Homefront

By: David H
(© 2011 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 2

The next night, Matt and Nick went to dinner and a movie as Seth and Jenny did their thing. Though Jenny and Seth joked about it being their first date, both guys were quick to inform them that it was to give them time to do whatever it was that they did. Both Nick and Matt declared that they were just friends and nothing more. For the next two days, the two of them hung out, doing whatever, until Nick had to return to Jackson on Monday.

On Tuesday, both guys woke up realizing that they had nothing to do. Matt took a shower and put on some shorts and a t-shirt, heading downstairs in his parents' house to consume a bowl of cereal and a huge glass of diet Coke, or, as he called it, the breakfast of champions. It didn't take long for him to get bored as shit, though. Everybody he knew was at work except Nick, who had returned to Jackson. So with that, he returned to his room, put on some khaki shorts and a polo, slipped his feet into some flip-flops and another one of his Parsons caps on his head. He walked out of the house, locking it and turning on the alarm, and climbed into the Caddy to head into town.

Nick woke up to have a cup of coffee that his aunt had left in the pot when she went to work. Afterwards, he cleaned up the kitchen and started some laundry before putting on some relatively clean, gym-appropriate attire, and heading to a place just a few miles from his house for his daily workout. He found himself with a little more energy that morning as he lifted weights, but he couldn't explain why or how that had come about. He wasn't going to argue with the gym gods, though, for it felt good to actually do some things that were a little out of his routine.

Matt ended up going to the mall for a little while and spending a few dollars on some new jeans and buying a new computer at the Best Buy. When he finished, it was about lunch time, so he skated into his father's office only to find that it was crowded with people who had some business with the company that he'd been willed by his grandfather. Walking inside, a few of the people that he knew were talking with groups of people about apartments and rental properties, but there was a new girl working the desk that he didn't know. After waving at the people, all of whom smiled at Matt, he walked up to the counter to introduce himself.

"Welcome to Landry Properties," the girl said, obviously nervous and stressed out but trying to put on her face an inviting, warm smile. "If you'll sign in one of the agents will be right with you."

"Actually," Matt smiled. "I'm Matt Harper. Is there something I can help with," he offered, realizing that he had something to do if he wanted to.

"Matt Harper? As in Ron?"

"Yes," Matt smiled.

"Oh!" she said. "Um..." she looked around. "I've got some rent payments to process, and there are a few people waiting to be assisted."

"OK. Point out the first ones," he said as she grabbed the sign in sheet and pointed him in the direction of some people that had been waiting a while. She handed him a sheet also of available units which he quickly scanned before putting on his own smile and walking over to help them.

The lady's name was Regina and her twin daughters were going to be starting at Parsons in the fall. The campus housing department had put them into separate buildings and could find no way of getting them together, so Regina decided to investigate the option of putting Haley and Holey into a two-bedroom apartment close to campus. Matt asked what they were planning to major in, and the two girls, simultaneously, answered that they were going to be Vocal Performance majors. Matt, excited about meeting two other sings, ended up suggesting a place that would be just a couple of blocks away from the music building, where he knew they would be spending most of their time, even though they were incoming Freshman with responsibilities all over campus. As Dan had always done when he found himself in a situation, he had the 'new girl', whose name was Zoe, grab him the keys to one of the available units. He handed the keys to Regina and told her to have a look around the place and just bring the keys back when they were through.

He did that for three other people in the office before one of the ladies that worked there came free. "You know," she said after hugging Matt around the neck, "your father always hated when your grandfather did that. The two had a few discussions about that over the years."

"I can imagine that Pa, though, reminded him who was the boss and then took him out for a beer," Matt said.

"Right!" she said as someone else came into the office and she went over to quickly assist them.

"So what's your favorite place for lunch in town?" Matt asked Zoe.

"I don't really have a favorite place," Zoe answered, not really knowing where he was going with the question. Pulling his wallet from his pocket, he handed her his Amex card and told her to pick a place and then order lunch for everyone there and at the construction company, for he knew that they were running their fingers to the bone as well to get a couple of projects finished before the end of summer. He told her to go get it and, if necessary, fill her car with gas. Again, it was something that his grandfather had always done.

When Ron returned, he found Matt sitting at the desk answering phones. "You fire Zoe or something?" he asked, jokingly.

"I sent her to get some lunch," Matt responded as he answered another call.

"He's been giving out keys, too," one of the ladies said.

"Matthew..." Ron looked at him and shook his head. There was a smile on his face, though. "I'm gonna make you call when some of them locks have to be changed." Matt smiled and nodded.

By the afternoon, everything had died down a little bit in the office and Zoe had returned with enough lunch for everyone in both sides of the business. Having gone to Ms. Geneva's, all she had to do was say that she was with Landry Properties, and her car was filled with food for everyone. She set it all on the table in Ron's office, and everyone dug in, thanking Matt as they enjoyed the fried chicken and other Southern delicacies that she'd sent. As everyone returned to work, Matt and Ron were left in the office to eat lunch.

