“Yeah I think—no, you’re right, it’s the bourbon or the fucking weed or something.” I took a few deep breaths and calmed down a little. Pete hadn’t let go of me yet and I didn’t want to move away from him yet. “But that thing about Betsy, that thing about me—you’re right. I do like, well I do like guys. I was sure a long time ago, but it wasn’t until this year that I realized I needed to ‘come out’ or whatever. I don’t know what the big fuckin’ deal is, it seems like it’s more important for everybody to hear it more than it is to me to say it out loud—everybody seems to already know.”
He turned me around to face him. “All they do is care about ya, Bo. Nothin’ wrong with that.”
But you Pete, you knew, you love Betsy, but you still wanted me back then. Were there any other guys then, you know, anybody else you actually did anything with.”
“Nope. Well, yeah, I guess. I fooled around in the Marines a little—you know, a few ‘I can’t believe how drunk I was last night, I don’t remember anything’ kind of things—you know, that bullshit.
“I’ve heard that line before,” I thought about it and added, “I’ve said it a few times myself. But, so you tried it, you experimented a little but decided it’s not for you—”
“It wasn’t a choice, Foster, any more than you ‘decided’ to be gay. It is what it fucking is, I guess.” He sighed, took another swig and passed the bottle to me. I realized how empty the bottle was getting and thought about seeing sea monsters or whatever—I decided right then not to smoke any more pot and just stick to beer. “But Foster,” he snapped me out of it, “It never really has changed how I felt, how I still feel about you.” He took a deep breath and looked at me. “And I want it to happen now, today. Let’s don’t think about—well about anything else right now—I’m going in there,” and he nodded at the boathouse, “And if you want, I sure would like you to c’mon in there with me.” He started walking down the dock and it only took about five seconds for me to decide to follow him.
Afterwards we were spread out on a pile of old seat cushions from some boat. I had some cobwebs in my hair and Pete had a big streak of dust down his right side. We were facing each other, out of breath and coated with sweat and grime from the floor and the other places we had leaned against, bumped into or whatever. “That,” Pete grinned, “That was pretty fucking amazing. But I’m wiped out Foster, and I feel….grungy, you know?” I nodded and was about to say something, probably something I didn’t need to say, when he grabbed our shorts and shot out the door and down the dock. I caught a glimpse of his ass going over the end of the dock and ran after him.
We swam around for a while, then I swam back to the dock and grabbed a few beers for us. We hung from the dock in the shade and drank, neither of us seeming to want to talk about what just happened. I could hear a little boat motor putting around out on the lake, but other than that things were really quiet. “Okay, so what happens next Pete, how do we handle things from here?”
“Honestly? Nothin’ I guess. We both know you’re going back to school in the fall no longer how long you hang out here, and we both know I’m going home to Betsy tonight. Are you thinking something different?” He grinned at me, “Are we going to run off together, maybe go across the state line and get married? We could come back, buy a little house in town. Maybe register for wedding gifts at Tractor Supply, Fast Mart, even the Wal-Mart over in Binghamton. We could use some of your money and buy a little antique store.” He splashed water in my face and laughed. “Really, Foster, what’d you think would happen now?”
“Fuck no, I mean, I know what you mean or whatever. You’re already settled down and I’m as far from it as I can get. But like, what about Betsy, what—”
He held his hand up and got all quiet, and he stared out at the far side of the lake. I could hear that little boat somewhere, the motor sounded like an angry mosquito now.
“You don’t need to worry about Betsy and me, that’s my thing to own—my thing to sort out. I think she figured how I about you a long time ago, I think she watched me watching you watch other guys or what the fuck ever. She’s a smart girl, she just bided her time and waited for me and now she has me. But I think—”
“Wait, Pete. Just so you know, I just want us to be friends—that’s what matters to me most. This was a one-time deal, we both got it out of our systems or whatever. Sure I’d like to do it again, but I know you can’t.”
