by David Horne
"I came to apologize and to see if we can get back together. I knew you would be back and you'd see that the army wasn't for you-"
"Excuse me?" Zack growled out with narrow eyes; Tom was glaring at the woman as well.
Rebecca looked at Zack and saw that the man was clearly mad, far closer to furious than she had ever seen him before. She took a small step forward, her hand already raised to touch his arm in a soothing gesture.
Taking a step back, Zack glared at Rebecca.
"Are you kidding me?" Hissing, Zack took a full step back and gripped Tom's hand.
"I always wanted to go to the army, and I am damn glad I did because I met some of the most incredible people and learned so many lessons from them. They gave me the courage to do something I had been terrified of doing. Rebecca, I stayed with you out of comfort, not love. It was wrong of me to lead you on, and I will apologize for that but, Rebecca, you cheated on me with someone I saw as family. It's over between us and it will stay that way as I have what I always wanted." Zack squeezed Tom's fingers, somehow Rebecca had missed Zack holding onto Tom's hand.
Rebecca crossed her arms under her breasts, her eyes filled with anger.
"And who is she?" Rebecca hissed out through clenched teeth.
Zack smirked and turned to face Tom before grabbing his shirt and yanking him down into a kiss. They both heard Rebecca gasp and take a step back. They ended the kiss but stayed close. Zack turned his head to face Rebecca.
"Why don't you save face and just leave." Zack suggested. Tom had moved his arms to hold Zack close. They both watched as Rebecca huffed and puffed, she screamed at Zack, telling him that he was making a mistake, that she had planned their lives and how could he just throw away their love. She stomped her foot a few times, probably almost breaking the heel of her stilettos. She stopped, however, when she realized that the people of the Cul-de-sac were coming out of their houses to see her throwing a tantrum in broad daylight. She glared at Tom.
"You stole him from me!" Her shrill scream caused many to shake their heads. The Cul-de-sac they lived in was a close-knit bunch, so Rebecca yelling at Tom and Zack was not putting her in a very good light.
Tom scoffed and kissed Zack's forehead.
"You lost Zack long before you spread your legs. Don't blame us for your bad decisions. You lost, so get lost yourself." Tom sneered at the woman before he grabbed Zack's hand and they both made their way to Tom's house were Helen and Daniel were standing at the front door, daring Rebecca to try and enter the house.
They all heard the frustrated shriek outside before the stomping of heels, a faint snap noise followed by a yell of despair. It seemed all that stomping had broken a heel after all.
Then there was a car door opening and being slammed close and screeching wheels.
Both men sighed in relief before Helen herded them into the kitchen for coffee and to catch up with Zack.
Chapter Ten
After a very emotional medal ceremony, and a slew of emotional funerals where Tom almost had his hand broken by how hard Zack was squeezing his hand. The wobble to his lip and the suspiciously growing dampness to Zack's eyes each time just made Tom's heart clenched. The funerals were the hardest as each time there was a mother, father, sister, brother, wife or husband that had to get the folded flag. They would clutch it tightly, some of the mothers would curve in around the flag, her cries of anguish clearly heard in the silent graveyard.
Zack went to every single family member and offered his deepest condolences. He would tell the family about how brave and amazing people the lost soldier was. How he missed them and wished that he could have done something, anything to save them.
All of the family he talked to would either hug him, cry into his chest. Not once did someone blame him. Not once did someone yell at him, and not once did someone curse at him.
After each funeral, once everyone had left. Zack would stay behind, Tom too. Zack would remain at the grave, looking down at it for a while before he told Tom a few stories about the fallen soldier, how they laughed together, the times they cried and cheered. Tom would stand beside Zack, his hand gripped in Tom's would shake and squeeze at random times as Zack got the words out of his mouth, his face pulling a grimace as he fought the tears that wanted to escape his tightly shut eyes.
The last funeral was a bit of a journey, there were two oddities about the last funeral. One was that that the whole of the platoon could make it where the previous funerals some people here and there couldn't make it, but now they all could. Some carpooled together.
Oddity number two was that Zack got more frigid as they closed in on the next town where the last soldier was from and requested to be buried. He wasn't mean to Tom per se, just quiet. It was something Brenda had warned him would happen. That at some point, the whole situation could just become too much for Zack. At random times for the rest of his life. Tom didn't care; if Zack wanted to have a quiet day, then, by all means, Tom would allow it. Brenda had told him that it was a good idea but to not physically leave him alone.
It also seemed like the weather was playing along by lightly drizzling rain. Zack was looking down at his hands, flipping them side to side, examining his nails and then placing his hands down in his lap. He did it a few times during the three-hour drive.
They stopped at the graveyard, they were met with the last soldier's mother talking to the priest, a tissue already scrunched up in her hand. When she saw Zack, her tears came forth in a tidal wave of emotion. She practically ran to Zack and hugged him, she was trying to speak, but her voice was muffled and gargled by her sobbing.
Zack gently patted her back as she sobbed into his shoulder, her husband came up to them giving Tom a curious glance but it was fleeting as he focused more on his wife who seemed to have calmed down some and was looking up at Zack, a wobbly smile on her face.
