Hey, this is Chapter 12 of Just Don't Think I'm Not (J.D. Tin). I hope that you enjoy it. As you all know, I have just recently recovered from an accident that left me unable to write for a short period of time. Therefore, my writing became especially slow.
DISCLAIMERS: The usual be 18. If you're not, props to you.
Send me some eamil, I want to know what everything thinks. More to come soon.
J.D. Tin Chapter Twelve: The Hollow Tree
To that question, I had no answer. I mean, I liked him back then. I liked him a lot. We all gave Jack a hard time, but we really did like him. He just got annoying occasionally, not all of the time, like I make it seem to be. But when he was annoying, you just wanted to strangle him. To answer my own question, I was almost infatuated with him. Last year I had just come out to my folks and friends. I wasn't ready for a gay relationship. Jack was almost definitely interested in me. Looking back at it, he would hang around me the most, even though I was the one that dealt out most of the harassment. Why didn't I notice that before? God, I can't believe how totally fucked up I acted towards him.
School went on, as things do, and I was getting more impatient. I found myself in Math , shaking my leg fervently. Dad is coming home, I realized. That excited me more than anything. Dad and I hardly have any time to spend with each other, so when we can I try to make it great. When it comes to dad, all bets are off. He wins. I got nervous when I thought about introducing Jack not only as a friend, but someone who I really, genuinely, liked.
The bell rang. Every muscle in my body wanted to break out in a mad dash for my locker. Jack was waiting for me.
"Hey Jack." I held his hand.
"Hey Zach." He hugged me.
That felt good, I thought. "Are you ready?"
Jack turned enough to let me see the bag on his back.
"Cool, lemme get my stuff and we can jet." I told him.
Everything went into my bag for the weekend. Jack and I got into my car.
"Are you excited to see your dad again?" Jack asked me.
"Yes, very." I pressed on the clutch a second too late and the gears made that tell-tale scream. "Heheh, sorry." I shifted gears corrected the next time and we were off to my house. VAST was booming in my speakers. Jack coughed a little.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Alright . . ." I tried to think of something to say, my mind was reeling with thoughts of my dad. What would he say about Jack? Jack and I were never close enough for him to meet my father when he came home previously. It would always be just Dad and I. Not even Mel could draw my attention away. The gravel jumped out of the way of my tires as I drove up the drive- way. I helped Jack out of the car, being the generic gentleman. Mom wasn't home. I checked the answering machine for any memos. The only message was from Dad.
"Hi guys, I'm going to be home earlier than I thought. Maybe around 6:30. Those permits that I had to find got found by someone else. The filing clerk didn't put them in the correct place. See you soon."
Dad's message made me so happy. He's coming home; he's really coming home. I need to do something, I thought. I feel like I am going to burst. I turned around to face . . . where did Jack go? I looked around for Jack but couldn't find him. I ran up to my room and he wasn't there. What is going on?! I searched downstairs again, still no Jack.
"Jack!" I finally yelled. My words reverberated through the house. It felt empty as they came back to me.
Had Jack left me? Had he just walked outside and left on his bike? Was I that absorbed in the message that I had lost track of Jack? No, there's no way that could happen. I would have noticed it. Then what happened? I heard something shift behind me. I spun around to see Jack step up to me.
"What's wrong?" He looked at the walls and the floor of the kitchen.
"Sorry, I didn't notice you had left. Where were you?" I asked him.
"I was in the bathroom, man."
"Sorry."
"It's cool. But next time, if you want me, don't scream 'bloody murder', okay?"
"Sure."
Jack went back to the bathroom to finish what he was doing before. I wandered around the house until I found what I wanted to do: watch television and play music. I was tired of having to have everything be special. I wanted to just hang out. Five CD's were loaded into the CD play: The Doors, Greatest Hits; U2, The Best of 1980-1990; Sublime, Self-titled; A burned Hendrix with all of my favorite songs. I pressed shuffle and turned the volume to a tolerable level; "What I Got" started. Jack was there when I returned from getting drinks.
"Alright. . . " I tossed Jack his A&W, ". . . What do you want to do?"
"I don't know, how about you?" He asked me.
"I just thought we could hang around and watch DVD's until something starts to happen."
"Cool."
I had seen all of the movies that we have. If he had asked me to pick out a movie I would have given him a list of my top twenty. There were twenty because we had over 100 DVD's. But I didn't have to worry about that. Jack scanned the color-coded shelves and found The Silence of the Lambs.
"You know," He said, "I have never seen this movie before?"
"Are you serious?" I exclaimed, "This is a classic."
By the time the movie finished, I was starting to get hungry. It was dark now and we hadn't bothered to turn on any lights, as we were watching the movie. Mom had come home an hour into the movie. As I thought, she was at Enzo's. I don't know if I had mentioned before; but Enzo's is a restaurant that serves the high echelon. I don't know why Mom shops there, the food that you can get at Safeway tastes the same, maybe better. But that may not be Enzo's fault. It may be the cook's. My mother is a capable cook though; she can make lasagna from scratch without breaking a sweat.
