Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.Β
Gap Year - 88. Chapter 88
April 9, 2004
Aboard the Tonto
The Mediterranean Sea
Β
Will
βThis would be better if it were summer,β Travis said, as we got out of the water. The Tonto had paused her progress to allow us to ride the jet skis around, but the waves had started to pick up, and we had places to go, so after an hour, weβd hauled them back aboard.
βPussy,β I accused. βThis is way warmer than the Pacific.β
βWhatever,β he grumbled, then smiled. βTime to hot tub.β
I was trying to decide what to do about my wetsuit, and I opted to just take it off and get into the hot tub naked. Travis followed my lead, even as we looked around nervously, worried that weβd somehow offend Elise. I gestured toward the sun deck where she was sunbathing nude. βI guess weβre okay without clothes on.β
βYeah, I think she set the precedent,β he said.
βSheβs smoking hot,β I said, admiring her body.
βIf you say so,β he said. I looked at him strangely. βDude, I told you Iβm totally gay.β
I laughed at that. βIβm really glad that you are.β
βI figured youβd be pissed at me,β he said.
βYou mean because you went and planned this whole thing out, your escape, your scheme to take over Buck Industries, all of that, and you didnβt say anything to me?β I asked him acidly. βYou mean because it shows that you donβt really trust me? You think I might be pissed about that?β
βA little bit,β he said nervously. βItβs hard to explain.β
βTry me,β I said. I was mad now, because Iβd buried my resentment about his keeping me in the dark, but heβd torn that scab off and now the wound hurt.
βWhen we get out of here and go back to our cabin, thereβs something I want you to read,β he said. His voice was calm, but more than that, heβd piqued my curiosity.
βWhat?β I asked.
βI kept a journal for most of the time I was gone,β he said. βItβs just me, jotting down my thoughts. I did it to have something to do. I wasnβt planning to show it to anyone, and Iβll probably just delete it, but I want you to read it.β
βYou want me to read your diary?β I asked.
βItβs a journal, not a diary,β he corrected. βBut yeah, I do.β
βAlright, Iβll stop being pissed at you and Iβll wait to rant at you until Iβve read it,β I said, smiling at him, and getting a huge grin in return. I wasnβt sure what heβd written, but regardless, he was offering to share his most intimate thoughts. He was trying to make this up to me. It would probably work, I thought, and chuckled.
βThanks,β he said, and reached out to hold my hand in an affectionate way.
βYour mom came to see me after she got your email,β I said, broaching the subject that I knew I had to tackle.
βShe flew up to Palo Alto?β he asked.
βShe did, and barged right into Escorial without an invitation,β I said, acting like that was the height of rudeness. βThatβs probably going to get her dropped off the Bastille Day party guest list.β He laughed at my humor.
βSo what did she want?β he asked.
βShe wanted to know where you were, and she was convinced that I knew,β I said.
βThatβs why I didnβt tell you, so you wouldnβt have to lie,β he said, only that objection brought my anger back.
βI would rather have had that choice, and even if I knew, I wouldnβt have told her,β I snapped, then mellowed again. βShe did toss out one interesting fact.β
βWhat?β he asked fatalistically.
βShe confirmed that Curtis Buck isnβt your biological father,β I said.
βWhat?β he asked again, only this time with outrage. βWhy did she tell you that?β
βBecause I asked her. She wanted us to explain the financial issues that Buck Industries was having, and I wouldnβt do that until she answered the question,β I said.
βShe told you, but she wonβt tell me,β he said, shaking his head.
βShe said that she was planning to lay this all out for you when you turn eighteen,β I explained. βI got the feeling thatβs been her plan, and probably Curtisβs plan, for a long time.β
He sighed. βSo who is my biological father?β
βShe wouldnβt tell me,β I said. βShe did suggest that it was someone we would know, so itβs not like a total stranger.β
βGreat,β he said. βNow I have to spend the time until my birthday trying to figure out who boned my mom and knocked her up.β
βIβve already been working on that,β I said.
βAlright, who are the candidates?β he asked.
βYou remember Scott Slater, the dude we surfed with in Hawaii?β I asked. He nodded. βHeβs one of them.β
βI donβt look like him at all,β he objected.
βHeβs had a shitload of plastic surgery done, so you wouldnβt be able to tell,β I said.
βGuy was kind of cool, and he did look at me strangely when he met me,β Travis said. βWho else?β
βIf your mom was feeling frisky around the time of Claireβs wedding, that brings in a couple of other candidates,β I said. βOne is a cousin of mine, named Rich Crampton. Heβs fathered a bunch of kids outside of his marriage. The other is Robbie, but that seems pretty unlikely.β
βBecause heβs gay?β he asked.
