Josh - 1. Chapter 1

“Dad, I don’t want to leave. All my friends are here and I just made the rugby squad. Do we really have to move?”

“Yes, I told you Josh, I have to go where the job is. I’m sure after you get settled in your new home you’ll like it.”

Josh wasn’t so sure. He didn’t like change and had a hard time when he had to leave school for a private school when his father moved too Nottingham. Change was something that was hard for Josh but there was another reason, Josh had found a boyfriend and now he’d have to leave him behind.

“I know Peter, I don’t want to leave but what can I do. I’m not old enough to stay by myself and my dad is insisting I go…Of course I’m going to miss you. We can keep in touch, there’s FaceTime and I’ll send you pictures.”

“I just think this stinks, we just found each other.”

“Maybe you can visit. I know my dads wouldn’t have a problem with you visiting. They like you.”

“Yea, that’ll work, you must contact me as soon as you arrive in America.”

“I will, I’ll FaceTime, you know I love you.”

“I know and I love you also.”

Josh really wasn’t into the move. “Josh, just pack enough for one week, the rest will be shipped over with the furniture. Our flight leaves tomorrow morning, so pack and we’ll have an early night."

“This is going to be rough on him Ron. You know he doesn’t like change and he’ll be leaving his best friend behind.”

“I know Jim, but what choice do I have. This is a big promotion for me and you have that job waiting for you as well. We just have to keep him busy. Peter can visit during school holidays, if his parents permit.”

“You know we’ll have a problem with Americans. They aren’t too accepting of married gays.”

“Will just have to roll with the dice. Our marriage is strong enough to handle anything, Josh is the one that I feel for. They can be cruel, especially the homophobes in school.”

“We should keep our eyes and ears open. If I see any bullying, we’ll either change schools or home school. He had no problems here in England and I’m hoping he’ll have no problems there as well.”

“Let’s go to bed, tomorrow will be here earlier than we would want.”

“Josh, come on. We’ll stop and have breakfast on the way. It’s nice that Nigel is willing to drive us to the airport.”

“We’ll have to buy his breakfast and send him a gift from America.”

“Josh, please don’t look like it’s the end of the world. I know this is hard for you, but you’ll make new friends.”

“Yea, but it won’t be the same. I was just making friends at my school and now I need to start all over. They don’t even know what rugby is over there.”

“Maybe that’ll be an opportunity for you to teach them. Look at football, they never played that much and now it’s a national sport.”

“Yea, they call football soccer. I wonder what they’ll call rugby.”

“Probably free for all.”

“Dad, this isn’t funny.”

“I know, there’s Nigel let’s go.” Josh had tears as he left. His dads looked at him, they could feel his hurt.

The trip to the airport, after having breakfast, was very quiet. Ron looked at Josh and saw the tears in his eyes, he felt bad about making Josh leave, but he needed this job. The flight to America was uneventful. Ron kept an eye on Josh. Josh just kept looking out the window, all he saw was the sky and looking down, some clouds.

Josh’s thoughts were on Peter and having to leave his home. He was scared about his new school, would he make friends, that wasn’t easy for him, when would he see Peter again.

Arriving at the airport, Josh was almost hyper. His dads got the carry-ons down from the over head compartments, following the other passengers as they headed to customs. With their passports ready, they answered a few questions and went to the luggage area to pick up their luggage. When they got to the luggage area, Ron saw a man with his name on a placard.

“Jim, that must be our ride. The company said they would have someone to meet us.”

Ron went and introduced himself to the driver, “We’ll be ready as soon as we get our luggage.” The driver nodded and waited until Ron, Jim and Josh collected their luggage, checked through security, “If you follow me, my car is parked at the curb.”

“Dad, where are we staying?”

“We have a home which the company is renting for us. But tonight we’ll stay at a hotel until our furniture and the rest of our household effects arrive.”

The driver pulled in front of a hotel, before the guys got out of the car, a bell hop was placing the baggage on a cart and pushing it into the hotel. “Ron, you see to the bags and I’ll register.”

The bellhop took the key and led them to their room, Ron tipped the boy, and began to look around. There were three rooms, two bedrooms and a living room with a bar and TV, Internet hook up was available. Josh unpacked his computer and immediately FaceTime’d Peter.

“Ron, let’s go and give him some private time.” Jim and Ron went into their bedroom. “Should we order in or go out for dinner?”

“Let’s go out. It might cheer Josh a little.”

Ron and Jim took a shower and changed into fresh clothes. Walking back into the living room, “Where’s Josh?”

“Josh where are you?”

Josh came out of his room, tears were running down his face. Ron felt like shit when he saw that. He knew it would be tough for Josh, but didn’t expect the tears. Jim went and pulled Josh into a hug, patting him on his back. “Josh, let’s make a deal. Give it one year and at the end of that year if you still feel the same, we’ll figure out a way for you to return to Nottingham, ok?’

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes, we mean that.”

Josh thought one year isn’t so bad. I could put up with one year if it meant I could go back and be with Peter and my friends. “What do you feel like for dinner tonight? I noticed there’s an Italian restaurant not far from here. Should we go there?”

Josh washed his face and they headed to the restaurant for dinner. With the deal in place, Josh’s mood had improved.

