CARTER'S VANGUARD: WILLIAM CARTER
II
Chapter 14 - By Christopher Patrick Lydon
It should have been called William Carter and the Barbeque of
Doom. It had turned out that Jared had taken the liberty of inviting a few
people, a few people who had taken the liberty of inviting a few more, until
a small barbeque had become a full-blown house party.
Brody was in his element, spinning tracks from the stereo, demonstrating
the wonders of his record collection. Surprisingly his retro flair still held
appeal to everyone and after they had tucked the coffee table out of the way,
the living room had become an impromptu dance floor.
Jared was managing the fire pit, sending people up the road
to the LOEB on the corner for more hotdogs and burgers; fortunately it was
still early enough for the store to be open, and the manager had to be making
a killing off of all the high school kids suddenly descending on their meat
department.
Andrew was out on the veranda with a bottle of beer talking
to his old teammates, reminiscing and catching up with each of them. It was
one of those rare times Will didn't feel he had a right to intrude. Hockey
was distinctly Andrew's and Will respected that it was one thing he would
never truly be able to share with his boyfriend.
No, Will was the poor sod left dodging snakes and Germans (who
looked a lot like cheerleaders), to rescue the damsel in distress.
Will didn't know how Jared had managed it, but Lisa had come.
She sat at the kitchen table looking uncomfortable as Charlene and her squad
of Harridans sat around her claiming the kitchen as their domain.
Laughably, Will was the sole bastion of testosterone in that
sea of estrogen. He was probably faring better than most men would. There
was, of course, the common frame of reference he could fall back on to relate
to them. But even that was a source of fascination for the cheerleaders.
"How did you know you were gay?" Julie asked, looking
at Will who was perched on the counter top, his legs dangling, wearing what
could only be described as a unique shirt. Will liked it so he wore it, yet
another of Uncle Arthur's additions to his wardrobe.
"Well," Wills admitted, squinting into his cup of
juice, sufficiently 'manned-up' with tequila, "I kinda didn't."
"You didn't know you were gay?" Charlene asked incredulously.
Over the last year since she had out-ed Andrew rather dramatically she had
come to accept Will, grudgingly, at Lisa's insistence. The uneasy truce, she
felt, gave her the right to join in the conversation.
Will shrugged, looking through the dining room and living room
out of the patio doors to where Andrew was gesturing with his beer bottle
for his friends. "Andrew kissed me first," he said after a pause.
"Is he a good kisser?" Geraldine asked, a distant
look in her eye as she asked it, looking for confirmation on her own barely-hidden
fantasy.
Will smiled uncomfortably, "Well, I like it."
"Doesn't it hurt?" Julie asked suddenly; she had started
to pick at the chips, despite the fact that Charlene shot her a dirty look
and mouthed the word 'diet' to her.
"Kissing?" Will asked in confusion.
"No, when ... you know... you put it up his..." Julie
blushed bright red.
Will mirrored it.
Jason Jensen, a young sophomore who had joined the Storm that
year had just walked into the kitchen; his eyes went wide as he caught the
conversation. Paling noticeably he spun on his heels and walked out again.
"Well, does it?" Geraldine asked, a curious light
in her eyes.
Will looked to Lisa for some kind of aid when it came to her
friends, but she was stiffly staring into the living room, no doubt watching
Brody the way she would a poisonous snake. Will sighed and decided to answer
the question as best he could.
"Well firstly, Andrew is usually the one..." he struggled,
"Well you know... and I..errr.."
"He's the bottom," Charlene explained with a sigh
as if explaining to a simpleton. "He's the one getting poked."
"P..poked?" Will coughed into his cup, he'd never
heard it described quite like that before.
"You're the girl?" Julie asked, sitting down in a
chair grasping the concept.
Will rolled his eyes, "Contrary to popular opinion, I assure
you there is no such thing as a 'girl' in gay sex."
Geraldine and Julie looked sheepish, Charlene just rolled her
eyes, "They just want to know if it hurts because Maurice told Julie
that if she let him do it up her... that way she wouldn't get pregnant."
Even Charlene blushed at the directness of the conversation.
"Oh dear god," Will murmured, dragging his hands down
his face; he was in hell. And typically his hell contained cheerleaders.
He swallowed trying to recover from his immense discomfort at
the topic of conversation. "Well, it depends," he admitted honestly.
"It hurt the first few times but Andrew is...well, he is so worried he
is going to hurt me that he's very gentle."
Geraldine and Julie sighed together wistfully. Andrew was a
gentle lover.
"What does it feel like?" Julie asked curiously.
"Julie!" Charlene admonished, "Let's change the
subject, okay?" As usual, her suggestion was more of an order to her
minions. A royal decree from the current reigning queen of the school.
Will breathed a sigh of relief, "Sounds like a good idea
to me."
"How'd you know if someone else was gay?" Geraldine
asked curiously. "I mean is there a sign or something?"
"No," Will replied, "we have a secret handshake."
Julie and Geraldine's eyes widened. "Really?" they
asked in unison.
"He's kidding," Lisa said, snapping out of her staring
and focusing on the conversation. "Will, you know better than to tease
the girls."
"Yes, Mom," Will replied with a grin. He turned back
to the two girls, "It's nothing I can really explain; I get a hunch and
it's just that."
"Oh, who'd you get a hunch about here?" Geraldine
asked, a hungry look on her face.
Will arched an eyebrow. "How about my not being responsible
for the next round of homophobia?" he said dryly.
He got up. "On that note I think I should go and kiss my
boyfriend," he glanced through to the veranda, "before the Storm
drag him off to one of their latent homosexual initiation rituals."
Lisa stood up as well, brushing down her hip-huggers and the
pretty top. Out of all of the cheerleaders Will could appreciate her beauty.
