New Kid
Chapter Five
“So you went on a date with Keith? You mean a real date?”
“Shut up, Mikey.”
“But Brian, that’s just so cool—I mean what did you do? Did he pick you up and did you go out to dinner and all that? Jesus—what did your parents say?”
“Just shut the fuck up about it, OK? I mean it, I don’t want to talk about it.”
They were sitting together on the lawn during lunch period on Thursday, Brian’s eye was back to normal and his mouth was healed, too. He was mentally kicking himself that he’d admitted to Mikey that the reason he didn’t answer the phone on Saturday was because he’d been out with Keith. He had managed to steer the conversation away from the whole thing all week, but he was having trouble dodging it any longer. Besides, part of him wanted to talk about it. He was also wishing that Mikey would disappear in case Keith came by.
The two boys, Brian and Keith, had spoken on the phone after they’d both gone to their respective homes after the movie, talking about what a good time they’d had, the make out session in the balcony. Keith confessed that he’d been worried that Brian’s parents might have waited up for him, that he might have had more trouble, but Brian assured him that they were both passed out by the time he’d gotten back.
“You know, if you ever need a place to get away, you can come here. No shit. There’s lots of room and you wouldn’t be hassled or anything.”
“…That’s really great of you, but I couldn’t…”
“Yeah, you could.”
Brian was taken aback by the offer. Sure, he’d walked into Mikey’s house a couple of weeks ago, but he’d at least been introduced to his mother and Mikey and his Mom—they were, shit—they were blue collar and living from paycheck to paycheck, too. They knew about this kind of thing. They understood. And they knew about kids getting beat up.
“I wouldn’t—I mean, I don’t think I could…”
“Hey—Bri. I want you safe. OK? I want you around for a long time.”
“Brian? Hey, Brian.”
He came back to the school lawn from his daydream. Shit, he’d never met someone like Keith before. Tall, handsome, smart, popular, team captain and he liked a punkass freshman.
Damn.
“What did you say?”
“I asked if you wanted to come over after school today.”
“I have practice.”
“I know that. I asked if you could help me with my math after practice and then stay for dinner.”
“Oh—yeah, sure.” He bit into his daily apple. “I just have to be home by like eight.”
“Curfew?”
“Yeah, sort of.” Keith said he’d call about then. The bell rang; they had three minutes to get to class. “I’ll meet you at my locker after I’m done.”
At practice that afternoon, Keith and Brian ran wind sprints together, the coach pulling Brian aside and asking him if he had thought about the winter track team. Flattered, Keith promised that he’d tell him all about it, he was on it himself and that Brian was a natural.
The glow lasted for hours.
At Mikey’s house he realized again the lack of tension compared to his own home. It wasn’t like it was difficult or anything—the phrase ‘like day and night’ occurred to him.
They got soda, watched some TV and went over the homework Mikey was having trouble with and that Brian had understood since he was like eleven.
“Hey Brian? You like comics?” Brian was about to snark back a snide comment when he caught the look on the other’s face.
“Yeah, they’re OK. You like them?”
“…Well, yeah—When I was like seven or something like that I was at the store with my Mom and I saw this Captain Astro comic? I think it was number seventy-four when he and Galaxy Lad have to save the world because Mars has slipped off its course and is heading to Earth? Anyway, I actually stole the thing and brought it home.”
“You stole the thing?”
“Yeah, but I felt so guilty that I took it back.”
Brian looked at him, amused. “Mikey, that’s pathetic.”
They sat in silence for a minute.
“So, did you and Keith kiss?”
“I’m not telling you that, asshole.”
Michael laughed at him. “You did, didn’t you? You did. You are sooo busted.”
“Shut up, Mikey.”
“You like him, don’t you? C’mon—you really like him, right?”
Brian didn’t say anything, just smiled to himself.
“He’s totally hot, Brian. He’s like the best at everything—he’s smart and he’s captain of like three teams and he’s got a great bod and he’s even a nice guy.” Michael drank some of his coke. “You so lucky, Brian.”
Brian caught where this was going. “You’ll meet someone, Mikey. You’ll see.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
They heard the door slam; the spring had broken a year ago. “Michael?” She walked into the living room, “Hi Brian, you staying for dinner, sweetie? I just have to heat up the lasagna.”
As far as Brian was concerned, lasagna came frozen from Swanson in an aluminum tray. He was leery of this homemade stuff.
“That would be great, Mrs. Novatny. Thanks.”
Half an hour later she called them to come down from where Michael had been showing Brian his boxes of comics. To his credit, he neither laughed at nor made fun of his new friend, hiding that he found the things pretty stupid. Mikey, ecstatic, preened with happiness at having someone to show them to.
The meal, to Brian’s amazement was better than anything he’d tasted, probably in his life. Usually the dinners at his house were either burned or raw, sometimes still frozen and often simply missing altogether. He had become adept at finding his own meals, though he would never enjoy cooking or become good at it. Food at his house was something to be consumed quickly, generally alone and never a source of pleasure.
