Carey chuckled and put his arm around Brian.
Before the end of the movie, both of them had fallen asleep. They had shifted position and slid down further onto the ottoman with Brian lying mostly on top of Carey. Someone in the movie screamed, waking Carey. He smiled at Brian, resting his head on Carey’s shoulder.
“Brian,” he said softly. “Wake up.”
“Mm,” Brian mumbled against Carey’s neck.
“Brian.”
He responded by snuggling closer and kissing Carey’s neck. As tired as Carey was, he turned his head so he could kiss Brian. They kissed and groped on the chair until they were wide awake and breathless.
Carey broke off the kissing and leaned back. “We should go up.”
Brian nodded. “Probably.” He sat up and picked up the remote to turn off the television.
They made sure the doors were locked and turned off all the lights before tiptoeing up the stairs. Brian turned the handle to his room to go in, but Carey put his hand on top.
“Come to my room,” he whispered.
“I can’t.”
“No one will be home in the morning. They’ll never know.”
They stood there while Brian contemplated.
“Please,” Carey said.
Brian nodded and let go of the handle. Carey took his hand and led him into his room, closing the door silently behind them. He pulled Brian down onto the bed with him.
“What if your aunt comes in?” Brian whispered.
“She’s not going to just walk in the room. We’ll make sure we’re up and out before eleven. I just want to lie with my arms around you.”
“I just want to keep kissing you,” Brian said. So, he did.
Getting warm, Carey took off his shirt, then tried to do the same to Brian. At first, he resisted, then relented. When Carey moved to the button of Brian’s jeans, he blocked the way with his hand.
“Carey, what are you doing?”
“I want to touch you.”
They stared at each other for a few moments. Gradually, Brian moved his hand away and allowed Carey to unbutton.
◆◆◆
At nine-thirty, Dina walked into the house and hung her keys on the peg board near the door.
“Hello?” she called, walking into the kitchen. She opened up the slider and looked out. “Hm.”
Going back into the kitchen, Dina looked around for a note. She shook her head.
“I can’t believe they’re still sleeping,” she said to herself. She walked upstairs to change and noticed that Brian’s door was ajar. She peeked inside. Empty, but the bed was made.
She frowned. I told them to leave a note if they were going out, she thought. As she walked by Carey’s room, she opened the door and looked inside.
Dina stopped in her tracks. The boys were sleeping, wrapped up together. The covers were just low enough for her to see that Carey wasn’t wearing any bottoms. She stood for a second trying to decide how to handle the situation.
She backed out of the room and closed the door, then knocked.
“Carey?” she called loudly enough to wake them.
Carey’s eyes popped open. He glanced at the clock. “Shit. Dina’s home early.”
Brian rolled over to face him. His eyes were as large as saucers.
“Carey? Are you up?” Dina called again.
“Yeah,” he said. “Be right out.” He tried his best not to sound rattled.
“Brian’s not in his room,” Dina said through the door. “Is he in there with you?”
Carey didn’t think Brian’s eyes could get any bigger. He was wrong.
“Shit. She knows,” Brian whispered. “What do we do?”
“I’ll go down,” Carey told him quietly. “I’ll take the heat. It was my idea.” He called out to his aunt, “Yeah, he’s here. I’ll be right down.”
Dina turned and walked downstairs to wait in the kitchen.
Carey pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and took Brian’s hand. “I don’t regret it. Even if we get in trouble.”
Brian didn’t look convinced.
When Carey walked into the kitchen, Dina was drinking a cup of coffee. She didn’t look up at him. He sat at the other end of the breakfast bar.
“What am I supposed to tell your mother? That I left you alone for a couple of hours and the two of you had sex?”
“No, we didn’t,” Carey protested.
“You had no clothes on.”
He frowned.
“I . . . looked in your room before I knocked. Brian’s door was open and he wasn’t there, so I thought you two went down to the beach.”
