Paradise - Chapter 2
Usual Disclaimer Applies here, too!
Email: thefuturecanadian@yahoo.ca Yahoo group!: http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/futurecanadiansgroup.
Please enjoy chapter 2! If you have any questions, email me or join the yahoo group!
David :)
Paradise Chapter 2 "El Sabát"
It was 11:30 in the morning, and JD was resting peacefully in his room; Lindsay was still asleep in the spare room that she'd claimed the night before. Each of them was dreaming peacefully about things their subconscious wanted them to see. Both of their dreams were happy; both of them dreams made sleep that much easier and appealing.
Ascending the floors via the elevators were two women. The one on the right, when she stood next to her son, looked like little more than his shadow. She was in her mid-fifties, compared to his twenty-two years on the planet. His hair was still radiantly black, but she jokingly blamed him for the sprinkling of grey around her temples that she had to have covered with dye. Her eyes were dark and her skin was naturally olive colored, just like his. He was tall; she was short. Whereas he was calm and laid back, she was like the Chihuahua of the family. She barked and bit as necessary; she wasn't afraid of putting people in their place, but she was also kind and had a heart filled with charity and compassion.
The other woman had long black hair and wore glasses. She was a little more portly than the first, but other than that, they were two peas from the same pod. When they fought, people knew to stay out of the way. One difference was their choice in men. Maxima had been fortunate enough to find her soul mate quickly, but Lidia had been through a lot of men before finding `the one'. The one gave her a beautiful baby girl, but little more. In her pursuit of the perfect man, she'd gone through a pack of them. Her daughter bore the last name of her father, Cartieri, but she had long since lost the association with that brut of a man named Alfonse.
Climbing off the elevator at the right floor, the two women stepped out and turned to go into JD's unit. Maxima pulled out her key and let the two of them in. She smiled as she saw that little was out of place. If there was one thing about the paradox of JD, he usually kept things fairly organized. Lidia walked into the room that she knew her daughter was in; Maxima walked across the living room to JD's room.
She looked at her son sleeping peacefully. Fondly, she recalled all the times when he was a baby and a child when she would just go into his room to check on him. She would end up just sitting there and admiring the physical manifestation of that which was the product of her and her husband's love. As he lay there peacefully, she smiled. He was the amalgamation of his heritage. He had inherited a lot of her dominant features; however, his eyes were as radiantly blue as his father's. It always made her smile when people would tell her that if his eyes had come out brown, he would be indistinguishable from her father, a powerful man who had been taken from the world far earlier than he should have been.
In a moment, his eyes fluttered. She smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed next to him. He was lying on his left side, and his right arm was holding the covers over his naked body. He took a single deep breath, which let her know that he was coming around.
"Good morning, Mr. Sleepy," she said sweetly as she rubbed his arm.
"Morning, Mom," he said. He hadn't focused on her yet, but he recognized the way that her hand gently set on his arm. Her tactile energy was unmistakable.
"Having sweet dreams?"
"Yes," he said with a smile. "What time is it?"
"Quarter to noon," she answered.
"Oh no!" he said as he lifted his head. "Shit. I missed it..."
"It's OK," she said with a smile. "You had your own things going on."
"I'm so sorry, Mom," JD said as he sat up on the edge of the bed.
"It's alright. So did you have fun last night?"
"I did," JD said with a smile. "If you'll give me a few minutes to put on some shorts or something, I will tell you all about it."
Maxima smiled. It was truly good for her heart to see that JD was smiling. He hadn't smiled in a while; things had been weighing on his heart so much that the despair he was feeling was dragging him down into an abyss from which she was sure that it would take him some time to ascend anew. With her son's offer, though, she climbed from the side of the bed and walked out of his room. Lidia and Lindsay were sitting in the living room. Lindsay looked rough.
"So y'all had fun last night?" Maxima asked her niece as she walked over and hugged her.
"Aunt Max...we had too much fun!" Lindsay said as Lidia and Maxima smiled at each other.
JD emerged from the bedroom a moment later wearing a pair of shorts that hung around his hips. Unlike Lindsay, he was all smiles and seemingly full of energy. "So what happened last night?" Maxima asked as he sat next to her on the love seat.
