Without looking up, Jase asked, “Will you feed the dogs and let them out?”
“Okay,” Luis said, and then he turned and left them alone.
* * * *
When Luis heard Jase and Betsy leave for the movies, he went downstairs and fed Millie and Mollie. After he let them out, he made a bacon, lettuce, and avocado sandwich. He brought it into the family room and watched television until the sun finally went down around eleven thirty. Betsy had been right. They had been out a long time. Luis turned off the TV, took Millie and Mollie outside one last time for the night, and then went upstairs to take a long, hot shower.
After his shower, he climbed into bed and turned off the lights. It had been a long day and he wasn't too thrilled about the way Jase had treated him earlier. He knew Jase was mad at him for taking off with Ashton that afternoon. He knew this was why Jase was out with Betsy that night. He also knew there was nothing he could do about it; he couldn't interfere with fate. Jase was supposed to be out with Betsy.
He drifted off to sleep sometime around one in the morning. It was a deep sleep and he didn't hear Jase walk into the bedroom at two o'clock. He wouldn't have even known Jase was there if Jase hadn't sat down on his side of the bed and rested his palm on his thigh. When he finally opened his eyes and realized he wasn't alone, he was so confused he bolted forward and shouted at Jase. “What's going on? Where the hell am I?”
Jase grabbed Luis's thigh and spoke in a stage whisper. “It's okay. I'm sorry I scared you. I wanted to talk.”
Luis sat up and rubbed his eyes. It all came rushing back him and he felt a tug in his stomach at the thought of being stuck in 1986. “It's late. I'm so tired, Jase. Let's talk in the morning.”
“I want to take you outside,” Jase said.
Luis was naked; he opened his eyes wider. “It's cool out. I don't feel like getting dressed.” The heat wave had ended and the temperatures had dropped into the upper fifties that night.
Jase reached for a fake fur blanket at the end of the bed and wrapped it around Luis's shoulders. “Wrap this around your body and put on my boots. There's no one home. I want to take you down to the boat docks and talk. There's a full moon out tonight.”
Chapter Twelve
“Put these on and let's go outside,” Jase said, as he handed Luis a pair of his old black western boots.
Luis had a red fake fox fur cover around his naked body. He took the boots from Jase and reluctantly slid his bare feet into them. He wasn't sure why Jase wanted to go down to the docks. It was late and Luis couldn't stop yawning. But Jase seemed so excited about it he didn't have the heart to refuse.
When they exited the house through the kitchen door and walked out to the patio, Luis said, “I hope no one sees me like this. I feel like an idiot. This fur thing barely covers me.”
Jase put his arm around Luis and the fur blanket rode up in the back. The blanket was long but not wide; it barely covered his ass. “There's no one to see you. We're completely alone.” His pensive tone caused a chill to run down Luis's spine.
As they crossed the back lawn, the white light from the full moon guided them safely to the docks. Jase would have guided Luis without or without moonlight. He didn't remove his arm from Luis's shoulders until they reached the docks. The western boots were a little too large for Luis. His heels rubbed against the back of the leather and he didn't want to get blisters. He tried to slow down a few times. But Jase kept pushing him forward as if he were rushing toward something he didn't want to miss.
When they reached the docks, Jase gestured to a wooden bench facing the water and told Luis to sit down. Luis glanced at the bench and shuddered when he imagined how cold it would be against his naked ass and said, “I think I'd rather stand.”
Jase squeezed Luis's arm. He bit his bottom lip and said, “Go sit down.”
“You're hurting my arm. Let go.”
Jase released his arm and started pacing; he ran his fingers through his hair several times and then he kicked the boathouse.
Luis remained still, watching him closely. He finally said, “Jase, why are we down here? Why are you so upset?”
When Jase heard his voice, he stopped pacing and turned around to face him. Jase was at the other end of the main dock by then, about fifty feet away. “I want to talk about us. I've never been so confused in my life. I can't believe I'm fucking a guy and I'm liking it. There is something seriously wrong with me.”
Luis's chest caved in. He knew all the feelings Jase was experiencing from his own personal, dramatic experiences as a young gay man. Although, in hindsight, Luis had always known he was gay, he thought it was a phase in the beginning ... a stage he was going through ... and he'd grow out of it someday. It was classic denial for years, all through his middle grades and part of high school. The only difference between Jase and Luis was Luis had never dated women. This was something he knew he couldn't pull off. But when it finally occurred to Luis being gay wasn't a stage, he wouldn't grow out of it in time, and he would be attracted to men for the rest of his life, he went into a state of panic that led him into a desperate period of promiscuity. This was how Luis wound up playing around with the straight guy at the Texaco in Tennessee. It was the reason he let the hired hand on his father's farm fuck him in the barn everyday that one summer. It reached a point with the hired hand where all Luis did was walk into the barn, drop his pants, and bend over. He didn't know how else to react. He also knew what he was doing and he wanted it. It was as if a flood of emotions had been released and he couldn't control the urges that had been pent up inside him for so long. It was an outrageous time in his life he didn't like to think about often.
So, knowing this, Luis walked over to Jase, with the western heels clicking against the wooden planks. “It's going to be okay, Jase. I mean it. You're going to be okay.”
Jase looked into his eyes and shrugged. There were tears streaming down his face. “But I don't want to be like this. I hate being like this. I only want to be normal like every other guy I know.”
When Jase said this, with such desperation in his voice, Luis's stomach turned in knots. He knew the only thing he could do that night was calm Jase down. There were no easy answers to give him. Jase would have to learn how to accept his sexuality like every other gay man before him. “You're young, Jase. You don't have to make any decisions right now. You have plenty of time. You have plenty of time to experiment. The only thing you have to worry about now is graduating, having fun, and starting college in the fall. Everything else will fall into place, trust me on this.”