Something Like Spring

by Jay Bell

  Jason had spoken with her before. Her name was Barbara, and she had strawberry-blonde hair that was slowly turning white. Maybe from stress. Her clothes were always wrinkled, her hair frazzled.

  “We’ve already got two pets at home,” he said.

  “Two is nothing,” Barbara said. “I have six. Two cats, four dogs.”

  “Wow. I guess when you work around them so much, it’s hard not to take them home.”

  “You have no idea.” Barbara brightened up. “You ever think about volunteering? We’re always short-staffed.”

  Jason squirmed a little. “I don’t know if I can handle it. Emotionally, I mean. That’s why I never come over here.”

  “I understand that,” Barbara said, “but you soon get used to it. I feel better doing what I can, rather than turning away. Not that I’m trying to make you feel guilty.”

  Too late! Jason returned his attention to the dogs. One cocked its head, ears perked up, as if hoping they were about to play together. Maybe they did have room for just one more at home. Now that Jason had been around a few months, he had become old news, meaning Chinchilla had gone back to being Tim’s dog.

  “That one wouldn’t take up much space at all,” Barbara said, pointing at a small scruffy mutt. “She’s smaller than a house plant.”

  Jason turned away reluctantly. “I’m living with friends right now, so it’s not my choice.”

  “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind, especially since they have pets of their own.”

  “I can’t. I swear.”

  “Okay, okay,” Barbara said, holding up her hands. “If you ever want to take her for a walk or have a second look, here’s the address of the shelter.”

  She thrust a business card into his hand. Jason pocketed it and retreated before Barbara hit him with another sales pitch.

  He was nearing the end of his shift when he got another text message. His heart leapt when he saw it was from William, but it quickly did a nosedive when he read what it said.

  At work. Almost break time. 20 min.

  Same ol’ same ol’ then. At least William hadn’t written him off completely, but Jason wasn’t in the mood for another hurried make-out session in Ben’s car. After their last meeting, how could it be remotely satisfying? Then again, he was desperate to see William and gauge how he was feeling. Jason clocked out early, hoping no one would notice, and drove over to the mall.

  As usual, he stood some distance away from the Juicy James booth, staring hard at William until he noticed. Then Jason nodded and started walking to where he always parked the car. He didn’t make it far before someone grabbed his arm and swung him around. William was beaming at him, his grin just as doofy as the cowboy hat and checkered shirt. Jason felt like melting, but then he glanced around nervously. “What if Kelly—”

  William gently took hold of his chin to get his attention. Jason froze, eyes wide as William leaned forward and kissed him. Shoppers swarmed around them, a few stopping to gawk, but after a flash of selfconsciousness, Jason relaxed and decided he didn’t care. He leaned into that kiss, putting an arm around William’s waist to draw him in. Let the world stare! Let one of the most artificial places on earth be filled with something rare and daring. And let that group of snorting and giggling teenagers keep on walking, because this was too damn good to stop. Jason knew the truth even before the kiss ended. Only one thing could allow them to be so careless and free.

  “We broke up,” William said after he’d pulled away.

  “Really?” Jason said, feigning innocence. “I didn’t know we were dating.”

  William pushed him playfully. “Not you and me, dummy! Kelly and I broke up.”

  Jason grew serious. “How did that go?”

  William’s expression mirrored his own. “There’s a reason I asked you to stay away.”

  “So he knows about us?”

  “Kind of,” William said. “I started with how I don’t make him happy anymore, and after some arguing, he admitted it was true. I told him I felt obligated to stay because of my promise, but it didn’t take him long to bring you up. Then I admitted my feelings for you, but there’s one last secret I’d like to keep. He doesn’t know that we’ve slept together already. I don’t want him to. It would only hurt him more, and now that he and I are over, it doesn’t matter. Cheating was wrong, Jason. I shouldn’t have done that to him. Or to you.”

  “We did it to each other.”

  They both laughed at the double meaning before calming down.

