Chapter Two

 

 

 

It was always the same…

The night was dark, but Blaine Chambers felt good. He tried to be quiet as he slipped into the house, going as far as to take off his shoes before he walked through the garage door. The second his feet hit the cold tile in the overly immaculate kitchen, lights came on, brighter than any spotlight he’d ever seen. Blaine blinked against the light, then his mother stomped out of the glare.

“Blaine Alan Chambers!” Her voice had an unreal shrillness to it. “Where have you been?”

Fear coursed through him and he turned to find the door he’d just came through gone, and a row of cabinets that had never existed in real life blocked his way.

“Don’t you dare turn away from me, young man!” His mother was halfway across the kitchen. She pointed at him and shook her hand with each word. “Answer my question!”

Blaine swallowed hard. “Out with friends.”

“Which ones?” His mother was close enough to grab him. Even though he jerked away, she managed to get hold of his ear, something she hadn’t done in years. He’d grown too big for her to drag around by his ears. “I need to know so that I can let their parents know that their kids were drinking too.”

His heart sank and for a moment he felt like it stopped. “But, Mom, it was just one beer. I swear.” Even as the words left his mouth, he knew they weren’t going to be enough to change anything that was about to come. The dream was always the same.

“One beer! You had one beer!” Her grip on his ear tightened until he wanted to cry out that she was hurting him, but he knew better than to do it. She would just redouble her efforts. “And you drove home. How dare you drive after you’ve been drinking? Karl, come talk to your son. I can’t stand him anymore. We’ve given him everything he ever needed in life and now he turns his back on all of it by driving drunk.” She dragged him across the kitchen as his father’s large frame filled the doorway on the far side of the room.

His father was larger than he ever had been in life, which was saying a lot. He filled the doorway and the acid reek of cigarettes rolled off him. “Boy, we’ve talked about this.”

But we haven’t! Blaine wanted to scream. It was the first and only time he’d driven after having a drink with friends. Harry had managed to get his older brother Sam to buy them a six pack. There had been five of them. They’d all had one beer and given the extra to Sam as payment since none of them were old enough to buy liquor. It hadn’t even been enough to get any of them a decent buzz…

“Blaine!” A voice shattered his dream followed by knocking. “Blaine, wake up, Seth’s here.” His grandmother’s voice rang out from the other side of his bedroom door.

Rubbing his eyes, Blaine rolled over. “Give me a minute.” For a moment, he wished she’d shown up a couple of minutes earlier and saved him from the dream.

“Thanks, Mrs. Dell. I’ll take it from here.” The closed door muffled Seth’s voice.

“I’ll go fix some breakfast. Would you like anything, Seth?”

“No, thanks. I ate when I got up.” Seth’s chuckle was deep. A few months prior and his voice had been high, almost girly. But it had finally changed, toward the end of school, making Seth happier than when he’d started shaving the previous summer. Both Seth and Blaine were ready to stop being considered kids and start being adults.

Beyond the door were the muffled steps of Blaine’s grandmother moving down the hall. Blaine rolled out of bed and walked to his small three-quarter bath.

“I hope you’re decent, ’cause I’m coming in.” Seth opened the door before Blaine had a chance to reply.

“When has me being decent ever come into play?” He pushed the bathroom door mostly closed so he could pee in a little privacy. It wasn’t like Seth hadn’t seen him naked in the locker room at school. Blaine knew that Seth didn’t care about seeing him. Seth was arrow straight.

“Hey, dude, your grandma’s just down the hall.” Seth dropped his voice. “I’ve gotta make it look good.”

“Sure, whatever.” Blaine flushed to toilet before turning to try and flatten his hair. “So why are you here so early?”

“It’s not early.” Beyond the door Blaine’s computer chair creaked, indicating that Seth had settled into it. “It’s nearly nine. I’m still not used to our summer schedule. I’ve been up a couple of hours. I thought we were going to hit the skateboard park today. Last chance for a week. You do remember that we’re going to the annual family campout day after tomorrow?”

Blaine picked up his toothbrush and frowned at his expression in the mirror. How could he forget the camping trip to Assateague? Even though Blaine wasn’t officially part of Seth’s family, they’d been friends since before kindergarten and did everything together. Seth’s folks had been like his second set of parents, even before his own had cast him out to live with his grandmother. The camping trip was going to be his next chance to see Seth’s cousin Angela. He’d been working up his courage for months to tell her how pretty she was. She wasn’t a classic beauty, but there was something about her that just called to him. To him, her beauty came from inside and he wanted to get close to her and find out if she was interested in him too. The family campout was the best time to do that. He’d be able to find an excuse to go off with her and talk, just the two of them. The very thought of it gave him butterflies.

“Of course I haven’t forgotten.” Blaine squeezed toothpaste onto his brush. “I just have other things on my mind.”

“More of those dreams?” Seth’s voice softened.

“Yeah,” Blaine replied around a mouth full of toothbrush.

“Dude, I still can’t believe your mom had such a meltdown over just a beer. I mean, it’s been months and she still won’t talk to you.”

Blaine waited to reply until he’d spat out the toothpaste. “Gran said that Mom and Dad are getting divorced. Mom blames it on me.” Blaine splashed some water on his face and finally felt like he was ready to meet the day. When he thought about his mother’s reactions to everything, he started wondering how much of her failings in life in general she blamed on him. It didn’t seem fair, but he had learned most of the time, life wasn’t fair.

“Shit. When did that happen?”

“Last night was when she told me.” He strolled out into his room.

Sure enough, Seth was sprawled in Blaine’s computer chair. “That explains why you had another dream.”

