Wrestling With Love (21 page)

Excellent. Can’t wait to see you.”

A half hour later, they entered Derek’s house which was filled with the smells of garlic, burger meat, cheese, and tomato sauce. Claire and Henry were in the kitchen and came rushing to the front door as soon as it opened. “Derek! It’s so good to see you.”

His mother grabbed Derek in a tight hug, rocking him back and forth. His father came up and nudged her to the side, placing an arm around his shoulders and leading him up the stairs towards the kitchen.

Claire, having been forced to release Derek before she was ready, narrowed her eyes momentarily at her husband, then quickly turned her attention to Scott. “It’s so good to see you, Scott. How have you been?” She squeezed Scott in a hug and held him longer than necessary. “I’m just so happy to see you boys. I’ve missed you both.”

Derek huffed. In spite of her coolness she could be so sappy. “Mom, just because you didn’t get to keep me in a vice grip when I first walked in doesn’t mean that you can keep Scott in a strangle hold all night.”

She released Scott, looking back and forth between him and Derek, then laughed nervously and headed up the stairs. Once they were all in the kitchen, Claire hustled the boys to the table, which had already been set, and placed heaping plates of lasagna and garlic bread in front of them. “Not that I’m complaining, but what brings you here?”

Derek shoveled a huge bite of lasagna into his mouth, savoring the mixture of flavors and textures. “My dorm is having a party tomorrow and they want to pay me to mix for it.”

His father looked up in surprise. “Really? That’s great. You’re going to make some money off your hobby. Terrific!”

His mother was not as enthusiastic. “What kind of a party is this? Will there be alcohol?”

Derek took a bite of his garlic bread. “Yes, Mom, I do believe there will be alcohol.”

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“Don’t get smart with me. I don’t like it. You boys are only nineteen. It’s illegal for you to be drinking and it can be so dangerous.” Claire was wringing her hands. Derek found it ironic she would become stressed at the idea of him drinking, but she was apparently fine with him having sexual relations with Scott. Jokes on me. She’s right to be more worried about drinking since I’m not having any sex.

“Claire, for God’s sake, leave the boys alone. They’re in college. Did you seriously think they wouldn’t be exposed to drinking?” Henry shook his head. “Honestly, they’re smart boys, they won’t get themselves hurt. Maybe sick, but not hurt.” He started laughing, apparently finding the idea of his son’s first experience with drinking and getting sick amusing.

“That is not funny, Henry. It’s as if you don’t even care whether he drinks or not.”

As Claire and Henry bickered, Scott cast a nervous glance at Derek, who smiled and mouthed, “Don’t worry. It’s just them.” Scott shrugged and relaxed, shoving a heaping forkful of lasagna into his mouth.

After his parents had gone back and forth for about five minutes, Derek decided it was time to interrupt them. “Mom, Dad, I actually came home so I could begin mixing. I have a lot to do for tomorrow night and in the morning someone from the dorm is going to come here with me to pick up my equipment. It looks like I’ll be able to keep my stuff at school after all, Dad. You get to have the whole attic to yourself.”

Claire and Henry stopped their argument mid-sentence. Claire was the one who spoke up. “Oh, Honey, you just got here. Can’t you two sit with us for a while so we can catch up? It’s been a month since we’ve seen you.”

“Yeah. But you two can’t quit bickering long enough for us to talk.”

Scott let out a loud, single “ha.” Claire, Henry, and Derek all turned to face him. Blushing, he finished chewing the food in his mouth, then spoke up. “What? I think it’s funny that you’re telling them to stop bickering when you bicker with me all the time.”

For a moment, Derek was prepared to respond with several of his own thoughts about exactly where Scott could stick his opinion, but then it struck him what Scott had just done. He had effectively compared the two of them to his parents. On the one hand, panic set in. He hadn’t come out to his father yet. Would he suspect anything from what Scott had just said? Yet, the comment meant more to him than words could express. In fact, words escaped him and his eyes became slightly blurry as a lump formed in his throat.

“For the record,” Scott said, “I like seeing your parents bicker. It lets me know that you come by it honestly and that it’s not me, it’s you.”

Claire and Henry looked at each other, then both burst out laughing. Claire walked over to Scott and gave him a hug. “Is my Derek giving you a hard time? It’s the men in this family. They’re so infuriating.”

Henry rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the food on his plate. The four of them spent the next hour eating and talking about Derek and Scott’s classes and their new friends. Finally, Henry stretched his arms, letting out a loud yawn. “It sounds like 101

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the two of you are having a great time. I wish I could hear more, but I’m tired. Hon, maybe we should let Derek and Scott get to work upstairs. Derek, maybe you can come home a bit more often than once a month. It was good to see you, son.” Henry stood up, said good night once more, then retired for the evening. Claire remained behind. When she heard their bedroom door close, she turned to face them with a serious look. “So, how has your living situation been working out? It’s a big step when two people go from dating to living together.” Derek could always count on his mom to be direct and to say something that was entirely embarrassing. Scott chimed in. He had been in rare form this evening. “Actually, Claire, it’s been going really well. We’re compatible in terms of how neat we like to keep things, which isn’t really all that neat, but at least we’re the same in that respect. We both value the time we need for studying so we make sure our room environment is conducive to that. And, it’s nice to know when my day is over, I have someone I look forward to seeing.”

Claire listened to Scott, then cupped his cheek, smiling. “I forgot how good with words you are. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hear someone who talks about my son that way. Of course, I’ve come to love you as my own. So, aside from the bickering, has he found other ways to annoy you yet?”

“Other than his growing interest in exploring the gay and lesbian community? No. That’s the only topic which seems to create any tension between us. He seems raring to come out and I’m still feeling very hesitant.”

