Nate & Garrett: Part VII
Cue the Godfather Theme song playing from my phone.
My ringtone. Someone was calling me.
My eyes opened slowly, heavy as they were, as my brain began to kick into overdrive to wake me up. I could feel the vibrations from my phone under my hand. Without lifting my head, my fingers slid open my phone, punched the button in the top right corner, and brought the black device up to my pillow. Squinting at the bright light, I tried to read what name was calling me so late.Well, it was only 11:15pm, but I had fallen asleep, which meant I was done for the day, and no one else was going to bother me.
Wait, no, it’s Garrett! I quickly hit the Talk key, and brought it up to my ear.
“Hello?” I answered, trying to sound like I didn’t just wake up after nearly crying myself to sleep and outing myself to my older brother. But also not before letting the image of Garrett’s body lull me to sleep. You know, normally.
“Sorry, did I wake you?” he asked anyway. I guess I wasn’t as good at faking as I thought I was. Sitting up to further wake myself, I tried to cough up the sleep out of my voice.
“No, I’m awake. What’s up?” I replied. And for some reason, I couldn’t help but smile at myself. I was sitting in my bed (naked) and talking to my boyfriend (he was my boyfriend, right?) late at night. Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to do this until college.
“I was just getting a little worried because you didn’t answer any of my texts,” he explained, and my heart suddenly began racing. Paul said he knew about Garrett because he kept texting my phone while Paul had it! And I never answered them! How did I forget about all of them?- whatever. I can explain everything to Garrett now. It was going to be fine now.
“Sorry, I was a little preoccupied,” I began, wondering how I was possibly going to begin to explain my night.
“Oh, I figured you were done with your family stuff.”
“No, I was, but,” I scratched my head, collecting my thoughts. “My night has been a little hectic.”
“What happened?”
“I kinda got into a fight with this guy I don’t like,” I answered. My fight with Jonah replayed in my head, and I could remember vividly the pain in my shoulder and back from being thrown to the ground while wrestling for my phone. The memory of his evil little smirk made me shiver a bit.
“What’d you say? What’d he say?” Garrett seemed kinda worried now, I wondered if I should explain that it wasn’t just a verbal exchange.
“He called me a fag,” I whispered, becoming embarrassed by the word. It was what I was, after all. I was gay. Hell, I was talking to the boy who kissed me yesterday.
“Nate…” Garrett replied just as quietly. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay now,” I didn’t want Garrett to feel bad for me. I took care of it. I was okay. It doesn’t hurt so bad now. I mean, it still kinda hurts.
“Who is it? I’ll make him pay for implying you could like guys!” I could feel Garrett’s teasing smile through my phone and I laughed a little at it. That made him chuckle some, too.
“I’d rather just forget it,” I said simply, and Garrett remained quiet for a beat. “Sorry I missed your texts,” I repeated, filling the silence.
“No, don’t even worry about it. I was just gonna ask-” he stopped abruptly.
“Ask what?”
“Sorry, my dad was walking by. I’m not allowed to talk to my friends after 9,” he explained. I giggled, imagining Garrett hiding under his blanket to hide himself from his parents in order to talk to me, like a child who read comic books by flashlight late at night. He was risking some punishment to talk to me, just like I was for him. Though, I doubted his scolding would be as severe as mine. “Anyway, I was going to ask if you were still up for Monday night?”
“Tomorrow night,” I corrected him teasingly. “I’d love to.”
“So that’s a yes?” he asked. But I hesitated before answering him. I didn’t know if I could actually go, considering I was grounded from everything. My mom said I could only do schoolwork or read. And going out with Garrett, the boy I’ve done nothing but think about, and have fun didn’t seem like one of those two options.
I could just sneak out. I know Paul used to sneak out all the time; my parents couldn’t control him. I was always the one that followed the rules, my parents never worried about me. Sure I was grounded occasionally, but never as much as my reckless older brother. In fact, my parents kind of relied on me to be good, so they could have at least one peaceful child. They needed me to be good because they were at their wits’ end with Paul.