"So I had a thought," Matt told him.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"The Memorial Day party..." Matt looked at his father, who smiled.

"Your mother and I were talking about that last night, actually," Ron answered. "We were going to have it at the house this year. We were gonna talk to you, though, and see if you would help finance it, since you sign their checks."

"Oh yeah..." Matt responded as he took a piece of chicken into his hands and bit through the skin and the perfectly deep fried flesh of a thick thigh.

"I was talking to Derek about it this morning, and he thinks it would be a good idea, too," Ron told Matt. "If anything else, it will be a chance to celebrate your grandfather as much as get together with everyone."

The two finished lunch a little bit later, continuing to talk about things related to the party. Afterwards, Matt went next door, to the Construction company, to help them out with some things in the office and to talk to Derek for a bit about the party before heading home at around 4:30 in the afternoon. His mind was reeling with things, ideas that would help make the party one of the best that anyone had seen in a while.

The Memorial Day party, from Matt's memory, had always been a big affair. Dan would invite all the people that worked for him, from those who'd been with him for decades to those who were just working for him temporarily, into his home to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer. He would invite their families, including those few employees with significant others of the same gender. He would cook hamburgers and hotdogs himself on several gas-powered grills, but he would also serve baked beans, chips, potato salad, deviled eggs, and coleslaw. There would be enough beer and soda on ice to make sure that everyone had their of either. He would set up tables in his back yard for everyone to sit at as they ate, and the kids would have games and such.

When asked one year why he went to so much trouble, he explained that because everyone served him throughout the rest of the year, he wanted to take one day to serve them. While most employers wouldn't have seen it his way, for Dan, it was an honor to have a meal with them, to break bread in an atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie.

So for the next couple of weeks, Matt worked to get everything ready for the party. He hired a company in Williams, the next town over, to come and set up tables and such. He and Seth, when the latter wasn't working at his new job in Eudora Bank's Mortgage Department, tinkered with his grandfather's pontoon boat, which had been sitting up at his house on Lake Faulkner for a couple of years, and eventually got it running. With that, they brought it to Ron and Linda's house and put it on the smaller lake in their neighborhood. It would be used to pull anyone who wanted to ski a little bit, or just go out on the water for a few minutes. They also cordoned off a part of the lake for anyone who wanted to go swimming. The manmade lake behind their house was, after all, just large enough for both things. Matt also stayed there at the house a couple of days as people came by to redo the hardwood floors in the house so that they would look nice for all the people that would be going in and out and hired Consuela, his grandfather's housekeeper, to come by and give her thoroughly magical touch to their place after that was done.

The night before the party, Matt went through making sure that everything was ready. All the food, except for the hamburgers and hotdogs were cooked. One hundred fifty patties and several huge packs of hotdogs, though, were in the freezer in the basement, ready to be put on the grill when the time was right. All the tables and chairs were set up, and the boat had enough gas to get through the day. He spoke to Derek to make sure that he had the grills ready to bring over the next morning. He had two gas grills that could be easily transported over to their new home; Ron and Linda had a little gazebo with a huge brick, charcoal grill that could be used for a huge portion of things, and Jimmy and Becky had already brought theirs over and set it up in the same 'cooking station' place.

At nine, bushed, he climbed into the bed and rolled over onto his side. After a single deep breath and a yawn, he was gone, out like a light for the night. As he slept peacefully though in the room of his parents' house, Nick found himself in the middle of a horrid evening. His anxiety had been piqued earlier in the day as he was at the mall to take care of a few things for his aunt. He paid her cell phone bill at the HiTelCo store and then her JC Penney Charge account at one of the mall's anchors. Being that it was a holiday weekend, everyone in the world, it seemed, was either in or traveling through Jackson. The traffic that they produced, especially on I-55 was just enough to make things all the more horrible for him.

When he got home, he handed the aunt the receipts before heading into his room, almost without a word, to take some medicine and lie down. He slept until around the time Matt was going to bed, and while he wanted to text him, he knew that Matt had a lot going on the next day and would be busy the whole time. For half the night, he stayed awake, watching TV, technically, but reliving painful moments from the past. Until he went to sleep at around three, all he could think about was Corey, his mom, the past and those things and people in it that were no longer a part of his life, all for reasons beyond his control.

As he rested, albeit waking up every little while, Matt was getting ready to get up and go about his day. Yawning, he pulled on some shorts and a t-shirt that he would replace at some point later in the day after he'd had a decent shower, and went down to the kitchen to fix a pot of coffee from which he, his mom, and his dad, would all be drinking in the next little while. As it was brewing, he took a little notebook and started checking things off the list that had already been done.

"Shit! Ice!" Matt said, having completely forgotten about a summer-time party staple. "Shit," he expressed again as his mother walked into the room.

"What's wrong?" she asked, still half asleep.

"Ice! I forgot to arrange for fucking ice!"