"Well. We went to `The Heat'," Lindsay started, "and JD kissed his dude."
"Turned out he had a boyfriend," JD answered.
"Then we went to sing karaoke," Lindsay went on.
"And she made me sing this song called `Fuck the Men'," JD followed.
"And then, we went to the waffle house and JD met Tyler..." Lindsay joked.
"Is he hot?" Lidia asked.
"Very, Aunt Lid," JD smiled at Lindsay.
"Y'all do it?" Maxima asked as Lidia giggled.
"Mom!" JD blushed as Maxima and Lidia laughed aloud.
"Aunt Max, it was cute. JD and Tyler ended up sitting next to each other at the Awful Waffle, and then JD invited him over here so that they could watch the sunrise together."
"Awww..." Lidia said as Maxima rubbed her son's back.
"So what are you two doing this evening?" Maxima asked, changing the topic to one more comfortable for JD.
"I've not got anything going on," Lindsay answered.
"I've got a date," JD said.
"WHAT?" Lindsay asked. "You didn't tell me this!"
"Yeah," JD smiled. "I'm taking him out to dinner."
"Where to?" Maxima asked.
"I'm not telling, because you and Dad will show up," JD smiled as he looked at his mother.
"Damn. It was worth a shot!" Maxima noted as she and her son shared a look that said far more than the words they exchanged could say.
"OK. We're gonna be off," Maxima said after looking at her sister.
"I'm glad y'all stopped by," JD said as he and Lindsay stood to see their mothers off.
"Call me tomorrow, baby, and let me know how the date went," Maxima said as Lidia talked to Lindsay for a second.
"I'll do one better. I'll take a long break and come have lunch with you," JD promised.
"OK," Maxima smiled.
The two women left shortly thereafter; Lindsay, completely awake and unable to return to sleep, packed her things and left within a couple of hours of their mother. She wanted to give JD enough time to get ready for the date.
"Do you want me to help you get an outfit ready?" she asked.
"I think I can manage," JD said as they hugged one last time before Lindsay took her leave of her cousin's home en route to her own.
"OK. Call me tonight and let me know how it all goes," she said as JD walked her to the elevator.
"Alright," he said as she climbed onto the elevator on her way home.
Before JD realized it, five-thirty was upon him, and he was no where near being ready for Tyler's arrival. Jumping from the couch, he quickly ran into the bedroom and started pulling out clothes to wear. As he struggled to decide what to wear, his cell phone began to ring. He picked up the honkingly large Nextel device and answered it after realizing that it was Tyler.
"Good evening," he said as he stood in the middle of his room.
"You even sound sexy on the phone," Tyler said. JD could hear the smile on his face.
"You don't sound so bad yourself, man," JD said as he held the phone to his head.
"So I was getting dressed to come and meet you, but I need to know what I should wear. When I went to the place in Birmingham, I felt really underdressed," Tyler was concerned.
"This place is really casual. I was thinking of wearing shorts," JD said. He was cool in that moment, but he was also a nervous wreck. He wanted everything to be perfect for the date.
Standing in his room, Tyler pulled a pair of jean shorts from his drawer and a nice polo from his closet. He grabbed a pair of Nike shoes that were lying on his floor and set them all on his bed. "OK," Tyler said. "That sets my mind at ease a little bit."
"Good," JD said. "So would you mind if we left about six thirty instead of six?"
"No man. That's no problem at all."
"It's just that I've not showered yet," JD said.
"I just got out of the shower myself," Tyler said. "But I could give you a few extra minutes."
"Thank you."
"You're more than welcome, man," Tyler said. "So I'll see you at six-thirty?"
"Yep," JD responded.
"Alright. Bye man," Tyler said.
"Bye," JD said as they both hung up their phones. JD went to the shower and quickly went through his regular routine. Tyler, who had showered before calling JD, began dressing in the peace of his bedroom. Before long, he looked himself in the mirror to make sure that everything about the way he looked was perfect. He added a splash of cologne before walking out of his room and into the living room. Jen, with her laptop, was working on a paper for a class that she was taking during the first summer term.
