Just You and I

Another birthday together, the thirty-second for Justin and Kyle, is bitter-sweet for Justin. This year marks yet another year gone by without Kyle knowing how much Justin has wanted him over the years, and how much Justin loves him. They spend so much time together that their friendship is much stronger than most married couples they know, the heterosexual married couples, that is. The two men have shared so much already, political careers, heated debates over the social climate of their time, that perhaps the way things are is enough for Kyle. But it is not enough for Justin. This year is the year, Justin decides, to discover the truth about his and Kyle’s friendship or love, whatever it may be.

-------

Both born to very young parents, Justin and Kyle had formed their own social and political views which were very different from those of their parents. Their parents had been so very liberal minded that the views of Kyle and Justin had inadvertently been formed very similarly, in regard to their outlooks and opinions about politics and the social climate of their time. This was either because of, or perhaps in spite of, having grown up and “come of age” during the 1970s and 1980s. The two of them had witnessed the same events in the history of their country, the good, and the bad. They talked caringly about these things, almost sentimentally, now that they were grown men. Kyle and Justin had seemed to mesh well in their political science courses in college. They had both wanted to go into politics in some way, and had had big dreams of “changing the world” much like their parents had had a generation before them. Neither knew just exactly how this “world changing” would be accomplished, however. ----- They weren’t really tired yet, and wanted to talk some more, so they lay on their stomachs on the bed and turned toward each other. It was much like the afternoon, except now the flickering fire highlighted Kyle’s light pink groin that had taken some unwanted sun, too, while the rest of his tanned body blended into the darkness.

Justin found any excuse to glance Kyle’s way. Even sunburned, his body turned Justin on. They had had a few beers, and Justin thought that he saw just a hint of mischievousness in the eyes of his friend. He was more relieved than anything, and maybe a little hopeful that Kyle wanted him too when he saw the look, but still, he thought that he had probably somehow misread the look that he thought he had seen in Kyle’s eyes.