“I didn’t say that, exactly. I said I’ll deal with it. I’m probably making a terrible mistake even saying this, but I’ve already crossed the line with us. . This bein’ one time—well that’s up to you, Jake. I’m here, if you decide to stay for a while this summer I can’t say for sure what’ll happen, if this’ll happen again.” He surprised me by leaning in and kissing me. “But you’re the one who has to decide, Foster—do you want to hang out here so we can let things just be this like ‘til fall, or do you want to head out of here and just leave it well enough alone?”
I started to tell him but that’s when the boat motor sound ramped up and a little johnboat came into sight. It was headed toward the dock and I could see there was one person in it. “Oh, hell,” Pete moaned.
“What?”
“Hang on Foster, that’s Billy.” He grinned at me, “Now that could be an interesting distraction for ya this summer.”
“What the fuck do you mean by that, Pete? Billy, really? Why would you think—”
“C’mon, Bo. I saw the two of you checking each other out last night. Billy can be a pain in the ass but he’s basically okay. And he’s permanently horny, you two have that in common.”
Saturday, 2pm
Billy was approaching fast and I didn’t want him to hear any of this so I just let it drop. Plus I was fascinated by the way Billy managed to balance a beer, keep a hand on the tiller, and still wave like an idiot at us all at the same time. He had a baseball cap on backwards, like the speed of the johnboat puttering at about five miles per hours was going to blow the cap off his head. Pete hopped out of the water and stood at the end of the dock as Billy tossed him a line. Billy half climbed and half fell on to the dock, Pete caught him by the elbow and steadied him.
“Well, fellas!” He crushed his beer can and dropped it on the dock then grabbed a fresh one out of Pete’s cooler. He looked at me and then stared Pete up and down. “Pete, Foster, is this a private skinny-dippin’ party or can I join in?” He pulled his t shirt off and put his hand on his belt buckle.
Pete grabbed a towel and began drying himself off but he managed to keep his package covered most of the time. I looked up at Billy and noticed how broad his shoulders were, how tan he was. His abs were pretty tight but there was a hint of a beer belly just starting to edge over the waistband of his shorts. Not bad for an old guy, I thought.
“Yeah, well no. I mean hiya Billy!” I grinned at him and he fucking leered back at me. “So,” I nodded at the little boat, “You out for a Saturday cruise?”
“Nope, Foster. I was out taking a look at some property that the bank’s selling. I wanted to see if it had potential for, I dunno—I was thinking about subdividing it and building a few houses.”
“A lot of people might’ve done that by car, Billy. What’s with the boat?”
“Well, Foster,” he grinned at me, “that property is just on the edge of the methneck territory and I really didn’t feel like getting shot at today. If I ever do get around to building anything over there I’d almost feel guilty about selling it to anybody. Meth labs are the number one cause of forest fires around here, and what with all the gunfire and booby traps in the pot fields it’s not an ideal location to raise a family. But I can get the land dirt cheap, do I haven’t decided on anything for sure yet. So, I was coming out here, and I swung by your house to see if you wanted to tag along, Pete. Betsy told me you guys were out here, figured I’d stop by and see what you two were up to.”
I started to climb up the ladder but stopped.“Uh huh. How ‘bout grabbing one of those beers for
me, Billy? And Pete, could you toss me that other towel?”
Billy pulled a beer out of the cooler and then grabbed the towel. “I got your beer and your towel, Foster. C’mon up and get ‘em. You stay in that water too long and some snappin’ turtle is gonna come along and bite your pecker.”
I thought about the thing I had seen earlier in the water and panicked. I hopped onto the bottom rung of the ladder and leaned forward to snatch the towel out his hand and then I wrapped it around my waist as I climbed out. I took the beer from him and said “Thanks, Billy.” I looked back down at the water and shivered a little, and I checked out the whole cove for any shadows, any ripples or bullshit.
“No problem Foster, but what’s with the towel? With a reputation and a nickname like that I wouldn’t figure you’d be all that shy! I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to see what Heather was talking about last night, Bo.”
