Gap Year - 93. Chapter 93

April 20, 2004

The Tonto

Ostia, Italy

Will

“Happy birthday, Travis,” Grand said, raising his glass to toast my amazing boyfriend. Travis was seated at the head of the huge dining room table, with me, Grand, Stef, Tom, Marta, Skip, Berto, Vinnie, Charles, Phillipe, Pascal, and Eloise smiling at him. Since it was our last night on the ship, Travis had asked if we could have his birthday dinner aboard. Besides, food aboard the ship was so good, we’d probably enjoy a better meal than if we’d gone to a restaurant. The staff on board the ship had responded accordingly, and seemed flattered that Travis would choose this as his birthday venue, so they’d turned this dinner party into a much bigger production than usual. I was impressed that they had managed to turn what had been Travis’s study hall into an opulent dining venue in a very short period. Their efforts warranted more formal attire, which meant that Travis was sporting the new blue suit he’d gotten in Rome, the one that made him look absolutely gorgeous.

“Thank you all so much,” Travis said. “I’m really glad I’m here to celebrate with you.”

“You made it to your eighteenth birthday,” I said. It was pretty sad that we considered that to be a big achievement, that he’d managed to dodge Curtis Buck’s plans to end his life. Travis’s attorneys had faxed him the documents he needed to sign to change his beneficiaries, and he’d accomplished that today. When he’d done that, taken away the tangible benefits that Curtis Buck would derive if he were killed, it had been like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be with than you all,” Travis said.

“I am sorry that I had to truncate our trip,” Stef said apologetically. He’d pushed his schedule to the limit to come to Italy and stay as long as he did, but the pressure for him to return had finally convinced him it was time to go back. We were planning to fly back tomorrow morning.

“I’m just glad we got to spend this time with you,” I said to him. It had been good for Stef to get away, it had been good for all of us to get away, but it was time for us to go back home. Charles was so anxious to get back to Paris he was actually getting more stressed out as the days went on, and I sensed that even Grand was ready to get back to his familiar surroundings.

Dinner conversation was fun and lively, and when that was finally over, the chef personally came out and brought a big cake that said “Happy Birthday, Travis” on it. We sang the stupid happy birthday song for him and made him blow out the candles, and then while the staff cut pieces for all of us, Stef gave Tom a meaningful look. He got up and went over to the side table, picked up the two presents that were there, brought them back, and handed them to Travis. “Happy birthday, mate,” he said.

“You did not have to get me presents,” Travis insisted. “You have done way too much for me as it is.”

“I think we talked about this,” I said to him. “When someone gives you a gift, you’re supposed to be polite and say thank you, even if it sucks.”

“I am confident that you will be pleased with your presents, but if you are not, Will has delineated the correct approach,” Grand said, making us chuckle.

“Well, thank you,” Travis said, then opened the card that was attached to the larger of the two. “May this make you look as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside,” he read. “Love, Stef and JP.” He got all choked up. “Thank you,” he managed to mumble.

“The feelings were sincere,” Stef said with his soft smile.

“What is it?” I asked, to move us beyond the maudlin moment.

“I don’t know,” Travis said.

“I would suggest that you have but to open it to find out,” Grand said, being a smart-ass. Travis rolled his eyes then tore off the beautiful wrapping paper and opened the box. The first thing he pulled out of it was a suit jacket. He stood up, took off the coat he was wearing, and put on this new one.

“That looks amazing on you,” I said. This suit was a light gray with just a hint of blue, a color that perfectly mirrored Travis’s eyes. “I mean, the blue one is awesome, but this one is even better.”

Travis walked to a mirror and looked at it. “This is perfect!”

“I am so glad you like it,” Stef said. “I had them use the measurements from your blue suit, but if it needs alterations, we will handle that when we get home.”

“I am in awe of your exquisite taste,” Eloise said to Stef.

“Thank you,” he said, beaming at all of this praise, then focused on Travis. “I anticipated that with your new status as an adult, you would need some additional business attire.”

“Look at how cool this is!” Travis exclaimed, as he pulled a tie out of the box. I was so impressed with how Stef had put together a complete outfit, including shirt, socks and shoes.

