by Trina Solet
As they were walking back up the street, the empty motel pool caught Reese's eye. They jumped the fence and went up to the edge. Deep cracks veined the bottom. Rainwater had accumulated in there and turned green and slimy. Plenty of debris had made it in including chicken bones, broken bottles and empty beer cans.
In the silence of the moment, Blake asked, "Do you want to tell me about your nightmare?" He didn't want to pressure Reese, but he wanted him to know that he was ready to listen.
Reese didn't answer his question directly. He stared at the bottom of the pool and spoke like he wasn't addressing himself to Blake at all. "I hate being so full of bad memories. It's like being stuffed full of garbage. You carry it around, can't get rid of it."
"I wish I could do something, at least make up for my part of it," Blake said.
"Maybe you will," Reese told him, but he still looked straight ahead.
"I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere. And I won't run if you push me, so go ahead and do whatever you need to," Blake urged him.
"Don't worry. I'm not ready to take it easy on you yet," Reese said and turned to him with a smirk. He stepped forward so he and Blake were chest to chest on the edge of the pool. "I'll be busting your balls for a while," he promised Blake.
Chapter 12
It had been an exciting two days thanks to Blake. Because he made them chase him down and then run all over town chasing his boyfriend, Finn and Dee couldn't really dwell on their father's death or what it meant in their lives. Even as he reminded them of their father so much, Blake was so totally different from him. Sure he had that self-assurance which tipped over into arrogance every now and then, but he was much kinder at heart. Though he seemed impatient sometimes, Blake didn't have that undercurrent of irritation that always threatened to turn into an icy cold rage.
Finn could remember his father staring him down when he got out of hand. Even when he was little, Finn could bring out that look in his eyes. Every time it happened, either his mom or Dee would be there. His mom would step in, calmly assert herself and diffuse the situation. Dee was more of a wildcard, but she knew how to disarm their dad too. She could even make him smile.
Finn didn't have that gift. He always felt it was just a matter of time before the brittle truce between him and his father snapped. Then Finn would be cast out just like his older brother was. He never imagined that it would be his father's death that made the fragile peace between them so permanent. It was strange how sad it made Finn to know that his father would never get angry with him again.
It really was a good thing Blake was there to keep him from wallowing in weird, maudlin crap like that. Unfortunately, it was Monday so Finn and Dee couldn't spend all day bothering Blake and his boyfriend. That's why they made after school plans to bug them. They raced from school straight to Blake's motel.
"What do you think they got up to last night?" Dee wondered while Finn drove them over there. "One bed. Two horny guys."
"Keep it clean, girlie," Finn said then he thought about Blake and Reese, but not like that. He was trying to figure out how they fit together. Not too bad. "He isn't my type, but I can kind of see how Reese could get stuck in a guy's head," Finn said with approval.
Dee sort of agreed. "He looks grubby, but I bet he smells pretty good."
"Young lady, you're grounded," Finn told her. "You are not allowed to think about how guys smell."
"Shut up, I'm the same age as you," Dee claimed.
"Our birth order is well established. You are, and always will be, the little sister," Finn informed her for a thousandth time.
While Finn drove the too-familiar streets of Meadowview, he considered Blake and Reese separately and together. From thinking about those two, it didn't take much for Finn's mind to meander over to thinking about Nando. Dark instead of blond, with deep brown eyes, Nando couldn't have been more different from Reese. Finn loved how thick his muscles were. He didn't even need to flex to get Finn drooling. Too bad he didn't want to be caught dead anywhere near Finn in public. Finn eased off the gas pedal when he noticed the speedometer inching up. Nando's attitude pissed him off. It even pissed off Dee, and that wasn't easy.
"He should be proud to be with you," Dee said in a show of sisterly loyalty. "Even if you are a bonehead."
Damn right he should be. Finn thought back to how frantic Blake had been when it looked like Reese might leave town. Finn wanted Nando to go crazy over him like that. He wanted to see his brown eyes blaze and then melt just because Finn was suddenly standing in front of him. He wanted to see sparks fly and souls collide like he had seen when Blake finally caught up with Reese. And all he got was Nando turning away and telling him he better not let anyone find out what they were doing.
