door. “Guess you’ll have to wait and find out. Don’t worry though. I know you’ll enjoy it.” Just as I was about to walk out the door, I called over my shoulder.

“Josh and I will be back about 3:15 at the latest. Love you, bye!”

He groaned. “Fuck! So, I guess that means no head for me, huh?” I chuckled as I closed the door.

The rest of the day went by without any problems. As soon as the final bell rang, I made my rounds picking up any assignments for Sean as quickly as I could. I was hoping Josh would either be waiting for me at my locker or at the car. Sean’s phone started vibrating as I was heading to my locker. When I checked his phone, it showed a new text message had arrived. I opened the messaging app and at the top of the list in big black bold letters was the name John. I opened the message and had to stop myself from throwing the phone against the wall.

“John- hey sweetie, watsup? u wnt me 2 pck up ur hmwrk n brng it 2 u 2morro? We cld mayb hve som fun again. I need 2 remind u how good I can suck ur cock. Like I said b4, tj nvr needs 2 know anything. hmu l8r nd ill com over.”

My first thought was, “What the fuck?” Then, I noticed the other messages. I started scrolling up, curious about the number of messages, wondering if Sean had responded to any of them, and confused as to why Sean kept them. I really didn’t want to read the messages…yet. I kept scrolling, trying to see when, if ever, Sean last replied to a message. I wanted to know how long the two had been in contact. I did notice over the previous two weeks, John sent Sean at least three messages a day. Mixed in with the messages were pictures of John’s cock or ass. I became curious why Sean kept those pictures. Why didn’t he delete them? Finally, I saw a message on the right side of the screen.

The date read August 8, 2016. The first day of school and three days after we met. With my first question answered, I continued scrolling up. As I was scrolling, I noticed the last picture Sean sent was in December 2015. Finally, I came to a point where I couldn’t scroll up any further. I made it to the top of the list and saw the first message.

It was dated July 2015. Sean’s response was literally thirty seconds later. John told Sean he was amazing, and Sean told John he was good too. The flirting between them sickened me. I noticed Sean’s flirty messages were always in response to something John sent. Sean never sent a message to start a conversation. There were also a fuck-load of photos coming in and being sent out. I couldn’t figure out why Sean would have kept these pictures. Did he like going back and looking at them?

Most of the conversations were sexting, reliving the few days they messed around. John would always let Sean know he expected a repeat any time he visited the area. Sean would always respond with, “as long as I’m not with anyone and neither are you. I won’t cheat.”

John would respond by either saying “all men cheat”, “gay guys don’t do ltr’s”, or “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Sean rebutted with “I don’t cheat.” “I want an ltr.” or “because it won’t happen if there’s someone to tell.” respectively.

In one conversation, John was talking about some guy he hooked up with at a Halloween Party. Sean responded by letting him know he didn’t want to hear anything about him hooking up with someone.

Finally, I made it to December and the final picture Sean sent. John sent a message asking Sean to take a nude picture in front of the mirror flexing his arms and abs with his hard dick showing. Sean first sent the eyeroll emoji followed a few minutes later by the requested picture. About ten minutes later, John sent a picture with a message attached. The message read, “this is the effect ur pic had.” The picture was John sucking some faceless guy’s dick.

Sean didn’t respond to the message. In fact, according to the timestamps, he didn’t respond for almost ten days. Finally, John sent a message vaguely apologizing for sending the picture to Sean. I noticed he didn’t apologize for showing Sean’s picture to the other guy. Sean’s response said, “Thank u 4 apologizing. I was pissed because I’ve told you I don’t want to hear about your hookups but you sent that pic. Also pissed you showed my pic to someone I don’t know.”

John didn’t say anything in response. About a week after the apology, John sent a message asking, “what’s up?”

Sean’s response was short and quick. “Nothing, u?”

John responded, “can’t wait 2 cu again and have fun with you again.”

Sean sent, “we’ll see, g2g, ttyl.”

That’s how the conversations went from then on. John would flirt and talk about hooking up again and Sean would reply with a vague message, never telling him no. In June 2016, John sent a message that read, “We’re moving to Port Neches the third week of August. I’ll b goin 2 school with you. lookin forward 2 cing you again can’t wait to have some fun.”

Sean responded two days later. “cool cool. I guess hmu or something when u get in town. we’ll c what happens.”

