William's Love - 11. Chapter 11

William’s Namesake

Liam turns to me, “What the fuck was that all about?”

“I’m about to find out, can you and Katherine fix up the food so everyone can start eating before it gets cold?” I ask him, looking toward Mr Wright who looks dumbfounded and the other guy – he looks guilty as hell.

Stalking toward the back door I give Mom a head flick to join me. He must be William Sunderland. I have never seen Dad react that way to anything. I should have asked him a long time ago about him, after he helped me sort out my feeling for Liam. I kind of feel selfish, how he must still be hurting after all these years to react the way he did. A knock on the door and I open it without waiting for an answer. He’s sitting on the side of his bed with his head in his hands.

“Dad?” Moving closer to him, kneeling down to be at eye level, I put my hand on his shoulder to give him some kind of comfort and his body jerks. “Dad, who is that guy? Are you okay? Do you want me to get him to leave?”

He lifts his head and looks at me with watery eyes, his face is still white as a sheet and he seems to have aged ten years in the last five minutes. Seeing the pain in his eyes alone is enough to make me cry.

Dad clears his throat, “He’s… it’s… him… William Sunderland.”

I lean back on my feet a little dazed, “Holy shit,” Well I guess I was right, not a hard guess though really when you think about it. I look to Mom for answers of what to do. She has her hand covering her mouth in shock. Well at least I won’t have to explain who he is to her.

“Stay here with your Dad and I’ll make sure everyone is looked after out there. I’ll tell them your Dad felt unwell, at the very least we can try and downplay what is going on and leave it at that. The old windbags can mind their own business for once it won’t kill them.” She says with a firm nod.

“Thanks Mom,” I say smiling sadly.

I lift myself and sit on the bed next to Dad; rubbing his back while he gathers himself. What are the odds this guy walks into this house for a cookout with a friend? I wonder if he knew this is Dad’s place and come to see him.

“Did you want to talk to him?” I ask softly.

Dad looks at me with a pensive expression, “I’m not sure what to do Son, I never expected to see him again. We were torn apart by our families, we never even got to say goodbye to each other. I don’t know what to say to him.” Tears fall from his eyes, I can actually feel his pain.

“It’s been a long time Dad, he looks as guilty as you feel. Maybe you get yourself together and go back out there and play it by ear. Welcome him to your home; let Mr Wright be your buffer until you have time to talk with him yourself. I know it’ll be hard but you can’t hide in here all afternoon, you’ll have them old wind bags tongues wagging. If it gets to hard just go by Mom’s unwell scenario and excuse yourself but you have to try.

“Now is your chance to get closure or see if there is still something there. I know I make fun of you being old but you’re not. Ask yourself this, are you willing to forego decades of happiness because you feel guilty about something it sounds like you didn’t have any control over or at the very least get closure and find someone else to be happy with. Since Mom left you’ve never shown any interest in anyone until Mr Wright, who you seem to still have a problem with because of the age difference or you wouldn’t have asked me if I’d be okay with it.” I’m almost pleading with him.

Dad is silent for a while staring at the wall, hopefully processing what I’ve said.

“I’ll go back out there and grab Liam have a chat with Mr Wright and Mr Sunderland and keep them occupied until you come back out, maybe introduce them to the coaches. At least they’ll have something in common to talk about. Okay?” I say and gently squeezing his shoulder, Dad reaches up and pats my hand.

“Thanks Will, you’re a good boy. I’ll be out in a minute… go on I won’t be long.” He replies.

“I love you Dad, please think about it.”

“I love you too Son.”

I slip into the backyard and quietly borrow Liam from our table, he’s waited to get food until I came back out. He always puts me first, god I love him. I notice that Mr Wright and Mr Sunderland are sitting by themselves talking, they haven’t any food yet either. That’ll make a good excuse to introduce ourselves.

“Hi Mr Wright, Dad asked me to keep you gentlemen company until he comes out. We haven’t eaten yet would you both like to get a plate with us.” Asking politely.

“Thank you Will, um… Will and Liam this is William Sunderland, a friend of the family,” he pauses for a moment before continuing, “Bill, this is John’s, son Will, and his boyfriend Liam, who is Kitt’s son.” He finishes with a warm smile.

