Rainbow Blues (13 page)

Jimmy smiled, remembering the springy texture of Luke’s hair. Maybe it made him unusual, but he liked how natural Luke was. Took a lot of stress out of the encounters.

Without having any conscious recall of traversing the parking lot and the warren of hallways, Jimmy found himself at the staff room. He had time for a cup of coffee before his first class, and he suspected he would need it.

Karen Harper strode into the room as he was doctoring his coffee.

“Congrats, Jimmy! I saw the reviews. They loved you just as much as I did.”

“Thanks, Karen. Everything just really clicked with this play and this cast.” He’d only seen her in passing the previous day.

“And I noticed you slipped out of the theater Friday night without saying good-bye, didn’t call, and pretty much ran out of here yesterday. Got anything you want to tell Aunt Karen?”

Jimmy shuddered. “Oh, for God’s sake, Karen, don’t ever call yourself that again.”

Karen laughed wickedly. “I notice you’re wearing a turtleneck again today. The new boy a bit of a Hoover, is he? When do I get to meet him?”

“Never, if you don’t stop teasing me about it.” Jimmy looked around. He was out at work, yes, but it had been so long since he’d had an honest-to-God boyfriend—and he thought maybe he could call Luke that pretty soon—that he’d forgotten how weird it was talking about sex in the vicinity of his coworkers. Luke’s apprehension about coming out at work made a lot more sense. After all, he probably worked with guys who could break Jimmy in half. The most Jimmy had to fear was if Coach Patterson decided to run him over with his oversized, overcompensating penis-mobile, otherwise known as the biggest fucking pickup truck Jimmy had ever seen. Not like that would happen, though. Coach Patterson’s wife thought he was cute. The rest of the staff were mostly apathetic.

“Did you finally cave and take Damian to bed? You know I’d pay money to see that.”

“Jeez, Karen, hush! And no, not Damian.”

Karen thought Damian was hot, and had been rooting for the two of them to get together for years.

“Not Damian what?” Damian spoke behind them, making them both jump.

“Hey, Damian. Who are you in for?”

Karen answered, “Mary’s out again, poor thing.” Mary was the English teacher, and subbing for English was a good fit for Damian, since he’d minored in English.

“Yeah, looks like there’s the possibility of it turning long term.” Damian shook his head sadly. He’d been subbing for the district long enough that he was friends with most faculty in the school. This year, he’d been subbing for Mary an awful lot, and although she’d been discreet about the reason, her number of absences told a tale all their own. “But enough sad talk. You were talking about my fine ass for a reason.”

Jimmy rubbed at the hickey on his neck. True to his word, Luke had kept the other marks below the collar, but Jimmy had a few more days of high necks in his future until this one faded.

“I was wondering if you were the reason Jimmy’s wearing a turtleneck today and yesterday.”

Damian laughed. “Turtlenecks two days in a row? That’s not my fault. But the three of us are having lunch together. Today. Get the scoop on the neck sucker.”

“I don’t know, Damian. I’ve got a bunch of tests to grade.” Because he’d done sweet fuck all the past weekend… except fuck a sweet man, and of course, give his all to the character of Gary.

“No. If we don’t get the dirt on whoever put that smile on your face, and presumably a hickey on your neck, I’m going to come ask you about it during the pep squad class.” Karen glared at him, and Damian rubbed his hands.

“You wouldn’t.” The pep squad class was one of his senior biology classes. Any senior girl taking biology who was also a cheerleader had been scheduled for that class. Had something to do with their practice schedule. There were a lot more cheerleaders taking senior biology than you might expect, and half of them treated him like one of those fluffy accessory dogs rich women carried around in Burberry bags. The other half thought if they flirted hard enough, he’d first become straight and second, lose his ever-fucking mind and become fixated on a student. If Karen or Damian came in asking about Luke, it would be like setting off a firecracker in a methane factory.

“Then we’re going to have lunch and you’re going to tell us everything.”

“Fine, fine.” The tests could wait another day if it meant not fanning the flames of the pep squad class. But his two friends would be sadly disappointed. He wasn’t about to share graphic details about Luke with anyone. Luke was too special for that, and if he wanted Luke to be his boyfriend, he didn’t want the shy man to be embarrassed when he met Jimmy’s friends.

B
ENNETT
PULLED
the car into a parking space behind a squat industrial-type strip mall. A couple of teenagers slouched against the wall, smoking. Luke itched to tell them to butt out, but he doubted they’d appreciate a total stranger attempting to parent them. He had one kid and another pseudo-kid who turned out pretty good, but parenting was more than some sage advice in passing.

“This is the place, eh? Thanks for driving.” Going to the first Rainbow Blues event by himself had taken a lot of willpower. Until he knew more people, he was just as happy to share driving duties with Bennett.

“Happy to have the company.”

They walked around the building to what presumably was the front door.

A few more teenagers, somewhat more socially awkward in appearance than the smokers, pushed past them and entered the same door that Bennett was heading for.

Through the silvered over windows, Luke could see shadows like people seated around a table, but he was surprised by how young these guys were.

“Are we in the right place?”

“Yeah, we have events here all the time.”

They did?

“Aren’t these guys awfully young? I thought the minimum age for joining was twenty-one.”

It wasn’t like the social group intended to indulge in illicit activities or even sexual ones. But there had been booze at the Christmas party and aside from confirming his identity as a member, no one had checked IDs. Not that Luke had been carded in years, but not all the guys in Rainbow Blues were as old as he was.

“There’s private function space that we rent out on a regular basis. It wasn’t available for the Christmas party, but most of the events are here.”

Bennett opened the door and ushered him inside. The acrid scent of unwashed bodies and musty clothes hit him like a slap in the face. And he spent all day with guys on construction sites.

