A Year Changes Everything - 13. Chapter 13

We walked into the club and I immediately saw the owner sitting on his usual stool.

I inwardly begged him not to look up or acknowledge me and, thankfully, he didn't.

The club was quite full and although Casper's fake ID had worked at the door we decided it wasn't worth the risk at the bar. He looked even less 21 than we did.

I decided to get the first round and went and stood by the owner.

"Hi," I said.

"Hello stranger."

"Um . . . I don't want you to think I am being rude, but please don't let on that you've seen me here before."

"Ok. May I ask why?"

"You know the tall, blond, preppy kid?"

He nodded.

"Well, he's sitting over there with a couple of my other friends."

"You told him?"

"No. I haven't. We're here because my gay brother is in town for the weekend and he wanted to check out the club. He knows everything and is trying to pressure me into telling Andrew the truth."

"Clever kid." He looked over at my brother. "Remind me to get new door staff. There is no way in hell your brother's ID can be good enough to persuade them that he is a day over 17."

I smiled. "Sorry about that."

"Not your fault. Don't worry, slick, your secret is safe from me. And I'll tell the bar staff to pretend they don't know you."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I'll give you one thing. You've got good taste. Your Andrew is quite the catch."

"The problem is he's not tempted by my bait."

I took the drinks over.

"Who was that guy you were chatting too?" asked Casper.

"You've been hit on already?" cracked Simon.

"No. He's just the owner of this place. He took one look at you and knew you weren't a day over 17. I managed to persuade him to let you stay, on the condition that you drink Coke all night."

"That sucks."

"You'd prefer to leave?"

"No."

"Then lump it."

We drank the drinks and chatted about nothing in particular. Casper's attention was diverted by almost every guy under 30, but most of them only had eyes for Andrew.

"It seems you're as big a hit with guys as you are with the gals," remarked Matt.

Andrew's cheeks went red.

The smile on my face froze as I saw one of the Andrew-alikes walking in our direction.

He made eye contact and nodded and smiled in recognition.

"Ryan's scored as well!" exclaimed Simon. "What's wrong with Matt and me?"

"I thought you weren't interested in men," remarked Casper.

"I'm not, but it would be flattering to have a hot bloke hit on me."

Matt and Casper laughed. My heart was still beating from the near miss, but I managed to feign amusement.

"Maybe if you tell them you're named after an 80s singer they'll be impressed."

Casperlooked enquiringly at Simon.

"Thanks for that Ryan," he said. "My mom was a massive Duran Duran fan," he explained, which provoked derisive hoots from Casper.

"You're named after Simon Le Bon?!"

Simon nodded.

Thankfully, I'd made Casper agree to a curfew and we were only in the club for a couple of hours. I spotted a couple more Andrew clones, but the club was busy and none of them clocked me.

We left the club and were walking towards the main road to find a cab.

"Hey faggots!" an obnoxious voice called from behind us.

There were three of them. Locals and drunk. All had the piggy eyed look of ignorant bigots and all looked as though they were spoiling for a fight.

"Fuck," I muttered.

I looked round at the others. Casper's cockiness had disappeared and he looked every one of his 17 years. Andrew, Matt and Simon all looked worried.

"I'm talking to you, faggots," one of the three bellowed. He was huge.

"Andrew, get Casper out of here."

"W. . . What?!"

"Please," I said, looking at him beseechingly. "Please just get him out of here."

Andrew nodded.

"Casper, run."

"I'm not leaving you."

"Casper, this isn't your fight. It's mine. Just fucking run."

Andrew grabbed him and dragged him away.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Simon said under his breath.

"I haven't been in a fight since I was in 7th grade and Bobby Walker said my sister was hot," said Matt.

It was pretty pathetic, truth be told. We may have been younger and considerably less drunk, but all three of these guys were built like slightly over the hill wrestlers.

I actually saw the first punch coming and the thought that I ought to avoid it even flashed across my mind. And then it hit me square in the jaw and I saw stars like Tom the cat when Jerry hits him with a frying pan.

I didn't black out, which meant I felt the kicks to my body. I'm told that I was about to get a kick to my face when Andrew and Casper returned with the door staff from the club and the men were dragged of us.

A broken nose, two broken ribs and a very bruised ego were the sum total of my injuries. Matt and Simon had bruises, a couple of black eyes and a broken finger - Matt had actually managed to punch his assailant - between them.

I was kept in over night, in case of concussion. Casper was apologizing over and over again through his tears by my bed.

"Casper, this isn't your fault."

"If I hadn't forced you to go to the club. . ."

"You didn't make those thugs ignorant. You didn't make them homophobic. You definitely didn't make them turn their pathetic bigotry to violence."

Caspernodded silently.

"Now let me get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning."

"I'll be down in a second, Casper," said Andrew. "I just want to have a word with your brother.

Casperleft me and Andrew alone.

The pain medication had kicked in I suddenly felt very tired.

"What did you mean back there?" Andrew asked.

"When?"

"You said it was your fight."

"I just didn't want Casper there."

"It seemed like something else."

"They were shouting that stuff at me."

"They said 'faggots' not 'faggot'."

I was tired. Tired from the beating I had taken, but most of all I was tired of hiding the truth of who I was from the person who meant the most to me in the world.

"I'm gay," I said, as sleep overtook me.