"So you ready?" Jen asked.
"I'm nervous."
"Why?" she asked him as he sat in a chair just beside the couch.
"Jen. He's a 10..."
"Don't start with this shit again," she told him. "Dude. You must have impressed him as much as you impress everyone else if he asked you out to dinner tonight."
"I know..."
"Just go and enjoy yourself. If sober y'all don't work out, then y'all don't work out. But he's a nice guy, and above all else, you deserve a nice guy," she said. "Of course, it doesn't hurt that he's HOT...AS...HELL!!!"
Tyler smiled. "True."
"And I bet he's hung like a racehorse," Jen added. Tyler laughed.
"And on that note, I'm gonna go. I need to get some gas before I get to his place."
"Alright. I'll be up when you get home," Jen said. "Cause you know that I'll want details."
"I know," Tyler said as he walked out of the house, grabbing a ball cap as he walked out of the door.
"Have fun!" Jen yelled as he walked out the door.
He walked down stairs to the parking lot to where his truck was parked. As he climbed in, he thought about all the guys he'd been out with in the past. Not a single one of them was as cool as JD. It was a previous boyfriend that had convinced him to stop doing rodeo stuff, something that he'd been good at in the past.
As he pulled out of the space, he turned on the radio and let the country music blare through the speakers. He pulled out of the complex and headed toward Grand Avenue. He pulled into a BP station and began filling the truck up with gas. He walked in to pay for the gas and buy a Mountain Dew, before going down Grand toward the intersection with Beach Street. He turned right, remembering from the night before how to get back to JD's place.
As he drove, his head was completely devoid of thought. Well, to say that wouldn't be completely true. He couldn't seem to shake all the horrible feelings that his ex boyfriends had left deep in him. They, their actions, and the way that they'd treated him all worked to harden the heart that beat inside his chest. Will, for example, had convinced him that rodeos weren't cool; Chad had convinced him that he wasn't worthy of anyone who was hotter than him.
As he pulled into JD's complex and into one of the few visitor parking spaces, he took a moment to just take a deep breath. His nerves were all over the place as he momentarily thought about calling JD to just cancel the evening. But then it hit him, like a ton of bricks. Why was he letting himself get mired in the past when staring in the face in the present was a man that seemed to be so much more than what he'd had before?
With that in question in mind, though, he climbed out of the car and walked toward the menacing large building. He took the elevator all the way up and within moments was knocking on the door of the lavish apartment in which JD lived by himself. With another deep breath, he knocked on the door and waited for a second.
JD had just climbed out of the shower when he heard Tyler's rapping against the door. Quickly, JD wrapped a towel around his waist and ran through the house, dripping wet, to answer the door.
"Hey," he said as he opened the door. There was a wide smile across his face as he noticed that Tyler was trying his hardest not to look anywhere but into JD's eyes. "Come on in," he continued.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm early."
"You're fine, dude," JD commented.
"Oh. I know I'm fine, but I still shouldn't have just come up early without at least calling."
"You just wanted to look at my ass, didn't you?" JD said as he walked past Tyler.
"That's definitely a perk!" Tyler exclaimed as he tried as hard as he could not to stare. JD's ass was like a siren's call. As much as he tried not to stare, he couldn't help but watch JD as he walked back into the bedroom.
"Alright. Give me a few minutes, and I'll be dressed and ready to go," JD said as he turned and smiled at Tyler as he stood there, his hands in his pockets as he tried cutely not to think impure thoughts or stare at the `goodies' for longer than just a split second.
In those split seconds, though, he got to see JD's smooth chest and uber-sexy abs. He imagined his huge arms, attached to his body by huge, developed shoulders, wrapping around him, protecting him from everything that was wrong with the world.
JD returned a few minutes later, completely clothed. Like Tyler, he had donned a polo, but he was wearing a pair of plaid shorts and flip flops.
"Do I look OK?" JD joked.
"Just be glad I have a small penis," Tyler smiled.
