by Chase Connor
“I like otters, too.” Katie said, her voice sounding resoundingly happy.
“Have you ever seen otters at the zoo?” A.J. asked. “They float on their backs and hold hands so that they can sleep without drifting away from each other. It’s super cute.”
Katie squealed with glee.
Mom gave me a nudge and we stepped into my room together. A.J. was sitting on the floor in the lotus position with Katie opposite him, doing her best to imitate his position. A.J. was holding Gerald and smiling at Katie as he talked to her. He looked up when we entered the room.
“Hey, young lady.” My mom put her hands on her hips. “You’re supposed to be in bed, Katie bug.”
“I’m just talking to…”
“A.J.” A.J. reminded her with a smile.
“A.J.” Katie looked up at mom and rolled her eyes.
My mom looked at A.J. “It’s nice to meet you, A.J.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too.” He nodded with a smile.
“And I’m sure that A.J. is very happy to meet you, too, Katie.” Mom walked over and scooped her up. “But we need to let bubba hang out with his friend, okay?”
A.J. held Gerald up towards Katie and she took her stuffed animal with a grin.
“It was very nice to meet you, Katie.” A.J. nodded in agreement.
“Okay, tell A.J. goodnight, Katie bug.”
“Goodnight, A.J.!” Katie announced in her too loud voice.
A.J. didn’t even flinch.
“Goodnight, Katie bug.” He teased her.
Katie laughed as mom carried her towards the open door.
“You boys have fun.” She said, then mumbled as she passed me. “But not too much fun.”
I blushed and motioned for her to get out of my room. When mom and Katie were gone and I had closed the bedroom door, I looked over at A.J. He was kicking off his shoes and repositioning himself against the end of my bed, using it to lean back against. I chewed at my lip as I went over and sat down next to him. I handed him a Coke, which he said “thanks” for, and then I passed him the bag of popcorn.
“So, what are we going to watch?” He asked as he popped the top of his soda.
“Um, thanks for being nice to my sister.” I mumbled.
“Huh?” He said as he opened the bag of popcorn.
“She sometimes wanders in here before we can really get her settled in for the night.” I explained.
“Little brothers and sisters are like that.” He shrugged. “She probably wanted to tell her big brother goodnight.”
“I’m sorry if she bothered you or anything.” I chewed at my lip.
“Nah.” He looked up at me with a smile. “I have two younger sisters so I’m used to having my room invaded.”
“Well…I meant, if she freaked you out or anything…I’m sorry.”
A.J. frowned at me. He looked at me for a long moment, then he seemed to have a moment of recognition. A light coming on behind his eyes.
“Logan…obviously I noticed that she has Downs.” He said gently. “But it’s just Downs. Not Ebola.”
I chuckled nervously.
“I had a cousin who had Downs.” He shrugged. “Sweetest kid ever. Just two years older than me. He really loved baby chickens and race cars. He had a huge collection of those Hot Wheel cars. Gave the best hugs ever.”
“Had a cousin?” I frowned.
“He got leukemia when he was nine.” A.J. nodded. “He died when he was thirteen.”
“I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know if I was breathing.
“It’s ten to fifteen times more likely for kids with Downs to get leukemia.” A.J. said. “Which I probably shouldn’t be saying right now…”
“Yeah, you should.” I nodded. “I like that you know about the reality of Downs.”
He nodded.
“Well, he got sick and of course, the doctors took their good sweet time running all the appropriate tests and whatnot…and eventually they realized he had leukemia. They did the whole chemo, radiation, stem cell transplant routine…but they were fighting a losing battle. It really sucked, man. He was my best friend growing up.” A.J. sighed. “I really loved that kid.”
I watched A.J. as he stared straight ahead at nothing. He wasn’t crying or doing anything to indicate if he was sad, but he was very still, the open popcorn bag in his lap. I leaned over and put my head against his shoulder, my eyes looking up at him.
