“Gross, dude. TMI.” Cam scrunched his nose up and turned back to playing the game.
Brandon laughed as he moved forward, making sure to take a seat on the other side of Cam to avoid the temptation of Logan. “Kidding. Just looking at your photos in the hall. That pic of you naked on the bearskin rug as a baby is hilarious.”
“Shit, man. I hate that pic, but Mom won’t take it down.” Cam maneuvered his controller.
Brandon thought back to that day. The so-called professional photographer Marcia hired was all about “loving the human body in its natural state.” He was ready to leave the moment she danced around the studio with burning sage to rid the space of negative energy. Apparently, only then could the film capture Cam’s true aura, whatever the hell that meant. Logan laughed as his eyes locked with Brandon’s for a brief second. As Brandon picked up his controller, the door opened, interrupting their game. Brandon turned around, hoping it wasn’t his ex-wife.
“Hey! Your mother has dinner.” Lance shouted at Cam. “You better get your ass in here if you want some.” He looked at Brandon and Logan. “There’s not enough for your faggot friends.”
Brandon immediately saw red as Logan jerked his head around and lowered his eyebrows at him angrily.
“Fuck you, asshole!” Brandon yelled without hesitation.
Lance pointed at him. “Shut your mouth, or I’ll shut it for you!”
“Don’t you threaten him!” A furious Logan rose to defend Brandon. “I’ll stomp your ass!”
Cam jumped up and barreled towards the door. “I told you to never come in my fucking room!” He shoved Lance out and slammed the door before turning to Logan and Brandon. “I hate that, bastard! Sorry, guys.”
“He needs to go.” Logan tried to calm down.
Tension filled the air as Brandon’s mental wheels started turning.
The next afternoon, Brandon and Corbin sat in Brandon’s room, playing his Xbox, which he had recently purchased with his lawn money. Over the two weeks of Tommy’s unfair house arrest, he had become quite good at Zombie Apocalypse.
“I’m glad it’s raining today. I am so tired of mowing every day.” Brandon said as he made a narrow escape from a full-on zombie assault.
“I know, dude. I think sometimes we’ve taken on too many. We don’t have a life anymore.” Corbin said as he jumped over a swamp pit.
“It’s not like we had one before.” He looked at Corbin with a teasing smile. “At least one of us anyway.”
“Yeah, right!” Corbin elbowed him. “Your life sucked, so don’t even go there.”
“True ‘dat.” Brandon laughed.
A few minutes passed before Brandon’s mind started drifting back to the previous day and the sizzling hot kiss from Logan. He felt himself getting hard. He glanced at Corbin, debating on whether or not to tell him about Logan. Major news events in his life were usually something he reserved for his best friend, Tommy. Still, seeing as Tommy had gone all father-mode on him, he wasn’t exactly in the mood for sharing with him.
“Hey, Corb,” Brandon said as he fired at a red-haired witch in the game. “Can I trust you?”
“No.” Corbin laughed as he finished off the witch before pausing and shooting his eyes at Brandon. “I’m kidding, what’s up?”
“Well…um.” He started. “Well, you know the story your cousin told you about Logan and that he might possibly be gay?”
“Yeah.” Corbin pressed the fire button on his controller.
“Well. He is.” Brandon hit the game’s pause button.
“And how would you know that?” Corbin asked casually as he turned his head towards Brandon. “Did he, like, make a move on your or something?” He laughed.
“Kinda.” Brandon blushed. “He kissed me.”
“He what?” Corbin shouted and dropped his controller. “No way!”
“Yeah. At Cam’s yesterday, when Cam wasn’t in the room.” Brandon decided not to tell him that it happened in the bathroom, thinking Corbin might think it a little weird.
“Holy shit!” Corbin’s mouth dropped. “So, what did you do?”
“I told him that I thought it was best if we didn’t start anything for Cam’s sake.” Brandon shrugged.
“Are you nuts, dude? Why would you say that? It’s obvious that you like him, and now you know he likes you.” Corbin stood up.
