Twenty-One
“So…Jimmy…glad
to be home?” Lance's sister, Stacy, gave him a smacking kiss the instant she
was in the house.
“Yeah,
ecstatic,” Lance grumbled. “And stop calling me Jimmy.”
“Sorry,
sweets, but you'll never be 'Lance' to me. You're Jimmy.” She gave him her
sweetest smile and bounced off to hug their mother.
“Happy
Thanksgiving, Lance,” Stacy's husband Ford said, shaking Lance's hand.
“Yeah,
you, too,” Lance said. He tried to smile, but already the house seemed to be
shrinking. He had tried to make himself excited about going home by trying to
imagine all the good food he'd get for Thanksgiving, but even that hadn't been
enough.
“James,
come in here and dish the potatoes, please!” His mother called. Lance ambled
into the kitchen. “It's not like you to disappear when there's work to be
done,” Diane Bass scolded.
“I
didn't disappear, Mama. I was opening the door for Stace and Ford,” Lance
contradicted.
“Don't talk back to your mother, James,” Jim
Bass said, exiting the kitchen with the turkey. Lance sighed and said nothing
more.
“So,
Lance, do you have any plans while you're home?” Ford asked over the pumpkin
pie. “Meeting up with friends or anything?”
“Maybe,”
Lance said, sighing. He felt like saying he didn't HAVE friends anymore. He
hadn't talked to JC since that day in the art room, and he had pretty much
hermited himself away from everyone in the fraternity. All AJ could talk about
was Nick and their first date, and he wasn't around the house anymore, anyway.
Talking to Justin made Lance feel nervous and uncomfortable, so that left him
alone.
“You
know who I saw at the market yesterday?” Diane said, putting down her coffee
cup. “Leslie Simmons! Her daughter Julie is home from college…she goes to the
University of Georgia, you know.”
“Yes,
Mama, you've mentioned that a few hundred times,” Lance said tiredly.
“I
think Julie's having a party tonight. I'm sure she'd love to see you,” Diane
continued as if Lance had never spoken.
“Mama,
I am NOT crashing a party.”
“It's
not crashing, James! You two were such good friends, I'm sure she'd love to see
you. Leslie said Julie just broke up with her boyfriend and…”
“Sorry
to interrupt,” Lance broke in quickly, “but no, Mama. First of all, Julie
Simmons and I haven't been friends since the seventh grade, when we BOTH
discovered boys. And secondly, you know I'm not looking for a girl, Mama.”
“I
thought you would have outgrown that by now,” Diane said with a sigh.
“Kinda
hard to outgrow it when he's living in a house full of gay men,” Jim snapped.
“Dad,
you know it's not like that. You make it sound like an eternal orgy.”
“James!”
Diane gasped.
“Well,
he does, Mama! And as a matter of fact, I'm dating someone,” Lance blurted out.
Diane
gasped and Jim turned red. “Really, Lance?” Stacy asked in a shaking voice. She
tried to understand, which Lance was grateful for. “What's, uh, his name?”
“His
name is Justin and he's on the basketball team,” Lance said, grabbing the first
name that came to mind. “And as a matter of fact, I'm due to be calling him
right now.” Lance stood up.
“We
took the phone out of your room,” Jim said gruffly. “You weren't here, and the
one in the study stopped working. So you'll have to call from the study.”
“Fine,”
Lance sighed, going up to his room. He dug through his backpack and found the
list of members of the fraternity. Normally, in a situation like this, he would
call JC, who would commiserate with him. But he couldn't call JC.
Lance
quickly memorized Justin's number and headed back downstairs. He really didn't
plan on calling, until he overheard his mother in the dining room. “I wish he'd
just get over this…thing. He needs to find a nice girl.”
“He
wants a nice BOY, Mama,” Stacy said. “And maybe this Justin is nice.”
Lance
went into the study and stared at the phone. He finally picked it up and
dialed. Just as someone answered, he heard footsteps in the hall outside the
study. “Um, hi,” he said, recognizing Justin's voice. He prayed Justin would
recognize him as well. He couldn't explain why he'd have to identify himself to
his supposed boyfriend.
“Lance?”
Justin said in surprise. “Happy Thanksgiving!”
“Happy
Thanksgiving to you, too,” Lance said, sighing with relief. “I said I'd call,
you know, so I'm calling.”
“You
said you'd call?” Justin asked, confused.
Lance
watched the shadow in the hallway. “You know…isn't that what you do when you're
dating? Call the person you care about on a holiday, wish them a nice day, all
that?”
“Dating?
Lance…” Justin interrupted himself. “Oh, I see. Parents?”
“You
always did see right through me,” Lance said quickly.
“Trying
to hook you up with the cutest girl on the cheerleading squad?” Justin asked,
sighing.
“In
the drama club, actually,” Lance said. Justin laughed.
“So,
should I talk dirty to you now?”
Lance
blushed, but smiled. “If you want to talk dirty to me, Justin, you go right
ahead!” He watched the shadow in the hallway stumble forward slightly, and then
he heard soft footsteps walk away. “Thank you so much,” Lance whispered.
“They've been annoying the hell outta me and I suddenly said I was dating someone
and your name just slipped out.”
“It's
okay,” Justin said. “You could come here for the weekend.”
“Are
you serious?”
“Sure.
My mom loves to have my friends over. And she'd pretend you were my boyfriend,
if you wanted. Believe me, she'd LOVE for me to date someone like you.”
“Uh…uh…”
Lance tried to imagine being in Justin's home, down the hall from where Justin
slept. “No, thanks. I may go back to school early, though. I need some time to
think about some stuff.”
“I
know the feeling. Listen, Lance, call anytime, okay? I'm here for ya.”
“Thanks,
Justin.” Lance hung up, feeling even more confused.