“Don’t think you can take advantage of my sadness and get some of this D.” A.J. teased. “I’m not that kind of boy.”
I laughed loudly.
“I like that you’re not that kind of boy.” I nodded, but didn’t remove my head from his shoulder.
“Well, at least Downs isn’t generally genetic.” A.J. smiled at me, my head still on his shoulder. “That way, when we get married—probably after we get good jobs after college—we won’t have to worry about having a biological child with a surrogate.”
I grinned. “We could always adopt a Downs kid.”
“I wouldn’t be averse to giving a Downs kid a loving home.” A.J. chewed at his lip with a grin.
I stared up into A.J.’s eyes as he looked down into mine.
“Can I kiss you?” I breathed out.
A.J. nodded. “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”
I lifted my head slightly to his as he tilted his head down towards mine and our lips connected. And…fireworks. It was a fairly chaste kiss, closed mouths, no groping or moaning or anything salacious. But…it was the best kiss I’d ever had. A.J. finally reached up and his fingers went through my blonde curls, his lips so soft and sensuous against mine. When we finally pulled out of the kiss, we opened our eyes languidly to look at each other again.
“That was kind of…wow.” A.J. breathed out with a chuckle.
“Just kind of?” I grinned.
“Okay, very.” His hand was still in my curls. “Once more?”
“Only if we have to.” I teased.
“I’m—I’m pretty sure we do.”
A.J.’s mouth came to mine again, and while it was still fairly chaste, it was still just as amazing and exciting and thrilling and…everything.
“Yeah. Definitely very wow.” A.J. whispered with a smile as he ran his fingers through my hair. “But I’m still not putting out before we go on actual dates.”
“Not even a tiny little bit?” I joked.
“I like you, Logan.” He smiled, looking down into my eyes. “A lot.”
“I like you a lot, too, A.J.” I blushed.
His fingers continued to glide through my hair, playing with my curls as we stared into each other’s eyes.
“What does A.J. stand for?” I asked, realizing I’d never thought to find out before.
“Anthony James.” He rolled his eyes. “But, I don’t like Anthony and I absolutely despise the nickname Tony. Obviously, I’m just not a James, so I just told everyone freshmen year that I went by A.J.”
“What do you want me to call you?” I whispered.
“Daddy?” He waggled his eyebrows with a laugh. “A.J.’s good for now. But, maybe we’ll do gross nicknames for each other soon? I mean, we’ll want to get that settled before the wedding, right?”
“Obviously.” I smiled.
“You really don’t care that I’m…well, you know?”
I looked up at him, confused.
“Not that hot?” He grinned.
“You’re super-hot, A.J.” I glared at him. “And I respectfully request that you stop insulting my future husband, if you don’t mind.”
He looked down, blushing.
“I really should’ve made a move sooner, huh?” His eyes scrunched up as he gave a pained grin.
“I’m just happy you made a move at all.” I replied. “But…yeah, sooner would have been nice.”
He laughed.
“Are we going to watch that movie?” I bit my lip with a smile. “Or do you want to just make out and talk?”
“I’m not that kind o
f boy!” A.J. teased. “So, mostly talking, but also a little making out.”
“Sixty-forty?” I grinned evilly.
“Fine.” He sighed heavily. “Have it your way, I guess.”
A.J. pressed his lips to mine again. And this kiss wasn’t nearly as chaste as the previous two. And maybe we didn’t keep our hands to ourselves, but we kept them above the waist. I found myself more turned on than I had ever been in my life. But, we still mostly behaved like the good boys that we were. Though, for the first time in my life, I was disappointed that I actually was a good boy.
Chapter 8
Monday morning when I got out of my car in the Dextrus parking lot, I was still smiling. My Friday night started out as a disaster with Jay, but A.J. had turned my night around really quick. He probably stayed at my house longer than he should have, considering the fact that we were trying really hard to be “good boys”. But, we fell asleep, wrapped up in each other’s arms at the foot of my bed. At three in the morning, we woke up and A.J. said he had better get home so that my mom and his parents wouldn’t be too pissed. Of course, we had to kiss a little more before he left. Once I walked him out, and kissed him again at the door, I fell into bed and drifted off once more, a smile on my face.