"Matt. Call Mr. Harris and see if he can bring some over," she suggested. "I remember several times when your grandfather was doing this party that he would forget and call the morning of."

"Seriously?!"

"Seriously," she said, almost mockingly as she pulled a mug down and started filling it with the coffee.

"OK," Matt said, following it with a yawn.

"You need to do it soon, though," she warned as Matt stood from the kitchen table and grabbed the local phone book to look up the number. Linda smiled as she stirred the cream and sugar into her coffee, for Matt, from the sound of things, had gotten the answer that he needed from the man who owned the only local ice business in Eudora.

"You are a God, Mr. Harris. Thank you!" Matt exclaimed as the two hung up the phone.

"And?"

"He's sending a truck over," Matt said as he took a seat and continued checking things off his list.

"What the hell's going on?" Ron asked. As Linda filled him, Ron laughed. "Your 'Pa' always forgot the ice," Ron fondly remembered a particular year when Dan was huffing around the house cussing like only a Marine could, because of all the things he'd forgotten to get for a party when Matt was younger.

Ron, as he sipped his own coffee, had Matt go through the list again, giving him another set of ears. With the ice on its way, though, everything was done except for actually cooking the food that needed to be cooked, which Linda said that she and Becky would have covered by the time people started getting there.

"You'll be fine, Matt," Ron told him.

"I know," Matt told his parents both as Linda was agreeing with Ron. "I can't wait till it starts, though, and I hope nothing happens."

"Matt. Dad would just tell you to enjoy yourself and deal with things as they came up," Linda advised.

"True."

"Then you can cuss about them when you're having a cocktail after everybody's left and your cleaning up the back yard," Ron said as Matt and Linda both laughed a little bit.

By seven, the ice was there and was being placed into coolers as fast as Matt and Ron could do it. By eight, Jimmy and Becky were there, ready to help out where they could. Derek brought by his grills, but explained that his daughter, in Birmingham, had gone into labor a month before they were expecting her to. With everyone's blessing, he left as quickly as he'd arrived and removed the two huge charcoal grills from the back of his truck. Everyone told him to let them know how things went and if he or his wife, Sylvie, needed anything, and he wished them a good time at the party and apologized again for not being able to stay and help. A little happier than any of them had been, they returned to work. As Jimmy and Ron got the grills started, which, incidentally, included aprons that said "Kiss the Cook", Matt was in the kitchen with Linda and Becky, who were speaking in their own code about various and sundry things and people within their sphere.

"MATT!" Seth said at around nine, barreling into the house as he normally did.

"Kitchen!" Matt yelled back as Seth walked in, a huge smile on his face.

"Hey Moms," he said as he hugged Becky and then Linda.

"Seth, did you get laid last night?" Linda asked.

"...and this morning," Seth smiled.

"My child is a manwhore!" Becky joked.

Seth took a deep breath as he looked at Matt, who was standing for a single second to take a breather. "Jenny's coming to meet the Moms," he said as Matt stared at him.

"Hold on," Becky stopped. "You're actually bringing the girl that you... getting the bing-bing from to meet me? What is this about? Am I going to die or something and just don't know it yet?"

"Yes, Mom. You're going to die, in about a hundred years or so!" Seth said as his Mom smiled.

"Then why are you bringing her here?"

"She's already met Matt..." Seth started. "And so round 2 of the process is meeting the Moms."

"Wait. Are you saying that you're dating this girl?" Linda asked as Matt snickered.

"Yes," Seth said as Matt smiled.

"She's not... is she?" Becky asked, a concerned look creeping over her face.

"Mom. The world is not ready for you to be the best looking grandmother in the world just yet."

"Thank God!" she and Linda laughed together.

"My husband," Becky went on, "would so start calling me his GILF or something." Linda laughed as Matt and Seth looked at each other and shook their heads.

"We talked about it last night," Seth said, "and we decided that we liked each other enough to make it official, exclusive. So tomorrow morning, I'm going to have my cell phone number changed and burn the little book."

"Damn. This is serious!" Linda added.

Jimmy and Ron came into the room a moment later. Everyone stopped and looked at Jimmy.

"What'd I do?" he asked.

"So Seth has a girlfriend..." Becky said.

"Seth Bentley! I swear to God! What the hell were you thinking not taking care of yourself and her..."

"Sweetie!" Becky said above him, forcing him to stop in the middle of his thought.

"What?" Jimmy almost angrily inquired as Seth stood there smiling.

"She's not pregnant," Becky said.

"And I was just getting ready to call you my GILF!" Jimmy said as everyone laughed a tad bit harder than they had the first time. After they asked Matt what he wanted to do about something, the guys quickly returned to the yard, to the area of grills to continue working away. It wasn't but a moment later that Seth's phone was ringing.

"You are the most beautiful woman that I've had the pleasure of seeing the next morning," Seth smiled.

