True Blue

by Connie Bailey

  “You’re a jerk,” Astor said as he rose to his feet.

  “Coming from the King of Jerks, that’s a compliment.”

  “I don’t want to get into it with you here.”

  “Okay. Where and when?”

  “Why don’t we leave it to chance?”

  “That’s what I thought. Believe it or not, I don’t hate you, Astor. I actually think you’re probably a pretty cool guy since Blue likes you, but you’re just a little bit too polite.”

  “What’s wrong with manners?”

  “Nothing, but you couldn’t keep Blue because you wouldn’t fight for him. You’re too nice to get your knuckles bloody.”

  “I sure hope so. Violence never solves anything.”

  “Maybe you’re right, but sometimes you have to be willing to make a stand.”

  “Whenever the two of you are ready, we’ll get started.” Peyton’s voice boomed out of the speakers. Heydn and Astor gave each other a last look that made it clear that the conversation was just postponed. Practice went well, though Peyton had to make the decision to eliminate the whiskers from the costumes when the actors kept scratching their faces. Carrington was overheard to remark that the damned things couldn’t be seen from the audience anyway and became the most recent recipient of Peyton’s benevolent dictator speech. The group broke up in a good mood, splitting off with excited voices and bright laughter. The threatening message had begun the evening on a grim note, but the camaraderie of the production raised morale again .

  “Blue,” Peyton called as his friend exited the dressing room, followed shortly by Astor and Heydn. “Can you hang around for a few minutes?”

  “Sure.” Blue dropped his backpack and waved to the other two young men. “Catch you later.”

  “Yeah, bye,” Peyton said.

  “Thanks,” Blue said, when Heydn and Astor were gone. “I was trying to think of an excuse to ditch both of them for a while.”

  “Now will you believe I have psychic powers? It occurred to me today that we haven’t been to Giddie’s together since school started. Why don’t we live dangerously?”

  “You mean be spontaneous?”

  Peyton waggled his eyebrows. “Come on. I’ve got my credit card. Let’s call a cab, get dressed up, and get our fine asses to Giddie’s.”

  “Okay.”

  “Oh, come on, Blue, you never…” Peyton paused. “Did you say okay?”

  “Call a cab; I’m going to change.”

  Chapter 15 “You changed?” Peyton said, eyeing Blue’s white button-down shirt and dark trousers. “That looks the same as your uniform.”

  “No, it doesn’t. This isn’t an Oxford shirt and uniform trousers would never be this tight.”

  “True.” Peyton ogled Blue’s ass as he got into the cab. “It’s just kind of conservative for Giddie’s.”

  “Next time you can pick out my clothes.”

  “Don’t think I won’t.” Peyton smoothed the front of his clinging long-sleeved T-shirt of black lace and Spandex. The conversation continued in that vein until the taxi dropped them at the curb in front of Giddie’s. The building looked exactly like the pre-fab warehouse it was on the outside, but the inside held five different theme bars and attracted business from the five closest counties. There was a disco, a honky-tonk, a sports bar, a show bar, and a lounge, all catering to a primarily gay clientele. Not only did it offer a veritable smorgasbord of eye candy and entertainment, the bouncers had selective trouble doing the math when examining the IDs of the more attractive underage males. Peyton insisted on buying the drinks on the grounds that he looked older than Blue and Blue soon had a line of cocktail glasses waiting as Peyton drained his as quickly as possible.

  “You starting a collection?” a man asked as he stopped at their table in the disco.

  “Just looking for the perfect Cosmo,” Blue answered.

  “You’re cute.”

  “But not alone,” Peyton said as he put two more pink drinks on the table and sat down.

  “You’re cute, too,” the stranger said.

  “How old are you?” Peyton asked baldly.

  “Thirty-two. And my name’s Garner, if you’re interested.”

  “Do I look interested?” Peyton yawned.

  “Would you like a drink, Garner?” Blue asked. “I have five.” “Sure,” Garner said, picking up one of the Cosmopolitans. “Never had one of these before.” The flashing lights from the dance floor gleamed in his sun-bleached surfer mane as he tipped his head back and sipped from the martini glass. “Tart, yet sweet,” he said. “Kind of like the two of you.”