βNo. Besides, Darius always said that of the gay guys in my family, Robbie was the straightest,β I said in a joking way. βDarius used to tell him all about the chicks he fucked.β
βThen why donβt you think heβs my father?β Travis asked.
βMy father doesnβt think that Robbie would have cheated on him at that point in their relationship, especially since Robbie had just broken free from an abusive relationship heβd had in college,β I explained. βAnd he thinks that if Robbie had done it, he would have told my father about it.β
βIβm guessing that there wasnβt anyone better at reading Robbie than your father, so heβs probably right about that,β Travis said.
βPretty much,β I agreed.
βThatβs almost disappointing because Robbie was a pretty cool dude,β Travis said, which was such a nice thing to say about Robbie it made me smile. βBetter than the other two people you mentioned.β
βAnother possibility is Greg Anders, and a bit less likely is Stefan,β I said.
βHow the fuck could Stef be my father?β Travis asked, then started laughing. βDude, heβs as gay as I am.β
βActually, heβs not,β I said. βHeβs been with women before.β
βStillβ¦β Travis began.
βStef admitted to me that around the time you would have been conceived, he and Greg had a threesome with your mother,β I said.
βThere is no fucking way,β he objected, shaking his head to emphasize his disbelief.
βYes, there is,β I said. βStef said that he and Greg had a big fight when they were at a party at the Buck Mansion, and went off into the wooded area to argue so they didnβt make a scene.β
βThe infamous woods of the Buck Mansion,β Travis said, chuckling.
βI told him thatβs where we went to smoke weed,β I said.
βWe didnβt have sex there, though,β he said, then leered at me. βYet.β I laughed, then went on.
βThey argued, then made up, and while they were having make-up sex, your mom found them and joined in,β I said.
βChrist,β Travis said. βDonβt these people use fucking condoms?β
βStef said that he wasnβt sure if they did, because they werenβt using them with each other,β I said. βIt was the 1980s, though, and with the AIDS epidemic, I would have thought theyβd be careful.β
βIs that the list?β he asked.
βSo far,β I answered.
βYour father didnβt fuck my mother, did he?β he asked, and was really freaked out about that.
βNo, he didnβt,β I said. βWhy?β
βBecause that would fuck things up for us,β he said. βIf he was my father too, and we were together, that would be incest.β I was surprised he was so uptight about that, but it didnβt happen, so it wasnβt a big deal.
βThen itβs a good thing we donβt have to worry about that,β I said. βYour father sent a stooge to try and get me to tell him where you were.β
βHe did?β Travis asked. I told him all about my encounter in the City, and how I talked to his attorney. βThat guy totally fucked me over.β
βBecause he issued that press release early, and screwed up your plans to buy out Buck Industries?β I asked. He blinked at me, then grimaced.
βI should have known youβd figure that out,β he grumbled. βDoesnβt matter anyway.β
βWhy?β I asked, even though I knew the answer.
βBecause those fuckers let that info out early, and Buck was sold yesterday,β he said. βI totally fucked that up. Big and Taylor are going to hate me.β
βWhy would they hate you?β I asked. βYou didnβt drive the company into bankruptcy. And even if youβd bought it out, theyβd have been out of the loop anyway.β
βI guess,β he said. βItβs just a family legacy thing. Theyβll see that Iβm the one that caused it to tank, and then when they find out Iβm only their half-brother, theyβll band together and decide that Iβm evil incarnate.β
βYouβre talking like you have a good relationship with them, this amazing bond that will be ruined, but you donβt have that kind of deal with them at all,β I reminded him.
βThatβs not true,β he objected. I gave him a steely look to challenge his assertion, and he grimaced even before I spoke, knowing I was right.
βYou have so much resentment against Taylor that you fuck all of her boyfriends, and itβs pretty obvious that Big either bullies you or treats you like youβre some afterthought,β I pointed out. βSo what if they hate you?β
βYou wouldnβt feel that way if your brothers hated you,β he shot back.
βMy brothers arenβt like that,β I snapped, because there was no way Iβd put them in the same sibling category as Taylor and Big. βOnly one of my brothers is an asshole.β That made him chuckle because he knew I was referring to JJ.
βDid you put the pieces on this thing together all by yourself, or did someone else figure it out for you?β he asked.
βIβm quite capable of figuring shit out,β I said, and was really pissed at him for implying I couldnβt.
