Sky's The Limit - 20. Chapter 20

The trip home was uneventful. Most of the conversation with Dad and Jessie centered around their honeymoon. Dad had gone all out and had rented a small suite at the Ritz Carlton. They had breakfast at Brennan's, whatever that is, and ate at Emeril's and someplace called Commander's Palace or something like that. They were telling me about the French Quarter and all, but it sort of went in one ear and out the other. Apparently, Jessie spent one whole day in the hotel spa, and went on and on about that.

When I got home, I unloaded all my stuff, went to my room, and called Dex. He wanted to come over, but I told him to wait till in the morning. I was tired and wanted to just eat supper and crash. Little did I know that my little world was going to get a serious kick in the ass that evening.

About an hour after we got home, I was just sort of kicked back in my room listening to a few tunes and I hear a lot of racket. I go to the family room and discover that Jessie's parents were delivering Jason and Tammy to their new home. Oh goody. Guess who got the privilege of going outside and unloading the full size pickup truck load of their stuff? Yep, you got it. Moi. Jason did make a couple of trips, but I got the bulk of it.

Then it starts. "How come Jonah got to pick the room with the outside door and everything?"

"Jason," Jessie began "Jonah is the oldest and they moved in first. We're not going to fight about this."

"Why can't I have the room Tammy's got. I don't wanna share the bathroom, and I'm older than Tammy."

Flawless logic, you dumbass. I thought to myself.

"Tammy's a girl and she gets the private bathroom." Jessie said matter of factly.

"Then I don't get a choice at all. That's not fair." He's literally screaming now.

"Be glad you got your own room, period. Shut up, and go in there and put your stuff away." Jessie yelled back at him.

Oh, this is really going to be fun. I can just tell. Whoopee.

After all the stuff was unloaded and put in the appropriate rooms, I just went to my room and kicked back to a little Elton. In a few minutes, my ears were assaulted with some twangy country song being played at a volume loud enough to drown out a freight train. I go through the bathroom and knock on Jason's door. No answer. I knock louder and yell his name. Nothing. I finally crack the door open, peek in, and yell his name again. He finally looks up from where he's still putting together some type of stereo system.

"Get outta my room!" He yells angrily.

"Can ya turn it down a little?"

"No! What's the matter? You don't like Hank Jr.? It's classical country."

I roll my eyes at that, and say "It's just drowning out what I was list'nin' to."

"Too bad asshole."

I slam the door, go to the family room where Jessie and Dad were sitting watching some inane TV show, and said "Dad, can ya get Jason to turn down the stereo. I asked and he just wouldn't.

"Son, you two are just going to have to learn to get along. I can't just jump in every time y'all don't agree on something."

"Fine. I'll handle it."

I go back to his room where the music is still blairing despite the closed door, and I knock loudly. No answer. I bang hard on the door, and he finally opens it. "What?" he said.

"Look, I don't like this any better'n you do. I was perfectly happy in my old house, back with my old friends and my old life. Don't get all pissed at me because you ain't happy about it. It's not a damn thing I can do about and neither can you. Now we try to get along, or I can end up whippin' yo' ass."

"You and what freakin' army, you little pansy-assed geek. Hell, you don't even play football."

"What the hell does that have to do with any damn thing?" I knew where this was headed, and I was struggling to remember my discipline. I would not start a physical fight with this kid no matter how big an asshole he is. "Look, tell ya' what. We got a pool table upstairs. I'll play ya' two outta three. I win, you turn the damn thing down. You win, you can play it loud as ya' want till bedtime."

"Pool table?" he asked.

"You haven't been upstairs? We got our own rec room up there."

"Kewl, Let's go."

I took him upstairs and he started looking around. What's that for?" He asked pointing at the corner Dad had set up as my mini-dojo.

"That's where I practice my karate'"

"Karate'? You any good?"

I chuckled at him. "I like to think so, been at for over eight years."

"You got like a black belt?"

"Third degree in Kenpo. I hope to get my fourth by my birthday. I've been working hard last few weeks, but there's still a few advanced forms I'm not comfortable with."

"Shit, then you meant you really could kick my ass. Why didn't ya?"

"That's not the reason for learning Kenpo, or any martial art. It's all about discipline and learning how not to fight. I try to avoid a conflict, but if that's not possible, I can probly end it.