"Why is that?" JD felt himself starting to laugh a little bit
"Because you can't tell that I have a raging boner right now," Tyler said as JD laughed. Tyler smiled, enjoying the fact that JD had picked up on his joke.
"So are you ready to go?"
"I am," Tyler said as they walked to the door. JD locked it as Tyler pressed the button and waited on the elevator to arrive at the floor.
Within minutes, they were climbing into the front seat of Tyler's truck. Tyler turned on the truck and then adjusted the volume on the stereo. JD smiled and told him to turn that shit up. Tyler smiled as they listened to a song called `Take My Drunk Ass Home' by Luke Bryan.
They talked about the most random shit as they drove into the Morovian neighborhood in Paradise. Tyler directed him to a little café that had tables on the sidewalk and the pre-Civil War Morovian flag flying outside. As they walked up, all the tables outside were filled with people speaking English, Morovian, and a pidgin of the two. JD walked up and pulled open the door. Almost instantly, an old lady walked over to them smiling.
"Holá!" she said as she walked over to JD and put her wrinkly old hands on JD's shoulder and then his face. "Vos debés venira más," she instructed as she looked him in the eyes. (You should come more often.)
"Sí. Mama siempre me dice que necesitamos venira más. Como está el señor Gutierro?" JD conversed as Tyler looked at all the memorabilia in the front of the establishment. (Yeah. Mom always said that we need to come more. How is Mr. Gutierro?)
"Ele se siente mexor ahora," the old lady answered. "Vu madre vino a la casa hace dos semanas...solamente pa asentira con ele por unas horas." (He is feeling better now. Your madre came to the house two weeks ago...just to sit with him for a while.)
"Cool..."
"And every since then," the lady swapped to English, "he has started to feel better."
"Yeah..." JD said as Tyler set his eyes on two photos: one of King David XII of Morovia and one of his bride, Queen Charlotte. He noticed something in the King's smile that looked so familiar to him. He couldn't quite put his hand on it, though.
"So there are two of you this evening?" she asked as she grabbed two menus and two sets of silverware. The silver itself was wrapped into a white napkin. Another napkin, consisting of a single red, yellow, and blue stripe was wrapped around that. They followed the lady to a seat. Tyler looked around the place. On one end, there was the bar. A door beside it led to the tables outside. The entire place had wood paneling along the wall. It looked a little cheesy, but all over the place were news articles from before, during, and after the war. There were pictures and letters framed and tacked to the wall with small nails. The whole place seemed to a chronicle to Morovian history.
She sat them at a table along the wall opposite the bar. There was little seclusion and no privacy as the place was filled with tables, most of which were occupied by people conversing with friends as they sat around.
"Ele es más bonito que lo ultimo," Mrs. Gutierro told JD with a wink. (He's cuter than the last one.)
"Graça, señora!" Tyler said, picking up a couple of the words in her sentence. (Thanks, ma'am.)
"And he speaks Morovian! Bless the stars!" she smiled as she patted Tyler on the shoulder.
"I don't speak a lot, but I do remember a little from the class I took," Tyler confessed.
"As long as you try," she said. "That's better than most Americans in this town!" she whispered.
"Thank you, ma'am," Tyler said. He looked at JD, who was smiling.
"So Amanda will be your server. And JD. She's new to both the restaurant and to the country," Mrs. Gutierro explained.
"Where is she from?"
"Talxiara," she answered.
"OK. I won't be too hard on her then," JD promised.
"I won't either," Tyler said.
"I am already liking you!" Mrs. Gutierro said as she pulled back his cap and kissed his forehead.
JD smiled and Tyler knew what it was that was familiar about the picture at the front. JD had the same crooked, sweet smile as his grandfather. The only difference, in fact, between them was the color of their eyes. JD's were radiant and blue.
Mrs. Gutierro walked back into the kitchen and announced that Amanda had someone sitting at one of her two tables for the evening. Amanda grabbed her notebook and walked out of the kitchen and toward her tables. She began shaking as she looked at who was sitting at the table. There was one man that she'd never seen, and one about whom she'd only heard stories. She walked back through the door to the kitchen and checked herself to make sure that everything was perfect. Mrs. Gutierro smiled, remember how nervous she was the first time she met the King and Queen, when she worked in the palace as an assistant to the chef, the man who would become her husband shortly after their arrival in America.