He could hardly be upset by the invasion of privacy considering the circumstances.
“But we didn’t. I mean, we did . . . stuff. But nothing we haven’t done by ourselves bunches of times.”
“Ah, I don’t want to hear details.” She covered her ears.
“Please don’t tell my parents,” he begged. “They’ll never trust me again.”
“You broke the house rules,” Dina reminded him.
“I know, but we didn’t do that much. Mainly, we just wanted to sleep together.”
“You’re putting me in an awkward situation.”
“If you tell my mom, I’m gonna be in so much trouble. I bet they’ll make us leave early.” Carey sighed. “I wish we did have sex. That would have been worth it.” He found speaking on the subject much easier with his aunt than with his own mother.
“I’m glad you didn’t. You’re awfully young.”
“Grown-ups always say stuff like that. I’d be willing to bet most of the adults that say to wait, didn’t wait themselves. I bet most of them had sex in high school,” he grumbled.
Dina remained silent on the subject.
“You’re not even bothering to deny it,” he pointed out. “They always say, wait until you find someone special. Wait until you’re in love,” he mocked.
“It’s good advice.”
“But I am in love,” he said. “I’ve loved Brian my whole life, one way or another. No matter what happens, I’ll always love him. Even if this doesn’t last, I will love him. He’s the person I’ll measure everyone else against.” He chuckled. “I already do. If I could, I would marry him tomorrow. Maybe that sounds crazy, but I don’t care.”
Dina smiled. “That sounds like love.”
He sighed heavily. “I promise we won’t do it again. Please don’t tell my mom.”
Taking a sip of her coffee, she looked at him. He appeared sincere. And remorseful.
“All right. I won’t tell. But the two of you better be on your best behavior.”
“We will.” He got up. He wanted to hug her, but he was afraid she might still be a little angry. “Can we still sit together on the chair? And . . . kiss a little?”
She laughed. “Yes, I’m not that mean.”
“Thank you,” he said contritely. He started up the stairs, but Brian was coming down.
“Aunt Dina isn’t going to tell our parents.”
Brian nodded. Carey could see tears in his eyes, and pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay. We’re not really in trouble.”
“Okay.”
Carey smiled. “I loved sleeping with you last night. I liked what happened before that too. I wish we could always sleep together.”
“Me too.”
They hugged on the stairs for a long time, until Brian got up the nerve to face Dina. He walked into the kitchen behind Carey with his head low. As he sat down at the breakfast bar, he apologized.
“I’m sorry for breaking the rules.” He finally glanced up at her.
“Believe it or not, I understand,” she said. “Rob and I met in high school.”
“You did?” Carey questioned. “But I thought you got married the year before I was born.”
“We did. We met in high school and went out for about six months. It wasn’t that long, but I just knew I was in love with him. Then we went off to different colleges, so we broke up,” she explained. “We actu
ally lost touch for a few years.”
“How’d you get back together?” Carey asked.
“Five-year reunion,” she answered. “We exchanged numbers, but he had a girlfriend, so I didn’t think much of it at the time.” Dina shrugged. “He called me a few months later. Said he couldn’t stop thinking about me. He broke up with his girlfriend hoping I would go back out with him.”
“Wow, he must have really liked you,” Brian said.
“I really liked him, too. I’d had a couple of boyfriends in between, though, nothing serious. None of them measured up to Rob.”
Carey nodded at the reference to their earlier conversation.
“But,” Dina began. “The point is, we needed to grow up a little. If we had tried to stay together during college, we probably wouldn’t have lasted. We were different people when we got back together. I mean, we were the same, but . . . it’s hard to explain.”
“I think I know what you mean,” Carey said. “Brian and I will probably be going to different colleges. I don’t know what we’ll do.”
Brian’s face took on a melancholy air.
“We don’t have to think about that yet, though. We have a whole year.” Carey tried to sound encouraging.
