Shooting Matt Ch. 20

"Dude, this are excellent. You should really get 'em on vinyl," I hear the clerk tell Kent. "You know Bowie did a..."

"Keep it secret, my friend. We're trying to surprise each other," Kent tells him.

"Oh, cool, very cool. You know..."

The rest is lost in whispers.

"Really? Thanks for the tip."

"I'm telling you, listen to your buddy about the vinyl. You'll be back tomorrow. Promise."

"I just might. Thanks for your help."

Back at the house, I can't help pestering him.

"What did you pick?"

"You first," Kent insists.

"No way. It was my idea."

I can tell by the look on his face that argument is dead on arrival.

"Fine," I sigh. "Odds or even?"

"Even."

He answers so quickly I don't even have time to consider showing him three fingers instead of the two I'm holding behind my back.

"Fine. You win."

I blow the dust off the turntable. I turn it on. It works. It's been a long time since I changed the cartridge on a turntable. After seeing what vinyl was going to cost me, I take my time and made sure it was aligned.

I angled the speakers. If we were going to go old-school, might as well go all the way. I throw a couple of pillows off the couch onto the floor. Kent gives me a look.

"For proper listening, we need to be on the floor, lights out and speakers pointed at our heads." I frown. "Technically, I suppose we should be stoned."

"You holding?"

"You smoke?"

"On occasion, yeah. I'm not going to be working for a few weeks. I think I can indulge."

I give him a nod and head to the bedroom. He may only smoke on occasion but he needs no help figuring out the bong.

"Just a couple hits," I advise him.

He nods.

I get the record set, after making sure he has his back turned. I hide the album cover. I leave the toner arm up, take a couple hits, sit the bong down, lower the arm and lie down on the floor beside Kent. We share a pillow. There's a moment of hiss and then the drums, then the guitar and then the voice of a very young David Bowie:

Pushing through the market square

So many mothers sighing

The news had just come over...

***

Liam shuts the motor off with a sigh. The car's A/C had been history before he bought the car. He's hot and tired and hungry. It would have been smarter to have left a lot earlier or a lot later rather than drive in the heat of the day. But he didn't want to leave until his dad and Kent were up and he didn't want to wait to see Matt. He realizes, he's a little nervous about seeing Matt. He's surprised by that.

Why am I nervous? He wonders and then answers himself. Fuck, dude, I don't know, uh, maybe because a guy you've been crushing on for, what, four or five years, turns out not only to be gay but interested in you? That fantasy flipped into reality way the fuck faster than you've ever dreamed? That you think you're in love with him but are wondering if you only think that because you want to be in love with him? Does he love you? He says it but does he mean it? Will he be able to swim? If he can't will he leave school? If he does what the fuck will you do? Gee, I don't know, asshole, what the fuck do you have to be nervous about?

The door of the cabin opens. Matt is standing there, wearing his swimming trunks, tee shirt and a gigantic smile. Liam swallows his nerves and gets out of the car.

"Were you listening to a tune?"

Liam looks confused.

"It seemed like you were sitting in the car for a long time," Matt clarifies. "Were you listening to the end of a tune?"

"No, just tired."

Liam grabs his small bag and closes the car door with his butt. He climbs the two stairs to the front porch.

Liam is expecting Matt to offer him a kiss. He's not expecting the hug Matt gives him.

"I'm glad your back. I was heading down for my afternoon torture session with Leon. Take a nap or something, dude. I'm horny as fuck for you but it's cool if we just chill."

When they kiss, Matt sucks Liam's lower lip between his teeth and tugs.

"Hmm," Liam murmurs when Matt pulls away. "Rub your stubble against my cheek."

Matt does and Liam sighs again. He squeezes Matt's cock through his shorts.

"I'm glad I'm back, too." He smiles at his friend. "You're going to look funny walking down to the clubhouse with a boner." He kisses Matt again, quickly. "Give me a sec. I'll go down with you. I can nap on the swim platform."

"Cool. I'm gonna head down. Dude, the sun's fierce. Put some sunscreen on."

"We got anything to eat? I'm starving."

"Naw, I've been eating down at the snack bar. You sure you want to eat before you swim?"

"Jesus, Matt, you my mom? Sunscreen. Don't eat before you swim."

"Maybe, bitch. Your mom ever shove her dick up your ass?"

"'Her dick'? Dude, I know you're an English major but which gender has dicks is pretty basic biology." Liam grins. "Is that what you want to do? Shove your dick up my ass?" He grabs Matt's dick. "With this?"

