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----- A Drink with a Stranger By: Sean Roberts -----
-- Chapter 6 --
Lane woke up in the late afternoon and realized he needed to do two things—make things up to his brother, and give Ellis a proper thank you. He found Taylor studying and threw a pair of swimming trunks onto Taylor's desk. Taylor looked up and smiled. Lane did not swim laps; Taylor was not trying to improve his soccer game. They played like they did when they were kids, before high school ushered a wave of responsibility and teenage problems onto them. They splashed each other, tried to drown each other, and chased each other out of the water, diving back in after one another, laughing.
--
Lane had no intention of meeting with Ellis sober. It was enough that he had to deal with the jock encroaching on his territory. He wished it had been anybody but Ellis saving his bacon the night of the party.
Ellis was sitting on the couch in the office, his legs crossed, his precisely cut blazer hugging his body. Ellis' clothes were always crisp; his hair was perfect. He even had a pen in his hand.
"All the past issues are up there," Lane said. "We report on whatever happened in soccer, and then there's some boring stuff like the cafeteria menus. My favourite is the short stories and poems that students submit. Really, we just put it together every week pulling the best out of what everybody submits. The literary stuff has to be pretty polished. Any articles we can edit. I basically pick, choose and edit on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Thursdays I lay it out so that I can print them for Friday. I'll show you how to access the email account. We can talk on Tuesdays about which submissions we want to go in it. Sound easy enough?"
"Sounds great," Ellis said. Letting Ellis join the paper was the only way Lane had been able to think of thanking him. After starting to work with him, it turned out that Ellis was quiet and worked hard. But still, he was there; Lane's sanctuary was gone.
It was a rainy day full of classes and Lane had woken up in a bad mood. It was not for any particular reason, but it spawned a number of unpleasant things in the morning. He stubbed his toe on his way to the bathroom; he could not concentrate in math and for some reason he kept passing Victoria in the hallway, who gave him a satisfied smirk every time (she was ahead in the GPAs at the time). He finally had a spare period, and he rushed over to the Hunter's office.
"Hey," Lane said brusquely. Ellis was sitting at a desk, his blazer hugging his body, his fountain pen poised in his hand. Ellis stopped working and looked up at Lane to say hello; to ask him how he was doing. It was this sort of thing that made Lane regret allowing anybody else to be a part of the paper. He did not really want to have to talk to someone every time he needed a drink.
"You drink a lot," Ellis said as Lane poured two glasses of scotch.
"Yeah, and?"
"Wouldn't it be good to lay off a bit?"
Lane shot Ellis a look of pure anger, but put the drink down in front of him. Ellis smiled at him, ignored the glass and returned to his work. They sat quietly for the next hour, both boys doing their work, Lane slowly sipping his drink. They were both pulled out by a knock on the door. Lane opened it to find Taylor. Ellis smoothly moved the glasses out of sight.
"Ready to go home?" Taylor said. "Oh, hey Ellis!"
"Watch out," Ellis said to Taylor. "He's in a bad mood."
"He's always in a bad mood," Taylor said.
"I know. What's with that?" Ellis said. Lane regarded them both sternly.
"He's adopted," Taylor said. "I mean, mom and dad say he isn't, but I don't really believe them."
"Gotcha," Ellis said. "Well, I'll see you guys around then."
"Hey, Ellis, why don't you come hang out for a while?" Taylor said. "We've got a pool you know."
"I'm sure Ellis has better things to do," Lane said, not wanting to spend any more time with Ellis than he had to.
"Actually, I don't really," Ellis said. "I was just going to hang out with Finn."
"Well bring him too! It'll be awesome!" Taylor said.
"You know, mom and dad might—" Lane said.
"Don't be such a spoil sport," Taylor said.
"Yeah," Ellis said. "And don't worry about this stuff. I'll come in early tomorrow and get it printed. Come on T, you can ride with me."
"T?" Lane said. "We're calling him T now?"
"See you later bro," Taylor said. Lane rolled his eyes and stuffed his things into his knapsack. He got home first and told his parents about Taylor's plans. A few minutes later, they heard the front door open.
"Finn!" said Lane's mother. "I haven't seen you in a long time! Look at you!"
"Hi Mrs. Conway," Finn said, turning red. He smiled when she hugged him; he had probably missed spending time with Lane's family who always treated him like a son. Lane glanced at Ellis who was watching the exchange with his usual, serious expression. "It's nice to see you too Mrs. Conway."
"We saw you play," Lane's dad said, "the last time when we had come to watch Taylor. You're doing really well."
"Thanks Mr. Conway," Finn said, shaking his hand. Lane interjected by introducing Ellis to his parents.
"Well, you guys better get out to the pool while the sun's still out," Lane said.
"What about you?" Ellis said. "Aren't you coming with us?"
"I'm going to order pizza," Lane said. "I'll join you after that." Ellis nodded, and went outside with Taylor and Finn. Lane went up to his room to call for the pizza.
He returned to the backyard with a textbook and a notebook, and sat down on a lounge chair to get some studying done. He looked up as Ellis climbed out of the pool. Lane's breath caught in his throat as his eyes traced the line down the center of Ellis' body, down to his stomach, and the beginnings of the hair just above his trunks. Water dripped off Ellis' soccer hardened body. Lane's eyes moved back up quickly to meet Ellis'. Those soft, light brown eyes. Lane swallowed.
"You've got to be kidding me," Ellis said to Lane. "You're getting in here with us!"
"As much fun as that must be," Lane said blithely, remembering that he was not to be too friendly towards Ellis, "I really do have a lot to get done."