"Awww. That's so sweet, Seth. And you're the only guy that I've kissed in the morning whose morning breath didn't bother me!" Jenny said, loudly enough for the Moms and Matt to hear and chuckle a little bit as Seth smiled from ear to ear. "So where do I need to go?"

"Wellsgate," he answered. "Once you get in the neighborhood, take the fork to the right and follow it around until you see my car by the mailbox."

"Can do," She told him. "So did you tell them?"

"Yes, and both my parents wanted to know if you were preggers."

Jenny laughed. "Janelle did too!" she told him as they both laughed. "It is kinda cool to be somebody's girlfriend, though."

"I know, right. Well, boyfriend for me," Seth mentioned as he walked out of the room and Matt shook his head as the mother's laughed.

"So what do you know about this girl?" Becky inquired.

"Cute... smart... funny... Basically, she's Seth with female parts," Matt explained.

"Is she good to him?"

"Yes... and good for him. He's not been this happy in a long time," Matt noted.

"I know," Linda chimed in. "He's got a glow."

"Uh huh..." Becky said.

"Alright. Loverboy and I have stuff to do," Matt said as he finished the bottle of water he was drinking and stood from his perch on his mother's counter.

"OK..." the ladies said as they continued with what they were working on before, chatting as Matt left the room about this mystery girl.

"LOVERBOY!" Matt yelled throughout the house, taunting Seth.

"Imma kick your ass," Seth yelled back as Matt laughed.

"NO RUNNING IN THE HOUSE!" Linda yelled back at them.

"Yes ma'am," they both responded, much as they had as children.

The pair went outside a moment later, walking down the steps from the huge deck into the yard that was set up for everyone to go through everything one last time before people started to arrive. What they didn't realize, though, is that Seth had neglected to give Jenny instructions to come around back, and so when she got there a few minutes later, she walked up to the front door. Linda and Becky, collectively in their role as mothers, met her at the door, quickly inviting her into the house. There was an instant rapport between Jenny and Becky, which made Linda happy. Both women had horrible experiences with their mothers-in-law, God rest their souls, and it was good to see that, at the least, things were off to a very good start between them. Seth and Matt came back into the house a few minutes later, and Seth thought nothing of giving her a peck on the lips right there in front of the two ladies that he'd completely respected his entire life.

When she offered, though, Matt had a million things for her to do, all of which she was willing to do to help out, which was something that really impressed the ladies. Both of their mothers-in-law had never been willing to lift a finger for any function, so the fact that she was getting involved was a sign that their cycle wouldn't continue into the next generation. After meeting the dads, she went to the pier behind Matt's house to help them get things going down there.

As she was working away, though, Nick found himself lying in the bed, staring at the ceiling to which he'd looked for months. His mind wasn't reeling as much as it was yelling at him to get the hell out of bed and find something to take his mind off of the things of the previous day and night. With that, he climbed up and went into his bathroom for a shower. The water, for once, was quite relaxing. It was waking his senses as much as it was relaxing his tense body. For a moment as he lathered his body, his mind was quiet. As he washed his hair, though, he knew that he had to get away from that house, even if for the afternoon. He thought about going to Vicksburg, to a casino, but he didn't really feel as though he had the money. He could take his aunt out to lunch, but he realized that she'd made plans for the day already. She would have cancelled them for him, but he didn't want to ask her. It would be a burden.

But as he climbed out of the shower, he thought to call Jenny. She was busy at Matt's party, no doubt, but she would have some suggestion of something around Jackson that he could do that would help get his mind off things and not be too much of a mental burden on him. He walked into the bedroom, still debating about whether or not to call her and bother her with his shit, and pulled on a pair of olive-green boxers that, like so many pairs of underwear in his drawer, needed to be discarded and replaced.

As he sat on his bed, he grabbed his phone. Taking a deep breath, he dialed his cousin's number and held the phone to his ear. At Matt's, she stopped what she was doing and pulled her Blackberry from her pocket and looked at the caller ID. She smiled and turned to Matt, "It's for you."

"OK..." Matt had a puzzled look on his face as he took the phone and looked at the ID. With a smile of his own, he pressed the green button. "Jenny's phone," he added a couple of affects to his voice.

"Who is this?" Nick asked, puzzled.

"Who do you think this is?" he said with the same voice.

Nick was ready to show his Marine teeth for a moment before realizing that, with the cadence of the voice the way it was, it could only be one person. "Shit. Hey Matt."

"Hey man," Matt smiled, returning his voice to normal. "How are you?"

"Good," Nick said as he lay back on his bed. He didn't want to tell Matt, in that moment, what was going on in his mind, but suffice it to say that, for whatever reason, Matt's voice had more of a calming effect on him than the drugs he'd taken the previous day. "You?"

"I'm real good, actually. Everything is almost ready for the party," Matt stopped himself, at that moment, from begging him to come. Nick had this way about him, even in their all to infrequent texts and wall posts, of showing his strength, not just physical, but of character as well. It was as comforting to Matt as his voice was to Nick, but, like Nick, he didn't want to say anything for fear that he might seem... too out there for Nick's taste.