“I don’t know. I mean, what if Cam found out?” He stood up. “I mean, I’m his father, and Logan’s his best friend.”
“There you go again.” Corbin threw his hands up. “Listen to me, Chan.” He stood up. “You have got to stop thinking of yourself as the person you were before. Hell,” He shook his head, “in the past few weeks I’ve got where I don’t even think of you as ever being Mr. Daniels.”
“Really?” Brandon didn’t realize that Corbin had started seeing him as a different person, thinking that although he physically changed, mentally, he hadn’t.
“Dude. You’re not the same person. You well…you act more like someone my age now. It’s like…you’re different. Someone I like hanging with. Like my best friend.” He mumbled the last part, embarrassed to admit such a thing.
“Really? You think of me as your best friend?” Brandon’s face lit up, not realizing how close he and Corbin had become.
“Well.” Corbin shrugged. “Yeah. It’s not like I have that many friends anyway.” He looked down and kicked at the floor.
Brandon thought for a moment as his mind clicked off every ‘best friend’ thing they did together. They ate lunch together every day, they mowed lawns together most every day, they texted each constantly, they liked the same shows and shared the same opinion on most things. He thought back to when he and Tommy were teenagers together. The feelings were the same. Corbin was right. They had become best friends.
He looked at Corbin and gently smiled. “You’re my best friend too, Corb.”
Corbin looked up and smiled. “And now that we’ve settled that. As your best friend, I’m telling you right now to get your head out of your ass and live your life and forget about your past. You are not Brandon Daniels anymore. Get that through your thick skull.” He tapped his finger against his temple.
Brandon let the words sink in. He had his dream to do his life over again, why would he deny himself the possibility of his first real love? It was just another step in letting go of his past once and for all.
He nodded at Corbin realizing he was right. “How can a fourteen-year-old be so wise?” He asked.
“I’m omnipotent.” Corbin pushed his chest forward.
“More like im-potent.” Brandon quipped.
“Fuck you!”
“Oh, so you’re wanting to prove to me you’re not then?” Brandon winked.
“Perv.” Corbin picked up a flowery pillow from the bed and chucked it at Brandon.
Brandon caught it and aimed it towards Corbin’s head. A knock at the door interrupted the beginnings of a pillow fight.
“Yeah?” Brandon glanced casually toward the door at the sound of Kathy’s voice.
“You have company. She yelled. “It’s Cam.”
“Oh, great!” Corbin mumbled, rolled his eyes, and sat down on the bed.
“Be nice to him.” Brandon lobbed the pillow back onto the bed.
Corbin wrinkled his nose as Brandon opened the door. Cam was standing in the doorway, and Kathy was making her way back down the hall.
“Hey, dude.” Brandon greeted him.
“Hey, man. What’s up?” Cam glanced in the room and spotted Corbin.
“Not much, just me and Corb playing some Xbox. What you up to?” Brandon glanced back at a sour-faced Corbin.
“Just needed to get out of the house,” Cam said, sounding rather down.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just…well, you know…Lance.” He said quietly, not wanting Corbin to hear.
“Gotcha, man.” Brandon paused and glanced at Corbin, who had sat back down and started playing the game again. “You want t
o play some ZA with us?”
“Umm, sure.” Cam’s spirits lifted as he walked into the room.
Corbin looked up and gave Cam a brief nod, but did not speak as he sat down on the floor beside him. Brandon took the position on the other side of his son and scrambled for another controller and handed it to Cam. Cam grabbed it and connected in.
“Team mode?” Cam asked.
“Yeah. Sure.” Brandon picked up his controller.
Brandon and Cam chatted a little about football practice. Still, Corbin remained silent and only spoke when necessary to give raid instructions.
Several minutes later, Cam darted his eyes to Corbin, who was playfully making his character jump up and down while they waited for a door to open.
“You don’t like me much, do you?” Cam turned his head to face him.
Brandon’s eyes widened at his son’s boldness, hoping that he wasn’t about to witness a verbal fight between his son and his new best friend.
“I don’t know you.” Corbin made his character dance. “I have no reason to like or dislike you.” He stared at the screen.
