Chapter 6: SEA - DEN (Thanksgiving Break)

Ben emerged from the Denver International Airport terminal fresh off his United flight from Sea-Tac looking for where his Uber would pick him up to take him back to Golden. The late November afternoon air was unseasonably warm and he felt a bit overdressed in the blue Mines hoodie John had helped him pick out a couple of weeks prior and his puffy nylon light gray North Face Jacket, he figured he would take off at least the jacket before the ride home.

He looked at his Apple watch, his driver Mateo in a Blue Camry was already there it said. Ben confirmed he was on level 5, and waved to a Camry he saw pulling in.

“Mateo?” Ben asked as the driver rolled down the passenger window.

“Si, si,” The driver answered “Maleta?”

Ben held up his lone carry-on and Mateo popped the trunk and got out of the car to put it in the back. Ben took off his jacket and slipped it into the trunk before Mateo closed it. After getting into the back seat Ben figured he had used up what 10th-grade Spanish he remembered and Mateo probably didn’t care if he glued himself to his phone for the ride.

Landed, in the UBER now, probably 40 mins or so from what it says Ben iMessaged John.

‘🥰’ was all John sent back.

“Golden, Minas?” Maeto shouted from the front as they got on I-70 and he looked in the mirror, Ben nodded his head.

Both John and Ben had stayed loyal to each other since that weekend and John had realized that he was bisexual but was attracted to Ben much more than he ever was to Allison. True to his word Ben had deleted Grindr, sat next to John in every class he could and they spent the weekends in each other’s dorm rooms on the off weekends that Allan or Connor got picked up to go home. Ben had a lot to tell John when he got back into his arms and little did Ben know John couldn’t wait to bring up something important as well.

As the Camry got closer to Golden, the familiar sight of the Coors Brewery came into view. While Ben had always made it a point to show his Pacific Northwest and Seattle roots he had slowly adjusted to the mile-high life in Colorado with John. Allan’s sister had even promised to take the three of them up to Loveland to ski the first Saturday she had off after the winter break. The sun was starting to set and Ben hoped he had enough time alone to talk to John in private before Allan got back from Thanksgiving at home.

Maeto took the correct exit and made his way around the traffic circle to where Ben had selected his drop-off point behind John’s dorm, pulling into an empty spot in the small parking lot. Ben got out and Maeto popped the trunk again, he tipped Maeto as Maeto got out his suitcase and Ben put his jacket back on.

“Gracias” Ben waved as he got on the sidewalk and the Camry pulled out.

Ben made the now familiar walk between Elm and his own dorm with his small suitcase in tow, as he got to the door John was already waiting for him, his favorite royal blue Under Armour shorts instantly recognizable. This wasn’t just for the sake of Ben and he knew it, John even sometimes wore his shorts in the snow in Wisconsin, and a Colorado November evening wasn’t going to stop him.

“Benji!” John shouted as soon as he turned around and saw him, they ran into each other’s arms and embraced like they hadn’t seen each other for months. “I missed you, I have a lot to tell you!”

A couple of other freshmen exiting Ben’s dorm gave them a weird look but didn’t say anything as they passed. John let go of him and grabbed Ben’s suitcase as Ben pulled out his keycard to let them inside.

“I have a lot to tell you too, it’s really important, can I go first? Ben asked while John’s face took a more serious look as they went up the stairs.

“Okay, I just hope it’s not bad news.” John set the bag back down as they got to Ben’s floor.

“No, I just couldn’t tell you over Facetime.” Ben unlocked his door to a cold and quiet room, Allan wasn’t back yet. John wheeled the suitcase in and Ben hung his Mines ball cap on the outside door handle hoping Allan understood to at least knock before coming in.

John sat on Ben’s bed and Ben joined him. John reached over and held his hand. “So what’s on your mind Benji?”

Ben rubbed his eyes with his other hand and sniffled. “I came out to my family.”

“Whoah, your whole family, like at the Thanksgiving Dinner table? That is brave.” John put his arm around Ben.

“No, just my dad first, then my mom and brother.” Ben sniffled.

“That’s still a big deal.” John held him tightly. “How did they take it?”

Ben sighed. “I told my dad just as we were pulling into the driveway from Sea-Tac, he stopped the truck, got out, and slammed the door so hard it shook the whole thing, then he opened the back and flung all my stuff out onto the lawn and screamed at me to get out of his truck. I got out, the neighbors were watching from across the street, dogs were barking, and my mom had opened the front door.”

