Bradley James

by C. E. Wilson

  “What if your parents try to throw you out of your house? That’s what happened when Clayton came out. My parents threw him out, and he had to go to college on scholarships. Now he is a lawyer and doing great, but he had it rough in college.”

  “Doesn’t matter to me. I want to be with you and take you to meet my parents and tell them that you’re my love. I’m serious Bradley. I want everyone to know that you’re mine.”

  “Well, at least we got the worst ones notified. That’s my parents. You don’t know how hardheaded my dad is. Mom is just crazy most of the time. Clayton and John are really cool. My sister is a bit ditzy, but she’s fine. I want you to meet her as well.”

  “When your parents get here, I’m going home and sit my parents down and talk to them about me being gay. Like I said I don’t think they’ll be upset about it. I just want everyone to accept you and me as a couple.”

  “I can accept that, and I’m the only person that matters. We will get through anything together Cade. We can depend on each other and let the cards fall where they may.”

  Cade smiled. “Yeah, I like that. You know I have your back, and I’m just as sure that you have mine. If my parents take this badly, I might just have to live with you until college starts. I have sports scholarships, so I’m good there.”

  “If they don’t take it well you come back here, and you can stay here with me. I know my parents will let you. If not, then we will both go stay with Clayton and John. I know they will let us stay there.”

  Charlie and Martha pulled in and unlocked the door. Cade helped Bradley in the house. He felt fine, just tired, but that didn’t matter to Cade. He wanted to make sure that Bradley was taken care of.

  “Well, let me go tell them, and I’ll come back to let you know. I need your phone number, and I’ll give you mine. Is it cool with your parents if I come back?”

  “It will be cool with them, or you can pick me up, and we will go to Clay’s house.”

  Cade got him settled on the couch and kissed him. “I’ll be back in about an hour. I don’t live far from you.”

  “Good luck with your parents.”

  Cade winked at him and turned and left. Charlie asked, “Is your boyfriend coming back?”

  “Yes, he went to tell his parents that he is gay and I’m his boyfriend. I told him if his parents kicked him out to come and stay with me until time to go to college. If you don't let him stay, we are going to go stay with Clay and John.”

  “He can stay. If not for him, you would still be in that nasty basement. I stopped and got your antibiotics, so start on them now. I’ll help Mom get some dinner ready. It will be ready when Cade gets back so invite him to eat with us.”

  “I will, Dad. Thanks.”

  Bradley laid down on the couch and put his head on a throw pillow, and he was out. The next thing he knew Cade was sitting on the floor in front of the couch and was watching something on the television. Bradley stretched and put his arm around Cade’s neck. “Hey, handsome. Why didn’t you wake me when you got here?”

  “I knew you needed the rest. I’m sure you didn’t get much in that basement. I was happy just to sit near you.”

  “So, what did the parents say?”

  “Pretty much what I expected. They said they knew for a while that I’m gay and wondered when I was going to tell them. They want to meet you, but I told them not until tomorrow. You just had an awful experience, and you need time to rest. They agreed when I told them what happened to you.”

  “I am so glad that everything worked out for you and your family. Although I was hoping that they made you leave so, you could come live with me.” Bradley grinned.

  “Well, I’m just glad they accepted you and me. We will go over to the house tomorrow and let you meet them. They want to have us for dinner.”

  “Yeah, Dad said he wanted you to have dinner with us tonight. I’m glad that they are both on board with us. It will make things a lot easier with being together and not having to hide anymore.”

  “Yeah, I hated to hide who I was. It stopped me from being with you for too long. At least now we can be together and not have to make everyone think we are straight.”

  “How is coming out going to affect your scholarships?”

  “I don’t know. Dad asked me the same thing. I think with so many people coming out that it isn’t such a big deal. I can still play football, just fine. My sexual preference doesn’t have anything to do with football.”

  “I know babe, but you know how small-minded people are about gay people. I don’t want you to lose your chance to go to college just so you can hold my hand in school.”