“Hmmph!” Cam scoffed, seeing that he was right. “Well, I’m sorry I pissed in your Corn Flakes.”
Corbin turned to him. Brandon, his eyebrows raised and drawn together, looked at Corbin, praying that he wasn’t going to say something that would blow his cover. Corbin laid his controller down and squinted his eyes.
“Okay, Cameron.” He seethed. “You want to know the reason I don’t like you? It’s because of your attitude since your dad died.”
“My attitude?” Cam was taken aback.
“Your father was my friend, who I really miss, and you walk around like you could care less that he’s gone.” Corbin continued.
“Fuck you!” Cam’s face turned red. “You have no right to judge me because I don’t walk around crying all day over my father.”
“I'm not expecting you to be some sort of emotional basket case, but at least acknowledge you’re sad he’s gone.” Corbin snapped. “I don’t know what the problem was between you and him, but I know you meant a lot to him.”
“Well, maybe if…” Cam softened for a moment. “I loved…” His eyes squinted again, and his face hardened. “Look. This isn’t any of your fucking business.”
“It is my business!” Corbin’s voice cracked, before pausing and looking at Brandon, whose pleading eyes were begging him not to make things worse.
Please, Corb. Brandon mouthed; his face full of worry.
Corbin hesitated a moment before deciding to back off, swallowing his pride for the sake of his best friend. He paused before changing his tone. “Look, Cameron. I’m sorry. It’s just I really thought a lot of your dad. I forget that some people grieve differently, and I’m sorry I assumed that you didn’t care.”
Cam thought for a moment, his face finally relaxing. “It’s okay, dude.”
Corbin glanced at Brandon, who let out the breath he had been holding. Thank you, he mouthed.
Corbin gave him a tiny nod before offering his fist to Cam. “We cool then?”
Cam thought for a moment, “Yeah. We’re cool.”
He bumped Corbin’s fist. Brandon picked up his controller once again, happy that his son and best friend had buried the hatchet.
“By the way.” Corbin picked up his controller. “Thanks for your help getting home from the party.”
Cam chuckled. “You were so wasted.”
“Yeah. I kinda went a little crazy. I wish I’d seen that idiot over there,” He pointed Brandon, “try to take on Stack.”
Cam looked at Brandon. “That was fucking crazy, dude. He’d have squashed you like a bug if I hadn’t stepped in.”
“Yeah. I know.” Brandon shrugged. “When I’m drunk, I think I’m Iron Man for some reason.”
The three of them laughed.
A couple of raids later, Cam’s eyes scanned the room, taking in the pastel-colored walls and floral bedspread with matching throw pillows.
“Dude. Is Aunt Kathy ever going to let you redecorate? It looks like an old lady’s room in here.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t asked. I just kinda got where I ignore it.” He glanced around.
“It is your room now, isn’t it? I mean, they aren’t going to be sending you back to Georgia anytime, soon are they?” Cam dropped his avatar through a trap door.
“No. My mother is dead.” Brandon had told Cam that his mother, Amy, died in a car wreck. He didn’t mention the boy’s identity he had assumed had also died. “No one back there wants me.”
“I don’t know.” Cam focused on the curtains covered in rose petals and paused. “It’s just people may get the wrong idea about you if they saw this room.”
“What do you mean, ‘the wrong idea?’” Brandon glanced at Corbin, who was smiling like the Cheshire Cat.
“Well, you know. That you might be gay or something.” Cam jerked his controller to avoid a zombie with a machete.
Brandon laughed. “I am gay. I thought you knew that?”
Brandon had assumed either Logan had told him, or that he’d seen him hanging around some of the LGBTQ Club members.
“What? No. I didn’t.” Cam fumbled his controller, and his character was hacked to pieces.
It took a moment for Cam to think it through before he glanced questioningly at Corbin.
“Dude.” Corbin leaned back and pointed at himself. “We’re just friends. I like girls.”
“Is that a problem?” Brandon asked Cam, doing his best to hide his concern.