Regardless of whether they were together or not throughout college, Carey knew his feelings weren’t going to change. If Brian needed to be on his own for a few years, he would wait for him. Someday, he hoped to be able to tell his nieces and nephews, or even children, his and Brian’s sweet love story with a happy ending.
Chapter 17
Wednesday progressed with the morning’s events hanging over them. Dina had decided not to tell her husband of the boys’ indiscretion and save them all the embarrassment. To make up for it, Brian and Carey rode their bikes to the grocery store for ingredients to cook dinner.
Though she didn’t feel it was necessary, Dina allowed them, thinking a little guilt wouldn’t hurt. And it might possibly keep them honest for the rest of their time there.
Carey cooked the only real dish he knew from memory, macaroni and cheese. His mother had taught him a few dishes, and that was by far his most successful. After pouring the cheese sauce over the noodles, he mixed breadcrumbs with butter and cheddar, and baked it until it was crispy and browned on top. Brian steamed broccoli and sautéed carrots with butter, brown sugar, salt and pepper. As simple a meal as it was, they were extremely proud to serve it.
In the middle of dinner, Rob announced the he was treating everyone to dinner the following night.
“You don’t have to do that Uncle Rob. You’ve already done so much for us,” Carey protested.
“Nonsense. I think we should all go out for a nice dinner.” Rob gasped. “Not that this isn’t nice. That’s not what I meant. This is actually really great.”
Dina laughed as Rob stammered his excuses.
“I just meant that you all have been cooking this week, and I want to take everybody out tomorrow night, so you don’t have to cook again.”
“Still, we don’t mind,” Carey said.
“Speak for yourself,” Dina snickered. “I wouldn’t mind two nights of not cooking.” She turned to Rob. “We should go to Seafarer.”
“If you like seafood, it’s the place to go around here,” Rob told the boys.
They both nodded.
“Good, then it’s settled. We’ll have a nice night out, then I’ll take you to a special place for dessert.”
“Where?” Dina questioned.
“It’s a surprise,” Rob winked.
After a sunset boat ride, Rob took the boys down to Johnnie Mercer’s Pier for a little fishing. Brian took one look at the bait and decided he would rather watch. Carey wasn’t at all squeamish. He and Rob cast their lines over and over, catching only two fish in the hour they were there. Rob filleted the fish right there on the pier with his board and knife, while Brian helped out using the flashlight setting on his phone for light. They put the small pieces in a baggie to freeze when they returned to the house.
By the time they got back, Dina was almost ready for bed, sitting on the couch reading and eating a cup of ice cream. The boys dished some out for themselves and joined her.
“Catch anything?” she asked.
Rob held up the baggie. “Only two. Not enough for a whole dinner. I’m going to put it in the freezer for another time.”
“How did you like fishing, Brian?” Dina questioned.
“I didn’t,” he replied. “I took pictures with my phone.” He giggled.
“I forgot how much I liked it,” Carey said. “Dad and I always said we’d go to one of the local lakes to fish. But we never got around to it.”
“Maybe I’ll take off Friday and take you out fishing on the boat,” Rob said.
The thought of being out on the water made Carey apprehensive, but he also wanted to do some real fishing.
“Really?”
“Sure. I’ve got six days of vacation time left. I could spare one for some deep-sea fishing.” Rob looked to Dina, almost for permission Carey thought.
“Sounds like a plan,” she said. “Maybe Brian and I can go shopping.”
Brian sat up straighter. “Okay.”
Pouting, Carey asked, “You don’t want to go out on the boat with us?”
“Uh . . .”
“I’m just kidding. You should go have fun with Aunt Dina.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Brian shoved Carey’s shoulder with his own.
After finishing their ice cream, everyone went to bed early. The boys had planned to go surfing again with Jen in the morning. Dina decided to go along with the dogs for a jog and to watch the boys’ progress.
