Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2023 11:27:00 -0600 From: Julien Gregg Subject: Twilight In Babylon Chapter 1 Twilight in Babylon The Vampire Saga By Julien Gregg Please donate to Nifty to keep this service free. https://donate.nifty.org/ Chapter One First Sight In the state of Texas down by the border to South Texas, there is a town. It is called Babylon. My father is the sheriff down there, and that is where I'll be moving to. A place with dirt instead of grass in most places, one season with a cooling off period, and not a single soul that I know. Well that's not true. I grew up going to Babylon for the summer and met a bunch of kids from the reservation down there. I could probably reconnect with some of them. The point was I was leaving my beautiful Cripen to live in Babylon with my father. My mother, who was my best friend was a scatter-brained lovable woman who looked a lot like me. We had the same dark hair, squared chin, and wide-set eyes. My eye color had come from Charlie, my dad. It was a mixture of blue and brown sort of swirled together to make an iris. It was cool. Most people thought I had kick ass contacts. I didn't have friends to leave behind. I had made no friends. Most people probably wouldn't notice that I was gone. I had stayed to myself, and roamed the halls of the high school without talking to a single soul outside of teachers. I got good grades. That was my defining characteristic. I was a klutz who got good grades in all but gym class. Why was I moving? Because Renee, my mother had married a man named Phillip Dwyer. He was a semi-professional baseball player and he traveled a lot. Mom had stayed with me in Cripen when he traveled but I could tell that she was unhappy with that so I decided to exile myself to the one place on Earth I didn't want to go to. Babylon was a small town with just over twenty thousand people. Cripen was a big city with almost nine hundred thousand people. It was a suburb of Chicago but incorporated into a city of its own in the 2010s. It had three hospitals, four high schools, and two shopping centers. Babylon had three stop lights, two gas stations, one high school, and a small hospital. I was going from a city to a town. But tell me this, if I couldn't make one friend in say ten thousand kids how was I going to make friends in a small town? "You don't have to do this," my mother said for the umpteenth time. "I want to do it," I said, saying it so often that I almost believed myself. "You can come back whenever you want," she said, but I could see the sacrifice in her eyes that my coming back would have been for her. "No," I said. "I'm going to spend some time with Charlie and Kale." "All right," she said. "Tell Charlie I said hello, and give Kale the care package I packed in your bag." Right, my bag. One bag. That was all I owned. Five pairs of jeans, five t-shirts, five pairs of underwear, and five pairs of socks. I had pictures that I treasured and the care package that Mom had baked for Kale. One thing Mom was really good at was cooking and baking. Kale was her favorite of the Swan boys so she baked for him every time I visited. We got in the car and drove to Chicago and to the airport. She hugged me so tight when my flight was called and I finally got away so I could get on the plane. On the plane I sat alone and read a book I'd been carrying around with me. Most people read on tablets now and books are rare. I love them so much so I carried one around with me almost all of the time. We flew in to Corpus Christi and Charlie was waiting for me when I arrived. He looked a bit different than when I'd last seen him. His hair was coffee brown but had white at the temples. His eyes were like mine but his chin was more pointed, and his eyes were closer together. He smiled at me and the skin around his eyes crinkled. "Beau," he said, smiling. He gave me a one armed hug and we headed for the cruiser. That's right. I was being driven into Babylon in the Sheriff's cruiser complete with lights on top. At least he didn't use the siren. We were quiet for a while as we drove but I knew he wouldn't be quiet long. "I see you only brought one bag," he said, breaking the silence that had built between us. "I don't own much," I said. "Just enough clothes for a five day week of school." "We'll have to go shopping for more clothes," he said. "You'll need shorts here. It's hot in Babylon most of the time." Ah yes, the sweltering heat. "I don't have a lot of money for shopping," I said. "I have my car fund." "Well I have a deal for you," he said. "You remember Billy Black?" "No," I lied. Billy Black was a Native American that my dad liked to go fishing with. "Well he's in a wheelchair now and can't drive, so he offered his truck," he said. "When did he buy it?" I asked. "In the fifties," he said. That was twenty years ago. "Did he buy it new?" I asked. "Well, no," he said. "I think it was built in the nineteen sixties." "Ch-Dad," I said. Mustn't call him Charlie to his face. "I don't know a thing about cars. How am I supposed to work on it if it breaks down?" "The thing runs great," he said. "It's