"Mira. Un consejo," she said to the girl. (A piece of advice.)
"Sí. Necesito todos los consejos!" she smiled. (I need all the advice!)
"No le trates como infante. Ele es, como nosu, una persona regular. OK?" (Don't treat him like a prince. He is, like us, just a regular kind of person.)
"OK," Amanda said as she took a deep breath. She smiled at the old lady, who only wanted the best for her as she started out into the brave new world that was America.
"And Amanda. He speaks Morovian, so if you get frustrated, go to it; however, the man that he is with only speaks a little. So, use your English," Mrs. Gutierro instructed as Amanda smiled.
She again walked back outside, smiling and trying her best to walk with as much confidence as she could just before meeting a member of the Morovian Royal Family.
"So do you drink hot tea?" JD asked.
"Usually I do iced tea, but when in Rome..." Tyler smiled. "What should I order?"
"Té de fresas," JD advised.
"Strawberry tea?" Tyler asked.
"Muy bié," JD responded.
"Yay for Tyler!"
"Indeed," JD said as Amanda walked over.
"Hello. My name is Amanda, and I will be your waitress this evening," she introduced herself. Her speech was slow and deliberate, like most people who had studied a language other than their own. She pronounced things perfectly, and her smile was truly radiant.
"Hi, Amanda. I'm JD," JD said as he lifted his hand out to shake hers. She put her notebook into her right hand along with the pencil and nervously took his. JD could feel her nervousness; Tyler could see her shaking hand.
"And I'm Tyler," he said as she extended her hand to him.
"It is a pleasure to meet you both," she said as she smiled. "What can I get you to drink?"
"Um..." Tyler started. "Eo gustaría un té de fresas!" he proclaimed, impressing himself with the fact that he could have made the sentence correctly. (I would like a strawberry tea.)
"Very good choicer, sir," Amanda said as she wrote it down. "And for you...sir?" she said to JD, pausing for a moment as she remembered the advice that Mrs. Gutierro had given her a moment before.
JD smiled, "I will have the same."
"I'll get those right out for you. While you are waiting, if you would like, look over our tapas...hors d'oeuvres...menu, and I will be right back out with the beverages," she said as she walked off.
JD smiled as she walked through the door back into the kitchen. "I was shaking like a virgin on her wedding night," she said as Mrs. Gutierro laughed hysterically.
"So is there anything you don't eat?" JD asked Tyler.
"I don't eat shellfish," Tyler answered.
"Good! Me neither!" JD smiled.
"So what would you recommend?"
"If you ask, they will actually fix a sampling of tapas. You can even ask them for a sampling of everything that doesn't have shellfish in it," JD smiled.
"Are you telling me that that's what I should order to start?" Tyler went on.
"Actually. If you order it, they will bring enough out for both of us," JD answered. "When she comes back out, ask her for an `exemplo'."
"OK," Tyler smiled.
It was a moment later that she was bringing out a tray with two little tea kettles and two white tea cups. She smiled as she set the tree onto the table. In front of each of them she placed one of the kettles and one of cups. She put the tray on a table next to them that was free. She poured them each a cup of a pink colored tea, setting their kettle down in front of them. From the tray, she took her pad and pencil once more and asked if they were ready to order tapas.
"Could we have an `exemplo' without shellfish, please?" Tyler asked.
"Shellfish?" she asked.
"Mariscos," JD answered, with a smile.
"OH!" she said. "Most certainly I can prepare that for you."
It was no time before she, along with several members of the wait staff were bringing out eight plates of food. They sat them in the middle of the table; Amanda gave each of them an empty plate so that they could build their own appetizers.
"And what would you like to order for your main courses?" she asked before they began digging into the mound of food.
"Main course?" Tyler asked, looking between them.
"Yeah. This is just an appetizer course," JD answered.
"Holy fuck!" Tyler said. "What are you gonna order?" Tyler said as he perused the menu once more.
