Chapter 8
Liam closed his front door and hurried toward Alex’s house, wanting to run in his excitement. He couldn’t believe that he would soon meet the blond swimmer boy and spend some time with him in his home. They were hardly friends, but this was so much more than he could have dreamed of when he first met the jock in September.
And then, Liam was there. He admired the big house. Alex’s parents must be wealthy. In a house like that, one could easily have raised an entire tribe, but he remembered hearing that Alex was their only child. After walking through the front yard, Liam pressed the doorbell and heard the chime, then some footsteps.
“Um … good evening, sir. Is Alex home?” he finally said, just as Alex’s father opened his mouth to ask what he wanted.
“Sure, come in. I’m Mr. Wesley, Alex’s father, as you might have guessed already.”
Alex ran down the stairs to welcome Liam. He was handsome, as always. Liam realized that he was staring at Alex and quickly turned to hang his winter coat on the rack and to take his shoes off. Then the boys went upstairs to Alex’s room.
The room was big and bright. The walls were light gray, and the hardwood floor felt warm under Liam’s feet. The room was in the corner of the house, and there were windows in two of the walls. The long curtains fit the stylish decoration perfectly. Liam saw a couple of paintings and thought that, most likely, Alex’s mother had selected them. He also saw Alex’s towel and speedo hanging on the back of a seat.
“Sorry, it’s a bit of a mess in here. If you don’t mind, we can sit on my bed,” Alex said and pointed to the big bed on the other side of the room.
First time at his house, and we are already in his bed, Liam thought but decided not to say it aloud. Luckily, Alex didn’t notice the grin on his face. The boys took comfortable positions on the red bedspread and started to do their homework.
After Liam had finished his homework and helped Alex to finish his, they started to work on the history presentation. They spread the handouts on the bed, and Liam took notes with his laptop while Alex did his best to find the relevant information on the papers.
Liam realized that, every now and then, Alex glanced at him when he didn’t think Liam would notice. This made Liam uncomfortable—he assumed that Alex was still assessing him, and he worried that Alex might not like him very much. He tried to focus on the presentation and on not making a fool of himself, carefully considering all his words and avoiding saying anything that Alex might find stupid or funny in the wrong way.
The tactic worked. Alex behaved properly toward him—he was even nice to him. Liam was feeling optimistic that they could finish the presentation without any serious friction.
For the first time since entering Alex’s house, Liam started to relax a little. Noticing that he had been sweating and his armpits were wet, he felt embarrassed and changed his position to hide this from Alex.
They had worked on the presentation for over an hour when Alex surprised him with a question. “Would you like to play some games?” Alex asked as he switched on his PlayStation.
Liam was delighted. Either the blond swimmer really enjoyed spending time with him, or he was just tired of doing schoolwork. Either way, Liam was more than eager to play some games, and they spent the next two hours doing so.
“Dude, you really can play Call of Duty,” Alex said with admiration in his voice. Liam had beaten him quite a few times, and Alex clearly hadn’t expected that to happen.
“Well, it’s not exactly the first time I’ve played,” Liam said modestly, grinning at Alex. “Gosh, I didn’t realize it was so late already,” he said, checking his watch. It was past nine. “I better go home before your parents kick me out,” he said half-jokingly.
“I don’t think they will, but do you want to come back over tomorrow to work on our history project?” Alex asked.
“Sure,” Liam answered, worried that he sounded too eager.
Liam couldn’t keep the goofy smile off of his face while he walked home. It was probably anatomically impossible for a human being to form a wider smile than he had. Alex wasn’t only stunningly gorgeous but seemed to be a cool guy, too. And, most importantly, he wanted to see Liam again.
Alex is just a friend, Liam reminded himself. Actually, being friends with Alex was all that Liam wanted. He wasn’t crazy enough to fantasize about Alex as his boyfriend. Besides, jocks fell in love with nerds only in teenage novels and TV shows. Liam understood that such things hardly ever happened in real life, but that didn’t spoil his good mood.
