Swimming to Freedom

by Robbie Michaels

  They watched something mindless on TV, and then Joel excused himself to go be elsewhere and give Brandon and Tyler some time to be alone. “Okay, guys, I’m gonna go upstairs so you can do… stuff I wouldn’t do. Make me proud, but please, don’t tell me afterward what you did.” Joel took the stairs three at a time and was gone in a couple of seconds.

  “Thank you,” Brandon said quietly as he held on to Tyler.

  “For what?” Tyler asked.

  “For today. For tracking down and calling Joel and making all of this happen. You two gave up your whole day to help me deal with my crazy father.”

  “You’re very welcome,” Tyler said, smiling impishly. “Want to know what I’m going to charge you for my services today?”

  “Maybe?” Brandon said nervously.

  Tyler pulled Brandon over on top of him and their lips found their counterparts. From there nature drove the car, and they just hung on and enjoyed the scenery.

  Chapter 10—English Assignment

  THE FOLLOWING day was back to the routine. His father was his usual yelling self at practice, and Brandon’s teammates all clearly found it beyond distracting. One of the few times they were allowed to pause between laps, Joel whispered over to Brandon. “I’ve got a plan.”

  “A plan? For what? You planning to rob a bank or something?”

  “Nothing like that. Something way more bold and daring.”

  “I’m listening,” Brandon said.

  “We’re gonna pull one over on your old man.”

  Brandon laughed lightly. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

  “Trust me.”

  When they crawled out of the pool, exhausted, they tiredly made their way into the showers where they both luxuriated in the feel of the hot water cascading over their sore and tired muscles.

  “I feel like somebody just kicked my ass,” Joel said, in his usual less-than-tactful manner.

  “Ditto,” Brandon agreed.

  For a moment the only sound was the water cascading over their bodies. Only because they were alone in the showers, Joel could ask, “So now that you’ve got a boyfriend, can I go back to teasing you with my manliness? With my masculine ways?”

  Brandon looked at him. “With your manliness?” He stared at Joel, revealing no emotion or response.

  “Yeah, you know, let my sexiness loose to romp around free. What would you think about that, huh?”

  Brandon continued to stare at him. “What are you planning to do? Get a boner and start stroking yourself in here?”

  “No, dude, just stop trying to keep my heady masculinity so tightly under wraps. I’ve been doing it for you, you know? Keeping myself in check. Not shaking my moneymaker,” he said, turning around and wiggling his butt at Brandon. “Things like that, you know?”

  Brandon continued to stare at him, finally saying, “I do not know you.”

  “Of course you do. I’m one of the workers on the railroad that’s gonna try to get you to freedom and the promised land, out from under the big dick.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you talk about dicks an abnormally excessive amount of the time?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well, allow me to do the honors. Dude, you’re fixated on dicks. You talk about them a lot.”

  “Must be because I’ve got such a perfect one,” Joel joked.

  Brandon snorted.

  “I can see I have to show it to you more often,” Joel said, rinsing the shampoo out of his hair.

  “Back to the main point,” Brandon tried. “How are you planning to pull off this… this… whatever it is you’ve got planned?”

  “You’ll see.”

  As they toweled off and dressed, side by side, Brandon noticed that Joel was taking an abnormally long amount of time drying his hair. Brandon guessed that this was to give him a good chance to admire Joel’s naked body. The guy was a total tease. But Brandon could laugh about it now.

  Once they were dressed, their bags packed up, they headed out to the front of the building where Brandon’s dad was waiting for him.

  “You ready?” Brandon’s dad asked him.

  “Yep.”

  “What took you so long today? I swear, some days you are so slow.”

  Joel jumped in unexpectedly at that point. “We were just talking about the work we have to do this afternoon, trying to figure out the best approach. Which libraries are you guys going to first?” he asked Brandon’s dad.