John kept trying to get Sean to send him a picture and Sean would say, “sorry, no. u have enough pics of me.” He would send Sean a picture of either his dick or ass, one was him riding a dildo.

I finally made it to the end of July 2016. Sean received a message two days before we met. It read, “too bad ur not here 2 help me pack my shit. lol. cu in a couple of weeks.”

Five days later, Sean sent, “Hey, John. I just wanted to let you know I met someone. I can tell you I’m already in love with him. He’s a great person. He’s nice, smart, funny, and sexy. Hopefully, we can all be friends. He goes to PNG and is a Senior. It might take me longer to respond to your texts now since I have football practice every day. I guess hmu when you move down here. I’ll see you then. Oh yeah, please don’t send me any more nude pics of you and the flirty messages should stop. Thanks.”

The next messages came over a few days apart and they read, “okay, guess that’s cool,” and “hope ur happy.” The next message was three days after and was flirty. He ended the message with lol, trying to pass it off as him only joking around. The next day, John started getting mad. The message said, “guess you don’t have time to get back to me now you have a fuck-toy huh? Whatever, I’ll remind you how good I am once I get there.”

From there, the messages ranged from saying I (TJ) wouldn’t be able to make Sean happy like John could, to saying once he (John) got his mouth on Sean’s cock he would remember how good John was and come back to him. The night after I met John, he started texting three times a day. The first was an apology to Sean. He said he only wanted to make Sean jealous and that was the only reason he sucked Mark off. Of course, he didn’t get Mark’s name right. He typed “Mike/Mark/Matt whoever that guy was.” After that night, he referred to me as T-fag in his messages. He also started talking shit about me and Sean never said one thing to defend me. I couldn’t figure out why. Logic would say if a message had been marked as read, the message was viewed. But if the message was viewed, why didn’t Sean say something about the mean shit John sent?

I guess I lost track of time going through the messages because Josh surprised me when I heard, “Hey, it’s 3:15. I was starting to worry. Is everything alright Teej? Why do you look like you want to rip someone’s head off?”

I handed him Sean’s phone and said, “Read them. Don’t even think about looking at any of the fucking pictures, I’ll kick your fucking ass. I need to talk to Sean like now.”

By the time we pulled into the driveway at Sean’s house, Josh managed to talk me down and reminded me I was in love with Sean. He showed me an option in the messenger app where you can have new messages marked as read if you view them in the notification area and he let me know Sean had it chosen. He wouldn’t let me out of the car until I convinced him I wasn’t going to start a fight with Sean. He made me promise to give Sean the chance to explain, listen to everything Sean had to say, and not interrupt him.

The living room couch was empty. I was hoping he was upstairs taking a nap, since he is supposed to be resting. I walked into his room and saw him sprawled out on his bed laying on his stomach. He looked so peaceful I was reluctant to wake him. I wanted to strip down and crawl under the sheets with him. But, right then, that would’ve been counterproductive. We needed to talk. I needed reassurance and then we needed to take care of John and get him out of our lives somehow.

I sat on the edge of the bed and gently shook Sean’s shoulder while saying his name in a soft voice. His face broke out in a smile before he wrapped his left arm around me and tried to pull me down in the bed next to him. He sleepily mumbled, “Lay down with me Teej, please. I wanna cuddle up with my boyfriend. Love you.”

“Sean. Wake up. I’m not getting in bed with you right now. Open your eyes and sit up.”

He groaned and tried to pull me closer to him. I pulled away from him.

“Sean, seriously, I need you to wake up and sit up.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sitting up. What’s going on? Why won’t you lay down with me?” He asked, pouting.

“Suck that lower lip back in, it won’t work this time. We need to talk.”

“Umm, okay. Sounds ominous.”

“Yeah, it does,” I said in a serious voice while trying to remind myself not to lose my temper and throw out accusations.

“Okay. Shortly after school got out, your phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a new text message.”

“Okay, who was it from? Is everything okay?”

“Is there a reason you never erased all the messages and pictures John sent over the past year?”

Anger flared on his face and he practically growled out, “You went through my messages? What, you don’t trust me now?” At which time, I had to remind myself one of the side effects of a concussion could be sudden mood swings.

I barely raised my voice and held up my hand.