"In your mouth and then your ass. Yeah, that's what I want to do." Matt looks confused. The transition is sudden. "Bro, sometimes I freak over how much I fucking think about you. Not just fucking but just about, you know, just stuff."

"Dude, you're the one that told me not to be afraid when I felt like that."

"I know. I meant it, but I don't know, fuck, it's so...intense, or something."

Liam cups the back of Matt's neck with one hand. "Hey, don't do like me and over think this thing. It's all good. I think it'll stay good. What the fuck can we do but see if that's true or not?"

"It's a good thing us dumb ass jocks have you smart guys around."

"Uh-huh, right. Go let Leon work some of the dumb ass off you."

Their quick kiss turns into something longer, sweeter...intense.

When Matt finally turns away, both their shorts are tented.

***

Liam changes and makes a face when he catches a whiff of his arm pits. A dip in the lake and then a shower will do him good.

His stomach growling takes his mind off the state of his pits. He pulls an old plain, used to be white now more beige, tee shirt with a hole at the neck line, one in the right armpit, and another along the bottom edge. He's deliberately focused on anything and everything other than his cock or Matt's cock or Matt's ass or his smile, hair, face, tanned skin, chest, hair, teeth, lips, nipples, and belly button. As a result, his dick is only half hard.

There's a pleasantly plump and pregnant, dark-haired woman behind the counter at the snack bar.

"Rosalita?"

"Yes?"

Liam is ashamed that her lack of an accent surprises him. "Hi, I'm Liam. I've been staying here with Leon and Glenna."

"Yes, Yes, of course, Matt's friend." She worries around the bar and hugs him. "How is the brave man who saved my babies' life, both them." She pats her stomach. "And my own. Is he well?"

"Yes. Kent seems to be well. His hands are healing."

"Thank God, he was there, and Roy and Cate of course." She crosses herself and glances Heavenward.

"I'm glad you're okay. Matt tells me he has been watching your little boy. Fernando?"

"Yes, Fernando. He's an angel, an angel with an imp hiding inside. Matt is teaching him to swim."

Without warning she begins to weep, hiding her face in her hands. Liam puts a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me." She wipes her cheeks with the sleeves of her dress.

"For what? Crying? Life's a bitch; you've no reason to be sorry for crying."

"Chico dolce, you do not mean that. Life can be hard. Only a fool denies that truth but life is full of beauty. I cry for my husband; this is true. But I also cry for Mr. Kent, and Mr. Leon, Mrs. Glenna, for the cariño, Matt, who cares for my son. Where would I be without them? Where, among them, is this 'bitch'?"

"Liam, listen to Rosalita. She's a damn smart woman."

Glenna hurries over to give him a hug. "So, you've met my new cook? What am I saying? My chef, my cocinera."

Rosalita chuckles. "Sadly, Mrs. Glenna, in Spanish only men can be chefs. You are correct, as a woman, you should use an 'a' and not an 'o' but then the word means 'cook'."

"Well, for all its beauty we'll have to give Spanish a rest in this particular case. You, my dear, are a chef."

"I am content, Mrs. Glenna to be a cook and beyond content to have a place to do so, and a bed for my child."

"Rosalita, for the last time, my name is Glenna, or Nena. And this isn't 'a place' for you to cook and sleep. This is your home, for as long as you want it to be." She smiles at the woman. "Or until this three-ring circus drives you nuts."

Liam's stomach growls.

"For goodness sake, haven't you had lunch?" Glenna cries, looking at him as if he has hidden something as critical as having been shot through the liver from her.

"That's why I came down, to grab a bite to eat."

"Sit down, I'll get a bowl of Rosalita's pozole. You might think a spicy soup on a hot day is a bad idea but you'd be wrong. You want a Coke?"

"Ice tea. I can get it."

"Don't be silly. Sit. Fill me in on your dad and Kent. What was up with them driving to Nashville?"

"I guess Kent's mom was freaking out. She saw the accident on CNN." Liam shrugs. "They didn't talk much about it. I got the impression it wasn't a very happy visit but like I said, they didn't really talk about it. Kent seems to be doing okay. His hands are still a mess but they aren't oozing as much so he's gonna try changing the dressings only once a day. His head looks a lot better, mostly red and a couple of scabs." Liam snorts. "He looks funny with no eyebrows and no hair up front. His hair looks like a mullet gone disastrously wrong."

"Be nice," Glenna chides him, albeit gently, as she sits a bowl of soup and smaller plastic cups of shredded cheese and sour cream in front of him. You want hot sauce? We keep it on the mild side for the guests?"