"Pasta terrasco," JD answered, referring to a dish that was native to the northern province of the country, an area whose cuisine was influenced by Catalonia and Italy, as well as areas toward the southern part of Morovia. It was, by far, the culinary center of the country.
"What's in it?"
"Pasta cooked and then sautéed with basil, garlic, and tomato, served in a light butter sauce," Amanda answered.
"I'll have that," Tyler said.
"Make that two," JD responded as Amanda smiled and wrote it down.
"Very good," she said as she stepped away from the table.
"Holy shit," Tyler said as he looked over things. "This is a shitton of food."
"It is," JD said, "but it is worth the pain of being full later."
"I bet," Tyler said as he smiled.
They began picking things from the plates as they talked about all the food. Tyler would ask what something was, and JD would explain it. In addition to Southern food, he'd been around Morovian food his entire life. His mouth watered as he explained to Tyler the difference between tarane, little pieces of fried dough similar to hush puppies, and tarale, the rich gravy in which one would dip the taranes. After a few bites, Tyler realized that he was hooked on the cuisine of this new man's maternal homeland.
"So I'm putting something together in my head," Tyler stated after taking a sip of his tea.
"What's that?" JD asked.
"And tell me if I'm wrong, but let me go through the whole process in my mind, first. OK?"
"OK," JD smiled.
"First, when we walked in and you were talking to the lady...Mrs. Gutierro...I was looking at the things in the lobby."
"Uh huh..."
"There was a picture of a guy...a guy that looked a lot like you, but I didn't put it together at first."
"OK..." JD smiled.
"And then, when we were talking to her, I noticed you smiling."
"Uh huh..."
"And then, when Amanda came to the table, she was shaking, almost uncontrollably," Tyler continued.
"And what have you deduced?" JD asked.
"That there is more to you than just the simple guy who knows about the rodeo and likes country music. There is something more to you than just a muscular hottie who just happens to be smart enough to speak more than one language," Tyler responded.
"Can I get you two more tea?" Amanda asked.
"Please..." JD said handing her the kettle. "And would you ask Mrs. Gutierro for the book."
"Certainly," she said with a smile as she accepted Tyler's kettle as well.
"If you will give me a couple of minutes, I will explain everything to you," JD said, almost nervous about what Tyler was about to find out. He recalled how Paul had reacted to finding out, which wasn't pleasant. He recalled how David elevated that part about his heritage to almost a state of fetish.
A moment later, Mrs. Gutierro came from the kitchen area carrying a photo album that had been in her office since she came to America. As she walked to the table, he stood and handed his chair to Mrs. Gutierro while grabbing another for him to sit in. She smiled and thanked him.
"So I hear you wanted the book," she said as she sat with them. "Is it OK if I sit with you?" she asked Tyler.
"No ma'am," Tyler answered without thinking.
"So the last time that JD asked for the book, it was to tell someone the story of his Morovian heritage," she explained to Tyler. "JD's mother is," she explained as she looked for a picture that she'd taken shortly after JD was born of the three of them. "Here!" she said as she handed Tyler a snapshot of JD with his parents. "JD's mother was born at the Talxiara Palace on 12 January 1954. I was the midwife responsible for assisting her mother with the birth," she exclaimed proudly. "At birth, her name was Her Royal Highness, Maxima Elena Carlota, Crown Princess of Morovia. Two years later, her sister, Lidia was born. Then, twenty-two years ago, I was present at the hospital when His Royal Highness, Joseph David Thomas Leandro Barrington came into the world and was given the title `Prince of Terraco', a title traditionally bestowed on the male heirs to the throne of Morovia."
"Oh wow," Tyler said as he handed her the picture back and she handed him a newspaper that she'd laminated to preserve it from the ravages of time.
The title read: "Morovian Royalists Welcome Birth of New Prince of Terraco." It was dated on 7 March 1986, the date that he assumed was JD's birthday after hearing the old lady's story. He read the first few paragraphs, reading JD's full name listed in the paper.
"Wow," he said as he looked at JD.