"Oh yeah? I hope it all goes well, man."

"Thank you, thank you," Matt told him.

"So is my cousin around?" he asked.

"Yeah. Here she is. Good talking to you," Matt told him.

"Likewise," Nick said as Matt handed the phone off to Jenny.

"So how are you, Nicky?" she asked, knowing what had happened the day before from the conversation with her mom that morning, but not wanting to say anything in front of Matt and Seth. There were some things that she knew that he wouldn't want her saying in front of them.

"OK..." he answered, almost unconvincingly. Jenny took that as a cue to excuse herself from Frick and Frack for a moment, walking up the pier to the yard for a little bit of privacy.

"So what's really going on?"

"I've got to get out of the house for a little while..." Nick started.

Before he could finish, though, she was responded. "So you're coming up here?" she smiled, knowing somehow that that's not what he was going to say.

"Jenny. They're gonna be having a fun day. I don't want to come up there and be a downer," he told her.

"You won't be a downer, Nick. Promise! And I know that they wouldn't mind you coming. In fact, I think that Matt would kind of enjoy having you here."

"Jenny..."

"Just come on. Get some things together; you can crash at my place, spend a couple of days away from home. Please... for me?" she implored.

"Jenny..."

"Come on! His mom, Nick, is the nicest lady on the planet. Matt's Dad will have you in stitches. Seth's parents are amazing, too, and it would mean a lot, to me, for you to meet them," she started using guilt, for it always worked on him.

"OK..." Nick looked and sounded confused.

"We talked last night," Jenny smiled.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!" she mocked him. "So get your ass up here... for them and for Matt!"

"I don't want to spoil..."

"Shut up! Get dressed and come! And fix yourself up, then maybe you can cum later!" she smiled as she could almost see Nick rolling his eyes.

"None of that today!" he warned her, recalling the last time that he and Matt had hung out and the almost juvenile response that she and Seth had to that.

"I'll be on my best behavior!" she promised.

"OK. I'll get dressed and be up there in a couple of hours."

"Yay!" she said. "OK. I'll see you when you get here!"

"Alright... Bye, Jenny."

"Ciao, babe," she said as she hung up the phone. "GUESS WHAT!" she yelled, getting Matt and Seth's attention.

"What?" Seth responded.

"Matt's man's coming!" she smiled as she walked back down to the boat.

"Did you get him pregnant, son?" Ron asked as he and Jimmy laughed hysterically. Matt, normally a little reserved about such things, much more so around his parents than Seth was, shook his head. He was thankful, though, that he had the father that he did, and that his best friend, Seth's father, was as cool as he was. To think that, at one point, he was worried to tell those two men that he liked guys like Seth liked girls.

"What the hell's going on?" Linda yelled as they came outside.

"My cousin is coming," Jenny called from the pier.

"And he's a hot, gay, Marine that Matt's got a stiffy right now because of!" Seth completed.

"I am going to kill you!" Matt said.

"Now," Seth smiled, "we're even for the loverboy shit!" Seth made the make of turning to do something on the edge of the boat. With a wickedly evil smile, Matt walked over and pushed him into the lake, laughing as he ran toward the house.

As Jenny made it where the adults had congregated around the grills, she asked, "Are they always like this?"

"Yes!" the four of them answered, simultaneously as Matt stood in the middle of the yard, taunting Seth as he climbed out of the water and started running toward him.

"We've learned to just stay out of their way unless something gets broken," Linda told her as Becky yelled for them to stop, just as both moms had done many times when they were little.

"Dude," Matt said as he stopped. "I'm sorry for the loverboy thing."

"And I'm sorry for the stiffy comment," Seth told him as they both recovered. "I'll fix it."

"My stiffy situation. Seth?! You know I could do that with you," Matt joked.

"OK. It's back on now!" Seth said as the both laughed.

"Y'all finished?" Linda asked.

"Matt will be about 20 minutes after Nick gets here, I'm sure," Seth responded as they walked toward the parents. Matt reached over and punched him on the shoulder. "Oww! That actually hurt for once."

"You want another?" Matt smiled before their mothers spent the next few minutes scolding them before sending them to change.

As they went inside, Nick was taking his things to his car in the garage. "Hey Janelle," he said as he walked into the kitchen, where she was sitting with her 'boyfriend' Charles, a man whom she'd dated for years. Boy is a bit of a misnomer, though, for he was a good fifteen years older than Janelle.

"Yes, sweets?" she asked.

"I love you, and I'm going to give you a Memorial Day gift?"

"Grandchildren!" she joked, having known for longer than he that he was gay. As Matt, he thanked God that she, and Charles, were both cool with it.

"Not quite," Nick smiled. "I am going to hang out with Jenny for a couple of days."

"Are you OK?" she asked, standing, with a look of concern on her face.