“You really outdid yourself,” I told Stef. I thought about how this was the same thing he did for me on a regular basis, putting together amazing outfits for me to wear, and I resolved to thank him for doing it more often.

Travis walked over and waited until Stef stood up, then gave him a huge hug, one that he held for a long time. “Thank you for everything.”

“You are welcome,” Stef replied, giving Travis his loving, paternal look.

Before Travis could move on and presumably give Grand just as meaningful of an embrace, Grand surprised him by producing a neatly wrapped box, one that looked like it could hold a watch, and handed it to Travis.

“This is from you?” Travis asked.

“It is from both of us,” Grand said officiously, “but this was my contribution to the shopping effort.”

Travis opened it up and, contrary to my initial guess, it wasn’t a watch but a beautiful blue Mont Blanc pen. “This is the bomb! What is it?”

“It is a Mont Blanc Ramses II Lapis Lazuli pen,” Grand said.

“Didn’t Robbie have a pen like that?” I asked. He’d sported a blue Mont Blanc just like Travis’s, while my father had a similar pen, only in green.

“Yes, but this is a different one,” Stef said, being a smart-ass.

“You will no doubt spend a great deal of time signing things, and there is no reason you cannot do it with class,” Grand said to Travis.

“There is no classier way to sign something,” he said, then gave Grand as big of a hug as he’d given Stef. It was really sweet to see how happy Travis was.

“There is one more present,” Stef noted, gesturing at the box on the table that was my gift to Travis.

Travis sat down and picked up the package. He shook it, and heard it rattling, causing him to give me an odd look. “Sounds like you broke it,” I joked.

“Right,” he said. He opened the card, read it, and smiled at me.

“What does it say?” Stef asked.

“I could write a bunch of things here, but I’ll stick to the most important one: I love you totally and completely,” Travis read, making me blush. He stared at me, forcing our eyes to lock on to each other. “I love you too.”

“I hope you still feel that way after you open the present,” Vinnie joked, dragging us away from our sappy interchange.

“I’ll bet I like it,” Travis said, then tore the paper off the box and started laughing.

“What is that?” Charles asked.

“It is a Lego set so I can build Westminster Abbey,” he said.

“Last time I went to one of your birthday parties, I bought you Legos, so it seemed appropriate,” I joked, referring to his 13^th birthday party.

“This is awesome!” he said, and we all laughed some more.

“I’d thought I should try to get you something fancier, so I’m glad you like it,” I said. He probably heard the nervousness in my tone. When I was dating Zach, I’d bought him really cool and expensive gifts, but with Travis, that just didn’t seem to be necessary. He had shitloads of money and a lot of nice stuff. He had inherited watches from his grandfather worth millions of dollars, so that wasn’t an option. I could have tried to find him a cool piece of jewelry, but he had more than enough already. Besides, I could do that whenever I wanted to; I didn’t need to buy him something like that just because it was his birthday. Instead, I’d gone with something more fun.

“That’s bullshit,” Travis said firmly. “Besides, this place will always have special meaning for me,” he said, referring to Westminster Abbey.

“It will for me too, which is a weird thing to say as an atheist,” I joked.

“I will pray for your soul,” Eloise said, making me laugh.

“You do that,” I responded.

One of the crew members was evidently an amateur DJ, so he came out and set up his gear. We had an absolute blast, dancing and drinking, until we ended up pretty hammered. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see how late it was, and even more surprised that Travis had been able to enjoy himself so long without his introversion sapping his social energy. Maybe that was because he was so wasted; he was way drunker than I was. He caught my eye, smiled at me, then raised his eyebrows suggestively, which was evidently our clue to leave. When I was done laughing, I helped him thank everyone and then our drunk asses staggered back to our cabin.

When we got there, I was kind of surprised to see a paper taped to the top of our door. “What’s this?” I asked. I got closer to it and started laughing. Travis had drawn a picture that was in the style of those we’d seen over the rooms in the whorehouse in Pompeii. I paused for a millisecond to admire his drawing skills; I was lucky if I could do a good stick figure. This one had a dude on all fours getting drilled by another dude positioned behind him. The guy getting drilled had yellow hair, which was presumably the closest he could find to blond. “I definitely want to go in this room.”

