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Riding the Waves By: Sean Roberts
-- Chapter 14 --
Dylan and Tyler turned towards the door, expecting Tyler's parents. They were almost relieved to see Alice instead. She composed herself quickly, stepped into the room and closed the door.
"How did you get in here?" Tyler asked.
"Your parents let me in. You really should lock the door if you're going to—never mind. I'm going to let you two get dressed before we have this conversation," she said. She turned to face the door and took out her phone. Dylan and Tyler got out of bed quickly. Tyler grabbed him a towel; they wiped themselves off and dressed.
"Okay," Tyler said. Alice turned around, her face not betraying an emotion.
She looked at Dylan. "Would you kindly get the fuck out of here so I can talk to my boyfriend?" Dylan did not reply. His eyes widened and he looked at Tyler.
"He can't exactly go. My parents don't know he's here, and—"
"Of course they don't," Alice said. She walked to the desk and sat down, crossing her legs and sitting back in Tyler's chair. "Well, I'll just wait here while you do whatever you were planning on to get him out of here." Tyler cleared his throat. He went downstairs with Dylan. Luckily, nobody who was home was moving around. He announced to whoever would listen that he needed to get something from his car, and left the house with Dylan.
"You were right," Dylan said to Tyler.
"About what?"
"When you said that you were happy until you fucking met me."
"I've had a chance to rethink that statement," Tyler said. "Anyway, you should be happy. The opportunity to tell Alice about college seems to have presented itself."
"I don't know how to be happy about that. Alice must be devastated. And Lisa's going to be as well. I guess I'd better tell her before Alice does."
"That's not a bad idea."
"Good luck."
"You too."
--
When he called her, Dylan was hoping she would be busy, that there would be something that could delay him seeing her. Instead, she told him that her parents were not home, so not only could she see him, but they would have privacy.
They were sitting on her bed; Dylan took a deep breath and blurted it out. "I'm gay, and so is Tyler, and we've been seeing each other. I'm really sorry." She stared at him for a moment, taking it in. Then she slapped him, hard.
"You're a fucking asshole," she said. "You didn't have to let things get this far before you decided to tell me. Plus, how can you be gay? You and I have, you know..."
"I'm more half and half," Dylan said, looking down at the floor.
"So this whole time you were trying to make a decision about who you liked better?" Lisa caught on quick. She was a smart girl, and that made this all that much harder. Dylan really did like her a lot.
"No! It isn't like that at all. We just decided not to pursue anything, and not to tell anyone. We just—I guess that changed. Lisa you have no idea how bad I feel about this. I know how much I fucked up. I never wanted to hurt you."
"Fuck, what is wrong with me?" she said. "I'm not even angry. I still love you."
"Y-you what?"
"Forget it. Get out of my house Dylan. Don't ever, ever talk to me again."
"I'm sorry Lisa," he said again. He stood up and walked out of her room. After he left her driveway, he called Tyler and they met at their coffee shop.
"How did it go?" Dylan asked him. He did not give him a chance to reply. "Lisa was pretty upset. She told me that she loves me, which she's never said before, and then she told me to never talk to her again. That's to be expected, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be."
"Then I guess I'm lucky that I don't have to go through it. Alice and I are still together."
"What?" Dylan said, his face turning red.
"Just for appearances sake, until the end of the semester. And for prom of course."
"I see," Dylan said.
"I never would have agreed to it, but I don't really think I have a choice under the circumstances."
"No, guess not," Dylan said. "Umm, so can you and I—"
"As long as we don't tell anyone and don't get caught, she says she doesn't care what we do." Dylan smiled, but the arrangement did not last. Two weeks later, they were back at their coffee shop.
--
"We've got to go on a date tonight," Tyler said.
"Aren't we on a date right now?" Dylan said.
"I mean with Alice and Lisa. Lisa wants to start fake dating you again, including prom. The four of us are going out tonight."
"That won't be awkward at all. Why are you just telling me now?" Tyler did not answer; Dylan rolled his eyes.
Dylan drove up to Lisa's driveway, his heart pounding. At that moment, he would have killed to be anywhere else. She came out of her house, her red hair flowing behind her in the gentle breeze.
"Hey," he said nervously.
"Hey yourself," she said, smiling.
"Umm, how are you doing?"
"Pretty shitty, actually," she said, continuing to smile. "And you?"
"Me? Oh, I'm, umm, ok." His hand squeezed the gearshift tightly as she put her hand over it.
"Yeah," she said. "I can see that." He started the car. She took her hand off his and allowed him to shift into reverse. He drove quickly to try to avoid conversation; he did not know what to say to her. After a quiet drive, Dylan looked around for Tyler's car at the restaurant. They had not arrived yet.
