Boy Story: The Road Taken - 19. Our Little Talk

Our Little Talk

I woke up in the morning with a full bladder. I needed to pee post haste, so I slid out of bed as stealthily as I could, put on the terry cloth robe, and made my way quickly and quietly to the door. As I closed the door and turned to go down the hall, there was Parker’s mom…or rather Ginny… straight ahead in my field of view sitting on the couch and drinking a cup of coffee. She waved me down to join her. With some quick sign language, I signaled that I’d be right there because I have to go to the bathroom first.

As I stood there relieving myself, I began thinking she must have left Bill’s house early this morning to be home already. That was until I realized it was nearly 11:30.

Then I wondered what she wanted to talk to me about…alone. Maybe she was angry with me. I mean here’s the boy, or legally the man, who is staying over her house, eating her food, and doing unmentionable things to her not-quite-legal-yet son. Oh my God, I must seem like such a horrible person! It’s that boy, I just can’t control myself around him. What should I say? Perhaps just apologize and beg her for mercy. Oh, this can’t be good.

My heart was beating outside my chest and I started to break into a cold sweat as I washed and dried my hands. Now it’s time for my punishment. I’ll try to be as polite and brave as possible while I take my medicine. Maybe I should give a brief speech, but having just woken up with my brain still foggy, I couldn’t come up with anything catchy.

I left the bathroom and slowly headed toward the living room as I could feel my throat tighten and my insides churning.

“Do you like coffee? There’s a fresh pot over there and some clean cups. Go ahead pour yourself a cup and bring it here,” she opened with. Well a cup of coffee as a last request isn’t so bad, I thought.

“Cream and sugar are over here,” she called out from the couch.

I returned with my beverage and sat down in the chair next to the couch where Ginny was positioned. I popped in one lump of sugar and then a second, added the cream, and stirred.

“Ahhh, I used to like two lumps when I was young and skinny like you…but as time catches up, you have to make changes.” She noticed me looking around for a place to put my cup. “That’s OK, put it down right there,” she said. “That’s why they call it a coffee table.”

I took a sip and saw my opening. “I’m really sorry for being over here so much and wearing out my welcome. It’s just that…”

“What are you talking about? You’re here because you have an open invitation to be here and Parker wants you here. I said before that you are welcome here anytime, and right now is anytime, tomorrow is anytime, and next week is anytime.”

“I just don’t want you to feel, I dunno, like I’m taking advantage of your hospitality,” I tried.

“Don’t be silly. You’ve done more for me than you could ever know.”

“I have?” I questioned.

“Look, you may not realize it, but you are like an angel sent to me,” she said and then paused to take a sip of her coffee. “You see, my son was always the joking, happy, lovable boy you know today. But when that last awful relationship ended, it left emotional scars. That twinkle in his eye was gone and his happy-go-lucky attitude had changed. He became withdrawn, quiet and…what’s the word…morose...for months. Then you came along. He perked back up. The twinkle returned to his eyes, he became happy again, and I got my son back. Now it’s ‘Matthew said this’ and ‘Matthew did that’ and ‘Matthew likes that’ and so on.”

“Really? He talks about me all the time?”

“Incessantly!” she said. “It’s obvious that he has fallen for you.”

“I thought it was just me. Like on campus when I’m walking to class or I’m bored in a class, I start daydreaming and I think about Parker. And it makes me smile that I have someone like him in my life. And I can’t wait to talk to him or be with him again,“ I confessed. “I can’t help it. I do think I love him.”

“I know,” she said.

“You do? How?”

“I can see it in your eyes. And I also see it in his. That’s how I know I can trust you because it’s not all fun and games. Parker is sweet and naïve, but he can also be impulsive, stubborn, and competitive. One thing you’ll learn is when a point of contention arises about something that really makes no difference to you, you just have to back off and let him win. Because when he feels like he wins, you actually win.”

“You know...I have already used that maneuver, but you are able to put it into words. When it makes no difference, you just let him win. That’s exactly right,” I reiterated.

“Well, if you’ve learned that much already, you're doing just fine,” she confided. “But if you’re not in this for the long haul, get out now. I mean, I don’t expect you two to be together forever, but if this is some kind of experiment for you…well, it’s just that my son is very vulnerable right now.”

“Parker and I have talked about this. I’ve assured him that I would never have asked him out if I wasn’t sincere. But to be honest, it is a bit of an experiment for me because I’ve never been in a relationship with a guy before. But I feel being a guy, I understand other guys better than I understand girls—they just make me crazy.”

She laughed. “Well, you are right in a way. I think it takes us girls a little longer to mature in some ways that boys just seem already equipped. Eventually as we develop into young women, we become a little more sensible and perceptive. It just often comes a little later than with boys.”

“I do want to assure you that I’m not with Parker because I want to fulfill some sort of lame fantasy and then move on. I really have fallen in love. In fact, he asked if we could be roommates at college next year,” I announced.

“He did?”

“Yup.”

“Oh, I didn't see that one coming. And what did you decide?” Ginny asked.

“Um...I let him win.”

“Hmm, well, I think that might work out to everyone's benefit,” she added.

“Me, too.”

“Well, I'm glad we had this chance to chat, so you know what you’re getting yourself into. Parker is special,” she began. “I suppose every mother says that about her children. But I’ve found if you weather his storms, he’s really a sweet, good-hearted person inside and that makes a world of difference.”

