Room for Recovery

by D. J. Jamison

  “See you after school,” Wade said.

  Beau paused, his hand hovering over the door handle. “Okay, thanks. If you’re sure you don’t mind?”

  “I don’t. And let me know if anyone gives you grief. I’ll tell them to cut that shit out.”

  Beau looked at Wade. “You my guard dog now?”

  Wade shrugged. “Just looking out for you. We’re like family, right?”

  Beau rolled his eyes, familiar with this refrain. “Okay, see you later.”

  Wade watched him join the flow of students and walk inside before leaving. He had some time to kill before his first class. He could go to the library and work on the paper he’d never started the night before, but he needed caffeine to get through the day. Besides, he’d done a good thing. Surely his mom would approve of helping someone in distress. He could hardly let Beau be assaulted in the name of an English paper that wouldn’t even count toward his grade.

  Guilt managed, he headed for the nearest coffee shop.

  Chapter 5

  Beau didn’t see Ker and Nate until his second class of the day. He slid into his seat in Spanish, startled by Ker’s gasp. He’d forgotten his face advertised the trouble he’d had the day before.

  She motioned to his lip. “What happened?”

  He grimaced, which honestly hurt a bit. Apparently smiling wasn’t the only expression he needed to avoid. “Guess I was just too pretty for Jeremy and Billy. They felt the need to toughen me up.”

  Red rushed into her face, and her brown eyes narrowed. Even with the spray of freckles over her nose and the pigtails she sported that day, she looked intimidating.

  “Are you serious? Those guys are such assholes. Did you report them?”

  “Report who?” Nate crammed his long frame into the seat on her other side and looked across the desk at Beau. He had to lean forward to see past Ker, causing dark hair to fall over his face. His hair wasn’t wild and curly like Beau’s just scraggly and overdue for a haircut. “Ouch. Who popped you in the mouth?”

  “Jeremy and Billy,” Ker answered angrily. “They’ve had it out for Beau since that stupid party.”

  Before then, really, but Beau didn’t bother correcting her. It had gotten worse since the party.

  “Well, his dancing was pretty awful,” Nate said.

  Nate was right. Beau had bitten the bullet and watched the video himself. He’d needed to know what people saw about him when they watched it. He’d been standing on a sofa, dancing without an ounce of rhythm, and he’d been so smashed his eyes were unfocused.

  If he were going to record a Beau-gone-wild video, it would have been nice to at least look sexy in it. But no. He was too skinny. His limbs were uncoordinated, pulling him off-balance. He looked like an idiot.

  Ker smacked Nate’s arm. “Don’t make jokes. They roughed him up!” She turned to Beau. “You need to report them.”

  “Stop making them sound like the mob. They didn’t rough me up. They’re a couple of idiots who get their kicks by giving me shit. I’m fine. Someone intervened, so it didn’t go any further.”

  “Who?”

  Beau looked away. “Wade Ritter.”

  She lowered her voice. “Wade helped you?”

  “That douche again?” Nate asked at the same time, not bothering to lower his voice at all. “I just don’t see what girls see in him.”

  “That’s because you’re not into guys,” Ker said wryly.

  Her eyes cut to Beau, but she didn’t spell out his longtime crush on Wade. They’d shared more than one conversation where they sighed over how delicious he was and how sad it was he couldn’t be a decent human being. Wade had received those all-American, white-bread boy type genes: blond hair, blue eyes, strong jaw and broad shoulders. He looked like the stereotypical jock, except Wade wasn’t much for team sports, unless tonsil hockey in the hallway counted.

  “It is surprising, though,” Ker said. “Was he all dreamy like a knight in shining armor?”

  “Uh, kinda,” Beau admitted as Nate rolled his eyes. “He told them to back off and offered me a ride, and they didn’t try anything. I think he would have fought them for me, though,” he mused.

  In principle, Beau didn’t believe in fighting. But the idea of a guy defending his honor with his fists was hot as hell.

  “I still think you need to report them,” Ker said, bringing the conversation back to the less sexy reality of what happened, “but I’m glad to hear Wade is more decent than we thought. Maybe he’ll redeem himself yet.”

