by Sean Kennedy
“Are we meant to start ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ now?” Jasper asked, and Coby shushed him.
I, however, was on a roll. “The law stopping us from marrying will change one day, I just know it. And if I had a glass of champagne I would raise a toast right now, to that very day when Coby and Jasper can walk down the aisle. Or one of them walks down the aisle to where the other one is waiting.” I was now confused. “Or maybe they’ll just both already be standing there when people come in to sit down. I mean, can you both go down the aisle?” I realised that maybe I had to start thinking about these things as well.
Coby was looking at me with big Bambi eyes, and even Jasper seemed a little touched (although most likely in the head).
“Well put,” Dec said. “But you probably could have just stopped at the toast part.”
“There’s still some cans of coke in the Esky,” Fran said.
“Let’s crack them open.” Micah scuttled to the storage compartment and started handing out the drinks. They were still icy cold, and we raised them in the air.
“To Coby and Jon Brown!” I said.
“Jasper,” Coby and Jasper said together.
“Thing One and Thing Two,” I muttered.
Coby kissed Jasper. “This is the best day ever.”
Fran looked at me with suspicious eyes above the rim of her can. I ignored her and scuttled over to join Dec in the front.
BEFORE WE left the Twelve Apostles car park, and while the party was still going on in the minibus, Dec slipped out to call Micah’s parents and reassure them we were still on our way home. Micah wanted to talk to them face-to-face so left it to Dec to do that particular job.
I met up with him as he was telling them that we would be home later that afternoon.
“So,” I said when he had finished. “That was a bit of a shock, wasn’t it?”
“It’s just one of life’s funny moments.”
“Yeah, when life laughs at you, not with you.”
“It’s not going to ruin our moment.”
I grinned at him. “Of course not.”
“Still, we can’t exactly tell everybody just yet.”
“No. I like to lead the bandwagon, not jump on it.”
“Before gay marriage becomes passé.”
“Marriage, Dec, not gay marriage.”
“Whatever marriage. I don’t care. I just like the thought of you being my husband.”
“And I like the thought of you being my husband. I also like the thought of me being your husband.”
“Good thoughts.”
“Good thoughts are the best. Fran’s already on to us by the way.”
“Of course she is.”
“Although she guessed there was rumpy pumpy in the dunes.”
“There was not rumpy pumpy!” Dec protested. “At best, there was… rumpy.”
“Good rumpy, though.”
“Engagement rumpy,” Dec agreed. “Okay, we better go back because we’re just standing out here grinning like idiots and Fran will really know what’s going on.”
“Little does she know she’s on the minibus of Gay True Love.”
Dec grinned. “It sure is.”
“The Love Bus promises something for everyone,” I sang.
“You dork.”
“But it’s also the minibus of True Teen Gay Heartbreak.”
“Poor bastard.” Dec sighed, watching through the bus window as Micah swigged from his can. “First love is always a shit.”
“Well, there was also the guy on the opposing football team. It doesn’t sound like that ended in hearts and flowers. But he’ll get there one day.” I looked at Dec far more shyly than I should have for someone who had been partnered with him for eight years. “I did.”
Dec was starting to say something about always underselling myself when I threw myself at him and shut him up by using his technique of surprise kissing.
The intense rapping of glass made us separate—Fran was pointing at her watch.
“She’s missing the babies,” I said.
“All three of them?” Dec asked.
“That’s what I said!” I headed for the steps.
“Oh, god, we are turning into each other.”
“Aren’t you glad you’re gonna be putting a ring on it, then?”
He kissed the back of my neck and pushed me up the stairs.
EVERYONE WAS still tired, but I was running on adrenaline and happy to take over the driving.
By the time I could see the buildings of Melbourne in the distance, Dec—my fiancé, can you believe it?—was asleep, his head halfway down my arm. Snores from the back confirmed I must be the only one awake, and I savoured the moment, like a mother hen watching over her extremely weird, fucked-up brood.
I felt content, and I steered us onwards to our own Emerald City. Maybe you thought I should have said “Kansas” there, going for the whole “no place like home” metaphor—but, really, who the hell would want to live in Kansas when they could live in Oz?
We were out of the woods, out of the dark, out of the night.
COBY AND Jasper were dropped off first. As Jasper was jumping out, he turned to Micah. “Anytime, you want to give an interview—”
“You’ll be the last I turn to,” Micah said immediately.
Jasper actually looked hurt. “I’m turning over a new leaf, I swear.”
“Maybe prove it first.”
Jasper sized him up for a moment, and nodded. “Okay.”
I leaned in to Dec. “I think Micah’s going to be just fine at handling the media.”
“They’re not going to know what’s hit them,” he agreed.
“Just remember, you did want to speak to me before.” At everybody’s look, Jasper hastened to add, “But like I said, I will earn your trust.”
Together, he and his new fiancé staggered up to Coby’s front door.
“That guy is always going to cause headaches,” I said to Dec, and I pulled out of the driveway to hit the late afternoon traffic as we headed for the northern suburbs.