"You hungry?" I asked Jack.
"Yeah, let's go get something to eat." Jack replied.
"Remember, Dad is coming home, we're probably going to eat at the table."
"When is he coming home again?"
I checked the clock to the time that Dad had left on the answering machine. "In about 30 minutes."
I clicked off the television and hesitated in the dark. I hadn't noticed that lack of light until then. I wanted to let myself adjust to ensure myself safe passage past my pointy coffee table to the light switch. Jack's fingers brushed past my stomach as I crossed him for the switch. When the light turned on, Jack got up slowly and straightened his shirt, at the bottom. Had I missed a signal? The scent of dinner was covering the door to the den. If I had taken the time to test the door for heat, it would have screamed at me. When I opened the door, the smell of Roast beef and steeped onions hit me.
"Smells good, Mom." I complimented her.
She thanked me, "He'll be home shortly."
"What's for dinner, Mrs. Stoneson?" Jack asked.
"Caesar salad, roast beef, greens and some nice red and white from family friends."
"Cool."
"You guys can go off and do your thing for a while. Zach's father won't be home for another twenty minutes." Mom said to Jack.
Jack and I walked out of the room and brainstormed. There were a lot of games in the house that could be played more than once in twenty minutes. Out of the house, we could go for a short drive or a walk. We decided to take a walk. We had been indoors for most of the day.
There is a trail a quarter of a mile into the woods around my house that not many people know about. The ones that do hardly use it, as our neighbors are seniors that like to stay inside and eat T.V. Dinners instead. I grabbed two flashlights, a lantern, and took Jack by the hand to lead him into the woods towards the trail. This trail was my favorite. This whole area was covered with Redwoods and ancient Oaks. There were huge redwoods scattered on the sides of the trail. Some of them had toadstools and lichen moss. (You can use lichen to orientate yourslef north. And as an alternative food source.) Every once in while, there would be an old willow tree with the moss that the Spaniards had brought to America. They looked like a sad medusa. This place was magical. I felt it. We walked until we hit the trail. This trail was nothing more than dilapidated cobblestones barley visible through the dirt. It wasn't the easiest walk. Then again, we didn't have to wade through plants to get to my favorite place.
A long time ago, when I was ten and we had just started the work on our house, I went walking through the woods. I had never done this before because the woods had looked like they held nothing of interest. But my room was being worked on that month, so I had a lot of free time. That was during Autumn, when the leaves had just started to turn. As I walked into the woods, I saw the old cobblestone path and followed it for another half of a mile into the thick. Once the path had ended, I wandered about until I decided to go back. That's when I noticed the gigantic ghost of a redwood sitting off to my right hand side. It had very clearly been hit by lightening a long time ago. But the tree was still too alive to die and yet too dead to grow back. A large knob in the tree's trunk had blown open, making a hollow that was large enough to fit four or five people. It looked like a large igloo. There was a lip that came down over the opening; making it so that one would be required to stoop if anyone came in. Once inside, the air was humid and surprisingly warm.
That was where I was taking Jack. I had only brought him here once before, with Mel and Sean. We swore Jack to secrecy, we didn't want this place to start to fall apart if everyone started coming. Jack stepped in first. Once inside I checked my watch to see how long it had taken us to arrive; we had plenty of time. Jack and I set up three stumps, all in front of each other. I sat the lantern on the middle stump and lit it. Jack and I sat.
During this time of the year, the inside would be cool. That was good, because the temperature outside poked through the 80's. Jack and I talked about what had been going on lately. A deeper talk than before. We talked about what Sean and Mel were doing. They hadn't called either of us in two days. Or, maybe they had, but neither of us took notice. Jack talked about how he only knew my dad through the phone, and that was only when he had answered the phone. (This was before I had gotten my own line.) Jack was eager to meet my father, but also a little apprehensive. He asked me what I would introduce him as.
"As my date, of course." Jack blushed and tried to cover up his concerned look on the corner of his face. "Why? Do you think I shouldn't?"
Jack said, "I don't know. I'd like that I guess. But it'll seem a little weird, don't you think?"
"I don't have any problem with it and my parents are really cool about my sexuality."
"Yeah . . ." Jack was probably thinking about his parents, who had no idea who he was. And if they did, he would probably be sent off to a reform school.
We talked more about my parents and coming out. He would be dead if someone did find out. Conversation tapered down quickly into just sitting and looking around in the tree. Soon, my alarm went off and we held hands on the walk home. Mom and Dad were laughing when we walked in the door. When we had reached the doorway, they stopped laughing and got serious. Dad saw that Jack and I were holding hands and he smiled. Dad had told me a long time ago that no matter what I was that he wanted to see me find someone that I was happy with. Jack is the first boy that I brought home. I had a moment of hesitation before I made the introductions.