  “I won’t betray anyone like that again,” William said solemnly. “Not you or anyone else. It’s better to hurt someone with honesty than to hurt them with lies.”

  “Okay,” Jason said, ready to focus on the future instead. “So we finally have time together?”

  “Nope, because I have to go back to work, and afterwards, I’m picking up my things from Kelly’s house. He and I have actually been talking lately. Before all we did was argue and—” William noticed the face Jason was making. “Tomorrow,” he said. “After school. We’ll go on a real date together, and if you’re lucky, I might just come home with you.”

  “To spend the night?” Jason asked a little too hopefully.

  William smiled. “Wait and see.”

  * * * * *

  “Isn’t it wonderful when love emerges victorious!” Marcello said, pushing his way into the bathroom. “Primping yourself for your big date, I see.”

  “Mmr-wrph brrrf,” Jason replied, toothbrush still in his mouth.

  Marcello clapped his hands together. “No need to thank me. Playing cupid is such a delight!”

  Jason spat into the sink. “I owe you big time. The party really made the difference. Both William and I liked being waiters. We’d do it again. For charity, at least.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Marcello said. “You can never have enough handsome faces around, especially when asking gay men to part with their money. Speaking of which, your friend is quite the beauty.”

  “William?” Jason smiled. “Yeah, he’s gorgeous. Maybe the hottest guy on the planet.”

  Marcello’s smile faltered for a moment. “Yes, he is quite handsome. Very boy next door. The problem is, everyone seems to have a boy living next door. I’m afraid handsome has become passé. I found myself nodding off while browsing an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog the other day. Can you believe that? No, I was referring to the friend you and William brought along.”

  “Kelly?” Jason stammered. He shouldn’t be surprised. Kelly was definitely beautiful. Jason just hadn’t seen him that way recently.

  “You were saying that no one can relate to models. What about a model we feel sympathy for? Better yet, one we admire, for not letting his disability hold him back.” Marcello peered at him. “Do you find this offensive?”

  Jason considered it. “No. Just because he lost his leg doesn’t mean he can’t do what everyone else can. Or at least what other pretty people can. If he wants to be a model, then more power to him.”

  “Precisely,” Marcello said. “Maybe you could bring up the idea next time you speak.”

  “That’s William’s boyfriend,” Jason said. Then he corrected himself. “Ex-boyfriend. I don’t think he’ll be in the mood to chat with me any time soon.”

  “Then perhaps you have some contact info—”

  “I’m not sure he’d be up for it,” Jason said, surprised by how resentful he still felt. But hey, Kelly had been in the way, had been a crappy boyfriend to William, and had been so damn mean in general.

  “I see,” Marcello said, looking crestfallen. “Well, the hunt goes on. Have fun tonight. Don’t do anything I would do.”

  This gave Jason pause, but after thinking about it, he decided Marcello probably hadn’t misspoken. When he was finished getting ready, he went downstairs and found Ben and Tim in the kitchen. Ben was standing over a steaming pot while Tim leaned against a counter, watching him cook.

  “Where’s Marcello?” Jason said.

  “Was he
here?” Tim asked.

  “Yeah, just a second ago. In my bathroom.”

  “The man is a ninja,” Ben said, not sounding at all surprised. “What did he want?”

  “Nothing,” Jason said. “Uh, I’m about ready to go.”

  Ben glanced over and smiled. “Very sharp! I knew that shirt would look good on you.”

  “Thanks,” Jason said. The shirt in question was pale green and made of soft fabric—thankfully, since it was nearly skin tight. He hoped William would like it, even though he’d already seen the bare skin beneath it plenty of times.

  “Anything you need?” Ben asked. “Have enough cash?”

  “Yeah, I just got paid. Uh…” He glanced over at Tim, who smirked.

  “I can’t be your date again, kiddo.”

  Jason rolled his eyes. “It’s not that. I was wondering—”

  “I know what you want,” Tim said, digging in his pocket and pulling out a set of keys. He tossed them to Jason. “You know the rules. Be insanely careful. Not one scratch, okay?”

