Something Like Lightning (17 page)

Kelly raised an eyebrow. “That you’re gay?”

“Ha ha,” William deadpanned. “She’s been awesome about all of that, but I don’t want to push my luck. Even my brothers weren’t allowed to have girls over to... You know.”

“What?” Kelly asked innocently.

“Get frisky,” William said. “Shut up,” he added when he saw Kelly’s smile. “Besides, you think you can keep an eye on her? Baking cookies first thing in the morning is weird, even for her. Please?”

“Okay.”

Kelly reluctantly headed back to the kitchen and sat at the breakfast bar. Mrs. Townson gave him a half-smile before returning to work. He watched her for a moment as she transferred cookies from a baking sheet to a wire rack. Then he glanced around the house again, noticing the Christmas tree in one corner, ripe with presents at its base. He wondered how many had been for Mr. Townson, or were gifts from him. How could they possibly expect to have a nice holiday this year?

He looked back at Mrs. Townson, who had put another loaded cookie sheet into the oven and shut the door, leaning against the counter next to it.

Kelly tried to find a cheerful topic of conversation, but ignoring what was happening seemed disrespectful, as if it were of no consequence. So he didn’t.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “About everything.”

Mrs. Townson nodded. “I honestly didn’t see it coming. You think you know someone...”

“Yeah,” Kelly said, barely able to relate. He supposed Jared had turned out to be a lot less cool than he’d hoped, but running out on your family—especially at this time of year—was completely different. The thought made him shake his head. “He could have waited.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mr. Townson. He could have waited until after the holidays. That would have been the decent thing to do.”

Mrs. Townson crossed her arms over her chest. “He didn’t have a choice. He was caught. I followed him after work and saw him pick her up in that stupid car of his. As soon as she kissed him, I laid on the horn. You should have seen their faces. I think she bit his tongue and—” She shook her head. “Are you saying I should have waited until after Christmas to confront him?”

“No,” Kelly said, trying to keep up. “I was just thinking about William. He’s going to have a bad Christmas this year.”

“I’m
thinking of him too,” Mrs. Townson said. “His father being here wouldn’t have made the holiday any happier. No doubt he would have found some excuse to sneak off in the middle of opening presents. Does that sound like a merry Christmas to you?”

Kelly had no idea why this kept coming back to him, but he was getting annoyed. “All I’m saying is that if I had kids, I would fake it. No matter what was going on between me and my partner, I’d pretend we were fine until Christmas was over.”

Mrs. Townson scoffed. “You try being married to someone, giving birth to three of his children, and giving him twenty-five years of your life. You do all that, and
then
see how you feel when he cheats on you!”

Kelly felt confused and frustrated. He hadn’t meant for the conversation to turn so sour. “I feel bad for William,” he finished lamely. “That’s all.”

“So do I,” Mrs. Townson said. Then she turned around and busied herself with her baking. She kept her back to him until William returned downstairs. Only when he joined her at the counter did her shoulders relax somewhat.

“Everything okay?” he asked, grabbing a cookie.

“Fine,” his mother said. “Your brothers are coming over today. They don’t know yet. I thought you could help me talk to them.”

“Yeah,” William said. “Of course.”

“This is a family matter,” she said pointedly.

“I know,” William said. Then he turned to Kelly and shrugged helplessly.

That was his cue. “I should head home,” Kelly said.

“Take some cookies with you.” Mrs. Townson met his eye briefly, but didn’t smile. “For your family.”

“Thank you,” he said.

He watched in silence as William picked out cookies and his mother packed them in Tupperware. Then she turned and handed it to him.

“I really am sorry,” he said, not sure if he was apologizing for the conversation or for the divorce. Either way she nodded curtly.

Once they were outside, he felt like he could breathe again.

“I think she likes you,” William said.

Kelly glanced over at him to see that he was serious.

“Yeah,” Kelly said. “We get along great.”

“PARTY!”

Whoever shouted this sounded somewhat desperate. Surveying what little of the house he could see, Kelly couldn’t blame them. William’s friends—one of the girls who had a transparent crush on him, even now —was throwing a New Year’s Eve soiree. Kelly had been excited when William first told him about it. None of the track team guys had anything interesting going on, except for a plan to find a homeless man downtown who would be willing to buy them beer. Classy.

