As he rode in uncomfortable silence, he wondered why he went with Brian. Slyly looking over at the older boy, he remembered. Brian was gorgeous. There was something about him that made Justin want to be near him. Maybe it was Brian’s complete disinterest in him, he didn’t know.
“Where are we going?” Justin asked, forcing himself not to mess with the radio to stop the awkward silence.
“My place.”
“Won’t your parents care?” Justin asked before he bit his lip. He had forgotten that during Brian’s rage he had said he got kicked out. “Sorry.”
Brian nodded but didn’t say anything. A few minutes later they were pulling into a long, gravel driveway. There was a big two-story house, but Brian didn’t drive up to it. He parked on the opposite side of the garage from the house.
Following Brian up the stairs, he watched as the older boy unlocked a door. Inside was a large open space room. He saw a door to the left that he supposed was the bathroom. There was a bed in the corner, a few mismatched armchairs and a large desk and chair. Brian hung his bookbag up, Justin had left his in Brian’s car.
“So wha-“ Justin was cut off from saying anything else by the tongue that was now down his throat.
This was all happening so fast, but he wasn’t about to stop it. If Brian wanted him, he could have him.
Once Brian pulled away, letting them both breathe, reason started to return to him.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this,” Justin said.
Brian’s hand went down to Justin’s crotch. “This says something else.”
“I’ve never done anything like this.”
He could see the emotions playing out on Brian’s face. He hoped that he wasn’t about to tell him that they weren’t going to do anything. He thought he wanted to slow down until it looked like Brian would do just that.
“What do you want to do?” Brian said, eyeing him with lust.
“This,” Justin said, grabbing Brian’s face and pulling it down to kiss him.
“Where have you been?” his mom screeched as he walked in the door.
He guessed she didn’t want to know that he had the best day of his life.
“What do you mean? I was at school,” he lied.
“No, I went up to that school to get you after I heard what happened. Now where were you?” she demanded.
“Some of the kids didn’t want to be there while everything was happening. I went to on of their houses and we just talked.”
His mom had her hands on her hips and was looking at him with those eyes that bore into him when he did wrong. After a moment the glare on her face dropped. “You’ve made friends?”
“Gee Mom, I’m not that pathetic where I need a parade for making a friend.”
“Oh honey, I didn’t mean that. It’s just you only had a few at St. James but it sounds like more here.”
He nodded. “There was seven of us, including me.”
“That’s wonderful sweetheart. I can’t condone this skipping school though. But I understand today was scary. Which leads me to have to ask this. Did this teacher ever do anything to you?” There was real pain and fear in her eyes.
“I’ve only been to school one day. I’ve never even seen this coach. So, don’t worry, alright?”
“Daddy said I was being foolish. Just the thought of someone who is supposed to care for kids abusing them. It makes me so angry, angry and sad.”
Justin reached out and hugged his mom on spur of the moment. Maybe having sex with Brian made him a bit emotional. After a moment his mom didn’t let go.
“Mom,” he said trying to pull away.
She reluctantly let go of him. “Sorry darling, the hugs from you are few and far between.” He felt bad but not bad enough to hug her regularly. “This better be the first and last time you skip school. You get one and you just used it.”
“Of course.”
Later that night he was sketching Brian from memory. He also flipped through his sketch book looking at the ones he started today. For the first time he was actually glad they moved. He had called Daphne earlier and told her about Brian. She squealed and said that he had to send a picture of him and then threatened him that he better not get a new best friend.
Brian sat in his room, regretting fucking the new kid. It wasn’t like they were friends, but he could practically see cartoon hearts in the boy’s eyes. Yeah, he fucked up good.
He had to do something though because Coach Sandson and his face on that video was burned into his brain. They can say it’s not his fault but what if he gave him the courage to start propositioning underage boys.
Then there was the complete shitshow he knew tomorrow would be. He had known most of the people on the video were gay or bi. In fact, Mr. Murray had dated Vic. They had broken up because Vic didn’t want to live in the closet with Mr. Murray.
Someone knocked on his door. He had heard a car pull up a moment ago but thought it was someone for Mrs. Kingsley. Picking up a few stray articles of clothes and tossing them in the hamper, he opened the door.
“Mom,” he said, trying to sound indifferent. She was holding some Tupperware containers. “What are you doing here?”
“I made too much dinner tonight and was wondering if you wanted some.” Likely story except for the fact he knew she and the old man drank their dinners.
Unable to turn her away when she was being kind to him, he opened the door wider. She came in and looked around for a place to put the food. “On the desk is fine,” he told her. Setting the containers on the table she turned to look at him.
“Want to tell me why you’re really here?”
“I’m leaving your father.”
“Why now?” He thought she would stay in that marriage until one of them died to get out of it.
“Because I’m tired. I can’t do this anymore. What he did to you, Claire, and me. I just can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel anymore. I can’t say I understand the whole gay thing, but I just hope you have better taste in men than I did.” She pulled an envelope out of her purse. “Here.” She handed it to him.
“What is this?” he asked turning it over in his hands.
“The money I’ve been saving up to leave.”
“You need it then,” he told her.
“Aunt Rita is letting me stay with her, you know she always hated your father. You need this more than I do. It’s not much but hopefully enough to support you for a few months.”
Brian didn’t know what to say, he had spent his whole childhood wishing his mom would leave his dad. Wishing she would pack them up and take them away. Now she was but it was only to save herself; him and Claire had to do it alone. Claire moved out at sixteen with her boyfriend and he got kicked out at sixteen. Ward and June Cleaver his parents were not.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said honestly.
“You don’t have to say anything. Just take care of yourself.” She looked up at him. “You were the best thing that ever happened to me. I just wish I had been stronger before.”
“Don’t think about it, I won’t,” he said. He didn’t mean it as cruelly as it came out, but she flinched and nodded. He guessed he had more of Jack in him than he thought.
“Aunt Rita’s in Kentucky, right? Do you think that’s far enough?”
She laughed bitterly before patting his arm. “He won’t come looking for me. But he might you, so you protect yourself. You’ve gotten good at that.”
After a few minutes more she kissed him on the cheek and left. He wondered if she was really going, or she would go back. This wasn’t the first time she talked about leaving, but it was the first time she made it out the door.
Going over to the Tupperware, he opened the containers. Fried chicken, potatoes, green beans, and chocolate cake. She must really be leaving, he thought because she never made any of this stuff unless she was happy.