Blaine shook his head and went to his closet. “Not just another dream, several of them. All night I kept reliving the day she…they threw me out. Her screeching got worse each time it replayed. This last time I got lucky and you showing up cut off Dad’s rant before it could begin.” He quickly changed from his sleeping shorts into the baggier cargo shorts he liked to skateboard in.

“Too bad I wasn’t earlier.”

“Hey, you didn’t know I had news last night.” Blaine found a Minion meme T-shirt and pulled it on. “I didn’t feel like talking about it.” He frowned as he grabbed an old, faded pair of blue deck shoes. “Gran didn’t come out and say it, but I think part of the problem with them is me.”

“The drinking thing. Jeez. I know your uncle died in a drunk-driving accident, but that doesn’t warrant the explosion you endured. Your mom went completely mental on you.”

Blaine carried the shoes over to the bed and sat there since Seth was in his computer chair. “We’ve been over this several times.”

Seth shook his head and sighed. “I still think it’s nuts that adults can’t be as accepting as kids are. So what if you’re pan? It just opens up your opportunities. I think it’s great. If I thought I could suck a dick, I’d be pan, but dude, it’s just not me.”

Laying back on the bed, Blaine picked up one of his pillows and lobbed it at Seth’s head. It caught him square. “And I’m really sure that all the gay guys at school are thankful they don’t have to join forces with the girls against you.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with me?” Seth picked the pillow up and shook it out with a look on his face that said he couldn’t decide if he was going to throw it back at Blaine or not.

Blaine laughed. “Seth, you’re my best friend—if we were girls, you’d be my bff—but sometimes you’re a real idiot. Particularly when it comes to girls.” He shook his head. “I can’t imagine what you’d be like with boys. Do me a favor and just don’t try.”

“Okay, I won’t. Hell, you haven’t even tried yet. I just know you say you’d be comfortable with either. That’s it’s the person inside that’s attractive to you.” He shrugged and stood. “Don’t you have to get past the physical attraction before you can get to the person inside?”

“Sometimes.” Blaine wiggled his toes in his shoes, getting his socks to relax a bit and not be so tight. “But I’ve tried to explain this to you before, and you just don’t get it.”

Seth punched him in the shoulder. “Right, I don’t understand, but you’re still my best friend.”

“And you’re mine.” Blaine rubbed his shoulder for a second. Seth’s blow didn’t really hurt, but there was a slight stinging to it. “Now let’s go get some breakfast. I don’t want Gran getting upset because we took too long to get down there.”

“I wonder if I can swipe a bit.” Seth followed him out of the room and down the stairs. “I ate earlier, but if we’re going to be boarding today, I can always use a bit more.”

“You know, if you get fat, the girls will have even less use for you.”

“Nah, I’ll still be able to charm them, even if I get a gut. But I guess it’s a good thing Dad has the workout room in the basement.”

“Yeah, lots of luck with the charming bit. We’ll ask La-La about how charming you are.”

“You’re the only one Angela doesn’t break in half for calling her that.” Seth sat on the stair rail and slid down. “I just realized my cousin is a bit scary at times.”

It took a lot of restraint for Blaine to not knock Seth off the railing. “Don’t let Gran see you do that.” He shook his head. “And La-La’s not scary. She’s kinda cool. All the tomboy stuff is just who she is. I think it’s great that she’s able to be herself like that. I think more people should stop worrying about that and just be free.” And I hope I can work up the balls to tell her that to her face.

“And if she catches you calling her a tomboy, she’ll break you for that too.”

“I doubt that.” Blaine allowed himself a soft grin. He grinned a lot when he thought about Angela. “I actually think she might like me.” The thick aroma of bacon hit him as they started toward the kitchen.

“The way Aunt Claire is, Angela might freak out about the pan stuff. It’s hard to tell, but I know Aunt Claire can be nearly as flaky as your folks were.”

“His mom’s not flaky,” Blaine’s grandmother said as they entered the kitchen. “Catherine’s just a bitch. She never had the good sense God gave a turnip. How that woman came from my loins I have no idea.” She walked over and kissed Blaine on the cheek. “Seth, I went ahead and cooked a few extra slices of bacon for you along with two pieces of toast. I figure you can eat a bacon sandwich with Blaine as you two walk down to the skate park.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Dell.” Seth smiled at her.

“You’re a growing boy. At this point, you’re a bottomless pit.” She picked up her blue jean purse where it sat on the table near the back door. “Blaine, I’ve got a few errands to do. If anything happens, call me. Try not to break anything while you’re out.”

Blaine sighed softly enough she wouldn’t hear. His gran worried more about him when he was out doing things like skateboarding than his folks ever had. It was often hard to take. “I’ll try not to, Gran. If anything happens, Seth will call you.”

“I’m sure he will. Lock up when you leave.” Then she was gone.

“You know your grandmother’s cool, don’t you?” Seth said.

“Yeah, and it’s more than just because she’s an old hippy. She took me in when the folks threw me out. I’d do anything for her.” Blaine fixed his sandwich, not bothering to add anything other than the bacon to the toast.

“My folks think she’s great, although my mom still wants to sit yours down and scream at her for a while.”

“Don’t think that Gran hasn’t already done that, several times.” Blaine shook his head. It was something he never thought he’d live to hear and something he was growing very tired of. “Look, I’d rather not go over this again. I’d like to forget the nightmares. I’m hoping the camping trip will help with those. My folks never went with us to Assateague. It was always just your family there. It’ll be great.” And Angela will be there.

Seth finished putting his own sandwich together and took the first bite. “Yup, great.” He mumbled around the bacon and toast.