Chapter 10
Liam flapped his legs and hands. It was a moment before he was able to stand up in the icy water. The diameter of the hole was hardly ten feet, and the river was not deep. Still, he was up to his chest in the water. He tried desperately to get up onto the ice, but his wet clothes were heavy and the ice around the hole was slippery. He couldn’t get himself out.
“Please, help me!” he yelled to Alex, who had already skated over and kneeled down to help him. With one strong pull, Alex lifted Liam out of the water.
“Thanks,” Liam said, shivering.
Alex helped Liam to remove his skates and put on his winter boots. Then the boys hurried to Alex’s home. It was already getting dark, and the temperature was decreasing. When they got inside, they went directly to the main bathroom.
“Let’s get your wet clothes off,” Alex said and started to undress Liam, who was still shocked and shaking.
When Liam’s jacket and shirt were off, Alex hesitated a bit before opening Liam’s belt and unbuttoning his jeans. He pulled Liam’s jeans down and raised his legs to get them off completely.
“Um … maybe you want to take off your boxers yourself,” he said. Liam slowly pulled his boxers down. It was a major embarrassment to stand naked in front of Alex. He saw Alex checking him out and tried to cover his manhood.
“It’s because of the cold water,” he said, trying to defend his dignity.
Alex laughed. “Okay, hung boy, let’s get you under the warm shower,” he joked. He opened the shower curtain.
Liam blushed and stepped under the water. Then, he pulled the curtain shut so that Alex couldn’t see him. His penis was waking up, and he wanted to avoid any further embarrassment.
“There’s a towel for you on the bench,” Alex said and left to change his clothes. Liam felt relieved when he heard the bathroom door close. The warm water felt good on his body. After the shower, Liam wrapped the towel tightly around his waist and walked upstairs to find Alex.
“I got some dry clothes for you. They might be little big,” Alex said, pointing to a pile of clothes. Stacked nicely on his bed were a set of black socks, white boxers, gray sweatpants, and a white t-shirt. Liam looked at the clothes.
“You don’t mind me wearing your clothes?” he asked finally.
The question surprised Alex. “I would mind more if you walked around naked,” he joked.
Liam blushed again. Reluctantly, he began to dress in front of Alex, using his towel as a cover. His shyness amused Alex, who turned his head away to give his friend some privacy.
Alex had been swimming his whole life. It wasn’t a big deal to him to shower naked or to change clothes in front of other guys. Based on how funny Liam looked holding the towel with his teeth while pulling on Alex’s boxers, it seemed to be a big deal for him. Ultimately, he managed to get dressed.
“Do you feel okay? I mean, do you want me to take you to the hospital or something?” Alex asked.
“No, thanks. I’m fine,” Liam replied.
Alex took hold of Liam’s left hand and then his right. “At least your hands feel warm,” he said.
“Yeah, I think I will survive,” Liam said.
“Are you hungry?” Alex asked. He walked to the kitchen before Liam could say anything, took a pizza from the freezer, and put it into the oven. While he waited for the pizza to cook, he set the table. It felt funny to cook food for someone. Normally this task belonged to his mother.
“This is delicious!” Liam said when he tasted the pizza, which Alex had pimped with some extra cheese he found in the fridge. Alex smiled at the compliment.
They ate and talked about their skating trip. Liam felt like they were on a date, which was nice and sad at the same time. He reminded himself again that they were just friends and that he had to do something about his fixation on Alex.
After their supper, Alex drove Liam home. He didn’t walk Liam to the door, which finally broke Liam’s illusion of being on a date. Nevertheless, it had been a nice evening, especially if he forgot the freezing water and the embarrassing shower episode. The best thing was that Alex had promised to come over to Liam’s house the next day, after his swimming practice.
“What he has done to you?” Liam’s mother yelled when he walked in and she saw his wet clothes.
“Mom, calm down, and I’ll explain everything. This is not Alex’s fault,” he said. His mother waited for an explanation, but the doorbell interrupted Liam, who ran to answer the door.
“You forgot your bag,” Alex said and passed the bag to Liam, whose mother appeared at the door. Alex, who had never met Liam’s mother, offered his hand.
“Good evening, Mrs. Green,” he said and realized that he was shaking hands with the same salesclerk who had sold him his jeans and shirt some weeks ago.
“Hi, Alex. It’s nice to finally see you. Liam has been talking about you a lot,” Liam’s mother said. She seemed to have recognized Alex.
“I hope he has been saying good things about me,” Alex said.
“For sure, he has,” she replied, emphasizing her words. Liam blushed.
“Well, I should go now,” Alex said and left after saying goodbye to Liam and his mother.
Liam explained to his parents what had happened when he and Alex were skating. His mother would have wanted to call Alex and thank him, but Liam managed to convince her that she could thank Alex the next day when he came over.
“He’s coming here tomorrow?” Liam’s mother asked. “Oh, dear. I need to visit the grocery store after work. Do you think he likes chicken pasta and garlic bread?” She had started her typical fuss.
Liam watched as his mother arranged things in the living room and kitchen. She asked his father to get the vacuum cleaner. While his father was cleaning, she browsed her recipes. Liam was happy that his mother had evidently accepted Alex as his friend. The hullabaloo occurring in their house was clear evidence of it.