“Me too,” he said. I pulled the drawing off the wall then we walked in, even as I continued to look at the picture and chuckle. He made to take it away from me but I lifted it out of his reach. “No way, I’m keeping this.”

“Stealing artworks, eh?” he asked. “Just like all the other tomb raiders.”

“Nuh-uh,” I said, shaking my head. “This was on my door, so it’s mine. According to this, I get to sink my big dick in your ass.” I used that last line to change my tone from playful to lusty.

“That’s exactly what’s going to happen,” he said. He moved in close to me and kissed me. I gave into the feeling of his mouth on mine, then felt my libido soar as his hand grabbed my dick.

April 21, 2004

In the air

The Ligurian Sea

Will

“I am sorry we had to leave a day early,” Stef said, even as the plane completed its initial climb out of Rome. It was probably the tenth time he’d apologized. I stifled a yawn, since it was 9 o’clock in the morning in Rome and I hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. The thought of the awesome sex Travis and I had replaced my almost yawn with a smile.

“It’s no big deal, Stef,” I said. “I’m just happy that you came with us on this trip. I know it’s not easy for you to just vanish for long periods of time on short notice.”

“It is not, but I must say that the technology, when it works, makes it much easier,” he said pleasantly. Travis looked at me and yawned, then got an alarmed look on his face and all but charged to the bathroom.

“Perhaps our departure time was a little early for Travis,” Grand mused in his smug way.

“I think it’s less about the time of day and more about how obliterated he got last night,” I said. We all laughed at Travis in his absence.

“I spoke to Cody, and he asked you to call him,” Stef said. I looked at him, wondering what that was about, so he answered my unspoken question. “I told him that Travis was interested in acting, so Cody has set up a meeting for Travis with an acting instructor.”

“You work fast,” I said.

Stef shrugged, that quintessential French gesture. “He has been talking about it quite a bit, so it is clearly something that interests him.” Stef was right: ever since I’d put that acting bug into Travis’s ear, he’d mentioned it a lot.

“Thanks for helping him out,” I said.

“It is not a problem,” Stef said. “Before you talk to Travis about this, you should call Cody.”

“Why?” I demanded. Before he could answer me, Travis came back and sat on the couch. He looked a little better than he had before he’d run off to vomit, but not much.

“I have a question for you,” Grand said to Travis.

“Sure,” Travis said. It was cute to see how he perked up when he was talking to Grand. Working together on Travis’s homework had created a nice bond between the two of them, and Travis never failed to treat Grand with a great deal of respect. He did the same thing with Stef, only he was more playful in their interactions. It suddenly dawned on me that he treated them in a very similar way to how I did.

“Will mentioned that there are restrictions on when you can access your trust fund, with some money being available when you are 18, and some being available when you are 25,” Grand stated, although it was more of a question.

“That’s right,” Travis said. “I was worried that my father would try to enact a morals clause and tie the money up for longer, but now that I’m 18, that won’t happen. As of yesterday, I have access to half the trust, and I get access to the other half when I turn 25.”

“As that is the case, I am wondering how you were planning to buy out Buck Industries?” Grand asked. “It would take the bulk of your total trust to accomplish that, so it would seem.”

“Ah,” Travis said, understanding now where Grand was going with his question. “I can’t get the other half until I’m 25, but I can direct how it is invested, more or less.”

“I hope I did not offend you by prying,” Grand said hastily. “I fear I have let my curiosity negatively impact my manners.”

“No, that’s fine,” Travis said. “It was a good question.”

“I thought so as well,” Stef said. “But I was not going to be rude enough to ask it.” Grand gave Stef a withering look, and the whole scene made Travis and me start laughing.

“Is it alright with you all if I crash?” Travis asked.

“Go,” I said, smiling at him. “I have to make a phone call, then I’ll join you.”

“Cool,” he said, then winked at me as he stood up and stumbled a bit on the way to the bedroom.

I opened my backpack and took out a folder, then out of that I took the picture that Travis had pinned above our cabin door last night. “I thought you should see how well your academic guidance worked with Travis,” I said to Grand, and handed the picture first to Stef. He looked at it, started laughing, then handed it to Grand, who laughed as well.

“I must thank you for sharing that,” Grand said, giving the drawing back to me. “It is important to do summative assessments.”