"It's good to finally meet you, Zack." Her voice was hoarse from crying. Her eyes were puffy and the bloodshot veins in her eyes made her blue eyes stand out more.
"I wish it were under better circumstances." Zack muttered, looking down at his leather shoe clad feet.
"Hush now." The mother of the soldier said as she led Zack to Tom to see who he was. They exchanged greetings, and it was after when the mother and father of fallen soldier walked away to see to a few last-minute details that Zack dropped a bomb on Tom.
"Lieutenant Harvey was the one in the worse condition out of all of the soldiers, he was airlifted first, got medical help, but when he got here… the injuries were too severe and he was put into a medically induced coma but succumbed to his injuries a few days after I got back home." Zack looked into Tom's eyes, there was so much pain in his eyes that Tom couldn't help but hug Zack close.
The funeral was more emotional, Zack actually had tears streaming silently down his face.
After the funeral, Tom expected them to do the usual routine of staying at the grave and stories being told, but Zack gently grabbed Tom's hand and lead him through the graveyard, deeper into the cemetery to the older headstones.
Tom looked at the dates of the headstones, slowly he realized that the age they were going back to was approximately the same age as his own dad. It then hit him like a ton of bricks, it suddenly made sense to him now.
They stopped at a headstone; dog-tags were resting over the one arm of the white cross. Tom read the name out loud.
"Javier Velez." Zack reached out and touched the headstone.
"I knew who my parents were from the start." Zack said as he sat down in front of the headstone. Tom sat beside him and looked from the headstone back to Zack, back and forth.
"Where's your mom?"
Zack gave a grunting noise before he started to pick at the grass. His face held the look of a blank statue, hard and cold.
"Died in a car crash a few months after my dad died." Zack looked at Tom and gave a deep gut cleansing sigh before he leaned into him, Tom wrapping his arm around Zack.
"I had… have an aunt that was
never really accepting of me, as were the rest of my mom's side of the family, dad's part wasn't better. Both families disapproved of their relationship. So, they both made sure to put in both their wills that I would never go to any of them. I'm not sure what kind of person I would have become had I gone to them." Zack clenched a fist.
"My dad loved being in the army, loved serving his country. I was five when the men from the army came. It was a lot like today, cold and was on and off rain all day. The news broke my mom. She loved my dad so much and having him gone really broke her spirit for a while. I guess I was the only thing keeping her going, but we didn't have enough money, so she started to work three jobs to keep us afloat." Tom's stomach dropped.
"I was at the neighbor's house, the lady there babysat me when my mom worked and that's where the police and CPS found me. I… ran away." Zack sighed and looked into Tom's eyes, the sad look in them still there. Raising his hand, Tom gently stroked Zack's cheek, his thumb rubbing over the apple of his cheek.
"They found me eventually, and I was so scared I was going to go to my aunt's but they assured me that I wouldn't. That's how I got into the foster care system, I moved to a different orphanage. It was that Orphanage that I met my future parents and shortly after that, I met the love of my life." Zack was still holding eye contact when Zack uttered the words that made his heart skip multiple beats, and without missing a beat himself, Tom grasped the back of Zack's neck and kissed him hard.
"I love you too." Tom whispered against Zack's lips. Zack smiled and gave one last sweet kiss before looking back at the gravestone.
"Does your… old family know what happened?" Tom asked, slightly hesitantly. Zack rubbed his upper arms and sighed.
"When my mom passed away, my aunt wanted to have guardianship over me. She fought my parents' lawyer when it came out that I was to go into the foster system instead of family. There was a huge court fight and all that but both my parents made sure that if something were to happen to them, that there would be enough grounds and evidence that proved that I wouldn't be well looked after if I went to them. It was enough and I lost contact with them as they moved me to a different state. Seeing as they were not to know where I was, I think they just gave up." Zack groaned as he stood up and held out his hand to help Tom sit up.
"Do you ever want to get in touch with them? I mean, they are your blood family after all…" Tom asked, curious himself what they would think of Zack now.
"No, they may be a link to my parents, but they never accepted me, so why would I accept them? I have a family I adore and friends who love me for me and someone I plan on spending the rest of my life with." Zack's tone of voice was that of someone who was stating concrete facts. It warmed Tom's heart to the core, he smiled and wrapped his arm around Zack's waist.
Once they got home, they made their way to Zack's home as his bed was bigger, so they tended to sleep there.
John was sitting at the dining room, going through mail as he normally did, doing taxes and such. When he saw the two, he smiled at them and held a letter addressed to Zack without saying a word. It had the army insignia on it.
Both men sat down at the table, John and Tom watched as Zack opened the letter with quick hands, it had a single letter in it. Zack's golden-brown eyes moved left to right multiple times. As he read, Zack's eyes began to grow in surprise.
"What is it? Is it bad news?" John sat forward with a frown on his head and his shoulders tense. They relaxed when Zack shook his head negative.
"The army… is giving me a full scholarship to study engineering further." Zack said this, all with shock coloring his voice. His eyes landed on his father.
"I had told Commander Carter that I planned on studying engineering. He must have called in a favor or something… It's a full scholarship to any school of my choosing." The letter was gently placed on the tabletop, Zack took out his phone and tapped it a few times.