"Naw, I'm good. I don't want to eat too much. I was going to join Matt in the lake."

"Don't worry. Lee has him working on weights this afternoon. You only need to worry about barfing, not drowning."

"Well, that's a relief," Liam says as he dips a spoon into the pozole. He takes a bite and nods his head. "That's good, really good." He dips the spoon again. "You know, if the Cholula is handy, I would love some." He takes the bottle Glenna offers. "Where are there weights around here? I don't remember seeing an exercise room or anything? They in your private quarters?"

"No," Glenna says, shaking her head. "Your dad seems to have put a bug in Lee's ear. You know that old picnic slab no one ever uses? Folks don't socialize like they used to, everyone stays on their own deck, own porch. Any who, the slab and pavilion roof were in good shape. Lee and Matt put up some framing, slapped on some siding, and Lee scrounged up a decent mat and some weights from somewhere. Voila, a weight room."

"No, shit. In a couple of days? Awesome."

"It is awesome, isn't it?" Glenna says, shaking her head. "I don't know what kind of magic your old man worked on the place but it, we, seem more alive again."

"Wasn't dad, or not just dad. It was Matt, too," Liam tells her, tipping his bowl and scraping the last of the pozole from the bowl.

"How do you mean?"

Liam gives her a brief run down on the past couple of weeks. He's sure they've mentioned this but in the excitement of Matt's injury, then Kent's it's no surprise none of it stuck. There were just too many other things going on. He keeps it brief -- Matt trying, succeeding, in seducing his dad, then how he, Liam, inserted himself into the script, his dad sending them here, Matt's accident.

"Hold on, you mean Matt, sweet, silly, Matt seduced the calm, in control, Randy?"

"He wasn't calm as much as he was in neutral," Liam explains. "But yeah, Matt told him he wanted some pictures taken of him and his swim medal. He's silly but he's smart, somehow he knew my dad was interested."

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Glenna agrees, shaking her head. "That boy's scary smart sometimes. Well, hmm." She grabs Liam's bowl and spoon and drops them in the plastic tub he knows is under the counter. She grabs a cloth and starts wiping down the counter. "Matt may have got the ball rolling but it seems to me that once your dad got rolling he's been the one moving things along."

Liam nods. "Yeah, but still, the whole thing is fucking bizarre don't you think? I mean, not to take anything away from my dad, but the weird dreams, the thing with mom. Fuck, the deal with Leon back in college. I mean, it's just..." He doesn't finish the sentence. He shakes his head and hops off the stool. "Fuck it. I'm just amazed at it all." He looks at Glenna. "You ever feel like things are too good? Not just all this but in general? Like something really bad will probably happen to balance out the good?"

Glenna gives the troubled boy a sad smile. "Sure, of course. But doesn't it seem that most of the time things work out for the best? Not all the time, look at poor Rosalita, but most of the time?"

"I guess. I hope so, anyway," Liam answers in a soft voice.

"Go on. Go make sure my husband isn't torturing your friend too much."

Liam nods and heads for the door.

Glenna turns to Rosalita, who's been doing dishes at the end of the counter. "Leave the rest, go put the 'closed' sign on the door and grab a suit. Let's go swimming."

Rosalita nods but her usual smile is missing.

***

Glenna watches Fernando fling handfuls of mud and small stones into the water and laugh. He's standing in knee deep water and having a blast. She and Rosalita sit on towels, drying off, and keeping an eye on the little boy. He'd been with Lee. She smiles at the memory of Lee, bouncing the squirming toddler on one knee, while encouraging Matt to do one more rep.

Her hand goes to her stomach. She's forcing herself to wait. The box with the pee stick is in the top drawer of her dresser. She knows she's pregnant but is determined to wait until there can be no doubt when the timer goes off and she and Lee look for the two pink lines.

"You're awfully quiet? Anything wrong?" She asks the woman sitting beside her.

Rosalita digs in the sand and the mud between her feet with a small stick.

"I was listening to what you said to the boy, Liam. I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"Well, that's good because you couldn't have. We were talking in the open with you not ten feet away at the end of the counter. If that's why you're so quiet, don't be."

"No, it's not that. It's when you said most things work out for the best except on occasion, like 'poor Rosalita'."

"Ow, honey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"Part of me is glad my husband is gone." She puts her hands to her face. "I'm a horrible person, an evil person. God forgive me."

"Shh, you're not an evil person. Tell me what you mean by that."