  “Okay,” Jason said with a relieved grin. “Thanks! I’m on my way.”

  “Have fun!” Ben said.

  “And bring it back with a full tank!” Tim called after him.

  Unlike last time, Jason drove carefully all the way into Austin—partially because of what had happened to Kelly, but also because he didn’t want anything getting in the way of this night. Finally, finally, they would have all the time together they needed. It almost seemed too good to be true. He worried he’d pull up to William’s house to find Kelly waiting on the front porch. Or William wearing an apologetic expression for whatever else had gotten in the way. But when he reached the house and the door opened, a familiar smile greeted him. Oddly enough, it belonged to a woman, the family resemblance unmistakable.

  In addition to having the same smile and the same nose, her hair was also blonde and just as light as her son’s. Only her eyes were different, a dark brown instead of green.

  “Come in, come in,” she said, waving her hand as if the wind would sweep him up and into her home. It didn’t, so Jason willingly stepped inside.

  He often found himself uncomfortable around other people’s mothers. Odd, since he’d had more than twenty foster mothers himself, but they always felt fake. Mothers like William’s were the real deal, almost sacred in his eyes, and they inevitably made him think of his own.

  “Willy has told me so much about you!” Ms. Townson was saying, looking him over like something she was considering purchasing. Produce, maybe, since she reached out and squeezed his arm. “Oh look! Your cheeks are turning red!”

  “Mom, that’s enough,” William said, rushing into the room.

  “This one is sweet!” she said. “Just look at him!”

  “I have,” William said testily, “and I’d like to keep looking at him, but not while you’re around.”

  “Such a smart mouth,” Ms. Townson said, swatting William’s arm.

  “Thanks for the cookies,” Jason said, managing to speak at last. “They were incredible.”

  This delighted her, of course. “Willy said they were all you ate during the picnic.”

  “And he refused to share,” William added.

  Jason held up his hands and shrugged. “Guilty as charged!”

  “Keep making my son happy and there will be more cookies in your future. Brownies too, but only if you marry him.”

  After a moment of shocked silence, she laughed, causing Jason to do the same. William appeared more exasperated than anything and ushered Jason outside again.

  “She wasn’t kidding about the cookies,” William said on the way to the car. “She’ll make you more, even if we don’t get hitched. Just you wait.”

  Jason grinned. “I hope you like fat boys.”

  “I might. Oh, wow! Your boyfriend Tim let you borrow his car!”

  Jason rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up… Willy.”

  “I’ll show you a willy!”

  Jason wasn’t sure if that was a promise or a threat but he was fine either way.

  William was a nervous passenger. He fiddled with the glove box or acted preoccupied with the bells and whistles that such a fancy car provided, but Jason noticed he didn’t look at the road much. He supposed that was understandable, considering what he’d been through, but Jason still felt relieved when they reached the art museum. The location had been William’s suggestion. The museum appeared fairly small, the parking spots equally so. Jason had to squeeze between a minivan and a beat-up old truck. It was a tight fit, even after reversing and trying again a few times. Once the car was parked, William had to crawl over and exit through the driver-side door.

  “I didn’t know you were into art,” Jason said after he had paid their entrance fee.

  “I’m not,” William said. “I just want to be somewhere we can talk. I love going to the movies, but you know.”

  “Two hours of silence,” Jason agreed. “Or getting kicked out because we couldn’t keep our mouths shut.”

  William grinned. “Yeah. So let’s see what kind of deep conversation all this art provokes.”

  The museum was a square building, split into two levels with a small courtyard in its center. The paintings on the first floor were very traditional—landscapes, religious scenes, or portraits of long-dead people who had been rich enough to commission an artist.

  “This one looks kind of like Stephen Fry,” William said.

  “Reminds me of Oscar Wilde for some reason,” Jason responded.

  “I think he played Oscar Wilde in a movie.”

  “And then he traveled back in time to have his portrait painted.”