"And here," Mrs. Gutierro said, "is a picture of his grandparents that was taken about eight months before the Civil War started." The man in the picture, standing with his wife and their two daughters, looking almost identical to JD. The guy was wearing a pair of plaid shorts and a white polo style shirt that was tucked into his shorts.
Amanda returned with fresh pots of tea and poured each of them a drink. "Te puedo sacara algo?" she asked Mrs. Gutierro. (Can I get you anything?)
"Oh no. Estou bié, mas graça," the old lady responded. (I am doing fine, but thank you.)
"OK," Amanda said as she smiled and walked away.
"Wow..." Tyler said again, looking at JD.
"Are you OK?" JD asked.
"I'm fine," Tyler said.
"I'm sorry for dumping all this on you," JD apologized, remembering the reaction of his last boyfriend.
"How long have you two been dating?" the old lady asked.
"This is our first date," JD answered.
"Oh! And you brought him here?" she asked.
"Yeah..." JD smiled.
"Then I will let you go," she said. "I will leave the book with you so that Tyler can look through it some more if he wants to."
"Thank you," JD said as the old woman pushed the chair back beneath the table and walked away. "Are you OK?" he asked Tyler.
"Yeah," Tyler said, a smile coming across his face.
"I was starting to get worried for a second."
"I was just thinking," Tyler said.
"About?" JD said as he glimpsed something from out of the corner of his eye.
"I was thinking about something that I read in the news last year. There was this guy from Albertville that had gone to Montevallo, and he ended up meeting this guy who ended up being the Crown Prince, and now King, of Lorenzia. I thought it was so cool that they this guy, Gavin, met an actual prince charming. I remember telling Jen that I wished that I could meet a cool guy, like he did. She told me that, one day, I would meet a prince charming that would sweep me off my feet, even if it wasn't to take me to an exotic foreign land and make me the crown consort or anything," Tyler told as JD smiled. "Now. I'm that much more nervous because I actually have met a prince charming...who's actually a prince...and I don't want to fuck it up."
"Tyler."
"Yeah?"
"I am JD. My mother is a princess, regarded by some as Queen of Morovia, but I'm just a guy."
"A very hot, guy," Tyler smiled as he put a bite of ovasi spread over pan de axo (garlic bread) into his mouth.
"I wish I were as hot as you," JD said.
"Do what?" Tyler said, his smile crooked in disbelief.
"I said that I wish that I were as hot as you," JD repeated.
"I'm a five...at best, JD."
"No you're not. You've got to give yourself more credit, babe," JD said to him. "You so impressed me last night because you seem like a smart, chill guy, who just happens to be cute as hell."
"You're gonna give me one those invisible woodies again in a second," Tyler joked.
"You can't be any smaller than my first boyfriend, Ty," JD said with a wink.
"I don't know about that..." Ty said. "I usually convert the size to centimeters so that it sounds bigger than what it actually is." JD was so striken with laughter that he almost spit out what he had put into his mouth.
A moment later, as they continued to talk, JD glimpsed people standing outside. A few people stood inside as well as they noticed the door opening. "Dude. I hate to add to your nerves, but..." JD pointed to the door.
"Who is that?" he asked.
"That would be my parents," JD answered.
"Oh shit," Tyler said.
"I'm sorry, dude."
"JD. Shut the fuck up!" Tyler said with a smile and a wink.
"Oh. You like to give orders, do you?"
"Every now and again," Tyler said as their main courses were brought to the table.
Amanda took away the plates that they'd used for the appetizers and set the fragrant pasta in front of them. It was in that moment that she turned and saw who had entered. She went into a deep curtsy that she held for a moment out of the respect. Using courtesies that were applied to the President and First Lady of Morovia but never applied to the former monarchs before the war, she walked backwards away from the table and into the kitchen.
"JD!" Maxima said as she saw her son. She and Tom walked over to the table as JD and Tyler stood. "Promeso que no vosu seguimos aquí." (I promise we didn't follow you here.)
"Eo lo sei, Mama," JD responded as he wrapped his arms around him. "Hey, Dad."
"How are you, son?" Tom asked as he smiled at JD. "Has encontrado un nuevo chulino?" (Have you found a new hottie.)