So, yeah, they gave me privileges they didn’t give him when he was my age. They let me stay out longer with friends or go on more trips with school.
But now I was grounded. Now I was like Paul. And dammit, I’m a teenager! I should be breaking rules! I should be out having fun with people I like whether parents know it or not. Hell, I basically deserved this. I deserve to disobey my parents this time; after all those times I followed all their orders and directions.
“Yeah, I can’t wait for tomorrow night,” I let my rebellious mouth say. Garrett didn’t have to know I was grounded; he didn’t have to worry about anything.
“Awesome! I hope you don’t mind, but I thought we could go to a hockey game.”
“I didn’t know people played hockey this early in the autumn,” I wondered aloud, recalling that hockey was a winter sport and it was only September.
“My school’s team starts practice early, and we play a few games against another school to get back into the season.”
“Do you play hockey?” I wondered why Garrett knew so much about the school’s playing schedule. I certainly didn’t know anything about my school’s team. Or even if we had one. Did we?
“No, I have some friends who do. Are you up for it?”
“As long as you’re there!” I smiled, almost blushing at myself. Curling up under my blanket, Garrett and I began to have a long conversation. I never fully explained my night to him, but I figured I wouldn’t worry him with it. He told me about his day, filled with church and his family, and how much he was glad he had some peace and quiet. A few times, I laughed out loud, and I thought I was being too loud and my parents would slam open my door and catch me with my phone. But it never happened. Perhaps they were heavier sleepers than I thought. Maybe that’s how Paul escaped so much.
Garrett also solidified our plans for our next date, so I was able to give myself time to think of a way to sneak out of my house to meet him.As I chatted away with him, though, I never did tell him I was naked.
- - - -
He’d be here in half an hour, I noted, glancing at my watch. I reached into my pocket for my phone for the fourth time in five minutes to check to see if he had sent me a message without my realizing it. But no, the screen was blank. Again.The TV wasn’t doing it’s job to distract me, so each minute felt like twenty. I was definitely nervous for tonight. My mom was out at a meeting with some co-workers, which meant I only had to deal with my dad. Glancing at my watch again, I decided to stand up from the couch and go to my room.
“I’m gonna do some homework, dad,” I said out loud as I closed my bedroom door behind me.
“Ok,” he answered absentmindedly, focused too much on his laptop to pay much attention. With my door closed and my dad distracted, I could finally choose my outfit for the night. Garrett was going to introduce me to some of his friends tonight, which basically meant he was showing me off. I guess he was my boyfriend now? Maybe I should ask him about that, I pondered as I pushed through the shirts in my closet to find a nice one.
Would he introduce me as his boyfriend? Would he hold my hand? Would he kiss me in public? Would he kiss me at all? Would I have to act like just another one of his friends? Was he even out to his friends? Would he expect me to show him to my friends? God I hope not. My friends don’t even know I’m gay. Hell, I wasn’t 100% sure until a few days ago, when Garrett put his lips on mine. God, that was a great moment. I wished he would do it again.
Twenty more minutes, I thought as I again looked at my wristwatch.
Beep. I got a text.
“Leaving my house. Be there shortly :)” it read, which caused me to smile like the emoticon. I grabbed a shirt from its hanger, pulled up some nice jeans, and went to the bathroom to do something with my hair. I wanted to look amazing for Garrett. I even brushed my teeth real quick just so he would be more willing to kiss me. Maybe a spritz of some iZod would be good, too.
Then, avoiding the sight of my father, I snuck down to the basement, coat in hand. I slid out of the sliding glass doors, walked through the backyard, around the side of the house, and to the familiar white mustang that sat idling in the street.
- - - -
“Hey, I’m Sam,” said the boy with the messy blond hair that curled over his ears. He was pretty tall, almost as much as Garrett, but not much. Unlike Garrett and I, though, he was a junior, so maybe he would grow a couple inches by the time he graduated.
It was pretty hard to hear him, though, because of the loud music and huge crowd of fans nearby. Garrett had taken me to the ice rink where the first of many practice games would be played. Apparently, as he explained to me in the car, the first practice was a big deal, because it usually determined which team would be more successful that season. Every other practice lacked even one fan. Garrett and I were walking across the bleachers when he spotted Sam, who ran up to greet me.
