AFTER TYLER’S weekend visit to help Brandon clean out the garage, followed by one of the best hours of Brandon’s life spent on Joel’s basement sofa, and then by joining the guys at the gay youth group meeting, Tyler became a regular visitor to Brandon’s house just about every weekend. When he arrived, he always got the evil eye from Brandon’s father.
Out of earshot of Brandon’s father, one weekend Tyler said, “It’s like your dad just doesn’t seem to grasp why I would want to hang around with you. He always looks at me so suspiciously, like I’m only here to rob him or something, when really all I want to steal is your heart. It’s not like I’m trying to make off with the secret recipe for how to make Coke or something.”
Brandon’s dad watched the two of them, like a hawk looking for any opportunity to dive in and go for the kill. He watched them talk, he watched them walk, and he watched them even when they were just sitting quietly together. It was abundantly clear he did not understand the friendship that had developed between Tyler and Brandon, and he most certainly did not approve.
After about a month, one Saturday after Tyler left, his dad finally couldn’t stand it any longer and told Brandon, “All right. Enough. You need to stop this and focus on what’s important.”
“Oh?” he said, looking at his father.
“You’ve had your little fun, now send that boy away and focus on your swimming. You’re not a kid anymore.”
“Yes, Dad, I know that, but you don’t seem to have figured that out yet,” Brandon said, surprising himself by keeping his voice flat and calm.
“What did you just say to me?” his father demanded.
“You say I’m not a kid, but that is precisely how you’ve been treating me by trying to control my entire life and run everything. It’s just killing you that I’ve made a friend on my own and you’re not part of it.”
“He’s trouble, Brandon. He’s nothing but trouble. He’s got an angle. I know he does. I don’t know what it is yet, but I guarantee that he’s up to something and you’re going to be the one who gets hurt.”
“He is not trouble, Dad. He’s a friend, and I’m doing just fine.”
“Enough!” His father glared at him. “He’s not to come around here anymore. That’s final.”
“No, that doesn’t work for me,” Brandon said, doing his best to remain calm, even though he was feeling anything but.
“What did you just say to me?” his father demanded.
“No,” Brandon said, looking directly at his father and speaking very clearly. “It is not your decision to make. It is mine, and I said no.” Brandon somehow even managed to keep his body language relaxed in order to project an in-charge, confident attitude. He didn’t know where that ability was coming from, but he knew he had to show his father that things were changing.
The conversation ended in a draw that day. After a few weeks of basically an agreement to disagree, full-on hostility had returned to the household. For the first twenty-four hours, there was a lot of scowling and unhappy looks from Brandon’s dad. Brandon, for his part, was perfectly comfortable with his father being unhappy—it seemed like reasonable payback for the many years of unhappiness he’d given to Brandon.
Through Joel, Brandon was able to get word to Tyler that his father had upped the ante and told Brandon to stop seeing Tyler—and that Brandon had no intention of doing that. While it was difficult to develop a relationship while constantly under the microscope of his dad, Brandon was most certainly not about to give up on the first good thing to happen to him in years. Still he wanted Tyler to know that when he arrived on Saturday, he needed to be prepared for more hostility than usual.
Brandon was surprised on Saturday morning. When Tyler arrived, he had Joel with him. As predicted, Brandon’s dad was a miserable pain in the ass to all three of them, but that was where Joel came into the picture. He was there to distract Brandon’s dad so Brandon and Tyler had some alone time.
Not only was Brandon frustrated by only seeing Tyler once a week and not having further contact for another seven days, but Tyler was as well. With his dad distracted—not happily—for a few minutes, Brandon and Tyler went out back by themselves.
“I’ve got something for you,” Tyler began immediately. “Here.” He handed a small box to Brandon.
“What is it?” Brandon asked.
“A way for us to keep in contact between visits.”
“I don’t understand,” Brandon said, a look of confusion on his face.
“It’s a phone.”
“Oh, Ty, I can’t take your phone.”
“It’s not mine, Bran. It wouldn’t be worth much to give you my phone and then not have one of my own for you to call, now would it? I’ve got mine. This one is for you. I’ve programmed my number into it. If we don’t have time today, Joel will show you how it works and how to text me and how to send emails and make it do all kinds of smart things. He’ll help you set up an email account too.”
“This is… this is… unbelievable. This is too much. I can’t take this,” Brandon said, starting to hand the still unopened box back to Tyler.
“You are taking it,” Tyler said, pushing it back to Brandon. “I want to be able to talk to you, communicate with you, and this is the way we’re gonna be able to do that.”
Brandon simply stared at the box for a full minute, not saying a word, barely moving to breathe. “Nobody has ever done something like this for me. I want to say thank you, but that just doesn’t seem like enough.”
Tyler snickered. “Don’t worry. We’ll think of something.”
Brandon joined him in restrained laughter. They had to be cautious lest his father become even more suspicious than he already was.
“What are you going to do about your dad being such a dick?” Tyler asked.
“I don’t know yet. I think I’m going to have to play it by ear and figure it out as we go.”
“Fair enough.”
“One of my fantasies is one of the two of you accidentally dropping a brick from the upstairs of the barn onto his head.”
“Oh, really?” Tyler asked. “Do you want me sent to prison?”
“Hell no,” Brandon said. “I’ll be your alibi. You were with me the whole time.”
“What about Joel?” Tyler asked, playing along.
“He’s a kinky bastard—he was there watching us kissing.”
“I’ve always suspected he had a touch of kink in him,” Tyler said approvingly.
Brandon opened the box and rubbed his fingers over the telephone again, automatically smiling at Tyler.
“You’ll need to keep that out of sight around your father. We’ll text and talk and email and use FaceTime and Skype.”
“Thank you,” Brandon said.
“It’s still not the same as being able to be together, to wrap my arms around you, and doing the things we did that weekend in Joel’s basement.”
Brandon dropped his gaze. “That was kind of nice, wasn’t it?”
“Nice? From my side, it was fucking awesome. I’ll have to work harder next time to be sure you get the awesomeness too.”
“Okay,” Brandon agreed with a huge smile of approval.
“And remember, we get that week when he goes off to play golf in California. With him gone, we are finally going to have the time to explore all the things we want to and try some of the stuff we’ve been talking about for weeks now. Have no doubt—we are going to make up for lost time while he’s away. We’re gonna rut like a couple of barnyard animals in heat, constantly for a solid week,” Tyler said with a look of longing bordering on lust on his face.
Brandon smiled at Tyler.
“Brandon!” his father yelled.
“Yeah?”
“Your guests are leaving.”
“I guess that means we’re being dismissed,” Tyler said. “I better go find Joel and make sure your dad hasn’t killed him or something.”
“Don’t worry about Joel. If I had to put money on him or my dad, I’m putting my money on Joel.”
“I’ll remember that. And I think I’m glad he’s on our side.”
“Me too.”
“Brandon!” his father yelled again, louder this time.
TYLER KEPT showing up every Saturday like clockwork. When Brandon’s father switched his training schedule so that he was never home on Saturdays before noon, Tyler started showing up at the school pool to watch Brandon practice. The time Tyler came to one of Brandon’s meets was one of Brandon’s proudest days. He blasted past his competition that day to first place in his event. His father spoke of it as the product of good training, but Brandon knew the truth—he’d do anything to earn one of Tyler’s smiles.