When the house was neat and clean, Liam went to bed. He was thinking of Alex and how gorgeous he was. “Alex is straight,” Liam said to himself. It felt bad, but he had to accept the reality, or he would never get over his obsession. Liam decided that, after high school, he would get a boyfriend. Until then, he would enjoy his friendship with Alex. It felt like the right decision.
The rising sun woke the sleepy boy. An hour later, after falling asleep again for a while, Liam rose from his bed and pushed the curtains aside. It was the last week of March, and the snow had started to disappear from their backyard. Spring was coming.
Two months had passed since Liam had fallen into the hole in the river ice. The boys had become good friends, and they spent a lot of time together doing homework and maybe even more time playing video games.
Liam still took every opportunity to check out Alex’s butt or crotch and enjoyed what he saw. But the worst of his obsession was over, and he had accepted that they were just friends. He was sure that Alex had noticed his glances, but Alex didn’t seem to mind.
Liam checked the time on the clock on his bedside table. It was nine-thirty on Saturday morning. Alex would soon pick him up—they had planned to drive to the big mall in Buonas, roughly fifty miles from Fairmont. Their plan was to spend the morning shopping for new clothes, have lunch in the afternoon, and then see a movie in the big theater that had been built next to the mall a year ago.
All of the mirrors in the bathroom were full of steam when Liam finally turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. His parents constantly complained that he wasted hot water, but he loved long showers. After wrapping his towel around his waist, he hurried to his room and almost walked into Alex, who was standing in the room and looking at the books on the shelves.
“You were in the shower, and your mother let me in,” Alex said as if he owed an explanation.
He picked up Liam’s clothes from the floor and gave them to his friend, who was standing hesitantly in the middle of the room. Alex noticed Liam’s uncertainty.
“
Dude, I’ve been swimming and showering with other guys for years. Besides, I’ve seen what you’ve got there,” he nodded toward Liam’s crotch, teasing the embarrassed boy.
Liam didn’t budge. He blushed lightly when Alex reminded him of how he’d had to undress in front of Alex after falling into the icy water.
“Okay, okay,” Alex said, and he turned around. Liam hated it when Alex embarrassed him by forcing him to strip naked while Alex was watching. Maybe it was something jocks did to dominate the nerdy guys.
Their trip to the mall was a big success. Both boys were able to find the spring clothes they needed, and they tried Vietnamese food for the first time in their lives. They enjoyed their spicy meals. During the ride back to Fairmont, they talked about the action movie they had seen.
“I’m not surprised that you are so enthusiastic about Tyler Posey,” Alex said after parking on the street in front of Liam’s house.
“He played his role well,” Liam said, trying to sound casual.
“I am so not buying that. You would watch any movie where he takes his shirt off.” Alex was teasing him, but he was right.
They went inside, said quick hellos to Liam’s parents, and headed to Liam’s room.
“How do you know that you’re gay?” Alex asked out of the blue. The question surprised Liam, but he decided that it was time for the big “gay” discussion. They hadn’t really talked about it before.
Liam sat next to Alex on his bed. He opened his mouth to speak but didn’t know what to say. The words were stuck in his throat, and he felt his face turning red. The topic was quite personal, and he wasn’t used to talking about it. He realized that he had actually never talked about it to anybody, not even his parents.
“Well, I just know,” he said finally but wasn’t satisfied with the answer. Alex waited patiently as if he understood how difficult it was for Liam to talk about this.
“I guess I just find guys good-looking,” Liam said. He blushed heavily, and Alex looked at his friend with sympathy. He wanted to know more, but he didn’t want to embarrass Liam.
“Do you find me good-looking?” Alex asked.
Liam’s face was red as a fire truck, and he was sweating. “Yes,” he answered shyly. “But don’t take that the wrong way,” he continued, looking worried.
Alex smiled. Liam’s confession clearly pleased him. “Don’t stress. I already said that it’s okay with me that you’re gay. Besides, there’s always room in my fan club,” he joked, flexing his muscles.
“When did you notice that you like guys?” Alex continued. Liam sighed.
“I guess I’ve always known somehow, but it was a couple of years ago when I fully realized it,” he said.
For the first time since moving to Fairmont, Liam talked about Matthew. Alex listened carefully as Liam told him about his childhood friend.
“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” Alex asked after Liam had told him that he and Matthew had never dated.
“No,” Liam answered quickly.
He told Alex that he would like to have one but that, as long as he was in high school, he wasn’t ready to date a guy publicly. It wasn’t easy for Liam to speak so openly about his most personal feelings, but he was happy to see how comfortably Alex was talking about the topic.
Alex rose and walked to the window. “Do your parents know?” he asked.
“No. You’re the only one,” Liam replied.
“Isn’t it hard to keep it secret?” Alex asked. His eyes were sympathetic.
“Yes, it is,” Liam said and felt a teardrop running from the corner of his eye. He was holding in tears.
“I have wanted to tell my parents so many times, but I’ve never dared to do it,” he said after a long pause. “I’m worried that my parents would kick me out of the house if they knew that I was gay,” he confessed. His eyes were becoming misty.
As he finished his sentence, the door opened and Liam’s father looked in. “We are not going to kick you out, but I think we need to talk,” he said. Liam looked at his father, frightened.
“Dad,” he said, starting to cry. Alex stood there, not knowing what to say.