So Kelly had leapt at this opportunity. No parental supervision. The end of the year. One last wild night before the next school semester started. So much could go delightfully wrong. And yet, Kelly felt like he was in a family-friendly sitcom where nothing truly bad or interesting ever happened.

No beer, no cheap fruit-flavored booze, not even a Jell-O shot in sight. No heavy clouds of smoke from cigarettes or joints. At least the music was pumping, but William’s friend had a thing for the eighties, making Kelly feel like he was trapped in the car with his parents. Or worse, since the dining room furniture had been shoved to one side so white people could lurch stiffly in what might have been an attempt to dance. But for the most part, everyone hung around the living room, engaging in conversations that could have taken place anywhere, even in a classroom.

Kelly stifled another yawn, watching as two girls held pencils to their mouths and pretended they were puffing on cigarettes. Naturally this made them both giggle. Suddenly, that booze-buying bum didn’t sound so bad. He glanced over at William, who appeared perfectly content. He even smiled as he watched the proceedings. Of course this was the guy who rushed home after school every day for cookies and an episode of
Beast Wars.
Kelly tried to roll his eyes and ended up sighing. He was dating such a nerd, but damn was he adorable!

“Okay, everyone,” said their hostess, nearly shaking with excitement as all heads turned toward her. “It’s time to really start having fun!”

She had a bottle in her hand, which was encouraging, but as soon as Kelly saw it was empty, he knew what was coming.

“Spin the Bottle! ”

Kelly glanced around the room, realizing there were about three lassies to every lad. Several of those girls were looking in their direction. He met William’s eye.

“Okay,” Kelly said. “Time for us to take our leave.”

“I don’t want to go yet,” William said. “It’s almost midnight.” After a girl across the room waved at him he added, “But maybe we could find somewhere a little more private.”

Kelly grabbed his backpack, which held his camera and something that might rescue the evening. Then he followed William upstairs. He seemed to know where he was going. Down a hall and to the right, they entered a room that was—feminine. That about summed it up. Pinks and pale yellows. Lace curtains, bottles of perfume and a makeup mirror on a little vanity table. Next to that was a small television set, its edges decorated with glitter paint and tiny plastic jewels. Overall the room felt comfortable and nice, rather than utilitarian like Kelly’s or even William’s room. Sure, maybe Kelly decorated with photos and William had his toy display, but everything here felt carefully chosen and arranged.

“Is it wrong that I like this?” Kelly murmured.

“The room?” William chuckled. “I always wondered what it would be like to have a sister. You?”

Kelly shrugged. “Royal is enough trouble. I never wanted to double it.” He walked over to examine the photos on the dresser, which were mostly girls clutching at each other and smiling. One was of a much younger William wearing a bowler hat and holding a banana to his ear like a phone. Kelly picked it up and looked over at him questioningly.

“I was in drama freshman year,” he explained. “Wasn’t really my thing, but we had a lot of fun.”

“Not a bad photo.” Kelly set it down and glanced around the room. This is where the year would end. He never would have chosen such an environment, but he was glad to have William to himself. The holidays had been spent waiting for him to be free again. The Townsons had pulled together over Christmas, the three brothers gathering around their mother as if to guard her from further harm. Endearing as that might be, it left little room for Kelly. Only tonight did they finally have substantial time together, and he intended to make the most of it.

Kelly switched on the lamps at either side of the bed—pastel sketches of sheep leaping across the shades—and turned off the overhead light. This created a much cozier ambiance. Then he opened his backpack and took out his camera, making room for it on the dresser. He fiddled with the settings for a moment and pointed it toward the center of the room. Then he pushed a button and left it behind.

“My mom gave us a present,” Kelly said, reaching into the backpack and pulling out a bottle. Unlike the one downstairs, this was still sealed shut. “She made me promise we wouldn’t drink it until we’re home again.”