Pete jumped in to the conversation, he had slipped his board shorts on and was sitting on the edge of the dock. “Yeah, Heather’s something else, that’s for sure. She’s really…well, she’s special I guess. You two have a good night, Billy? Did you finally, you know, screw her and all?” He winked at Billy.
Billy looked a little pissed at Pete and then turned his attention back to me. “I wish,” he tugged on his fly for emphasis. “I figured that was a given, you know? But all she wanted to do was talk about this fella here,” he pointed at my crotch, “and the whole Foster myth and all.”
Pete chuckled, “That’s not really a myth, Billy. I can personally vouch for it.” That grabbed Billy’s attention, he kept his eyes on Pete waiting for him to say more, I guess. I took the opportunity to pull my shorts up under my towel. When he turned back to me I dropped the towel and for about a half a second his eyes went wide, then he saw the shorts and frowned.
“I guess I’ll just have to take your word on it, Pete.” His eyes lit up a little and he tilted his beer at me. “But you, Foster, if you’re gonna be around here this summer we have abso-fuckin’-lutely got to hang out some, you know, Bo?” I gave him my best clueless grin.
“What’d you have in mind, Billy?”
“Oh, with you bein’ a baseball star and all I figured you may want to play on my team for the baseball league— Pete’s on the team too--the summer league You know, nothing serious, there’s not really much competiton. It’s just casual, mainly an excuse to drink a few and hang out. And do you play golf? There’s some good courses around here. We could play a round or two. Or just hang out sometime.”
Pete was stifling a laugh with his hand and seemed to be amused at Billy’s persistence. I felt a little amused myself, and I knew he wasn’t going to relent until I gave him something positive to work with. “Sure Billy, I’d like to play a round or two with ‘ya.” Pete looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “You just let me know when and where you wanna play. And bring your “A” game, Bo. I’m pretty good—at anything.”
Billy saw the joint and the lighter beside Pete and leaned down and picked them up. He fired it up and blew out smoke while he said. “I’m pretty good at it too. You know, sports and whatnot. I’ll shoot you a text with some details and we’ll take it from there, okay?” He passed me the joint and looked up at me hopefully, like some kind of lost puppy.
“Sounds good, Billy, that’s fine with me.”
Pete started picking stuff up off the dock and cleared his throat. “Well, Foster, I think I need to get back to the house before Betsy sends out a search party.” He nodded at Billy, “you need any help getting back into your boat, Billy?”
Billy sighed and said, “No, I got it. I guess I’ll see ya Monday mornin’, Pete. And we’ll get together, Foster, and play some ball or golf, you know, whatever sounds good to you.” I grinned at him and nodded. “Okay, well then, I’ll see you fellas later.” He climbed back into the boat and Pete and I headed back to the Jeep. We threw the stuff into the back of it and climbed in. We were both pulling our t shirts on and as soon as my head poked out of mine I looked over at Pete.
“You know, I really can’t decide if I like that guy or not, I just can’t exactly figure him out.”
“Somehow I doubt that’s slowed you down in the past, Foster.” We headed back through the woods and didn’t talk at all until we got to the creek.
I had to ask, “So what’s the deal with you and Billy, Pete? I might be wrong, I’m not sure, but it seems like there’s more to that story than just him bein’ your boss.”
Pete looked at me and then stared up at the trees, I hoped as he gathered his thoughts he was also checking the branches for snakes or panthers or otters, whatever might be lurking up there. “Yeah, Foster, there was something goin’ on between him and me, when I first started working for him. It only happened once or twice, you know? It was something he wanted and it’s really hard to tell him no, I think you’re figuring that out. I was a little afraid that if I tried to stop it, you know, rejected him, well it was dumb but I thought he’d get rid of me. But then this kid who was about eighteen and thought Billy was the greatest thing ever, well, the two of them started something and Billy lost all interest in me. Didn’t get fired, didn’t get any shit from Billy. Hell, after all of it stopped was when I got promoted, got the company truck, the raise and all that shit.”
“You know Pete, for someone who says he’s straight you sure seem to wind up sucking a lot of—”
He popped me on the shoulder and put the Jeep in gear. “Shuddup, Foster. It was a phase, I dunno—a series of unfortunate choices.”
