Kevin
Jeremy was white as a ghost, just staring at the phone.
“Who is it?” I thought I could guess. She was the only one who’d ever put that look on his face. Throwing myself out of bed, suddenly wide awake, I wrapped my arms around him. Whispering low, I held him tight while he just stared at the phone. “Who is it?”
I’d guessed wrong.
“It’s Dad.” His voice was unemotional and flat, but it seemed more like shock than real calm.
What in the hell did that man want? He hadn’t done anything when we’d left, and in the months we’d been gone, there’d been nothing from him. What had he said? What were we supposed to do? Jeremy didn’t seem like he was ready to do anything but stare at the phone, and I was close enough to finally hear the deep voice coming from the phone asking if Jeremy was still there.
Not knowing what to do, I took the phone from his hand and held it up to my ear. “Hello?”
There was a long pause. “Kevin?”
“Yes.” I wasn’t going to ask how I could help him or anything stupid like that. I didn’t really care how he was doing or what was going on. They’d turned their backs on us. Jeremy must have felt the emotions rolling through me, because he wrapped his arms around me and started caressing my arms soothingly.
“I’m sorry to…I didn’t mean…” He couldn’t seem to decide what he was trying to say.
I just waited. He’d either figure his shit out, or I’d hang up on him. Finally, he sighed. “I didn’t mean to upset Jeremy.”
There was nothing to say that wouldn’t be oversharing. He didn’t need to know what we were going through or how he’d made Jeremy feel. “Why are you calling?”
A little part of me knew that I’d have reacted differently to this call a couple of months ago. At the beginning of the school year, I would have been so relieved to have heard his voice. Even the glimmer of hope that he understood or could accept us would have had me on edge with anticipation. Now I really didn’t care.
I’d seen how a real parent handled it when shit got weird.
They had no right to the titles of Mom and Dad. Michelle had shown both Jeremy and me that parents didn’t have to approve or even get it to still love their children. Hell, she showed us how much we mattered to her in tons of little ways, and she knew about our relationship.
“I guess I deserve that.” It felt too dramatic, like an actor overplaying a scene, but maybe I was bitter. He took a deep breath, and I leaned into Jeremy’s embrace, trying to calm us both. “I just wanted you to know, give you a bit of a heads up, that your mother has been talking about calling you. I…I told her before your other school breaks that you didn’t answer the phone, but I don’t think I can put her off any longer. If you don’t talk to her when she calls, she might drive out there to see you. And I didn’t think that was something…you would appreciate.”
There’d been a slight pause in his voice and a hesitation I couldn’t define. What had he been going to say? “Thank you for the warning.”
There was a long pause before he spoke again. “I’m glad you’re both doing well in school and with the business. I won’t keep you any longer, but…please let me know if there is anything…well…I should…it was good speaking with you, Kevin.”
When he disconnected the call, I was left staring at the screen. I’d had more personal conversations with the guy at the coffee shop, but as awkward and stiff as the conversation had been, I was still reeling.
“She’s going to call.” I wasn’t sure if giving us time to worry about it had been a good thing or not. I wasn’t even sure why he thought to tell us about it.
There were too many options running through my head. I shoved the unrealistic stupid ones to the back of my mind, but the rest didn’t make sense either. Why had he called? From the little he’d said, he was obviously the silent caller who just hung up, but that didn’t make things any clearer.
Jeremy had been so quiet that when he finally spoke I jumped, making him chuckle a little. “How did he know about school and the business?”
That was a damned good question.
“Is the school giving them information again?” We’d talked to everyone from the admissions to the registrar’s office at the beginning of the year to make sure no one could access our personal stuff, and we’d been assured that our records were private.
“I don’t know.” Jeremy took a deep breath and tightened his hold on me. “I’ll go over while you’re in class tomorrow and find out.”
He was starting to sound more confident, which had my nerves settling down to a manageable level. “How do they know about how well the business is going?”
“I don’t know.” Jeremy’s voice was calm, and he kissed my forehead before moving us around to sit on the bed.
I was half on his lap and half off, probably squishing his legs, but I didn’t move. Being held was what I needed most in that moment.
We’d made sure that Jeremy’s name didn’t come up connected to the website. If someone looked us up online nothing about the business would show. We didn’t do much with social media, and Jeremy had all those settings so private it would take a subpoena to even find us on some of those websites. When someone searched for the business, it was just listed under the company name and didn’t have our pictures up on it either. The address that was listed was just a PO Box in town, so that wouldn’t have given anyone a clue.
“Did we tell them about it when we were leaving?” I couldn’t remember if they’d asked about how we would make money or not. Knowing them, it hadn’t even occurred to them to ask, but I just wasn’t sure.
“No idea.” Jeremy leaned back and pulled me down, so I was tucked in close beside him. Resting my head on his chest, I wrapped my arms around him.
“At least I’m awake now.”