We played our pool match. I won the first. He won the next, but I beat him by two shots on the third. He was pretty good, but then again, I'm far from great myself. By the end of the game, though, he had calmed down from the angry little asshole, to just run of the mill asshole. That, I can deal with, usually anyway. At least now, he would talk to me in a civil tone of voice. The anger and pure hatred was gone. If I didn't have a new brother, at least maybe I didn't have an instant enemy. It was still too early to call us friends or anything close to it, but I had avoided a fight and permanently making him my enemy. I also think he understood that I wasn't any happier about living with Jessie, him, and his sister than he was about living with me or my Dad. It was going to take time for us to get used to each other, but maybe we could learn to respect each other's feelings.

Dex did come over the next day, in fact at nine o'clock in the freakin' morning. That's an obscene hour for a teenager with nothing better to do than sleep in. Bang, bang, bang. I heard on the outside door to my room. I struggle to regain consciousness and realize I'm naked and grab my boxers off the floor and open the door. Damn, that was cold, I thought to myself as the cold air hit my body.

"Hey shrimp, how was the trip?"

"What in the hell are you doin here so damn early?"

"It's not that early. Get your ass up and get dressed. I'll wait for ya upstairs. Then I'll beat your ass at pool."

"You haven't answered my question you damn prick. Why are you waking me up this early?"

"Life here doesn't stop just because you're over in Mississippi doing God knows what with you know who. Maybe I have some news for a change."

"You know who has a name and it's Sky, and I hope God doesn't know about some of the stuff we did." I snapped back somewhat groggily. "What news?"

"Nope, you gotta be fully conscious. Come on upstairs when you're dressed."

I showered, brushed my teeth, and threw on some sweats and headed upstairs. "Now, what the hell is so important that I'm missing beauty sleep?"

"Hafta admit, you could use more of that. Guess who's goin out with Ellen Jenkins?"

"Ellen Jenkins. The cheerleader?"

"Yep." He said with a shit-eating grin.

"No way, c'mon,"

"The day after your dad's weddin' I ran into her at Wal Mart. We started talkin', and well she'd been datin' Chad Moore, you know, the running back."

I nodded "and?"

"Well she caught him screwin' around with somebody else and was really pissed and dumped him. He was supposed to take her to a big New Year's party. So, I asked her if I could take her, and she said yes."

"No shit! What happened?"

"Well, we went to the party, and when I took her home, well, she damn near swallowed my tongue and asked me to come in for a while. We made out for like an hour at her house."

"Where were her folks?"

"They had gone out of town for the weekend and left her older sister in charge. Heaven knows where she was. We went out again that night and it even got better. I think maybe we're like goin' steady or somethin."

"I don't think two dates makes goin' steady, but that's great man."

• * * *

School started that next Monday. The only thing really different from the previous semester, was the fact that I had gotten a learner's permit and was taking driver ed. That was cool though, I like normal. Things at home had calmed down. Jason and I had a mutual understanding. We just stayed out of each other's way mostly. The only real problem was that I was still having trouble teaching him to knock before he just opened my door if he did have to bother me about something. He damn near walked in on my solo sexercise session the other day. I might end up having to kick his ass one day, but so far we were avoiding that.

I had wanted to visit Sarah in New York over spring break and maybe even get to take Sky, but it wasn't meant to be. She was scheduled to do some sort of modeling thing in Australia and New Zealand. The only good news about spring break was that David had agreed to let Sky drive over here and he had somehow talked his mom into it too.

My birthday was the last week of February and Sky's was the second week of March so we decided we would just celebrate both when he was here. Dex and Ellen did start dating regular, and she was usually with him in the jeep when he would come by and pick me up. I was a little pissed, though, when she didn't seem to like picking up Zach on the way, but it never really came to a head or anything.

I had decided what I wanted Dad to trade the car for - a local dealer had a Toyota Tacoma four wheel drive crew cab that was only a year old and didn't have a lot of miles. Dad had it checked out and it was even still under warranty. Man, that was the coolest truck. It was gold with a beige interior. The only issue was that it had a manual transmission, but Dex actually taught me how to drive a manual in his jeep. That was interesting, and the first thirty minutes of the lesson was mostly Dex screaming at me.