Charlene had good looks with her mass of bottle-blonde curls and round soft
features, Geraldine and Julie were pretty, one brunette, the other a natural
blonde. But neither of them had anything on Lisa. She possessed an elflike
grace about her, waify and thin, with long auburn hair that she always wore
in a ponytail or just loose flowing about her face.
They walked through the house together, Lisa stepping up beside
him to coil a hand around his arm as they passed through the living room.
The tension between her and Brody was palpable, so thick that Will could almost
taste it. Finally when they emerged onto the veranda, she relaxed.
"Hey, Will," Andrew called out, lifting his beer.
Will smiled back, "Just going to see what damage our resident
grill master has done to the barbeque."
Andrew nodded, giving him a reassuring smile as he turned back
to his conversation, but his eyes lingered a moment longer, softening as they
conveyed to him all the warmth they could.
Jared was fighting with the barbeque; covered in grease and
charcoal smudges, he looked like he was enjoying himself greatly. Cynthia
was helping him by passing him whatever supplies he needed to feed the army
of high schoolers that had turned up for the impromptu party.
They stopped by the back fence, and Will turned to his best
friend. "Are you okay?" he asked sincerely.
Lisa tried to smile, but it was forced and one look at the young
Brit in front of her who stared at her with such concern caused her to abandon
the act. She looked down at the ground a moment and took a deep, ragged breath.
"I'll get over it," she said softly.
"You know I love you, right?" Will pressed, reaching
up to brush a strand of her hair from her eyes.
"I'm fine," she said unconvincingly. "It's just,
well, you know."
"Yeah," Will said, "I get it."
Lisa nodded, taking Will's cup of juice from him and downing
it, wincing at the taste. "Ok, you really are gay," she said, screwing
up her face at the sweet fruity taste.
"Hey!" Will said defensively. "What do I have
to do to prove my masculinity here? First Jared, then the cheerleaders and
now you. I'm not a girl!" He shook his head with a loud sigh, "Oh
for flip sakes!" he exclaimed, giving up.
"We love you anyway," Lisa said, resting a hand on
the fence. "But as for Brody, honestly Will, I'm going to be fine."
"You're sure?" Will asked again, looking over to the
bay windows where Brody was sitting talking to the rather pretty young woman
who had been getting into her car that morning. How Brody managed it was anyone's
guess, he just seemed to have the golden touch; but like Midas that gold came
with such a heavy price.
Lisa sighed. "So," she said deliberately changing
the subject, "how's teaching?"
Will watched a couple of the hockey players tussling on the
veranda, Andrew sitting on the rail watching over them. He looked so comfortable
and natural; even though he had moved on, they still looked up to him. "It's
going...well." he said, suddenly looking back at her. "That's not
quite true," he admitted. "I don't know what's going on."
"How so?" Lisa asked curiously.
"Mrs. Casey; she's been out all week and no one's said
anything to me about it. I've been teaching the kids by myself." He sounded
troubled.
"Are you allowed to do that?" Lisa asked in concern.
"No," Will replied. "I'm supposed to be supervised;
I don't know if anyone else knows."
"Well," Lisa said thoughtfully, "Mrs. Casey only
lives up the street from me; if you come over we can go see if she's all right."
She smiled, "Plus, my mom will be happy to see you, she always thinks
you're too thin."
Will couldn't argue with good old-fashioned home cooking, Lisa's
mom was one of the best cooks in the area. Her daily batches of muffins were
the envy of everyone around. Plus, it gave him a chance to talk to someone
a little more experienced than he was about Peter McCormick and his mother.
He nodded, "Sounds like a plan." He said finally,
"I need another drink, are you coming?"
"Back into the snakes' den?" she commented, and Will
wasn't sure if she meant Brody or Charlene and her girlfriends. Either way,
his glass was empty and he had the rare inclination to get pleasantly inebriated
that evening.
They entered the house again, squeezing through the mass of
people, finally entering the kitchen that was steadily being overrun by more
people. Word of the party was spreading and that meant more houseguests. Will
shrugged, it was no big deal; the house was relatively large, and there was
nothing exceptionally valuable in it that wasn't safely locked up in one of
the bedrooms.
Will was jostled as he opened up the fridge and dug out the
pitcher of spiked punch; pouring himself another glass he turned to offer
one to Lisa. But to his shock she was standing, hands on hips, glaring at
Brody who was heading to the fridge at the same time. Finally the showdown
that everyone had hoped would never happen.
Will took a heavy pull on his glass and decided he should keep
the pitcher.
Lisa had said something, in that low biting way of hers that
she only ever used when she was pissed. Brody gave her a calm look and spoke
back.
"Just because a girl from school called me doesn't mean
I was sleeping with her," he said it in a calm level tone, but quiet
was falling over the crowded kitchen as people moved to give them space.
"That's not what you said when I asked you about it,"
she said angrily.
"No," Brody said, "you were asking me if I was
monogamous, which is a completely separate conversation."
She looked at him in some confusion, "You mean you never...?"
"Never," Brody replied flatly, squaring his shoulders.
"Now if you would..." he sighed and reached out, picked her up by
the hips, set her out of the way of the refrigerator and helped himself to
a drink.
"But what about all the girls since," she demanded,
obviously trying to find something to bring to bear on him.
He turned, straightening up as he twisted the cap off of his
bottle, "We were on a break..." He snorted with laughter, "Ok,
not even I can pull that one off. What I do when we're not together is up
to me." And with that he strode off returning to his record player and
his classic tunes.
Lisa scowled darkly as she turned back to Will and snatched
the glass out of his hand, downing it in a single fluid motion. Will, in surprise,
lifted the pitcher. "More?" he asked innocently.
