Trey laughed easily. “Don’t worry, Michael! It’ll all work out. Mom will pay you tomorrow, and—”
“That’ll help, but it’s going to cost—”
He punched me on the arm. “Relax! You know, you don’t even have to go through with getting that apartment. Save up, if you need to.”
“I can hardly afford to keep staying at the Raven’s Rest.”
Trey waggled his eyebrows. “You could always stay with me.”
“Yeah, I’m sure your mom and your family would be thrilled with that.”
“They’d love it! My mom loves you! Actually, much more than me.” Trey frowned. “A lot more, now that I think about it. Hell, she might take you in and kick me out.”
“I’m a little old to be moving into my boyfriend’s family home,” I said. “That’s sort of… I don’t know… high school, in a way.”
Trey got a few paces in front of me and turned, strutting backward so he could taunt me.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right! You’re, like, a year and two months older than me! Quite the octogenarian!”
“Shut up or I’ll throw your cigarette down and stomp on it.”
“Got nineteen more, dude.” He took a puff and blew it in my face, just to be an asshole. I still couldn’t dislike him, even a little.
“Jerk,” I said. “I don’t suppose you’d like to go shopping with me?”
“Love to,” he said, turning to face the right direction. “But I’m picking up a shift at the cafe. Won’t be off until around eight.” He kicked a pebble and watched it skip. “Sure you don’t want to shack up together?”
“Not just yet. It’s a little early. We just bumped uglies for the first time last night.”
“Yours may be ugly. Mine’s fucking gorgeous.”
I chuckled. “It is, at that.”
We were now within view of the Raven’s Rest, and I could see a man walking up the porch steps. He was moving quickly and was inside the inn before I could get a really good gander at him, but something about the way he moved disturbed me, like I knew him. I didn’t see the face, but his gait looked familiar. Tall, and with an athletic grace. I stopped, and Trey gave me a worried look.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “Just… nothing. That guy seemed familiar.”
“The guy who just went in? He’s probably staying there. You’ve probably bumped into him in the hallway or something.”
“Maybe,” I said. I wasn’t convinced. I shrugged off the sensation the guy had caused. “Hey, I’ll swing by the cafe around eight if you like, and we can do something.”
“Like?”
I grinned. “Let’s go dancing. Is there a dance club in town?”
“Are you joking? In Banning? We could head up to Rockford—”
I stopped him there. “I’d rather not. Isn’t there someplace that has a dance floor around here? Some bar with a juke box that doesn’t have all country tunes?”
“There’s Shooters, but….”
“What?”
“It’s kind of a dive. Plus, a lot of good old boys hang out there. Two guys dancing? If we don’t get doused by a dozen or so beers, we’re sure to get the shit kicked out of us in the parking lot.”
“Good point. We can go for a drink, though. Play it by ear.”
“We could do that. Mind you, I don’t mind getting in a fight. I’m just looking out for you.”
“Of course you are.”
Trey left me at the door, saying he wanted to get a shower before starting work. I wondered, however, if part of him was reticent to step foot back into the Raven’s Rest so soon.
Lonnie was working the desk, and he grinned as he spotted me. “Mr. C! Hey, how’s it going?”
“Going good, Lonnie.”
“Ma told me about last night. I fixed your blinds. Damn, I wish I’d have been there. That’s some funky shit.”
“‘Funky shit’ isn’t exactly how I’d put it.”
I went upstairs to my room feeling pretty good, despite my money worries. Trey’s mother wasn’t paying me a fortune, but it would help. And really, all I needed to make my apartment livable was a bed and a chair and a television. Everything else could come piecemeal. I was eating most of my meals either at the cafe or in the Raven’s Rest dining room, and anyway I’d never cooked much. The kitchen could wait. The main requirement was a bed big enough for me. And Trey, who I hoped would be spending lots of nights with me.
In the Ulalume Suite, things felt… odd. On the surface, everything was back to normal, except for the gouge in the table. The gas fire was off, the blinds were back in place, the books were neatly on the shelf, and the room had been vacuumed and the bed made. There were no cold spots, no dark shadows, and most importantly, no ghostly figures to be seen. There was something in the air, though, that I couldn’t put my finger on. It was almost as if I could sense unseen forces gathering energy for something big, something huge.