"Hey, Commander." Zack greeted with a grin on his face. John and Tom could just hear a faint murmur from the phone.
"Thanks… Carter…" Zack sounded like he had to talk with a lump in his throat.
The phone was placed down next to the letter.
"It was Carter that talked to brass and told them that it was the least they could do. They agreed." Zack said with a wobbly smile. His eyes glassy, and soon he was laughing softly, both hands covering his face, elbows resting on the table.
John looked at Tom and softly explained that they couldn't afford to send Zack to the excellent university in their city. They were more than willing to take a loan but Zack refused. Now he could go to a great university and study engineering like he wanted.
It didn't take long for Zack to get accepted into the university of his choice. Life was good to them, they both took their studies seriously and got good grades, they grounded each other. When one went a bit too hard in studying, practically burning themselves out, the other would step in and distract the other with either food, movies or sex.
The holiday season was soon upon them. Some of the families had moved away, leaving houses open for new families with young children. Halloween was first to show its spooky face. The whole Cul-de-sac went all-in on decorating the homes and holding parties. Making sure that they had stocked up on enough candies to feed a hoard of young zombies, witches, ghosts, and all other beasties they dressed up as.
Thanksgiving was next to appear on the calendar, ringed in a red circle. Brenda and Tom spend the day before and the next day on making a delicious thanksgiving dinner, succulent turkey with all the trimmings. With family and friends around the table, eating and drinking merrily.
Christmas brought with it heavier snowfall and the ever so familiar panic of Christmas gifts. Zack had been near to pulling hair out after coming home from the mall in a vain attempt at finding a gift for Tom.
It was a block or so away from the Cul-de-sac when he noticed a house for rent. It wasn't big, Zack could probably pay for it with his salary from working at his dad's shop full time while studying. His father was obviously more understanding. It gave him fewer hours for the same work as the other workers, but they didn't mind as they all watched him grow up.
Tom had also started a small table-waiting job to make extra cash.
The idea caused a lightbulb moment for Zack, he slowed down and stopped in front of the house just as someone came out of the house. It was a woman in her late thirties, a stylish pantsuit and her hair in loose curls. She looked up and smiled at Zack as he got out of his house.
"Hello, are you interested in the house?" She asked Zack as he locked his car, eyes still more locked onto the house itself.
It was a standard two-story home, American style with soft cream wall paneling, white door and window frames with a deep green door with a half-moon window. It was perfect so far. It made his heart skip a beat with the idea of living with Tom on a more permanent basis.
"Yes, I'm very much interested. Can I look inside?" The woman smiled and gestured for Zack to follow her inside. The house was small, but for just two students, it was just right. It had a good-sized kitchen for Tom to dabble in, a study big enough for two desks so they could study. Two bedrooms but the master was bigger, the other clearly a guestroom. Downstairs and upstairs bathroom. It was well kept and didn't need any fixing.
"How much?"
The woman smiled and led him to the kitchen to talk about writing up a contract. When Zack came home and told his parents they were sad to realize that their son would soon be leaving the house, but they were happy for him and said that they would cover the deposit and help moving. Zack failed to get them to reconsider.
Christmas came with a snow day, huddled up in blankets, they all had come to the Mason's home as they had the biggest living room. The tree was decorated in warm golds and reds. The area underneath was stuffed to the brim with colorfully wrapped boxes and a few odd-shaped lumps.
After a lush Christmas breakfast, they all gathered to open presents. There were a few funny gag gifts and
some gifts that couldn't be opened yet as the Christmas dinner had friends and family coming over. The bigger presents were left for then. There was a small box that had many wondering what it could be.
Soon the sun began to fall, the guests started to show up bringing wine and gifts. John's sister came, Greg was ordered to come too as it was a family event.
The house was filled with soft playing Christmas music, clinking glasses and laughter. Zack had avoided Greg all night, he didn't have anything to say to him. Unfortunately, Greg managed to corner Zack where he was softly talking to Tom about the car he was working on at his dad's shop.
"Zack, can we talk?" Greg shivered when the moody light of the room created stark shadows on Zack's face, illuminating his golden-brown colored eyes.
"What could we have to talk about? You made it clear that I'm a stray. I'm not really part of the family. You made your opinion pretty clear and anything you have to say, I won't put it past aunty to have threatened you to make amends. Still, I highly doubt that it's what you want to do so till the day you really want to apologize, you know where to find me." Zack didn't bother to lower his voice, but he didn't yell either, sadly everyone still heard.
It didn't dull the night though as dinner was soon eaten and plates were carried into the kitchen.
With everyone squeezed and packed tightly into the living room. The presents were handed out one by one, each person was given their gift at random until only a small box remained. Zack was left holding it and looking at Tom with a smile.
"I didn't know what to get you at first, nothing seemed right. When I was driving home, I passed this place. It was a little place with a lot of potential." Zack looked deeply into Tom's eyes before he grinned.
"I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want…" Zack took a deep breath and gently lifted the lid off the small box and revealed a set of keys with a spatula key-chain hanging from it.
Zack lifted them to dangle them between Zack and Tom.