  “Handsomeand witty,” Peyton marveled. “How’d we get so lucky?”

  “You must’ve been a real good boy.”

  “You’ll never know just how good. If you’ve finished your drink, would you mind moving along?”

  Garner leaned over the table, his shirt gaping open, showcasing his sculpted pecs. He smiled at Blue. “Would you like to dance to a song that was popular when I was your age?” he asked.

  Blue smiled back. “As long as you don’t expect much. I’m not a very good dancer.”

  “You are when you’ve had a couple of drinks,” Peyton said. Blue picked up two of the glasses. He put one to his lips and drained it in three gulps. The other drink followed and Blue thumped both glasses back down on the table. “There,” he said. “Theoretically, I should be able to dance now.”

  Peyton finished the rest of the booze on the table as he watched Blue boogie with the bodybuilder. Blue moved differently from how he had the last time Peyton had seen him dance. He had more confidence, really occupying his space and even invading Garner’s. When the stranger put his hands on Blue’s hips from behind and bumped his crotch against Blue’s butt, Blue laughed over his shoulder and bumped back. Peyton got up and went to the men’s room. He relieved himself, washed his hands, and reached into his jacket’s inner pocket. Taking out a small white tablet divided in the middle, he popped it into his mouth and dry-swallowed it. He knew that mixing diazepam and alcohol wasn’t a good idea, but he’d done it before and lived. What he needed right now was to be numb enough not to care about anything.

  When he found his way back to the right bar and the right table, Blue was nowhere in sight. “Have you seen my friend?” he slurred at the waiter.

  “Am I supposed to know you?”

  “He’s my age, black hair, dancing with a blond guy that looks like he picks up extra cash making porno movies.”

  “Oh, you mean Garner. They went outside when the song ended. Lucky kid. I’d love Garner to look at me like that. You want another drink?” Peyton was already halfway to the door. He burst outside and looked to his right and left. Blue was not on the sidewalk, or across the street. That left the alleys and the back parking lot. Figuring he’d circle the building, Peyton headed down the alleyway on the right. He saw a few couples, but no one he knew. The small back lot was full and there were no lights because the customers liked it that way. Peyton guessed that at least a third of the vehicles had fogged-up windows. He realized that he looked about as ridiculous as the father of a teenage girl roaming lovers’ lane peering into cars, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even care that Blue would probably be angry. He had to find him.

  “Damn, boy, you taste as sweet as you look,” Garner said as he covered Blue’s mouth with his again. Letting his hands slide down Blue’s back, Garner grabbed his ass cheeks and lifted him to sit on the car hood behind him. Moving between Blue’s thighs, Garner lifted one of Blue’s legs on his forearm and leaned in. Blue was pressed back against the hood as Garner rubbed his hard-on against Blue’s crack.

  That’s what Peyton saw as he reached the last row of cars parked in the shadow of the board fence. He kept moving forward on autopilot as Blue squirmed on the polished metal. It was impossible to tell if Blue was pushing Garner away or clutching his shoulders in passion, but Peyton had no trouble making up his mind what was going on. “Blue!” he called out.

&nbs
p; Garner’s head came up and he peered at Peyton in the moonlight. “What the fuck do you want?” he asked thickly.

  “Let go of my friend.”

  “You want me to let you go?” Garner looked down at Blue.

  “Kinda, yeah.”

  “Fine.” Garner stepped back and let Blue up. “I thought you wanted to be dominated. My mistake.”

  “No mistake,” Blue said. “Except on my part. I got in over my head.” “Is that so?” Garner reached out and put a hand on Blue’s hair. “Tell you what, Peaches. When you feel like you’re ready, come and find me. The owner of this place will have my number. He’s a very happy and loyal customer. Not that I’d ever charge you a cent.”

  Blue nodded, his stomach fluttering at Garner’s touch. “I really hope you’ll call,” Garner said as he turned from Blue. He grinned at Peyton. “You’re a good friend,” he said. “But you need to get laid and keep your nose out of other people’s love lives.”

  “Yeah, like I’m totally going to take advice from a pervert.”

