John kept his head down as he ate dinner, but the tension between Derek and his mom was palpable. They were being…polite…to each other and that was just weird. Something had definitely gone down earlier, even if he didn’t know what yet. A thin cut decorated Derek’s throat right below the Adam’s apple, showing that he’d nearly gotten his throat cut.
Had his mom flipped out and gone after Derek for some reason, or had she saved him from someone else? The way they were acting, either was possible. He was still ticked about Derek following him around the night before, but he didn’t want anything to happen to him. John watched them both from the corner of his eyes, but if they were actively holding a grudge, they hid it well.
Once he finished eating, John tested things by asking, “Hey Derek, you want to work on the car tonight?”
“You have homework,” his mom instantly said.
John shook his head. “Did it in study hall.”
She got that pinched look on her face that said she wanted to stop him from doing something, but didn’t have a legitimate excuse.
“I think I’ll turn in early,” Derek told him. “Worked on the roof all day. We should be fine, if it ever rains again.”
John watched him go with a frown and then looked at his mother. “What did you do to Derek?”
She stood and picked up the plates to clear the table as she replied, “Nothing. If you don’t have homework, than go work on cracking that database. We don’t have unlimited time on that thing.”
Now he knew something had happened, but since neither of them would say what when approached directly, he would have to figure out another line of attack. John left the kitchen for Cameron’s bedroom, finding her sitting at perfect attention on the bed. Leaning against the wall, he said, “Something weird’s going on.”
Brown eyes met his as she replied, “How so?”
“Well, Mom and Derek were polite to each other at dinner,” he answered.
The barest hint of a frown surfaced and she asked, “I thought polite was to be desired in table manners?”
John shrugged and moved to sit beside her. “Well yeah, but not in family. And Derek’s not the kind of guy to stand on ceremony anyhow. Did anything happen when I wasn’t around? You know, anything out of the ordinary?”
Her eyes shifted back and forth, a minuscule movement that signaled she was accessing her memory banks. She finally said, “No.”
Rolling his eyes, John pressed, “Nothing? They didn’t get into a fight? They didn’t…oh God, you don’t think they had sex, do you?”
The very thought horrified him, and not just because his mother was involved.
“They did not,” Cameron told him.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
And then she continued, “But he did masturbate last night while saying your name as he orgasmed. I heard him in the shower.”
John gaped at her.
Cameron gave him a perfectly innocent look as she questioned, “Is that what you meant by ‘out of the ordinary?’”
“Please tell me you didn’t tell my mother that?” John exclaimed, mind racing.
“I thought she should know,” Cameron said. “It could mean an abnormal interest in boys of your age, which would be detrimental to my mission.”
Groaning, horrified for an entirely different reason, John stood and started pacing. So Cameron had told his mother, she’d flipped out and gone after Derek, and Derek…what had he done? Somehow, he’d placated her enough that she no longer considered him a threat. And that, of course, brought him three-sixty around to the beginning and he flushed, wondering exactly why his name had fallen from Derek’s lips in the first place.
“I um, I gotta go,” he muttered, hurrying from the room.
John grabbed his bag automatically and jogged out the front door, ignoring his mom’s call of his name. He didn’t know where he was going at first, just anywhere but the house. He wound up taking the bus to the mall and went straight to the arcade. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to lose himself in for about an hour. Then it was almost time for the mall to close, so he walked slowly out of the food court entrance. It would be a long walk home, since the buses stop running early on that line.
Or it would’ve been, if he didn’t spot his mom parked in the first row. He cursed under his breath, but walked over to her and climbed in the passenger’s side, tossing his bag onto the floor.
She didn’t start the car right away, instead turning in the seat to face him as she said, “So. Cameron told me what you two talked about.”
John slouched down in the seat, arms folding over his chest. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Believe me, it’s the last thing I want to talk about, too,” she replied, dry. “But we need to get this in the open. In the future, for whatever reason, you have a one-night stand with Derek. It happens two nights before you send him back here. He and I already hashed this out and I’m convinced that he’s not…hung up on you as you are now. You don’t have to worry about him jumping you or anything like that. He would never touch you inappropriately.”
“Oh God, please kill me now,” John muttered, slouching down further and putting his feet on the dash. “I really don’t need to hear this.”