  “Yeah, he also gave me a ride to school today to avoid any more trouble.”

  Ker’s eyes popped wide. “Wow.”

  “Big deal,” Nate muttered. “So, he has a car. Whoop-de-doo.”

  “You’re just jealous because girls think he’s hot,” Ker said.

  “Well, I’m jealous of his car,” Beau said, heading off any arguing over Wade’s hotness. Nate had crushed on Ker for at least a full year, and she had yet to notice him, so he was understandably surly when the topic of hot guys came up. “If my mom would be normal and let me have a car, I wouldn’t need rides.”

  His mother’s unwillingness to let him have a car or even drive hers was just another symptom of the way she saw him: as a carbon copy of his father. She might expect him to go to medical school and become a prestigious doctor, but she didn’t trust him to own a car and not knock up some girl in the back seat. As if there weren’t plenty of other places to get down and dirty if he wanted. And he didn’t. Not with a girl, at any rate.

  He could tell her he was gay, but it wouldn’t change anything. His mom had been blaming him for everything that went wrong with her life since before he hit puberty. It wasn’t really about her being worried he’d make a mistake; she saw him as the living embodiment of his father, who’d abandoned her or some shit. He wasn’t ever going to be a psych major, but he could figure that much out. And even though he had it easy compared to some gay kids — his uncle had already paved the way for him, so to speak — he knew his mom would turn it into a huge drama that was all about her.

  Not like he had a boyfriend anyway. There was no point in dealing with her reaction. He’d wait until it was relevant. For now, though, he had to put up with ridiculous assumptions about what he’d get up to in the backseat of a car.

  He wouldn’t mind testing out Wade’s backseat, though.

  Ker snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Beau? Hello?”

  “That reminds me,” he told Ker just as the teacher stood up to get the class started. “Wade is giving me a ride home today. And uh, tomorrow.”

  “What? But I have my car back …” She trailed off and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. She understood without explanation that Beau would rather spend time with Wade than ride with her. It wasn’t every day your crush offered to chauffeur you to and from school. He’d almost told him no the night before at the hospital, knowing Xavier or Trent could take him home. But for once, Beau wasn’t doing the right thing. He was doing the selfish thing. Even if all he got out of it were a few car rides and unimpeded viewing of Wade’s profile, he’d take the chance. It was the closest he’d ever come to being friends with Wade Ritter.

  “Listen up, everybody,” Mrs. Holcomb called. “Today, we’re practicing our oral skills in groups.”

  There was a titter of juvenile laughter as their brains all went straight to the gutter. Just another day in high school.

  ***

  Beau was nervous as marching band practice ended. Memories of getting caught out by Jeremy and Billy were at the forefront of his mind all through class. It was another mild fall day in the height of football season, so they practiced on the field, in formation. Marching had never been Beau’s joy with band. He much preferred concert season in the spring, but at Ashe High to do one, you had to do the other.

  “You okay?” Miles asked. He also played the sax and had been victim to Beau’s faltering steps all practice.

  Beau smiled ruefully. “Sorry for stepping on
you. I was distracted.”

  Miles grinned, tossing his head to whip the hair out of his eyes. It was longer than Beau’s, brushing his collar, and ruffled by the wind. Though his hair was blond and his eyes blue, he couldn’t have been more different from Wade. There was a lightness to him, a contented confidence that put Beau at ease while he was generally coiled tight in Wade’s moody presence.

  “No worries. We all have bad days.”

  Beau walked with Miles to the sidelines of the field, where they’d left their instrument cases. During marching season, the band bypassed their classroom and met right on the field unless there was bad weather. It was the last class of the day, so students were spilling into the parking lot as Beau and Miles packed up.

  Beau surreptitiously kept an eye on the people around them, warier than he’d been the day before. He’d spotted Jeremy and Billy running the nearby track with their gym class, part of the reason he’d been so distracted during practice, but they seemed to be gone now.

  “Well, sorry for your feet anyway,” Beau said. “Thanks for carrying the sax section today.”

