Stockroom Secrets - 11. Chapter 11

In a few short strides Bryan had jumped up onto the landing outside the back door and embraced my mother, saying, 'Sister! It has been far too long!'

They laughed and kissed before he then turned to my father, offering his hand. 'Good to see you also, Richard. I hope that all has been well with you?'

'Errr . . . yes, thanks. You too,' my father stammered. 'To what do we owe the occasion?'

At least the old man’s scowl was no longer showing.

'Why, for your daughter and son-in-law, of course! Apparently, I'm not going to be just an uncle any more, I'm going to be a Great Uncle! So what better excuse do I need to visit my family?'

Everybody laughed, except for Olly, who I could see wasn't too sure about what exactly was going on. As we hadn't seen Bryan in quite a few years he would have only been a toddler the last time Bryan was in town, so I wouldn't have thought that it was likely that he would even remember him.

'Sooo, this must be my nephew, Olly? The soccer star,' Bryan asked, before thrusting out a hand. 'Put it there, kiddo. I haven't seen you since you were a little fella. Look at you now, all grown up almost!'

Olly was smiling when he put his hand out to shake Bryan's, only to be surprised when Bryan pulled him in for a hug. I glanced at dad and could see him frowning. It was all I could do not to laugh.

'Now, I think I need a drink,' Bryan demanded. 'You got anything decent, Meaghan?'

'Oh, not really. We don't drink much here,' my sister replied.

'Not to worry. I'll go get some,' Bryan offered. He then turned to me and said, 'Let's go for a drive. I'll even let you have a spin in the Beamer if you like,' before fishing the keys from his pocket and tossing them to me.

'Seriously?'

'Do you think I would have thrown you the keys to my pride and joy if I wasn't serious?' he answered, before placing an arm around my shoulders and dragging me away from the group. 'We won't be too long,' he called back over his shoulder as we made our way towards the front of the house using a path between the house and the neighbour’s fence.

'I need to get my P plates from our car,' I said, as we reached the spot in the front yard where our vehicles were parked.

'Well, do it.'

I was hoping the car would be unlocked, as it usually was after dad had driven it, and I wasn’t disappointed. I soon found two of my P plates on the flat bench behind the rear seat, which I always left there just in case they might be needed, and moments later I had them wedged behind the edge of the number plates on the BMW.

'All set?' Bryan asked me.

'I guess so.'

'Well, come on, then. Unlock this thing so we can hit the road.'

I pressed a button on the key to open the central locking and Bryan opened the driver’s door for me, telling me to get in, before going around to the passenger side and doing the same. Settling in behind the wheel I could feel the difference between this and my old Nissan, or mum and dad's Ford. The luxury seats and the difference in the feel of the steering wheel were the main things, but everything about this car spelled money.

'What do you do for a job?’ I asked him. 'You must be loaded?'

I know that was very crass of me, I'd always been told never to ask someone about how much they earned, but this was Uncle Bryan. You can get away with some things when it comes to family.

'Oh, I wish,' he said with a laugh. 'But I am an accountant, so money is my game. Unfortunately it's all other people's money and not mine.'

'Fair enough.'

'Come on then, start her up. It's automatic, so you don't have to worry about having to kangaroo hop it out of the driveway.'

I put the key in the ignition and turned it, and the car started easily.

'My old Nissan is a manual, so I know all about that,' I said. 'But there'll be no kangaroo hopping today.'

Then after buckling my seatbelt I shifted it into Reverse and carefully backed out onto the quiet street, before changing to Drive and gently putting the accelerator down.

The trip downtown was a smooth one and I loved the feel of the car. Maybe one day I'll get to own something just like this, I hoped.

We chatted about this and that, about my family and about the upcoming birth of my new niece or nephew, although that was months away yet. I asked him about life in Queensland and what sort of things he did when not working. He was rather quiet and kept his cards fairly close to his chest, not giving too much away. I also noticed that he seemed quite different when compared to the outgoing personality that had greeted us all just a short time ago. More reserved.

When we reached the middle of town and crossed the river which ran through its centre, Bryan pointed to a car park just ahead and asked me to pull in there. It was almost deserted, and we parked facing the man-made lake that was a feature of our town. Switching off the ignition we sat in silence for a few moments as darkness began to fall and lights began to come on, which we could see reflecting in the smooth, dark water.

'I've always liked this place,' Bryan said.

'Yeah, it's okay I guess.'

I began to suspect that I had just been set up, that this had been a plan to get me alone with Bryan, away from my father, so that the interrogation could begin. I started to nervously tap my fingers on the steering wheel.

'So, yeah,' he said after a few minutes of watching lights reflect off water, 'in answer you your earlier question, mate, your mother did tell me something about what happened. You haven't shared very much with her though, have you?'

I figured something like this would be coming.

'How could I?' I answered.

'That's a fair point, I suppose. You want to share it with me, then? I'm a pretty good listener.'

I looked across at him, wondering if I could do that, or if so, then just how far I should go.

In the end I instead asked, 'So, is it true then? That you're . . .'

'What? In all this time you didn't know your Uncle Bryan was gay? A fag, or . . .'

'Please don't say that,' I said, interrupting him. 'I hate hearing that word.'

'Sorry. Yeah, I'm not fond of it either, but . . .'

'But what?'