fully programmed and the engine sounds like it was the original." "Great," I sighed. "A loud truck that looks like it was built in the nineteen sixties." But the Thing had a nice ring to it. "Look," he said. "It's a great truck and I already bought it for you. Sorta like a homecoming present." "Wow," I said. It was free. "Thanks, Dad." "Well now, you're welcome," he said flustered. He wasn't big on emotional outbursts. "You can use your car fund to buy clothes. I'll even let you go with Kale so you don't have to go in the cruiser." "Thanks," I laughed. Kale drove a Jeep, so I'd have a lot of fun with him. He was also the one who would let me pick my own clothes. Charlie wouldn't. It took two hours to get from Corpus Christi to Babylon, and those two hours were spent mostly in silence. I mentally kicked myself for coming, and Charlie was probably thanking his lucky stars that I had announced that I wanted to live with him after all of these years. Mom had given birth to me at the hospital there in Babylon, she'd stayed until I was walking and then she'd packed us up and moved to Illinois. Charlie came from time to time, but they finally divorced when I was three. Then I was shipped off to Babylon every summer for most of the summer. I put my foot down when I was thirteen and tired of the fishing trips and hiking through the woods. Then my father met me half way in Missouri at Silver Dollar City. We'd hang out there for two weeks and then back to Babylon he'd go and I'd go back to Mom in Cripen. It wasn't a great set up, but it was what I could handle. Now here I was going back to Babylon after three years of keeping away from it, and I was the one who decided I would move in with Charlie so Mom could travel with Phillip. It was enough to make me crazy. We pulled into Babylon and Charlie stopped at the gas station on the east side of town to fill up the cruiser and buy me a soda. Then we drove from there to the house. The house was a two-story, three-bedroom with an eat-in kitchen and a living room. It sat on a small hill and the garage was actually under the house. Charlie parked in the driveway. In front of the house was an old bubble-cab red truck. I got out of the car and walked to the truck. I looked at the tires and at the bulbous hood and smiled. I really liked it. I didn't know if it would run, but it was so me. I turned to Charlie and surprised the hell out of him as I hugged him. "Thanks, Dad," I said. "I love it." "Well now," he said. "You're welcome like I said. It's got new tires and the computer has been updated." "Let me get my bag," I said as I walked back to the cruiser. I grabbed it and followed him into the house. The house hadn't changed. It was still hardwood floors and blue painted plaster walls. It was the same in the kitchen, but the cabinets were yellow. My mom had painted them when they'd first moved in. It was the only splash of color in the house. The furniture was all blue from the couch to the settee and recliner. The coffee table and end tables were the same shade of wood as the hardwood floors. The molding and window frames were all the same shade of wood as the hardwood floors. See the pattern here? I went up the stairs to the second floor to the room I'd always slept in when I was there. It hadn't changed much. Gone was the single bed and a full sized bed had taken it's place. There was a blue comforter and blue cased pillows on the bed. There was a desk that was new with an older model computer that was hooked into the wall jack. At least I'd have the computer to talk to Mom. She was notorious for losing her cell phone. I put my jeans, underwear, and socks in the drawers of the dresser. I hung my shirts in the closet. My pictures went on the nightstand and the desk. My bathroom stuff fit on one of the shelves above the sink that they had cleared for me. Then there was the care package of muffins for Kale. I sat that on the desk and went downstairs. Kale was working in his flower shop on Main Street. He'd opened that when I was eight. It was called Petals. He did quite a bit of business because he was the only one in town. I'd see him when he left work for the night. Charlie had a crock pot full of his famous chili and he dished us up bowls. We sat at the table and ate in silence. The one thing I liked most about Charlie was he didn't feel the need to fill the silence with unnecessary chatter. To him most talk was unnecessary, and it was like that for me, too. I just had nothing to say most of the time. After the bowls were washed, dried and put away I went up to face chat with my mother to let her know that I had arrived and all was good. I told her about Kale being at work and how quiet it was in the house. She told me she missed me and God did I miss her, but I didn't tell her that for fear that she'd demand that I come back. After that I just sat on my bed and read my book. It was a Tony Stapleton book about the fall of the American government and what had replaced it. I was really interested in the history of North America, and this book took place when the United States was just the middle of the continent. Kale