Anyway, on to the actual Easter festivities, and the rest of the chapter.
--
--
"Wait, so Christine, run this by me again. Where are we going?" Andy asked, as he and Christine drove back towards her neighborhood from the grocery store.
"Come on, I know you heard me. We're going to Brian's house to drop off the cake we just bought, and then we're going to ask his parents to join all of us and our families in a get-together at the park tomorrow."
"Ok, that's what I thought you said. Do I really have to go?" He asked apprehensively. Andy knew that Brian didn't live there anymore, but he still felt uncomfortable about the prospect of being in his old home.
"Quit freaking out. His parents are awesome. And they don't know you know Brian. I feel guilty, I've been visiting pretty frequently, but we haven't done anything for them since Christmas," she said, as she pulled into her own driveway. "Help me bring all of this food in, and then we'll take the cake over to them. If you're so antsy about going, you can meet them tomorrow if you'd like."
Andy sighed, knowing that she wasn't actually leaving that as an option, and that one way or another, she'd make him join her. In a manner of minutes, the pair was standing outside the door, and the bright smiling face of Mrs. Mannus greeted them, welcoming them inside.
"Who is this fine young man that you've brought into my home? Is this the Garret that you keep talking about?" She asked, an unnatural cheer in her voice, almost as if it was forced.
Whatever smile Andy maintained on his face dissolved immediately, and Mrs. Mannus waved her hand in apology, laughing softly. "Oh, I'm sorry about that mix up. You must be Andy then. Christine outright brags about you, you know."
"Nice to meet you," he replied obligatorily, shaking her hand.
"So what brings you two here? Is that cake for moi?"
"Oui, of course," Christine said, handing her the box. "Chocolate marble cheesecake, I know you and the Mr. have a weak spot for it. Brian had to work today, but he sends his best, and he said he'll see you two tomorrow. Andy actually works at the same place, but he had the day off."
"Tomorrow? That's Easter. I hope you're not planning to throw us another party, Christine. That's too much trouble."
"Well, it's not planning if I already did. We're having a picnic in the park down the street; I already invited the rest of the families and everything, Andy helped me get all the food and stuff, so, you two are coming, right?"
"Of course we will. No use having all of that go to waste!"
Christine pulled her over to the side, Andy raising his eyebrow, curious as to what she could be saying to her that she didn't want him to hear, especially since she dragged him here in the first place.
"Mrs. Mannus, Andy knows about everything, but make sure not to bring up Brian or anything. He gets jumpy. It's a long story, I'll tell you later. I just wanted to say, I also left a message on Brian's phone and mailed an invitation to the Towers residence inviting Brian… and Corey to join us, just in case, but obviously no word. I thought it would have made a nice surprise. Maybe not exactly a pleasant meeting, but almost any word is good word, at this point, right?"
Andy still looked confused when Mrs. Mannus sighed, her overly happy façade dissipating to a much more neutral, tired look, and he was pretty much lost when she gave Christine a hug.
"Thank you, Christine, for trying. You always think of us," she whispered.
As Christine and Andy walked back towards her home, Andy couldn't help but raise an eyebrow skeptically. "What was that all about?"
"Nothing."
"You know, you don't have to keep protecting me from hearing about Brian, I'm fine, and I've already forgiven him for that whole ordeal."
"Is that his Lexus?" Christine commented, looking in the distance as a nondescript red car approached from the distance. She laughed loudly, seeing Andy visibly flinch with an almost petrified look on his face. The car passed by harmlessly; she knew it wasn't Brian's from the start.
"Whoops, my mistake. What was that about 'you're fine'? You're still afraid of him, it's cool, your secret's safe with me. You don't have to be the bigger man all the time, you know. It's okay and everything to forgive him so easily, but you don't have to hide that you're afraid of him. He did punch you in the face for no reason. That's reason enough to be cautious."
"I'm not… afraid. I don't know, I guess I was just being overconfident that day. I thought, no, I knew that I could get through to him, at least back then."