“Stop, please. I don’t want to argue or fight with you. I just want some answers. I didn’t go through all of your messages, only the ones from John. And I won’t apologize for doing it either. Why didn’t you ever tell me about him? The two of you texted each other every few days for months. And for the first four or five months there was a lot of flirting going both ways and a lot of talk about hooking up again. I know you stopped after Christmas when he sent that picture. I understand and don’t blame you. I know I can’t be mad at you or jealous of something that happened before we even met.”

As he listened to what I was saying, I noticed he started to calm down. I let what I said settle between us for a few seconds before I continued.

“I just want some answers. First, why didn’t you erase any of his pictures or messages? I trust you. I promise, I do. But seeing you still have every picture he sent you, so you can look at any time you want, puts a little voice of doubt in my head. I hate it’s there, but it is.

“Second, why didn’t you tell him to stop flirting with you and stop sending you pictures after Christmas? It’s obvious from the messages that’s when you lost interest. I know you didn’t encourage him, but you didn’t stop him either.

“Finally,” I had to swallow a lump in my throat when my eyes started stinging, “why are you allowing him to say shit about me to you like he does. It fucking hurts, Sean. For two weeks, you’ve let him call me hateful names and say tons of shit about me and you haven’t said anything to him. You know I would never, NEVER, let anyone say anything remotely nasty about you. Even if I didn’t have proof and it was only he said, she said, he said bullshit. I would confront anyone who supposedly said anything about you. However, you have proof and you haven’t said a word. And that’s because you’ve been too…I don’t know, whatever your reason for burying your head in the sand.”

“What are you talking about Teej? John hasn’t said anything to me about you. Hell, I haven’t even talked to him for the past two weeks. What have I been burying my head in the sand about?”

I handed him his phone.

“Read the fucking messages he’s sent over the past two weeks. They are all marked as read. So either you’ve read the messages and haven’t said anything about them by choice, which if that’s the case I’m gone, or you’ve been ignoring him, hoping the problem will go away. I want you to know, I’ll believe whatever you tell me. Just please be honest with me. But right now, between the pictures of him on your phone and the messages he’s sent, I just don’t know.”

Sean opened his messaging app as soon as I handed him his phone and was reading the messages from the past two weeks while I spoke. From his reaction, he’s either an extremely talented actor or what he told me next was the truth. At first, I heard sharp intakes of breath, the occasional, “What the fuck?” and then, “I’m going to kick his fucking ass.” When he read the last message, he threw his phone. I guess between the fact he threw it with his left arm and he really didn’t throw it very hard, it landed at the foot of his bed. He awkwardly scooted over so he could sit in front of me. He reached out his left arm and pulled me into a tight, one-armed hug. There wasn’t anger in his eyes when he finally looked up at me. They were filled with tears, fear, and regret.

“I’m so sorry, Teej. I swear to anything and everything I can I didn’t know what they said. I thought he was just sending me flirty texts and I honestly never considered deleting them. Everyone has a weird, quirky thing they do. I like to keep all my messages, emails, voicemails, chats, and any other kind of communication I get from someone. Look in my closet, there’s a box on the top shelf in the back right corner. Can you get it out for me?”

I did what he asked and brought the box to him. It was an old stand-mixer box I could tell was filled with papers. I sat on the bed next to him and he opened the box. Inside was full of old birthday cards, letters, Valentine’s Day cards, and little hand-written notes. As he went through them, he handed them to me. It looked like he had every birthday card anyone gave him from when he was five till now. There were some letters written by his grandfather, telling him about El Paso and everything going on out there. He explained his grandfather always told him sending someone a letter was more personal than just calling them. Some of the notes were little one-line, hand-written things like “Ran to town, lunch is in the fridge, be back around 2:00. Love, Mom.” His eyes watered when he saw those.

There was even a cute little note from a girl that said, “Amber thinks you’re cute. Do you like her to?” He told me Jenny gave it to him in the second grade. He said she gave it to him while Amber was trying to hide around the corner. Castro read the note over his shoulder and Sean said neither knew how to react. He said he told Jenny to tell Amber he thought she was nice and they could be friends. Castro then made fun of him by singing “Sean and Amber sitting in a tree.”

After we went through some of the box, he showed me his phone. His messaging app had incoming texts from the day he got his phone till now.