She asked seriously, “Do you want him to leave? If this is too uncomfortable for you, he will. We talked after you ran out of the house earlier and if you want him to go, he’ll go. We’ll keep in touch and he’ll help whenever we need him, but he’ll find another place to live.”
John heaved a sigh and pushed upright before facing her and, blushing furiously, replied, “No, he shouldn’t leave. We ah, we need him close at hand, right? And, you know, it’s not like he’s lusting after me, right? You said you already talked about that.”
“That’s right,” she confirmed. “He has no attraction to you at this age. He says that you’re an entirely different person.”
“Of course I am. I haven’t gone through any of the experiences that make me, made me into the man he’s, ah, had sex with,” John replied, wishing he could stop the heat in his face.
Smiling briefly, Sarah brushed a hand over his hair and told him, “All right. So just do your best to ignore this ever happened.”
John nodded and said vehemently, “I will, believe me. Never happened.”
But of course, it wasn’t that easy.
Derek waited in the kitchen when they got back to the house and John instantly flushed again just seeing him. There was an almost anxious expression on his face as he waited for them and John realized that of course, Derek would think he was probably about to get kicked out. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Mom, give us a minute?”
Thank God, she didn’t say a word as she left the kitchen.
Scrubbing a hand over the back of his head, Derek said, “John, I uh, this is really, you know, awkward.”
John held up a hand and told him, “Yeah, I really don’t want to talk about it. You’re gay, or bi, that’s cool, whatever. We’re good, okay?”
Derek looked like he wanted to say more, but he only just nodded and said, “Good. All right. Um, good night, then.”
“Night,” John echoed, watching him leave.
Shaking his head about the whole bizarre situation, John went into his bedroom and shut the door. He did that every night, but it seemed different this time. Stripping, he pulled on sweats and climbed onto the bed, pulling his laptop with him and opening up the homework he’d already lied about.
* * * *
John couldn’t concentrate on much of anything over the next few days, thanks to a tiny little voice in his head that kept whispering insane things to him. Things like, ‘Who fucked who?’ and, ‘Anyone get a blowjob?’ And then the one that really sent him running for cover in his own mind…‘Am I gay?’
He didn’t feel gay. He liked girls. A lot. Loved them, even. Soft hair and skin. Pretty, pretty eyes and nice scents. And the curves were just too awesome. Breasts. He really liked breasts.
But in the future, he and Derek have sex. Or would they, now that he knew ahead of time? Did he already know ahead of time the first time, like he knew about his dad? Was that the reason they’d had sex? Jesus, had he jumped Derek knowing the man was his uncle while Derek hadn’t known that John was his nephew? Was he really that cold of a bastard in the future?
“God, I hate time travel,” he groaned, thumping his head on the cafeteria table.
Morris sat across from him and replied, “Don’t we all? Hey, where’s your sister at? Haven’t seen her all day.”
Glad to think about something normal, John grinned and told him, “I think our friendly, neighborhood counselor snagged her for being all emotional in the lobby this morning.”
Eyebrows rising, Morris asked, “Seriously? Like how? What’d she do?”
“I objected to a security guard touching a girl’s gluteus maximus,” Cameron announced, sitting beside John.
Snorting, John explained, “She broke his wrist. The girl seemed pretty okay with the broken wrist, though, so the school’ll just cover it up and give the guy sensitivity training.”
“Way to go, chica mia!” Morris exclaimed, holding out a hand.
Cameron stared at the hand.
John nudged her. “High five, remember?”
“Oh. Right,” she said, slapping Morris’ hand.
He winced and pulled his hand back, shaking it a little. His next words were aimed at John, though they were obviously meant for Cameron. “So, you want to check out a movie this weekend or something?”
John grinned and shook his head, answering, “Sorry man, I’ve got stuff I need to do at home. Hey, Cameron, you want to go to the movies this weekend with Morris? There’s a new chick-flick starting I bet Morris would love to see.”
Morris looked both grateful and aggravated at the lob.
“I am not a chick,” Cameron reminded. “I am a…”
“A perfectly normal fifteen year old girl,” John interjected hastily. “And you have to do that project this weekend anyhow, right? Right. Hey, I gotta split. See you guys later.”
Cameron looked at him and said, “Uncle Derek said to tell you that he would like to work on the car tonight.”
John faltered at her announcement. Derek hadn’t been alone with him since the whole mess had happened. He honestly wasn’t sure who was avoiding whom.