"What the hell was the point of me telling you my story if you were going to literally repeat the same exact mistakes that I made? With pretty similar consequences."
"I don't know… I guess I thought he liked me," Andy projected. He knew that Christine wouldn't understand the full implication of what he meant by that, and that was fine with him for now. 'If I was going to be honest with her, I'd say that I thought that I could succeed where she failed because I thought that Brian not only respected me on some level, but actually liked me liked me, or at least was attracted to me.'
--
The Easter picnic was a huge success. The Mannuses, O'Haras, Holdens, and Johnsons were all there, except for Brian, of course. They all had the pleasure of meeting Andy's, Garret's, and Helga's parents as well.
Lee's little sister, Lisa, hit it off right away with Andy's little brother, Corey, the two of them running around, chasing the Taylor family's Labrador retriever, Lima Bean. Christine and Brian couldn't' help but laugh at the dog's name.
"It's totally not my fault," Andy explained, "it's my brother's dog. He got to name it. He's got a weird sense of humor."
The adults along with Christine and company sat back and watched the younger kids run around collecting the barely hidden Easter eggs that Andy and Christine hid that morning. Along with Lisa and Corey were Garret's younger sister, Blaire Summers, and Helga's two younger twin brothers.
On one of the blankets, the Holdens were catching up with the Mannuses and the O'Haras.
"Where's Caleb?" Susan Mannus asked, her mood lightened by the good food, company, and the laughter and barking of children and dog, respectively.
"He's spending Spring Break with some of his friends, on a cruise," George Holden responded, chowing down on a barbecue sandwich. "Brian's gone again?"
"If you can believe it, he's actually at a beach in New Zealand with a friend right now," Christine answered quickly, without missing a beat. She gave the Mannuses a knowing look, and they accepted it. She had found out from Brian's answering machine when she left a message a few days back.
"New Zealand? How exotic!" Her mother exclaimed. Christine routinely withheld most of the going-ons of her and her friends' lives from her parents. She had always felt closer to Brian's parents than her own.
The other parents were standing around the blanket, joining into the conversation. The Taylors, especially Chandra, Andy's mother, remained fairly aloof from the Summers and Garret, still sore after seeing how upset they made their son not too long ago. It didn't help that Garret and Christine were choosing now to be affectionate. Andy and Brian obviously volunteered to watch and entertain the children, as long as they didn't have to bear witness to that.
"Damn it, Andy, this isn't worth it," Brian complained, Andy's kid brother laughing hysterically as Brian obligatorily gave him a piggy back ride, his ears being pulled like reins.
"Brian, stop talking! Horses don't talk, go faster, horsey, faster!" Corey shouted, sugar coursing through his veins.
"Get off, you little hell wyrms. I'll kill you!" Lee cried. The two girls were shouting and bouncing on top of Lee's back, who was practically whimpering at the prospect of physical exertion.
"I dunno, Brian, Lee, this isn't so bad. Come on, you two, is that all you've got?" Andy teased, laughing from where he was, reclined in the grass. He challenged the Frederickson twins, Eric and Dominic to see if they could punch his abs enough to hurt. They were nine, so he figured it was a failsafe way to burn their
energy and channel their mischievous nature at the same time. In the few seconds he turned to talk with Brian, one of the twins had the idea to see if a kick would do anything. They both reared their legs, and before Andy could dodge or get up, they simultaneously drop kicked him in the stomach, causing him to double up on the ground, coughing.
"What was that? Get what you deserve for trying to take the easy way out," Brian joked, snarling when Corey kicked him in the sides like a horse to get him to keep quiet.
"Easy way out? Want to switch? They're strong," Andy complained, getting up to massage his gut, wincing as he felt the two roughly heel shaped sore spots that would definitely bruise. The twins were already starting to fight with each other about who managed to get Andy to double over in pain. A few seconds later, and they were on the ground. "Come on, you two, quit it. Ouch! Damn it, did you just bite me?"