βThatβs not what I meant,β he said hastily, realizing that heβd hit me in a particularly sore spot. Heβd insulted my intelligence. βI was just curious.β
βI figured it out when I was meeting with Stef, Grand, and my father, and I asked them what the impact of that lawsuit would be,β I said. βThe thing that bothers me the most about this is that you didnβt tell me about it.β
βI guess I wanted to plan this out and win the victory on my own,β he said. βI wanted to prove that I was smarter than all of them, and that I could succeed where they had failed miserably.β
βSee, this is the problem. You were off being a lone wolf, trying to save the world all by yourself. And hereβs the deal. If youβd told me what you wanted to do, together we could have made it happen,β I said.
βI wonder who ended up buying out Buck,β he mused. βThey havenβt released any info on it.β
βI havenβt heard anything yet, but Iβll ask my father if he knows,β I said. I wasnβt sure yet if our bid had been the winner, so I didnβt tell him that we were in the mix of firms bidding to buy the company.
βLetβs go rinse off and get something to eat,β Travis said. We climbed out of the hot tub and wrapped ourselves in towels, then went down to our cabin to make love, take a shower, and get dressed.
βHere, I put some of my stuff that will probably fit you on this side of the closet, and in those drawers,β I said, gesturing at the appropriate places.
βWe donβt wear the same size,β he objected.
βClose enough,β I said. βYour waist is an inch bigger than mine because youβre a fatass.β
βFuck you,β he said playfully.
βI could go again,β I said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.
βFood,β he said, shaking his head at me. He picked some clothes from the stuff Iβd put aside for him, then we went up to the dining cabin. Charles was the only one in there, and he was reading something that looked work-related.
βHello,β Charles said enthusiastically. βI hope you are not offended by Eliseβs sunbathing.β
βNot at all,β I said. βSheβs hot.β
βShe most certainly is,β he agreed, making us chuckle.
βWe were about to get in the hot tub nude, but didnβt want to offend her. Then we saw her on the sun deck and now everyone is chill,β I said.
βThat is the force that is Elise. She makes people chill,β he said, cracking us up. Grand came strolling into the room, so we all greeted him. βI am wondering if you would mind listening to me talk about your legal situation for a few minutes?β Charles asked, turning to Travis.
βGo ahead,β Travis said.
βThere is a warrant out for your arrest in the United States,β Charles said, telling us something we knew. βThat is enforceable in the European Union, which means they can apprehend you.β
βI can try to fight the charges my father levied against me, but I probably need to be in LA to do that. I donβt want to go back there until I turn eighteen, which is on April 20th,β Travis said, and was pretty upset about it. βIf I stay here, Iβll end up getting arrested. If I go back to Malibu, Iβll end up dead.β
βIt is much less likely for them to try to arrest you when you are on this ship than if you go ashore,β Charles said.
βThat sucks,β Travis said, then seemed worried that heβd offended us. βI mean, I love it here, but thatβs a long time to be cooped up.β
βIt is,β I said, to let him know I understood where he was coming from.
βI can understand your point, and being aboard may not be that much of a deterrent. If you are in the territorial waters of an EU nation, you are at risk,β Charles said. βStill, it would be very unusual for them to try to apprehend you at sea.β
βIf my father has his way, theyβll do it,β Travis said. βSo what you consider to be unusual is probably what will happen.β
βIf you want to be completely safe, we will keep you aboard the boat and we will stay in international waters,β he said. βThis ship is registered in the Bahamas, so in that case, Bahamian law would have jurisdiction.β
βI wonder if the Bahamians would track him down and arrest him?β I asked.
βI do not think that anyone will track Travis down and arrest him unless they are being urged on by someone who wants that to happen,β Charles said.
βLike my father,β Travis said fatalistically.
βYes,β Charles agreed. βI would also think it would be a stretch for him to discover this ship is registered in the Bahamas and then prod their legal system into taking action.β
βHeβll have his lawyers on it in a heartbeat,β Travis said confidently.