“Is that champagne?” William asked, walking over to see. He took the bottle, turning it to read the label, but Kelly watched his face instead, his body reacting already. But it wasn’t just hormones. He loved William. He really did. Every little detail drove him wild. The way his brow furrowed as he read, the way he nibbled on one corner of his lip as he examined the foil-wrapped cork.

click

William looked up. “What was that?”

“My camera,” Kelly said. “It’s set to take a photo every minute. Most of them will turn out blurry, but I thought it would be a fun experiment.”

“Okay,” William said, trying to hand back the bottle.

“Open it,” Kelly insisted.

“But you said—”

“You’ve never broken a promise made to your mother? You know what, don’t answer that. Just make with the bubbly.”

William grinned, and for the next five minutes, they bickered over the right way to open it.

“Don’t do it over the carpet!” Kelly insisted. “Foam will spray everywhere.”

“That’s why I plan on putting my mouth over it as soon as the cork pops,” William replied.

“Ever tried that with a can of cola that’s too shaken up? It’ll come out your nose.”

“Then you better hold two glasses to my nostrils.”’

“Gross! Wait, we don’t have glasses at all.”

In the end, they opened the bedroom window and took out the screen. The plan was to hold the bottle outside the window until the foam drained off. William looked like he was handling hazardous materials as he enacted this plan, his cheek against the top window pane as his outstretched arms worked blindly. Then came the
pop!
and they both went still.

“Well?” Kelly asked.

“It’s not overflowing,” William said. “Maybe it was flat already.”’

But a nice curl of fumes came from the bottle when William pulled it back inside. Over the muted sound of Duran Duran downstairs, Kelly could hear bursting bubbles.

“Should I go find cups?” William asked.

“We can slum it and drink directly from the bottle.”’

“Okay,” William said. “You first.”’

He held out the bottle, but Kelly didn’t take it. Instead he stepped closer. William caught on, lifting the bottle and carefully holding it to Kelly’s lips. William tilted the bottle slowly, bit by bit, until golden sparkles poured into Kelly’s mouth.

click

Then Kelly had to pull away, because his cheeks were filling up and his nose was tickling. He swallowed in one big gulp, covering his mouth just in case.

“How is it?” William asked.

“Good! Now your turn.”’

“Oh no!” William said, dodging away from him. “I’m not letting you hold the bottle. You’ll make me drink way too much.”’

“I won’t,” Kelly insisted. “Trust me.”’

Of course when William handed him the bottle, Kelly did just that. William nearly sprayed champagne all over the room, but he managed to swallow it without too much dribbling out.

“You’re cruel,” William said, shaking his head.

“I know,” Kelly said proudly, taking another swig.

The door to the bedroom opened then, in the frame a hopeful-looking guy with his arm around a girl’s shoulders. “Whoa!” he said. “Sorry. Didn’t know anyone was in here.”’

“It’s fine,” William said.

The guy looked between them a few times. “We were searching for somewhere private. The master bedroom is already taken. Uh.”

“Oh!” William said. “We can leave.”
click

Kelly rolled his eyes and went to the door. “Try the laundry room downstairs. Or maybe the hall closet.” He shut the door so fast that the couple had to jump backward to avoid being hit. After pushing the lock on the knob for good measure, he turned around.

“I may be cruel, but you’re way too nice!”

“They wanted to be alone,” William said.

“And we don’t?”

William’s cheeks flushed. “Right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Kelly said. “What time is it?”

“Just a few more minutes.” William sat on the end of the bed, eyes unfocused. “What a shit year. I’ll be glad when it’s over.”

Kelly sat down next to him. “It wasn’t all bad. Was it?”

“No. It would have been one of the best. I met you. Then I came out, and it’s like no one even cares. Except...”

Kelly nudged against him. “Don’t worry about the name-calling at school. It’s just random assholes.”

“It’s not that,” William said. “I’m not sure if my mom is okay with it. Every time I mention your name, she kind of makes this face.”

click

“Oh,” Kelly said. “I’m sure she’s okay with you. She and I just need to get to know each other better. Besides, she’s probably worried you’ll get hurt like she did.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah,” Kelly said, wishing it were that simple. Eventually he’d have to try to smooth things over, but right now he didn’t want to dwell on the past. “So tell me about next year. What’s going to happen?”