Bill stood up and reaches out his hand to us, “Nice to meet you both.” We shook his extended hand and reply with, “Nice to meet you Sir.”

“C’mon then we better get some food before all the teenagers leave nothing for us.” Mr Wright laughs standing with the three of us.

“Your funny for an old fella, I’ve seen you wolf down some seconds at a few dinners,” Liam says laughing.

“You’ll have to watch these two Bill, they have a quick wit and smart mouths,” says Mr Wright laughing to his friend who nods and laughs along with him.

We all have a pleasant conversation while we eat. Mr Sunderland kept looking toward the backdoor while we ate. Liam and Mr Wright get up to get seconds leaving me alone with him. The silence feels a tad awkward, until he broke it that is.

“I’m very sorry for upsetting your Dad, I didn’t know he would be here. Did he tell you who I am?” he asks.

I look him in the eye, “Yes, he did. My guess would be that you are who I’m named after. I’m very sorry for what you guys had to endure it must have been terrible. I can’t imagine not being with Liam, I know we’re young but we’ve been best friends since we were four years old and been together as a couple for a month or two. Life without him would be unbearable.”

“You seem as close as John and I were at your age, and sounds like similar circumstances. We weren’t just in love, we were, no are soul mates.” He says quiet and sheepishly looking away.

“May I ask you a personal question?” I ask directly, he nods and brings his eyes back to mine, “Are you married or in a relationship?”

“No, I never really could let go of your Dad. I’ve been pretty much alone ever since.” He says.

Well that takes care of twenty other questions I had. I’m silent for a minute, I can tell he’s looking at me waiting for a reaction. He broke the silence again.

“Where is your Mom, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“She left us a while ago, and believe me; she isn’t missed by either of us.” He nods his head, “Would you like me to take you into talk to Dad?”

“Oh, I don’t know if this is the right time for that.” He comments flatly.

I chuckle awkwardly looking away, “Do you really think there will ever be a right time for the conversation you two need to have?”

He shakes his head from side to side, “No, I suppose your right.”

“God! What is with you people, you’re the adults and should lead by example. Get off your ass and follow me, have the conversation and stop being a pussy and wasting time. You guys tell us that we can’t put things off because it might be hard.” I say annoyed and stand up, stalking toward the house mumbling to myself, I don’t even check if he is following.

Once I reach Dad’s room I knock and open the door without waiting for an answer – again. He’s still sitting where I left him. He looks up at me his eyes are red raw and his face is wet from fallen tears. I never knew how much this guy meant to him, he’s been holding back a lot of emotion. It makes my heart break for him and I can feel my own eyes fill with tears.

“Dad, I brought Mr Sunderland to see you. I think you guys should talk.” I say to him with a quiver in my voice.

“Will, I don’t think…”

Mr Sunderland pushes the door all the way open so he can see Dad. They look at each other for a long moment, it’s the same look Liam gave me the day he told the entire lunch room he was in love with me. Dad stands and walks over and hugs his old love, they both start to sob and melt into each other’s embrace. And that is my cue to leave.

Finally making it back out to re-join Liam and Mr Wright, with a quick detour at the bathroom to pee and wash my face. Once I reach the table and sit down, Liam reaches out and pulls me sideways into him and kisses my temple. Mr Wright smiles at us, I wish he still had his man with him.

“Mr Wright, can you tell us some more about your guy?” I ask him warmly.

“Sure, what would you like to know?” he asks smiling.

“Um… what was your favorite thing about him?” Liam asks before I could say anything, he pulls me tighter into him and I rest my head on his shoulder smiling.

We talk with him for about thirty minutes when Dad and Mr Sunderland come out back with the rest of us people. He walks over to Mom and introduces them and to the rest of the table. Dad invites the coaches over to where we are sitting and they follow him over to our table. Mr Sunderland stays behind and crouches by Mom’s chair while they have a conversation.

“C’mon dude, let’s leave these old farts alone, I have no interest in hearing about their latest ailments and new medications or who just died,” I say to Liam as they approach us. We stand and Dad gives me a Gibbs while his friends laugh. When I stand he pulls me into a hug, and whispers ‘I love you’ into my ear. Liam and I rejoin our friends for the rest of the afternoon.

<>-<>-<>

This next week flew by pretty quickly, it’s Friday before I know it. Mr Wright grabs me as class let’s out.

