Last Summer

Reid and Ty clicked glasses. Reid took a drink of his wine and set the glass down.

“Well, honey, how was your day at work?” he said, channeling June Cleaver.

Ty laughed. “Well, my boss is a jerk and that new secretary tried to feel me up in the copy room again,” he replied.

“It does sort of feel like we’re married now, doesn’t it?” Ty said as he cut a piece from the steak Reid had removed from the grill just minutes earlier.

“Coming out on national television will do that, I guess,” replied Reid.

“Now I know how Ellen and Anne must have felt,” Ty said, chewing.

“I think only the space aliens who control her brain know how Anne felt,” said Reid. “As for Ellen, I don’t think she had any idea what was going to hit her when she did it.”

“And we do?” asked Ty.

Reid shrugged. “More or less,” he said. “Why, are the people on the set giving you a hard time?”

“Not at all,” answered Ty. “You know, apart from the ‘Which one of you is the wife?’ questions.”

Reid stopped eating and looked at him, horrified.

“Just kidding,” said Ty. “Everyone has been really supportive. It’s the press that’s making me nuts.”

“Which reminds me,” Reid said. “Violet called today. The Advocate wants us on their cover in two weeks. I told them I’d have to talk to you first.”

Ty made a face. “Do we have to?” he asked.

“They are the largest gay news magazine in the country,” Reid said. “It says so right on the cover.”

Ty laughed. “I know,” he said. “But if they feature us, doesn’t that mean they’ll have to cut an article about Melissa?”

“Be nice,” Reid admonished him. “It’s not every day the hottest actor in America comes out.”

“That’s because we’re all afraid The Advocate will interview us and ask us a bunch of idiotic questions,” replied Ty. He sat up and affected a serious tone. “So, Ty,” he said, “are there any other gay actors whose names you can share with us? Will you be doing a full-frontal nude scene in your next film? Do you know Cher?”

“You’re going to hell,” said Reid, laughing. “A lot of people read them.”

“Maybe so,” said Ty. “They’re still colossal ass-kissers.”

“You have to talk to the gay rags,” Reid said. “If you don’t, you’ll look homophobic.”

“Thank you, Larry Kramer,” said Ty.

Reid gave him a look. “I’m serious,” he said. “This is a great opportunity to show that you’re still confident about your place in Hollywood.”

“But I’m not,” Ty said. “How many offers have come in since I came out?”

“It’s been a week,” said Reid firmly. “And you’ve gotten tons of press. All of it pretty positive, I might add.”

Ty nodded. “I know,” he said. “But who knows what the suits are saying about me?”

“I’m one of the suits, remember?” Reid told him. He watched Ty, who continued to eat in silence. “Hey, are you sorry you did this?”

Ty looked up. “No,” he said. “I’m not sorry. I’m just a little, you know, worried.”

“It’s going to be fine,” Reid reassured him. “And we’re in this together, remember?”

Ty smiled. “How could I forget?” he said sweetly.

Reid rolled his eyes. “Fuck you,” he said playfully. “Use that face when you’re interviewed and you’ll be replaced in no time.”

“Ooh,” Ty said. “Just what I’ve always wanted to be, the Advocate’s celebrity of the moment.”

“Well, Cher won’t be around forever,” Reid said thoughtfully.

“Speaking of girls of the moment,” Ty said. “Any sign of Devin?”

Reid shook his head. “Not a peep,” he said. “I think we’ve probably seen the last of her.”

“Don’t count on it,” said Ty. “That one has plans. She’ll probably turn up on an episode of celebrity Survivor. She and John Wayne Bobbitt will be the last two and she’ll win by flashing her beaver at the jury right before they vote.”

“I didn’t need that image in my head while I’m trying to eat,” Reid said as he stabbed at his meat. “Anyway, I feel a little sorry for her. She’s sort of pathetic, really.”

“Like O.J. is pathetic,” Ty remarked. “The girl is poison.”

“And ninety-nine percent of the people in Hollywood aren’t?” said Reid.

“She and Raymacher are a perfect match,” Ty continued. “Too bad he’s queer. Then again, she could always use a strap-on.”

“You’re charming tonight,” Reid said. “Very charming.”

“Charming enough to get you into bed?” Ty asked.

“If I have any more wine you will be,” Reid answered.

Ty picked up the bottle and refilled Reid’s half-empty glass. “Drink up,” he said.