Jeremy started laughing, making my head bob up and down on his chest. “Very true. But a nap sounded great, and you were out of it.”
I sighed and nodded. “Because it was insane and fabulous like I was floating and nothing mattered at all. That totally killed my buzz.”
He started laughing again. “That sounds ridiculous when you say it that way.”
“It killed my buzz, dude? Or how about it was a total buzz kill?” He was in stitches, shaking his head.
“You sound like a bad teen drama like one of those made for TV movies.” He gave me a mock-horrified look.
Now I was laughing. “Hallmark would not put this show on TV.”
He nodded but got a wicked look on his face. “I’m not sure anyone would but when they do, I’ll start paying for cable again.”
I lifted my head up and gave him a quick kiss. “Deal.”
Before I could settle back down, because that nap was calling my name again, he shook his head. “Work. We’ve got stuff to get done.”
I sighed dramatically and pouted. “Then dessert and cuddling?”
Jeremy grinned and gave me a look that said he wasn’t buying my overacting. “Yes.”
“All right.” I gave him another pout and sighed. “But I’m comfortable.”
He shook his head and then dug his fingers into my side, making me squirm and laugh. “But you need to get that reading done.”
“Meanie.” Climbing off the bed, I dodged the fingers that came at me again. I’d let him catch me later, but he was right, I had stuff that needed to be finished. And so did he, more than likely. When we were done, though, all bets were off. Hadn’t he said something about eating his dessert off me?
****
It was the longest lecture ever.
I wasn’t sure there was a way to make the time go by any slower than my math class had last semester, but the professor had managed to do it. That probably wasn’t fair to him, but I just wanted out of the class and to see what Jeremy had talked about with the administration.
As the professor finished up giving some last-minute instructions about an upcoming test, I started shoving stuff into my backpack. When he finally gave the all clear, you can escape wave, I was heading out the door. Dodging between desks and people who were taking entirely too long to leave the room, I was in the hall in seconds.
Jeremy and I’d agreed that we would meet just outside the building since he wasn’t sure how long the meeting would take or where he would end up finding an empty room to work in. As I walked down the steps, I looked around, not sure if I was going to see him or not.
“Kevin!” Hearing my name called, I turned toward the sound to see Jeremy walking up the sidewalk along the side of the building.
I probably looked a little too eager to see him, but it felt like I’d been in that room for days. I met him at the bottom of the steps, nearly bouncing out of my shoes. “What did you find out?”
“Walk this way with me.” He took my hand and started toward the side of the building again. There was a small group of benches tucked under a few trees that was usually packed during the regular semester but now was empty, so we grabbed one of those and sat down.
As we got comfortable, he leaned back and tried to give the impression he was relaxed, but it didn’t really look convincing. He was sweet for trying though. I knew it was for my benefit. “Well, I only got a chance to talk to the registrar’s office, but they said they wouldn’t have given information out to anyone, even parents or someone claiming to be a family member.”
He sat forward and put his elbows on his knees. He kept talking like nothing was wrong, so I didn’t think he realized how much he was wiggling. “Evidently, a few years ago there was a lawsuit against the school because they gave information out about a student to the wrong parent in some kind of custody dispute. The mom sued for breach of privacy or something and cost the school a bundle according to the admin at the registrar’s office. She was convinced that no one would say anything because the new rule is that if you screw up, you’re fired.” Jeremy leaned back and stretched his arms over the bench and shrugged, clearly not sure what to think.
“Someone’s been telling them stuff.”
“Yeah, that was obvious from what he said, but I just don’t know who. The admin said to go to housing and make sure our records were listed as private there because they have an older computer program that isn’t synced up with the rest of the school yet. That was the only thing she could think of, but didn’t we already do that at the beginning of the year?” He was leaning forward again, his legs stretched out and bouncing.
He was getting me even more worked up, but I did my best to ignore it. Making him more anxious wasn’t going to help and when we were in the middle of campus, there wasn’t much I could do about it. “Let’s go do that now then. We have time before we have to go.”
I didn’t have to say where; Jeremy knew. We hadn’t discussed it much, but the meeting with the detective was never far from either of our minds.
“Do you have anything else you need to get done for class?” He frowned and glanced back toward the building. “I don’t want you to get behind. We didn’t get tons done last night.”
“I’m good. And I’ll do some studying this weekend, but the class isn’t that bad. I think I paid more attention in high school than I realized, because most of the stuff he’s talking about isn’t new.” The way everyone had talked about the class, I’d been prepared for worse.
“Good.” Jeremy reached out and squeezed my hand. “Let’s go then. We’ll talk to them then grab something to eat before we go over.”
I made a face and shook my head. Food didn’t sound like a good idea. “I’m not that hungry.”
He grinned but seemed to understand. “I need some caffeine before we go.”
That was a necessity. “God, yes.”
Laughing, Jeremy stood. “Come on, housing then coffee.”