"Fernando's dad was a bum. I loved him but he was a bum. He drank too much, always had an excuse for why he got fired or couldn't work. I was going to my cousin's to be close to family, so that I could leave him." She swallows a sob. "And now he's dead. I loved him but I needed to get away. I never wished for him to die!"

"I don't for a second imagine that you did. Although, Rosalita, I have to say people have thoughts like that all the time. You can't help it. You don't really mean it but we all have that little kid insides us that thinks, 'I wish you would just die' when someone really upsets or hurts us. That's what growing up is, hushing that voice."

Glenna climbs to her feet. "Rest a spell, not just your back but your mind. Okay?" She grabs the paddle board and the small life vest beside it. "Fernando, you want to go for a ride with aunt Nena?"

"Yea!" He claps his hands and mud splatters his face. Glenna can see him trying to decide if he should cry or laugh. She laughs. He laughs. She wades over to him and picks him up. She carries him to deeper water.

"Ready for a dunk?"

He nods.

They go under. There are swirls of grey-brown around the little one's head.

When they come up, his face and hands are clean.

***

Sweat runs off Matt's body. His hair is as wet as if he had been swimming. His breathing is slowing back to normal. He sits on the end of the bench, hands on knees, head forward, watching drops of sweat fall from the tip of his nose and chin to join the puddle on the hard rubber mat floor.

Liam is sweating but it's the normal sweat of being in a warm space with only a couple of fans circulating the air. He looks around, impressed. Leon didn't put up siding. He put up big sliding doors. They look like they were salvaged from an old warehouse or something. At the moment, the doors are all pushed back as far as they can go but there's just no air moving, except from the fans at each corner. As far as the temperature goes, the day is typical for late June but the air is heavy and unmoving.

A couple, one Liam doesn't recognize, are the only other ones working out. The dude is trying hard to impress the girl. She's making all the right sounds of awe but Liam doesn't hear much sincerity in her voice. She drifts off to one of the mats and starts to stretch. Liam bets himself this is their last vacation together. There had been a couple of teenagers leaving when he arrived. Another walks in, ear buds in place, and starts to do arm curls. It seems the weight room was a good idea.

Matt had winked and smiled at him when he came in, as Leon coaxed another couple of bench presses out of him. When Matt sat up, Leon rested a dumbbell on the floor between Matt's feet. Matt put his feet under it and began to do toe raises. He did fifteen reps, rested thirty seconds, then did another set of 15. Leon kept him at it until the point of failure.

The toe raises finished Matt's work out. He sits there, sweating and catching his breath. Liam watches closely. He still leans to the left a little. Liam tells himself to work on the muscles on the left side of Matt's back. Liam sits down on the bench.

"How you doin'?"

"Good," Matt replies without looking up. "Leon's an animal but I'm good." He glances at Liam and smiles. "Better, now that you're back."

"Water, Matt, don't forget to drink plenty of water. Don't sit there much longer, you'll cramp up. Go swim some slow laps in the pool or something. Eggs. Eat 'em. Get rid of that powdered protein shit."

"Yeah, yeah. You tell me that every day," Matt sighs.

"And you're getting stronger, aren't you?"

"Yes, Leon. I'm getting stronger but I don't need the water and eggs and stretch lecture after every workout."

"Hi, Liam. How's your dad? Kent?"

"Good, Leon. They're good. How's surfer boy?"

"He complains a lot but he does what he's told." Liam nearly faints when Leon winks at him. Leon is not the winking type.

"I don't complain," Matt protests. "Brah, all I do is point out to him he's a sadist," he tells Liam.

"Seriously, Matt. Enough sitting. You're gonna cramp up."

"Come on." Liam stands and nods up the hill. "I'll give you a rub down."

"Dude, I don't think I can make it that far. Get the car and call the cops."

"Excuse me? Sir."

It's the kid who came in and had been doing arm curls. He's talking to Leon.

"Yes, what can I help you with?"

"Um, are you a personal trainer? Do you offer work out sessions?"

"No, sorry. I'm not a personal trainer." The kid nods, looking disappointed and starts to turn away. "I'm not certified as a personal trainer," Leon continues. "But I can help you with which exercise works what muscles and proper form, if that's what you want."

"That would be awesome, thanks."

As Liam and Matt leave, Leon is showing the kid how to do toe raises with a free weight.

***

Once they are out of the confines of the weight room, Liam pulls Matt close and kisses him. It's a long, slow kiss, with lots of gentle tongue. They're both getting hard by the time the kiss ends.