Spending three hours at a blind school’s art exhibition is something I could safely say I’d never imagined doing before I knew Isaac.
It was actually kind of fun.
Isaac was more caught up in the technical aspects of it all, for him and his students back in Boston, and he spoke to the artists and teachers there, sharing stories and talking candidly about what they did. Carter spent most of the time with Isaac, sharing in Isaac’s excitement, whereas Will and I spent most of the time wandering around together and looking at exhibits.
“These are pretty cool,” I said to Will, and the artist heard me. She was a blind woman who had a table full of various bracelets and necklaces.
“Which do you like?” she asked.
“The bracelets,” I told her. “The embossed leather ones with the silver clasp.”
“Ah, yes,” she said with a nod. “I have very unique embossing tools that gives them that distinct feel. Those are very nice.”
“I’ll take two,” I told her.
“Oh,” she said, sounding surprised, given they were rather pricey, but she quickly bagged the two I selected. “Both for you, or is one for someone special?”
“Someone special,” I told her, and after I’d paid, I turned and gave one straight to Will.
“Me?” he asked, sounding even more surprised than the woman I’d just bought them from.
“Yes, you,” I told him. “Who else?”
“I thought…” He shook his head. “I thought it was for Carter.”
“Nah, he has Isaac,” I said offhandedly. “You’re stuck with me now.”
“Oh, that’s right,” he said with half a smile. “I’m your Boy Wonder. Minus the tights.”
“I’m still not sure if you’ll be given back your cape privileges yet,” I told him. “But if you were to wear the tights…”
Will wrapped the bracelet around his left wrist and clasped it. “You can keep the cape.”
I gasped. “No deserving superhero would willingly give up his cape, Will.” I tried to do my bracelet up, but couldn’t get the clasp to fasten, and before I tossed it across the room, Will grabbed my hand and fixed the silver clasp for me.
“Jesus, Mark, surely Batman can do up his own bracelets.”
“Batman. Bat. Man, Will,” I reminded him. “I’m not Magneto.”
“Oh dear God,” Will mumbled, punctuated with an eye roll. “Any other comic book characters you’d like to blaspheme?”
“No… Oh my God, Will,” I cried. “That’s an excellent idea! For Halloween, I’ll go as Wonder Woman!”
Will blinked slowly, but before he could tell me how awesome that idea was, Carter and Isaac joined us. “Oh, for the love of all things Marvel,” Will mumbled. “Please make him stop.”
Carter laughed, and Isaac asked, “Mark, what are you doing now?”
“Being awesome,” I answered. “Will here has no appreciation for men in Wonder Woman outfits.”
Isaac’s mouth fell open, and Carter burst out laughing again. “Do we even want to know?”
“Kings is having a huge Halloween party this year, and I’ve been undecided about what to go as, but now I know. I’ll be Wonder Woman. Will can be Superman.”
“Really?” Will asked. “I’m Superman now? I thought I was Boy Wonder.”
“Well, you won’t wear the tights,” I said. “And—”
Will put his hand up, cutting me off. “But Superman wears tights.”
Carter looked at Will’s wrist, then touched it. “Is this new?”
“Oh, yeah,” Will said, thankfully smiling at the bracelet and dropping the lecture I was about to get about Superman and Lycra. “Mark just bought it for me. Pretty cool, huh?”
“It is,” Carter agreed.
I held up my wrist. “I got one too.” Then I took Isaac’s hand and placed his fingers on the new leather band around my wrist. “It’s embossed with some kind of pattern, but I don’t think it says anything in Braille.”
“Mmm,” Isaac mused thoughtfully. “Yes, it does. It says ‘Mark needs to buy Isaac lunch’.”
“That’s odd,” I said, “because I thought the lady I bought it from told me it said ‘Isaac isn’t funny’, but I could be mistaken.”
Isaac laughed. “No, I’m pretty sure it says that you’re paying for lunch.”
“Well, just so you know,” I told him, “I’m rolling my eyes at you.” Then I took his hand and led him farther up the exhibition. “Come on, then. If I’m buying us all lunch, then the three of you have to do this with me.”
Isaac stopped walking. He looked a little alarmed. “What is this exactly?”
I slid my arm around his waist and whispered in his ear. “I wouldn’t do anything you weren’t comfortable in doing.”
Isaac shifted his weight. “Are you standing so close to smell me again, or because Carter can see and you’re looking at him and smiling just to make him jealous?”
I chuckled. “Could be both. But he’ll come over here now and put his hands on you. He does it every time, like he owns you or something.”