  “What are you talking about? I’m not going to any library today. I’m going home to my chair to watch the football game. I’ve been waiting to see these two teams up against one another, and I’m not going to miss it.”

  “Bran,” Joel said, projecting a worried expression. “How are you gonna get the assignment done?”

  Brandon played his part. “I don’t know. I guess I’m gonna fail this one, or get an incomplete.”

  “That sucks,” Joel commented.

  “No kidding.”

  “Hey, why don’t you ride with me? We can cut our work in half because we’re after the same things so when one of us finds them, we’ll tell the other. It’ll be perfect. Is that okay with you, Mr. McCall? That way you can watch your game and we can get our work done quicker.”

  “What assignment is this? Why haven’t I heard anything about it?” he complained.

  “English,” Joel said. “We’re supposed to track down a bunch of obscure references and copy a page of the original to prove we followed the trail and can figure out how to find stuff. I guess it’s supposed to prepare us for college research or something. It’s a pain, if you ask me.”

  “Fine,” Brandon’s dad reluctantly agreed. “I don’t want you out wandering around getting into trouble.”

  “And how often does that happen?” Joel asked jokingly. “I don’t think Brandon could find trouble if he had to. He’s too good to know what it is.”

  “I’m sure if he hangs around with you too much, you’ll teach him all he needs to know about trouble.”

  Joel tried to look shocked, but it didn’t work, so he laughed. “Nah. Got to get this project finished. I want this one done and out of the way.”

  “I want you home by… how long are you talking?”

  Joel answered. “We have to go to the city, so that’s half an hour. I’m starving, so we’ll grab some lunch. You got money, Bran?” he asked smoothly.

  Brandon shook his head and looked at his dad who reluctantly pulled out his wallet and handed over a ten-dollar bill. “I want change back from that.”

  “We should be back by mid to late afternoon, long before dark,” Joel said.

  “See that you are,” Brandon’s dad ordered, leaving the building to walk to his car.

  After Brandon and Joel watched him drive off, Brandon turned to Joel and said, “Damn. You’re good.”

  “Stick with me, kid. I’ll teach you everything I know.”

  “You gonna teach me how to pick up guys? Huh?” he asked eagerly and jokingly.

  Joel looked at Brandon out of the corner of his eye. “I’ll teach you the signs to look for. I don’t speak picking up men, so you’ll have to figure some of that out on your own.”

  “Can’t you just wiggle your butt at a guy and see how he reacts?” Brandon asked as they walked to Joel’s car.

  “No. That requires not having pants on, and I’m not taking my pants off in public,” Joel said.

  HALF AN hour later, they were in the city and back to the same fast food restaurant, where, much to Brandon’s surprise, Tyler was waiting for them. When Brandon spotted him, Tyler’s smile was positively radiant.

  He gave Tyler a quick hug but pulled away faster than he would have liked.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “You don’t want to see me?” he joked.

  “Are you kidding? I want to crawl into your lap and never let go.”

  Joel walked up just in time to hear that. “That’s my boy!” he said, clapping him on the back. “Hey, Tyler. Than
ks for coming, man.”

  “You set this up?” Brandon asked, looking at Joel.

  “Yeah, kinda,” Joel said. “It was more of a cooperative venture, I think you could say.”

  “Joel called and told me what he had in mind, and I came up with the idea for how to pull it off. Before I forget, here’s your research,” he said, handing each guy a manila file folder with a few papers inside.

  “Thanks, man,” Joel said. “You are the best.”

  “How—” Brandon was thoroughly confused.

  “This was an actual assignment we had earlier this year. Well, a slight variation on an assignment we had. We didn’t have to go all over the city, only to one library. But the articles you’ve got don’t indicate where they were obtained, in case anyone asks or checks.”

  Brandon looked at Joel, back to Tyler, and then back to Joel.

  “You know,” Brandon said, “if he asks any questions of anybody else, we’re screwed.”