"Ellis! Lane! Come on!" Taylor called from the water. Lane had a much harder time saying no to his brother. He changed into his trunks and dove into the water.
They splashed around in the water for too long before sitting on the lounge chairs and eating pizza as the sky darkened. They talked about soccer as they ate, Lane not contributing much to the conversation, but finding that he was enjoying himself. They were all in a good mood, and there was a comforting feeling every time he heard Finn's voice. It had been a long time since Finn had been there with him. Over the last few years, Lane had developed a habit of ignoring Finn, and he was still doing it. Finn noticed, but did not push; he knew to allow Lane his space. When they finished eating, Taylor asked if anybody wanted to kick a ball around for a bit.
"I'll have to pass," Ellis said. "It's been a long day." Lane shook his head, but Finn enthusiastically agreed.
"You know," Lane said to Ellis when they were alone, "I don't think I ever thanked you properly for taking care of Taylor that day."
"Which day?"
"Finn's party. Well, and taking care of me too."
"I thought re-arranging your schedule so I could work on the paper was my thank you."
"No. That was just the right thing to do."
"Oh. It doesn't matter anyway, Lane. I'm sure you would have done the same for me. I mean, you did try, after I got thrown into the pool."
"Right," Lane said, his face turning red. He turned to Ellis and smiled. "Well, since I only tried, if there's anything I can actually do..."
"Why don't you buy me dinner," Ellis said. Lane's heart froze for a moment as he decided whether or not he heard that correctly. Ellis' fingers were fidgeting. Lane was nervous because, suddenly, as the possibility came up, he found himself wanting to have dinner with Ellis. "Never mind," Ellis said. "I was just kidding. You really don't have to."
"Sorry!" Lane said. "I was just having one of those moments. Let's have dinner. How about Saturday? I'll come to your place at seven."
"Great," Ellis said.
They walked out to the front yard to watch Finn and Taylor with the ball. Finn had his arm around Taylor's shoulder. They were in a bit of a huddle and Finn was showing him how to do something with the ball. Taylor was mesmerized; there was nothing else in the world for the boy at that moment. Lane used to feel the same way when he was with Finn. Lane brought them all ice cream bars. He handed one to Finn, and their hands touched as he passed it. There was no spark, but their eyes met. Finn tried to smile but Lane looked away, this time feeling like the betrayer.
--
As lane swam in the early morning, he came to the conclusion that his thoughts about the previous night were exaggerations. He was not, in any way, betraying Finn by going on a date. They had not been together for three years, and Finn was dating someone else, so why shouldn't Lane? He was not sure if they were even friends anymore.
This was all assuming that Lane and Ellis were going on a date. Ellis had not really given any indication that it was a date. It was just dinner. Ellis wanted to be friends; it was obvious from the way he practically invited himself over the evening before; the way he always talked to Lane in the Hunter's office. This is what people do; they make friends. They eat dinner and they watch movies and they play soccer. Lane was relieved. There was no way he could date a jock.
--
Ellis kept his word about going in early to finish off the Hunter and get it out to the stand in the foyer. Lane walked into the school and saw the copies—albeit in an unusually thin pile—on the stand. Had Ellis not printed enough? It did not matter—not that many students read it anyway. Maybe this was a good way to save some trees.
"There you are bro!" he heard someone say behind him. He turned around to see Finn, holding a copy of the Hunter. "What's the deal with the paper?"
"Wait, bro?" Lane said. "Since when do you call me that? And what are you talking about?" Finn furrowed his eyebrows. He had thick eyebrows, the same colour as his jet black hair which made his bright blue eyes stand out more. These were the eyes Lane had fallen into all those years ago of which he had not been able to climb out. Finn handed his copy to Lane.
"Finn!" Before looking at the paper, Lane saw Victoria Hamilton walking over, a stern expression on her face and a copy of the paper in her hand as well. The other students walking around all had copies as well. "Did you see this? Do you know what this means?" she said, completely ignoring Lane. Lane looked down at the paper.
Headline: Academic Dishonesty - Students Paying for Grade A Assignments. By: Ellis Walsh
"What the fuck?" Lane said to the paper. Victoria stopped talking; Lane looked up at them.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she said to Lane. "Do you realize that they will call into question everyone's grades because of this?" Lane smiled; he was not going to give Victoria the satisfaction of seeing that he was even more upset than she was.
"I'm calling your grades into question right now," Lane said to her. "Because obviously you can't read. Please take note," he said, pointing at the paper, "that this was written by Ellis Walsh."
"Thanks for clarifying that," she said. "You absolute, complete, moron. Aren't you part of this thing too? This is as much your fault—"
"Finn, call off the bitch, will you?" Lane said. He regretted it as soon as he said that. All of the anger disappeared from Victoria's face, and she looked like she was about to cry. She almost ran away.
"Shit," Finn said. "Dude, really?" Lane did not have time to engage with Finn over Victoria's hurt feelings. He walked swiftly towards the Hunter's office, hoping that Ellis would not be there. Luckily, he was alone. He poured himself a scotch, not giving any thought to the fact that it was only nine in the morning, and had a large sip before sitting down. Lane read the article carefully, every word making his heart beat faster and his stomach feel as if it would explode. Lane took a deep breath and another deep sip of his drink when he reached the end. There were no details; Ellis' article talked about it happening—students buying assignments from somewhere—but there were no details. Ellis did not know who was doing it; probably did not know who had been buying them either. Lane had a second, celebratory glass of scotch.