The parents, Christine, and Garret were laughing at the spectacle, overjoyed by the live entertainment, food, and good company. A few hours later, and a few games of multi-family touch football later (after some deliberation and complaining, both teams agreed that Andy had to be quarterback for both sides), the sky was beginning to dim, and everyone helped to pack up. Hugs, handshakes, goodbyes, and promises to keep in touch were exchanged, and the families went their separate ways to celebrate the remainder of the holiday.
--
The Friday before Easter Sunday, after their last day of school, Brian made a show of plopping down on Corey's couch, in mock exhaustion.
"Finally, Spring Break is here. Took freaking long enough," Brian said, sighing into the comfortable cushions. "So, do you have anything special in mind, Corey?"
"Special?" Corey asked coyly. Brian couldn't see him, but he was already smiling widely, knowing that Brian was going to love what he had to say.
"Yeah, special. Like that unbelievable Alpine trip that you pulled out of your ass last break. Does your family own, like, a beachfront resort in Malibu too?"
Corey laughed at his sarcasm. "Hmm, not that I know of, no. We do own a beach house and a small private stretch of the Kaiteriteri Beach in Nelson, New Zealand, though. Sorry to disappoint you, that's all I got."
"We're going to New Zealand?!" Brian yelled, getting up immediately to see if Corey was telling the truth. To his amazement, Corey was brandishing a suitcase and a pair of duffel bags, along with a toothy grin.
"WHOO!" Brian screamed, catching Corey off guard by picking him up and throwing him a short distance onto their bed. Brian jumped after him, already prepared to rip clothes off if he had to, not afraid to express his exuberance.
"Brian, come on," Corey said, putting great effort into preventing Brian's attempts to undress him. "We've gotta pack. My jet is slated to leave later this afternoon."
Brian was unrelenting, obviously winning the battle in the short run when Corey's shirt flew off. "Pack what? You said beach house, and private beach. The way I see it, that practically means we don't even need clothes, just the ones on our backs and something to swim in."
Corey smirked at the kind of vacation Brian was implying, and acquiesced, letting Brian finish the task of getting rid of his clothes. "You don't want to spend any of the time seeing the sights or anything? New Zealand's got some awesome food too, you know."
"Sights?" Brian asked, already working on his own clothes. His shirt off, he scanned his eyes up and down Corey's naked body, grinning. "Nope, I'm pretty sure I'm good on the 'sight-seeing' front. You can get the food delivered. I wanted to try surfing, so we can get all that stuff before we get to your beach house."
"An entire week, completely alone, nothing but each other to entertain ourselves…" Corey whispered, his eyes gleaming at the prospect. "Sounds like a paradise."
--
As it happened, 'paradise' wasn't too far from the truth. Each of them toting no more than a duffel bag (Corey managed to convince Brian to pack more than just the clothes on his back, in case they were stranded there for some reason), the pair headed straight for the beach house.
Brian couldn't contain himself when he saw the almost humble beachfront house, a pair of brand new custom surfboards waiting for them at the entrance. He rushed through the house, dragging Corey with him through the back, and onto the white sand beach. Tears threatened to form in his eyes from the sight of the aquamarine water, waves of varying sizes gently rolling along its length.
Corey looped his arms around Brian's waist, pulling him close, hanging his head on his neck, enjoying the view with him. "Do you just want to stare? Everything you see is Towers property. We can do whatever we want here, and the world would never know…"
--
After a day well spent in the water and in each other's company, Brian and Corey lazily gazed out at the evening sky, the reds, yellows, and purples stunning in their majesty. They were laying in the sand, staring off at the setting sun, propped up on their elbows, utterly mesmerized by the melodious crashing of the waves, a single, thin, trail of glittering light from the sun extending all the way into the horizon.
"Like tiny stepping stones leading to heaven," Brian whispered, the poetry of his words catching both of them by surprise.
"Heaven…" Corey repeated, closing the already small gap between them. The moment the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the world in a momentary twilight glow, he gracefully flipped himself over so that he was straddling Brian's hips. While Brian was still supporting himself up on his elbows, Corey initiated a gentle, methodical kiss.