Isaac sighed, or it was more of a quiet groan? “Well, he does, you know.”
“They’re walking over to us now,” I whispered. “Carter will pull you away from me and put his arm around you. You can thank me later.”
And sure enough, that’s exactly what he did. He physically removed my hand, which wasn’t even on Isaac’s ass, and pulled him into his side, making Isaac laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Carter asked.
“You’re so predictable,” I told him with a shake of my head.
Carter made a face at me. “Get your own boyfriend to fondle.”
I glared at him and slid my arm around Will. “I don’t need a boyfriend. I have Will. He puts up with me and doesn’t leave me to move to Boston.” I stuck my tongue out at Carter for good measure, then I pulled Will toward the door, where I wanted us to go. “Come on, you can be my partner.”
“Yeah, thanks,” he mumbled. “Glad to know I’m useful for something.”
I gave him a squeeze. “You’re incredible, Will. If anyone tells you any different I will need to kick some serious ass.”
“You’re so full of shit,” Will said, but he gave me a smile.
“What are we doing in here?” Carter asked from behind us.
“Art class,” I told him. “Painting, I think the schedule said.”
“You can’t be serious?” Isaac asked. Then he turned to Carter. “He’s serious, isn’t he?”
“Oh, please,” I answered. “You do art with your students all the time. Carter brags about you nonstop.”
“Yes, but no one in my class can really see how bad it is,” he said quietly.
I laughed. “Come on, this will be fun.”
We took our seats in what looked like an art class room, and while Brady slept at Isaac’s feet, the teacher made her introductory spiel. For a small fee, we could paint or draw whatever we wanted, with one stipulation. We needed to do it blindfolded.
“I’ve done many things blindfolded,” I said quietly. “But not paint.”
Will nudged me with his elbow, silently telling me to shut up. Then Carter leaned over and whispered, “I have, too.”
Will rolled his eyes. “No wonder you two get on so well.”
We were given some large art paper and could choose what medium we wanted to use. I chose paint, Will chose charcoal, and we were handed paper blindfolds so we could experience a little of what the student artists did.
With my blindfold on, I was handed a brush, and two small cups that apparently had a different color in each. I didn’t cheat and look, I thought the idea of doing this without eyesight was intriguing.
I felt around the edge of the easel and dabbed the brush into one of the pots of paint and started to make swirls, alternating the colors, broadening the patterns as I changed colors. I had no clue what it looked like, and it was fun. In a nonsexual kind of way.
When I’d done as many swirls as my attention span would allow, I pulled off the blindfold to look at my painting.
The colors were red and yellow and, subsequently, a lot of orange. The swirls were uneven and unsteady, but it was kind of cool. I’d always sucked at art at school, but thought my crazy high school art teacher, Mrs Bell, would be pleased. She’d think there was symbolic meaning to the flow or some other crap. I just thought I did well to get it on the paper.
It was then I heard Isaac chuckle, and when I looked over at them, Carter had pulled his stool to sit in front of Isaac’s. Isaac had his hands on Carter’s as though he was guiding him, like they were in that Ghost movie making pottery.
Not a great deal of painting was going on, more whispered words and giggling.
I shook my head and it was then I looked at Will’s easel.
He’d chosen charcoal, so his drawing was lines in different directions and different shadings of grays and blacks. It was kind of smudged and kind of depressing.
It was kind of incredible.
“Holy shit, Will,” I whispered.
He took off his paper blindfold and looked at his drawing. He gave it a dissatisfied shrug, then looked at mine. He spoke softly, “Yours looks like…”
“Like a kindergarten kid did it?” I finished for him.
“Give yourself some credit,” Will said with chuckle. “Maybe a second grader.”
I gave a nod to his. “Yours is amazing.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “The lines aren’t exactly straight.”
“Neither is the artist,” I told him.
He smiled at that, then looked past me to Carter and Isaac, who were still in a world of their own painting blue and red splotches in between giggles.
“They’re very in love,” Will said in a whisper.
“They are,” I answered, just as quietly. “They weren’t always like that,” I added. Will gave me an odd look, so I changed the subject. “How about we do one together?” I took my masterpiece off the easel and replaced it with a blank piece of paper and then handed Will the red cup of paint.
I painted a yellow line, then handed the brush over so Will could add a red one. “What is this supposed to be?” he asked, looking at the painting and titling his head.
“It just is what it is, Will,” I said. “It doesn’t need to be anything, does it?”
Will shrugged, and his brow pinched, as though he didn’t like that answer. So I said, “It’s an abstract of Boy Wonder and his yellow cape.”