"Papá!" JD said, blushing. "Guys. This is Tyler Hall," he introduced.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Barrington. Or should I address you more formally?" he asked.
"You can actually call me Maxima or Max," Maxima said as she politely shook his hand.
"And I'm Tom," Tom said as he and Tyler firmly gripped hands.
In a moment, Tom and Tyler were talking about something. Maxima turned to her son and smiled. "Siento mucho que estemos interrumpiendo la cita," she said in Morovian. (I'm sorry that we're interrupting your date.)
"No. Mamá. Ná-e-ná," he replied. "No te dixe que íbamos a venira aquí esta noche." (No. It's nothing, Mom. I didn't tell you we were coming here tonight.)
"So...le dixiste?" she asked. (You told him?)
"Sí. Ele lo supo antes. Miró la foto de Abuelo y lo sabía," JD explained. (He found out on his own. He looked at the photo of Granddad and knew.)
"Que observante!" she noted with a smile. (How observant.)
"So JD. You haven't run my gym into the ground yet, have you?"
"Not yet, Dad," JD said to his father. Tyler noticed that the eyes of these two men were identically radiant.
Tom smiled. "That's good to hear."
In just a moment, Mrs. Gutierro came out and hugged the Queen and Tom as she showed them to a table that was always vacant unless they came in. They said their goodbyes to the guys; Monica told JD in Morovian to call her the minute the date was over. He smiled and agreed.
"Your parents are cool as shit," Tyler said.
"Some first date, eh," JD expressed with a smile as they ate their pasta.
Tyler smiled. "You know I'm gonna have to tell Jen everything about tonight, right?"
JD grinned, "...Just like Lindsay's gonna wanna know details."
"Is she gonna ask if we slept together like Jen is?"
"Probably. Is Jen gonna want a play-by-play like Lindsay?" JD asked.
"Oh yeah."
"Our hags are identical!" JD said as he took the cup of tea and toasted the girls with Tyler.
After finishing their pasta, Mrs. Gutierro brought them out a tradition dessert of flaming ice cream. When she was asked for the check, Mrs. Gutierro explained that Monica and Tom had told her to add JD's ticket in with theirs. He looked over to his mother, who gave him the `I'm sorry' look one more time. JD shook his head and explained everything to Tyler after she walked away.
"They so don't have to do that. I was gonna take care of it anyway?"
"Oh no you weren't," JD smiled.
"Uh huh..."
"Nuh uh," JD fired back as they both started laughing.
Before leaving the restaurant, they walked over to Monica and Tom's table once more and said their goodbyes to them. As they walked out and up to the truck, they realized that Monica and Tom had ended up parking right next to where Tyler's truck was parked. JD smiled a little bit as he climbed into the F-250 and Tyler drove off.
They drove back to JD's condo and, instead of going up to his unit, the pair walked to the beach, taking their shoes off so that they could feel the sand and surf. They watched the sun go make its final hoorah before going down over the western horizon and leaving the beach in total darkness.
With the sunset, they laughed and giggled as they walked along the dark beach. Lights from various buildings and houses lighted their way as they talked.
When the evening came to an end, they realized that they'd known each other less than 24 hours and had already done more than they'd done with their previous boyfriends. They had met and enjoyed each other's company at the Waffle House. They had watched the greatness of the sun rising to signify the beginning of a new day. They had eaten a huge meal; they had been honest with each other about a lot of stuff. They had experienced the brilliance of the sunset and walked along the beach holding their shoes in their hand, joking with each other as they continued on the journey down the highway of life.
To say that the two were in love' with each other at the end of the night wouldn't be fair. Neither of them was in love' yet, but they were both enjoying the company of the other. They liked how, despite being nervous, they could talk to each other. JD liked the fact that he could be open and honest with Tyler; Tyler liked the fact that JD felt like he could be open with him.
After Tyler left, JD called his mother and then Lindsay. Tyler got home and told Jen all about the evening. With a smile on both of their faces, they went to bed relaxed and a bit refreshed, assuming that the week wouldn't be so gloomy in the face of all that had gone over the last few hours.