The hard look in his eyes when he said things like that was hot in a threatening kind of way. It made Finn angry, bitter, and ready to get on his knees and suck the life out of him all over again. It was even better when Nando pushed him down, ripped open his fly and sucked him off almost violently. He remembered Nando's strong hand pressed hard over his mouth, keeping him from making even a single sound. Good thing too or the whole school would have heard Finn screaming in ecstasy from inside the gym equipment room.
Finn now grinned to himself at the thought, and Dee caught him at it.
"You're having pervy thoughts! About Nando, I bet. Aren't you?" she accused him.
"Use your fraternal twin mind-reading superpowers for good, not evil," Finn told her as he pulled into the depressing, motel parking lot.
As soon as they got out of the car, they spotted Blake and Reese inside the fenced in area around the empty pool. They must have jumped the chain link fence. Now they were standing on the edge of the pool, looking in. Finn and Dee went over to the fence.
"I think they're serious about that no diving rule," Finn called out to them.
"Did you guys eat?" Dee asked them.
"Kind of," Blake told them.
"But we could eat again," Reese said. He was smiling, but Blake didn't look happy to have his time with him interrupted. Too damn bad.
"I have a plan," Dee announced, turning to Finn. "Let's go get us sandwiches, and bring them back here to eat by the pool."
The two of them did the twin powers salute and they were off on their mission. Running out of the motel parking lot, they crossed the street diagonally to get to the sandwich shop.
It didn't take them long to come back. Hearing the fence rattle, Blake and Reese turned to see Finn climbing then jumping to the other side. Dee passed the bag with sandwiches over the fence to him. Just as Finn was starting to wonder how she would climb the fence in her skirt, she told the guys to look away.
"Stupid uniform," she grumbled as they all turned around.
While she climbed over, Finn tried to read the handwritten scribbling on the brown paper the sandwiches were wrapped in.
"There better be a buffalo chicken in here," he said. Finn had been busy answering some texts while Dee did the ordering.
"They didn't have it. I got you turkey and a packet of hot sauce," Dee told him. She pulled his sandwich out of the bag and handed it to him. "I didn't know what you guys like so I got you Italian because everyone likes Italian," Dee said to Blake and Reese.
"It's fine," Blake said.
"Thank you," Reese said. "Italian works for me."
"Good. You could use some more meat on your bones," Finn said, looking at Reese critically. He couldn't help comparing him to Nando, and Nando won hands down.
"Reese is perfect," Blake snapped at him.
Red-faced, Blake got busy unwrapping his sandwich and refused to look up. He knew they were all staring at him and enjoying his embarrassment, especially Reese.
Now that they each had a sandwich, they sat on the edge of the pool with their legs dangling over. Finn looked down and saw several cracks and a whole bunch of garbage.
Sitting on the other end from him, next to Blake, Reese eyed the beige Saturn sedan they had arrived in. "How
come you have that seriously dorky car? That's not my idea of a rich kids' ride," he said.
Finn couldn't agree more. "Don't I know it. Dad wanted to buy us two sporty little numbers in colors of our choice when we got our driver's licenses, but Mom wouldn't let him. Sometimes you can tell that Grandma raised her strict. She gave us the Saturn. It was Mom's old car from before she married Dad. She kept it at Grandma's and gave it to us to fight over. Dee is a terrible driver, but I rule the road," Finn claimed.
"You're twice the man she is," Blake told him.
"Dee isn't a total loss," Finn had to admit. "She is adorkable with that whole cute, Asian schoolgirl thing going on. I mean she has the uniform and everything."
Instead of taking it as a compliment, Dee punched his arm and almost made him drop his sub. "I'm sitting right here! Don't you fetishize me!" she yelled.
"Don't worry about it. I'll beat to death any guy who even looks at you," Finn assured her. Turning to Blake with a deadly serious look, he said, "And I expect you to help."