“You see, I can’t bring myself to throw anything in this box away; so, I’ve never thought about deleting messages from my phone. I let the phone delete old ones when new ones arrive automatically, so I don’t have to do it myself. You’re right, I was trying to ignore John, hoping he would stop texting and the thread would eventually be lost in the list of old messages. I wouldn’t have to think about it again. I stopped reading his texts after the party at your place the other night. So, I promise you, I had no idea the shit he was saying. Right now, I think I would kick his ass if I saw him.

“That answers two of your questions. Honestly, I’m not proud of the answer to the last one. Part of the reason I didn’t ask him to stop flirting and sending pics is because I liked feeling wanted. The other part is because,” he paused, took a deep breath, and sighed, “I didn’t want to cut off the opportunity for maybe hooking up with him when he came to town. I hate how it sounds and I know it’s pathetic, but, I’m a teenager who likes sex now I’ve had it and I didn’t know any other gay guys my age. He was gay, wanted me, and would be available. Now that I’ve said it out loud, I feel like a pig.”

“Hey, I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing”, I chuckled.. “Between you and me, the only reason I totally cut off everything with Scott, even after knowing about Kim, was because I was moving down here. If I had stayed up there, I know I would have eventually gotten over it and listen to what he wanted to tell me. The sex was good. I get what you’re saying. But, just so you know, neither of them is a possibility for either of us. You’re mine just as much as I’m yours for as long as you want me.”

He smiled at me and drew me down to lay next to him. He placed a kiss on my forehead. “I.” A kiss to my left cheek. “Love.” A kiss to my right cheek. “You.” A kiss to my lips that lasted for a few moments. “So much. I ran out of places to kiss before I ran out of words.”

I laughed and pulled him closer to me. We started making out and I’m not sure how long we were at it. We finally pulled apart when someone cleared their throat. Josh stood in the doorway grinning at us.

“I guess y’all talked everything out and it’s okay now, huh? You’ve been up here talking for almost an hour.”

Sean looked at Josh, blushing a little.

“I forgot you were coming too Little Buddy. Sorry I’ve been a shitty host.”

“Don’t worry about it. I sat downstairs, did my homework, and listened for any signs of yelling or cussing from up here. I was making sure that one,” he pointed to me, “didn’t lose his shit. You know how irrational he gets. Everything is okay, right?”

“Hey,” I exclaimed, “I don’t get irrational. I’m just an emotional person.”

“Teej, remember a few weeks ago you accused Dad of basically stalking you after he switched your schedule around?”

Sean looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “What? What’s he talking about?” I could tell he was trying not to smile.

“Robert told me he switched my schedule around before school started and I might have said something about him trying to keep tabs on me, so he knows what I’m doing all day. Josh pointed out the fact all he would have to do is tap my name into his computer and know where I was anytime during the day.” I turned to Josh. “That wasn’t being irrational, it was jumping to conclusions.”

“Yeah, from not thinking things through like a normal, rational person would.”

“Shouldn’t Kevin be here soon? Why don’t you go wait for him in his room or something?”

Josh, the little shit he is sometimes, laughed and came into the room.

“But bubba, I wanna spend time with you and Sean. Please.” He smiled one of his patented dimpled smiles he knew would win me over. I’m such a fucking sucker for his dimples. They are almost the cutest thing in the world. They make me want to grab each cheek in both hands and pinch the shit out of them.

The three of us sat on Sean’s bed for a few minutes until we heard the doorbell ring. I told Sean I would go get it, but he stopped me and said, “I think I want to go downstairs and lay on the couch for a while. I’ve slept almost all day.” He grabbed his phone and the three of us headed down.

Josh and Sean headed for the living room while I answered the door. Aaron stood on the front porch in his uniform and I didn’t think about anything until he finally chuckled.

“Are you going to let me in, or stare at me open-mouthed all evening? You better be careful, there’s a bit of drool on your shirt.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, I spaced out for a second?” It sounded more like a question than an excuse. He laughed louder, and I stepped aside.

Sean heard his uncle laughing and yelled, “Teej, who’s there?”

I walked into the living room with Aaron right behind me.

“This pig. He was standing on the porch looking all Aaron-in-his-uniform-like and you know how I get.” I turned to Aaron winked and asked, “When are you going to let Sean borrow your uniform, so I can take it off him? Actually, I think I’d rather him leave it on and we can work around it. You might not get it back in the same condition, unless you’re willing to wait till we get it dry cleaned.”