Later Saturday morning, A.J. shot me a “good morning” text and suggested that we skip going to the movies because he had something better in mind. While, subconsciously, I knew he wasn’t talking about something sexual, it still made my stomach flutter. A.J. picked me up later in the afternoon and he drove us over to Burlington, just grinning when I asked where he was taking me. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at his favorite independent bookstore, which made me like him even more.
For the next two hours, we roamed the stacks at the bookstore, running our fingers along spines, leafing through pages, discussing books we found that we loved. We both left with two books apiece and grins on our faces. After the bookstore, A.J. took me to his favorite Mexican restaurant and we ate more chips, salsa, queso, al pastor, and sopapillas than we should have. When I complained about how full—yet satisfied—I was afterwards, he grinned evilly and told me not to worry, that we were about to work it off. I wanted to frown, we were good boys after all, but I decided that I would do whatever it was that A.J. had in mind. Then he took us to another business in downtown Burlington.
It was getting dark when we walked into Tangled Up in Hues. It ended up being one of those places where you paid to watch an instructor paint and you tried to recreate the painting. Except, it was a little different than others I had ever heard about. It was more Jackson Pollock-esque, where paint flinging and craziness was not only tolerated, but highly encouraged. Over the next two hours, A.J. and I flung paint at our canvases, surprised each other with flicks of paintbrushes at each other, creating freckles of multicolored paint on each other, laughing loudly at the silliness of it all. When we left the place, I was afraid to get into A.J.’s car for fear of getting paint everywhere. He guaranteed that he wouldn’t be bothered in the slightest, since it would be an indelible reminder of such an amazing night with me.
Back in the driveway of my house, we made out—not quite like good boys—but not quite like bad boys, either. When we finally separated, breathing heavily and staring each other down hungrily in his car, I realized that I’d never felt like this for another person in my entire life. But, instead of doing something regrettable, I pried myself out of A.J.’s car with the promise that we’d talk on the phone later until we fell asleep. Inside of my house, my mother just grinned sanctimoniously at me as I drifted upstairs to clean up and put on my pajamas. And, like he promised, A.J. called me less than thirty minutes later. We fell asleep talking on the phone.
Sunday, A.J. and I didn’t talk for the first part of the day since it was “family day” at both of our houses. My dad finally came home from Boston, so we all spent the day together, catching up, eating our meals together, and just being a family. A.J. apparently went to church with his family, ate meals together, and had family movie day. I found all of that out later when he called me again Sunday evening to talk until we fell asleep on the phone with each other again.
I was practically floating through the courtyard of Dextrus on my way to class, so I didn’t even notice Cooper when he dashed up to walk alongside me. How far we walked before I even noticed him there was beyond me. I had been too busy smiling and thinking private thoughts as I walked through the courtyard. Finally, Cooper bumped me with his shoulder, drawing my attention. I jumped, startled out of my thoughts, before looking over to see him standing there, grinning from ear to ear.
“Happy Monday, friend-o.” He announced cheerfully, his grin telling me how amused he was.
“Good morning.” I smiled widely at him.
He rolled his eyes comically and grabbed my hand, pulling me over to one of the lunch tables. The action startled me and made me look around, making sure that Alex wasn’t nearby and watching. Or anyone else for that matter. Guys didn’t hold hands at Dextrus for any reason. Well, it’s not a common thing for any high school guys to hold hands, even casually as friends in the U.S. Unless, of course, they’re dating. And the acceptability of that varies greatly across the country.
“Sit down, sir.” Cooper practically shoved me onto the bench and then slid in quickly across from me.
“Jeez.” I chuckled as my ass thumped down onto the seat.