  “If I lose my scholarships, Dad said he’ll pay my way through college. I have already been accepted at Penn State. It’s one of the best engineer schools around. We’ll see what happens. I’ll talk to the coach and see what he says about it.”

  “Well, at least all that is worked out just fine. I’m starved. Is dinner ready yet?”

  “Your dad said to let him know when you woke up, and they would get it on the table. I guess I should have told him when you first woke.”

  Bradley leaned down and gave Cade a sweet kiss. He stood up and got Cade’s hand and pulled him to his feet, and they walked into the kitchen. Charlie and Martha were sitting at the table and smiled when they saw Bradley. “Are you ready to eat son?”

  “Yes, Dad. I’m starving. I don’t seem to be able to get full.”

  “Mother will get your hollow leg filled for you. Sit down boys, and I’ll help Mom get the dinner on the table. Can’t have you, boys, starving to death.”

  Charlie and Martha brought out enough food to feed an army. Bradley chuckled. Cade stared at the food with his mouth open. He had never seen so much food at one time. Bradley nudged Cade. “I hope you’re as hungry as I am, babe. There’s enough food for us to live on all four years we’ll be in college.”

  “Yeah, I’ll say. Remind me to talk to you about that later. Dad had a good idea, and I think you’re going to like it.”

  “Sure, if you like it, then I’m all for it. Dig in and don’t be shy. We’ll have leftovers for a month around here.”

  When Charlie and Martha sat down the boys already had their plates full. Charlie made a plate for Martha and then one for himself. He asked, “Cade, how did your parents take you being gay? Do you need a place to stay? If so, you’re more than welcome to stay here until you and Bradley go to college.”

  “My parents are fine. They knew for a while that I was gay and was just waiting for me to tell them. They want to meet Bradley, but I told them not today. He needed rest before he met them.”

  “I wish I was that open-minded about Clay when he told his mother and me that he was gay. I was too damn stubborn; I kicked him out of the house. I regret that every day now. He’s a good man, and he’s married to a good man too. John is a great heart doctor. He saved my life, and I won’t ever forget that. Cade, how old are you?” Charlie asked.

  “I’m eighteen. I was held back a year because of my birthday being in December. It’s the day before Christmas eve.”

  “You do know that Bradley is only seventeen, don’t you?”

  “Yes, sir, I know how old he is. Is there a problem?”

  “No, I just wanted to make sure you knew how old he is. He’s a good boy except not telling me when something is going on, and I don’t know about it.”

  Bradley shook his head, saying, “After the way, you treated my brother, you should understand me keeping it from you. I didn’t want to get kicked out of the house and not be able to go to college. You know how much that means to me, Dad.”

  Everyone at the table fell silent while they finished their meal.

  Chapter 5

  After they finished eating, Bradley grabbed Cade’s hand and went out on the back deck. Cade’s eyes got big when he saw the large inground pool. He loved to swim. They sat down in some chairs that were around the pool. “Bradley, one day before we go off to school, we are going to hav
e to spend the day swimming in your pool. I love to swim.”

  “I used to love it too, but after a while, it was just here. You know what I mean? It didn’t mean so much when there was no one to go swimming with except my parents. You can come over any time you want to and swim.”

  “I’ll take you up on that. That is if you will swim with me. I want to spend a lot of time together before we leave for college.”

  “Yeah, I do too. What did you want to talk to me about?”

  “Well, my dad wants me to get an apartment off-campus instead of living in a dorm. I thought maybe we could be roommates. I don’t know if your dad will like that or not, but I would love it.”

  “Yeah, I think that would be great. At least we would be able to study together.”

  “My dad is going to pay the rent. All we have to worry about is food. Maybe if we get a part-time job, we can buy food.”

