Something Like Summer (16 page)

“
I thought you two were
together?” she insisted.

“
No, he’s straight,” Ben
answered through gritted teeth.

“
Oh, come on!” she
protested. “I’m not deaf, you know. I’ve heard what you two get up
to at night.”

Ben shrugged and turned
away. “I’m working on it,” he replied.

The next evening Ben was
taking out the trash when the thumping of jogging feet attracted
his attention.

“
Hey,” Tim said as he
slowed to a stop in front of Ben, panting happily.

“
Ankle still doing all
right?” Ben asked without smiling.

“
Yeah. Still a little sore
but as good as can be expected.” He beamed at Ben, who still failed
to respond. “You look like you wouldn’t mind spraining it
again.”

“
Not really,” Ben answered
evenly. “I’m just not in a good mood.”

“
Well, maybe I can cheer
you up,” Tim offered. “Let’s go up to your room.”

His intent was clear as he
stood with his hands on each hip, still breathing heavily from
running and flashing his winner’s smile. He smelled of sweat and
freshly cut grass. Ben wanted nothing more than to strip off those
damp clothes, but his frustration prevailed.

“
Why don’t you call Krista
if you’re so horny?” he spat.

“
Not this again,” Tim
groaned. “Jesus Christ! What does it matter?”

“
It matters to me! Why are
you even with her? You never have anything nice to say about her.
She doesn’t put out; she’s not even the prettiest girl in
school.”

“
Yeah, Bryce already has
that one.”

Ben scowled at this and
considered walking away, but before he did he gave it one last
shot. He dropped the anger from his voice, and asked sincerely,
“Who do you like more, Krista or me?”

“
You,” Tim shrugged. “I
like you more. When you’re not pissed at me at least.”

“
Who do you sleep with?
It’s not Krista, is it?”

“
No.” Tim made sure the
street was empty. “I sleep with you.”

“
So why do you need her
when you have me?”

Tim looked off into the
distance, shaking his head slowly, a frown forming on his face. He
brushed the sweat out of his eyes and looked back at Ben,
considering him for a moment before he turned away.

“
I’ll see you around,” Tim
said as he resumed jogging down the street.

Ben waited for him to
change his mind, to come back and apologize. When he didn’t, Ben
swore and laid into the trashcans, knocking them over and spilling
their contents into the street. He kept kicking them until his
anger was purged and he was exhausted. Then he began to
cry.

* * * * *

Ben’s birthday fell on the
twenty-seventh, just a few days before Halloween. Ben wasn’t robbed
of any extra presents, like those poor unfortunate souls who had
birthdays close to Christmas, but there were a few parties in his
childhood where everyone dressed in their costumes early. He also
tended to receive more horror-themed presents due to the unique
shopping opportunities of the season.

This year his big day was
on a Sunday, meaning his relatives were all free to turn an
otherwise private celebration into a circus. Ben was glad for it
this time. Not only did it mean more gifts, but it helped keep his
mood high. He hadn’t talked to Tim since their argument, which tore
at his heart, but lately he was feeling better. Much of this was
due to Allison, who had temporarily thwarted the ban against their
friendship and was able to attend his party.

“
This is supposed to be a
date with Ronnie, so I expect you to put out,” she teased him upon
her arrival.

They needed this day
together. The talent show had recently been pushed back until the
end of the school year. The reasoning behind this was that freshmen
might feel excluded from entering since it was too early in the
year for them to have adjusted. Mrs. Hammond was distraught, but
Ben and Allison were relieved because they still hadn’t chosen a
song. The downside was the loss of their private time in the
auditorium.

Presents took top priority
in the Bentley family, even preceding the traditional cake and
candles. So far Ben had received clothes from his parents, a wad of
cash from his grandmother, a new Discman and CDs to go with it, a
journal he could write in that he would probably never use because
it wasn’t electronic, and a couple of PlayStation games from his
sister. He didn’t have a PlayStation yet, but he could tell from
his mom’s sly look that he was only two months away from getting
one.

Allison bought him a suit
jacket they had discovered at a secondhand store earlier in the
year. The jacket had been too expensive for him at the time and was
missing most of its buttons. Not only had she sprung for it as
gift, but she bought some suave new buttons and put those home ec
skills to use by sewing them on. The end result was retro-chic and
delightfully unique. He couldn’t wait to wear it when the weather
became cooler.

Ben’s mother was about to
light the candles on the cake when the doorbell rang. Thinking a
relative had arrived late, Ben ran to answer it, happy to leave all
the fuss behind for a moment. His heart lurched when the door
opened to reveal Tim. Of course he had been invited, but that was
before they had fought. Even before their falling out, he hadn’t
expected Tim to actually show up.

“
Hey!” Ben said, not
masking his surprise. “Uh, come on in!”

“
That’s okay. I just
wanted to bring this by.”

Ben looked down to see a
thin present about three feet tall. Unless it was the largest book
in the world, Ben guessed it might be art or a framed
poster.

“
Oh, hi!” came Mrs.
Bentley’s voice from behind. “I was wondering when you’d show up!
Come in and grab some cake.”

“
No really,
I--”

“
Come on, don’t let
Wilford get out the door or we’ll never see him again.”

Tim stepped inside, his
posture shy and stooped. Ben’s mother shut the door behind him to
finalize the deal, winking at Ben on her way back to the
kitchen.

“
Time to meet the family,”
Ben chuckled. “The extended version, too.”

“
Great,” Tim said, trying
a sheepish smile.

They stood there,
considering each other before Ben was called back into the dining
room. Tim followed and was soon assaulted by a slew of greetings,
handshakes, and even hugs from some of the older ladies.
Introducing Tim to Allison was surreal, since they were the two
people closest to Ben and yet their paths had never crossed. Tim
seemed unsure how to behave around her, but her knowing smile said
that she already knew all of Ben’s secrets.

