A New Dream [Dreams: 1] (13 page)

C
hapter 19 –
D
avid:
The day everything went wrong

W
eeks went by and David couldn’t have been happier. His days at work were incredibly satisfying. He loved the patrons, all of them people who were looking for a good time. He preferred the music days but he enjoyed the time he spent in the office too. It was a quiet place, even though it led directly into the bar. The job itself seemed easy; as David’s grandmother used to say, “
ce qu’on apprend au berceau dure jusqu’au tombeau”.
Like riding a bicycle, everything he had learned when he used to work with his parents had come back easily.

He loved the staff too. Bit by bit, he had given more and more responsibilities to Sin and he was truly happy with her work. She was quiet and shy in front of the patrons but at ease and creative as soon as she was cooking. She was now responsible for the food supply and menu preparation, with Bo’s consent. To get to know her a bit better, he had wound up playing twenty questions. It had been torture for her; she wasn’t inclined to talk about herself. He’d managed to learn that she was 19 years young and when she was not working at The Black Bulldog, she was at a shelter nearby, providing general help and cooking for LGBT runaways and thrownaways, as she called them. It was when she had met Danny there that she had found out about Bo and the restaurant. She was smart and fun but it had taken some time for her to get used to David. She was efficient and a precious help in the kitchen. From what David had been able to gather, Sinead had lost her dad to cancer and her mom from despair a few months after. She had no one to look after her so this job had come along at just the right time.

She had opened up like a sunflower, focused and serious in the shades of the kitchen but she would smile and blush when someone came up to the kitchen to ask her for one of her recipes. David had at long last convinced her to go into the main room to check on the patrons once or twice. Over time, David had seen some changes in her and he admired the sweet and charming young lady.

Jet offered a great contrast with Sin. She was the Queen of Sarcasmville. Her caustic and dry humor often made them both burst out in laughter, sometimes even when the room was full of impatient patrons. She was so competent and funny that David was eager to work night shifts. She told him about her job in the bookstore and some of the conversations she overheard there were more than a little weird. She was more secretive when it concerned her personal life but Danny had let slip one day she had recently come out of a difficult relationship. David wasn’t one to pry ―he thought, if she wanted to confide in him at some point, he’d be there for her.

He had come to appreciate Danny as well. His life as a student and waiter wasn’t easy either, especially without help from his parents. David had learned a long time ago that the restaurant industry offered a lot of different jobs, allowing people from a large diversity of universes to find a way to survive. Danny was one of them.

As far as Bo was concerned, he was fairly absent since David and James had declared their love to each other. Apparently, he had gone to Louisiana to save a long lost girlfriend who’d been wrongly accused of something. Bo had said he couldn’t leave an old flame in the hands of dubious lawyers and corrupt cops. So, this was an episode to be continued in the soap of their lives. David didn’t have a clue what was going on or how long he would be gone.

David and James had become closer since James had opened up about his fears. They had few moments for themselves but between Mondays and afternoons, they managed to visit the city. James had shown him his favorite places around Boston. David’s all time favorite was the Waterfront. They’d had a great time watching the boats, even taking one to visit the islands surrounding Long Island. The diversity in the landscapes was what he loved the most about the Boston area. Whether they presented cliffs or sandy beaches, none of the islands were quite the same as the next one. They had taken amazing photos out there. Of course, they had also observed the whales; it had been one of the most magical moments.

New England was a fantastic region. A few miles from Boston, you could find breathtaking landscapes, indubitably different from the city of Boston itself. That was what he loved here and what had him coming to the States in the first place. It was the cradle of Liberty, where the revolution had found its foundations; Boston was one of the oldest cities in the country.

They had strolled up and down the streets as they followed the Freedom Trail, a red line that wound its way through Boston for two and a half miles. They had discovered a lot of the historical places, from Massachusetts State House and its golden dome to the Old State House, the Italian district and ancient cemeteries.
Ah, cemeteries…
David smiled thinking about it. Having an open cemetery in the middle of a city, without so much as a fence, was unbelievable to a Frenchman; James had laughed when he’d seen his face, as he looked with incredulity at the Granary Burying Ground. But he had been in awe in front of the mix of modern glass covered skyscrapers and ancient red-bricked monuments of Boston. It gave a surprising atmosphere to the city. One street you were in the twenty-first century, at the next corner it was like you had stepped back in time to the seventeenth. And, God, had he loved it!

They had spent the Fourth of July on the Esplanade, watching the fabulous Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular as they listened to the Boston Pops Orchestra performing at the Hatch Shell. It had been a lovely night, David wasn’t even close to forgetting. They had made a list of places they’d like to take the kids to when they would visit later in the summer. It was James who’d thought of it. David loved him even more for his thoughtfulness.

Now, as July was coming to an end, David had a permanent smile on his face. These last few weeks had passed in a blur of bliss. Happiness and freedom had been the leading words in his life lately.

James had opened up to him, even introducing him to his baby sister via Skype. She was nice and funny and David had loved chatting with her. The conversation hadn’t lasted long but they had planned to organize a family meeting for Christmas here in Boston.

Their sex life had taken a slight kinky direction. David had let James lead him to places where he had never thought to go. James had helped him reveal some dark sides David had ignored. But James had seen through him, had read him well enough to be able to provide what David needed without even knowing it himself. It had given a certain rhythm to their relationship and, though David stayed attentive to the slightest hint, James didn’t seem ready to bolt.