Finn knew he could count on him. Blake wanted to be the coolheaded older brother, but some brotherly instincts couldn't be overruled.
"You are on board. I can tell," Finn said and clapped him on the back in the name of brotherly unity.
That's when Blake noticed Reese grinning at him. Finn noticed it too and took full credit.
"This is all me. I'm making him look good." Finn tapped his own chest.
"Something is," Reese said, and Blake started blushing again.
They hadn't been there long before the motel manager chased them out. They walked around with sandwiches in hand. Dee forgot to get them drinks, so they headed toward the Breezeway Shopping Center to buy some. It wasn't a bad place to walk around. There were some covered walkways with benches and planters full of marigolds. They bought some drinks and grabbed a bench so they could finish eating.
Once they were done eating, they went walking around. That's when Finn spotted Nando. He was coming toward them, and Finn prepared himself for an awkward meet and greet. But it didn't happen. Damn him, Nando was crossing to the other side of the shopping center to avoid him. As unhappy as Finn was, the look Dee threw after him was vicious. Seriously, if looks could kill, Nando would be reduced to a bloody smear on the sidewalk.
Both Finn and Dee were staring so hard at Nando that Blake couldn't help but notice. "Is that's someone you know?"
Dee grumbled while Finn shrugged.
"Just a guy I'm seeing," Finn said. The more nonchalant he tried to act, the guiltier he looked. Plus Dee grumbled louder.
"What's the problem with him?" Blake asked.
"He's in the closet," Dee tattled just as Nando went around a corner and disappeared from sight.
Blake turned to Finn, who confirmed it. "He's in the closet and on the baseball team. It kind of evens out. He refuses to be seen with me so I only see him when I can't help myself, which is all the time. I'm such a slut."
"So what's the deal with him?" Reese wanted to know between slurps of his soda.
"You mean what's keeping him locked up in the closet?" Finn said. "It's his dad. He is a total baseball fanatic and a homophobe, and Nando is his pride and joy. Nando wants to be the perfect son. He wants to fulfill all his father's expectations, be a big baseball star, inherit the Samaro Super Nonstick Coating empire, make him proud."
"Maybe he'll wise up," Reese said and looked at Blake sideways.
"You shouldn't waste your time on him until he does," Blake said harshly. He was playing the gruff older brother to perfection.
"Really?" Reese asked him with a smirk.
Finn had a distinct impression that their conversation wasn't about him or Nando. He shrugged then pointed his cup of soda at Blake. "OK then. You're my big brother. Forbid me to see him."
"I forbid you to see him," Blake said blandly.
"No, put some bass into it," Finn told him.
"All the bass in the world isn't going to keep you away from that guy," Blake predicted.
"Come on, be the stern older brother I need to keep me in line," Finn demanded.
Blake only laughed. It looked good on him. And there was Reese ogling him with those baby-blues like Blake was an ice cream cone that was about to drip, and he had to lick him up right now. Blake had a completely different way of looking at Reese. One moment it was shy, averted glances, and the next it was a smoldering, possessive stare that could have lit Reese on fire.
Like every other time he contemplated those two, Finn's mind went straight to Nando. His looks were burning hot too, but his actions spoke louder. Like when he crossed to the other side of the promenade to avoid him. Every time he acted like that, Finn tried to deny that it hurt.
As he moped, Finn looked at Dee then followed her gaze. She was looking at a cute guy who was busy on his phone. When the guy looked up, she smiled at him.
"Are you smiling at that guy? You like that guy?" Finn asked her. "Just so you know, smiling at a guy is the same as telling me to go kick his ass."
"Shut up," Dee said defensively.
"Don’t forget, I know what guys are like. Intimately." Finn wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Stop with the double standard. I have needs too," Dee told him.
Well that was nauseating. Blake cringed hearing her, but Finn went a step further.
"No, you don't," he said. "You are going to be a nun."
"I think you have to be at least a little bit religious to be a nun," Dee informed him, but it didn't change his plans for her.