came home around six and we had dinner which was more chili. I gave him the care package and he told me to thank my mother for the muffins. Charlie asked if he could have one and Kale gave one to both of us. The rest he put in his room. Kale looked a lot like my dad but younger. That's because he was ten years younger than Charlie with coffee colored hair, the Swan blue-brown eyes, and a smirk that he was famous for. He was physically fit from his days at the gym, and he looked good. My first night in the house was spent tossing and turning. It was just too quiet. I missed the cop cars and the sounds of the city. I finally fell asleep around two in the morning. I was not a morning person and slept past time for Charlie to go off to work. It was Kale's day off so we went shopping. We drove the two hours to Corpus and shopped in the shopping mall there. I bought shorts in different colors and styles, more t-shirts, and two sweat shirts. I bought things for gym class at school and two pair of New Days high-top gym shoes. These were the kind that zipped instead of tied. The were really popular in Cripen but I had never bought a pair. We had a late lunch and he asked me what I'd been up to. He asked about my mom and Phillip. Then he asked me what I was really doing in Babylon. I told him the same thing I'd been kicking around in my head. "Mom wants to travel with Phillip so I came to spend some time with you guys," I said. "But you never wanted to come back here," he said. "Things change, Kale," I said. "I'm only sixteen. I have two years until I'm eighteen and can live where I want but until then I have to have one parent with me at all times. I had no friends to stay with so I'm here." "And miserable," he said. "Not so far," I laughed. "But school hasn't started. That's when I'll be miserable." "You've always gotten good grades, Beau," he said. "Yes, and I'll continue to get good grades," I said. "School it just awkward and sometimes painful." "Don't let them push you around," he said. "You'll like the kids here. They're mostly friendly." "That wasn't why it was painful," I said, smiling. "The other kids left me alone. Gym class was painful. I'm a klutz on the court." "Oh," he laughed. "I might be able to help you with that." "Please do," I said. I had him take me to the grocery store in Babylon so I could buy groceries. I knew that he and Charlie didn't cook. Charlie's idea of cooking was to throw things in the crock pot and hope for a stew. I got vegetables, meat, cereal, milk, bread, butter, and a few other things. "Tell me you're taking over cooking," he said. "I get a good meal once a day from the diner and then I come home to what your father thinks is food." "I'll start tonight," I laughed. I got the chicken cut up and ready to marinate, located the rice, crushed tomatoes, and celery. I cut up an onion, celery, and garlic. Then I put some olive oil in a pan and stirred the veggies around in it to saute them. When that was done I added the chicken and cooked it until it was done. Then I dumped a can of crushed tomatoes into it, stirred it up, added basil and spices, covered it, and then boiled water for the rice. Kale watched me like a hawk. "What are you making?" he asked. "Chicken and rice," I said. "It's a simple recipe my mother taught me to make it." "Then it should be edible," he said. I got some of the baked bread out and cut it in half. Then I slathered garlic butter over each piece and wrapped them in foil. I put them in the preheated oven for five minutes. I was putting it all together when Charlie came in. "Smells good in here," he said, smiling. "Have a seat," I said. "It's almost done." "Let me wash up and take off my uniform," he said, walking up the stairs. Kale and I sat down and waited for him. He was only a few minutes and then we tucked in. They both said how good the food was and I smiled at them. Charlie said the same thing that Kale said about me taking over the cooking. I assured them that I would cook every day. Kale did the dishes and I went upstairs to read my book. Charlie sat in front of the television watching baseball. There were five days until school started and I was trapped in the house for those days. I didn't mind though. I'd bought the second book in the series to the one I was currently reading. I had plenty to read. The next day Billy Black showed up with his son Jacob. I'd known Jacob when we were little, but he'd been a year younger than me. I'd played with his sisters most of the time. I pretended not to notice that he drove up in an old Dodge with Billy. "Billy!" cried Charlie as he came out of the house to meet them. "It's good to see you." "Hey, Charlie," he said and wheeled himself around the car to come before Charlie. "Brought you fish and fish fry." "From Hairy Clearwater?" Charlie asked. "Is there another kind?" laughed Billy. I came down the stairs and out the door to see them. Billy asked me how I liked the truck. I told him I liked it so far but hadn't driven it yet. Jacob, who was several inches taller than my own five feet eleven inches made his presence known. "I'll drive around the area with