Liam had felt lonely ever since Matthew had disappeared from his life over eighteen months ago. For months after Matthew’s family had moved away, Liam had waited for his friend to visit or at least to contact him somehow. He had spent many nights sitting on his bed, tears running down his cheeks, waiting for the call, which never came. But tonight, Alex had begun to fill a part of the gap that Matthew had left in Liam’s heart.
“What did you just say? You were where?” His mother’s voice was so loud that half of the neighborhood must have heard her question. Liam’s father rushed into the kitchen to see why his wife was so upset.
“I was at Alex’s house. We worked on our history presentation and played some video games,” Liam explained as calmly as he could.
“But that’s the same boy whose friend almost killed you!” his mother yelled. “I really don’t like you spending time with that boy.”
“But the teacher asked us to work together,” Liam explained, not feeling so calm anymore.
“I’ll call the principal tomorrow morning. They need to assign you a new partner,” she said determinedly.
“No! You won’t call anybody. Besides, Alex is a nice guy, and I…,” Liam trailed off, not knowing how to complete the sentence. He would never forgive his mother if she ruined his emerging friendship with Alex. In his dismay, he had almost let it slip that he had a crush on the boy.
They sat down to talk, and Liam explained their history assignment and what they had done at Alex’s house. He described Alex to his parents on a general level, keeping his special interest in him well hidden. Liam wanted to tell his parents that he was gay, but this didn’t seem like the right moment. His first goal was to convince his parents that he could see Alex again.
Finally, Liam’s mother agreed that the boys could continue working on the history presentation.
“If he ever tries to do anything to you, he’ll answer to me,” she said firmly.
Liam was able to breathe again. He wished his parents a good night and went to his room. After turning on his laptop, Liam re-read the text for the history presentation that he had written with Alex.
He emailed the presentation text to Alex and would have included a personal message if he had only been able to find the right words. What would straight boys write to each other? He had just pressed the send button when he saw his mother at his door.
“Liam, I’m sorry about our fight,” she said as she sat on his bed. “Of course, I want you to find friends at school.” She smiled at him.
“Alex is really a cool guy,” Liam said.
“I trust you,” she said, nodding. “Are you hungry? Would you like to eat something before you go to bed?”
Actually, Liam was starving. He put away a big piece of blueberry pie with some milk and figured that his mother was trying to make up for their argument with the treat. He dreamed that, someday, he could introduce Alex to his parents as his boyfriend and that they could all eat blueberry pie together in their kitchen. But it was wishful thinking, and he knew it.
After the sweet and tasty supper, Liam went to bed but couldn’t sleep. He was thinking of Alex and the time they had spent in his house. The jock had been wearing a tight shirt that outlined his lean body. Liam felt his groin stirring when a picture of Alex’s cute butt filled his mind. Half an hour later, he fell asleep with a broad smile on his face.
The alarm clock went off, and Alex woke up, turning on his computer.
He read the text from their history presentation that Liam had sent him yesterday and could only admire how fluent and insightful Liam’s writing was. Alex could have never written such a smart summary from such complex details.
They had agreed to continue their work today, intending to dig into Finland’s role in the events that lead to the Paris Peace Treaties. Alex couldn’t understand how the small northern country had been able to defend itself against the massive forces of the Soviet Union. He was sure that Liam could explain it to him.
“How are you doing with your history presentation?” Alex’s mother asked as he stood in the kitchen, filling his bowl with cereal.
“Very well,” Alex said. “Well, it’s mostly because of Liam,” he admitted.
His mother put the newspaper on the table and looked her son. “It’s good that you’ve found such a smart friend,” she said.
Alex expected another fight about what bad company his swimming team friends were, but his mother just stood, wished him a good day at school, and told him that she had an important meeting with a big client. After she left for work, Alex finished his breakfast quickly and took a shower.
