Not just another Summer - 18. Date Night

Plans had gone well, suspiciously so. I had checked with Vince about his movements during the week, on the excuse that I was thinking of cooking dinner one evening (which meant of course I actually would need to set to and volunteer to cook at some point). Peter had emailed me about what food he was going to prepare, it was Summer, the weather was due to be good, so it was cold food and salads, and I promised some decent bread. This came courtesy of Matt, who brought one of the bakery’s artisan sour dough loaves, which he assured me were better than his bread (though personally I think he was doing himself down).

Freddie had agreed to go to visit his friend Arvid, and he would get fed there. He was curious and on the verge of saying he wouldn’t do it unless he knew what was going on. I said that a friend of Vince’s wanted to give him a surprise, and I figured if Freddie came home around 10 pm or so, as he often did when he ate at Arvid’s, then either Vince and Peter would be well away, upstairs in Vince’s room, or Vince would be sulking, alone.

Needless to say, I was on tenterhooks, lurking in my sitting room expecting a pissed-off Vince to barge in any minute. But it wasn’t Vince who appeared, it was Freddie, looking rather shocked. He hovered, looking a bit embarrassed.

“I thought you were going to Arvid’s”

“His Mum organised him into something at the last minute, honest.” He gave an embarrassed shrug, “I might’ve not been that keen, and I was curious. So, I thought…”

“You’d try and eavesdrop on your Dad.”

“I figured it might be a girlfriend, and I wanted to know…”

I smiled to myself, “And did you see?”

His eyes went wide, and he looked so innocently shocked. He was only 15 for God’s sake.

“I was in the entrance lobby and heard Dad and Peter from the centre shouting at each other, I was worried, so sneaked to the hall door and watched.”

“Worried”, I tried not to smile.

“And nosey too. But then they ended up on the floor and well, it wasn’t fighting.” He went bright red, “I stopped watching when they started kissing and Dad was taking Peter’s shirt off.”

I laughed, openly this time. “Did they see you?”

He shrugged and looked worried, “Dunno. Maybe. Do you think…”

“I think that we’d better give them a bit of space, right. And I’ll find you something to eat.”

I dug around, and got him some bread (thanks to Matt, nice bread was now a constant in my life), cheese and cold meat. He tucked in as if he’d been starved a week.

“Did you know. About Dad and that?”

“Not until last week. He’s…” I sighed, keeping Vince’s privacy whilst not skating over things was tricky. “Not everyone finds it easy, finding out they are attracted to someone of their own sex. And it can happen later in life, not just when you’re a teenager.”

“Like with Dad?”

“Yes. I’m sure you’ve been taught that human sexuality is a lot more fluid than we give it credit for.”

“Yeah, but it’s just…”

“You don’t come across it. “

“Nah. And because it’s Dad.”

“You are going to have to give him lots of space.”

“OK.” He didn’t look happy.

“Look, think of it like this. If your Dad had a new girlfriend, there’d be lots of times when he saw her before he was sure that he wanted you to meet her.”

“Suppose.”

“So, try to be like that.”

He grinned, “What cool and not interested?”

“How about trying for cool and sympathetic.”

“Mebbe.”

I thought giving them an hour or so was probably OK. In the end it was more like an hour and a half, but I still went first and made sure I knocked properly. Vince’s voice came through loud and clear.

There were the remains of a meal on the coffee table, and what there was suggested that Peter was a dab hand in the kitchen. Vince was sprawled across one of the sofas, wearing just a t-shirt and his underpants. The t-shirt was oversize, not the type I could imagine him wearing as an undershirt and his clothes were entirely absent, as were Peter’s. Peter appeared from the kitchen, carrying what looked like desert. He was wearing just a pair of black boxer briefs, and I have to say, he looked very trim and carried the look very well.

I walked into the room and grinned at Vince, but Freddie simply stood in the doorway and stared.

Vince gave a grunt, “Thought we might be seeing you two.” He waved at his torso, “Sorry about the state of undress, it was his idea.” Vince nodded at Peter.