Standing in the hallway with Carey after getting ready for bed, Brian said shyly, “Well, goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” Carey leaned forward to kiss him, but Brian leaned back and glanced at Dina’s door. “It’s okay. We don’t have to stay two feet apart at all times or anything,” Carey chuckled.
“I just don’t want to get in any more trouble while we’re here.”
“We won’t. I only want to kiss you goodnight.”
Brian gave in and leaned forward. He was pulled closer as Carey’s mouth covered his. The kiss quickly deepened while their hands roamed. When Carey’s hand squeezed his bottom, Brian let out a small moan.
They broke apart and Brian covered his mouth, mortified that Carey’s aunt and uncle may have heard.
Carey just grinned at him. “I guess we’d better stop,” he whispered.
Nodding, Brian turned toward his room.
“Hey,” Carey said quietly, causing Brian to turn back around. “I’ll miss you tonight.”
A slow smile grew on Brian’s face. “I’ll miss you too.”
They stood in their doorways gazing at each other for another minute before reluctantly going into their own rooms. Carey flopped onto his bed, grinning. He had to find a way for Brian and him to be alone again.
◆◆◆
“I guess you and Jen are okay?” Dina asked as she sat on the beach with Carey. She had heard about their dinner with Jen and her friend.
“Yeah,” Carey answered. He needed a break from wiping out, which was what he was doing most of the time still.
He and Dina sat on a big blanket watching Jen and Brian in the waves.
“You’re not going to tell my mom what I said about Brian, are you?” he questioned. It had been on his mind since their conversation the day before in the kitchen.
“What part?”
“That I said I love him.”
“No. Why? Do you think you need to keep it a secret?”
“My dad still isn’t completely comfortable with the whole thing, I think. He’s been . . . pretty good about it. I know if he had a choice, he would rather I brought Robin here.”
“I take it, Robin is a girl.”
Carey nodded. “I kind of blurted out that I love Brian while Dad and I were having an argument. He got really mad. Madder than I’ve ever seen hi
m. We try not to kiss in front of him, or act like boyfriends.”
“Because you think he’ll get mad?” Dina asked.
“I don’t want to make him feel uncomfortable.”
“And how does it make you feel?”
‘What do you mean?” Carey frowned.
“You seem awfully worried about how your father feels, but what about you? Or Brian?”
Carey looked out at the water. The sun was up and bouncing off Brian’s wet skin. He shook the curls out of his face as he prepared to get up on the board. He looked beautiful. And happy.
Not how he looked when he was at Carey’s house.
“I’m sorry,” Dina apologized. “It’ none of my business. I shouldn’t tell you how to handle your relationship. I really don’t know what it’s like. My parents loved Rob right from the start.”
“I don’t think it’s that Dad doesn’t like Brian. He just doesn’t like that I like him so much. Nobody else in my family has a problem with us.”
She put a hand over his. “Forget I said anything. You do what makes you happy.”
Harold nudged at Dina’s leg.
“They’re getting restless,” she said.
“I’ll walk them,” offered Carey. Dina handed him the leashes, and he began to jog down the beach with them.
As he did, he thought about what his aunt said. He didn’t think she meant to, but she implied that his father was being unreasonable. At least, that was probably the impression Carey gave her. Carey did notice that when Brian was at his house, he kept a proper amount of distance between them, unless they were in the basement out of sight. He figured it made his father less uneasy, which made Carey feel less uneasy. However, the boys were constantly walking on eggshells. And Carey was tired of it. Even on this beautiful vacation, Brian had toned down his look, so as not to bring too much attention to himself. But that wasn’t who he was. He’d been so busy trying to please Carey, he was losing himself.
When he got back to the blanket, he asked his aunt if she would take him shopping later. He stood and waved his hands to get Brian’s attention. Brian paddled in and walked to him.
“Aren’t you coming back out?” Brian asked.
“No,” Carey chuckled. “I suck at this.”
“Oh. Well, okay, we can go if you want.”
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