Fran was next. Roger was sitting on the veranda, a bassinet on either side of him and a packet of chips in his hand. That had probably been his main source of sustenance for the past twenty-four hours. He waved at us, but didn’t get up. He looked exhausted.
“I still know something went on in those dunes,” Fran whispered into my ear as she was getting up. “I’ll find out.”
“Don’t give these boys any more trouble, Micah,” were her parting words to us all. “And you’ve got my number.”
Micah nodded, and we looked at him in puzzlement.
“Fran gave you her number?” I asked.
“She gives good advice,” he said, a trifle defensively.
Dec nodded. “You can’t argue with that. She doesn’t just give that number out to anyone.”
“But she gave it to Simon,” Micah said, and there was no malice in his voice. He was actually trying to be funny.
So I laughed, to show I had noticed, and watched Fran run up the path and straight into Roger’s arms. They kissed far more passionately than most married couples would, and both bent down to inspect their children. My heart lurched, and I threw the car into gear. Dec’s hand rested upon my leg and his thumb stroked my knee soothingly.
“One last stop,” I announced.
“Yeah.” Micah looked miserable as he stared out the window.
“You can still try the swim to Launceston.”
“Don’t put ideas in his head,” Dec admonished me.
Micah sighed. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yes, you are,” Dec said. “You’re going somewhere, Micah. You just have to make up your mind.”
“I didn’t mean philosophically.”
“Well, I did.”
“Listen to the man,” I said.
“I’ll try.”
BUT MICAH still looked fearful as we pulled into his driveway. He wiped the moisture from the window and gazed out at his house
, probably wondering what kind of welcome was awaiting him inside.
“It’s not as bad as you imagine,” Dec assured him. “I’ve spoken to them, remember?”
“I know.” Micah chewed savagely at a hangnail. “Doesn’t mean I’m looking forward to it. But then, I was stupid enough to run away from home.”
“Only for a night,” I pointed out.
“Only because you guys came after me.”
“The length of time really isn’t the point,” Dec reminded me. “He still ran away.”
Which Dec used to do plenty, and he was far older than seventeen at the time, but I thought it best not to bring it up.
Micah stood. “Might as well get this over with.” As he passed me, he stopped and looked down at me. “Um, you know, thanks.”
“No thanks necessary.”
“Yeah, well, thanks anyway.”
“Just remember you always have help. You just need to ask for it.”
He nodded, pulled his hoodie over to guard against the rain, and made his way to the front door with Dec in tow. I watched Micah fumble with his keys but the door flew open and he was swallowed up in the embrace of his mother. Micah’s arms dangled by his side, but they slowly stretched up and hugged her in return. They were joined by Micah’s father, who hugged them both. Such a dad thing to do.
There was still wariness between them, but maybe the storms had passed. Maybe from now on there would be showers but patches of sun would follow. Maybe I really needed a proper night’s sleep before I fully morphed into Eckhart Tolle.
Before Dec could leave, Joanne hugged him and Rick vigorously pumped his hand. Then he was free to jog through the rain back to me.
“I think things will be okay,” he said as he buckled himself back in.
“You know what? I think they will, too.” I pulled my sleeve over my hand and tried to towel his hair dry. “Although Micah’s brother might be shitting his pants if Micah finds out he dobbed him in.”
Dec laughed. “Micah knows it was for the best, I’m sure.” He took my hand, pulled it free of the sleeve, and brought it up to his lips. “Let’s go home. All I want is a long hot shower and bed.”
I started the ignition. “I’m so tired all I want is bed.”
“Uh, sand, remember? Everywhere.”
I really didn’t need to be reminded as I felt like I was breaking out in a rash thanks to the dried sand stuck underneath my clothing. Dec was far more fastidious than me, but even I didn’t want sand collecting in our bed. “Will you promise to wash my back?”
“If you wash mine.”
“These are not going into our wedding vows,” I said.
“I’m sure we’ll think of something much better.” His eyes were heavy, and he looked ready to fall asleep again.
I let him doze all the way home, and after showering we collapsed into bed and slept like the dead.
Chapter 19
“I HOPE the laws change soon. I’m getting old, Dec.”
“We all are, but you’re definitely getting better with age.”
“That’s kind of you to say. But I fear I’m the mouldy cheese sandwich to your fine wine.”
Dec snorted beer out of his mouth; it was incredibly endearing.
“I just don’t want to go down the aisle in a motorised scooter.”
“We could stick a Richmond flag on the back of it.”
“Now, that would be cool. And maybe we could get some of the players to do an honour guard with their footballs raised in an arch.”
“Dream big.”
“I always do.”
So life had returned pretty much to normal, except Coby seemed to be on even more of a high talking about his fiancé to anybody who would listen, and envisaging grand dreams of a wedding that actually sounded nice rather than dreadful (considering who one of the grooms would be).
Yes, my digs at Jasper Brunswick were more internal than not. I had learned restraint. Sometimes.