you if you want to take it for a test drive," he said. "Sure," I said as I fished the key out of my pocket. "You kids be careful," Charlie called after us. I just waived. "So how is it living with your dad?" Jacob asked as he climbed into the cab of the truck. "So far so good," I said. "How's life on the reservation?" "Not bad," he said, smiling at me. Jacob had a russet skin tone, dark eyes and a head full of long dark hair. He was muscular as well. We drove around the neighborhood a few times. He told me that the truck wouldn't go faster than sixty-five. It was programmed that way. I thought Charlie was behind this but didn't say anything. Jacob and I fell into an easy rapport fairly quickly. He remembered me from my times spent in summers in Babylon. We talked about schools, ways to beat the heat, and girls. He didn't seem all that excited by girls, and I was gay so that part of the conversation didn't go far. We got back a few minutes later. I parked the truck where it had been behind where Kale parked his Jeep. Then Jacob and I went inside to the smell of fish frying on the stove. I went into the kitchen out of fear but found that Billy was the one frying the fish. Charlie was sitting at the table. He had the fish in a pan and fries in a sauce pan even though we had a deep fryer. I let him cook it his way and just sat at the table with Charlie and Jacob. Charlie was smiling so I was happy. Kale came in and joined us at the table. He looked good in his hunter green polo and gray shorts. The name of the store was embroidered into the left breast of the shirt. He had another one in his hand. "Beau, I brought you a shirt in case you decide to make a little money," he said. "You can run the register while I teach you to do the arrangements if you'd like." "I think that's a great idea," Charlie said. "It'll get you out of the house." "When school starts you can keep working or quit," he said. "I know you'll have a lot of homework and stuff." "Sounds good," I told him. "I might even keep the job when school starts if I can work the right hours." "I'm in good with the manager," he said with a smirk. "I'll make sure you get the right hours." "Then it's a deal," I said, smiling. I looked at Jacob. "You can come to town and visit me at the store from time to time." "Remember that you're there for work," Charlie scolded. "Yes, Dad," I said, making Jacob laugh. I started at Petals the very next morning. The store was nice with gray carpet and white walls. There were coolers with flower arrangements in them on both sides of the store. The counter was at the back with a standard register and receipt system. I even had a pad to write orders on. Kale showed me basics that day but I did a lot of sales at the register. He was busy all day long with floral arrangements, bouquets, and balloons. By the time we knocked off when Ray, the six foot, blonde haired night guy came in at four. I'd had a good time working with Kale and face chatted with my mother to tell her all about it. She called me a working stiff and laughed like a loon. Then I made dinner for Charlie and Kale, read my book, and hung out in my room for the rest of the night. The next day I did it all over again. I really liked working the register and showed a certain flair for arranging flowers. Kale let me help all day the second day and we took turned answering the phone and ringing up sales. The day went faster that way. The days became a pattern for me. I liked it too. The problem was that five days later school started. I fired up the tuck and headed to the other side of town almost all the way out of town to the "new" high school. The old one was across the street and the little kids had school there. I parked in the lot and made my way into the building. I went straight to the guidance office and stood at the counter. The whole room was green. The carpet, the walls, and the counter. There were even potted plants to bring in more green. A woman who was maybe fifty pounds overweight with dark hair that she had pulled into a bun, green eyes made huge by her glasses, and a big smile met me when I came to the counter. "Can I help you, dear?" she asked. "I'm Beau Swan," I said. "Oh, of course," she said. I was expected. She looked around and found a packet of papers and handed them to me. "Your schedule is in there along with the school calendar, parking permit, and a map of the school. Now your homeroom is just down the hall. Have a nice day." "Thank you," I said and made my way out of the office and down the hall to my homeroom. The class was air conditioned which I was thankful for. There were about twenty kids in the room. They all looked at me as I came in. They watched me as I took a seat toward the back. Some of them turned to watch me after that. I put my nose in my schedule and didn't look up. "You're Beau Swan, right?" said a boy with blonde spiked hair and blue eyes. He was seated beside me. "Yes," I said. "I'm Mike Newton," he said, smiling. "Nice to meet you," I said. "What's your next class?" he asked. "Calculus," I said. "With Foster." "Hey I'm in that class too," he said. "I'll walk with