I took a hot shower, more to relax than to cleanse myself. (Trey and I had shared a shower—and more—once we’d finally crawled out of bed.) Toweling myself off, I glanced at the mist-covered mirror, half expecting some word to be written there, like
Bryan
or
Coleman
or even REDRUM, like in the Stephen King story. There was nothing. I got dressed and read a chapter or two until I got drowsy. A nap seemed in order, so I lay down and, thankfully, got some uninterrupted and dream-free rest.
Later, I went to a furniture store in Sterling and picked out a bed and a nice little armchair and a couch. My checkbook balance at the end of this spree made me want to cry, but at the same time I felt liberated. By making purchases for my new place, I was proving to myself that I wasn’t going to be running back to Kevin, begging forgiveness. I was really doing it. I was leaving him. And I was happy, mainly because each purchase made me envision Trey. Trey and me in the new bed. Trey and me snuggling on the couch, watching TV… once I bought one. Maybe I could find a used one cheap somewhere.
It was seven o’clock when I showed up at the Coffee Cafe. I knew Trey would still be working, but I wanted to take advantage of a free meal. My second day there, Trey’s mother had said to me, “I can’t pay you a fortune, but I can give you all the free food you want. Take advantage of it. God knows Trey does.” And I’d accepted her hospitality almost every evening since, basically living off soup and sandwiches.
Of course, Trey waited on me, and he acted like I was a complete stranger, hardly looking at me as he asked for my order. “What would you like, sir?”
“How about the waiter?”
He swiveled his hips and slapped his thigh. “These goods don’t come cheap, sir.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“Bitch.”
“Slut. I’ll have a ham sandwich and some chips.” The menu wasn’t extensive, as the place was mainly a coffeehouse, but the food wasn’t really that bad. Trey snapped the menu out of my hands (I hadn’t needed it anyway) and went off. Moments later, Gloria Ramsey came out from behind the counter and approached my little table by the window.
“Can I have a word?” she asked.
“Anytime.”
She sat down and rested her chin on her fists. “So how did the shopping go?”
“How did you—”
Her smile was so similar to Trey’s. “He talks about you. A lot.” She sat back, reached into the pocket of her smock, and brought out an envelope. She slid it across the table toward me. “This is for you.”
Frowning, I looked inside. There was money inside, at least ten bills. I didn’t check, but a couple of them were fifties and at least one was a hundred. “What’s this?”
“A bonus. Now, don’t look like that. You deserve a bonus.”
“Mrs. Ramsey—”
“Gloria.”
“Gloria, then. No one gets a bonus in their first week of working somewhere. I can’t accept this.”
She sighed. “Trey’s told me a little about your situation. I haven’t been in exactly the same situation, but I know how hard it can be to start over. Take the money, kid. View it as a loan if you want. A loan that you can take years to repay, if ever. But take the goddamn money.”
“I….” I almost returned the envelope to her, but I knew she’d insist I take it and that, in the end, she’d win. So I pocketed the cash without actually counting it. I’d do that later, and make sure every penny got back to her. “Thank you.”
Gloria reached out and actually pinched my cheek. “You’re part of the family now. Do you know Trey actually showed up on time today? And his clothes were clean? And his hair washed? Of course, he also had a Mona Lisa smile on his face, like a cat that finally snagged the canary. Not that I’m calling you a canary….”
I blushed. “I like Trey a lot. It’s great that you’re so supportive of him.”
“What are you talking about? Of course I am. He’s my son.”
I thought of Darryl Hollis. “Not everyone is that accepting of their offspring’s choices.”
She looked like I was speaking nonsense. “How could anyone object to their kid dating you? Or not like a kid like Trey? Oh sure, he’s a wastrel, and he likes to put on his surly tough-guy act, and he thinks he shocks people, but everyone sees through him. We just don’t let him know that we all know he’s a sweetheart.” Gloria pursed her lips. “Did that sentence make sense?”
“Perfectly.”
“Now, I’d best be getting back to work.” She patted my hand. “You take care of yourself, honey. And don’t forget, you’ve got an early shift tomorrow.”
“Five in the morning. How could I forget?”
“So don’t you and Trey stay up all night. Chatting, I mean.” She flashed me a knowing look. There were two people waiting at the counter to pay their bill, so she rose from her chair. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” she exclaimed as she bustled across the dining room to take care of them.