“Crap, I guess he did not take it well.” John rubbed Ben on the shoulder.

Ben continued. “Yeah, he got back in his truck, peeled out of the driveway, and drove off without saying anything to my mom or where he was going. She chased after him yelling ‘Steven! What on earth!’ By now Nick and his fiance had made it to the front door too, I started to grab my stuff from the wet grass and Nick was helping me pick it up. My mom started to call my dad frantically but he wasn’t answering.”

“We all went inside and sat down in the living room and I told them what happened and came out to them as well. My mom started sobbing and Nick walked over and gave me a long hug telling me I would always be his baby brother and that he would be there for me no matter what. My mom finally got a grip on herself and told me she always knew since I was at least 10 or 11. She called my dad again and he answered that he was sitting in the scout hall parking lot and he would come back when he was ready. I had no idea what he was doing there, he retired from being a Scoutmaster after the summer when I graduated.”

“All of us had no choice but to sit and wait there for him to come back. My mom made hot chocolate, but I felt this chill running down my spine that a part of my dad had died inside that day. Nick wanted to drive over and see what he was doing but my mom convinced him not to for now.”

“About an hour later we hear the truck pull into the driveway. Nick’s fiance pulls out her phone and starts filming, they had come up with a plan to record if things got heated. My dad opens the front door and my mom confronts him immediately yelling about how he can’t disown their youngest son, he doesn’t say anything, he just stands there and takes it, his face painted with guilt.”

“Eventually he goes to sit down in his chair and says ‘Listen’. He looks directly at me ‘I sat there looking through all your photos on my phone since you were 6, trying to figure out where I failed and went wrong with you and not with Nicolas.’ Nick interrupted him ‘Dad!’ ’Shhh! Not now!’ My dad continued ‘As I went through them I saw that same smiling face staring back at me from kindergarten to now college. I came to the revelation that I didn’t fail you at all, and you would always grow up to be this bright compassionate boy who deeply cared about others and the world around him. I hope you can forgive me for how I overreacted, part of me thought you would still come into your own at college.’ By now all of us were crying, even Kelly, Nick’s fiance, she stopped recording and hugged Nick.”

John had started to sniffle too. “I don’t think I could ever be as courageous as you when it comes to that, my parents would probably both kick me out if I told them that.”

“Well, I also told them that I met someone special, but I didn’t say exactly who, I just said I hoped they would be ready to meet HIM one day when he was ready for it. I also gave my dad the “Mines DAD” shirt you picked out too, he was so happy I gave it to him after what happened he wore it so proudly all Thanksgiving. Anyway, that was it, how was your Zoom Thanksgiving?” Ben asked.

“It wasn’t what I had planned.” John shrugged. “After you left first thing Wednesday morning Connor asks when my flight was home. I told him I wasn’t going, and he just looked at me in disbelief and goes. ‘No honey, that won’t do at all, you’re coming back with me to Colorado Springs, I insist.’ I didn’t protest, but I told him I had to be on Zoom with my family too and he said that would be fine.”

“Thursday morning I walked out with him to meet his brother, Cole, who is picking us up. Cole pulls up in his Jeep with a shocked look on his face and goes. ‘Connor, when were you going to tell us you had a boyfriend?’ I instantly regretted my decision to go along with this.” John laughed.

“Connor explains that I am just his roommate who didn't go back to Wisconsin and Cole somewhat believes him. After the hour or so drive Cole parks and instantly gets out of the Jeep running to the front door of the house not even closing his car door, we follow him, wondering what is up. Cole bursts open the door panting and yells ‘NOT his boyfriend everyone, not Connor’s boyfriend!’ Cole goes back to his Jeep and leaves me standing there at the front door next to Connor with a pillow under my arm and my bag in the other hand. The look on everyone’s face was priceless but they all were so nice afterward. Connor’s mom and sister looked me over once and were a bit disappointed and said that I would have been quite a catch for Connor if I was gay.”

Ben chuckled and slipped his hand between John’s shorts and underwear, the warmth of John’s crotch was something he missed even in the 4 days they were apart. John’s cock instantly came to attention as Ben massaged his tip through the thin fabric of his boxer briefs.

John tried to continue with the distraction. “This whole NOT his boyfriend thing continued as Connor’s other older brother and the rest of his family filtered in and I kept being the center of attention. It didn’t help that I had to now get on Zoom to be with my own family. Luckily my parents didn’t make a big deal about me being at Connor’s house as I thought they would.”

