Something Like Summer (17 page)

The painting Tim had given
him was already there. Of course Tim had painted it. During dinner
Ben had noticed paint on his fingernails that matched the colors
exactly. If only stupid Karen hadn’t opened her big trap. Still, it
was incredibly romantic. Ben never had suspected that Tim had
artistic impulses, but it made him love him even more.

The word surprised him. Did
he love Tim? If he didn’t, what else could it be? Ben pondered this
while waiting for his parents to settle down for the night, before
sneaking down the stairs and out the front door. Before long he was
on Tim’s porch. His hand shook as he used the key, thinking any
moment that a light would turn on or an alarm would sound. At least
the door was new enough not to squeak as he pushed it open. The
house was dead silent, every window dark, but what if the Wymans
heard him? How would he ever explain why he was there?

The air conditioner kicked
on as he ascended the stairs, causing him to jump. This was twice
as scary as the haunted house had been! Ben took a moment to calm
himself before creeping down the hallway. He opened the door to
Tim’s room as silently as possible and slid inside.

The shadows in the room
were long. Ben had expected to find Tim lying on the bed, but he
could see in the limited light that the bed was still made and
unoccupied.

“
Hey,” came a voice from
behind.

“
Gah!” Ben exclaimed
loudly. “Oh shit!” he whispered, clamping his hand over his mouth,
but Tim laughed as if there was nothing to worry about.

“
Your parents!” Ben
hissed.

“
Business trip,” he
chuckled. “They won’t be back until tomorrow, but that was a good
test run. I didn’t hear you until you were at my door.”

Ben slugged him playfully
and laughed himself. He reached for the light switch, but Tim moved
his hand away, pulling out a Zippo lighter instead, which he used
to light a handful of candles in the room.

Ben smiled from ear to ear,
knowing what would happen next. He untied his shoes, kicked them
off, and tossed himself into bed. “So I hear that you are
officially single,” he said playfully. “Does this mean that you are
back on the prowl again?”

“
I never stop prowling.”
Tim growled like a tiger as he flicked the Zippo shut.

“
I see, but at the ripe
old age of seventeen, don’t you think it’s time you settled down
with someone special?”

“
Meaning?” Tim
inquired.

“
I want to be your
boyfriend.”

“
Jesus, Benjamin!” Tim
swore. “You don’t let up do you?” He forced away a smile and shook
his head. “It’s not enough that you make me dump my
girlfriend?”

“
If she was good enough
for you to date, then I am twice as qualified,” Ben grinned.
“Anything a girl can do, I can better,” he singsonged.

“
Off hand, I can think of
a few things that you can’t!” Tim taunted.

“
Well, anyway. What do you
think? Seriously.”

“
I think I want a test
drive before I buy the car.” Tim leapt on him, kissing his face,
biting his neck, and making him laugh. They rolled and wrestled
with each other until their playfulness became more serious. Tim
tore at Ben’s clothes as if he hadn’t seen him for years. Ben
followed suit, and their passion became almost a struggle, each
more desperate than the other to touch, taste, explore. Once wasn’t
enough tonight. After a break to raid the kitchen for food, they
were back at it again, this time taking things slowly. The candles
had all burnt down by the time they fell asleep, their bodies
tangled comfortably together.

When the screeching of the
alarm clock woke them. They moaned and griped in unison, not
wanting to face the reality of another week of school. Tim got out
of bed first. The sight of him standing there naked, sporting
morning wood as he scratched his chest, was enough to brush away
the last remnants of sleep from Ben.

“
Wanna take a shower
together?” he offered.

“
We’re going to be late,”
Tim countered.

“
We can skip first period,
you know.” Ben told him how the attendance system worked, Tim
listening with an intrigued expression.

“
I wondered how you were
able to take care of me without getting in trouble. You really know
how to play things to your advantage, don’t you? You’ve shaved an
hour off the school day, and now you’re manipulating me into being
your boyfriend.”

“
So we are?” Ben
beamed.

“
Yeah,” Tim smiled back.
“Why not? But listen, I don’t want anyone getting in our way. My
parents can’t know about this. No one at school,
either.”

“
So just like things were
before?” Ben said with some disappointment.

“
Not like before. No
Krista, no other girls, and definitely no other guys. Just me and
you. I want it to stay that way.”

Ben didn’t think there was
anything to fear from parents or school. Those were all demons he
had faced already. Tim just needed time to realize these things for
himself. Rather than argue the point, Ben rose and dragged his new
boyfriend into the shower.

__________

Chapter 11

“
He hit me.”

Ben was dumbstruck, staring
at his best friend and waiting for a mischievous smile to show that
she was kidding. It never came. Tears formed in her eyes as he
stood there holding the front door open. He had been on the verge
of sneaking out to stay the night at Tim’s house, as he had done so
many nights in the past month, when she had started throwing
pebbles at his window.

“
Come upstairs,” Ben
whispered, not wanting to wake his parents. “Ronnie hit you?” he
asked once he had closed his bedroom door.

“
No! My father!” The
emotional dam finally broke and Allison dissolved into
tears.

Ben wrapped an arm around
her, examining her as he did so. Allison’s left jaw looked red and
sore with early signs of swelling. “I’m so sorry,” he said as he
held her, letting her cry it out without assaulting her with
questions.

“
He’s such an idiot,” she
sobbed. “I had permission to go out with Ronnie and
everything.”

“
What set him off, then?”
Ben asked, breaking away from her to grab some tissues.

“
Thanks.” Allison blew her
nose noisily. “He caught Ronnie kissing me goodnight. That’s it. He
wasn’t feeling me up or anything. My dad just flew off the handle
and shoved Ronnie away. I started screaming at him, and he punched
me.” She held a trembling hand up to her jaw.