  “Well if your dad is going to pay the rent, I’ll see if my dad won’t furnish the food and utilities. He was going to have to pay the fees for the dorm and food, so I don’t see what the difference is, and we can have a quiet place to study. I don’t know how serious you are about college, but for me it is vital. I want to come out of college the best I can be.”

  “I agree with you, babe. Maybe we can even open offices together when we graduate. I would love for us to live and work together. It would give me more time with you.”

  “You might just get tired of me.”

  “No, that will never happen. I know that for sure. I already love you, Bradley. I have loved you since the first time I saw you. I was just waiting to see if I could figure out if you were gay or not. I am so glad you are.”

  “I was doing the same. John and Clay told me to make friends with you, and maybe I could figure it out. I thought all gay people had gaydar, but I don’t think that’s really a thing. I sure didn’t sense you as being gay. I’m thankful that you are though.”

  Charlie came out to the deck and sat down. Bradley said, “Dad, Cade’s father wants him to get an apartment off-campus, and he just asks me to be his roommate. His dad is going to pay the rent, and I thought that maybe you and Mom would help us out with the utilities and food. It would be a good place for us to study without all the distractions of a dorm. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I can get a part-time job and help out with my share of the apartment. What do you think?”

  “Yeah, sure son. I will be willing to pay the utilities and give you boys money for food. I would rather neither one of you get a job and spend your time studying. It is going to be rough studying engineering without having to spend time working.”

  Cade said, “Thank you, Mr. James. That will help us out a lot. My dad said he wanted me to be able to study without the noise of a dorm.”

  “Yes, I remember it is pure chaos in a dorm. I lived in one room for four years and would have given anything to be able to be in an apartment. The jocks get way too rowdy for any studying.”

  Bradley laughed. “Dad, my man is a jock. He’s going to college on a football scholarship. He’s a great quarterback. He has had scouts approaching him from everywhere. That’s why I didn’t know what college he was going to go to. I’m thrilled it’s Penn State.”

  Charlie said, “It is so hot out here. Bradley, I think that Cade could fit into a pair of your swim trunks. Why don’t you boys go change and go swimming? It would cool you off some.”

  Bradley asked, “Cade do you want to go swimming? I have plenty of trunks you can wear. It might be relaxing for me to do some laps.”

  “Yeah, sure, babe. I would love to go swimming.”

  They went into the house, and Bradley took Cade up to his room. He pulled Cade some swim trunks out and handed them to him. Then Bradley got him a pair and went into his bathroom to change clothes. When he came out of the bathroom, Cade was standing there in the pair of trunks that Bradley gave him. Bradley smiled at him and took his hand, and they went down to the pool. Bradley jumped into the water and started swimming. Cade wasn’t far behind him.

  They were in the pool for a little while, and Clayton and John showed up with Jacob. They came out to the pool and Jacob ran over to Bradley. “I want to swim Uncle Bradley. Please.”

  “You have to ask your dads, and if they say you can, then I will take care of you. Tell them Uncle Bradley wants you to come in with him.”

  Jacob ran over to Clayton and John. “Dads, can I go swimming? Uncle Bradley said he wanted me to come in the pool and he will take care of me.”

  “You don’t have your swimming trunks with you today, son.”

  “Can’t I swim in my shorts? Grandma has some clean clothes here for me. I know she does. She’s always buying me new clothes and toys.”

  Charlie started laughing. “He sure knows his grandma. She went shopping yesterday, so he has clothes here from the skin out. I think I even saw some new shoes in the bags.”

  Clayton shook his head and pulled off Jacob’s shoes and socks and little t-shirt and sent him to the pool. He got to the edge, and Bradley got him holding him in his arms. “Uncle Bradley, grandma said you can’t pee in the pool. If you have to pee, you have to get out and pee on the grass. That’s what she told me.”

  “Cade and I will make sure we don’t pee in the pool. If we have to pee, we will get out and go to the bathroom to pee, ok?”

  “Grandma said to pee in the grass. You don’t have to go to the house. Who is that Uncle Bradley?”