"Yes ma'am," he answered, smiling to allay any hears that he knew she had. "I just want to get away for a couple of days."

"Alright sweetie," she accepted his response, knowing that he was lying through his teeth. "You'll call if you need me?"

"Yes ma'am," he leaned down to kiss his aunt on her cheek.

"OK," she hugged him and allowed him to leave. As she heard his car starting, she returned to her seat and looked at the man she called Chuck. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Being patient with me in the last few months," she told him.

He smiled and took her hand, lifting it to his mouth and kissing it. "You are, without a doubt, the sweetest woman on the planet, and I am honored to have the time with you that I do."

"I love you, Chuck."

"And I you, Janelle.

It wasn't long before Nick was at the interstate, heading north to Eudora. As he got off I-55 at Williams, it was almost as if he could feel something changing him. The hardwoods and pines soaring toward the sky seemed to be standing sentry, as if to let him know that he was safe there, among those things and people. Part of him felt guilty for allowing himself to experience, since so many people he'd known wouldn't, but another part of him was OK with allowing the peace to wash over him.

Passing a sign that said "Eudora: 10 miles" he grabbed his phone and called Jenny. She answered, giving him the same directions that Seth had given her. When he first pulled into the neighborhood, he felt almost out of place among the huge houses belonging to Eudora's 'new' elite. He arrived at the house with all the cars and climbed out after parking his along the street. Per Jenny's instructions, he walked down the driveway to the back yard. Dressed nicely in shorts and a t-shirt, he walked around back to find about half the people there. Quickly scanning the crowd, he found Jenny and Seth sitting at a table talking to some people, laughing and carrying on.

As soon as she noticed him, she smiled and excused herself, walking over to meet him as he walked toward her. They talked for a minute before she put her arm in his and the two walked over to the table. She introduced him to those people that she'd just met as they stood there. Nick was polite and put on a smile for their benefit, joking as they joked, etc. He really couldn't wait, though, to see Matt. He wanted to thank him for letting him come up and apologize, probably more than once for intruding on a day that was obviously for him to celebrate with people that he knew.

"Welcome to the party!" Matt said as he walked up behind Nick. Nick, as he turned, found himself wearing a huge smile on his face.

"Thanks for inviting me up," Nick said.

"It's no worries," Matt said, trying to keep from staring at this man before him, this man who was almost godlike as he blocked the sun from Matt's face. "You hungry? We got plenty of food?"

"Ya know. I am a little bit," Nick responded.

"Then come on," he said as Nick turned to smile at Jenny before following Matt to the covered area with all the food.

"Ron," Linda said as she fixed herself a plate, well after everyone but Matt.

"Yes?" he asked as he turned and took a bite from a hotdog.

"Don't stare, but Matt is walking over here with a guy. Do you think that's Nick?"

"If it is... all I can say is that, at least, when he does decide he wants a man, he doesn't skimp!" Ron told his wife.

"That almost made no sense!" she smiled at him.

"Well, Jimmy and I've had a couple. I bet he's not making much sense either," Ron smiled.

"I want to apologize for something," Matt said as they slowly walked over.

"For what?"

"For what I'm about to put you through," Matt responded as Nick smiled.

"OK..."

"Seth has given my parents the impression that we're..." Matt started as Nick smiled.

"I could do worse!" Nick joked.

"Fucker!" Matt said before laughing a little bit himself. "Mom and Dad," he said as they stood there, trying to act nonchalantly. "This is Nick."

"Mr. and Mrs. Harper," Nick said politely.

"Uh oh..." Ron laughed.

Linda smiled. "Mrs. Harper was my mother-in-law, may she burn," she said. "I'm Linda."

"Oh. Sorry," Nick smiled.

"And I'm Ron," he introduced.

"It's very nice to meet you guys," he said as he shook Ron's hand.

"You're a Marine, right?" Linda asked.

"Yes ma'am," Nick answered. Linda handed her plate to Matt and her beverage to Ron and opened her arms, wrapping them around his neck.

"Thank you," she said, sweetly, quietly.

"Thank you, Mrs... Linda," he said, correcting himself.

"So fix yourself some food. There's PLENTY!" she smiled as she pulled away and took her things from the two men who remained in her life.

"Yes ma'am. Thanks for letting me crash the party."

"You wanna explain to him just why it's OK?" Ron asked Matt as Linda smiled.

"We're gonna get out of y'all's hair," Linda told the guys. "Come on, Ron."

"Yes ma'am," Ron smiled.

Nick and Matt each grabbed a plate and started fixing themselves something to eat. "So you're parents seem really cool," Nick said.

"They really are," Matt said.

"When I came out, they had to be the coolest parents about it all. Mom said that she hoped that I found a good man with a great ass, and Dad was like... 'Son... just remember to always wrap it before you tap it'."

Nick laughed. "Nice," he said as he grabbed a bun and started putting on all the fixings.

"MATÍ!" Matt heard a moment later yelling for him in the distance.