Almost reluctantly, Will rolled his eyes. “We’re missing his green underpants.” He handed me back the paintbrush.
“And Batman,” I added. “We’re missing the most important part.”
“Who says there needs to be a Batman?” Will asked, still looking at the painting.
“You can’t have Batman without Robin,” I told him seriously.
“No, I guess you can’t,” Will said quietly, and I wondered whether we were talking about comic book characters anymore. He was just so out of sorts lately. He was quiet and a little withdrawn. As much as I didn’t want to be pushed aside, I kind of hoped he’d find someone that could make him happy.
I gave the paintbrush to Will. “What time is what’s-his-name meeting us tonight?”
“His name is Jayden, and I told him seven thirty at the restaurant,” Will said with a sigh as he added some more paint.
I wanted him to get excited, to be happy. “Are you nervous?”
“Not really,” he said. He handed me the paintbrush. “Kind of dreading it, actually.”
“What? No,” I said. “Will, once you get there and he arrives you’ll be fine. I’m sure he’ll think you’re great, and if he doesn’t,” I added, “then he’s not the one for you.”
Will looked at me for a long second, then turned back to our joint masterpiece. “Maybe.”
Before I could say anything else, the teacher at the front of the class called for everyone’s attention. Carter peeled off his blindfold and laughed at the painting in front of them. He told Isaac it was beautiful, though I thought it looked worse than mine. The teacher told us we were done, that we could leave our paintings to dry if we wished, and that we could collect them before leaving.
We had lunch outside, letting Brady out for a pee and a drink. All the while, I couldn’t help but think of not just what Will had said, but how he’d said it.
He was withdrawing himself. He wasn’t happy here in Hartford, he never really was. He’d come back because of his parents had kind of made him feel guilty for leaving. He’d spent a few years at college in New Haven and moved back when he’d graduated because his mother whined at him that it was too far for her to travel.
Which was utter bullshit.
She was just a bitch who never really got over the fact her son was gay and had tried to convince him it was just a phase. That woman hated me. She thought I was the devil reincarnated, and she told me as much. I told her she was sorely mistaken. I was the son of the devil reincarnated. My mother already took that title.
She never acknowledged me after that, which suited me just fine.
Will visited them every so often, usually sans me, but if he wanted to piss his mother off, he’d bring me along. And I loved going, just to help Will annoy his mother.
Will’s father was a silent, downtrodden man. I think Will’s mother had broken his spirit a long time ago, and he never really said much. Will said he’d hardly heard his father say more than a few sentences in his entire life.
I thought my mother was fucked up, but his parents were a different bag of crazy altogether. My mother was overbearing, cigarette-smoking, gin-guzzling, Botox-addicted, ball-of-fun crazy. Whereas Will’s parents were the horrible, soul-sucking kind of crazy.
It really was no surprise that Will loved my mother. She’d hug him and fuss over him and they’d do all sorts of mother-son things. He’d take her to the movies or buy her things from flea markets. She’d call me just to speak to him and in the end, I gave her his cell number so I didn’t have to be involved.
But Will had been quiet these last few weeks. I’d noticed it and he swore nothing was wrong, but I knew different. I knew this because I’d seen it before.
It was the same kind of the unhappiness that Carter went through before he moved to Boston.
He was restless, and he needed a new life.
I understood that, and I loved him, so I was happy for him to go in search for happiness.
But Will was different.
I didn’t know why. Maybe because I didn’t want to lose another best friend. Maybe I didn’t want to be left behind. Again.
And the only way I could ensure he’d stay in Hartford was to help make him happy. Hence the reason why I wanted to find him a boyfriend.
That in itself was a concept which didn’t exactly sit well with me, though I put that down to not wanting him to move on from me.
“Earth to Mark!” came Carter’s voice. “You in there?”
I sat up straighter and shook my head. “Sorry, I was a million miles away.”
“We’d better get going, yeah?”
“Yep,” I said, standing up and stretching.
Will was already standing. “I’ll just go grab those paintings and stuff,” he said. “I’ll meet you guys out front.” And with that, he was gone.
Carter, Isaac, Brady, and I walked back through the Center to the front doors, then toward the bus stop. “You guys just want to go home and chill before we head out again tonight?” I asked them.
Isaac nodded. “Sounds good.”
“You okay?” Carter asked me.
“Yeah, I’m great,” I told him, though he knew it wasn’t the exact truth. He didn’t press the issue, because Will walked up behind us with his hands full of rolled up papers.
“I can put those in my backpack, if you want,” Carter said. Carter always took a backpack if they were going anywhere that Brady might need water or snacks.