  “Come back when you grow up…both of you,” Garner said as he walked away.

  “Peyn…” Blue sighed. “That was really embarrassing.”

  “I saved you from certain ravishment.”

  “Please.”

  “Your legs were up in the air. If I’d come out here five minutes later, he’d have been pounding your ass like he was drilling for oil.”

  “You’re probably right. When he bent me over that car hood and I felt how strong he was…” Blue shivered. “I was a little nervous, but my insides melted and ran down into my dick.”

  “Gross. He had date-rape written all over him.”

  “Those were tattoos.”

  “Seriously, what were you thinking? He’s a stranger.”

  “A hot stranger. Lighten up, Peyn; I’m just horny. Isn’t this what all those funny gay guys in the movies do? Have casual sex anywhere, anytime?”

  “You’ve had too much to drink. We’re going home.”

  “I’vehad too much? You can barely stand up.”

  “I don’t need to stand to wield my plastic wand.” Peyton fumbled his phone out and called for a cab. “Did you leave anything inside?”

  “Just my dignity.”

  “Maybe we should have one more while we’re waiting.”

  “Cab drivers hate it when you puke in the car.”

  “I am a gentleman.” Peyton held up one finger and it nearly over-balanced him. “I puke out of the window,” he finished as he rocked on his feet.

  Blue linked his arm with Peyton’s. “Come on; we’ll sit on the bench under the street-light.”

  “Like a couple of steaks in the butcher’s window.”

  “I might be a steak, but you’re a rump roast.” “That was truly lame, Barclay.”

  Blue got a good look at Peyton’s heavy eyelids and slack features as they came out of the alley. “Are you on anything besides booze?”

  “I may have taken a Valium.”

  “You’re not sure?”

  “Okay, I took a Valium.”

  “You’re going to hurl for sure.”

  “I’m not a puker; you know that.”

  “Whatever. Have a seat.”

  “Yes, I am blithering drunk,” Peyton said to a passerby that stared at him too long.

  “Peyton, please sit down. If you make too much trouble you won’t get a banana.”

  “Ha-ha.” Peyton slumped on the bench. “Classic,” he said. “I just got settled and here’s our taxi.”

  After they climbed into the backseat and the cab pulled away, Blue turned to Peyton. “Hey, even though it wasn’t necessary, thanks for rescuing me in the parking lot. Garner was right. You’re a good friend.”

  Peyton nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.”

  “I was kind of wondering what you were going to do if he got hostile.”

  “Call nine-one-one?”

  Blue smiled in the dimness of the car’s interior. “I should never have guzzled those two drinks. They hit me all at once and the next thing I knew I had a mouthful of tongue.”

  “So that kind of guy turns you on, huh?”

  “I can picture him with a sword and a loincloth bending me to his will.”

  “Your fantasies are so fan-boy…but go on.”

  “You saw that body. He was muscular without being too pumped. Didn’t you imagine him naked?”

  “I might have.”

  “Give me a break. Haven’t you ever daydreamed about a guy that desires you so passionately that he overwhelms you and takes what he wants?”

  “Sure…when I was fourteen. Sorry. I was kidding. Go on.”

  “It’s just a fantasy. Doesn’t mean I actually want to be raped.” “I understand.”

  “How did we get on this subject?”

  “It’s all I talk about, remember?”

  “Trapped in a cab with a sex addict,” Blue moaned, pretending to cringe away from Peyton.

  “Yes, you have fallen into my clutches, my pretty.” Peyton loomed over Blue, forming his fingers into claws. “And I am insatiable.”

  Blue crossed his forefingers and held them up. “I repudiate you, evil one.”

  The taxi rounded a corner and Peyton fell onto Blue. Blue caught him and sat him up again. Peyton put his arms around Blue’s neck and leaned until their foreheads touched.

  “I may throw up,” he confided, his breath redolent of alcohol.

  Blue smiled. “We’re out of town and on the freeway. No more bumps or corners.”

  “Good. Blue?”

  “What is it?”

  “You know I love you, right?”

  “I love you, too.”