My birthday was February 26, which would be on a Saturday. Dad went and picked up the truck that Friday, even though I couldn't get my actual license till the following Monday. My birthday party was the first official party at our new house. Considering it was still too cold to use the pool and courtyard, it was still a nice party. We mostly used our "rec room" upstairs and of course Dex and Ellen, Lori, Zach, and several of my other friends, mostly my band friends, were there. Jason and Tammy even behaved well and seemed to mix well enough with my friends. It really was a nice party.

I got my license that following Monday, and started driving myself to school the following day, stopping to pick up Zach on my way. Zach was starting to come out of his shell since he had been hanging around us. He was even a little less effeminate or maybe we were just getting used to it. He had had a growth spurt the last few months and was at least a full inch taller than when I met him. He was starting to fill out a little too. It seemed like I was the only one who hadn't grown physically. Oh well, mom's short gene must be connected to the vindictive bitch gene.

The next week was spring break. I couldn't wait for Sky to get here. He finally arrived Saturday afternoon. He had promised his dad he would come back the following Thursday so they would have the weekend together. I think they were going to visit Sky's grandparents. Anyway, I would have him till then. Dad insisted he stay in the guest suite over the garage. As badly as I wanted him to stay with me, I knew that probably wasn't the smart thing to do with the little asshole in the adjoining room. Three teenage boys to that bathroom probably wasn't a great idea either, so I didn't put up much of a fight about it. Sky was cool with the arrangements too. Besides, both our rooms had outside doors separated only by the courtyard so really it wasn't that big of a deal.

I showed him my new truck and he really went on about how much he liked it. We got in and took off. I knew I had to kiss him, hold him, God I had missed him so much. I pulled of at this little gravel road that went behind a bunch of farms and stuff and led to an old landfill that was closed now. I finally got to a place to pull over, got out and went to his side of the truck. He had a totally confused look on his face. I opened his door and he tentatively got out. I pushed him back onto the back door of the truck, put my hands around the back of his neck and head, and kissed him deeply. His arms were immediately around my waist and back and he was returning the kiss with over two months of built up passion. "God, I missed you." I panted as we finally came up for air. "I just had to get away from the house - too many people."

"Yeah, it is sorta crowded now." He chuckled.

"We'll just hafta work around it" I sighed. "Hey, would you go somewhere with me, and not think I'm an idiot when we get there?"

"I would never think you're an idiot." There was that smile -- that so special smile that set my heart on fire.

We got back in the truck, turned around and headed out. I went with my Dad to my Mom's grave on holidays and special occasions like their anniversary or her birthday, but until I got my own wheels it was always with him, and I would just stand there while he would change the flowers or talk to her. I had noticed those trips had stopped after the wedding. I had gone to the cemetery last week, and noticed a need for new flowers. I also needed to talk to her, and I wanted Sky there.

It was several miles to the cemetery and Sky and I caught up on stuff that was going on that we hadn't already discussed on the phone or e-mails, and some stuff we already had. I was holding his hand when I didn't need it to shift. I was amazed that he had never driven a manual transmission car, but I promised to teach him. We finally got to the cemetery and pulled in. He looked over at me with that confused look and a bit of a frown. "I want to introduce you to mom," I said.

He didn't say a word, but gave me a nod and a re-assuring smile as he put his hand on mine. We meandered through the large cemetery ‘til we got to that spot that was so familiar now. I parked and we got out. I grabbed the small silk flower arrangement I had bought, and we walked quietly up the small hill to where my Mom's grave was tucked between an oak and dogwood tree. I put the flowers next to the headstone.

"Elizabeth Tucker Knight February 12, 1960 - January 10, 2004." That was it. That was all it said. There was a simple cross at the top and a pair of angels on either side. I sat next on the grass next to it. Sky sat next to me and held my hand.

"Hi, Mom. I'm sorry I didn't get new flowers in time for your birthday, but I didn't have a way to get them here. Dad traded Sarah's car for a truck for me. It's really cool. Mom, there's something I need to tell you. I miss you... I ...." I lost it and started crying. I felt Sky put his arm around me and pulled me into him. I sat back up and wiped my eyes. "Mom, I'm gay. I don't want you to worry. I'm here with this most perfect guy, and I love him with all my heart. His name's Sky, and I know he loves me too." I broke down again after that and we sat there for several minutes with Sky holding me in his arms while I cried.