“We finish up dinner and Connor’s sister wants to take Connor, Cole, and me,  Black Friday shopping bright and early. The house is pretty full and has no guest beds left so Connor’s mom makes a nice bed for me out of a small air mattress and some blankets on Connor’s floor. It was only going to be for two nights and I think they were truly enjoying having me over. We turn in for the night and Connor starts blabbing once his mom shuts the door. ‘John, when my mom said you would be quite a catch if you were gay, it occurred to me you stopped talking about Allison a while ago, about the same time you introduced me to Benjamin.’

“I was caught, I wasn’t angry though, more relieved I didn’t need to stop hiding it from him. I told him I was bi and Allison and I had broken up and I had been lying to him about you. Connor was pretty hurt that I couldn’t trust him with that until now, but I told him you were in the closet as well so he’s slowly getting over it. He does think you’re a pretty amazing person when I talked about you and he didn’t know the both of us were boyfriends. I think his family wishes he and I were a couple though, Cole bought me this Cubs sweatshirt when I told him I played baseball like him.” John showed off the logo on his chest.

“So your dynamic with Connor has completely changed now?” Ben squeezed at John’s hard cock again through the boxer briefs.

John moaned softly and answered. “To be honest he’s still pretty hurt, last night when Cole dropped us back off Connor just sat in his bed scrolling on Tiktok and didn’t say a word to me, he’s never been that cold. Maybe if you can sit down with him and tell him you didn’t even come out to your family until now he might feel a bit better. You and he probably should be closer friends anyway, you have a lot in common with him. I found out he loves Chick fil-A when we went shopping so maybe we can take him out to the one in Lakewood for dinner sometime.”

“Okay, if you can get him to talk and set up a date, it sounds like we should do it soon though if he’s that pissed.” Ben had slipped John’s dick through the fly of his boxer briefs and had started to slowly jerk him off out of the fly under the shorts. The fabric of the soft shorts slipped across John’s exposed cock as Ben moved his hand.

John leaned back on the bed with his arms behind him. “I wanted to ask you about something too. This might sound far-fetched and too far into the future but it’s worth a sh….”

The door to the room flung open and Allan yelled. “Why is there a hat on the floor here?” Allan caught a glimpse of Ben pulling his hand out of John’s shorts as he looked back up and stood at the open door motionless holding a Chipotle bag in one hand with his drink in the other.

“Allan… I.. can…..” Ben got up from the bed and struggled with what to say.

Allan let the door close behind him, put his food on his desk, and took off his backpack. “Relax Ben, I barely saw anything.”

“So you already knew?” Ben sighed.

“Of course I did, I’m not clueless. I might like girls but I know what a Grindr notification sounds like, and you stopped trying to hide them after you two went to Utah. It doesn’t take much to put two and two together.” Allan took his laptop from his bag and set it back up on his desk. “Now, if you were wondering, it doesn't matter to me. I’m not going to tell anyone. Just don’t do that stuff when I’m in here and trying to eat.”

“Thanks, Allan. That means a lot.” Ben sat back down on his bed next to John somewhat relieved.

Allan nodded, sat down at his desk, and put in his Airpods to watch anime while he ate.

John was surprisingly undeterred and put his arm back around Ben trying to continue with his question. “This might still sound too far in the future but I was thinking about the summer when we both have to go home again for a while. I guess since you told your family now about me it might not be as huge of an ask. There’s a Luke Combs concert in May that I want to get tickets to with you, it’s in Idaho though, and not Seattle. So maybe I can visit you for a couple of days at your place and we will drive out to Boise for the weekend, find a place to camp, you can teach me some Boy Scout survival skills and we enjoy the concert.”

“Country?” Ben wrinkled his nose.

“Well, yeah I think you’d enjoy him. He’s also playing Soldier Field in Chicago before Boise, but I can’t afford that and a hotel there, and I can’t exactly spend time with you at home if you fly over and visit me in Wisconsin. So what do you think? If I get the tickets will you figure out where to camp since you’re the Boy Scout and have been to Idaho before? John squeezed him tight again.

“That was 7 years ago and I was 11, but of course, you know I’ll go anywhere with you. I just hope my old car can make it across the mountains, I’m not sure my dad would let me take his truck. I’ll talk to my parents over Christmas though, of course, they’d want to meet you.” Ben kissed John on the cheek quickly, remembering Allan was still in the room but not looking at them.”

“Great! I’ll watch when the tickets come out. Now I better go and try to talk to Connor and you can get to unpacking.” John got up, tapped Allan on the shoulder to give him a wave goodbye, and left.