They ate for a few minutes in silence, enjoying the last of the sun before it returned to the sea. The heat of the afternoon was dissolving into the cool of evening, and the house had taken on an almost dreamlike quality, as if it existed apart from everything else in the world, protected in its golden bubble. Reid wished he could fix time and stay there, not forever but long enough to enjoy time alone with his lover.

“Have you thought about what we’re going to do when we get back to LA?” he asked Ty cautiously. It was a subject that had been on his mind for a while, but he hadn’t raised it with Ty until now.

“Can’t we just stay here?” Ty replied, sounding irritated.

“Not if we’re going to keep working in the film industry,” replied Reid.

“Then let’s not,” Ty said. “Let’s get out.”

“And do what?” asked Reid.

“I don’t know,” Ty said. “Run a B and B. We could do that.” He looked at Reid hopefully.

Reid began laughing. “Nice try,” he said. “You almost had me.”

Ty grinned. “Just seeing if I still have it,” he said. “But you thought about it for a minute, didn’t you?”

Reid shrugged. “It would be fun for about a day,” he said. “Then we’d want to pack our bags and get on the first flight to LAX.”

“You’re right,” Ty admitted. “As much as I hate the place sometimes, and the people in it, it’s still home.”

“Which brings us back to my original question,” said Reid. “What are we going to do when we get back?”

“I assume you mean about living arrangements,” said Ty, spearing a green bean and biting it in half. “Shacking up.”

“It had crossed my mind,” Reid answered.

“First we have to get a few things cleared up,” Ty said seriously.

Reid looked at him quizzically. “Like what?”

“No commitment ceremony,” said Ty. “I think they’re dumb.”

“Okay,” Reid said. “What else?”

“Our anniversary will be the day we first said ‘I love you,’ not the day we first fucked.”

“Very romantic,” Reid said. “Agreed. But I’m not sure I remember the exact date.”

“Sunday, May twenty-fifth,” Ty said instantly, earning a surprised look from Reid.

“I wrote it down,” explained Ty.

“May twenty-fifth it is then,” said Reid. “Is there more?”

“We’re getting a dog,” said Ty, ticking the items off on his fingers. “A big one, not one of those little yappy things Joan Rivers has. You have to watch baseball games with me, if one of us goes on location we call every night before bed, we do Thanksgiving at home, don’t ever call me ‘pumpkin,’ and don’t interrupt me while Buffy the Vampire Slayer is on.”

“Okay,” Reid replied. “And you don’t drink milk from the carton.”

“Done,” Ty said. “Man, you make a lousy agent. You agreed to every one of my demands.”

“It’s because you’re so adorable,” Reid said. “Pumpkin.”

“That’s grounds for divorce,” Ty informed him sternly. “Say it again and I’ll have my lawyer all over your happy ass.”

“I love it when you talk like rough trade,” Reid said.

Ty gave him the finger. “And there’s more where that came from,” he said afterward.

“Young people,” said Reid, shaking his head. “No respect for their elders.”

“Careful,” Ty said. “If you keep it up, I’ll have to call you ‘Daddy’ when we do our Barbara Walters interview.”

“Do it and I’ll tell Jon Stewart how you jack off when you watch him,” Reid retorted.

“Bitch,” Ty snapped.

Their repartee was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Please don’t tell me it’s Devin,” Ty said.

“Relax,” Reid told him. “It’s Josh. He’s bringing me the script. He finished it today.”

Reid went to the door and let Josh in, giving him a big hug.

“How’s the most famous gay couple in America?” Josh asked as he patted Ty on the shoulder and sat down at the table.

“Siegfried and Roy?” Ty said. “They looked okay when we saw them at the market.”

“He’s on a roll,” Reid said to Josh. “Ignore him. How’s the script?”

“Finished,” Josh announced, dropping a bundle on the table and pushing it toward Reid.

“This might just be your next big hit,” Reid told Ty as he picked up the script and flipped through the pages.

“It’s still rough,” said Josh hesitantly. “It will need a lot of work.”

“Then you’ll have to come visit us in LA to work on it,” Reid said.

“Yeah,” Ty agreed. “What are your plans, anyway? Heading back to Boston when the summer’s over?”

Josh groaned. “I don’t know,” he said. “Things have gotten a little complicated.”

“Sounds interesting,” said Ty. “Tell us everything.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” replied Josh. “It’s a long story.”

Reid picked up the bottle of wine and poured Josh a glass of it. “Start at the beginning,” he said, handing it to him. “We have all night.”