“Hi, Alex! Do you have any plans for this evening?” Sofia asked when Alex saw her in the school’s parking lot.
Alex was early—there were still fifteen minutes before the first class started. He realized that he would have to answer Sofia’s question, which was clearly supposed to lead to their getting together after school. Waiting for the answer, Sofia took hold of his hand, and they walked toward the school.
“Um … unfortunately, I have swim practice today,” Alex said.
Sofia tried again. “Can I come to your house after practice?”
“Sorry, but I already agreed to meet Liam,” Alex said, avoiding Sofia’s gaze. They walked for a moment in silence.
“You spent the whole day with Liam yesterday, too,” Sofia said sadly. “If you don’t like me, just say it,” she continued with an accusing tone.
“Of course I like you!” Alex said quickly. “I just don’t have time today.”
A couple of classes later, it was lunchtime. Alex filled his plate with sausage soup and took a seat at an empty table. Rick followed him, sat down, and looked around to make sure that nobody could hear him.
“So, you dumped Sofia and turned into a fairy,” he said bluntly.
“What?” Alex shouted, stunned.
“Rosa told me that you and Sofia are no longer together, and you are hanging out with Liam,” Rick said. His voice was more questioning than blaming.
“Goddamn Sofia! What’s wrong with her?” Alex cursed. “I told her that I don’t have time to see her today because we have swim practice, and then I need to work on the history presentation. Why do chicks need to be such drama queens?” He sighed.
Rick smiled. “Clearly, you don’t know how to handle your girl,” he mocked. “Dude, listen. Whatever she says, just agree with it. You’ll be rewarded,” he said with a smirk.
“I see,” Alex said, even though he wasn’t too convinced.
Soon Liam arrived with his tray and looked at Alex, asking silently if it was okay to sit at his table. Alex looked uncomfortable but smiled at Liam and nodded toward the empty seat next to him. Liam sat down, looking grateful. The three boys ate in total silence, and Alex noticed that Rick was constantly looking at Liam.
“If we’re able to finish the next part of the history presentation, I’ll kick your ass in Call of Duty again,” Liam said to break the silence. Alex raised his head and saw Rick’s surprised expression.
“So, you weren’t working on your presentation yesterday,” Rick observed.
“Sure we were. But do you seriously think that I could work on some boring presentation the whole night?” Alex said.
Rick sipped some milk from his glass. “Have you played a lot?” he asked Liam.
They talked about video games for the rest of lunch. Alex was mostly silent, following the discussion between Liam and Rick. Sofia and Rosa were sitting at their own table and watching the boys. Alex tried to smile at Sofia, but she turned her head away.
In math class, Sofia made it clear to Alex that he wasn’t welcome to sit with her. He snorted with laughter at the childish girl and took an empty seat next to Liam.
“Great. I could use some advice from a math genius,” Liam said, delighted. The teacher left to fetch some handouts that he had forgotten, and while he was gone, Alex explained the solution to their last homework assignment to Liam. Sofia glared at them from the back of the room.
The school day continued normally, and the only exception to the routine was Sofia, who was in one of her moods. Alex tried to keep out of her way, annoyed by her short temper. By the last class, she seemed to be in a better mood again, and Alex could take his typical seat next to her. The atmosphere between them wasn’t really warm, but at least she was talking to him again.
When the class ended, Alex said goodbye to Sofia and headed to the swimming hall. Sofia was still downbeat, but she wished Alex a good practice. He was hopeful that he could fix his relationship with her despite the girl being anything but easy to get along with.
“Have you gotten past first base with Sofia?” Rick asked him in the shower after practice.
“Or second base?” Eric joked. Eric’s parents were from Colombia, but he had lived his whole life in Fairmont and was the same age as Rick and Alex.
Alex smirked at his teammates. “All in good time,” he said, not feeling comfortable to give a detailed explanation of what he had and hadn’t done with Sofia. Compared to what he had heard other boys talk about doing with their girlfriends, he didn’t have much to brag about, but he still wanted to take things slowly with Sofia.