Brian gladly returned it, always happy to feel their tongues dancing together, as if following the music of the tide. Time flew by and stood still at the same time, sensation and emotion washing away everything in their worlds, except for them. By the time the kiss ended, the cloudless sky was brightly illuminated by the stars and the full moon, the water and the beach both cast in an ethereal glow. A gentle breeze wafted around the couple, barely strong enough to make Corey's short blond locks to sway.
Brian was staring at the sky, and the beach around him, in awe at the tranquil elegance. "It's so perfect. This can't be real."
Corey adjusted himself that he could reach Brian's neck, still taking it slow. He shivered from delight just from tasting the dried skin. Brian's taste always had that effect on him; it almost made him dizzy sometimes. It tasted different this time though, no better, no worse, from the slight dusting of sea salt that was left behind from the ocean earlier that day. 'Exotic…' he thought.
!!CENSORED!!
They fell asleep soon afterwards, appearing ethereal from the moonlight reflecting against the sheen of sweat on their skin. Asleep in each other's arms, connected emotionally and physically, as friends, lovers, and infinitely more.
--
Even though they had to return to school, the fresh memories from spring break kept Corey's spirits boosted. He returned alone from jogging, still confused as to why he had to jog alone today anyway.
"Brian, come on, I'm going to leave without you!" He shouted, already finished changing into running clothes.
"Go ahead without me today, I've got something really important to do!" Brian shouted back from upstairs, the voice echoing in the foyer.
"Important?"
"Yeah, I'll tell you later. I can't do it if you're here though, so go!"
Corey frowned immaturely to himself. 'What could be more important than spending time with me?'
As Corey opened the backdoor into the main kitchen, the first thing he heard, or rather felt, was bass.
'I'd recognize that anywhere, those are my subwoofers, from my sound system…' Corey thought to himself, as he started the trek towards his room. He couldn't recognize the song at first, since the music was being drowned out by the bass, but he stopped suddenly when he realized that he did know what song was playing.
'Why the hell would he be playing that song,' Corey thought, the music becoming louder with each step towards his closed room. It wasn't that he minded that Brian decided to use his sound system, but Brian re
ally wasn't the type to blare club music at that volume level, with that much bass.
Reaching his door, he cracked it open carefully, not wanting to alert Brian of his presence, and he peeked inside. It took all of his self control to not fall and crack up hysterically on the floor at the sight. Brian was currently attempting to dance with an invisible dance partner, either behind him or in front of him, it was fairly hard to tell, since his movements were so forced and awkward.
Corey let the door open and walked in, tears on his face from laughing to himself. Brian stumbled, freezing in place before making a mad dash to turn off the music and maybe retain some of his dignity.
His ears still slightly ringing, Corey laughed again, Brian's cheeks flaring red. "Have you been at this the whole time? Is this what was so important?"
"Yes…" Brian muttered.
"Don't be embarrassed, I was just asking," Corey said, small chuckles still finding their way out of his mouth. He walked over to his computer, and nodded to himself, impressed. "So I guess you've found my 'Club Music' playlist. I take some pride in maintaining a comprehensive of currently popular club songs. I even handpicked all the songs for my party last semester. I only hired that DJ to mix and play them."
"I noticed," Brian said, still humbled from that short bout of humiliation. "I didn't know you were into that kind of music until I was looking through your stuff."
"So… back to the obvious," Corey interjected, turning his computer seat to face Brian. "What was with the one man dance party?"
"Um… you know, Prom's coming up and everything, and when I found that list, I kinda remembered that I don't know how to dance. I mean, I know I'm probably going to have to go with Abigail, but I was hoping that maybe when she wasn't looking, I could sneak some dances with you. Was I really that bad?"
"Oh, come on Brian, you know I can't say anything bad about you. Plus, it was hard to tell, since you weren't dancing with anyone…" Corey comforted, before blurting out a laugh. "Oh, GOD, it was AWFUL! How can you live with yourself?!"
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