They were living in David’s flat as James used his bad knee as an excuse to not go upstairs. It made David smile, more so when James lifted him up as if he weighed no more than a feather. Nevertheless, he accepted the excuse for what it was and was happy to welcome him in his bed every night. They had rearranged the second floor flat as their private gym room. They unwontedly enjoyed verifying the accuracy of the old proverb “after effort comes comfort”…

Tonight was one of the music nights and the first group they’d had was coming back for a new round, so David and James had agreed to have some quiet time together, rather than go out into Boston or work out. They dozed on and off all afternoon after the first shift, James zapping between sports channels and David reading, his head comfortably settled on his lover’s thighs. They had grown accustomed to each other and, as they got ready for the night shift, it felt so…
domestic…
to David. He adored the feeling. They had brushed a light kiss here, a quick hug there but they exchanged no words, none were required. David was almost expecting something to go wrong. It was almost too perfect.

David enjoyed himself a lot during the first hours of the night shift. Events took a turn for the worse around eleven o’clock. The doors to the bar opened, admitting five young men ―aged between thirty and thirty five years old― wearing battered clothes. They looked like they had made a few stops on Thirsty Street, bar-hopping all night long.
Walking trouble.
David thought. James, David and Jet exchanged glances and David nodded to Jet, silently warning her that he would take care of them. James strolled over to David, to have his back, ready to intervene if need be.

Before they had time to serve the men, the band came back from their break. As the first chords of the song reached his ears, David recognized the song
Same Love
by Macklemore but he found the jazzy cover more alluring than the original. Macklemore, in the female singer’s voice, told them how he had wondered about his own sexual orientation as a kid ―
a bunch of stereotypes in
his
head―
because his uncle was gay. It continued about how gay had become an insult in the daily language spoken by youngsters. He spoke about tolerance, love and equality.

The newcomers started to get agitated, whistling and insulting the musicians who continued to perform as if nothing was happening. Clearly, they didn’t get the meaning of the word tolerance. Quickly, James interposed himself.

“Hey, please, show some respect here. We don’t want any trouble; we just want to listen to good music.” He stated in a flat voice as he moved closer to the group.

“Good music?” The taller man of the group spat. He was handsome with his dark short hair and icy blue eyes, but his smile was cruel, twisted. Alcohol slowed his movements but the hatred in his eyes spoke volumes. He wore faded black jeans, a black t-shirt and a black leather jacket, the dark clothes somehow impersonating his somber personality.

“My buddies and I are here to have a nice drink together and what we find is a fucking queer stash! Fuck, man! That’s not fucking right. It’s just next to a fucking cathedral, man!” David watched silently, a quick glance around telling him everyone in the bar was eyeing the altercation. He was accustomed to word fights, as a former lawyer, but he wasn’t ready for this blatant violence. James looked far more used to it.

“I think it’s time for you to leave now,
man
.” James emphasized the last word, mimicking the tall drunk. He lifted his hands in a calming gesture, his tone not deluding David for a second. Even though his voice was steady and low, David could feel the tension emanating off of him in waves. He looked cool and composed, but inside he was probably boiling.

“What’s it to you, man? You bouncer or what?” The tall man smirked and a nasty sparkle lit his eyes. “Oh, maybe you’re one of
them
, right, honey? Maybe you need a real man to show you what’s real life, huh!” He grabbed his groin in a rude gesture and James tensed next to David, furling and unfurling his fists. The man picked up on the movement and laughed, the sound echoing in the otherwise quiet room. “I see…hey guys, didn’t we want to have fun tonight?” He asked his cronies who laughed as the man clenched his fists as well.

“Jet, call the cops!” David urged.

The scene seemed to slow down as David observed the men moving towards them. And still, the first blow caught him by surprise. The tall man didn’t bat an eye, watching intently what was going on, when a smaller man overtook him and threw a punch at James. Right there, in the gut. What David couldn’t understand was why James held his stomach with both hands, his mouth opened in a silent 'O'. It was only when he crouched down
―
his eyes desperate and wild, panicked
―
that David got it. It wasn’t a punch.
Putain! The fucker stabbed him!
David couldn’t make himself move. Frozen to the spot, he heard people yelling, sirens, cops and paramedics, all sounds coming as if from a great distance. Nothing was important. Everything faded. All that counted was his man, his hands clutched to his belly, his face white as sheet, his blood so red as it dripped onto the floor and his gorgeous lips moving without a sound.

Later, when David tried to remember the night, he wasn't able to recall the moments that followed the attack. He didn’t remember how he got to the hospital, or if he went into the ambulance with James, but, what mattered, was that he had been with him the entire time. He had only left his side as he went into surgery.

He had waited in a room full of people pacing back and forth so regularly he had thought they would walk a trench in the floor. He couldn’t truly see what was happening. He understood that he was in shock and it was only when Jet hugged him that time caught up with him. She had waited with him for hours, holding his hand, telling the paramedics all she knew about James as he was unable to answer, lost in his world. When James came back from surgery, Jet informed him that she had to go home. He hugged her tight, murmuring a 'thank you' in her ear, enticing a huge hug in return. Jet whispered a few words of encouragement and pushed him towards the room where James was lying.

Then, he saw his man. Usually so proud and strong, James was pale against the white sheets, his honey-colored skin almost translucent. Tubes in James’ nose and beeping machines, as well as the general atmosphere of the room, drained the last bit of energy that David still had in him. He was overwhelmed by flashbacks, his memories from the accident superimposed on the scene in front of him.

He had to hold on, had to be strong for his lover, for when he would regain consciousness. He collapsed into the chair next to the bed and lifted his hand to touch James’ limp fingers. He dared to press them in his hand to let James know he wasn’t alone. He inhaled deeply, breathing out through his nose to expel the tension in him.