  William acted amazed. “Is there anything that man can’t do?”

  They tried finding other celebrity look-alikes, discovering portraits of Cher, Bill Clinton, Kathy Bates, and about four who looked like Jesus with various styles of facial hair.

  “Oh, I like this one!” William said, standing in front of a huge landscape painting. Pioneers were hauling their wagons against the backdrop of the most ridiculously beautiful sunset ever.

  “Have you been here before?” Jason asked.

  “No. Kelly wasn’t much for art. Except for photography, but he dropped that hobby when… You know.” William kept his eye on the painting and frowned. “Do you think it’s possible to be friends with someone you loved?”

  Jason exhaled. “I don’t know. The only guy I was ever with—it definitely wasn’t possible.”

  “Caesar?”

  “Yeah.”

  William turned to him. “So besides him, there wasn’t anyone else?”

  “Nope,” Jason said. “Just him and this other guy.”

  “Other guy?”

  “Yeah, can’t remember his name. Blond, nice swimmer’s build, couldn’t tell when I was joking.”

  William grinned. “Ah. So I’m your second?”

  “Yup.”

  “You’re my second too,” William said, taking his hand. “Kelly was my first everything, so when you and I were together the other night—”

  “It felt weird because it was different,” Jason said, understanding. “But not weird in a bad way, I hope.”

  “No! Just different. Exciting too, like it was the first time all over again.”

  William kept hold of his hand, dragging him out to the courtyard where a number of sculptures waited with infinite patience. One made of wood was shaped like a giant walnut. A handful were metal two-dimensional silhouettes of people. They paused before a more traditional stone sculpture, this one a man with the legs and horns of a goat.

  “Think that’s supposed to be the devil?” William asked.

  “Pan,” Jason said, reading from the plaque. “He’s a satyr, isn’t he?”

  “A god too, I think,” William said, stepping closer. He stared at the statue with rapt fascination. “Do you think I can touch it?”

  Jason glanced around. Staff members weren’t on patrol here, and no ropes surro
unded anything. The cobblestones went right up to each sculpture, the sky darkening above them.

  “Go for it,” he said.

  William ran his hand along one of the furry legs, reached up to let his fingers fondle the wild beard, the pointed ears, the goat horns. Jason watched him do all of this, marveling that the same attention had been paid to him a few nights before. He was lucky. Once again he had shown up too late, the person he desired already belonging to another, but William’s heart hadn’t been claimed. Not completely. Maybe it still hadn’t been. Jason intended to do everything in his power to change that.

  “So cool,” William was saying. “It’s like actually meeting a god and being able to feel him.” He laughed at his own comment before becoming thoughtful again. “Think I’d look good with a beard?”

  “One like that?” Jason asked. “Maybe when you’re older. Besides, it would get waterlogged and slow you down when you swim.”

  “Good point,” William conceded.

  Next they went upstairs where the art was more modern. This got conversation going as they made fun of works that seemed too simple and plain, and debated which pieces were actually worthy of praise.

  “Hey, check this one out!” Jason said, waving William over.

  The painting was of two figures, unmistakably male, despite being shaped with basic geometry. The figures were twisted around each other in a way both affectionate and impossible. This was interesting enough, but what really caught Jason’s eye was the familiar play of light and color.

  “All Twisted Up,” William said, reading the sign next to the painting. “Local artist Tim Wyman. Hey, that’s your foster dad, isn’t it?”

  Jason smiled. “Yeah, but I don’t actually call him that. They’re more like friends. Well, the sort of friends you call family, if that makes sense.”

  “Totally. You mentioned he paints, but I didn’t know he was into abstract. Now I feel bad for making fun of the others.”

  “He doesn’t always paint like this,” Jason said. “In our attic there’s one of a really hot guy, and it’s practically like seeing a photo. The few hanging in the house are more realistic too. Maybe he likes to play around with style occasionally.” He peered closer at the painting. “I wonder if this is supposed to be him and Ben?”