Here, they sat down together, talked about how their days had gone, what had happened, what hey would be doing tomorrow. One person would talk, the other would listen—it was the way families were like on TV, if you ignored the fact that there was no father and the kid was gay.
It was quarter to eight.
“Thank you Mrs. Novatny. That was really good.” It was as demonstrative as Brian could get with people he didn’t know all that well yet. Debbie seemed to understand that.
Mikey walked him to the door. “Brian? You really like him, don’t you?”
He actually blushed, the only time Michael would see that. “Yeah.”
Mikey closed the door as he walked down the front steps. He was happy for Brian; really he was, if only… Well, Keith would be graduating in June, would go off to college, then maybe…
An hour later the phone rang in the upstairs hall, Brian carried it into his room, the long cord allowing him to share it with his sister.
“Hello?”
“Hey. I was hoping that you’d answer.”
Brian spoke before his shyness could take over. “I was hoping that you’d call.”
“Well, I said that I would, you twat. I was talking to Wilkins after you left—he thinks that you might make all-state this year. If you did that you’d be the first freshman in the school to do it.”
“Yeah, right. We haven’t even had our first game yet, you don’t really know if I can play.”
“No—we’ve been watching you in practice, you’re already first string.”
He lay back on his bed, smiling at the compliments. “Bullshit, Keith, the starting team hasn’t been announced yet.”
“It hasn’t been announced yet but you’re on it. I was talking to Wilkins and he said so.” There was a pause while Keith swallowed something. “Anyway, I was wondering if you’d like to come with me tomorrow.”
“What’s tomorrow?”
“I have to drive to my grandmother’s to pick up some stuff. You want to take a ride?”
“You mean after school?” Brian didn’t want to miss practice.
“Right…hey, it’s OK, practice is called because the coach’s have to go to some county meeting, everyone’s getting a call about it tonight.”
“I guess so. Will we be back late?” Like his parents would give a crap.
“Well, here’s the thing. I was sort of thinking that we might just stay over at her house. She’s out in Gettysburg and she’d like the company.”
“Shit, Keith, I mean stay with your grandmother? Won’t she wonder who I am?”
Keith was laughing. “Jesus, you are such a twat, I fucking swear. You’re a friend. That’s all, no big deal.”
“Well…”
“She has this great apartment over the garage, it’s all self contained and we can stay there.” He took a breath, his voice dropping. “Please, Bri? Just you and me, OK?”
His voice dropped just as low. “I’d like that.”
“Great, Bri. OK, after school we’ll swing by your house to get your stuff and then we’ll head out.”
Brian had goose bumps on his arms. They would be alone in the car both ways driving and they’d have a whole night together in some private place. “OK…Keith?”
“Yeah?”
“This will be really good, won’t it?”
“This is going to be fabulous. I’ll see you in school tomorrow. Later.”
“Later.”
That night Brian agonized over what shirts he would take, which pair of jeans, or should he go with the chinos? He tried to find underwear that wasn’t too old and socks without holes. He would have worried about the brand of toothpaste if he hadn’t noticed that he and Keith used the same kind. He barely slept and when he did he woke time and again. He was up and dressed by six thirty, at school by seven. With nothing to do, he went to the library and read some of his English assignment, his eyes going to the window every thirty seconds to see when Keith’s car pulled in.
He didn’t hear anything any of his teachers said during any of his classes and it was only because he was ahead of the class that he was able to ace the AP Bio test.
By one thirty he was practically counting the seconds and convinced that the school’s electricity was faulty, the only explanation as to why the clock hands were going so slowly.
Finally, finally, the bell rang, they were free to go.
He got his things from his locker, stowed his books and taking out a small gym bag holding his change of clothes and things for the night. He was out at Keith’s car as the older boy was unlocking the door.
“Hey.”
“Hey. We’ll stop at you house and go, right?”
“I thought it would be quicker of if we didn’t have to stop, so I brought my stuff with me. Is that alright?” He was suddenly afraid that he’d overstepped the mark, that he had assumed too much.
“Get in.”
Shit, he had, he had been too pushy and Keith was pissed. Shit. Fuck.
Chastised, he sat in the passenger’s seat, Keith beside him seeing the crestfallen expression.
“Bri?”
“Yeah?” His eyes were on his lap.
“Hey. C’mere.”
He looked over. Keith leaned towards him and, heedless of who might see, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Are you mad?”
He smiled. “I didn’t want to stop either. Shit, Bri—I could hardly sleep last night thinking about tonight and spending all this time together with no one to bother us. Christ—I had to jerk off like four times so I wouldn’t turn blue.”
They shared a relieved laugh. “I beat off, too. I kept thinking about you.”
“OK, this is going to be good.”
Neither of them noticed the two people who had seen the kiss. Michael watched, thinking that they looked like they fit together, like they belonged together and Mark Chay hoped that what he saw was some shitty joke—a hazing or something.
He didn’t want to think that Keith was a fag.
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