Confounded: Part II - 32. Chapter 32

Vintage Tay...

CHAPTER 32 --==Taylan’s POV==--

“Oh Tommy,” I said, shaking my head, “we’re back to running away again? Three steps forward, ten back? Don’t be an idiot, even you are not that stupid. Wait till I tell Kit about this one.”
His face fell. Jackpot; a new Achilles heel.

“I’m serious…”

“You’re a moron. Look how far you’ve come. You know, as well as I do, that running away is not the answer. And there’s someone here…ok, not right now, but you know what I mean; and you’d be a damn fool to run and give that up. And he wouldn’t let you do that, anyway.”

“Kit has no say in what I do.”
Right at that moment his phone vibrated on the table. Even upside down I could see it was Kit sending a message; the name, in bold, scrolled across the screen. Gotta love his timing; right on target. Good kid. Awesome kid.
I nodded at the mobile.

“Ah, you wanna run that by him, please? Go for it. If you only see him as a nice toy to play with for a while, you’d be better off to call it quits, right now. Do it.”
He didn’t touch the phone, even when it vibrated again; and oh, was he dying to know what the message said, I could tell.

“Don’t feel up to it? Here, let me.”
He grabbed the phone out of reach before I even came near it. Producing my own phone, I flicked it open.

“Fine; I’ll do it this way.”
His eyes grew wide as I started pressing randomly, just for the side-effect of the added button-tones. If I pressed dial, I’d probably end up phoning some Japanese guy out of bed.

“You wouldn’t…”
I kept pressing the buttons, occasionally looking at the display. Belay that; this would be someone from The Netherlands. Lots and lots of gibberish.
“Uncle Taylan…”

“Call. Your. Dad. He deserves to know the truth. About all of it.”

“What? No!”
I stopped pressing the buttons.

“Yes. You either call him or I press send. This has gone as far as it should go; you need to talk to your parents and if you won’t do it, I will.”

“I can’t!”

“Yes you can, and you will. If you don’t want me to send this to Kit…” I held up my phone, “you’ll call. Right now.”
He set his jaw, pursing his lips in a stubborn gesture. I shrugged and lowered my thumb to the send button. His eyes flicked to it, then back to my face while I stared at him. Then back to my thumb as it almost touched…

“Alright! Don’t!”
He kept his eye on my thumb as he fumbled with his phone.

“On speaker.”
He spared a look at me, then his eyes flew to his own phone, tapping it.

“Okay, okay…just don’t send…”
I kept my thumb hovering above the load of gibberish.

“My thumb is getting very tired, Tom.”

“It’s dialing, it’s dialing!”
He put it on speaker. The call-tone erupted. Then someone picked up.

It was my brother.

"Hello..."

“Dad?”

“Tom? Oh son, I’m so glad you finally called…”

Then I grinned and turned my phone so he could see the display. If looks could kill, I’d have been a dead man.

**********

“You are so busted,” I said, steering onto the main road. “Yes sir, busted like a cat on a hot tin roof.”

“I’m not talking to you.”

“What was that? I’d swear I heard something.”
Silence as I feigned to look around the car.
“Relax, kid; did that sound like someone who wasn’t glad his son finally called after weeks of not hearing anything? He would’ve come over right now, if he could’ve. ”

“I don’t care…”
He shut up as he remembered his promise to not talk to me.

“Right. You don’t care about your parents? Like you don’t care about Kit, huh?”
Once again brooding silence.
“You have no idea how lucky you are with a guy like Kit. He is the best thing that could happen to you. To anyone, for that matter, and if someone, anyone…” I continued, pausing to make sure he knew I was deadly serious, “ever hurts him, they’re gonna have to deal with me. And believe me; that person would rather deal with Kit himself or his dad, but not with me.”

“Is that a threat?”
It sounded snippy as he turned his head towards me.

“You better believe it. So like I said, if you have no interest in him, which I highly doubt, you’d better call it quits. And you can also quit the tantrum, right now. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal,” he bit out.

“Good. So?”

“So…what?”

“Lose the attitude. What are your intentions with my son?”
He mulled that over for a while; I almost thought he wasn’t going to answer at all, until he suddenly spoke.

“I have no intention of hurting him. Not deliberately, anyway, but at some point I might. I can’t guarantee that I won’t, nor could you guarantee that to anyone yourself.”

“Fair enough,” I said, nodding. “But I’m warning you; Kit is not a guy to withhold his feelings. Soon, when he realizes it for himself, he will begin saying things and he will be expecting an answer…”

“We’re eighteen, for god sakes, not…” Tom started, then piped down when I sent him a warning glare.

“Dammit Tom! Listen! You are both far older in mind than body. We’re talking about feelings and knowing Kit, he doesn’t hold those back; he’ll need to say something to that person. Congratulations; that’s you.”

Taking a few calming breaths, I continued.

“You’re both mature enough, although I’m pretty certain it’s Kit who’s the more mature one, seeing your behavior in the past. You’re turning around, and you have no idea how glad I am to see that. I’m sure your dad agrees with me, too, and yes, you’re gonna tell him about you two, as well.”
His face fell at the prospect of talking to his dad. Come Wednesday, that was going to be interesting.

“Having said that; there is no minimum age requirement for this stuff. And I promise you; Kit will do it. He will say it, that he loves you, and he will ask for it in return or at least expect it. He is that guy; the one that you don’t wanna let get away because no one else is going to compare, ever again.”
I risked a glance sideways when it remained quiet on that side of the car for a long time.
“Do you understand what I’m saying, Tom?”

“Yeah…”

“So? What are you gonna tell him, when he does?”

“God, will you get off my case?!”

“No! This is Kit. He’s my son, or as close as I’ll ever get to having one. So you don’t get to avoid the hard questions, concerning him, got it?”

“Fine! Jesus; he’s not going anywhere, alright? He already said it!”
Hah! Provoked him enough. About time.

“Keep talking. There’s more I wanna hear.”
Someone wasn’t very happy with his uncle, that much was obvious, but he sighed and then spilled the beans.

“Whatever he sees in me, I don’t know, but fucking Mr. Goody two-shoes got to me. But I’m warning you as well; he better not die on me, because the last time? I wanted to kill myself. This time, I’ll actually do it.”
And there it finally was. He actually had a heart.

“Oh my god, the boy has feelings. Sing hallelujah!”

“Shut up.”

“Never. You know me; I get my feelers on something, I pounce. And everyone caves. Everyone!”
Laughing maniacally, I honked the horn several times, apparently scaring the bejeesus out of some pedestrians; one even grabbed her chest. Then again, she seemed crotchety anyway.

“I’m never gonna hear the end of this,” he groaned, dejectedly.
I grinned.

“Nope. And once you actually say it to Kit, he’s not gonna let your forget it, either. Dude, you are so done, now. Off the market; basically, you’re now married. Yep. Tomás Quentin Slattery is off limits!”

“Stop calling me that. And I’m already sorry I said something.”

“Yeah, imagine that; you actually have a shot at being happy. Blasphemy! Oh! Does Kit know your full name? He may need it for the marriage license.”

“Owww….shut up!”