“Don’t be too slow, or someone will take her from you,” Eric advised him.
“Nobody’s going to take my girl anywhere,” Alex said, acting offended.
“Then you need to act like a man. Girls like real men,” Eric teased, showing off his muscles.
“I’ll show you who’s a real man,” Alex shouted, playing along. He threw his wet speedo at Eric. The suit hit Eric in the stomach, which was close but not exactly what he had aimed for. Eric picked up the speedo from the floor and threw it over the wall into the pool area.
“Thanks dude. How am I going to get it back?” Alex asked, pointing at his naked body.
“Just go over there. It’s so small that nobody can see it,” Eric joked, but he put on his speedo and got Alex’s swimming trunks for him.
After the other boys had left the showers, Rick said to Alex, “You need to talk with Sofia. I mean, really talk. She was clearly avoiding you all day.”
“No kidding,” Alex answered, knowing that Rick was right. “Okay, okay. Maybe I could ask her to come to the mall with me tomorrow. I need new jeans anyway.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Rick confirmed.
They left the swimming hall, and Alex drove home. He was happy that Rick had stopped pressing him about Liam and that they had actually gotten along pretty well during lunch. He didn’t need any more drama in his life. Patrick had died, Sam was in prison, and Sofia’s mood was constantly shifting from one extreme to the other. Right now, all he wanted was to finish the presentation and play some video games.
Alex was already waiting in the hallway when Liam pressed the doorbell. “Hi, come in,” Alex said, and Liam followed the instruction happily. They went upstairs to Alex’s room.
“How was practice?” Liam asked when he saw Alex’s swimming equipment drying.
“It was great. I set a new record,” Alex said enthusiastically. He explained to Liam what they typically did during practice.
Liam had to admit that he was more interested in seeing Alex in his speedo than in the details of the swimming team practice, but he listened attentively. When Alex finished, they sat on his bed and began to work on their history presentation.
“How do you think we should present this to the class?” Alex asked
after they had worked intensively for almost two hours.
“I was thinking that we could split the presentation into four parts and present them in turns. If you don’t mind, I can start,” Liam proposed.
“That’s cool,” Alex said. He smiled, realizing that Liam had everything under perfect control.
“Can I borrow your laptop? I want to check something,” Alex asked, reaching for Liam’s laptop.
“Sure,” Liam said and gave the laptop to Alex, who opened the browser and started typing.
“What the fuck!” Alex shouted. “Your Google search history is full of some gay stuff.” He looked at Liam, who blushed quickly.
Liam was thinking rapidly. What could he say? He wasn’t ashamed of being gay, but he was worried about Alex’s reaction. Also, he didn’t want the whole school to know. High school was difficult enough for a kid who had just moved from another city, and he had finally started to make friends.
“Are you…?” Alex asked. He was standing in the middle of his room. He couldn’t even finish the question, but Liam was well aware of what he meant. Finally, Liam raised his face and looked Alex in the eyes.
“Yes, I am,” he said so quietly that Alex barely heard him. There was no point in lying. His browsing history was strong enough evidence.
He looked at Alex, scared, and his heart was pounding. Alex walked to the window and looked out. For a long moment, he didn’t say anything. Finally, he turned around.
“I guess it’s okay,” he said, but Liam wasn’t sure if he really meant it.
“It’s not contagious,” Liam tried to joke, and Alex let out a forced laugh.
They worked on the presentation for another half an hour, but Liam could feel that the atmosphere had changed. He stored the results of their work on his laptop, but as he walked home, he realized that they hadn’t agreed on their next meeting time. There had been no Call of Duty tournament this evening, either. Apparently, their friendship was over before it had really started.
The only good thing that had happened was that Alex had promised not to tell anybody at school. Liam hoped that he could trust Alex on this. When he got home, he went straight to his bed and cried until he fell asleep.