you." "Thank you," I said, wondering why he was being so friendly. The teacher, Mr. Spindler called roll then. When he got to my name everyone turned to look at me. I was a celebrity it seemed. Son of the Sheriff and his cracked-pot wife who ran off to God knew where finally come home. It made me self conscious. Mike smiled at me though. We were only in the class for fifteen minutes while announcements were run. Then we were headed to Calculus and Mike walked just a tad too close for my klutz of a self but we made it. Mr. Foster who I hated on principle for the class he taught made me stand in front of everyone and talk about myself. I stumbled through my name, and why I'd come here from Cripen, Illinois. They watched me like a hawk which made me subconscious. I was finally able to take a seat at the back of the class next to a Hispanic boy named Eric. He talked to me as Mr. Foster went over what we'd be covering in class. He was just as friendly as Mike Newton. He politely told me that his name was Eric Espinoza and asked me about my classes. It turned out that Mike and Eric were in a lot of my classes. It made sense. It wasn't a huge school. I made it to all of my classes on time that day but it was mostly because either Eric or Mike was walking beside me to guide me. Sometimes they were on either side of me as we walked. It made me laugh almost like they were guarding me so I wouldn't run away. I finally made it to lunch and Mike introduced me to all of his friends who I quickly forgot. There was one girl named Lauren that seemed to dislike me on sight. She was in my American History class second hour. I looked around the cafeteria and spotted an odd site. There were seven of them sitting together at a table, but only the two dark haired boys seemed to be eating. The others sat looking at nothing with trays of untouched food in front of them. But what caught my eye was the fact that they were all crushingly beautiful. The older ones, the two blonds looked like they'd stepped out of a fashion magazine. The smaller one, dark haired and kind of impish suddenly stood, grabbed his tray, and walked away. I watched him go and he dumped all of the untouched food in the trash and put the tray on top of the waste bin. Then he left the cafeteria. "Who are they?" I asked. "Who?" Mike asked, but he could probably tell by the way I'd said it. "Oh, them," he said. "Those are the Maxwells. Edward, Roman, Emit, Jasper, John, and Jason. The shorter one that left already was Archie Maxwell. They live with two doctors who are their foster parents or something." "They look too old to be foster children," I said. "Well they are now," he said. "They're all like eighteen or something. Not Edward and Archie. They're in classes with us." "Oh," I said. "Did they always live here?" "No," he said. "They moved down here from California a few years ago." So they were like me, new, stared at, friendless, and probably miserable. Almost like kindred spirits. I watched as Edward the younger looking one with bronze colored hair and icy eyes looked at me. He looked at me like he was expecting something but then looked away. "They're very good looking," I said. He smiled, "Yes," he said. "But they're together. Archie and Jasper, Roman and Emit. I think Edward and Jason are a thing. They seem tighter with each other than the others. I'm not sure about that, though." He'd said it like it was a scandal. I had to admit that it would be a scandal in Illinois as well. Foster children dating each other and living under the same roof. I looked at them again and thought about it. It made me a bit hot to think about it actually. I turned off that line of thought as fast as I could. Mike walked with me to Chemistry class after lunch. I got to the classroom and told the teacher, Mr. Varner who I was and thankfully he didn't make me stand in front of the class and introduce myself. He handed me a textbook which was odd and told me to sit next to Edward Maxwell. I walked down the row and took the seat at the table next to Edward. He smiled at me when I sat down but didn't say anything. He seemed to stare at me the whole time we were in class. It made me a bit uncomfortable. Yet every time I looked at him he was paying attention to the lecture. One thing I had to say about Edward Maxwell was that he was drop dead gorgeous. He was lean but toned. He wore a blue t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts. On his feet were hiking boots of all things but they looked good on him. I noticed all of this with stolen glances all hour long. When the bell rang he got up and left the room before anyone else could move. I wondered what his problem was. "Hey," said Mike. "What happened to Maxwell?" "I don't know," I said. "We never said a word to each other." I got home around three and had homework to do. I put that aside and headed for the flower shop to work my three hour shift. I worked with Ray who was all business while he was working. Much to my surprise Eric Espinoza drove the delivery van for the store on week days. He came in, saw me, and smiled. "Beau," he said. "What are you doing here?" "My