Before he started to try and cross the creek I asked, “So was I a bad choice, Pete? Was today unfortunate or something?”
“You dumb jock,” he grinned at me and hit the gas, “You know the answer to that, Bo!” We started splashing through the water and all I could really think about wasn’t what happened today, but what would happen next to me.
We got back to Pete’s and Betsy met us in the driveway. “Go ahead Pete and Foster, tell me about the one that got away,” she laughed. “I already called Tony’s to get a pizza delivered, which is fine with me.” They went arm and arm back into the house and I hopped in my car and headed home.
Saturday, 4pm
I walked into the house and it was quiet, when I called out for Danny or Mary nobody answered. Bo followed me out to the pool and we played fetch and swam around, then I crashed in a lounge chair and he stretched out in the shade beside me. I dozed off for a while but jumped up when I heard the back door slam shut, I turned around and Danny was heading toward me with a disturbing look on his face.
“Foster, you and I are gonna have a talk, have a come-to-Jesus moment. We need to settle some things here and now, before things get so bad that I never talk to you again.” He stood over me and I noticed his fists were clenching and unclenching, and there were some veins standing out on his neck. I decided to tread carefully.
“Sure, Danny—Daniel, I mean, we can talk about whatever you want to.” I stood up and grinned at him and hoped he wasn’t about to go thermonuclear on me, I kinda guessed what he wanted to talk about.
He stared at me and I was reminded of just how much he had bulked up and I tried to decide if I was going to stand my ground or run like hell if things got physical. He was trying to keep his voice under control but I could tell it might be a losing battle. “First of all, Jacob—Jake, whatever. I’m fairly sure that you drugged us last night—that you put something in those shakes.” I shrugged and tried to look innocent. “Right, I figured. Then I had to turn around and lie to Mary’s parents—tell them she had a stomach bug and couldn’t go on the church field trip—”
“Really, you call that a ‘field trip?” I told him, “I googled that Westboro thing last night when I was driving home from the bar and that’s a pretty fucked up bat-shit-crazy crowd you’re hanging out with, Bo. You really think holding up a bunch of hate signs at some soldiers’s funeral—somebody who died for their country—you think that’s a Christian thing to do?”
“Don’t try to change the subject, Jake! So, I have sex with Mary, take her virginity, lie to her parents, drive her home without a license—you’ve only been here a day and you’re….corrupting me!”
“Danny, what’s so wrong about all that stuff? You’re seventeen, you need to lighten up, you know…ease up on the God throttle or whatever.” Bo was sitting near us and seemed fascinated by the conversation, he had his head cocked to one side like he understood everything. “So what? I gave you a little chemical incentive to ramp things up with Mary, to like take some chances, have some fun! I just want you to be happy, you’re too young to be this serious about things.”
He seemed to be wavering, like I was perched on one shoulder and the Right Reverend Jim was perched on the other. “But…I dunno, I drove the Porsche—and by the way that car is incredible, it’s kickass—and I went to the church, talked to Reverend Jim and we prayed on this—you know, this fall from grace or whatever.”
“And what was his take on all of this? I’m fairly sure he wasn’t exactly thrilled about how things have gone this weekend.”
He paced a little on the pool deck, Bo followed him around with a rubber chicken in his mouth trying to get him to play. “He said you’re evil, Foster. You’re tempting me down the path to the devil, to living as a sinner. He told me maybe I should give up my material things, you know, give my money to the church when I turn eighteen. He said Mary and I should get married immediately and do God’s work, maybe go on a mission to Africa, to preach there and save souls.” I walked over to him and thumped him on the chest, he was standing out there in the sun and the sweat was soaking through his Mormon clothes or whatever.
“Danny, you’re an idiot! You’d really give up everything and go to South America or where ever? You’d run off with Mary and take her out into the jungle? Bo, I think Mary would be happier here, you know, helping you spend some of that money, travel in style, bang your brains out—”
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