“
Wait, everyone!” Mrs.
Bentley declared. “We have one more present before we light
candles.”

“
No, you can open it
later,” Tim said. “Really,” he added desperately when Ben took it
from him.

“
That’s all right, we’re
in no hurry,” grandma crowed.

“
It’s just something I--”
Tim began as Ben started ripping the paper away. Whatever he had
planned on saying was lost in his throat.

The wrapping paper fell
away to reveal streaks of red, orange, yellow, and pink. The
painting was abstract, a war of hot colors interlocking and
swarming together. In their midst was something that looked very
much like a heart. Two hearts, actually, overlapping so close that
they appeared as one. Ben thought it was beautiful.

“
Isn’t that gorgeous?”
Ben’s mother praised while clapping her hands together. “Did you
paint that yourself?”

Tim opened his mouth to
answer, but Ben’s sister spoke first.

“
It looks like someone
barfed up paint on a canvas.”

“
We should have cut your
tongue out at birth,” Mr. Bentley scolded.

“
It’s just something I
found somewhere,” Tim said dismissively. “You don’t have to keep it
if you don’t want.”

“
I love it!” Ben
said.

Mrs. Bentley took the
pressure off Tim by lighting the candles and coercing everyone into
singing
Happy Birthday
. Ben smiled, content to let others sing for a change.
Allison finished off with an extra verse sung diva-style, which
sent everyone into fits of applause when finished. Deciding what to
wish for was easy. Ben knew exactly what he wanted as he blew out
the candles.

There was little time to
catch up with Tim. Ben was caught in a whirlwind of relatives who
wanted to know what he had been up to, offer advice on what he
should do with his life, or simply hear him sing. While he was
holding court with them, he tried to keep an eye on Tim, who was
being cared for by Allison. Already she had heroically steered him
away from Karen and their equally boorish cousin. If he wasn’t
mistaken, Tim was beginning to relax in her presence.

As the party wound down,
Ben suggested to Allison that she call Ronnie and they all head
down to Houston to check out some of the haunted houses. He didn’t
bother asking Tim what he thought of the idea. It was his birthday
after all. As the last of the relatives left, Ronnie showed up and
whisked them all away in his beat up old SUV.

Tim clammed up again in
Ronnie’s presence, no doubt worrying about their relationship being
exposed to yet another person who went to their school. This didn’t
last long. Ronnie found a football game on the radio and soon they
were talking the indecipherable language of sports. Allison and Ben
exchanged glances and rolled their eyes before laughing.

Ronnie and Tim kept the
sports talk going as they stood in line at the Horror Hotel, one of
Houston’s newer haunted houses that Ben had never visited. Allison
and Ben stood behind, arms linked together as they pretended to be
dating each other. They hoped by doing this that they would make
Tim and Ronnie look like the gay couple. They even attempted to
trade knowing looks with a few other people in line.

The haunted house was
really good, much better than those in previous years, utilizing
just the right amount of scare coupled with humor and creativity.
Allison could really scream, too. As the group wound their way
through narrow corridors strewn with cobwebs, Ben jumped more in
response to her shrill exclamations than from the
monsters.

As original as the Horror
Hotel was, there were still many of the same staples found in every
haunted house, such as the pitch-black maze. These always stirred
up claustrophobia in Ben, but his fear dissipated when Tim put a
hand over his mouth and pulled him aside. They stumbled along the
wall until reaching a dead end, the voices of Allison and Ronnie
fading away as they sought their way out. Ben found himself pressed
up against a wall, Tim’s voice tickling his ear.

“
I broke up with
her.”

“
With Krista?”

“
Yeah. You were right.
It’s you I like and it’s you I want.”

Before Ben could respond,
Tim’s mouth was on his. They pawed and groped at each other in the
dark, their bodies pressing together. The hardness of Tim’s pecs
was soon joined by the hardness in his pants. Ben reached down for
his zipper when someone bumped into them from behind and
screamed.

“
Boo!” Tim yelled, causing
a chorus of girlish squeals to flee from them. “Let’s get out of
here,” he laughed as he took Ben by the hand. He held on to it
until the very end when the inevitable chainsaw-wielding cannibal
sent them scrambling out the exit.

Allison and Ronnie were
waiting for them, one looking clueless, the other wise to what
might have delayed them. Stomachs grumbling, they found a
steakhouse, the topic of sports once again dominating every
conversation. Allison and Ben swore to each other to never double
date again.

* * * * *

“
I have another present
for you,” Tim murmured as the SUV drove away from Ben’s house,
taking Allison and Ronnie with it.

“
I’m sure I can guess what
that is,” Ben said.

“
Maybe not,” Tim retorted.
He pulled something from his pocket and shook it once, causing a
simple necklace of metal beads to unravel, the sort that military
dog tags usually hung from. Tim placed it around Ben’s
neck.

Ben looked down to see what
was hanging from it and found a perfectly common house key. “What’s
this?” he asked.

“
It’s just in case you
ever get the urge to come see me in the middle of the
night.”

“
A key to your parent’s
house?” Ben asked disbelievingly. “So I can sneak in? Sounds
dangerous!”

“
Sounds exciting,” Tim
corrected. “You can try it out tonight. My parents are probably
getting in bed right about now. Meet me in half an
hour?”

Tim didn’t wait for an
answer. He just grinned seductively and headed down the street. Ben
went inside and made an appearance for his parents, mentally
debating whether or not to tell them he was going out again. He
decided against it, just in case they tried to keep him home.
Instead he said he was going to bed early and headed up to his
room.