'It's out there, Gray. It gets used . . . and gets used a lot. I might hate it, along with all the other words that get thrown at people like me, but I can't ignore them. We can't just push them away, you know? They just keep coming, so we need to toughen up.'

'I guess.'

'So, let me ask you a question. Man to man.’

I looked at him sharply. I think I knew what the question was going to be.

‘Are you gay?' he asked.

A chill went down my spine and my heart seemed to jump into my throat.

'Mate, let's be honest here, eh? The cat's already out of the bag, trust me. Your mum knows. Your sister and Robbie know. Whoever you hooked up with knows. But do you know it? The hardest part in all of this is openly admitting it to someone . . . anyone . . . for the first time. Have you done that yet?'

I thought back to that conversation I’d had with my mother. The one where I first found out about Bryan being gay. Did I admit it then? I couldn't remember.

'I . . . ummmmm . . .' I began but couldn't go any further. I just couldn't say it.

'Gray, how about we look at it another way? Here's what I know, or what I think I know, okay? This is just based on what your mum has said and nothing else, so I may be way off the mark, or maybe not.'

I said nothing. I just looked at him.

'You went out to the pub with some friends last Friday night, correct?'

I nodded.

'Afterwards you went somewhere else. Maybe with one of them, maybe with others? Maybe it was to one of their houses, or a motel, or maybe some parking off spot, like right here even . . .'

I remained silent, so he went on.

'You fooled around a little . . . that was all part of the plan for your fun night out with mates. But then maybe things went too far and the next thing you know you're dragging yourself home at three in the morning and crawling into bed. How am I doing so far?'

I just looked at him, while feeling my bottom lip tremble just slightly and my eyes start to sting just a little.

'Next day you're curled up in a ball on your bed, feeling dirty. You're feeling used. Maybe even pissed off about what went down. That's when your mum finds your underwear and starts putting two and two together, connecting all the dots.'

'Fuck,' I whispered. I desperately needed some air and opened the door, stepping out into the cool dusk and walking a short way to a seat beside the car park, where I sat down and started sucking in lungfuls of air.

Bryan joined me and we sat in silence for a while. We could hear the sound of traffic travelling through town. The sound of music coming from a nearby pub. Some birds squawking near the water.

'Your mum said the two of you had a chat. She said you couldn't tell her anything, or wouldn't tell her anything, but your secret is out. Isn't it?'

'I . . . I guess . . .'

'Okay then. That's a start. Was what I described close to what happened?'

'We . . . we went to a motel. There were two of them.'

'Okay. And just so you know, there's nothing you can tell me that will shock me, Gray. Absolutely nothing! I've seen it all. This ain't exactly my first rodeo.'

Somehow, I managed a slight chuckle at that.

'So, let's start again, shall we? Let me hear you say that you are gay? It's not coming out to the world. It's just admitting to yourself, and maybe those closest to you . . . except your father, of course . . . who you really are. Think of it as being the first step towards a lifetime of happiness.'

'What the fuck!' I exclaimed.

'Yeah, okay, maybe that was a bit over the top. But it is the first step towards a new life, the life you were meant to lead. So let me hear it.'

For a few moments things were spinning inside my head as I tried to think about what this would mean to me and what I needed to do next.

'You used to be my favourite uncle; you know that don't you?' I eventually said, after finally deciding I needed to try and change the narrative somehow.

'Used to be?'

'Well, I mean, that was before you turned into a bully and started picking on your gay nephew. Can't you get in trouble for that?' I said, while smirking at him.

'My gay nephew, huh? How fabulous is that?' he squealed, then lunged for me and threw his arms around me, hugging me and planting a kiss on my cheek.

'I knew you could do it,' he whispered into my ear. 'Sometimes it just needs the right kind of encouragement.'

'Encouragement? Is that what you called that?'

'It worked, didn't it? Okay, now spill. How about you tell me what really happened.'

Knowing that I wasn't going to get out of here without some sort of admission I took a deep breath, then I started telling my tale, from the time Mike and I first fooled around in the stockroom, to my fun with Hoppy, then the night out and its aftermath. I told him about confronting Mike at work afterwards, about Tom and Raffa hearing that, and about my subsequent interactions with both of them afterwards.

When I had finished the tears were flowing once more, but despite that, it felt good. What's that old saying about a problem shared being a problem halved, or some such?

Bryan let me compose myself for a few minutes before saying anything more. I guess he knew how much of a breakthrough this had been for me.

Eventually he asked, 'So, this Raffa guy. He's a good guy, right?'

'Yeah, I'm pretty sure.'

'Cute?'

I laughed, then pulled out my phone, before opening up Facebook again. When I found Raffa's profile I was pleased to see that my friend request had been accepted. I opened up one of his photos, then held the phone out for Bryan.

'What do you think?' I asked.

He looked at the image and I noticed his eyebrows raise, then he smiled.

'Tell him that if he fucks you over, he'll have me to answer to,' he said to me.

'I will. Thank you. Now, shouldn't we be getting back? We've still got to go to the grog shop yet.'

'Yeah, we should make a move. We don't have to go anywhere else though.'

'What do you mean?'

'I have a cooler in the boot of my car with all we need. It was all part of my cunning plan to get you away from the rest of them so I could talk to you.'

I wasn’t surprised in the least by that.

To be continued . . .

Hello dear readers! Apologies for the delay in posting this today . . . life got in the way!
Please enjoy!