“Will you have time to come and see me after school today?” He asks.

“Um… not really I have to get home and change and get to boxing, will it take long?”

“Yeah it might, I was going to bend your ear about the peer anti-bullying program.” He says smiling.

“Oh, well did you want to come for dinner and by the time you’re done I will be home. I’ll just let Mom know. They won’t mind, you’re there often enough I reckon we should build you a room.” I say laughing, Mr Wright chuckles.

“Yeah, that’ll be fine, Liam’s Mom can surely cook I love her food.” He says.

“You’re telling me, will you be alone or is Mr Sunderland coming with you?” Asking so I can let Mom know how many plus I’m nosy because Dad hasn’t said anything since the cookout.

“Just me, he went home on Sunday. He’ll be back though in few weeks and stay through the holidays.” He says smiling.

“Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” I ask him.

“Sure, if it’s too personal I just won’t answer.” He nods his head yes. That’s fair enough.

“That didn’t upset you did it? The situation between Mr Sunderland and Dad? I’ve been feeling a little bad about it, because I thought maybe you like Dad a little.”

“Oh, no don’t worry about that Will. I am in no position for a relationship and as lovely as your Dad is and a great friend that’s all it would ever be. So you can stop worrying. I’m happy for them if they decide to go ahead. As you well know life isn’t life without you’re other half.” He gives me a warm smile like he truly means it.

Smiling I say, “One day your man will lead someone to you who will make you just as happy as he did. Liam’s dad, used to always tell us, ‘You can’t have true friendship, love or a good life without showing; character, loyalty and strength.’ And from what I can tell you have those in spades, so life isn’t so cruel it would leave you with out.”

Mr Wright’s eyes are watery when I look up at him. “Plus her hot as hell for an old fart!” I say chuckling and Mr Wright burst into laughter and wipes his eyes.

“Alright you goofball I’ll see you tonight.” Mr Wright is shaking his head and laughing as I leave the room. I quickly text Mom and let her know he’s coming for dinner. She answers straight away with a ‘No Problem’.

<>-<>-<>

When I get home from boxing, I waltz into the kitchen and greet everyone with a hello and Liam with a kiss.

“Hello Babe, how was your night?” Liam asks, “I put your dinner in the oven to keep warm for you, here sit and I’ll grab it.” He states as he guides me into the chair next to him.

“Thank you, and great. I love it and I feel better every time I go. My trainer had me do some sparring with another guy who’s been there a little longer than me. It was fun, I guess because there wasn’t any competition it was more about counter moves and how to hold your body weight.”

Liam looks at me suspiciously, “You aren’t going to fight competitively are you?”

I roll my eyes, “No, we have a deal. You stay out of the Marines, or ANY armed forces and I won’t box competitively.”

Dad scowls at me, “Did you want to join the Marines Liam?”

He chuckles, “No I had no intention or any calling to do so, don’t get me wrong I have all the respect in the world for the armed forces, they are heroes in my eyes. It’s the deal he struck with me. In case baseball doesn’t work out. I made an offhand comment one night and he ran with it, after he freaked out like a little girl – of course.” He put my plate in front of me with cutlery and kisses the back of my head before he sits. Once he sits he puts his arm across the back of my chair and rubs tiny circles in my back while I eat. It’s nice to feel the love. “I was actually thinking I might do some criminology courses at college and join the police force. I want to have something to fall back on. My other choice would be physical therapy, but I’m not sure. I still have time to decide, things might change again you never know.” He says happily.

“Both good professions Liam, do you know what part of the police force you want to be in or work toward?” Mr Wright questions Liam.

“Actually I do, I wouldn’t mind shooting for crime scene photographer. I’m not sure what classes I should take though. I’ll have to look into it.” Liam says.

“I’ll do some digging around for you, come see me sometime next week and we’ll have a look at your schedule and see if you need to make any changes to help.” Mr Wright offers.

“Thanks, I will, that’ll be great.” Liam replies enthusiastically.

“Okay, now you sunshine,” Mr Wright turns to me as I eat my dinner, “Have you given any thought to the anti-bullying program?”