  “That’s your future uncle. He is Uncle Bradley’s boyfriend.”

  “Are you going to be like my dads and not have a mom just two dads?”

  “Yes, we are like your dads. We are going to go away to college, and when we get back, we are getting married. How would you like to be at our wedding?”

  “No, Uncle Bradley. I don’t want to have a husband I want to have a wife, and then my little boy will have a mom and a dad.”

  “Jacob do you miss not having a mom?”

  “I miss my mom and dad. If I can’t have them back, then I want my two dads. I like them just fine. I wish my mom and dad were still alive, but I would like to have my dads as uncles. They are good for me, and I think they love me.”

  “Yes, they love you very much. I can understand that you would like to have your mom and dad back and your two dads understand that too. Just be happy that you have good dads that love you so much.”

  At the table out back, Clayton and John were sitting talking to Charlie. “Dad, I want you to stop Mom from buying so much for Jacob. You guys are spoiling him. Did you just hear when he said that he knows Grandma has clean clothes here for him because she is always buying him things?”

  “Clay you really want me to tell her that. If you want her to know, then its best you tell her. I won’t be able to live around here if I tell her.”

  “John, do you want to tell her to stop spoiling our son?”

  “Sure, if you tell my parents the same thing. My parents are just as bad as yours about buying him things.”

  “I guess it is time to have another child. Call your friend in the social services and tell her we want a girl this time. Maybe if they have to buy for two, they won’t be so spoiled.”

  Charlie chuckled. “Keep telling yourself that son. If you believe that I have some waterfront property in Arizona to sell you.”

  Jacob asked Bradley, “Can you let me out of the pool for a minute. I have to talk to my dad about something?”

  “Sure, little man.” Bradley walked over to the side of the pool and put Jacob up on the cement.”

  “Stay there Uncle Bradley cause I’m coming back.”

  “I will be right here when you get back, Jacob.”

  Jacob ran over to Clayton. “Dad, I want to ask you something.”

  “Sure, son, what is it?”

  “Well, Uncle Bradley said that boy in the pool with him is his boyfriend and he is going to marry him. He asked me to be in the wedding, but I don’t want to marry a boy. I want to marry a girl. Does it mean
since you and dad are married, and Uncle Bradley is going to marry that boy that I have to marry a boy too?”

  “No, Jacob, you don’t have to marry a boy. You can marry anyone you want to. You can marry a girl if that’s what you want. It’s just that Dad and I married because we love each other, and we wanted to marry another man. Uncle Bradley wants to marry a man too. So that’s why we are married. We will love you no matter who you want to marry when you grow up.”

  “Why does Uncle Bradley want me to be at his wedding if I don’t have to marry that boy too?”

  “I don’t think he meant for you to marry anyone. He probably wants you to be the ring boy. You carry the wedding rings up to Uncle Bradley when it is time.”

  “Oh, I see. Yeah, I would like that as long as he knows that I don’t want to marry that boy.”

  “I’ll make sure he knows you aren’t going to marry anyone. You’re a little young to marry a boy or a girl.”

  “I’m going to go back swimming with Uncle Bradley. I don’t know what that other boy’s name is, but he’s nice.”

  “His name’s Cade. He’s the one that saved Uncle Bradley from the bad man that took him. He’s a good boy.”

  “I can talk to him even if he’s a stranger?”

  “Yes, this one time we are going to make an exception because he’s Uncle Bradley’s boyfriend. But don’t talk to other strangers unless Dad or I tell you it’s ok.”

  Jacob ran back to the pool, and Bradley got him from the side of the pool and took him over to where Cade was swimming around. They had a good time in the pool until it was getting dark then Clayton came and got Jacob and took him in the house to change clothes. He wanted to make sure that Jacob didn’t get cold in the pool. He was healthy now, but Clayton still worried about him.

  Cade walked over to Bradley and put his arms around him. “That is an adorable little boy. He’s brilliant for what three?”