String - 17. Epilogue

“Wake up Jake,” Danny whispered to me as I lay sleeping on his bed in his room after a sleepover.

“Why does the sun have to come up so early in the morning in July?” I asked. I had just spent my two weeks with dad and was looking forward to getting back into marching band shape in the coming weeks. We were having a Disney theme for the upcoming year, my senior year. I couldn’t wait to start school. The sooner school started the sooner we would graduate.

Danny walked around to the other side of the bed and shook Kyle, rousing him from his comfortable sleep next to me. It takes a real friend to let your best friend and his boyfriend sleep in your bed while you sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor.

Kyle rolled over and tried to avoid being awakened. “Whose idea was it to do this?” he asked.

“Yours,” Danny said. “Come on, wake up.”

Kyle rolled out of bed and stood up. He’d had a haircut during my time with dad, and his hair looked great. Having shorter hair made him look younger. Mr. Reilly had invited him to help with band during “hell week” at the school before heading to Penn State campus to begin practice for their marching band while we were at band camp. It would be hard to see him leave, but I was happy for him to be going to his dream college on a scholarship.

“Thank goodness you weren’t born one day later,” Kyle told me once. “I don’t know if I’d have said yes to going out with a sophomore instead of a junior.”

I was so glad that Kyle and Danny had become friends over the course of the last few months. When he found out that Kyle didn’t even own a cell phone, Danny took him to the store himself and bought it for him for his birthday.

“You have to have a way to keep in touch with Jake,” he insisted when Kyle hesitated. “It took me years find the right guy for him and I don’t want you guys screwing it up.”

I loved how he took credit for putting us together.

“If I hadn’t threatened to hit him with a car, you two might have never gotten together,” he said.

Kyle had even helped Danny by giving him trumpet lessons. That was what Kyle wanted to do with his life, something where he could share with others his love of music and performing. Danny… Well Danny found himself yet another girlfriend. Actually, he found himself an old girlfriend as he got back together with Kayla.

“I just wanted a relationship that wasn’t all about sex like you guys have,” he said.

“You mean our relationship isn’t about sex?” Kyle asked me.

“I kinda like the sex part,” I replied. “Especially the way you suck my…”

“Shut up!” Danny laughed.

“…ear,” I finished.

Danny had even bigger plans for the alliance, which had doubled in size since we’d started meeting. It was great to be able to go with Kyle to the prom, and he was going to come back and go with me when our class had it. The alliance had worked hard to make sure that same-sex couples were treated just like the other couples. And for the most part, people around the school were cool about things. Old man Taylor retired from the school board at the end of the school year, and much of that old way of thinking about sexuality retired with him.

“Sexuality is more art than science,” Kyle said at his last meeting before graduating. “You can’t just check a box on a page and say you’re this or that. The heart wants what it wants, even when people try to tell you that’s wrong. We’ll be the generation that finally sees the end of the fear and prejudice and live our lives as we were meant to be.”

Kyle especially liked staying at my house, and I know why.

“So my mother has basically adopted you,” I told him. “I’m pretty sure she’d be happy to keep you and get rid of me if she had to pick one.

“I like your mom,” Kyle replied. “I feel like a piece of my heart that had been missing for a long time is back again.”

“I’m just glad she and dad are getting along again,” I said.

Boy that was true! I think I was finally starting to forgive them both for the way they’d treated each other and used me in their war against each other. I was seeing a counselor to help me keep things in better perspective. I tried to read Mr. Reilly’s mom’s book like Kyle had, but it was a bit over my head with all the technical stuff, and she seemed a bit full of herself to be honest.

Danny had us all ready to go outside into his yard, with Kyle and me dragging our feet behind him. It was very early, but the sky was already beginning to lighten in the east. Danny’s house had a great view of the sunrise. You could almost see the Allegheny Mountains in the distance from there.

“I haven’t watched a sunrise in years,” Kyle said, sitting down on one of the lawn chairs Danny had set out for us. “Not since my mom died.”

“Well this is a new beginning for all of us,” Danny said.

I sat down between the two of them and grabbed hold of Kyle’s hand. “That’s the direction you’ll be when you go to school,” I said. “Whenever I miss you, I’ll think of this morning.”

“And now that you know how to Skype and Snapchat you’ll have no excuse not to keep in touch. Plus you can sext on that thing,” Danny said.

“You want to look at my dick from a hundred miles away?” Kyle asked.

“One hundred forty-eight miles. But who’s counting?” I said. “I miss you already.”

“It’s only a couple of months until Christmas break,” Kyle replied. “I’ll be back before you know it.” He leaned over and kissed me.

“You guys are so cute,” Danny said. “It makes me sick,” he laughed.

The sky grew brighter. Unlike a sunset, the sun would be very bright when it peeked over the horizon. The treetops beside us began to glow with the light of sunlight.

“Here it comes,” Danny said.

Over the ridge, the sun rose and bathed us with light and warmth. Kyle and I kissed.

“I love you,” he said.

“I love you too,” I replied.

“And I love everybody!” Danny chipped in.

“And we love you too,” I replied.

“Even though you wanted to run me over in the parking lot after I made captain,” Kyle grinned.

We all shared a good laugh. It was good to know that no matter what this crazy life threw our way, we would always have each other.

     + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

That’ll wrap it up! Thanks so much for reading “String.” It was an adventure, for sure, and it helped me do something constructive during all this mess of pandemic. I’ve really appreciated all the kind thoughts and comments on the story. I hope you enjoyed the adventure. When I started I had no idea where we’d end up, but I think it went well.

Peace, Jeff