Aaron and Josh laughed while Sean sighed. “Dammit Teej. You cannot fantasize about my uncle when we have sex.”

“Fine, whatever. Come on in and have a seat if you can find one. Lazy-bones thinks he has to take up the whole fucking couch, leaving everyone else to fend for the two-seater loveseat or the chair.”

“I’m supposed to be resting and recuperating. I’m an injured man. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be helping me or some shit or do I need to tell my dad to fire you and hire me a sexy new nurse? Hey, do you think we can order you a sexy nurse costume? That would be hot.”

I went to the couch and sat on the edge next to him. I glared his way and muttered, “Asshole.”

Aaron asked if Kevin was home yet and when we told him no, he looked at his watch. “Do you know when he should be here? I’m on a break and wanted to let him know something.”

Josh looked at the time and said, “He should be here in about ten minutes or so. What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

Aaron sat in the chair. “Everything’s fine. It’s something I need to talk to him about.”

We sat around talking for about fifteen minutes. Kevin walked through the door. His hair was slightly damp, looking like he just got out of the shower. Aaron stood up and walked over to him. “Hey Kevin. I need to speak to you for a sec. We can do it in here or we can go in the kitchen. It’s something about your dad’s case.”

Kevin sounded a little apprehensive when he said, “Okay. I think in here is fine. Is everything okay? I haven’t heard anything about what’s going on.”

“Everything’s fine. The DA’s office knows you’re staying here with my brother, so they asked if I would come by and see if you wouldn’t mind going to their office and answering some questions for them. You know he’s been charged. Now they’re building a case against him.”

Kevin looked relieved, but there was still a hint of fear in his.

“Am I going to have to testify in court or something?”

Aaron shrugged. “I can’t answer that. All I know is they want to ask you some questions. I would suggest asking Mr. Landrum to go with you. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind doing it and that way you have someone who knows the law to help you.”

“Do you think I’ll need him? I don’t know why.”

“They’re going to ask you to give a statement. The defense will be given a copy of the statement. We want to make sure there’s nothing in the statement the defense could use to help their case, even if unintentional. Also, the defense may issue a subpoena to Jacob to bring you down and answer their questions too. The DA doesn’t want to subpoena you, they would rather you come in voluntarily. So it wouldn’t hurt to ask him. Anyways, my break’s over. I’ll talk to y’all later.” He handed Kevin a business card. “Just give them a call and set up a meeting. Bye.”

Kevin looked shell-shocked after Aaron left. Josh walked over to him and grabbed his hand. “Hey Big-guy. you doing alright? You want to sit on the loveseat with me? Come on.”

Kevin followed Josh to the loveseat where Josh forced him to sit first. Josh situated himself so he was sitting in Kevin’s lap, looking straight into his eyes. “Talk to me, please. What’s going through your head?”

Kevin looked at us and then at the clock. “Do you mind if I wait till Mr. McNair gets home? I don’t want to discuss everything I’m thinking twice. Will your dad mind if y’all don’t go home yet?”

I pulled out my phone to call Robert. I let him know what was going on, and that Kevin wanted Josh to be there. He asked if we were going to stay for dinner, so I asked Sean what he thought. Sean cursed.

“I don’t even know what we’re eating for dinner yet. For the past few weeks, Kevin or I would make dinner for the three of us before Dad got home. He’ll be here in a few minutes. Hopefully, he thought to grab something on the way.”

Robert overheard this and laughed.

“Lori and I will grab a few pizzas and head over. Let Jacob know we’re coming over with dinner and we can all sit down and help Kevin. I told him I would be there for him, and I plan on keeping to that promise. Has he called Patrick Landrum yet?” I told him no, and he continued. “I’ll call him and ask if he’s willing to take Kevin on pro bono. I think he will. We’ll be there in about 15 minutes. Lori’s ordering the pizzas now.”

I hung up and relayed the news to the rest of the group. About five minutes later, Jacob came in through the garage door. He looked in the kitchen and then at all of us sitting in the living room.

“Hey, I guess I didn’t think about dinner. I’ll be right back with something for us. Are Josh and TJ joining us?”

Kevin spoke up. “Actually, Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Simmons, Lori, are on their way over with pizzas. There’s something I need to talk about and I want everyone’s opinions on what they think I should do.”

“Alright, is everything okay?”

“Everything is okay right now. I just have some things on my mind and some other things I need to make decisions about.”