“I’m going to call Cody, then I’m going to see if Travis has drawn me any more pictures,” I joked. I went to the boardroom, picked up the phone, and dialed his number. He answered quickly, so he was obviously waiting for my call.

“I’m glad you got back to me,” he said. “I needed to firm up some times for meetings with Travis, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

“I can help you firm up anything you want,” I said, flirting with him harmlessly.

“Yeah, you used to mean it when you said that, but now that you’ve got a man, you’re just being a tease,” he joked, making me chuckle. He also reminded me that this conversation was all that was in between me and a bed with Travis in it, and that focused my mind on business pretty damn fast.

“So what’s up?” I asked, my tone serious.

“Stef has been on me to see if Travis has any acting talent,” Cody said.

“Do you think he does?” I asked.

“I have no idea, that’s why he needs to spend some time with an acting instructor. He’s got all the external bases covered. He’s fucking gorgeous, he’s got a deep silky voice, and he doesn’t fall over shit when he walks around the house,” Cody said.

“He can sing really well too,” I added.

“He can?” Cody asked.

“He can,” I confirmed. “I have a tape at home of him singing at a diner in New York. I’ll bring it to Malibu with me when we come down for Travis’s party.”

“That’s awesome,” Cody said, then his tone went from enthusiastic back to serious. “Before I put this whole plan into motion, I want to make sure that you’re okay with it.”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay with him pursuing his dream?” I asked curiously.

“Because if he does this, if he becomes an actor, he’ll want to be a star. That’s how it happens,” Cody said.

“He’s not hyper-competitive, but he likes to win,” I said cautiously, thinking of how Travis was when we played volleyball. He would really put himself into it, but he didn’t get pissed off if he lost. “Why is that a problem?”

“He can’t be a star and be out,” Cody said. “Maybe he can someday, but right now, when he’s young and just starting out, he can’t be out.”

“Fuck,” I said, exhaling loudly as I did. “It’s almost like the same thing Zach deals with.”

“It’s not quite that bad,” he said. “But it will mean that he will have to be more careful. You guys can do shit together, hang out together, and it probably won’t be a problem. You just can’t make out on Hollywood Boulevard.”

“It’s fucking 2004,” I objected.

“Yeah, and that’s how things are in 2004,” Cody said. “I just wanted you to know that before he jumps into this.” Then I got where he was coming from with this. He knew that it had been tough for me, being with Zach while he was committed to the NCAA and the NFL, and he was telling me that if Travis went down this path, this wouldn’t be easy either. He was giving me the chance to torpedo Travis’s becoming an actor, or at least Cody’s helping him with that goal, and even though I wouldn’t do that, it was nice of him to think of my feelings.

“Thanks,” I said, pushing as much sincerity as I could into my voice. “I appreciate the heads-up, but you can go ahead and set things up for Travis.”

“I just don’t want to ruin what you guys have, and I don’t want you to blame me for it,” he said, being a little bitchy.

“I’m not going to blame you for this,” I confirmed, and hopefully managed not to sound as annoyed as I did. “At the same time, I am not going to stand in the way of his career, if he ends up with one. No fucking way.” I couldn’t live with myself if I did that.

“I understand,” he said.

“I’m going to talk to him about it, I’m going to let him make the call, and I’m going to support him completely no matter what,” I pledged.

“Sounds good,” he responded, then we ended our call.

I walked back into the Flying Room and stood in front of Stef and Grand. “I take it you finished talking to Cody,” Stef observed.

I nodded. “It was nice of him to warn me about that. It sucks. But if Travis wants to do this, we’ll make it work somehow.” We all knew that last statement was probably bullshit.

“I think it is important that you help Travis explore the dimensions of what this means,” Grand said. “I cannot see that he has to worry about this right now, assuming he plans to delay his acting plans while he’s in college.”

“It’s good to know what the future holds, though,” I said fatalistically. “I’m going to crash too.”

“We’ll wake you up before we land,” Stef promised.

I walked into our cabin and smiled when I saw Travis laying on his back with his right arm stretched out above his head, striking an incredibly sexy pose. “You look slutty,” I teased, even as I ripped off my clothes.

“That’s good,” he said. “That’s the look I was going for.” I laughed with him, which was more the norm than otherwise.