I nod my head as I swallow my mouthful, “Yes, I’ve been looking around the internet and doing some research for different programs. I read about one in a story on umm… well any way I read about it and have sent off for further information. There are plenty of free programs on the net, but I think the school and community would be better off with one of the others I’ve researched. The only problem will be raising the funds for the program itself. These programs come with actual training for staff as well as a peer training for a selected group of students, it runs in conjunction with teachers, students and people in the community if we can get them to co-operate with us. I have all the information in a folder upstairs.

“We have to raise a fair bit of money but I have given some thought of how we can go about it and at the same time include the school and the community – if you’re interested. I also thought with of a way in the interim, but they might not be worth the trouble if we are only going to change the way it functions later.” I say shrugging my shoulders and another forkful of food in my mouth.

“Don’t sell yourself short son. What are your ideas?” Dad says smiling warmly at me.

“They may take some setting up but it’s a way to involve everyone no matter who they are. Okay I’ll bullet point it, otherwise I’ll waffle on;

1. An assembly confronting the problem in the school regarding bullying, and how we all teachers, admin and students propose to handle it.

2. Create a committee based on elected volunteers, which people can put their names in a box, two for each grade, one male and one female. I’d probably involve the school captains and vice captains for that matter. And if we wanted to go further the captains of all sports and academic teams on campus.

3. Keep this away from the gay/straight alliance otherwise I fear it would all be about sexual orientation and people will forget about all the other souls whose lives are hell because maybe they don’t wear the right jeans.

4. The next will be raising money which I’ve looked into a few avenues

a. We have roughly three main types at school; academic, sports, and arts. We can do these on different weekends so there are no clashes and people will come no matter their preference and we can charge $5 enrolment fee for each participant.

i. Academics, we can set up competition panels for different subjects against the teachers or people from the community. Later that afternoon or night we can hold a trivia night people can register in teams.

ii. Sports day, exhibition games including the community and have them sign up to play our school teams. It should bring out all the families and general people who like sports from the community. If we stagger the different sports we should be able to keep everyone interested and/or be able to compete in more than one event. We can sell normal stuff from the sports canteen to raise money, we’ll just have to do an inventory before and after to make sure they are compensated for what we sell. Maybe use some of the local food vendors to set up a stall and we get a percentage.

iii. Arts, there are plenty of options and they can run simultaneously on the day. Some examples would be demonstrations by students for metal, wood and machine shops. Have the students make items for an exhibit to sell goods from these classes. A percentage going to the student the rest to help raise money. There is also cooking classes we could run through the day and charge for them. Have a fashion runway show for that class. An art exhibition in all different mediums, everything sellable same percentage cut again.

b. Another way to raise money is to contact any corporate or larger companies around the area or even national ones. I found out most of them give out grants, all we have to do is contact some and find out what their criteria is and apply. We’ll have the school apply.

5. Then there is advertising, we can contact the newspaper and radio as well as local clubs, sports or otherwise and see if they will be charitable and run an commercial or advertisement for us for free in their newsletters once we know what we are doing.

6. We will also need to find prizes or trophies for all of the events, we can hit up local retailers, restaurants and local tradesman in exchange for plugging them all day.

a. Another way would also be to hit up someone big and see if we can get some funding to underwrite some of the events all we will need to do is plug their merchandise. Which I’m pretty sure they will supply us with some goodies to sell or hand out as well. I’m not sure how that works but it’s worth looking into.

7. Hopefully we would have raised enough money and can start the process of acquiring the desired program you and the other teachers choose.

“Okay, huh… I think I’m done. I have all of this in a folder upstairs I’ll give to you before you leave.” I say almost out of breath to Mr Wright. I look around the table and I’m greeted with four sets of eyes spinning in circles.

“Sorry, is it stupid?” Asking while I nibble at my lower lip.

Liam pulls me to him sideways and kisses my temple and rubs my back.

“No son it’s not stupid, it’s seems like an awful lot of work. You really put some thought into this.” Dad says proudly.

“Well it’s important and the programs can be quite costly. We just need a way to bring the community together with the school. Plus that’s what committees are for. With the student and teacher involvement, delegation should be a piece of cake. The school has run every single event I’ve been talking about so they know what’s involved, instead of just a few teachers organizing it we include the student committee as well and the delegation is up to what twenty people.” I go on another rant. For some reason I cannot stop talking damn it. Shut up Will. Just one more thing and then I’ll stop – hopefully.