  “Yep,” Joel said. “Sometimes you just got to take a chance. And the thought of you two not being able to talk was just wrong, so it seemed like a good idea to me.” Joel handed his phone over to Tyler and said, “Put your name and number in there so you and Bran can talk using my phone sometimes. It won’t work for long calls, but at least you might be able to say hi to one another once in a while.”

  Tyler did as instructed. Handing the phone back, he said, “You are a prince among men.”

  AFTER LUNCH the three of them drove over to the library nearby to attend the gay youth group meeting. Not all of the faces were recognizable to Brandon. Since Tyler had never been there, they were all new to him.

  The discussion was good, but for Brandon it was secondary. The chance to unexpectedly sit together, side by side, holding hands in a group of people their own age and with no judgment was simply priceless.

  As he had the first time, Joel stayed the entire time and took part in the discussion. Afterward Tyler and Brandon watched when an attractive guy, likely a jock by the looks of things, slowly made his way over to Joel as he stood by the refreshment table. He was clearly nervous. He gave the typical male tipping of his chin upward, hands in his pockets, neutral expression on his face. Brandon admired how comfortable Joel was at making conversation with complete strangers.

  “Hey,” the new guy said.

  “Hey!” Joel replied. “I’m Joel. Sorry, I’m terrible with names. I know you said it earlier, but help a guy out here.”

  “Tim” was the one word answer.

  “Hey, Tim,” Joel said, smiling and extending a hand. “Nice to meet you, dude. How you doing?”

  “Good. You?”

  The two were never going to win an award for the most memorable conversation ever.

  “I couldn’t be better,” Joel said enthusiastically, which earned a small smile from Tim.

  “Good,” he commented. He looked down at the floor or his feet or both for a moment before he said, “You’re… you’re… um. I really like your smile, man. You’re really cute.”

  “Damn. Another guy who likes me for my smile, Joel said. “This makes no sense. I am this picture of masculinity and raw sexuality, washboard abs, a great ass, and well… you know, working guy parts. But first Brandon and now you. I don’t get it. Don’t get me wrong, Tim. I appreciate hearing that. It’s always nice to hear when someone finds you attractive, even though my buddy Brandon doesn’t,” he said, drawing Brandon and Tyler into the conversation.

  “Hey, wait,” Tim said, “I thought you said he found your smile hot, like I did?”

  “I never said he wasn’t cute,” Brandon offered. “I just asked him to stop flashing me his goodies all the time. They’re really nice. But having them wagging in my face every day was doing a major number on my libido.”

  Tim’s mouth hung open a little. “Um, you can.”

  Joel looked confused. “I’m sorry? What? Who can what?”

  Tim blushed. “You can… with me. I mean, I’ll look if you want to show me. I think you’re really hot. I… I like your muscles. You can show me your… well, anything. I’ll look,” he said, blushing deep pink.

  Joel skillfully changed the focus of the conversation. “Got ’em from swimming thousands of miles. Every morning at six, Bran and I are at the pool doing laps, doing our endurance training.”

  Chapter 11—For Want of a Telephone

  AFTER TYLER’S weekend visit to help Brandon clean out the garage, followed by one of the best hours of Brandon’s life spent on Joel’s basement sofa, and then by joining the guys at the gay youth group meeting, Tyler became a regular visitor to Brandon’s house just about every weekend. When he arrived, he always got the evil eye from Brandon’s father.

  Out of earshot of Brandon’s father, one weekend Tyler said, “It’s like your dad just doesn’t seem to grasp why I would want to hang around with you. He always looks at me so suspiciously, like I’m only here to rob him or something, when really all I want to steal is your heart. It’s not like I’m trying to make off with the secret recipe for how to make Coke or something.”

  Brandon’s dad watched the two of them, like a hawk looking for any opportunity to dive in and go for the kill. He watched them talk, he watched them walk, and he watched them even when they were just sitting quietly together. It was abundantly clear he did not understand the friendship that had developed between Tyler and Brandon, and he most certainly did not approve.