“
Bastard,” Ben snarled,
his own anger causing him to clench his teeth. “What did Ronnie
do?”

“
He was already gone.”
Allison shook her head. “I’m not telling it right.”

“
It’s okay. Just try to
calm down.”

“
I’m all right.” She took
a deep breath. “After Dad shoved Ronnie I got in between them and
told Ronnie to leave. After he was gone I started arguing with Dad,
and that’s when he hit me and I ran straight over here. I didn’t
know where else to go.”

“
I’m glad you came,” Ben
said. “You should stay the night here.”

“
Thanks.” Allison sniffed
and sighed. “What are we going to do about this?”

Ben chewed his lip
thoughtfully while they considered the situation in silence.
Allison didn’t have any other in-state relatives, and the idea of
her moving far away was unbearable. But how could she endure living
with such a monster? What was to stop something like this from
happening again?

“
I wish we were already in
college,” he said wistfully.

“
You and me both. Have you
decided yet?”

That was another unhappy
topic. Ben wanted to continue his vocal training at an arts college
that specialized in music. Allison wanted to pursue a medical
career at one of the more traditional colleges. The inevitable
separation if they chose different schools was something neither of
them liked to think of, and now wasn’t the time to discuss it
further.

“
I have no idea,” Ben
replied. “It’s all so far away. You want your PJs?”

“
Yeah.”

Allison had stayed the
night so often that she had bought a pair of pajamas to keep in his
room. It was a miracle that her father had never figured out that
she was actually staying the night with him and not Karen. Their
former friendship had been useful camouflage in that
regard.

The next day was a school
day, which presented an awkward situation. Ben decided to confide
in his mother, who wasn’t nearly as sympathetic as he would have
expected. The bruise on Allison’s face was twice as ugly now and
left no room for doubt as to the truth of her story, but it was
clear that his mother wasn’t willing to interfere with someone
else’s parenting. There was no point in asking her if Allison could
stay with them longer, but she at least granted him permission to
skip school for the day.

In the afternoon they
decided to go to Allison’s house so she could get a change of
clothes, despite the possibility that Mr. Cross might be there when
they arrived. He wasn’t, but the house was in more disarray than
normal, with food left out on the counter, dirty dishes, and a
broken drinking glass on the kitchen floor. Ben helped her clean up
before they went to her room.

“
You should go,” Allison
said. “There’s no point in me leaving.”

Ben understood how she was
feeling. As they surveyed her room, it hit home how hard it would
be to leave it all behind. Where would she go? She didn’t have a
job and wasn’t finished with school. All she owned was right in
front of them, but suddenly it didn’t seem like much compared to
what the real world demanded.

“
I have to face him sooner
or later, right?” Allison said. “I mean, he’s my dad. We’ll work it
out, but you shouldn’t be here when he gets back.”

“
Forget it, I’m staying,”
Ben said. “I’m staying and I’m going to have a word with
him.”

“
You’re sweet, but that’s
not a good idea. You being here is just going to upset him even
more.”

“
Yeah, yeah. I said the
exact same thing last time you had a terrible idea, but I still
went along with it,” Ben reminded her. “You owe me one. In fact, I
think it’s best if you left me here alone.”

“
What? You’re
insane.”

“
No, I mean it. I’ll talk
to your dad, then I’ll meet you back at my place and I can tell you
what he said.”

Allison was hesitant, but
Ben managed to convince her. Only after she had gone was he free to
question the soundness of his idea. Who did he think he was, an
ambassador? What if Mr. Cross started beating the crap out of him?
He could get killed!

The sound of the front door
opening caused his stomach to churn. He should have at least left
the house with Allison and returned to ring the doorbell. Now it
looked like he was a burglar.

Ben left her room and
walked to the head of the stairs. Mr. Cross was already looking
upward, an expression of hope on his face that turned dark when he
didn’t see his daughter.

“
What the hell are you
doing here?” he challenged.

“
Allison and I came back
to get her a change of clothes. She’s not here,” Ben added when Mr.
Cross started up the stairs with a determined look on his face,
“but she told me everything.”

Mr. Cross stopped, and for
the briefest moment, there was shame in his eyes. It marked the end
of Ben’s fear of the man. Ben walked down the stairs until he was
face to face with Allison’s father.

“
She told me everything,
but she would never tell the police,” Ben continued. “I would
though, and I won’t hesitate to if you ever lay a hand on her
again.”

“
You little brat.” Mr.
Cross’s hand snatched out and grabbed Ben by the shirt.

Ben didn’t even
flinch.

“
Go ahead and hit me,” he
suggested. “I’ll go to the police today, and you’ll never harm
anyone again. Not me and not Allison.”

“
They’d never believe
you,” Mr. Cross shouted. “I’ll tell them that you hit her. How do
you like that, you little faggot?”

“
Not bad,” Ben shrugged.
“I guess I would then tell the cops about all the times you made me
suck you off.”

Mr. Cross let go of him
instantly, as if he had just learned Ben had some horribly
contagious disease.

“
I never!” Mr. Cross
spluttered. “You’re sick!”

“
It doesn’t matter what
you’ve actually done,” Ben said. “Society likes to believe the
worst. They’ll eat the story up. The bigots and the homophobes will
have a field day with it, but they’ll believe it in the end, so
don’t try to threaten me.”

“
Get out of my house, you
little punk!”

“
No. Not before I’ve had
my say. Allison loves you, Mr. Cross. She would do anything to make
you happy. I think you love her, too, but the way you try to
protect her is doing more harm than good. You need to let her go.
One more year and she’s going to be living on her own in a
different city. You won’t be able to control her then. You can’t
treat her like a bird in a cage. If you do, she’ll never come back
to you once she’s free. She’ll be out of your life
forever.”