“And that’s Eli, Jason, Maria, and Paige over there,” Sam pointed to a group of unfamiliar faces walking towards us. They recongized Garrett and Sam, however, because they were waving and laughing already. Garrett grabbed my arm and led me towards them so we could meet halfway; Sam followed suit. Apparently Samuel was Garrett’s best friend, and had been so for a while. I thought it was odd the two were such good friends and in separate grades, but I just told myself that it didn’t matter the age, because their friendship saw past it. I kinda felt bad Garrett was going away next year, leaving Sam behind. Perhaps they would stay in contact. Hopefully they would make newer friends, who would be just as good.
“Maria, Paige, this is him,” Garrett reported proudly, standing behind me while holding my shoulders, presenting me to his friends. My cheeks grew a little red at the attention, but the two girls were very friendly and shooed away any shyness with hugs and laughter.
“You’re Nate?” Maria asked me, examining me.
“He’s cute!” Paige whispered loudly to Garrett, making no intention of actually hiding her words from me.
“I’m jealous,” Maria pouted, running her fingers into my hair to restyle it. She combed it over and over, and once satisfied, smiled to herself, and turned me around to look at Garrett. He just stifled a laugh by covering his mouth with his hand. Quickly attempting to return my hair to normal, I turned away from the girls.
“Leave him alone, Maria,” a shorter boy with jet black hair ordered teasingly, grabbing her waist and pulling her down onto his lap. She giggled and jumped away.
“Eli!”
“Hi Nate,” said a really smooth voice next to me. I turned to reply, but was caught off-guard by the stunning boy next to me. He was fit with short brown hair and deep green eyes. Some stubble covered his chin, which I thought was incredibly attractive. It took me a minute to register that I should say something back to him. “I’m Jason.”
“Hey,” I smiled at him, and reached behind me to grab Garrett. I figured if I could grab his hand he would break my trance with his even greater looks. But a quick glance behind me revealed he had moved to sit further down the bleachers with Sam, Eli, Paige, and Maria. Jason leaned against the railing of the bleachers; he seemed to have no intention on joining the others just yet.
“So you’re Garrett’s new boyfriend?” he asked quietly, leaning closer so I could hear him over the crowd. My face still kinda blushed at the thought of having a boyfriend. Or being someone’s boyfriend.
“Yeah,” I replied simply. He nodded, looking me up and down like Maria had earlier.
“Garrett’s a nice guy, and I can tell you like him,” Jason joked, playfully slapping my arm.
“How can you tell?”
“You get this look in your eye.”
“Oh.” I looked away, suddenly aware that Jason’s green eyes were studying mine.
“Is this your first date?” he asked, taking a seat up on the top rail, balancing himself.
“No, we hung out a couple days ago.” I didn’t want to reveal too much, since I didn’t know Jason all that well yet. But, something about him made me feel more comfortable. Like Garrett did.
“You guys kiss yet?” he asked, cocking his head a little, making it look like he was genuinely interested, and not just trying to make small talk or to embarrass me.
“Yeah,” I awkwardly admitted, still not meeting his gaze.
“Yeah, he really likes you,” Jason laughed, jumping down from the railing, and leading back to the group.
- - - -
“Hey Garrett,” Paige leaned in close to her friend of three years, but looking at the two boys further down the bleachers. “Yeah?”
“How does it feel to have your current boyfriend and ex-boyfriend becoming friends?” She subtly pointing at Jason and Nate.
“Nate can be friends with whoever. Jason and I are on good terms.”
“I’d just watch out, is all.”
“You told me to find a new boyfriend to forget about Jason, and now you’re telling me I need to worry about both?”
“Maybe,” she said matter-of-factly.
“You make my life so difficult.”
“Well you like Nate, right?” Maria butted in.
“Yeah.”
“And you don’t like Jason anymore, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then what’s the issue?” Maria asked Garrett.
“Nate might like Jason,” Paige noted, staring at the two boys walking toward them.
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