Peter rolled his eyes, “Given that they’ve seen you in less, it seemed stupid to pretend.”

“You OK, Freddie, you saw us earlier.”

“Sorry, yes. I was a bit curious…”

Peter grinned, “And got more than you bargained for.”

Vince glared, “Not too much, I hope.”

“No. I. Just”, Freddie took a breath, “You were kissing on the floor.”

“Ah” Vince smiled, “that’s OK. You’ve figured the rest?”

“That you…” Freddie went bright pink.

“Well, I don’t think we need to spell it out.” He turned to me and glared, “I ought to be pissed off with you, setting me up like that.”

“But…” I smiled.

Vince’s grin was rueful, “This one had a way of convincing me.”

I rolled my eyes suggestively, “I wonder how.”

“Less of that.”

Peter came forward with two dishes of desert, what looked like fruit and ice cream. He looked at Freddie and I, “Would you like some, I made enough for four.”

“On the basis that if I didn’t kill him, or you”, Vince turned to glare at me again, “then we’d no doubt have to talk this evening.”

We sat on the sofas, Freddie still looking a bit nervous. Vince, sitting on the adjacent sofa, reached over and patted his son’s knee.

“I’m sorry this has come as a bit of a surprise, it wasn’t planned, any of it. You know, Peter and I have been friends for a few years, but I started to realise there was something else. And that Peter felt the same way.” He looked at Freddie, “It came as a bit of a shock and well, I didn’t handle it well. I made the mistake of telling your uncle, and Gray decided to take matters into his own hands.”

“Thank goodness”, Peter smiled and ran his hand over Vince’s leg. “We got there in the end.”

“Not before I tried to kill you.” But Vince was smiling too. “It’ll take some time to get used to, but are you OK with this?”

Freddie nodded, “Yes, it’s cool, I think.”

“You think?”

Freddie gave his Father a grin, “Yes. It’s definitely cool having a gay Dad.”

Vince rolled his eyes, “Look. Peter’s going to stay tonight…”

“I figured that Dad.”

“And tomorrow.”

“Wow.”

“So, he’ll be around tomorrow evening.”

“You want me…” Freddie tailed off.

I had a bright idea, “Tell you what, if Freddie doesn’t have plans with friends tomorrow”, he shook his head, “why don’t we take off for the evening. I presume I could borrow your car, Vince.”

He rolled his eyes but nodded. “And we’ll see you at breakfast.”

My eyebrows shot up, “Me?”

“Yes. Peter’s going to cook. OK?”

I smiled, “Fair enough.”

“Do you have any of Matt’s bread?”

“Best part of a loaf he gave my on Thursday, why?”

“Bring that, good to have decent bread.”

We didn’t stay much longer. Freddie came out with me; I guessed he would he want to talk some more about his Dad and Peter.

“You knew about Dad and that.”

“Not before last week. He confided in me, and I wasn’t at liberty to talk. It was his secret to tell, right.” I looked at the boy and he nodded. “It’s going to take your Father a bit of adjusting.”

“But people don’t just wake up gay.”

“Not at all. But our minds play lots of tricks on us. We pretend or hide things.”

“Does that mean Dad and Mum…”

“Now, get rid of that idea immediately. People fall in love with all sorts, because your Dad is fond of Peter doesn’t mean that he didn’t love your Mum. That he did love her almost certainly meant that he didn’t think twice about who else who he might have been attracted to. Your Dad certainly isn’t the type of person to go doing underhand things. Right?”

“Yeah, I think I understand. Peter and Dad did a lot together when Mum died.”

“I think he was a great help, as a friend, and then things happened.”

“But he didn’t tell anyone.”

“Not everyone feels equipped to cope with discovering they like people of their own sex. Finding you are attracted, knowing it inside yourself and accepting it are completely different things. When you found that you were attracted to boys, I bet it was a bit difficult at first.”

“Yeah, but Dad’s…”

“A man who, at 34, discovered that, for the first time in his life, he had feelings for a bloke. It is a complicated thing. You’ll need to give him time, let him and Peter work things out for themselves.”