βI am not sure how preoccupied he is with his business affairs,β Charles said. βI would think he would have less time to try and seize you.β
βThat wonβt distract him at all; it will only make him try harder to find me,β Travis said. βHe will be out for revenge, so he will do whatever he can to find me and have me killed.β
βHe would have you killed?β Charles asked, and was truly alarmed. βYou mentioned that before, and I perhaps thought you were exaggerating. Is this something he is capable of doing?β
βAbsolutely,β Travis said. βCurtis Buck is one of the most ruthless and vindictive people you will ever encounter.β Travis spent the next three quarters of an hour explaining his relationship with Curtis Buck, how his trusts were set up differently, and how his prematurely launched lawsuit had caused Buck Industries to get sold out from under Curtis Buck. Charles already knew about the accusations Curtis had launched at Travis, that he was mentally unbalanced and a grand larcenist, but after getting the rest of the story, he started to realize the dilemma Travis was in. βIt is complicated because you are not of legal age.β
βI know that,β Travis said. βThatβs what Iβm trying to do by escaping. Iβm trying to live until Iβm 18, then he wonβt benefit if Iβm dead.β
βYou will be vulnerable until then, but we will be prepared for a potential arrest, and I will do my best to protect you,β Charles said. βI am hoping that even if you are arrested, I can delay the process long enough that you will be able to go about your life until you turn 18.β
βAnd if you canβt?β Travis asked.
βThen you will be extradited back to the United States,β he said. βI think, though, that we can raise enough objections to at least delay that extradition long enough for you to reach majority age.β
βSo I have to stay cooped up on this boat?β he asked.
βAs we have discussed, I am not sure that the risks are that much greater when you are ashore, and I understand that you do not want to be inactive,β Charles said. βIt is up to you, but if you are discreet, and we are able to cajole any interested authorities, we may be able to avoid any problems.β
βI guess my choices are to lower my risk by staying on the ship and feeling trapped, or going ashore to face arrest,β he said. βAt this point, I think Iβll risk it.β
βAre you sure?β I asked.
βThere is another option,β Charles said.
βGo on,β Travis prompted.
βMost countries in North Africa do not have extradition treaties,β he explained. βOf them, Morocco is often considered one of the preferable places to go to avoid such a fate.β
βSo instead of doing our Grand Tour, we could do a tour of North African countries?β I asked.
βI am unsure as to how welcome we will be in those countries,β Grand said. βThe political situation, namely that we are fighting idiotic wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, may make us less than popular in Muslim countries.β
βThat has indeed made your passport less meaningful,β Charles said, and it was possible to detect the slightest smirk in his voice, since France had been so opposed to the Iraq War. βIn France, we love Americans, but we hate George Bush.β
βIn America, some of us feel the same way,β I said, and smiled at him.
βIn any event, I think that Morocco would be fine,β Charles said. βYou could also go to Andorra, but you cannot get there with your ship.β
βAnd to get to Andorra, we would have to transit through either France or Spain,β Grand noted.
βAnother option is the Cape Verde Islands,β Charles added. βYou could spend some time in Morocco, then sail to Cape Verde. After that, you could sail back to the United States.β
βI love this ship too,β I said, βbut that sounds like an awful lot of cruising.β
βTransiting the Atlantic is most definitely a lengthy voyage,β Grand observed.
βThe only other option I can think of are some of the Balkan states, such as Serbia,β Charles said.
βI would suggest that we ask Skip to maintain our position and to ensure we are in international waters, and in the meantime, let us try to plan an alternate travel path that avoids places where we may lose Travis to the authorities,β Grand said.
βI was really looking forward to the Grand Tour,β Travis said. βIt seems like my presence will ruin that for all of you. Why donβt you just drop me off in one of those places where Iβll be safe and go ahead without me.β
βThat is not happening,β I insisted. βWe are in this together.β
βWe are,β Grand confirmed, which was really touching.
βI guess youβre not a candidate to be my father?β Travis asked Grand.
βI am not,β Grand said.
βDamn,β Travis said, which was incredibly sweet.
Skip came down to see us, and looked alarmed when we told him our plans. βWeβre currently in French Territorial Waters, and we will be for some time. On our current course, we will leave them and enter Italian waters. I can try to reverse our path a bit and transit down the west coast of Corsica, but then thereβs Sardinia after that.β
βThat sucks,β I said.
βThatβs the problem with the Mediterranean,β Skip said. βItβs a narrow sea, with a whole lot of coastline and a whole lot of islands. And territorial waters extend twelve miles from the shore.β
βSo if you have an island 24 miles offshore, that extends the territorial waters that much farther,β I said, getting it.
βThatβs how it works,β he said.
βI think we should stay on our current course,β Travis said. Skip looked to Grand, who nodded.
βIn the meantime, I have some reading to do,β I said. We went down to our cabin, and Travis handed me his flash drive. I plugged it into my laptop, and he showed me which files to download.
