Turning Eighteen, Part Fourteen

Mr. Mendes stayed leaning against me like that throughout the rest of the game. The Cowboys killed the Giants, but we watched till the bitter end anyway. We’re alike that way—neither of us will abandon ship.Mr. Mendes drifted off during the post game show. I liked that—I liked lying there holding him while he was sleeping. I liked the way I could feel him breathing, especially as his breaths got deeper and deeper.Then the stupid phone rang. It was right on the lamp table behind me, so I tried to pick it up quick before it woke him. But no luck—I could feel him coming awake.He made a groaning kind of sound as I answered the call.“Hello?” I said.“Jason? It’s me, Kyle.”Damn—I should have checked the caller id. If I’d known it was my cousin, I wouldn’t have answered. But I forced myself to answer politely. Mr. Mendes would appreciate that.“What’s up?” I asked.“I wanted to know if you can make it to Medieval Times. We’re going to go on Thursday night.”I rolled my eyes, remembering the invitation. “I guess I can make it,” I said. “I’m off this week. But I’m going to bring Mr. Mendes if he’s not busy.”“Cool,” Kyle said. “That’s even better. That’ll prove to this girl that you’re really gay and that I don’t mind hanging out with you.”What the fuck was I supposed to say to that? I thought about it, but then I decided to let it go. “What time?” I asked.“The show starts at seven-thirty,” he said. “I’ll get the tickets. Let’s meet there at around quarter to seven.”“Ok,” I said. “I’ll call you back tomorrow to let you know about Mr. Mendes.”I clicked off the phone and hung it up. Then I realized that Mr. Mendes was smiling up at me.“Think you can manage to refer to me as Aaron?” he asked.Jesus—I started blushing at that. “Sorry,” I said. “I forgot. But don’t worry. Kyle didn’t notice. Even though he didn’t have you in high school, he still remembers you as Mr. Mendes.”He sighed and shook his head at that. “This’ll teach me to date a former student,” he teased. “Now what was that about?”“Kyle wants us to go to Medieval Times with him on Thursday night,” I answered. “You know that castle-place in Lyndhurst with the jousting show?”He nodded.“Can you come?”“Yeah,” he said, snuggling even closer against me. “That’ll be fine.”I smiled down at him again, but then I realized that I had to tell him why Kyle invited us. It was only fair that he know.“Kyle wants to impress a girl,” I said. “He wants to act all sensitive by hanging out with his gay cousin and his boyfriend.”Mr. Mendes let out a low chuckle. “Congratulations,” he said. “You’ve just become the token ‘gay’ of your family.”I thought about that. “That’s fucking annoying,” I decided.“Tell me about it,” he said. “I’ve occupied that position in my family for years. But you’ll get used to it. Besides, it’s good to see you getting along with your cousin.”I started running my fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t get along better with your sister.”He shrugged. “There’s time for that. Hopefully she’ll manage a decent apology. The rest of my family will be easier.”My mouth dropped open. “The rest of your family? You mean your parents?”He nodded.“When do I have to meet them?”He stared up at me again. “You don’t have to make it sound like you’ll be facing a firing squad.”I blinked at that. “Seriously—when do I have to meet them?”He propped himself up so that he could look me right in the eye. “Jason, I’ll admit that we’re moving fast. Usually I wouldn’t bring you around to my folks until we’d been seeing each other for a couple of months. But this is different. You moved into my house. I can’t stop them from dropping by—and I don’t want to have to hide you.”I swallowed hard. “I guess that makes sense,” I admitted.“Not only that,” he continued. “But Thanksgiving is coming up. Are we going to spend that together?”I think my face must have gone white at that point. I’d never even thought about holidays.“Fuck,” I said.I couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was like I was suddenly paralyzed. I mean, I always fantasized about Mr. Mendes spanking me and fucking me and even holding me afterwards—that’s the whole reason I moved into his place. But I never realized that we’d have to worry about whose family to spend the holidays with.Jesus, how could I picture him sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal with my mother? If I ever talked to her again, I mean. Or what would his parents think if he dragged me to their house for Thanksgiving?“Fuck,” I repeated. My head was stuck on that one word.Mr. Mendes smiled—and it was that relaxed, easy smile he has. Then he curled up back against me. “Don’t panic,” he said with another chuckle in his voice. “You don’t have to think about it right now.”Easy for him to say. Now I couldn’t think about anything else.