"Madilín!" Matt said as he put his plate down as the little girl was running toward him with her arms wide open. Matt bent down so that the little girl could wrap her arms around his neck as he picked her up. "Cómo estás?" (How are you?)

"Bien! Me alegro de que hayas vuelto!" she told him. (Good. I'm glad that you're home.)

"Y yo también!" Matt smiled. "Has sido una buena chica?" (Me too. Have you been a good girl?)

"Sí! Por TODO el año!" (Yes! All year!)

"QUE BUENO!" Matt smiled as she spied Nick. (Good!)

"Quién es él?" she asked. (Who is he?)

"Pues," Matt said, smiling at Nick, "él un amigo mío. Se llama Nick." (Well... he's a friend of mine. His name is Nick.)

"Es tu novio?" (Is he your boyfriend?)

"Qué tú sabes de novios?" Matt responded, smiling at Nick. (What do you know about boyfriends?)

"MUCHO! Tengo un novio en mi clase!" (A LOT! I have a boyfriend in my class!)

"DE VERDAD!?" Matt continued. (Really?)

"Se llama Paul," she insisted. (His name is Paul.)

"Qué bueno!" he smiled. (Awesome!)

"OK. Voy a jugar ahora! Podemos jugar hide-and-seek más tarde?" (OK. I'm going to play now. Can we play hide-and-seek later?)

"Sí!" Matt told her. "Debes pedirle a Nick si quiere jugar," Matt told her. (Yes. You should ask Nick if he wants to play.)

"Nick!" she said, turning in Matt's arms to look at him. "I'm Madelyn."

"Nice to meet you," Nick smiled.

"You're hot, and you should be Matt's boyfriend," she said.

"Maddie!" Matt swapped to her English nickname. "Did Seth tell you to say that?"

"Yes!" she said.

"I'll talk to him later," Matt apologized, with his eyes, to Nick, who smiled.

"So would you like to play hide-and-seek later?" she asked Nick.

"Sure," Nick smiled. "Just let me eat first, and then we'll play."

"OK," she said as Matt set her down and she ran off to play with other kids.

"I'm so sorry," Matt said.

"Shut up!" Nick told him. "Seriously. You're a catch, and if we knew each other better, I'd give you a shot."

"Of what?" Matt asked as Nick laughed. "Sorry. Seth must be throwing his voice."

"If you apologize one more time, Matthew, I'm gonna kick your ass," Nick said. Matt, to avoid making another joke only to make one with his gesture, put his free hand over his mouth, having picked his plate back up with the other.

As they walked from under the tent, with sodas in their hand, they found a full table free, taking two of the seats for themselves. After they ate and had a few minutes to relax, Madelyn and about a dozen other children came over to their table to tell them that it was time to play. Both guys threw away their trash and went over to the group of kids. Matt was selected as the first to count as Madelyn declared Nick to be, wherever he was, the "safe place". As they played, just for the sake of playing, Jenny sat at the table next to Seth, her attention divided between the man that had, unbeknownst to him, taken her heart, and the man that was the first one in her life. Like Nick, her father had been 'absent' making appearances every once in a while to bring her trinkets from his 'travels' around the globe. The last she heard, he was in prison, but she didn't care.

Linda and Becky were standing on the deck of the house, along with a few people that they'd known most of their lives, and every once in a while, they would look down to check on their kids. It did Linda's heart good to see Matt carrying on as he was. He'd lived far too long as a grown up, and she was happy to see him as a kid again, as her kid.

That afternoon, as people began to leave, Matt and Seth, along with Jenny and Nick, helped get everything cleaned up as the adults put the leftovers away. After it was all done, all that was left was the tables in the yard. The company that had brought them would be the next day to pick them up at some point. By dark, everything was done and everyone was bushed.

"So what do y'all have planned for tonight?" Becky asked the four among them that were known as "the Kids".

"No idea," Seth answered. "Y'all wanna go out or something?"

"Sounds cool," Matt and Nick said together. Jenny agreed.

"So yeah, we're going out!" Seth laughed.

"OK. Y'all be careful," Linda advised all four of them.

"We always are," Seth smiled as Linda and Becky shook their heads. Jenny snickered as Matt looked at Nick as if to say that it was already starting. The proverbial 'it' meant that Matt and Nick were going to be spending some time together that evening, without the company of the two people that they separately trusted most in the world.

After Matt fixed himself a bag with some clothes, the four of them were off. Jenny and Seth took their own cars back to Seth's, where Jenny had a couple of outfits that had been left there. Matt and Nick, though, both rode in Nick's Mustang. Behind the wheel, Nick was a kid with an amazing, sexy, new toy. Matt, grabbing his iPod and started playing something that Nick was singing at the top of his lungs, and even though he obviously couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, Matt still was amazed by the sound that he produced. It was soothing, calming, and amazing, despite the variance in pitch and such. When they got to Seth's, both of them were laughing and carrying on as they climbed from the car and walking toward the door.

