TJ Ch. 06

"I told y'all. Whenever you finish homework, y'all can do whatever y'all want in your rooms. I trust both of y'all to make good decisions. Now, you two go park your asses at the table and get to work."

Sean and I started our homework only to be told thirty minutes later to clear the table because dinner was ready. The five of us sat around the dining room table eating tacos. It was nice. I think it was the best meal I've had at that table since I moved down here. It was close to eight by the time we finished eating and cleared the table. Sean and I sat back down and started pulling our books out to begin our homework again. Robert came over and sat down with us. He looked at both of us and asked, "How much more do y'all have left to do? Actually, don't answer. Go on to your room and do something else."

Sean and I looked at each other, smiled, and continued pulling out our books. I looked at Robert and said, "I think we're good here."

Robert looked shocked for half a second, then he smiled at me and stood up to go watch TV in the living room. It didn't take long for us to finish our homework since we didn't have very much to begin with. While we put our books away, I turned to Sean. "So, umm...I just wanted to say I'm sorry for earlier."

Sean interrupted me before I could explain further. "Stop it, you have nothing to be sorry about."

I shook my head. "Yes, I do. I kept trying to push you away from me while we were outside. I didn't even think about you being hurt. I saw you wince when I pushed you away from me. I didn't think about it at the time, but I realize now I hurt you and I never want to do that. So, please forgive me?"

"Of course, I forgive you. I know you weren't in the right state of mind at the time. Come here." He opened his arms and when I stepped close enough to him, he wrapped them around me. I felt safe. I felt loved. But, most importantly, I felt wanted.

I looked up into his eyes. "Do you want to go hang out in my room for a bit? What time is it anyways?"

He glanced at his watch. "It's 9:15. My dad will probably be calling in about thirty minutes. So, yeah, let's go hang out for a bit and umm...what did Mr. Kennedy say earlier? 'Whatever y'all want to do.' I have some ideas we can try out."

We headed to my room and as soon as the door closed, I was pinned against the door with Sean's lips on mine. He tried to turn me around and guide me to the bed, but when he went to turn, he broke the kiss with a sharp intake of breath. "Are you sure you're okay Sean?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, let's lay down." He laid on his back and I moved in next to him. We kissed some more before he rolled me on top of him. I tried to support my weight on my hands, but Sean urged me to lay on him, so I tried to rest on my elbows. Sean broke the kiss and softly said, "Babe, relax please. I'm okay."

He leaned forward to capture my mouth with his which caused me to lose my balance and land totally on top of him. As soon as my weight hit him, he yelled into the kiss.

I rolled off him and leveled him with a hard stare. "Sean Jacob McNair, you are anything but okay. How bad are you hurting? Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"Okay, I've been hurting all night and tried to cover it up because I don't want you to worry about it. It's not hospital level pain. I probably have a couple of bruises on my sides, I'll be fine in a day or two. I promise you I'm okay. Come and lay down next to me."

He held his arm out and I gently cuddled up next to him. I placed a light kiss on his neck. Next thing I knew, we were woken up by his phone ringing. He sleepily said hello and I glanced at the clock. It read ten o'clock. A few moments later, he hung up the phone and rolled toward me. "That was my dad. He just got home and said it's time for Kevin and me to head in." He pouted, his lower lip jutted out and looked very kissable. Then he actually whined, "I don't wanna go. I wanna stay here with you."

I busted out laughing. "You are too fucking precious. Come on slugger, let's go get Kevin and get y'all gone." I leaned down and kissed him gently and then rolled off the bed.

He looked at me skeptically. "Slugger?"

"Yeah! You're a baseball player and you've got quite the bat swinging between your legs."

He barked out a laugh and pushed me playfully towards the door. "Come on Teej, let's go get Kevin."

We found Kevin wrapped around Josh like a cocoon. Both were fast asleep. I crossed the room and gently shook Kevin's shoulder. "Come on big guy. It's time for y'all to head home."

Kevin moaned and pulled Josh closer. He mumbled, "Don't wanna leave my Joshy."

I chuckled. "Aww, that's sweet. Too bad buddy, time to get up and go."

After a few moans and quite a few groans, Kevin got up and Josh and I walked our boyfriends to the front door. We got ready for bed while waiting for Kevin and Sean to call us. After the phone calls, we said our goodnights and went to bed.

