“Xander, you home?”
“In here, Lucky,” I called as I turned the stove down to keep from burning dinner. Bear, who’d been lying by my feet, jumped up and took off towards the front door. I’d been lucky enough to have a friend drive Bear out east with him on his way to meet up with family in Boston, which meant I’d been able to fly out with Bennett, Lucky and the rest of the group.
The dog returned moments later, happily trailing Lucky who dropped his backpack onto the kitchen table and flopped down into one of the chairs. He dropped his cheek on his hand and stared into space.
“Uh oh,” I said as I went to the fridge and pulled out two cans of soda. “What happened?” I asked as I slid into the chair next to him and placed the can in front of him.
“Can we just move already?” he asked.
I sighed. “What did he do this time?”
“Nothing,” Lucky muttered. “Literally nothing.”
Despite the kiss Bennett and I had seen Lucky and Calvin share, whatever had been blooming between the boys seemed to have run its course, at least on Calvin’s side. During the remainder of the trip in Colorado, things between Lucky and Calvin had gone well and there’d been no more fights or Calvin talking shit about Lucky. Lucky had even felt confident enough to confide in us that Calvin had kissed him. But if the older boy had felt anything, it hadn’t lasted. As soon as we’d stepped off the plane in New York, Calvin had iced Lucky out.
To Lucky’s heartbreaking disappointment.
The only good thing was that Calvin hadn’t resumed his cruel taunting of the younger boy either.
So, there was that at least.
“Did you try talking to him?” I asked.
Since I was the one home when Lucky finished school, I was often the first to hear about his problems. When Bennett got home, we usually discussed things over dinner as a family. After learning Calvin had been ignoring Lucky completely in the three weeks since we’d arrived, Bennett and I had suggested Lucky try to pull Calvin aside to try to talk to him.
Lucky nodded miserably. “Said he was too busy. I thought maybe if I told him we could talk someplace where no one would see us, he’d go for it.”
While I wasn’t exactly worried that Calvin might hurt Lucky if they were alone together, I couldn’t discount the fact that something else could happen between the two of them. And while it freaked me out that someone as young as Lucky could be engaging in any kind of sexual activity, I wasn’t completely naive either.
“Um, Lucky, we should probably talk about that…”
“About what?” he asked.
“Yeah… um… being alone with a guy you like.”
“What, you mean like how we’re alone right now?” he asked, curiously.
“What? No!” I nearly shouted, but then I caught the smile that flitted across his mouth. “Little shit,” I said as I gently punched his shoulder.
“Don’t worry. B already had ‘the talk’ with me.”
“He did?”
Lucky nodded. “Last year. He used a cucumber to demonstrate… you know.”
I laughed. “A cucumber?”
“Yeah. You should’ve seen him. It was a really big cucumber.”
I smiled at that. I could envision Bennett getting all flustered as he tried to explain the facts of life to a teenage boy while working a too-small condom over a too-big cucumber.
“Ok, carry on then,” I said with a wave of my hand.
Lucky’s face fell. “He hates me,” he said.
“He doesn’t hate you, Lucky. My guess is he’s not ready to face some things about himself.”
“Yeah,” Lucky said with a sigh. “I just thought…”
“What?”
“I thought he might be the one, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” I said as I put my hand over his arm. “But maybe the one is still out there for you. Could be you’ll meet him tomorrow or next week or next month or next year. Could be you don’t meet him for a lot of years. But believe me, it’ll be worth the wait.”
“Like you and B had to wait?”
“Exactly,” I said. “Doesn’t matter how many years you lose, the ones you share are the ones that’ll stay with you.”
The boy nodded and then he stood. “I should go get started on homework.”
“Okay, dinner will be ready in a bit.”
“B’s doing his thing tonight, huh?”
“Yeah, he’ll be home late. We’ll go ahead and eat without him.”
Lucky nodded, and then suddenly he leaned over and hugged me. “Glad you’re here, X.”
I smiled at the nickname. “Me too, buddy.”
Once he and Bear were gone, I climbed to my feet and began pulling ingredients for salad from the fridge. Just as I began searching for the serving bowl, my phone rang. I assumed it was Bennett calling for another pep talk, or to yell at me for the suggestive text I’d sent to remind him what was waiting for him when he got home tonight besides his favorite meal.