Even Micah seemed to be on the mend. The last few times I had seen him he had actually been downright civil, even friendly.
He claimed he hadn’t made a decision about the AFL yet, but as Declan told me, he was enjoying training again and this combined with a newly positive attitude seemed to be welcoming him back to the fold. The next camp wasn’t that far away, and not long after that, the final draft camp before the draft itself would happen and Micah would most likely find himself playing professional football.
“It’s not going to be easy, though,” Declan said, as we sat in the stand on Punt Road, watching as Micah ran on the oval and punted a ball through the goals.
“I don’t think it ever will be for him.” I didn’t mean it nastily. It was just a truth.
“What, you don’t think he’ll make it?”
“I do, I just don’t think he’ll make it easy for himself.”
Dec gave me a friendly shove with his shoulder. “Maybe he’ll mellow like a certain other person I know.”
“I haven’t mellowed!”
He laughed. “Okay.”
“Seriously!”
“Oh, you still have your Peter Pan moments, and I love them, believe me, but you’re growing older and maturing like everybody else.”
“Now you’re depressing me. Is this what marriage is going to be like?”
“Nope.”
“What’s it going to be like, then?”
Dec pointed out to the field. “Like that kid. Full of endless possibilities.”
The sun glinted off the dew still captured in the grass and for a moment I was blinded—golden, soft light filled with warmth and endless possibilities. The feeling stayed with me long after the sun retreated behind another greyish Melbourne cloud.
“It sounds really good,” I said.
“WHAT ABOUT a barbecue? We could have the usual suspects over, and tell them then.”
We were drinking beer out on the balcony and discussing how to go about an engagement party. It was time for us to let everybody know, now that the buzz from Coby and Jasper’s was dying down. Besides, Fran was driving us both crazy as she attempted to discover the mystery behind Simon Murray and What Happened in the Dunes. Luckily, even though it may have been on her radar, she hadn’t expressed any possibility of an engagement as Coby already seemed to have the monopoly on that one.
“It will be a bit cramped trying to fit everyone in here,” Dec said.
“Fran and Roger, Abe and Lisa? We’ve done it before, with more than that, even.”
“I meant our families. And other friends.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t even thought of them. I just assumed they would be dealt with separately, over dinners.
“Don’t you want to share this with everyone?”
“I guess I’ve never really thought about it.”
“Could you imagine your mum if you had an engagement party and you didn’t invite her?”
My mum? Imagine Dec’s mum, too. Our lives wouldn’t be worth living anymore.
“An engagement party?”
“Yes. That’s what most people have,” he said, drily.
I hadn’t really thought of it in that sense—as a party, I mean. But that’s what it was. “Um, yeah. I mean, my dad did say he wanted to see both of his sons married. But I just kind of thought they wouldn’t take us being engaged seriously until the law was changed and we could get married.”
“You always underestimate your family. You have all changed so much over the years. You’ve changed a lot, Simon.”
“Is this going to be about me mellowing again?”
“Partly. You’ve let your guard down around them, you’ve become yourself to them, and they’ve responded to that.”
I thought back to how the family dinners had slowly changed over the years. Once something to dread, I now looked forward to them. Tim and I still gave each other shit, but there was genuine affection within our jabs. We even saw him and Gabby outside of evenings with Mum and Dad. “Wow. That’s a really nice way of looking at it.�
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“I want both of our families involved. They would want to be involved.”
“You’re right.”
“I always am. Can we put that in the wedding vows?”
“I… I don’t even have a comeback for that.”
Dec loved it when he stumped me. I quickly moved on.
“But you are right about the space. We can’t fit everyone in here.”
“Then we might as well make it a real shindig and hire a venue.”
“A shindig? You’re not becoming groomzilla on me, are you?”
He laughed. “No. But seeing we’re talking about big life changes, I want to discuss something else with you.”
“Okay, you’re really piling it on tonight, and it’s making me nervous.” I sucked my beer dry and snapped my fingers. “Replenish me.”
Dec reached into the Esky underneath his chair and gave me another beer.
“It’s just, working with Micah and all the other kids, it’s made me think about things. I went into commentating because I missed the game too much and thought it was removed enough from the field. But in mentoring, I’ve realised I really like it. I miss being out on the field, and being part of a team.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” A little thrill coursed through me as I’d been hoping he’d come to this conclusion ever since he retired.
“I think there’s been enough time between playing and retirement now. I want to start sending some feelers out and see if I can move into assistant coaching. I think I’d be good at it.” He sounded nervous, as if he thought nobody in their right mind would ever jump at the chance to have Declan Tyler at their club in a coaching capacity.
“I know you’d be good at it.” I pulled him over to my knee, and he perched upon it, laughing, as I wrapped my arms around him. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.”
“Really?”
“Really. You were always too good to stay off the field, Dec.”
We sat there for a while, even though my knee was aching.
“I sometimes think about that night we met,” Dec said, leaning back into me. “And I think about how you got in that taxi after I kissed you, and we could have never seen each other again.”