“Yeah, OK. Why did he say that stuff about you?”

“Because your Dad was being pig-headed and I was worried that he’d make a decision he’d regret, so I sort of manoeuvred him and Peter into having a date together, alone.”

“Here at home.” Freddie grinned.

“Where they were supposed to have time to themselves.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Then he brightened, “What are we doing tomorrow?”

“I have no idea. Going for a drive and pick up some fish and chips, the cinema, we’ll think of something. OK?”

“Yeah, thanks.” He grinned.

It wasn’t late. I decided that I needed to do a bit of research and come up with some decent ideas for tomorrow, so it did not feel as if I was keeping Freddie out of his Father and Peter’s way. Which I was, of course.

I remembered Matt talking about going to see bands locally, and whilst I wouldn’t imagine there might be anything to exciting on, certainly not if I wanted something early enough that we weren’t home late, and Freddie was only 15 after all, there might be something.

“It’s Gray, hope I’m not disturbing you?”

>No. Mum’s watching her favourite programme on TV, so I’m sorting out my log.

“Your log?”

>Yeah, I keep a log of all the birds I’ve seen, when and where. So’s I can look back and check.

“Right. That figures. All written up in beautiful script on a huge ledger.”

>Don’t be daft. It’s all computerised, innit. So that I can search.

“Look, whilst it’s fun being daft with you, I wanted to pick your brains.”

>About what?

“I need to entertain my nephew tomorrow evening; we need to be out of the house.”

>Why, is there a problem?

“The opposite. His Father has his new boyfriend round. And yes, it’s been a bit of a surprise to me too.”

>Your brother has a boyfriend. The bloke you mentioned, then?

“That’s right. As I said, things were a bit sticky, and I took your advice and sort of helped them along. Look, I’ll tell you in more detail when I see you. But the end result is that…

>You need to keep Freddie out of his Dad’s way whilst the man gets his end away.

“Something like that. You have such an elegant turn of phrase.”

>Ta.

I could almost hear the smile in his voice.

>And why do you ask me?

“You were talking about bands, and I wondered if there was anything on, at a pub or something. Not too late, and perhaps where we could grab a bite too. I could look in the paper and that, but none of the names will mean much to me.”

>Hang on a tick. No look, Mum’s got the paper downstairs. I’ll run down and check and phone you back.

It didn’t take him long.

>I’ve just checked, and The Basket Makers Arms has something on.

“Where is it?”

>East Street, by the river. It has a big back garden, and they have bands there in the Summer. It can get noisy, but tomorrow it’s just a bloke with his guitar. I’ve heard him, he was a support act then, but this is just him.

“Does the pub do food?”

>Yeah. So, if you get there early you can get a table outside, eat and then catch the show at nine.

“Sounds OK. Would you like to join us, my treat? Well, Vince’s treat I’d imagine.”

>Tomorrow?

“Yes. Then it wouldn’t just be me and Freddie noodling away. I’ve chatted to him about you, so he knows who you are and that. He’s a lively 15-year-old, I just don’t really know what he’s into.”

>Thought you were his uncle.

“Well, I’m learning that having a family is an entirely different thing when they are nearby, and you want to be friendly. I’m going to have to learn to be a proper uncle.”

Matt laughed.

>Don’t think there are any handbooks. You sure you don’t want me to referee, then?

“Not likely. So?”

>Yeah. I’d love to.

“Right, I’ll confirm things with Freddie and then let you know what time.

Freddie was clearly online or doing something, as he responded to my message almost immediately. I know, I could have knocked on his door, but I wanted to avoid any encounters, potentially embarrassing or otherwise, with Vince and Peter.

---

Bas

I made the intervention. It could have gone horribly wrong. But, but, but...

The two started fighting and that quickly descended into you know what.

All is not quite sweetness and light, but I think we are getting there.

Vince is starting to grasp that he might be able to have his perfectly ordered life AND have a boyfriend. Peter seems quite sharp, doesn’t let V have his own way.

Exciting times.

G