  Miles fell in step with him as he headed in the direction of the school. He didn’t have to be at the hospital today, but he needed to stop by his locker to pick up a couple of books.

  “Well, there’s also Carly and Lyle,” Miles said, mentioning the other two sax players who marched in front of them, “but I’ll take the credit. Far be it from me not to accept compliments.”

  Beau laughed, nudging his shoulder, and Miles grinned and bumped him back.

  Funny. They’d been playing and marching side by side for two years, but they’d never talked much before. Now, Beau was getting the feeling that Miles might like to talk to him more. His stomach fluttered when Miles smiled at him.

  “There you are. I should have asked where you’d be when classes let out.”

  Beau looked up at the sound of Wade’s breathless voice. His hair was wind-blown but still looked perfect, as if it was artistically designed for a music video, and his cheeks were red. It could have been from the chill in the air, but judging by his heaving chest, he’d been running.

  “Hey, Wade. Sorry.”

  Wade’s eyes fixed on Miles, and he radiated tension. Worried he might think Miles was among the guys giving him a hard time, Beau waved a hand toward the sax player. “This is Miles. We’re in band together.”

  “Hi,” Miles said.

  Wade impatiently shoved back hair that had blown into his blue eyes. He and Miles had a lot of traits in common, but as similar as they were, they were also incredibly different. Both had blue eyes, but Wade’s were a deeper shade with layers that seemed to be missing in Miles’ light blue gaze. And while Wade exuded a sort of broody sexiness, Miles was cute in a laid-back, low-stress kind of way. Beau liked the looks of both, but Wade made his pulse race faster.

  “You ready to go?” Wade asked, ignoring Miles.

  Beau frowned at his rudeness. He could have at least given Miles a greeting, but Beau didn’t call him on it. He didn’t want to rock the boat, or his ride home, as it were. He glanced at Miles. “See you tomorrow?”

  Miles smiled, though it looked a bit forced. “Sure, see you then.”

  He gave an awkward wave and hurried off, making a sharp right toward the parking lot. If Beau wasn’t mistaken, Miles had looked wistful. Had he wanted to hang out and talk more? Beau wouldn’t have minded that, but Wade was doing him a big favor with the rides, and he’d have plenty of chances to talk with Miles in class.

  “I need to stop by my locker. Meet you at your car?”

  “Nah, I’ll walk you.”

  “You will?”

  “The whole point to giving you rides is to ensure you don’t get hassled,” Wade said as they crossed the parking lot and went into the main hall entrance. Beau headed for his locker, lugging his sax at his side. When they got there, Wade reached out and grasped the handle of the case. With a gentle tug, he pulled it out of Beau’s hand.

  Beau blinked, still stunned by this polite side of Wade. He turned and spun the dial on his combination lock. Making quick work of it, he packed up the books he needed and then stashed the sax in his locker. He wouldn’t practice tonight.

  “Hey, Beau, have a very good night!” Ker called as she passed, winking like she had a piece of dirt in her eye. Not subtle.

  Beau waved her off and followed Wade to the car. Shane, a tall redhead with a healthy helping of freckles, jogged toward them.

  “Hey, man! I went by your place to do some gaming, and your mom said you were here. This doesn’t look like the library.” He glanced at Beau. “Unless you’re the tutor?”

  “The … what?”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Wade said. “You know Beau, right? His uncle married my uncle. Ring any bells?”

  “Oh, yeah. We have government class together. You’re the kid from the video too, right? I was at that party, and I totally missed the show.” Shane grinned. “Thank God for the camera phone, huh?”

  Beau sighed. He wished people would forget the video. They had to at some point, but just now it felt as if it would follow him to his grave.

  “Yeah, what would I do without YouTube?” Beau mimed hitting his head. “Oh right, I wouldn’t be totally embarrassed.”

  Shane grimaced. “Right, yeah. My bad. I guess it’s not fun being you right now.”

  “Anyway,” Wade interjected to Beau’s relief, “I’m giving him a ride to his volunteer gig. Then I’ll be home. We can hang out then.”