uncle owns the shop," I said. "Right, Kale," he said. "He's a good guy to work for." "Yeah," I said, smiling. "Listen, I've got deliveries, so I'll talk to you later," he said. "Welcome aboard." "Thanks," I said. "I'll see you." I worked the register while Ray worked in the back. When my shift was over he came up to the register and shook my hand. I drove home and got dinner started. Charlie came in and Kale came downstairs. We'd be having dinner later when I worked. I hoped they were okay with that. I made pork chops, green beans, and macaroni and cheese with bread rolls. "So how was your first day at school?" Charlie asked. "Not bad," I said. "I've had some of those classes already." "Well I hope you won't be too bored," he said. "Do you know the Maxwells?" I asked. "Sure, the doctors' kids," he said. "Great bunch. They never start any trouble and I thought they would with all of those teenagers. Did you meet them today?" "I sort of met Edward," I said. "He sits next to me in Chemistry." "Dr. Nathan performed Gill's bypass surgery last year," he said. "Hulk of a man but good with his hands." "Doctor Gabriel orders flowers for his husband all of the time," Kale said. "Sometimes he comes in and picks them up after his shift at the hospital." "Is Doctor Nathan his husband?" I asked. "No," he said. "His husband's name is Elfric." "Weird name," I said. "Yeah, but if you ever see him you'll see it fits him," he laughed. "Kinda looks like an elf." "They're all very good looking," I said. "You should see Doctor Gabriel," said Kale. "He looks like a model." "Enough about what he looks like," Charlie said, clearly uncomfortable. I'd told my parents that I was gay when I was fourteen. They'd taken it all right. Mom had told me to experiment before I chose a label. The children of this day and age weren't as hung up on labels. They dated both sexes without problems. I had witnessed this in high school in Cripen. Boys with boys and girls with girls was common and no one commented on it. After dinner I did my homework in my room. I face chatted with my mother and told her all about my first day at school. I told her I seemed to have made a few friends which made her happy but shocked her. The next day I was a popular boy. I'd had no idea that Archie and Jason were in my homeroom. They sat on either side of me before Mike could get into the room. Archie introduced himself. "I'm Archie Maxwell," he said. "Beau Swan," I replied. "We know," he said. "You're the sheriff's son." "That's me," I said, wondering why they were talking to me. I'd gotten the impression from Mike that they rarely talked anyone but each other. "I'm Jason Maxwell," said the other boy. "We're going to be great friends," Archie said. "Are we?" I asked, stunned. "Oh yeah," he said. "I have a feeling." Jason followed me to Calculus, sat beside me and kept a conversation going. I did the equations on the board. He told me that we should hang out some time. I was stunned again. I'd never had friends and didn't know how to act. "I have to work every week night for three hours," I said. "Yeah, I know," he said. "You work at Petals." "How did you know?" I asked. "Small town," he said simply. "It is that," I said, quietly missing Cripen and my mother. "Why do you look like that?" he asked. "What's got you down?" "Missing people form my home town," I replied. "Yeah, that can be tough but you've got me and Archie," he said. "It seems that I do," I said with a smile. The bell rang after that and I got out of there. Jason went in a different direction and I went to my American History class. I had this class with Mike and Eric. They talked to me for the whole hour as the teacher told us to read the chapter quietly. I'd had this class and read the entire book. At lunch people were friendly to me again other than Lauren. Still I felt better on my feet today than I did the day before. Jason and Archie had thrown me for a loop but at least they were back with their family at lunch. They did wave at me and I waved back. "How do you rate?" Lauren asked put out by what had happened. "Don't know," I said and sat down with my tray of food. "Edward Maxwell is staring at you," a girl named Jessica said. I looked over and he smiled at me. That shocked me. I smiled back. Lauren commented that I was the most popular boy in school. I ignored her. Edward went back to talking to Archie. Roman looked over at me and gave me a curious look and then looked away. "Why doesn't he just sit with the Maxwells?" Lauren was asking Jessica. I just ate my lunch with anticipation for Chemistry. Would Edward talk to me today? He'd smiled at me. I wasn't counting my chickens or anything but I hoped he would. God he was good looking. After lunch I followed Mike into Chemistry. I took my seat at the table but Edward wasn't there. I looked at the front of the room and saw that he was talking to the teacher. He came and sat beside me. "Hello, I'm Edward Maxwell," he said, smiling at me. "I didn't get the chance to introduce myself yesterday." "Beau Swan," I said, he nodded at this. "My brothers are telling me that they're your friends," he