βIβm going to go up on deck,β he said. I looked at him oddly. βIt will weird me out to sit here while you read what I wrote.β
βIβll come find you when Iβm done,β I said, and then I started to read. I was stunned at how much of himself heβd put in his journal, how heβd opened up and shared his thoughts and plans. I laughed when he wrote about us, and about me, and I was struck again at how different we were. He must have had a lot of spare time, because heβd written every day, and while a lot of it read like a log of where heβd gone, so much of it was just him and who he was.
I finished reading, closed my computer, and collapsed back on the bed, processing all that heβd said. Iβd thought that heβd be like me and be absolutely beside himself at being cut off from his world, but in reality, the only severed connection that seemed to bother him was our link. I was almost annoyed at how much Iβd worried about him, compared to how he seemed to have been just skating along and having a decent time, until I recognized that the pain our separation had caused me was just as hard on him.
I sighed and rolled over onto my stomach, then rolled onto my back again. Heβd tried to explain his introversion, and heβd done a good job, but reading his words made it that much more real. Even more than that, there was an undercurrent of isolation, but what was more surprising was how that didnβt really seem to gnaw at him. Heβd tried to explain to me that he was really all alone in the world, and that his family was, if anything, a source of problems, not strength. Reading his journal made that even more clear.
That he hated his father shouldnβt surprise me, or anyone. When we were talking about who his biological father could be, he actually seemed excited, as if he might finally find someone who could be a positive force in his life. He loved his mother but viewed her with contempt, and he had little use for his siblings. It was pretty much what Iβd told him. He looked at Big as a dude who was sometimes fun to hang around with, but could also be an asshole, so those two aspects of their relationship largely offset each other. With Taylor, he had a lot more animosity, but his journal entries didnβt explain why.
In the end, though, when I considered the entire journal, the thing that came through loud and clear was how much he loved me. I thought about how Iβd been struggling with what kind of relationship I wanted, and I could see how my ruminations must have completely confused him. He would be completely happy for us to be together, and exclusive. Nowhere in his journal did he talk about guys he saw that he thought were attractive. There was no sexual content in his journal at all, other than when he wrote about how much he missed me. I wondered if that would change when he came out, and suddenly had all kinds of opportunities to be with other dudes. It was possible, but unlikely.
Was I like Robbie, in that I would never be happy unless I had some new dick to spice up my life? I was about to go down that road and really torture myself when I pulled myself back. I wasnβt like that. For Robbie, it had been like a craving, an addiction. For me, it was much more casual. Having sex with other guys was something I enjoyed, but not an obsession. I pondered my own situation during our period of separation. Iβd had plenty of opportunities to go out and get laid, but I hadnβt acted on them. I didnβt, because I didnβt want to, because I really only wanted to be with Travis.
I got up and wiped the tears out of my eyes, tears I didnβt even know Iβd been shedding. They werenβt unhappy tears, though; they came from the realization that somehow, over the past few months, Iβd fallen hopelessly in love with this amazing guy, and he loved me back just as much.
I walked out onto the deck and found him lounging by the pool, drinking a tropical cocktail. βYou finished?β he asked. I held out my hand and helped him stand up, then I embraced him, grabbing onto him like we were sinking and he was my life preserver.
βI love you so much,β I said, even as I gripped him tighter. I felt his body relax into mine and his arms pull me in just as tightly, and I felt his emotions surge along with mine.
βI love you too,β he said. We stood there for I donβt know how long, just being together and connecting, until we were interrupted by Skip and Charles.
βThereβs a French Coast Guard vessel approaching,β Skip said. We pulled apart and stared at each other, knowing what that meant. βThey have instructed us to stop and be boarded.β
βShit,β Travis said.
βDo not lose hope,β Charles said. βIt is good news, at least, that we are in French waters.β
βIf you say so,β I said.
The next hour was chaotic, both physically and emotionally. The French ship sent a cutter over and the officers who boarded were prepared to take custody of Travis on the spot, but Charles guided them into the lounge and explained the situation. It was clear that the French Coast Guard had no desire to execute their orders, but they were orders, nonetheless. In the end, they extracted a promise from Travis not to try to escape, and ordered us to sail to the port of Bastia, Corsica.
We arrived there in the evening and received instructions that no one was to board or leave the ship. Charles was worried by the attitude of the authorities in port, concerned that they would remove Travis in the morning. He was concerned, while Travis and I were terrified.
- 23
- 29
- 6
- 14
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.Β
Story Discussion Topic
Recommended Comments
Chapter Comments
-
Newsletter
Sign Up and get an occasional Newsletter.Β Fill out your profile with favorite genres and say yes to genre news to get the monthly update for your favorite genres.