  “Um, actually, I don’t have to be there today.”

  Shane clapped his hands together. “Excellent! You should come to Wade’s house and play Call of Duty. Wade is a shitty gamer, too self-absorbed to be much help, but I bet I don’t have to tell you that, huh?”

  Beau’s eyes widened at his blunt words, but Wade only laughed.

  “Fuck you, man. You’re lucky I let you get your fix at my house since your dad is such a hard-ass.”

  “Too true,” Shane said mournfully. “He’s got all these old-fashioned notions, like people should talk to each other instead of live in front of screens.”

  He snorted in derision, but Beau got the impression Shane didn’t let anything get to him. He was an interesting choice of friend for Wade, who seemed to let everything get to him. But then maybe that was the appeal. Wade could be an asshole, and Shane wouldn’t care. Match made in heaven?

  “So, are we doing this or what?” Shane asked.

  Beau looked to Wade, but he couldn’t read his neutral expression. “Um, sure. If it’s okay with Wade?”

  Wade shrugged, his blue eyes as mysterious to Beau as ever. “Sure, whatever.”

  Not a glowing invitation, but Beau would take it.

  Chapter 6

  Beau’s phone buzzed with a text. He picked it up and saw Nate’s name.

  Shoot, what time was it?

  With the surprise invitation to Wade’s house, he’d completely forgotten it was the monthly gaming night at Geek Out. He and Nate broke out their nerdy side and played tournaments at the comic book/gaming store. Everything from Pokémon trading cards to D&D was game. Ker sometimes went too, if she was in the mood. She generally found it annoying to be one of the only girls in the place and therefore the subject of much staring. She’d joked that it was a good ego boost, but she had to shower thoroughly afterward.

  Little did she know she didn’t need to go to Geek Out to find admiring gazes. Nate had been gazing at Ker longingly for some time now. Beau was fairly sure she’d look up one day and notice, and they’d become one of those perfect couples meant to be together. He didn’t help them along because he wasn’t looking forward to being the odd man out when it happened. They were both looking at the University of Kansas for the next year, while Beau planned to stay closer to home, so he was hoping they could make it to graduation as the same trio they’d been when they entered high school.

  “Dude, are you playing or what?” Shane asked from his place at th
e end of Wade’s living room sofa in front of the big-screen television. “You can’t half-ass it. We don’t play that way.”

  Beau lowered his phone, a sinking sensation in his gut. Nate was going to be so pissed. He had three texts already that he’d just now noticed.

  Heading over to Geek Out now.

  Dude, where are you?

  Beau, wtf? Did Wade leave you on the side of the road somewhere?

  It was already well past time for the gaming tournament, so there was no salvaging the situation. He typed out a quick text one-handed while attempting to appease Shane by tapping halfheartedly at his controller.

  Sorry! I’m fine but got held up

  He tossed down the phone, refocusing on the screen. “Sorry. I’m multitasking here.”

  Shane snorted. “I think shooting and texting is frowned upon. Your brothers in arms need you to focus!”

  A hint of a smile tugged at Wade’s mouth. About as close to happy as Beau had ever seen him. “Shane takes this crap seriously.”

  Despite Wade’s comments, he was far too good at the game for someone who didn’t take it seriously. He was utterly focused, while Shane cracked jokes and drew Beau into conversation about movies, music and school hallway gossip. Beau didn’t have much to contribute on that last one, outside of being a target of gossip, but thankfully Shane didn’t mention that again.

  “And you don’t take it seriously?” Shane said, voicing Beau’s thought. “You wanted to kill Katy the time she unplugged the game console.”

  “I was setting a record,” Wade said, “and she was being a little brat.”

  “So, it’s not just my sister you hate,” Beau retorted.

  Shane laughed, lifting his fist for a bump. Beau halfheartedly tapped knuckles. Then gunfire erupted on screen, and they all started cursing. Beau was worlds below their skill level, but he found himself throwing his whole body into the gaming: tensing up, leaning forward, flinching. It was easy to be completely immersed in the virtual scenes playing out.