"Oh Seth!" they heard Jenny scream as Matt opened the door. Carefully, quietly, they both backed out and quietly shut the door.

"Could they not wait on us to get here before telling us to get lost?" Nick inquired.

"I know, right?" Matt smiled. "So we've got a couple of hours to kill. What would you like to do?"

"I have no idea," Nick smiled.

"If we're going out, then I need to shower, and I can't if they're..."

"Right!" Matt smiled. "It is awesome that they've had 'the talk', though."

"I couldn't agree more," Nick said. "She's a great girl, and I love her lots," he looked at Matt.

"I feel the same way about Seth," Matt answered. "I remember one time, when we were in high school, this kid was making fun of me and shit, cause of the whole gay thing, and I was able to hold my own against him. Oh! But when Seth found out, I thought he was going to murder the guy."

"Did he beat him up?" Nick asked.

"Threatened him... made him cry... and piss himself," Matt joked.

"So is he the reason why you're single?" Nick asked.

"Nope," Matt smiled, "but you're not the first to make that observation."

"Ah!" Nick smiled. "Can I make an observation?"

"I don't know," Matt smiled. "Can you?"

"Well... yeah..." Nick laughed. "You're a great guy, Matt, and if I were in a better place, I would ask you out."

Matt smiled. "If I were, as well, I would accept."

"You're just saying that," Nick joked, knowing that Matt wouldn't joke about that.

"I am not," Matt continued to beam, from ear to ear.

"Then prove it!" Nick demanded, not expecting that Matt, a moment later, leaned over and kissed him squarely on the lips, right there in front of God and the rest of the world. It was a passionate kiss, the kind that could slow, or even stop, time, the kind that sent electrifying chills through a man who wasn't prepared.

"Satisfied?" Matt asked as he pulled away.

"Um... Whoa," Nick smiled. "So amazing kisser is another thing to add to the ever-growing list of things about Matt that are amazing."

"I gotta have something that complements sexy-as-fuck," Matt gave Nick a once over. "On a serious note, though, you are an amazing guy, and if we were in our respective better places, I would accept your invitation for a date."

"If you knew everything there was to know about me, then you'd not be so quick to answer," Nick remembered the previous day, and how bad it had been.

"Or... there is the possibility that I would think even more highly of you, and accept before you could get the words out of your mouth."

"Thank you," Nick said as he leaned against the railing, facing the world as Matt's back did the same.

"Nick. We all have our demons. You've got things; I've got things. It's how we deal with them that matters," Matt told him.

"True..." Nick said.

"And Nick, I know we don't know each other all that well," Matt said as Nick turned and looked at him, "but if there's every anything you need, whether it be $20 bucks for gas money, a place to crash when you have to get away from things in Jackson, or even if it's just that you need someone to talk to..." Matt started as Nick stood straight up and put his hands on Matt's arms, kissing him as plainly as he'd kissed Nick only a couple of seconds earlier. Pulling apart, it took Matt a moment to get himself back together. The kiss, as just as kiss, was amazing. "Was that to shut me up?" Matt joked.

"No. It wasn't," Nick looked into his eyes, plainly. "That," he smiled as he stepped back, "was to show my gratitude for what you were saying."

"So when are you going back to Jackson?"

"Probably Wednesday morning," Nick said. "I've gotten into this habit of cleaning everywhere I go, so I was going to clean Jenny's apartment and then probably pass out from exhaustion."

"Why don't you skip that," Matt started, "and let a local boy show you around town."

Nick acted as though he was thinking about it, when he knew the answer the whole time. "That would be much more interesting, I'm sure," Nick smiled.

"Then it's a... meeting of two friends."

"Yes. A meeting of two friends," Nick smiled.

"So let's walk to the Chevron and get some ice cream," Matt suggested.

"Favorite flavor?"

"Chocolate. Just plain chocolate," Matt told him as they walked from the stoop, putting their things back into his car, temporarily, and walking down Harrison to its intersection with Cossart Boulevard. Turning away from the crowds at Blind Jim's, they went south for a couple of blocks until they got there. Inside, the place was quiet, except for their playful argument about who was going to pay for what. The lady, who'd known Matt's family for ages through her rental of one of their houses in the city, shook her head and laughed as they carried on. On the way back, Matt ate from his pint of Blue Bell Chocolate Ice Cream as Nick munched on an ice cream sandwich and carried his Mountain Dew. The pack of cigarettes that he'd bought were in his pocket. Borrowing chairs from the neighbors after their return, they sat on the porch, carrying on, with their feet propped up against the railing until Jenny and Seth finished with their thing and Seth came to the door to let them know. They just smiled as they continued to sit there, enjoying their moment.

As he and Jenny were leaving, headed to her place for the evening, they agreed to meet at around eleven the next morning. Matt would pick him up at Jenny's place, and they'd go about their days while the others were at work.

To be continued...

Posted: 07/22/11