Things were certainly different in a small town.
WE HAD
the house to ourselves, as Trey’s aunts and cousins were all out, and his mother was still at the cafe. So we took advantage of the situation.
Trey’s room was a converted attic room and a little chilly, so after we made love we huddled under the covers, enjoying our shared body heat. And kissing. A hell of a lot of kissing.
“Okay,” he said at one point, gazing into my eyes, “I’m thinking we’re doing pretty good, right?”
“I’d say so. Good so far.” Great, fantastic, superb. But I didn’t want him to get a big head.
“So we should tell each other the worst things about ourselves. You know, the thing that sometimes puts people off. The deal breaker. If mine doesn’t bother you and yours doesn’t bother me, then we know we’re made for each other.”
“Okay.” I grinned. “You go first.”
“Why me?”
“You brought it up.”
He conceded the point. “Right. But you can’t laugh. And try not to go ‘ewww.’”
“I’ll try.”
Trey sighed. “I’ve got a bit of an armpit fetish. Just a little one. And fuck, you’ve got bushy ones. And sometimes—you’re laughing!—I just want to stick my face in them and… inhale. I know. Fuck, it’s sick. I shouldn’t have told you.”
“No, it’s good. And I wasn’t laughing at you. Just… it’s so you. I mean, it’s pretty tame in the scheme of things. You’re not into fisting or—”
“Fuck no!”
“Water sports or—”
“Ewww. Please tell me that’s not yours. You wanna pee on me, I’m going to have to draw a line there. Now, what’s yours?”
I thought a moment, leaning back into my pillow. “I think mine is that I lose myself in the other person. I cease to exist on my own. I become what the other person wants me to be, what he sees in me. I lose myself in their perceived perception of me. I think that’s why I stayed with Kevin so long. I couldn’t find myself. I was who he said I was, and without him I was afraid I wouldn’t exist.”
“Fuck,” Trey said. “That’s… fuck. That’s… I almost wish it was water sports now. That I could deal with. Wait, don’t look like that. I can deal with it, but you have to know that I’d never let you do that to yourself. I like you for you. Be you. You are a pretty good guy. Just believe in yourself.”
“I know. Or I’m starting to. I just thought you ought to know.” I looked at the clock on his bedside table and groaned. “Your family will be getting home soon. I’d better get dressed and get to the inn. I have to work early.”
Trey held me tight, not letting me move. “Stay here tonight.”
“I can’t. You know I wouldn’t get any sleep.”
“Oh, yeah. Like you’re going to get any sleep at Ghost Central.”
I kissed him long and hard, then put a hand on his chest and pushed him gently away. “I’ve got to go,” I said.
He pulled at my arm. “No! Stay!”
Laughing, I allowed him to yank me back into his arms. We wrestled around a little until he was on top of me. The covers were all tangled now, and we both were slightly aroused by the naked tussle. “A few more minutes,” I said.
“Fuck that. An hour at least. Oh, don’t think you’re getting away. I’m smaller than you are, but stronger.”
“Oh, you think so?”
More wrestling ensued, and he proved his point. Maybe he wasn’t stronger, but he
was
more determined.
WE MET
his mother on the stairs as Trey was showing me out. “I guess I don’t have to ask what you boys have been up to,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
“We were watching Netflix,” Trey protested.
“Then why is your T-shirt on backward?” she asked.
He looked down and plucked at his shirt. “Oh. Shit.”
Gloria playfully smacked his cheek. The unscratched one. “You’ll always be my baby boy, even if you are a lazy asshole.”
Trey smirked. “It’s my thing.”
We continued down the stairs, and Gloria yelled to me that she’d see me in the morning. I wondered if she ever got much sleep. She always seemed to be at the cafe.
The foyer was dark, but Trey didn’t turn on any lights so that we could continue saying good-bye with a bit of privacy. When I finally realized we could stand there kissing until the end of time, I broke away and put my hand on the doorknob. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You’d better. And no playing with the ghosts tonight. Get some sleep.”
I put on my jacket and opened the door. One last kiss and I reluctantly turned away from Trey. As soon as I was outside, I missed him already. It was good to feel that way about a person again. I was grinning as I made my way down the steps.