Three weeks later they were notified that their household goods would be delivered to their home. Last week they drove to the house where they would live while in America. It was a large house on a rather large lot, at least as compared to the house they had in England. As soon as the door opened, Josh started to wander around. He went upstairs and noted the three bedrooms, picked out his room and when his dads came upstairs he told them he’d like the room in the back. The room had a large window that looked out over the back yard which was rather extensive. Ron looked at Jim, “I think he likes the woods at the back.”

The household goods arrived on schedule, the men helped to unload the truck. Now the fun would begin as cartons were opened and placed either in cupboards, dressers or closets. “Tomorrow we’ll get internet service. Then you can contact Peter.”

While they were unpacking, the door bell rang. Ron went to answer as he was unpacking in the kitchen. “Hi, I’m Doris Chester your next door neighbor. I know what a mess moving can be so I thought rather than preparing dinner, we’d like you and your family to join us for a barbecue at our home.”

“Thank you very much, we’d love to join you,”

“Great, we’re right next door, 604. We eat at seven so just come over whenever you’re ready.”

“Who was that Ron?”

“Our next door neighbor, she just invited us for a barbecue.”

“That’s very nice of them, I guess we’ll test the waters.”

“Dad, where’s my rugby ball? Didn’t you pack it?”

“Yes, it’s in the box from the garage”

“Who was that at the door?”

"Our next door neighbor who invited us over for a barbecue.”

“What’s a barbecue?”

“You know, when we cook meat over coals at home. You might be lucky and get your first American hotdog.”

Josh just looked this dad, “Hotdog?”

The guys finished unpacking, “It’s six why don’t we take a shower and head on over. We can chat a little before dinner and also determine the lay of the land.”

“Shouldn’t we bring something over with us?”

“Do you still have that bottle of wine we bought at the Duty Free shop?”

“Yes”“

“Bring that, Josh are you ready?”

“Yes, I’ll be right down.”

“Let’s go and get a quick shower and then we can go.”

“I thought you guys were ready to go.”

“In 10 minutes”

“Are you nervous?”

“A little, not sure if we’ll be welcome after they meet us.”

“Hello, come on in. Isn’t your wife coming?”

“No, Doris, we don’t have a wife, this is my partner Jim and our son Josh.”

The look on Doris’s face changed from inquisitive to astonished. Without thinking, “You’re gay.”

“Yes, I know it’s unusual in America but quite common in Europe. If that’s a problem, we can leave. I don’t want to impose if you’re uncomfortable.”

“No, no, come right on in. I was just taken back a little. I wasn’t expecting that. Come on in and meet the rest of the family.”

“This is for you, we haven’t gone shopping yet but I think if you enjoy wine, you’ll enjoy this.”

“Thank you, come along were out back.”

We followed Doris to the back patio. “This is my husband Rich, my daughter Samantha and my son Dawson.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, this is my partner Jim and our son, Josh.”

Whenever we’re introduced and it becomes obvious we’re a gay couple, the expressions we receive are sometimes hilariously funny. And the kids are the ones that break the ice.

“So your parents are gay?”

“Yes, is that a problem?”

“Nope, cool, so how old are you?”

“I’m sixteen. I’ll be seventeen in August. How old are you?”

“I’ll be sixteen this coming Saturday. I’m having a small party with a barbecue, can you come?”

“I’ll check with my parents, but I don’t see a reason why not. I’m not sure what you do at a birthday party. At home, a group of buddies go to a sports center, play rugby, then have something to eat.”

“What’s rugby? I never heard of that game?”

“It’s something like your American football but we don’t wear pads. Have you never seen a rugby game? Do you have a computer? I have a disc of our last game, I played rugby at my school.”

“Yes, we could watch it while the old folks chat.”

“Ok, I’ll be right back. Dad may I have the house key, I’m going to get my game disk from my last game.”

Dawson and I ran to my house, I got the disc and headed back. “Wait just a sec, what’s that, it looks like a football”

“No, this is a rugby ball. I think it’s just a little different from your American football.”

“I have a football, we can compare.”

“Mom, we’re going be in my room. Come on, they’ll call us when it’s time to eat.”

Josh put the disc in the computer while Dawson booted the computer. “This is the last game I played. I’ll explained as we go along.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s called a scrum, watch, the ball is dropped in the center and then each team tries to prevent the other team from getting it. One of them will pass the ball to the outside man who then runs it to the goal. They score by running to the goal or kicking it over the goal post. Kicking it, gets you more points.”

“You aren’t wearing any protective clothing.”

“No, unless you have an injury than you might wear a patch over it. I think some of the sports channels carry these games. They’re played in all of her Majesty’s commonwealth.”

“Which one is you?”

“That one with the torn sleeve, one of the boys on the other team grabbed me to prevent me from kicking the ball. He tore the shirt but I still managed to kick the ball.”

“That looks like fun. Can you teach me how to play?”

“Sure but we’ll need more players.”

“Great, when my friends are here for my birthday you can teach us.”

“I’ll print off some rules that’ll give you an idea how to play.”

That evening at home, I FaceTime’d Peter. I told him about being at the neighbors for a barbecue and meeting Dawson. “I’m going to teach him and his friends how to play Rugby. How are you doing and how’s school?” …Yea, I miss you also….I don’t know how long we’ll be here. The dads are quite excited about the new job.,,, Yes, we live in a nice house. My bedroom overlooks the garden and there is a wooded area at the far end. It’s quiet.”