"Dad, this is Jack," I motioned towards Jack, "Jack, Dad."
"Hey Jack." Jack and Dad shook hands.
"Hello, Mr. Stoneson."
Jack and I sat across from mom and dad. Mom got the dinner; I went to go help her.
"Do you think Dad will like him?" I asked Mom.
"I think so." she said, "I don't see any reason for him not to."
I carried out the salad while mom got the wine and a water pitcher. It sometimes surprises people to see me drinking wine with my family. The fact that my family and I live in wine country becomes easily overlooked. I'm not 21, they didn't/don't drink wine with their parents; why should I? I served the salad and Mom poured the drinks. Dad and Jack were talking about school. Does Jack play any sports? No. Does he have any hobbies? I ride my bike. Dad seemed to be pleased that I had not chosen a creep for my first date. Then he asked me:
"Is he your date?"
I was taken aback. Dad is hardly an up front person. This was not his normal behavior.
"Yeah."
Jack looked alarmed.
"Okay," was Dad's reply.
Mom tapped a spoon on the side of her wine glass.
"A toast," she said, "to success in business, friendship and love."
Our glasses clinked together around the table and we began to eat.
"So, uh, Jack," Dad said, "How did you and my son meet?"
"I met him in 7th grade. We have a few classes together, and mutual friends." Jack replied.
"Do you have any classes with him this year?"
"No. But we always hang out at lunch and stuff."
"Oh."
There was something on the tip of my Dad's tongue, but it never came out. The rest of dinner was spent with small talk and small bites. The roast beef was delicious. As was the wine from Mike. (The family friend that lives in Angel's Camp.)
"Well," Jack announced, "I need to get home."
"Alright," Mom said, "Do you want to take any home with you? We have some leftovers."
"No, it wouldn't fit on my bike. Sorry." Jack replied. "It was nice meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Stoneson."
"Nice meeting you too, Jack." Jack stretched across the table to shake Dad's hand.
I walked Jack down the stairs to my car. We stopped on the gravel.
"So, did you have a good time?"
"Yeah, your parents are really cool."
"Thanks," I got distracted by Jack grabbing his bike off the rack. "Umm . . . Do you want a ride?"
"Naw, it's cool. Thanks anyway, man."
"Alright, well, I'll c-"
Jack's mouth hit mine. Once I had gotten over asking what was going on, I noticed that his lips weren't there anymore. I looked at Jack; his lips were curled up in a smile. His eyes glinted at me playfully. He shot forward again and kissed me. I felt his tongue pushing on my lips, so I let them open. Slowly his tongue slid in my mouth. I could still taste the wine in his mouth. I fought the urge to close my eyes and watched his face, with his eyes closed. He gave me another quick kiss and pressed his forehead against mine, looking straight into my eyes. A chill shot up my spine.
"I'll- I'll call you then?" I asked quietly.
Jack got down from his cloud just a little. "Yeah," he whispered back.
I was floating on air when I walked back into my house. There was a goofy smile on my face that I wanted to slap off. But I couldn't. I was very happy. I walked past the door to the dining room; past the clinking of dishes being loaded into the dishwasher and was about to go up the stairs when Dad called me. He was in the den.
"Yeah Dad?" I asked at the door.
"So let's talk about Jack." Dad said to me.
"Alright."
"You like him a lot, don't you?"
"Yeah, I guess I do." I smiled.
"You treat him right, don't you? . . . I mean, you're civil to him, right?"
"Yes."
I snapped into auto-pilot. You know, that place where everyone goes when they don't want to listen to what someone is saying, so they say what the person wants to hear. I wasn't about to tell Dad that he was a botched attempt to make Josh jealous. This was botched because of two things. One: Josh had found Noah. Two: I was getting to really like Jack's company, a lot.
Dad took out his wallet. "Have you two gone out on a date yet?"
"No."
"Well, um, when- or, if you do," Dad took out two fifties and tapped them on the top of his wallet for a second. He was searching for the correct words. "Spend some money on him. Take him out some place nice. He seems like a special person. You should treat him that way."
I took the money and placed it in my wallet. "Don't worry, Dad, I will."
He smiled . . . and I smiled. We both stood where we were and smiled. After what seemed an appropriate pass of time, I started to walk out.
"Zach?" He called behind me.
"Yeah, Dad?" I called back.
"Tell me this: Do you need condoms?"
"No, Dad, I can get my own condoms."
"Oh." He looked at a picture in his wallet, and put it back in his wallet.
"Well, then, goodnight, Zach. See you in the morning."
"Yeah . . ."
Dad added, "Think about what I said."
__________ This was Chapter 12. I hope you enjoyed it. You can email me at KillerPizzaMonkey@yahoo.com
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