Not liking his smug attitude, Dee turned to Blake. "He acts like he has all this experience. He only lusted in his heart until he hooked up with Nando. And they've never had sex. It's just been handjobs and blowjobs back and forth."
"Why do I tell you things?" Finn asked.
"So I can embarrass you later," she said succinctly.
Finn had never been any good at keeping secrets from her. She would just peer at him from behind her glasses, use her fraternal twin mental powers, and he would spill his guts to her.
"What about with girls?" Blake asked. He told Reese, "Finn is bi."
Finn launched into his usual speech. "And yes, we exist..."
Blake cut him off. "Don't start with that. Just answer the question."
"Freshman year, I had a thing for this sophomore girl. She had amazing, long, strawberry blond hair. It was curly, and she would plait it into this messy braid that pointed straight to her heart shaped ass. It was like an invitation or an advertisement. It was hot," Finn said. The appeal was obviously lost on both Blake and Reese.
"Then she cut her hair and you lost interest. You're so shallow," Dee said with a disapproving shake of her head.
"That's not why. The hair was just one thing that changed about her. She got to be stuck up. She was hanging out with all those Oak Lane bitches, and they were a bad influence on her," Finn said. Of course Oak Lane was where they used to live too, but he and Dee escaped without getting any of the bitchy on them.
"I think it was because she cut and straightened her hair," Dee insisted.
"That certainly didn't help," Finn admitted.
Dee smiled triumphantly. Then some cute shoes in a store window caught her eye, and she went in to try them on. The three guys hung around outside, waiting for her and watching the people passing by. Reese saw someone he knew cleaning the glass door of the store across from them, and he went to say hi.
Alone with Blake, Finn decided to pick his brain.
"It's your job as the big brother to impart sage advice. So do you think I'll fall out of love with Nando any time soon? I'm usually pretty fickle, but I can't seem to shake it off this time," Finn said. It kind of worried him, but he also kind of didn't want to stop feeling the crazy highs Nando brought on. He could do without the lows though, like the one that was hitting him now.
"I don't know anything about falling out of love," Blake told him. "I've only ever been in love with one person, and I stayed in love with him. That's wh
y I'm here." He looked over at Reese where he was still talking to the girl with a bottle of Windex in her hand.
Finn hoped that being stuck on one guy like that wasn't genetic. He couldn't afford to feel this way about Nando forever. Since he met him, Finn could only admire girls and guys in passing. His mind always shifted back to Nando. That was no good. One advantage of being bi was that he had his pick of both sexes. The way he felt right now, he might as well be a Nandosexual.
Finn and Dee said goodbye to Blake and Reese back in front of the motel. On the way home, Finn tried to steer his mind away from Nando as Dee drove. Then he nearly had a heart attack when Dee almost ran over Nando. When she turned into their driveway, he was just standing there. Dee hit the brakes just in time and stared daggers at Nando as he got out of the way.
"I'll back up and have another go at him," Dee threatened, but she just parked the car.
Finn was too surprised to tell her what a terrible driver she was. What the hell was Nando doing there? He got his answer after Dee slammed the car door too hard then stalked inside the house, her ponytail bouncing. If this was a few years ago, she would have stuck out her tongue at Nando. That left Finn alone with Nando in the shade of the front garden.
Finn went up to him. "I didn't even think you knew where I lived," he said, still in shock over seeing him standing in front of his house.
"Who were those guys you were with?" Nando said, not even pretending that he had any other reason for coming over.
"Oh, you're jealous. Wait. Let me enjoy this. Also let me enjoy the irony. Actually, if you had come over to meet them like a normal person, you would have found out that one of them is my brother and that the other guy is his boyfriend."
"Your brother is gay too?" Nando asked, surprised.
"Yeah, isn't that awesome? And I'm bi," Finn reminded him.
"Whatever," Nando said and looked away.
"It's not whatever. It's who I am. And you are... relieved maybe? I bet it's a load off your mind that I'm not hooking up with either of those guys, or both of them," Finn needled him.