“But there’s one thing you forgot,” I added.

“What’s that?” she questioned.

“He is adorable!”

“Ah, torn from the pages of Tiger Beat,” she said with a sly smile.

It was at that point I realized that his mom and I were on the same team. We were both taking on the responsibility of keeping her son safe and happy, albeit in different ways. Whereas she once had to fight against a person who had very different interests during an old relationship, she now had someone dating her son who she felt comfortable with. The welfare of her youngest son was a really profound responsibility. I knew her trust in me would have to be developed over time. I chose to make it my goal to repay that trust by being responsible when dealing with Parker. Not that I'm a big risk taker to begin with, but when I would be with Parker I’d have to take more care than if I was just by myself.

And as the gravitas of the situation told hold of my psyche, the tension I had originally felt in the pit of my stomach took hold of my bowels (or perhaps it was the coffee). I excused myself from the table and quickly trotted off to the bathroom hoping that I would make it in time. I sat on the toilet elated in the way things had turned out and disturbed at the state I had worked my insides into (for no apparent reason).

His mom said it was OK with me staying over anytime, so she must have surmised that we were doing more than she wanted to know behind closed doors. But from our little talk, I realized there was so much more involved here than just me getting my rocks off, and now I was aware of that.

As I tried to slide back into bed unnoticed, Parker awoke. I saw his blue eyes open looking right at me and a smile appeared on his face.

“Yes, I’m happy to see you too,” I said knowing it would be about a minute before his brain was in gear enough to speak.

He simply leaned over, kissed my shoulder, and placed his head on my chest sideways like he was going back to sleep with me as his pillow. I had no complaints there. He wrapped his arms around me and the circuit was again complete.

Then out of the stillness a whisper, “Matt? Are you asleep?”

“Yup.”

“Ha ha, stop it!”

“Oh my god, don't tell me you want sex…again?” I asked jokingly.

“Ha, ha, no…but that’s not a bad idea.”

“What’s up…besides you?”

There was a pause as I could sense him gathering his thoughts for something that was important to him.

“Do you ever think about the future?” he began, his chin resting on my chest with those blue eyes looking up at me expectantly.

“Well yeah, I think about the future. Doesn't everybody? I think mostly about school stuff right now…like final exams coming up in a few weeks.”

“No, not like that. I mean further into the future. Like, do you ever wonder where you will be in like 10 or 15 years? Will we still be together? Or will we have moved on? Will we still even know each other?” he queried.

“Wow, I don’t know. In 10 years, I would be 30, and in 15 years, I’d be 35. I can’t imagine being 35, since I can’t even legally drink yet. That’s still a long ways off. So much can happen in 15 years. I certainly can’t predict the future, but I can tell you at the present time, I am in love with you. I even told your mother that,” I added.

“You did! When?”

“Just like 15 minutes ago when I saw her,” I informed him.

“Really? What did she say?”

“She said she could tell. And she was happy that we found each other.”

“She said that?”

“Uh, I’m paraphrasing, but yeah pretty much.”

“Well,” he started with a yawn, “I guess she’s a good judge of character, too.” And he kissed my chest.

“Let’s see, in 15 years from right now, I would be 32...almost 33. I think I’d still love you...unless you got fat and ugly. Then I don’t know,” Parker said with a giggle.

“Heck, 15 years is almost as much time as you’ve already been alive. Imagine how much has changed since you were born,” I thought out loud.

“Yeah, but a lot of that time was about learning to do things like walking and speaking and going to school to learn yet more stuff. I suppose once we learn the basics, we just find other things to fill up our lives,” he pondered.

“Well, look at it this way...think of all of the people who go to their high school proms with a date. How many of those couples go on to get married? I’d guess not many. I mean, you got most of them graduating and going away to different colleges, they meet new people, have different experiences, and end up going their separate ways. I’d guess that maybe 3% of the population wind up marrying their high school sweet hearts. Just think of how many things can change between ages 18 and 30. People can become whole different people and eventually they just grow apart,” I conjectured.

"And get a divorce!" Parker exhaled a sigh of resignation and I could feel his warm breath across my chest.

I continued, “Just look at the past two years with me. Some of the kids I went to school with I’d known since elementary school. So that’s what, twelve years of public education where you see the same people every day in class, in the halls, and out around town. Twelve years...imagine that! Then suddenly you graduate and probably go on to college somewhere else. You know how many people I see on campus now who I know from high school? Four. It's as if the slate is wiped clean and you start all over again.”

“Hmm,” he sounded off with another sigh.

Then after what seemed like a long silence, which in reality was probably only 15 seconds, he asked, “Do you think more than 3% of people end up marrying their college sweet hearts?”

“Hmm, you know, I think the number of college sweet hearts staying together is a lot higher,” I conceded.

“Because we will be exactly that soon enough, right?”

“You do have a point there,” I got on board.

“So do me one thing Matthew Bancroft,” he began and kissed me on the lips. “Stick with me as long as you can and I’ll do the same with you. Because I think we have something very special here,” he declared.

“OK, I’ll do my best. Of course, we’ve had no problems sticking to each other so far,” I joked.

He buried his face in my chest and hugged me. A tear rolled out the corner of my eye, which I quickly wiped away with my hand.

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