The next day was Friday, thank the gods! I spent most of the day looking at every female that worked in the school, trying to figure out who would show up at the house since Robert said that he was dating someone from work. As far as the female employees go, well over half are over forty, married, or they bat for the wrong team for Robert. I couldn't even begin to guess which of the few remaining candidates it could be.

Our group of friends still got stared at and whispered about, but nobody said or did anything directly to us. I had even heard rumors about Mike, Jarrod, and Alex being gay since they hung out with us. The three of them just laughed it off. So, other than the normal high school passive aggressive behavior of insecure teenagers who have nothing better to do than stare and whisper about other people, nothing major happened at school.

It was when Josh and I got home from school that the day went to shit. Josh and I walked in the backdoor to the house phone ringing. Honestly, who even bothers with a landline now? It never rings. That's why cell phones were invented. Anyways, the phone was ringing off the hook, so I ran to get it and glanced at the caller id, but didn't recognize the number. So, I answered the phone with a pleasant, "Hello?"

I wish I had ignored the damn phone. The voice on the other end sent chills down my spine and nearly froze my blood. "Let me speak to my son. I know he's there."

Oh hell no. "I'm sorry, who did you want to speak to?" There was no way I was going to let the psycho bitch talk to Josh.

"Listen you little faggot bastard, if you don't put Josh on the phone right now..."

"You'll what?" I screamed into the receiver. "You're nothing but a manipulative-psycho-cunt-whore-bitch. Why do you want to talk to Josh now all of a sudden? You've been out of his life for over two years. You didn't fight for custody then, why are you bothering now? You never even told him goodbye before you took off. He's so much better off without you in his life."

"I want to speak to my son now. I'm going to save him from the likes of you and your faggot-ass boyfriend."

"Good luck with that Mel. Who's going to save you from his boyfriend when you try to pull shit?"

"My boy is not an abomination. He just needs to be around different people. I should have never allowed Robert to talk me into allowing Josh to visit you in the first place. Now, if you don't put Josh on the phone, all you're doing is giving me more evidence to use in my case."

Before I could respond, one of the other receivers in the house picked up. "Mom?"

Mel's' voice suddenly sounded almost sweet. Like sickeningly sweet. "Josh! Don't worry, soon you're going to be living with me and your step-dad away from the likes of your Uncle TJ. Your step-daddy knows of a camp we're going to send you to that will help you sort out your thinking and cure you. Doesn't..."

Josh cut her off quickly. "MOM! Shut up and listen. There's nothing wrong with me, my brother, his boyfriend, nor my boyfriend. I'm happy and I wish you would leave me alone. Don't call again. I'll make sure Dad gets no contact added to the restraining order."

Josh hung up his receiver and I quickly followed. I debated calling Robert to let him know what happened, but Josh had beat me to it. They were speaking on the phone when he walked back into the room. Shortly after sitting next to me, they hung up. Surprisingly, Josh didn't seem very upset, but he was quieter than normal.

I looked at him for a few moments before asking, "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I can't believe she's remarried and I knew nothing about it."

"I can't believe someone would marry the hateful bitch. Sorry, I know she's your mom and everything, but yeah."

He smiled. "Teej, do you think she ever loved me?"

I grimaced. "Umm...do you think she did?"

"I would like to think she did at first. But then I think, if she did, why didn't she fight for me or say goodbye at least?"

"I'm sorry bub. I don't know what to say. I love you, I know Robert loves you, and I know Mimi and Pop loved you."

"Yeah, I know. But sometimes I wonder what I did to make her not like me. Oh well, I don't guess it really matters. I have you and Dad. I don't need her or her new husband. I can't believe she wants to send me to a conversion camp. I didn't even think those things still existed."

"I didn't either. Kinda scary if you think about it. I didn't even know Mel was religious."

Josh shook his head. "She wasn't when I was growing up. She did start going to some evangelical church over in Beaumont about a year before the divorce. She made me go with her a few times, but I told Dad I didn't like it and didn't want to go back. He told me I didn't have to if I didn't want to. They had a big fight over it, but Dad wouldn't back down. He told her she couldn't force me to do what she wanted. I think that was the first time Dad really stood up to her. It was the beginning of the end for them."

Josh and I sat in the living room talking and watching TV until Robert came home with groceries. Once everything was brought in and put away, he asked Josh if he wanted to talk about the conversation he had with Mel. Josh told him he was fine and he didn't want to talk about it. Robert looked to me for reassurance and I nodded, letting him know I agreed with Josh. Robert began making lasagna for dinner. About half-way through, he looked at Josh and me and told us to go change and get ready for dinner.