said. "That's what they told me too," I said. "Tell me, where did you live before you came here?" he asked. "Well I was born here," I said. "We moved away when I was just a year old. I came here from Cripen, Illinois." "And your mother's name is Renee Dwyer, right?" he asked. "That's right," I said, wondering where he was going with this. "And your grandparents?" he asked. "Uh, my grandparents were dead before I was born," I said. "I don't really know anything about them." "I'm sorry," he said. "That's all right," I said. "I just don't know much about them. I know they were from Illinois." "It's okay," he said, smiling. "I'm just being nosy." "The kids at the lunch table tell me you don't talk to anyone but your siblings," I said and then mentally kicked myself for saying it. "Well, I'm talking to you," he said. "But they're right. We've kept to ourselves until now." "What changed?" I asked. "You came to town," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm having a hard time understanding why you all think that I'm your friend," I said. "I haven't called you my friend," he pointed out. "Fair," I said. "But your brothers did." "You'd have to ask my brothers why they consider you to be their friend," he said, smiling at me again. "So I'm not your friend?" I asked. "No, it wouldn't be a good idea for you and I to be friends," he said. "All right," I said, stung. I turned and faced the front of the classroom. Luckily the teacher brought the class to order after that. I couldn't figure out why I was so hurt by his telling me that we couldn't be friends. If I was honest I'd hoped to be more than his friend, but I was no stranger to not getting what I wanted. Why did this hurt so much? When the bell rang it was my turn to get the hell out of there before he had packed his book bag. I had to get away from him. I was thinking of asking the teacher to switch partners for the year. When I got to work I was happy to see that there were no Maxwells in the shop. I ran the register and let Ray work in the back. Just before my shift ended, Mike came in with an order form. He picked up a vase filled with roses for his mother. He told me he thought it was cool that I worked here. I smiled and told him I was about to go home and cook dinner. "Come to the diner instead," he said. "Your dad and Kale are already over there." "All right," I said. "I'll see you there." I finished my shift, clocked out, and headed to the diner. It was right across the street. I walked over. Dad and Kale were happy to see me and beckoned me to their table. A sweet looking older woman with almost white hair pulled into a bun behind her head handed me a menu. "He'll have the special," Charlie said, grinning at me. "You'll love it." "Okay, sure," I said, wondering what the special was. I noticed that Mike, Jessica, Lauren, Tyler, Eric, and Angela were at a table at the other end of the diner. Mike and Angela smiled at me. I smiled back. Lauren gave me a dirty look. I didn't return it. "Friends?" Charlie asked. "More or less," I said. "I'm navigating the school pretty easily. Mike and Eric showed me how to get from class to class quickly." "That's good," he said. "Boy your age needs guy friends." Did he forget that I'm gay? Sometimes I wondered. He said things like this from time to time and I never knew what to make of it. Of course I'd not been his gay son with a boyfriend so far, so maybe he did forget a bit. The special turned out to be country fried steak with country gravy, mashed potatoes, and corn. It came with a nice serving of peach cobbler. Ella, the woman who had given me the menu brought it to the table and called me sweetie. I ate the greasy food but had to admit that it did taste good. Charlie and Kale talked about fishing of all things as I ate my food. Mike and Eric were still trying to get my attention and get me to come to the table, but with Lauren there being a bitch I was staying right where I was. I left when Charlie and Kale left. I did tip Ella though. I drove home and did homework since dinner had been taken care of. Out of boredom I read the chapter in American History and answered the questions at the end of the chapter. That was the assignment but I could have answered the questions without reading the chapter. I read my book for a while and tried not to think of Edward Maxwell not wanting to be my friend. It was hard. I'd never experienced that kind of rejection before. I'd never tried to have friends before so it was hard for me to accept that he didn't want to be my friend when his brothers were so keen on the idea. I went to bed that night and dreamt of Edward Maxwell for the first time. It was an unsettling dream and it left me feeling as if I'd had very little sleep when I got up in the morning. I wasn't looking forward to Chemistry Class. I'd never skipped a class in my life, so I had to go. I just wasn't looking forward to being around Edward Maxwell. Neither Jason or Archie said a word to me that morning, and I started to think I had imagined the day before. I got through the day without them, though. I was a little depressed over the lack of friendship on