“Uh.” A throng of teenagers—mostly male—gathered around a number of tables. On the tables were miniature figures, cards laid out in intricate patterns, or board games far more complicated than Monopoly. Most of the words that reached Luke’s ears were completely incomprehensible. He’d at least heard of a Hopping Vampire, but what the hell was a Shaolin Monkey? Even worse, what was a Melting Flesh Squad?

The smell bordered on eye-watering. Zach and Ryan had gone through a phase where they’d smelled like goats, followed shortly by a period where they smelled like goats drenched in body spray before they discovered showering regularly worked better. Here, the goatlike stench was concentrated because there were so many kids. Luke wasn’t sure if body spray would make things better or worse.

The kids didn’t pay any attention to them, and Bennett led the way past the tables to another door.

Once through, the noise and stench from the main room was cut off. In this room, there were eight large tables covered with green felt and stacked with poker chips. Like the Christmas party, snacks and coolers filled with beer sat on tables along a wall.

The poker games hadn’t started yet, since they were a little early, so they dug through the coolers for a beer.

“It’s okay to have beer here?” Because Luke would bet his next year’s salary that more than half the kids in the other room weren’t of age.

“Sure. Private event space. The gamers aren’t allowed in here when the space is rented out.”

“Makes sense. What is this place?”

Bennett jabbed a thumb toward the door. “Nerd nirvana. Or so I assume. There’s another room attached to the main one, stacked to the rafters with games that they sell—shit I’ve never heard of. But mostly they make money holding tournaments for various games and from overpriced snacks and soft drinks. Kids and adults show up to play all sorts of games. Board games, card games, and role-playing games mostly. And they’ve got this self-contained event space. Doesn’t have a proper kitchen, but it’s got banquet heaters, a fridge, and its own bathroom. There’s even a little enclosed patio out back for the smokers.”

“If it’s got a fridge, why the coolers?” Luke asked.

“Pain in the ass to load and unload the beer. This is easier.”

More men filed in and began milling around the poker tables, not exactly impatient, but clearly ready to start playing as soon as possible.

“So, I’ve been to a holiday party and now a poker tournament. Is there always a planned activity?” Not that Luke cared one way or the other. It was nice to get out and socialize. Jimmy was awesome, and Luke would be happy spending all his time with Jimmy, but he did miss having friends to just hang out with.

“Yeah, sometimes it’s a movie night, or there’s a speaker, but usually it’s something to do that encourages us to talk to each other. After all, it’s not like we’re going to stand around and do those weird icebreaker exercises they do on corporate retreats.”

Luke shuddered. He’d never had the “pleasure,” but Kelly had gone on a few and told him about them. They would have sent Luke screaming from the room.

“Makes sense. I mean, it would send a weird message to meet in a church basement like an AA meeting, a banquet hall would cost a lot of money, and a library might not have suitable hours. It’s not a sex club either. But who the hell found this place? Don’t get me wrong, it seems ideal for Rainbow Blues, but it’s a little obscure.”

Obscure was the most neutral word he could come up with. Luke couldn’t picture any of the older guys on his crew ever setting foot in a place like this. Even the younger guys… he hated to resort to stereotypes, but he doubted any of those kids out there were now or were going to be construction workers.

Bennett laughed, clearly knowing what Luke was thinking. “Let me introduce you to the guy who started the Rainbow Blues. He wasn’t around for the Christmas party. His partner is an event planner and knows everywhere he can get event space for cheap. He’s actually the one that plans most of the events. I think, after hearing some of the weddings and shit he’s done, planning RB events is almost an afterthought. C’mon, I think we’re ready to start. We’ll grab the same table as Peter. He’s also a manager like you.”

Steering him to the farthest table, Bennett sat next to an older man, probably in his early fifties, who Luke had no trouble imagining in a hard hat.

“Peter, let me introduce you to a new member. This is Luke.”

“Luke. Glad to have a new member. We’re growing far faster than I would have expected.”

They shook hands and took their place at the table, along with Graham, a drywaller, and Hector, a roofer.

“I understand your partner was the….” Luke didn’t quite know how to ask the question without sounding like an ass.

Fortunately Peter didn’t mind. “Oh, Scotty was absolutely the driving force behind RB. Mind you, this was about ten years ago and Scotty’s business was starting to take off. I was in the closet at work—still am—but he hated that I was basically sitting at home alone while he had to work such long hours. He came up with this as a way for me to find guys I’d have something in common with, someone I could hang out with while he was busy. It grew well beyond either of our expectations, but it’s good, you know? Good that all these guys have someplace to go and be themselves.”

“It’s a great thing you’ve done. Thank you.” Luke couldn’t express how much this group had already come to mean to him. “And taking dating out of the equation made it a lot less intimidating to join.”

“Well, we do certainly see some relationships come out of it, and there’s an alley around the corner where a few guys have had quickie hookups, but yeah, we definitely encourage the social, not the romantic. We all need friends, don’t we, Luke?”

Over the course of the tournament, he learned that he wasn’t the only one who tried to fake a heterosexual life, and discovered that some of the guys, although none at the table, were still married and in the closet with just about everyone.

The guys at his table, though, were great, and he could easily see meeting up with them outside of RB. Hell, next time he was putting together his own construction crew, he’d be tempted to recruit members from RB. Not having to constantly monitor every word and action on a job site would be such a relief. Nice dream, but maybe not feasible.

L
UKE
’
S
PHONE
rang, and he snatched it up. Jimmy had only been over a handful of times, but already the place was almost unbearable on those nights when he knew Jimmy wouldn’t be there. The weeknight performances were too draining. Still, Luke waited up, because Jimmy would text him when he got home.