"So how's..." Dylan started to say after they had sat down. He did not know how to finish the question; he did not know how to make small talk with her.
"Everything is fine, Dylan. I've been thinking about this a lot, and I know that none of this has been easy for you either. You didn't have to handle it the way you did, but—"
"I love you too," Dylan blurted out. His face was red and he felt his throat going dry. "I never would been able to let things go as far as they did if I didn't love you. It's just that I love him too."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I don't know. I guess I need you to understand why I did this to you."
"I do understand, Dylan. You're a dick. You hurt me, but you're making it up to me by allowing this to continue until we graduate. We're going to different schools anyway, do you think this would have lasted?"
"I don't know. I didn't really think about it."
"It doesn't look like you think very much. But we're going to continue to spend time with each other over the next little while, so do try to enjoy yourself a little bit." Dylan nodded. He still did not know how to speak with her. His mouth was dry, and he took a long sip of water. Tyler and Alice came in a few minutes later.
Lisa made a joke which made them all laugh. All of them, incredibly, had a fun dinner (the wine helped with that too). Since the secrets had come out into the open, they were able to talk like old friends.
Then there was a familiar shouting. Everybody in the restaurant turned to see two men in suits, standing at their table, shouting with fingers pointed at each other.
"What the fuck," Tyler said with surprising calmness. He took a large sip of his wine. The two men were Paul Lewis and Jonathan Harris, shouting at each other with loud voices. Jonathan stormed off through the restaurant, towards the exit, and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his son.
"What are you doing here with him?" Jonathan yelled at Tyler. Paul was looking over, and walked quickly towards them.
"Dylan!" Paul said. "What on earth—" The restaurant host caught up to them again and was about to intervene.
"I think we'd better go," Dylan said, ignoring his father and looking at his friends.
"I think that's a good idea," Tyler replied. "Thanks for taking care of dinner dad." The four of them stood up and left the restaurant quickly.
--
Dylan's father was waiting. He called his son into his office. Dylan did not look at his dad, instead staring out at the white lights shimmering in the pool.
"After everything I've told you about what's been going on, you're actually friends with him?" Paul said to his son.
"Our girlfriends are friends with each other dad. And Tyler's captain of the swim team. So yes, I have to spend time with him occasionally. And you embarrassed the hell out of me. Whatever feud you have going on here, it isn't my problem." Dylan waited for his father to start yelling again, but he did not. Instead, he was excused, which was as close to a you're right as he was going to get. His eyes rolled as he left his father's study. Dylan went up to his bedroom, sparked a joint and turned on a movie on his laptop. He fell asleep halfway through.
There was a commotion. The doorbell rang frantically, accompanied by loud knocking that seemed to shake the house. This was followed by the sound of Dylan's fathers' loud, booming voice yelling "what the hell are you doing here!" He decided to get up and see what was going on, but instead he fell asleep again. His mother's voice woke him again a few moments later.
Tyler was covered in sweat and his hair was matted to his face. His face was covered in purple swells and blood, much of which had dried on his clothes. Paul did not seem to have noticed this; he was arguing with Maggie about letting him inside.
"Dad, what's the matter with you!" Dylan shouted. Paul and Maggie stopped arguing and looked at their son. Dylan glared back at them until Maggie led Paul away. Tyler was standing in the doorway staring straight ahead, not saying anything.
"Tyler, what the hell," Dylan said, taking his arm and guiding him inside the house. Dylan took Tyler upstairs to his bedroom and sat him on the bed. He went to his bathroom and fetched towels and warm water. He took them back, and gently wiped Dylan's face. There was a knock on the door—Maggie with two mugs of hot chocolate.
"Thanks mom," Dylan said.
"Is he alright? What happened?" she said, peering into the room and looking concerned.
"I don't know," Dylan whispered. "I'll find out, okay?" Maggie nodded. Dylan handed Tyler the hot chocolate. Tyler took a sip, and this seemed to snap him out of his trance.
"What happened?" Dylan asked.
"I told my dad," Tyler replied.
"About college?"
"And about you."
"About me?"
"Well not you specifically. I told him I'm gay. I didn't mention you at all. He didn't take it well."
"Fuck, Tyler. Does your dad always—"
"No! Never. Well, almost never. And definitely not this badly. He just lost control. I guess he didn't know a better way to react."
"I should say not."
"I'm sorry I came here. Your dad—"
"My dad is just going to have to deal with it. Here." Tyler took out a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt from his dresser drawers. "There's towels in the bathroom. Go get cleaned up while I deal with my parents." Tyler nodded.