“Who’s Uncle Derek?” Morris asked.
Swallowing nervously, John
said, “Dad’s brother. Okay, um, thanks
Not that he paid attention in any of his afternoon classes. John went through the rest of the day on autopilot. He flunked a pop quiz, ignored the giggles and whispers around him during chem, and left as soon as the bell rang at the end of trig. Instead of going home, though, he wound up at the mall again. Everything was way too close to the surface for him to be able to work on the car with Derek.
He got lost in the arcade again, taking one of the shooter games over and drawing a crowd of eager kids younger than him. Fifty cents got him a half hour game. When he got killed, there were groans all around, but he just stuck in another couple of quarters and went again. It was easy to focus only on the screen in front of him with aliens popping out, civilians needing help, and cops getting in the way.
And then someone joined him, putting in money and picking up the other rifle. A big someone that John confirmed as Derek with a quick glimpse. Taking a deep breath, John ignored him and refocused on the game. It took a good ten minutes to relax, but when Derek didn’t seem inclined to talk, he did. When he died the second time, he put in more quarters and picked up again. The kids had dispersed, probably intimidated by Derek’s bulk, so it was just the two of them amidst the loudness of a busy arcade.
When his stomach growled, John noticed that two hours had gone by and it was almost seven-thirty. He let himself get killed and then Derek followed suit. Looking up into the pale blue-green eyes, not sure what he was looking for or seeing, John half-shrugged and asked, “Pizza?”
“Sounds good,” Derek replied.
They went into the food court where it actually took a few seconds for John’s eyes to adjust. After blinking clear the after-image of flashing lights and sirens, he headed for the Italian fast food place, Derek right beside him. Derek started to order, but John interrupted, “I got this.”
Derek nodded and said, “I’ll grab a table. Get me a beer.”
John smirked. “Think I can’t?”
“Go ahead. I dare you,” Derek replied, flashing him a grin.
The kid behind the counter wouldn’t give him a beer, but John tried his best. Settling on sodas for them both and a large meat pizza, he paid and took the ticket and drinks back to the table where Derek had settled.
Derek grinned. “No dice?”
John shrugged and answered, “I tried.”
They fell silent for a few minutes before Derek started, “John, if you can’t even be around me, I’m moving out. There’s no point in this dragging on.”
But John shook his head and said, “No, I’m fine. Really. Look, I know I’ve been, well, a jerk for the last few days, but it weirded me out. Not the you part, but the me part. I mean, I seriously never thought, it never crossed my mind that I ah, you know, the guy thing.”
Derek snorted, looking embarrassed. “If it helps, I don’t think you are. We were all stretched pretty much to the breaking point. It was more like stress relief. You know, friends helping each other out. No big.”
Something seemed off with that statement, his tone maybe, but Derek didn’t look away from him as he spoke, so he wasn’t lying. Not that someone couldn’t lie directly to him, but John didn’t think he was. He might be shaving the truth somehow, but it wasn’t a lie. Relieved by the assessment, John managed an embarrassed smile of his own and said, “Okay. That’s cool, then.”
“Really?” Derek prompted.
John smiled more naturally. “Really.”
Their number was called, so John got up and brought it back to the table. They devoured it while John talked about school, bitching about the pop quiz that he was sure he’d flunked. Then conversation turned to rebuilding the metal husk of a car that sat on their lawn. Before he knew it, the mall was closing and they started home.
The ride back was comfortable and John was glad to put the whole thing behind him for real. He wasn’t gay or bi, or, he was pretty sure not. It had just been stress relief, like Derek had said. Two friends helping one another out, which he totally got, even if it seemed a little extreme to him.
His mom sat at the kitchen table, ostensibly reading a book, but she looked up right away. Something she saw seemed to ease her mind about things, though, because she smiled and offered, “Who wants ice cream sundaes?”
John and Derek both enthused about it so they got everything out of the freezer and put together huge, disgusting bowls of ice cream and toppings. Cameron came out to join them a few minutes later. She at first just made a modest bowl of vanilla and then John showed her how to make a real sundae. She gave him that crazy look, eyebrows twitched almost up to her forehead and her mouth crooked, and he started laughing hysterically.
Sitting around the kitchen table with his family, fueled by sugar and laughter, John couldn’t remember ever being so happy.