“You haven’t texted me since Friday.” Cooper squinted at me, though the smile didn’t leave his face. “And I could just beat the shit out of you.”
I laughed.
“Tell me about your weekend.” He glared at me. “Now.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I teased.
“Oh, Logan.” Cooper shook his head. “I don’t have the patience for you this morning, so unless you want to see the ugly side of me, I suggest you start giving me, your best friend, some details really quick.”
I laughed loudly.
“There’s no ugly side to you.” I rolled my eyes.
He just glared at me.
“Fine, fine.” I waved him off. “The date Friday with the MCFA cutie was a bust…but the other guy…well…yeah, that was good. Really good.”
Cooper smiled evilly and leaned in.
“How good?” He rubbed his hands together evilly. “Do we need to pick up a pregnancy test after school?”
I brayed at him.
“Not quite that good.” I blushed. “But, yeah, he’s really nice. I, uh, I like him. A lot.”
“Sweet!” Cooper crowed.
I hadn’t seen this side to my friend before. Seeing Cooper act like a teenager interested in love and dating made me smile.
“So,” he glanced around, “tell me about him.”
“I can’t.” I chewed at my lip. “Not yet. I…I have to ask him if it’s okay if I tell people about us.”
Cooper just looked at me.
“And…I mean, I’m still kinda in the closet, too, so I guess there’s just a lot of things we have to talk about before we make things…known. Ya’ know?”
“I understand, bromo.” Cooper smiled warmly. “But…can’t you tell me anything about the date or something? I mean, you’re my best friend in the whole world, you can’t just keep everything to yourself.”
“Well, he came over Friday night.” I grinned. “He met Katie and…he was super nice to her. He was perfect, actually.”
Cooper grinned widely, knowing how much this meant to me.
“And, I mean, we kissed and stuff, but we mostly just talked a lot and fell asleep, and he went home later.” I beamed, remembering it. “Then Saturday he took me to a bookstore in Burlington, then we had Mexican food and went to Tangled Up in Hues. And…kissed a lot more. We—we fell asleep talking on the phone the last two nights.”
“That is so obnoxiously cute that I want to puke.” Cooper rolled his eyes, teasing me. “What books did he buy?”
“What?”
“It’s important.” Coop
er urged.
“The Road and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” I answered. “He said he’d already read them both…but library copies. He wanted his own.”
“He’s a re-reader.” Cooper nodded. “I like it. You know someone is a real book nerd if they give books they loved a second or third reading. How long were you in the bookstore?”
“Like two hours?” I shrugged.
Cooper gave an approving nod.
“How long was dinner?”
“I don’t know!” I threw my hands up with a laugh.
Cooper grinned widely.
“Lost track of time.” Cooper nodded again. “You know what that means?”
“That you’re a dick?”
Cooper laughed. “That you weren’t checking the time. You were lost in the moment you sick little love bird!”
“You are a disgusting human being.”
Cooper nodded with a smile.
“But, yeah.” I agreed. “I want the week to hurry by so we can do it all over again.”
“I’m so happy for you, Logan.” Cooper leaned in with a smile. “And you know how people call me a ‘genius’?”
I frowned but nodded.
“Well, I’ve already figured out who it is.” He waggled his head at me.
“No, you haven’t.” I frowned.
“I’ve known who this mystery guy is since you texted me Friday.” He nodded.
“You wish.” I slid out of the bench and started to walk towards class again.
“Think what you want.” Cooper fell in beside me. “But two people weren’t sitting with us at lunch Friday. They were over behind the dividing wall, eating lunch. Alone. Together. Then someone suddenly had two dates lined up for the weekend.”
“Would you please stop putting an inflection on every word?”
“I will if you admit that I’m right.” Cooper cackled.
“I’d rather bend over and lick my own log cutter.” I snorted.
Cooper brayed loudly, then patted my back.
“I gotta get to Hessman’s.” He smiled at me. “Annoy you in chem?”
“You always do.” I chuckled.