their parts but it was mostly Edward. I had lunch with everyone and no one seemed to notice that I wasn't very talkative. To be honest most of the time I wasn't very talkative. Mike talked to me but after getting only one word answers every time he tried he gave up. In Chemistry class I said not one word to Edward Maxwell. I didn't ask the teacher to assign me a new partner either. I figured I'd stay with him and he'd just have to be uncomfortable with it or I would be. Whatever. Things went on like this for days. Jason and Archie talked to me from time to time but the "great friends" that Archie had predicted wasn't coming to fruition. I gave up on all things Maxwell and went about my life. It wasn't as if being their friend had a direct effect on my life at this point. They'd only talked to me in school. We had our first lab class and we proved to work together efficiently but quietly. I was over it now. I just existed in this class and talked to no one until it was over. Then I was friendly with Mike and Eric as they walked me to my next class. At work I never saw a Maxwell. Orders came in from Gabriel Maxwell but they were delivered and never picked up. It seemed I was to be just another of the masses to the Maxwells and that was okay with me. I didn't really know them anyway. I did hang out with Mike and Eric from time to time but a new boy was in classes with us starting the following Monday. I really liked Angela Weber. For a girl she was really nice and didn't try to fill up every moment with chatter. The new boy in school was her cousin, Mitch Weber. I made him feel welcome as soon as he showed up. Mitch and I started to hang out a lot and he proved to be an excellent friend for me. He was quiet just like me but he seemed to be thoughtful of others and went out of his way to help his cousin, which was fine with me. He came into the flower shop and bought roses a few times. These were for his mother because she loved them so. Always pink, and I told Kale to keep pink roses on order for Mitch for his mother. Kale agreed. Mitch bought them twice a week. He wasn't the only one to buy pink but he was the most common purchaser. My life became a pattern over the next month. I'd go to school, hang out with the group at lunch, work three hours, make dinner and then hang out with Mitch for a while. We went to movies, hung out at the diner, and we studied together a lot. It was good for both of us. I noticed that Edward Maxwell watched us together a lot. That confused me. I didn't know what he was watching for. Jason and Archie told me that they had noticed that Mitch and I were friendly. I told them that Mitch was a good guy and I liked hanging out with him. They seemed to think something else was going on but I assured them that Mitch was straight. They accepted that. Then Edward stopped watching us so much. September became October and with it came rain. It rained for three days straight at the beginning of October. Then it rained about every other day through the month of October. Mud was everywhere in town. It made driving conditions almost impossible at times. Thankfully my tires were new and handled the mud better than some. I took to taking Mitch and Angela to school because their Chevy wouldn't drive on the mud and remain stable. They liked the boom of the engine of my truck more than I did but we made it to school every day without incident. Edward Maxwell continued to pretend I didn't exist. I was no longer hurt or frustrated by this. I had written him off as well. He was a good looking, self centered ass as for as I was concerned. I didn't go out of my way to talk to Archie or Jason either. People stopped talking about how I had gotten further with the Maxwells than any of them. Now I was just one of the masses. I was thinking I needed a boyfriend all of a sudden and I didn't know why. Edward was a good looking boy and he'd awakened something in me that had never existed before. I found myself assessing the boys in class with me every day. It was very distracting. I especially assessed them in the showers after gym class, but looking too long there could get you beat up. I didn't linger on any of them too long. Mike seemed to like to be looked at. He gave me every opportunity to do it. I had to get a grip on myself or Charlie was going to lock me up. He hadn't said anything but I know he caught me looking at the boys in the diner on our once a week outing. I wasn't concerned at first but then he said something about it. "You're getting restless or something," he said. "When you told me you were gay I assumed you had a boyfriend but your mother told me you didn't. Now I see you looking at the young guys at the diner and I wonder if you're thinking about getting a boyfriend." "I'm thinking about it," I said. "But that's all at this point. None of them have shown an interest in me other than Mike Newton and he's not what I'm into." "Well we don't have to worry about it unless you find one to return your interest I guess," he said. "Not sure I'm ready for this but we'll see." That was all he said on the matter. I didn't know what to think of it.