“It worked,” I said in a sultry way as I slid on top of him. He made love to me, and I made him take a long time, edging him to the point where he almost couldn’t stand it anymore, then made him explode in one of his more impressive orgasms.

“Goddamn,” he said, panting and shaking his head when he came off his orgasmic high. “Damn!”

“That was a lot of fun,” I said, then laughed. He surprised me by getting up, then made me smile when he came back with a towel to wipe us off. “Thanks.”

“Least I could do after you took me to another fucking planet,” he said. We lay there for a bit, and I was tempted to drift off to sleep with him, but my conversation with Cody popped back into my mind.

“I need to talk to you about your acting career,” I said in a jocular way.

“Career?” he asked. “I haven’t even tried it. Not exactly a career.”

“Well, Stef kind of set some things up for you,” I said a bit apprehensively, worried that he’d get upset that my family was pulling strings and think we were trying to manipulate him.

“What things?” he asked, but in a curious way, not in a defensive way.

“He got Cody to set you up with an acting coach, to see if you have any talent,” I said.

“Waste of his time,” Travis said dismissively. “I’m no actor. I have no idea how to do more than hide my own feelings.”

“I think you have a lot of potential,” I said firmly.

“And how the fuck would you know?” he asked, chuckling as he did. “Wait, aren’t you the guy who discovered Adrian Brody?”

“Fuck you,” I said, and smacked him playfully. “I could be wrong, but my instincts tell me you’ll be really good.”

“Well, thanks,” he said, but wasn’t convinced. “I don’t even know if I want to do that.”

“Look, you’ve been talking about it a lot. It’s clearly on your mind. It’s pretty obvious to me that it’s something you want to try out,” I said. He gave me an unpleasant look. “Well, you do!” I insisted.

“I’m sorry I’m talking about it so much,” he said, being bitchy. “I’ll shut up about it.”

“Do not even play that bullshit game with me,” I said, so annoyed with him. “I didn’t say it bothered me; I just said that you did it.”

“Whatever,” he said grumpily.

“I’m happy to see you excited about something, about this,” I said earnestly. “You seem so stoked about it.”

“I think it would be fun to try,” he said.

“And that’s why Cody’s working on setting something up,” I said.

“I guess that’s cool,” he said, smiling slightly, then his eyes bored into mine as he tried to read my mind. “What aren’t you telling me?”

I was impressed that his mind-reading skills were working so well even though he was hung over. “There’s an important thing to consider if you do this.”

“What?” he asked.

“If you do pursue a career in the movies, or TV, or whatever, you can’t be out of the closet,” I said.

“I can’t?” he challenged.

“I mean, you can, but you won’t be successful,” I said.

“Who told you that?” he asked, almost belligerently.

“Cody,” I said calmly. “That’s what he wanted to talk to me about. He wanted me to make sure you knew how it would have to be if you wanted this.”

He shook his head in frustration. “I haven’t even done a single fucking screen test, and you’re convinced I’m going to turn into Tom Cruise overnight and that I’m going to have this fucked up life because I’m in the closet.”

“I didn’t say your life would be fucked up,” I corrected. “The rest is pretty much true.”

He smiled at me, then gave me a kiss for thinking so highly of him. “I think you’re full of shit, but I appreciate you thinking about me.”

“Dude, I think about you all the time,” I said.

“If you guys are cool with it, I think it would be awesome to meet with this instructor and see if it’s fun, and if I have any talent,” he said. “If I do, then I guess I can worry about being straight in public.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to be straight, necessarily; I just don’t think you can be gay,” I corrected, since that was my read on what Cody had told me.

“What’s the fucking difference?” he demanded.

“When Zach had an advisor, and he was explaining the rules to us, Zach was in a situation where he had to fuck women,” I said. “I think what Cody is saying is that you don’t have to have a relationship with a woman; you can just be single. But you can’t have a relationship with another dude.”

“I already have a relationship with a dude, and he’s so fucking amazing, I fell totally in love with him,” Travis said to me. God, how I loved this guy.

“I love you, too,” I said. He drifted off to sleep after that, while I stayed awake longer, wondering what our lives would be like if I was right about him. The shit I’d had to deal with with Zach would probably be just as bad with Travis. I fell asleep frowning.