We were both wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt like every other day. I looked at Robert and asked, "What's wrong with what we're wearing?"

"I want this to be a nice dinner. I was hoping everyone would at least wear a good pair of jeans and a decent shirt. I'm not asking y'all to put on slacks, a button-up shirt, and a tie. Now y'all go change. Sean and Kevin should be here in about thirty minutes and my guest will be here around seven."

Josh smirked and asked, "So, are you going to tell us who she is before she gets here?"

Robert shook his head. "Nope, but I promise you're going to like her. Now, y'all go get changed. I need to finish getting dinner ready so I can get ready."

Josh and I went and changed clothes and decided to stay out of Robert's way until absolutely necessary. Sean and Kevin arrived about ten minutes after we finished getting ready, so the four of us hung out in the living room talking until Robert came in the room. He was wearing a pair of khakis and a god-awful button-up shirt. I took one look at him and stood up. I grabbed him by the shoulders and forcefully turned him around and started pushing him towards his bedroom.

"TJ, what the hell are you doing?" Robert tried to protest.

"You are not going to wear that. Those khakis do nothing for you and the shirt is horrendous. I'm going to find you something to wear that works for you, not against you."

"I don't have time for this. She'll be here any minute now."

"Robert, if you love me, you'll let me do this." I went into his closet to see what he had to choose from. I found a pair of boot cut jeans and an orange Lacoste polo shirt and his boots. I threw all of those to him and told him to change. He looked at my choices and raised an eyebrow. "Please just trust me. You'll look ten times better if you wear this. Now hurry, she's going to be here any minute."

"Fine. Get out so I can change. If she gets here before I get out, stall or something."

"Just hurry up and change. You'll be fine. Calm down."

About five minutes later, Robert walked back into the living room looking good. We didn't have time to let him know this before the doorbell rang. Robert went to the front door and a few moments later walked back into the room escorting Ms. Simmons, our Drama teacher.

I wasn't sure if she knew Sean and Kevin personally, so I introduced Sean to her as my boyfriend, leaving Josh to introduce Kevin however he wanted to. He introduced him as his boyfriend with a sheepish grin. We sat down for dinner and started talking. She told us to call her Lori as long as we weren't in class.

She asked us about the GSA and asked if she could step in as the faculty advisor. I threw a questioning glance to Robert. "We can be co-advisors. I think having Lori with us will help get more students interested in joining. She's one of the most popular teachers at the school."

Sean spoke up. "I think we can use all the help we can get Teej."

I looked over to Josh and Kevin who both nodded at me. I was already on board with the idea, I just wanted to make sure everyone else was. "I think it's a great idea. I think we need to get together sometime next week and start setting everything up."

Everyone agreed and the conversation moved on to more general topics. As dessert was served, Lori brought up the Spring Musical. She tried to make us guess what the show would be. After guesses of Grease, Sound of Music, Bye Bye Birdie, Camelot, and My Fair Lady, she finally took pity on us and told us we would be doing a production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. She looked at the four of us and said, "Josh and TJ are required to audition as part of their Drama class, but that doesn't guarantee them a part. Can either of y'all sing?" The last question was directed toward Sean and Kevin.

Kevin vigorously shook his head. "I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket if I tried, sorry."

Sean didn't answer immediately, so I answered for him. "Sean, you can totally sing." I looked at Lori and continued. "He has a nice deep baritone voice. But, he'll probably be too busy with football finishing up and then baseball starting to be in the musical."

He nodded. "You're probably right, even though I think it would be awesome to be in the musical."

We talked for a few minutes longer and finally Robert asked, "Will you four be alright here by yourselves if Lori and I were to go to a late movie tonight?"

We laughed and I said, "Y'all go on. We'll be fine."

Finally, I was going to spend some time with my boyfriend alone. Once Robert and Lori were gone, I told Josh and Kevin to behave and not to do anything I would do and took Sean to my bedroom. As I was closing the door, I saw Josh and Kevin go into Josh's room and heard the door close.

I turned around and saw Sean was laying on my bed. He smiled at me and patted the space next to him. I slipped off my shoes and crawled onto the bed facing him. I stared into his emerald green eyes for what felt like forever. I leaned forward and gently kissed him. We started making out and hands were everywhere. A few moments later, we were both shirtless and starting to remove our belts.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the front door. I froze when I heard a voice yell, "Kevin, I know you're in there. Get your faggotty-ass out here now."