“Alright, son. I’ll run and change and be back in a second.”

He left the room. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. I told everyone I would get it, thinking it was Robert. I opened the door to find Mr. Landrum standing there wearing shorts and a polo shirt.

“Mr. Landrum, we didn’t expect to see you tonight. I guess you spoke to Robert.”

“Yeah, Teej,” a voice from behind him said, “I called him and filled him in on most of what’s going on and he agreed to come speak with Kevin and Jacob.”

I moved out of the doorway to let Mr. Landrum, Robert, and Lori into the house. Jacob entered the living room the same time we walked in from the foyer. When he saw Mr. Landrum, he shook his hand.

“Patrick, this is a surprise. What’s going on? Kevin, are you sure everything’s okay?”

“Why doesn’t everyone grab some pizza and meet up back in here and I’ll explain everything.”

We all agreed and five minutes later, we were all gathered in the living room. Jacob and Mr. Landrum sat on the couch, Robert and Lori sat on the loveseat, Kevin and Josh sat on the floor, and finally, Sean sat in the chair with me sitting on the floor between his legs. Kevin relayed them everything Aaron had told us. When he finished, Jacob asked him what he wanted to do.

Kevin looked lost for a second, so I leaned in and placed my hand on his shoulder.

“Just tell us everything you’re thinking right now. Talk it out. We’re all here for you, bub.”

Kevin nodded and began.

“I haven’t really thought about my dad much in the past few weeks. You know, since my mom left, it’s just been the two of us. He took care of me the best he could, but that doesn’t make him a good father. He was always drinking and insulting people. Always telling me I had to strive to be the best. I couldn’t be second-best at anything. Sports, school, it didn’t matter. If I wasn’t the best, I needed to practice more or study more. If I failed at something, he would yell and call me a stupid failure. If someone got past me on the field, I was a slow-assed, pansy faggot.” He chuckled and continued. “That was one of his favorite words when I was growing up. Kind of ironic, huh?

“I knew he wasn’t a good dad, but he never physically abused me, so I never said anything. I know emotional and psychological abuse exist, but they’re always hard to prove. I never really let him get to me too much. I’m a good student and a good player. Besides, it’s kind of hard to get past someone my size.” We all laughed. “Uncle Ronnie knew how my dad acted and would always ask me if everything was okay at home. I never lied to him and it caused a few fights between them. I heard him and my dad arguing a lot about how he was drinking too much and how he pushed me too hard sometimes.

“When he showed up that night, I was scared shitless of my dad for the first time. I think he wanted to kill me. Why else would he bring a gun? He got shot that night. I know y’all knowthat, you were there with me. My dad got shot because he refused to drop his gun, saying he wouldn’t leave without his faggot-ass son, so he could ‘beat the fag out of him.’ Now, I’m going to have to tell the DA all of this. I will possibly have to talk to the sleazy defense lawyers, and maybe testify in court. Actually, if I know my dad, he’ll hold out for a good plea deal. I’m afraid what’s going to happen when he gets out and he knows I’m the one whose statement put him there. In his mind, I know he thinks he’s innocent. He should be able to raise his kid the way he wants, and the government shouldn’t interfere with that. I know the right thing to do is go to the DA and give my statement, but part of my mind is telling me to wait for the subpoena, so I can tell him I had no choice.”

He turned to Mr. Landrum. “I can’t afford to pay for your services, and don’t want to ask Mr. McNair for any money. I have some in my savings, I can pay a little. Can you give me some legal advice?”

Mr. Landrum shook his head. “I’m not taking one damn penny from you or Jacob. I make plenty of money off my clients, ask Robert. I’m going to help you out pro bono. I agree with Aaron, I think you should voluntarily speak to the DA’s office. If the defense wants to interview you , we’ll make them subpoena you. I will be present for both meetings to make sure everything goes smoothly. I want to help you out. And don’t think of this as charity. I like to do pro bono work sometimes. It feels nice to give back after I take so much from my normal billing hours.” He winked at Robert.

Robert laughed and responded, “You’re nothing but a dirty thief.”

Kevin looked like a weight had been taken off his shoulders and he visibly relaxed. After a few more minutes of talking, Mr. Landrum asked to speak to Robert outside before he left. He said goodbye, and he and Robert walked outside.