“Okay one more thing and I don’t know how we would do this. Also I don’t want you to ask where I got this information because I won’t tell. There are over 30 kids at our school in the foster system. I want to make participation free for any foster kids, they are to get a free meal and drink for lunch or dinner depending on the event they participate in, and they are to get full whack of anything of theirs that is sold in an exhibit. They’re already living someone else’s consequences, the stats are higher for them to be a victim of bullying, it only seems fair. I just can’t figure out how to do it so nobody knows that’s why they don’t have to pay or get a free meal. Maybe we can get a case worker down here and help on the day. I don’t know, but you know what I’m saying.

“I promise I’ll stop now.” I say embarrassingly.

Liam chuckles and wraps his arms around me, “I love you Babe, you’re good person.”

Mr Wright clears his throat, “Well you were right this afternoon when you said you wouldn’t have enough time. I don’t even know where to begin. That’s a lot of information in five minutes. Umm… Well firstly get that folder to me Will. I’ll look over it and then you and I can get together and make a presentation for the new principal. This is going to get out of hand if we don’t keep a good grip on it. I would like you to be the Head of the student committee; I’ll stick with the head of the teacher committee. If we can pull this off and have it up and running before the next school year you should be able to put this on your college applications. Are you prepared to give up some time because it’s going to be a lot of work?” Mr Wright asks me.

“Yes, I can do that. I’ll just rearrange my schedule again; I really want to make sure this happens. It makes me so angry every time I think about some poor kid feeling that low because someone else decided that’s how they should feel.” I say through gritted teeth. Liam pulls me closer for me to calm down. “I’ll run up and grab that folder for you. I still have homework to do and it’s getting late.” I put my plate and cutlery in the dishwasher and run up to our room, grab the folder and give it to Mr Wright.

“Dear God, have you slept at all since we first spoke about this?” Mr Wright says chuckling, the folder is an over flowing leaver arch kind and it’s heavy with all the info I have in there. “Oh, before I forget, I’d like you both to come and see me first thing Monday before school. I want you to seek out a freshman who’s been having a hard time. He’s a nice kid, I have a feeling he might be one of your ill-fated foster care kids Will.”

Liam nods to Mr Wright, “No problem, we’ll be there. Now if you’ll excuse us, I’m going to go and finish my homework as well, and then tuck this fella into bed. Goodnight old people.” We kiss and hug Mom and Dad goodnight and give Mr Wright a quick hug.

<>-<>-<>

As I’m turning my computer off, Liam wraps his arms around my chest and kisses my neck. I can’t help but moan. I can feel him smiling against my skin as he nibbles and licks at my neck.

“I love you Baby, I’m sorry if I got a little long winded tonight about that program.” While I stand and turn to face him in his arms and wrapping mine around his waist.

“That’s okay Babe, you’re passionate about it, and someone should be. I’m glad it’s you, there’s no one in this world with a bigger heart than you.” Liam mumbles into my neck and continues to nibble.

“You are getting me all wound up here.” I pant.

He chuckles and leans back to look at me, “That’s the whole point Babe, I’ve been sporting wood since you went down to your boxers. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately. You’ve gotten all hard and muscly if you’re not careful you’ll end up with an eight pack.” He says as his lips reach mine and pushes me back toward the bed.

I flop down backwards as soon as the crease in the back of my knee hits it. I bounced high enough that we knocked heads. We don’t let it get in the way, we laugh, hold our heads for a minute and continue on with our fun. Liam forces me toward the top of the bed and straddles over me.

“Oh! Before I forget, Ollie rang earlier and said they are having flag football exhibition games tomorrow as well as sign up for a league. He’d like us to keep Katherine company while he plays. He also asked if we wanted to play.” Liam says smacking himself in the forehead.

I laugh, “Umm… Sure we can do that what time does it start?”

“Around eleven in the morning,”

“I won’t get there until about one. I’ve got the Mens shed in the morning.” I remind him.

“That’s cool, just come after.”

“I’d like to be coming now, are we going to do this or synchronize our schedules?” I ask him leaning up to kiss him while I laugh.

“Oh yeah… I’d rather be doing this.” He says the latter seductively and pushing me back down on the mattress.