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‘So when’re you going back to Cali, exactly?’ Byron was absently shuffling through the small stack of letters he’d brought over with him. He was still trying to choose which college to go to. I, on the other hand, had only had one real choice, thanks to my grades.
‘In another two weeks. Dad wanted me to spend a week or so at home, since I’m gonna be living on campus and all.’
‘Have you ever really thought Stoneybrook was home?’ He pushed the letters to one side and propped his head on his arm, looking at me.
I reached out and ran one finger down his side. My tan was faded enough that I was nearly as pale as him. ‘Sometimes.’
He caught my hand and studied it, tracing the lines on my palm and then turning it over to kiss the back. ‘Your skin’s so warm. It’s like you trap the sunlight and keep it inside you.’ He was already shaking his head at me before I started laughing.
‘You are so gay.’
‘That’s sort of the point, isn’t it?’ He shot me a look that started out as wry and then changed as his eyes flickered away from mine and started scanning my body, certain parts of which reacted quite favourably to his gaze.
‘Did you get any offers from UC?’ I asked, trying for flippancy and not quite making it.
‘Maybe.’
‘Maybe?’ I ran my finger down his side again and then started tickling him; that bare skin made him an easy target. ‘Don’t hold out on me, Byron. Did you even apply?’
He grinned. ‘Maybe.’
‘Byron.’
‘Jeffrey.’
‘Oh God, don’t do that to me.’ I shut my eyes for just a second. ‘You sound like my mother.’
When I reopened my eyes, he’d shifted a little and was almost nose to nose with me. ‘I can assure you, I’m not your mother,’ he said softly, his breath warm on my face.
‘I should hope not.’
‘Speaking of your mom, when’s she coming home?’
I rolled over and checked the clock on the nightstand. ‘Another couple of hours, maybe? She said she was going shopping after work. That could mean an extra five minutes or an extra five hours, depending on what she’s looking for.’
‘I guess we have time for...’ His voice trailed off. Two years we’d been doing this, whatever it was we were doing, but it was still easier to just do things rather than talk about them. But it didn’t matter; we did have time, and part of the way through Meat Loaf came on the radio singing ‘I would do anything for love, I'd run right into hell and back, I would do anything for love, I'll never lie to you and that's a fact,’ and it made both of us kind of freeze up a little, listening to the lyrics, until Byron bit my shoulder and drew my attention back to what we were doing.
We were just lying there about twenty minutes later. Byron was drowsing with his head on his college letters. I could just make out the UC logo peeking out from under his tousled brown hair; it made me smile, even though I knew that the chances of him actually moving across the country were small. At least he’d considered it.
I was pretty drowsy myself. We got kind of energetic sometimes. Plus the radio was still on, now playing Duran Duran’s ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’, which was a loudish sort of song. So that’s why I didn’t hear the front door open, or even hear Dawn calling my name. It wasn’t until she knocked on my bedroom door that I realised she was there.
‘Jeff, are you home?’
‘Shit.’ Byron scrambled to pull a blanket over himself, eyes wide, very much awake now.
‘Jeffie, have you got a girl in there?’ Dawn sounded amused rather than angry; had it been Richard he would already be yelling.
‘Um, no...’
‘Sure, sure. Get decent and come on out.’
I looked at Byron. Byron looked back at me, and then shrugged and reached for his pants.
To do her credit, Dawn didn’t freak out when we came out of the room. She looked from me to Byron and back again. Sure, there were several hundred innocent explanations or excuses we could’ve given, but why bother? She wasn’t stupid.
‘Oh my lord.’ She blinked a couple of times. ‘Well. I won’t ask what you two were doing in there.’
‘Going over Byron’s college letters. He’s been accepted a lot of places.’ I looked her straight in the eye. ‘Isn’t it great that he’s been accepted?’ A deaf, blind idiot couldn’t miss the blatant message I was trying to push to her.
Dawn just rolled her eyes. ‘You don’t have to be so totally unsubtle, bro. It’s fine.’
‘You won’t tell Mom and Richard?’
‘I’ll leave that up to you.’ She opened her arms. ‘I didn’t come home just for you to come out to me. I’ve got some free time and wanted to visit. So c’mere.’
I went to her and let her hug me. To my surprise she then hugged Byron as well, who looked a little stunned, but not as awkward as I’d ever expected he would look in this moment, whenever I’d imagined it. It was hard to imagine the whole coming out thing, although I tried to sometimes. Dawn was one person, and she was cool with a lot of things. I couldn’t imagine her not telling Mary Anne, who would probably be fine with it. From there, well. The next steps depended on a lot of things, like which of the letters Byron replied to. But having my big sister on my side was going to make it easier, whether it was just because she’d make a good human shield to hide behind when Richard started yelling, or because she’d be able to show me and Byron around UC if we both ended up at the same campus. And then Byron and I would be able to go to the beach; we could spend weekends there if we had the time, lazing in the warmth.
I liked the thought of that. I liked the thought of Byron with the sunlight in his skin.