“Sure,” Will said, handing them over just before the bus arrived.
Will was still quiet when we were seated and had traveled a little while, so I nudged him with my elbow. “I was just saying we might go back to my apartment and relax for a bit before we go out again. Did you want to come?”
“Nah, I’ll head home,” he said.
“You sure?”
“Yes, Mark, I’m sure,” he replied. “I need to go home and make myself all pretty for this date I’m having tonight.”
“You make it sound like elective surgery.”
Will snorted. “What am I having removed?”
Me, I thought errantly, you’re having me removed. Surprised by my own thoughts, I did what I always did: said something funny so people wouldn’t see the truth. “Your sense of humor, if you don’t mind. Because it’s faulty. Then you can have it replaced with the Mark Gattison Three Thousand. It’s a state-of-the-art, high-powered sense of humor that has a one-hundred percent strike rate and can be used to charm others.”
“Or offend them,” Will added.
“Well, that depends on the circumstance,” I told him. “It’s a highly evolved program that can detect just what it’s needed for.”
Will shook his head, but managed a bit of a laugh. “You’re a dork.”
“Maybe, but I made you smile.”
He nudged me with his shoulder and gave a sigh. “You’re a good guy, Mark. I don’t care what anyone else says about you.”
I snorted. “Yeah, thanks.”
When we arrived at the stop closest to my apartment, Will started off down the sidewalk in the opposite direction with a promise to see us at the restaurant.
“Oh, wait!” Carter called out to him, taking his backpack off. “Will, your drawing!”
“Give it to Mark,” he called out. “He can keep it.”
“Seven thirty,” I called out after him. “Don’t be late. You don’t want Jayden to get there without you.”
Even some twenty yards away, I could still see Will roll his eyes before he turned and walked away.
Will was already at the restaurant when we got there. He was dressed in that gray-colored shirt that matched his eyes and his hair was styled. He looked good.
We sat at a round table, with me next to Will and an empty seat on his other side, then Carter and Isaac, with Brady, as always, at his feet. Will smiled and wiped his hands on his thighs. He was nervous.
“You okay?” I asked quietly.
He nodded quickly. “Yeah.”
I patted his leg under the table. “You’ll do just fine. Be yourself. He’ll love you.”
Will let out a nervous huff. “You guys all look good,” he said, looking around the table.
“I’ll have to take your word for that,” Isaac said with a smile.
The waiter took our drink order and just as he returned with our beers, Will’s phone buzzed. He read the screen and exhaled through puffed cheeks.
“What’s up?” I asked. “Is he not coming?”
“No, no,” he said quickly. “He’s out the front. I’ll go meet him.” Will stood up, then looked at me. “Wish me luck.”
I laughed. “You don’t need luck. You’ve got me.”
Will threw his napkin on the table. “That’s what worries me,” he mumbled before he disappeared out the doors we’d just walked in.
Carter was smiling at me. “Be nice to him,” he said. “Try not to scare him off.”
I narrowed my stare at him. “Oh, please. If some jerk can’t put up with me, he doesn’t deserve Will.”
“So,” Isaac said. “On an awkward scale of one to ten, how are we expecting this to go?”
“I’ll be nice,” I told them, a little annoyed that they’d think I wouldn’t be. “I want him to be happy.”
“Have you asked him what he wants?” Carter asked kindly.
“Well, yeah,” I said. “That’s how this whole ‘finding Will a boyfriend’ thing came about. I asked him if he wanted a boyfriend, and he said yes.” Then I amended, “Well, he just kind of shrugged and nodded, but he certainly didn’t object.”
“Why can’t he find his own boyfriend?” Isaac asked.
“Well, I guess he can find his own,” I said. “I’m just helping him. He’s not very happy here, and I don’t want him to leave.”
Before Carter or Isaac could say anything else, Will walked back into the restaurant with his date. Jayden was a bit shorter than Will and smiled nervously. Will sat himself between me and Jayden, and we tried to keep conversation going so no one was uncomfortable, though it kind of was.
I had to give Jayden credit; he was going on a date with a complete stranger and said stranger’s three friends. Regardless that my cousin Chelsea reassured him we were normal, that still had to take some balls.
He was okay looking: he had short brown, curly hair and big brown eyes. He was twenty-five and was assistant manager of some clothing store, which explained his outfit. Not that it was bad, it just wasn’t anything I’d wear. Granted, jeans were universal, but the plaid shirt was hokey, brand name or not.
It also explained how my cousin Chelsea knew him. She managed the shop next door, and the two had come to know each other, so Jayden said.
