“It does get crazier.”
“It does,” Sidney confessed. “And since it will all be out anyway... I’ll tell you. See, Chris went berserk the day that his father told him... Mark told Chris, that he was gay.”
“Wait,” Mason was confused. “Mark found out Chris was gay and told him—”
“No,” Sidney waved that off. “Mark is gay.”
“What?” both boys said at once, and then Balliol said, “Father and son.”
“Maybe it’s in the water,” Mason shrugged.
Sidney laughed, and then looked at the water glass and said, “Mason...”
Mason looked at it too for a moment. Then, weighing eminent homosexuality against very present thirst, he downed it and shrugged.
“So,” Balliol said as Mason was drinking his water, “is Mark Powers dating anyone?”
“Oh,” Sidney realized. “I thought I’d told you.
“Rick Howard.”
Mason choked on the water and nearly dropped the glass on the floor.
“Well, it’s too late Mason,” Sidney said clapping his son on the back and putting the glass back on the counter. “You already drank it. The damage is done. We’ll look for a nice boy tonight at graduation and I’ll deal with never being a grandfather. I don’t like little kids that well, anyway.
“Come on boys, time to go. Balliol, get the lights.”
He was tired. It was all over. Exams, the people. What a strange year it had been. There was a great deal Sullivan Reardon wished to put out of his mind. People said they’d been changed, that this year had left them different. But this year really had left Sully different. He didn’t want to go through the changes. He didn’t wish to think about all that right now. It made his head hurt.
And he thought of what wasn’t ended. Justin Reily in his graduation gown winking and saying, “I’ll be here all summer.” Was that how it was going to be? Was he going to keep sneaking off with Justin? He could still remember—it had only been a few days ago, that second time in the utility closet with the door locked, his back against the door, and then coming out from that to see Mercurio and shutting the door before Justin could come out with him. Everything was a mess. Everything was odd right now.
There was a knock on the door and Tina shouted from the bathroom: “Sully, could you get that? And be careful. Make sure it’s not a robber.”
Did she have to say things like that? Sully didn’t even respond as he headed down the stairs and went to the door. He didn’t check either. Robbers didn’t knock. Or did they?
But this was worse than a robber.
At his doorstep was Chris Powers.
Sully stood there his mouth opened. Their parting had been too painful for him to plan a revenge or think of any witty phrases, and, frankly, Sully had never expected to see Chris again, so his arrival at the doorstep, on a cool May night in jeans and a hoodie, pulling the hood off his head, was sort of sickening.
Sully opened his mouth and nothing came out. A bitter taste just filled his whole mouth and Chris said, “Hi, Sully.”
Sully stood there saying nothing, and at last Chris said, “Is it all right…? If I come in?”
Sully looked at him some more and then when Chris opened his mouth again, Sully said, in a small voice:
“No. It’s not all right. It’s not all right at all.”
Backing away like there was a ghost on the other side of the door, Sully shut it and locked it.
He was scared. He actually felt like Chris must be some ghost, like he’d keep trying to come in and then he would do something to him. The fear, the horror didn’t make any sense but it was night and all the senselessness was coming out.
When the doorbell rang again, Sully nearly jumped out of his skin.
But then he was angry. He turned around, opened the door and Chris was there.
“Leave,” he said.
“Sully.”
“Get off my porch. Go away. Leave. Now.”
“Sully who is that?” Tina called down the stairs.
“No one, Mom,” Sully shouted back. He turned on Chris, his face hard. “Get out. It’s just the same as you did to me. Only, I’m not punching you. I should, but I’m not.”
“It’s because you’re better than me,” Chris mumbled.
“It’s because I don’t want to touch you,” Sully corrected, and slammed the door, locking it, then locking the deadbolt and heading up to his room.
Tina was shouting from the bathroom, “Who in the world would knock at eight o’ clock on a Friday night.”
“A very rude person,” Sully told her, and shut his door, hopping onto the bed. The light wasn’t on. He’d been resting, trying to recover. Yes, trying to recover from Chris. He needed to forget about him, He didn’t want to think about that day when Chris had punched him and thrown him out, just like that, with no explanation. And he didn’t want to think about any of the days before that. Especially not the day Chris had kissed him, equally without explanation, and then they’d become lovers. Just like that.
He sat up and opened the window.
Chris was still there.
But Sully realized he wasn’t surprised.
He was surprised that Chris was on his bike and not in his fabulous new car.
They were looking at each other. They were so pale their faces were both blue white in the night, but it was so dark they couldn’t see into each other’s eyes. This was just as well. Sully took a good, a safe, a very long look at Chris, and then closed his curtains and was gone.
Down below Chris waited for the curtain to open. Just a second longer and it would, he told himself. But it didn’t. And at last Chris Powers sighed. Then he slipped his hood up, told himself that there was always tomorrow, and pedaled down Jury Street.
THE END
THE ADVENTURES OF MASON, BALLIOL, SULLY, ADDISON AND TOMMY CONTINUE IN WILD LIFE
COMING TO JOE USER NEAR THE END OF JULY