Derek worked to ensure his feelings didn’t come flying out of his mouth, but Scott was sorely mistaken if he thought that was the only other issue that was creating tension between them.

“I see. It’s a difficult thing you two boys have to deal with. I don’t have personal experience with the coming out process, but I do have experience with the struggle of knowing when and how to let your parents know what is going on in your life. It took me years before I was able to tell my mother I was sexually active and that I would not be a virgin on my wedding day.” Derek’s skin burned with a heat like a flame and he was sure he had turned scarlet. His mother patted him on the arm. “Derek you should really work on that. You’re a man now and shouldn’t feel so skittish about such conversations.”

Derek scoffed at his mother. “It’s one thing for you to question me about things, but to hear you talk about…you know…that stuff…it’s embarrassing.”

Scott laughed. “Claire, you know what I love about you?”

“What, dear?”

“You tell it like it is unapologetically. You see things from all perspectives and provide insights which are useful to everyone.”

“That’s a sweet thing for you to say, Scott. Do you know what I love about you?”

Scott shook his head. “I love that you love my son. You and Beck are the two people who I know will do everything you can to keep Derek safe and happy.”

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Derek, concluding that Scott and his mother had bonded enough, decided to break up the mutual admiration session. “Dinner was great, mom. Thanks so much for letting us come on last minute’s notice. Maybe Scott and I should get started upstairs. We’ll keep the volume down so it won’t bother you or Dad.” He got up and brought his and Scott’s dishes to the sink and began to rinse them.

“You don’t have to do that, Honey. It makes me feel good to be able to clean up after you. It reminds me of when you lived here. You boys go ahead and get started on your work. And remember to keep the door open.” She walked first to Scott, giving him and hug and a kiss on the cheek, then to Derek, taking advantage of the fact Henry wasn’t in the room to pry her away from him. She gave him a long hug and held tight until she was ready to release him.

* * * * *

Elizabeth had arranged for her boyfriend, Ron, to take Derek to his home early on Saturday morning. As Derek waited, he surveyed his dorm room. Scott was still asleep looking innocent and peaceful. The five foot space on the wall he had originally thought would be a great place for a bar would be the perfect place to set up his mixing equipment and sound system. Ron knocked on his door and the two of them headed out.

Although the days remained warm, the appearance of crisper, colder mornings signaled that fall was settling in. As they walked out to Ron’s van, Derek took in the hues of yellow, red, and brown that revealed themselves as undertones in the leaves of the trees lining the sidewalks. None of the leaves had changed completely, but it was clear the world was going to be filled with a myriad of warm, fiery fall colors pretty soon.

Ron was one of those guys who looked like he might be a meat-head. Burly, with a buzz cut and always wearing a varsity jacket, Derek had originally thought he would be a closed-minded jock. To his pleasant surprise, Ron turned out to be quite warm and friendly. “Liz says you’re mixing at a reduced rate for the dorm. That’s really cool of you. I’ll be there tonight. If you’re good, maybe I can hook you up with some other gigs.”

“Really? Do you think people would want to hire me to mix for their parties?”

“Hell, yeah! If you’re good and you’re cheaper than the competition, you could start up a nice little business for yourself. It would be a great way to earn some spending cash. Most kids who need extra money work in the cafeteria, the mail room, the library, boring stuff like that. Mixing for parties is a way cooler way to earn money.”

When they arrived at his van, Ron handed over the keys and hopped into the passenger seat. “You know where you’re going. Why don’t you drive?”

An hour later, they were back at the dorm. Scott was up when Derek got back to the room and helped the two of them lug the equipment into their room. Derek spent the rest of the day mixing while Scott worked on his assignments and went out to pick up 103

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some food for them. By the time Derek had to set up for the party, he had completed enough music for about two hours. It wasn’t a lot, but he could borrow from recordings he had mixed through high school to make sure there was a continuous flow of diverse music.

Scott helped Derek set up his sound system and mixing equipment in the main lounge on the first floor. Derek hadn’t mixed in a long time and was pretty excited for the chance.

Once the party started, he played simple music. The songs weren’t modified too much, but he played around with the beat and added a few additional sounds and vocals so the songs were embellished versions of what was played on the radio. Once he noticed people had become fairly tipsy, he decided it was time to up the tempo and show the group what he was made of. He played a quick tempo for a few beats, then added in first one vocal, then a second. The mix sounded a lot like the beginning to a typical dance song, but he was going to use the sounds to compliment John Mayer’s Say, which was played about a hundred times each hour on most of the radio stations. Although mixing harmonies to standard pop songs was not his preferred type of music to play, he was good at it.

As he increased the tempo of the beat, adding intermittent snare drum sounds which gave structure and pace to the song, people started to turn to face him, unsure of where he was going with his song. When he finally added John’s voice, the crowd began first to sway, then to dance. He slowed the tempo during John’s lyrics, then extended the time during the refrains by adding several sounds and using the phrase Say what you need to say over and over to different beats, vocals, and sounds, bringing the crowd up to a mild frenzy, then bringing them back down. When he finally finished the song, the crowd erupted in cheers. Elizabeth danced up to him. She was wearing a cute blue cashmere sweater, which brought out the blue of her eyes, and jeans. As she approached, her shoulder-length wavy hair swayed lightly back and forth, framing her face. Her smile lit up her face and filled Derek with happiness. If he were straight, she would probably be the type of girl he would go for. Of course, Scott was the masculine version of her in terms of looks and personality.

“That was fantastic. I’ve never known anyone who could take standard songs and break them apart like that. I loved how you took his line and repeated it over and over, changing the way it sounded each time you played it.”

Derek’s chest swelled. “It’s not what I usually mix, but it was fun playing around with a different style. I’m used to mixing for dances or parties where people want to get really hyped up.”