  Peyton squeezed the back of Blue’s neck. “You’re not hearing me.” Blue made a small startled noise when Peyton’s lips covered his. The kiss was unexpected, skillful and wild with yearning. Peyton licked at Blue’s lips in flickering little darts before his tongue slid inside. He tasted every surface of Blue’s mouth, ranging wide and deep in a sensuous preview and Blue responded for a few seconds, tightening his arms around Peyton before letting go.

  “Don’t, okay?” he said, when their lips parted.

  “Just once,” Peyton said. “I’ll never ask again; I promise.”

  “Are you bartering with me for sex?”

  “Am I? I want you so much right now that my brain is scrambled.”

  “I can’t.”

  “It felt like you were getting into that kiss.”

  “And then I remembered the cab driver.”

  “I’ll tip him generously.” “Don’t,” Blue said again, as Peyton leaned toward him.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t want to have a sexual relationship with you.”

  “Just one time.”

  “You areso wasted and you’re going to feel incredibly stupid in the morning.”

  “I don’t care. You’ll sleep with the jock. You’ll sleep with the prep. You’ll even get busy with some random stud, but you won’t even kiss me?”

  “You’re my friend.”

  “I don’t want to be your friend; I want…. That didn’t come out right.”

  “No, it didn’t.”

  “Blue…”

  “Shut up, Peyton. You’re very, very drunk and you’ve taken some of your mother’s medicine. It’d probably be better if you just shut up now.” Peyton took a deep breath, opened his mouth and shut it again. Dense silence filled the vehicle and in less than five miles, Peyton passed out. He sagged toward Blue and Blue sat back, pulling Peyton’s head to rest on his shoulder. When the car stopped, he got Peyton out with the driver’s help and woke him up enough to walk him to his room. Blue put Peyton to bed and turned to go. Peyton reached up and tried to pull Blue onto the bed. After a few moments’ struggle, Peyton collapsed and his eyelids fluttered closed. Blue said goodnight and went upstairs to his room.

  “Hi,” Heydn said, getting up from the floor beside Blue’s door.

  “It’s two
in the morning.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

  “Go to bed. That’s what I’m going to do.”

  “I just want to tell you something.”

  “Speak,” Blue said, turning the key in the lock.

  “I saw you perform in the Shakespeare play. You didn’t look ridiculous in the dress.”

  “That’s it? That’s what you waited up until two to tell me?”

  “It seemed important to me.”

  “Well…goodnight,” Blue said as he went into his room. “Goodnight!” Heydn called. “You know, if I hadn’t screwed up, I’d be home now.”

  “Am I supposed to respond to that?”

  “This reminds me of the day we met. I’m nervous. You’re sarcastic. The only real difference is the hickey on your neck.” Blue shut the door on Heydn and went to the mirror. He stared at the maroon patch of skin near the base of his neck and a slow smile curved his lips. Heydn was probably racking his brain right now, wondering who was responsible for the mark. Maybe it was petty, but Blue derived some small satisfaction from the thought.

  Chapter 16

  Despitetension among the cast, or maybe because of it, the opening night ofMenagerie was electrifying. There were long moments when the spectators sat stunned, eruptions of laughter both delighted and horrified, and shouts of approbation when a line hit home. When the curtains closed on Foxboy’s dead body, the audience was silent, unsure whether to clap or not. Peyton loudly called out “The end,” and the applause began. The prevailing opinion among the students was thatMenagerie kicked ass, pointing out everything that was bad about Acton and all boys’ prep schools in general, though they didn’t phrase it quite that way. The attending teachers were divided between admiration and outrage, internally and from one another. Peyton was exultant. Mr. McIntyre was not amused.

  “Peyton Crane.” The Drama teacher’s voice cut through the excited babble around the director. Actors and crew fell back to make way. “I need to talk to you,” Alan McIntyre said. Peyton knew very well what the Drama Club sponsor wanted to talk about: the scene Peyton had inserted into the play at the last minute, the scene that suggested the character of Primus was coercing a Teddy Bear to give him head. It was nothing more than a hand gesture on Heydn’s part, a motion as though he was pushing someone’s head into his crotch. His back was to the audience and the actor playing Trey Bear had exited through a trap door, but the insinuation was clear to many who were watching, including Mr. McIntyre.