“No, dude. Not at all.” Cam resurrected his avatar. “It doesn’t make any difference to me.”
Brandon sighed quietly with relief. “And for the record, I hate this décor.” He glanced at the painting of sunflowers hanging over the bed. “It’s like Flower Hell.”
“Flower Hell. I like that.” Cam nodded and laughed, joining in with his friends.
Their laughter was interrupted when Brandon’s phone lit up with a text message. He picked up the phone and read it. It was from Tommy, asking him to come to the living room.
“Shit. What now?” He stuck his phone in his pocket and stood up.
“What’s up?” Cam asked.
“Uncle Tommy wants me in the living room.” He turned towards the door.
“Hey, watch the zombie on the right,” Corbin yelled at Cam, oblivious to Brandon’s summons.
Cam shifted his focus back to the game. “Got it!”
Brandon trudged into the living room, miffed that his game time with his friends had been interrupted. Tommy and Kathy sat on the sofa, looking serious once again, which seemed to be the trend lately.
“Yeah? What’s up?” Brandon tried not to sound annoyed as he sat down.
Tommy started. “I got a call today from Principal Anderson regarding your grade in Programming Language I. He says you’re failing. I told him that can’t be right because programming is your best subject.”
“No. He’s right. I got an ‘F.’” Brandon said casually, putting his arms behind his head and leaning back.
“Okay,” Kathy said evenly. “Would you like to explain why you have an ‘F?’”
“Because I’m not doing that shit anymore. I’m sick of it. I did it for thirty-five years, and I’m not writing another computer program.” He stated.
“Now Bra—" Tommy glanced cautiously towards the hall, “Chan. You remember your promise to Dr. Anderson about keeping your grades up if he allowed you into ninth grade?”
“I do, and if you check, I have all A’s in my other classes.” He paused. “It’s not my fault they stuck me in P.L. One. I never signed up for that class.”
“Brandon.” Tommy lowered his voice. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m failing PL One is what I’m doing.” He smirked. “I think we’ve established that.”
“It’s an easy A,” Kathy interjected.
“It’s an easy way for me to lose my sanity is what it is.” He chuckled and star
ed at Tommy with a look of contempt.
“Listen to me.” Tommy snapped. “You start calling too much attention to yourself, and we could get in a shitload of trouble if people start digging into your identity. As your friend, I’m telling you to drop the attitude and pass that damn class.”
“Is that it?” Brandon stood up defiantly.
“No!” Tommy lost his cool. “That’s not it! What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing has ‘gotten into me.’” Brandon made air quotes. “I’m going back to finish my game with my friends.”
Tommy stood up, deciding it was time for some tough love. “I think you need to find somewhere else to live.”
Kathy’s jaw dropped as she looked up at him. Brandon turned around, the blood draining from his face.
“What?” He stared in disbelief.
“I’m not dealing with this rebellious teenage attitude of yours anymore.” Tommy walked out of the room and into the kitchen.
Brandon and Kathy looked at each other.
“Is he serious?” Brandon asked.
“You tell me?” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “You’re acting like a spoiled little brat.”
Brandon looked towards the kitchen, the words cutting him deeply as it suddenly hit him. He was treating Tommy like Cam had treated him in his former life.
“Oh, crap, Kathy.” He looked at her with his sudden realization. “You’re right. I didn’t realize how I’ve been treating you guys. I’m so sorry, Kathy.”
“It’s not me you should be apologizing to.” She relaxed her arms.
Brandon nodded and walked into the kitchen, but there was no Tommy. He looked out the patio door and saw him sitting on the patio in a lawn chair drinking a beer. Brandon walked out and sat down across from him. Tommy didn’t acknowledge him as he took a sip from his beer bottle and stared at the cactus garden that Brandon had made for Kathy a few weeks earlier. Brandon looked at him, remorsefully.
“I’m sorry, Tom.” He looked down as his eyes began to water. “I’ve been a total jerk toward you and Kathy.”
Tommy stared away a moment longer before finally turning to him. “I thought we were best friends, Brand.”
American Dreamer Page 17