Sean and Lori started talking and I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but they were essentially speaking right over my head. She asked him how he was doing and when he told her he was alright, she told him to cut the bullshit and be honest. He looked down at me, and said, “Actually, there’s something I need to do. I need to make a phone call, I’ll be right back. Teej, will you come with me?”

I stood up and followed him out back. We sat at the poolside table. He pulled out his phone and pulled up his messaging thread. He long-pressed John’s thread and chose delete. When the phone popped up, “Confirm Delete?” He didn’t hesitate and hit “OK.” I looked at him.

“Thank you. I know how hard that was for you. After you showed me your box, I didn’t expect you to delete them, and I wasn’t going to ask you to. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to make me happy. But honestly, thank-fucking-god for doing it. It means a lot.”

“It wasn’t hard at all. I saw the hurt in your eyes earlier and was going to do it then. But we started making out, got interrupted by Josh, then Aaron came over, and everything else happened. I knew I needed to do it, and I wanted you to see I really don’t care about him. I wanted to do it for us. Now, let’s make a phone call to tell him to back off.”

He pulled up John’s contact information and hit the green button. The phone rang twice. “Hey babe, I’ve been waiting for you to call. Did you finally wise up and dump T-fag?”

Sean took a deep breath to keep his anger in check.

“John, please don’t call TJ that again. I’m calling to ask you to stop sending me messages and pictures. For the past two weeks, I’ve ignored every text you sent me. I was hoping if I ignored you long enough, you’d get the hint and leave me alone. I had no idea the shit you were saying about TJ. I don’t appreciate you saying shit about him and disrespecting my relationship. I’m with TJ and that’s not going to change. Please leave us both alone.”

Before Sean could hang up, we heardJohn speaking,

“You’ll fucking regret this. You led me on for a fucking year.”

“Actually, I stopped encouraging you in December if you look at the messages. You’re nothing like the person I met last year. Do you honestly think you impress anyone with the way you act? I thought you were a nice guy. Now I see you’re nothing but a vindictive slut who thinks he has to sleep with everyone he can to make friends. None of those guys are your friends and if you’re not careful, you’re going to get hurt. You need to take a few steps back and look in the mirror. Goodbye, John. Don’t talk to me, message me, or think about me again.”

He did hang up that time. He looked over at me and smiled.

“It feels good to get all of those thoughts off my chest.”

“Again, you didn’t have to do that for me.”

“I didn’t. I did it for us. I love you. Let’s go inside.”

As we were walking in the backdoor, Sean started looking through his phone. He sat back down in the chair and as I went to sit between his legs, I heardSean asked a question.

“What’s this?”

Before I could ask what he was talking about, I heard audio playing through his phone speaker. It was my voice saying, “I need to record this.”

I quickly stood up and walked towards the door. As I was about to open it, eSan shouted.

“You asshole! You really recorded that?”

When I entered the room again, I was wearing an innocent smile. Lori, Kevin, Josh, and Jacob were all laughing. I said, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you taking advantage of your poor boyfriend when he wasn’t sure what was really going on. Don’t worry, though, I deleted it.”

I pulled out my phone and quickly sent a text to Josh and Kevin with the video attached. I said, “Deleted what? This?” I hit play.

He called me an asshole again and started begging me to delete it. Kevin and Josh both pulled out their phones and started playing the video. Sean was trying to look angry but every time he heard himself say, “You can call me Lupe,” he had to fight the smile that was tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Robert walked back in and told us it was time to head home. As we were walking to our cars, I asked what Mr. Landrum wanted to talk about. Robert smiled.

“Mel dropped the custody case. She always thought Mom and Dad had money stashed away I wouldn’t tell her about. I’m not sure where she got the idea, but I could never convince her they weren’t rich. Her lawyer requested my financial records. Mr. Landrum handed them over and received a phone call a few hours later saying Mel decided she was not going to pursue full custody. He asked if she was still going for shared and was informed she wasn’t interested in custody at all.” He turned to Josh, “I’m sorry. I know she’s let you down so many times and now this. You know I love you, right?”

Josh actually smiled.

“Dad, all I need are you, Teej, Kevin, and our friends. You’re my family now. I don’t want or need her. I’m better off without her. Besides,” he winked at Lori, “maybe I’ll have a stepmom in the near future.” He laughed, leaving both Robert and Lori standing there with their mouths hanging open.