We ate our meals and talked about Isaac and Carter getting married and how their preparation plans were going, and then talked turned to safe topics like movies and sport. The four of us chatted, and even Jayden joined in every now and then.
I guess we got comfortable, and I didn’t think anything of it, but when Will had had enough to eat, he simply swapped plates with mine. I picked at what was left on his plate, like we always did, as we talked.
It wasn’t until the table was quiet that I looked up and saw Carter and Jayden were looking at me eat. I swallowed my mouthful. “What?”
Jayden looked between me and Will while Carter smiled and shook his head. “Nothing.”
I looked at Will, and he smiled at Jayden. “Mark can eat more than me,” he said quietly.
I pushed the plate away, as though it was the offending party, but the conversation never quite recovered after that, so before it could take a real nosedive, I suggested we make our way to The Stage.
When we walked out of the restaurant, Carter grabbed my arm and pulled me alongside him and Isaac, letting Will and Jayden walk some yards behind us. “Let them talk,” Carter whispered.
I looked back a few times, seeing that Will and Jayden had struck up a quiet conversation between themselves, and they both looked happy enough. Jayden even laughed a few times, and I wondered what Will had said that was funny.
Carter was telling Isaac about his time in Hartford, where he used to live, where he used to go out, and the places he said he’d take him to tomorrow. “Isn’t that right, Mark?” Carter asked.
“Huh?”
He snorted. “Were you even listening?”
“How can I pay attention to you when I’m trying to eavesdrop on the conversation behind us?” I asked him.
“Leave them alone,” he said.
“I’m just concerned, that’s all,” I told him. “I’m allowed to be concerned. I seem to remember giving you a hundred questions when you met Isaac and you didn’t mind.”
“That was different,” he shot back.
“Not really,” I told him. “Because I’d have eavesdropped on you as well if I could have, but you were in Boston. So I had to ask questions.”
Isaac laughed. “Did you give Carter the third degree when we first met?”
“Yes,” I stated proudly. “It’s my duty as best friend to annoy the fuck out of him until he gave me answers.”
“Well, annoy the fuck out of Will tomorrow, but leave him alone tonight.”
“Remember how I mentioned before about you getting married and losing your sense of humor?” I asked.
Carter snorted. “Yes.”
“Yeah, well. That.”
Isaac laughed, so I squeezed in between him and Carter and put my arm around Isaac. “Excuse me, Mr Brannigan. Pray tell, what is so funny?”
“You,” he answered simply. “Mark, you know you’re my second favorite person, right?”
“Well, you and I both know I’m your first favorite, but we just won’t tell Carter.”
Isaac shook his head and scoffed. “And you know I do adore you, yes?”
“Mmm.” I considered where this was going. “You’re about to insult me, aren’t you?”
Isaac grinned. “Only because I love you.”
“Oh jeez, it must be bad.”
Even Carter laughed at that, and Isaac said, “You have full vision?”
Well, that was a weird question. “Yep, twenty-twenty.”
“And you’re of above normal intelligence?”
“I’d like to think so,” I said slowly, still not sure where was going.
Then he sighed. “Just wondering,” he said flippantly.
I looked at Carter. “Can you translate that for me?”
Carter laughed. “Maybe later,” he said as we rounded the corner of a building. “Here’s the theater.”
The concert itself was pretty good, and when we left, Isaac said he was tired, so Carter suggested they go straight home. I looked at Will and Jayden. “You guys up for a few drinks or what?”
“No,” Carter interrupted. Giving me a death stare. “How about you come home with us and leave these two to themselves?”
“Oh,” I said. “Okay.” Then I looked at Will. “Is that okay with you?”
“It’s fine,” he said with a smile.
Walking up to him, I cupped his face. “You call me if you need to,” I said seriously, and then I kissed his cheek. I might have also given Jayden a look that said ‘don’t hurt him’. Then I tapped Will’s face lightly. “I’ll call you tomorrow. You kids have fun.”
Just an hour later, Brady was curled up on the rug, Isaac was asleep in bed, and Carter and I were up talking, when my phone beeped. It was a message from Will.
Home, alone. Date was a total bust. I’ll call you tomorrow.
I quickly thumbed a reply. What did he say? I thought you were getting on okay. Did something happen?
Said he wasn’t interested.
You okay?
I’m fine. Call you tomorrow.
Okay. For what it’s worth, no man who wears plaid is good enough to date you.
There was a long wait before he responded, I love you.
Without a second thought, without hesitation, I replied, Love you, too.