  After about a month, one Saturday after Tyler left, his dad finally couldn’t stand it any longer and told Brandon, “All right. Enough. You need to stop this and focus on what’s important.”

  “Oh?” he said, looking at his father.

  “You’ve had your little fun, now send that boy away and focus on your swimming. You’re not a kid anymore.”

  “Yes, Dad, I know that, but you don’t seem to have figured that out yet,” Brandon said, surprising himself by keeping his voice flat and calm.

  “What did you just say to me?” his father demanded.

  “You say I’m not a kid, but that is precisely how you’ve been treating me by trying to control my entire life and run everything. It’s just killing you that I’ve made a friend on my own and you’re not part of it.”

  “He’s trouble, Brandon. He’s nothing but trouble. He’s got an angle. I know he does. I don’t know what it is yet, but I guarantee that he’s up to something and you’re going to be the one who gets hurt.”

  “He is not trouble, Dad. He’s a friend, and I’m doing just fine.”

  “Enough!” His father glared at him. “He’s not to come around here anymore. That’s final.”

  “No, that doesn’t work for me,” Brandon said, doing his best to remain calm, even though he was feeling anything but.

  “What did you just say to me?” his father demanded.

  “No,” Brandon said, looking directly at his father and speaking very clearly. “It is not your decision to make. It is mine, and I said no.” Brandon somehow even managed to keep his body language relaxed in order to project an in-charge, confident attitude. He didn’t know where that ability was coming from, but he knew he had to show his father that things were changing.

  The conversation ended in a draw that day. After a few weeks of basically an agreement to disagree, full-on hostility had returned to the household. For the first twenty-four hours, there was a lot of scowling and unhappy looks from Brandon’s dad. Brandon, for his part, was perfectly comfortable with his father being unhappy—it seemed like reasonable payback for the many years of unhappiness he’d given to Brandon.

  Through Joel, Brandon was able to get word to Tyler that his father had upped the ante and told Brandon to stop seeing Tyler—and that Brandon had no intention of doing that. While it was difficult to develop a relationship while constantly under the microscope of his dad, Brandon was most certainly not about to give up on the first good thing to happen to him in years. Still he wanted Tyler to know that when he arrived on Saturday, he needed to be prepared
for more hostility than usual.

  Brandon was surprised on Saturday morning. When Tyler arrived, he had Joel with him. As predicted, Brandon’s dad was a miserable pain in the ass to all three of them, but that was where Joel came into the picture. He was there to distract Brandon’s dad so Brandon and Tyler had some alone time.

  Not only was Brandon frustrated by only seeing Tyler once a week and not having further contact for another seven days, but Tyler was as well. With his dad distracted—not happily—for a few minutes, Brandon and Tyler went out back by themselves.

  “I’ve got something for you,” Tyler began immediately. “Here.” He handed a small box to Brandon.

  “What is it?” Brandon asked.

  “A way for us to keep in contact between visits.”

  “I don’t understand,” Brandon said, a look of confusion on his face.

  “It’s a phone.”

  “Oh, Ty, I can’t take your phone.”

  “It’s not mine, Bran. It wouldn’t be worth much to give you my phone and then not have one of my own for you to call, now would it? I’ve got mine. This one is for you. I’ve programmed my number into it. If we don’t have time today, Joel will show you how it works and how to text me and how to send emails and make it do all kinds of smart things. He’ll help you set up an email account too.”

  “This is… this is… unbelievable. This is too much. I can’t take this,” Brandon said, starting to hand the still unopened box back to Tyler.

  “You are taking it,” Tyler said, pushing it back to Brandon. “I want to be able to talk to you, communicate with you, and this is the way we’re gonna be able to do that.”

  Brandon simply stared at the box for a full minute, not saying a word, barely moving to breathe. “Nobody has ever done something like this for me. I want to say thank you, but that just doesn’t seem like enough.”