“Caffeine and sugar are my two favorite food groups.” I stood up and followed him down the walkway. “Maybe a brownie would be good. You know, just so I don’t have all that caffeine and sugar on an empty stomach.”
I got a “You’ve lost your mind” look, and he shook his head. “If you think I’m going to—” He was getting good and wound up as we walked around the corner but stopped as we nearly collided with seventies-porno-guy.
I got a grin, and he winked at us both. Gross. “Hey! I was coming to see you. I had some questions about the lecture today. So I thought I’d head over to the library and see what you thought—”
There was probably more to the rambling sentence, but Jeremy didn’t give him a chance to continue. “What the hell is wrong with you? He’s said he’s not interested, and you just won’t back off!”
Rich—pizza guy—must have seen something in Jeremy’s face, because his hands came up and he took a step back trying to placate Jeremy. “Hey man, you know it’s just a game.”
Huh?
“What?” Jeremy’s voice was still filled with anger, but the confusion was clear to Rich. Of course, I just stood there like an idiot with my gaze ping-ponging between the two guys.
“Charlie?” His tone that said we should have remembered what was going on. “She said it’s a game with you guys. Like, jealousy revs your engine.” His eyebrows wiggled up and down and he leered at us.
“What?” It came out louder than I’d intended, and people walking across the lawn turned to see what we were doing. I brought my voice back down, closer to normal. “What did Charlie say?”
His eyes got bigger and went back and forth between us. He was starting to realize we had no idea what was going on. “Hey, Charlie gave me some money and said you guys were a little kinky and liked to role play that Kevin was going to cheat, and then you’d go all caveman on him.”
Rich shrugged. “It’s not my thing. I’m more of a romantic personally, but to each his own. Anyway, she said it’s what you guys were into and if I played along, she’d pay me. Dude, if she didn’t tell you guys it was me, you should have guessed.”
Rich gave us a confused look like he thought we were stupid and wasn’t sure why we just didn’t get it.
“There’s nothing to tell! She lied!” Jeremy’s voice kept rising. It was at an almost ear-splitting level by the time he stopped.
“Fuck.” We got another tennis match expression where his face kept turning back and forth between us.
“Yes!”
“Hey man, I’m sorry. She said—”
“I know what she said!” Jeremy’s voice was aggressive and frustrated, and I was a little bit worried about his blood pressure.
“I think we’ve established he didn’t understand.” I reached out and started running my hand up and down Jeremy’s back, trying to soothe away some of the anger radiating from him.
I looked at Rich. “When did she talk to you about us?”
He shrugged and didn’t look as panicked anymore now that Jeremy had started to get himself under control. His deer-in-the-headlights look faded and his seventies style swagger was back. “A few weeks ago? I think it was…yeah, it was at the housing office. I’d stopped in to talk about the fall options that were still available, they have me rooming with some freshman, and she was working. So we got to talking and—”
“Wait.” Jeremy held up a hand. “What do you mean she was working?”
Rich shrugged. “She works there part-time or something. Maybe as part of a work-study program? Answering phones and stupid questions is how she described it.”
I turned to Jeremy and my hand fell away from him. “It’s her.”
“Huh?” Rich leaned in, confusion on his face.
I shot him a look, and he shut up. “Nothing.”
Jeremy just ignored Rich and nodded at me so I kept going. “She told her?”
“Told who what?” Rich was eager and excited, but I just gave him another dirty look.
“Nothing.”
“I’m betting it’s not nothing.” His leer was back, and he looked at Jeremy. “Your guy’s a screamer. Charlie might have lied, but you’re both probably into something interesting.”
For the love of—I grabbed Jeremy’s hand and pointed to Rich. “No more flirting, and if Charlie asks you to do it again, tell her we know and if she doesn’t leave us alone, we’ll tell the administration she’s giving out private information on students.”
As I started dragging Jeremy off toward the car, Rich called out something about the three of us getting together. I couldn’t help mumbling quietly. “Great, now he thinks were swingers or something.”
Jeremy took a deep breath and tried to relax. “At least we don’t have to talk to housing.”
“We’re going to have to talk to Charlie about it when she gets back.” I wasn’t looking forward to that and it must have been obvious, because Jeremy squeezed my hand and slowed my forced march down to a more leisurely pace. Then started caressing my hand with his fingers. “What was she trying to do?”
“Drive us crazy?” Jeremy cocked his head and looked at me, confused and aggravated, as we finally got to the car.
I just shrugged. “Break us up maybe?”
“But why? I mean, that one makes the most sense, but it’s nuts.” He leaned against the front, and I could see his mind whirling as he tried to think through the different explanations.
I had to agree with Jeremy. “She had to realize we were gay. Come on, we told them we were married and never said anything that would even hint that we dated other people.”
Jeremy pushed off the car and started walking around to the driver’s side. “I really need coffee now.”
“God, yes. With sugar and chocolate. A big one.” It’d turned out to be a hell of a day.