Dylan found his parents sitting in the kitchen.
"His dad did that to him," Dylan said. "His grades haven't been very good, and he told his dad that he isn't getting into college. And also that he's gay." Maggie and Paul looked uncomfortable. "He's staying here, for as long as he needs to," Dylan added sternly before turning around to walk away.
"Wait," Paul said. "Yes, of course he can stay." Dylan turned around to face his father.
"Look, uh, thanks. I guess this is as good a time as any so here goes. I'm gay too. Well, bi actually. But whatever." They looked uncomfortable again. Paul's face started to turn red, and Maggie took a deep breath.
"Well if you think I'm going to hit you, you've got another thing coming," Paul said. "Go take care of your friend." Dylan walked towards his father and threw his arms around him. Paul patted his son's back.
"Thanks dad," Dylan whispered.
--
Tyler ran a hand through his damp hair as he looked at himself in Dylan's mirror.
"These definitely look better on me than on you," Tyler said as Dylan walked back into his bedroom. "How's your dad?" he said, turning around.
"He's fine." Dylan sat down on his bed, and Tyler sat next to him.
"He started yelling at me, when we got home, you know, about the dinner thing," Tyler said. "And he asked me what I was thinking having dinner with you, and I just told him. I'm tired of lying."
"Me too. I told my dad just now."
"What did you tell him?"
"That I'm bi. He seems to be okay." Tyler leaned forward and kissed Dylan. "He said you could stay here for as long as you need to."
"Thanks. I'm sorry I just showed up. I didn't know where else to go."
"I'm glad you did," Dylan replied. He kissed Tyler. Everything that happened that evening slipped away from his mind. He felt Tyler flinch as he touched his hair, aggravating one of the bruises. The doorbell rang, and they heard Jonathan Harris' voice.
"Where the fuck is he!" Dylan ran downstairs to see what was happening.
"Now just calm down John!" Paul said. "I didn't call you over here so you could—"
"Oh shove it up your arse Paul," Jonathan yelled.
"Dad what the hell is he doing here?" Dylan piped in. They both glared at him.
"I called him," Paul said. "To find out what the hell happened." He turned back to Jonathan. "You are not going to lay another hand on that boy, do you hear me? Or so help me I'm going to kill you."
The two men were staring at each other, breathing heavily, both of their faces red. And then Tyler came down the stairs.
"Dad?" he said. Jonathan looked up, past Paul to see his son climbing down the stairs.
"Come on Tyler, we're going home," he said sternly.
"Johnathan, he's not going anywhere with you," Paul said.
"Stay out of it Lewis," he said.
"Tyler," Paul said. "You're staying here with us for as long as you need to. At least until I've had a chance to knock some sense into your father here!"
"It's ok Mr. Lewis. I'll go, it'll be fine. I need to talk to him anyway."
"You can talk in the living room, but you're not going anywhere. We'll just be in the next room, understood?"
"Sure Mr. Lewis, thanks," Tyler said. Jonathan continued to glare at Paul, but finally saw that he wold not get his way. Dylan went into the kitchen with his parents.
"Thanks Dad," Dylan said. Paul nodded to his son. Dylan sat down at the table with his parents, the three of them listening intently for any sign of trouble. When Tyler came back to the kitchen, he had the same look on his face as when he had arrived at the house in the first place.
"Tyler..." Dylan said.
"My dad's gone home. He said he was sorry. And he said we need to talk to mom, and he's kind of right. I really should go"
"If your dad tries to do anything else, you come straight back here after you call the cops. Do you understand me?" Paul said firmly, standing up.
"Yes sir. Thank you Mr. Lewis," Tyler said.
--
At summer's end, most of the six friends parted ways for different states and different colleges. Tyler managed to get into another school in Boston. Though it was still summer, the Boston temperature was cooler than that of California, and Tyler let out a shiver as they left the airport together. They had all been together the day before—the three boys and the three girls—their last time riding the waves together. They promised to see each other when they came back home to visit their families, the ocean holding their friendship until their return.
Dylan was in their new apartment, his back turned to the door as he was putting away clothes in his dresser. He felt a hand close around the back of his neck, and then he was pushed forward into the drawers. Another arm wrapped around him and held his chest as he felt lips on his neck. He breathed deeply and smiled as the kiss sent shivers through his body. He turned around and lost himself in piercing, hazel eyes.
The End
-- Other stories I've written:
http://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/highschool/missing-piece-of-a-piano/
http://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/highschool/wilted-petals/
http://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/highschool/silver-compass/