“And here you go, and these are on the house,” Jewell said, setting down the plate of tacos. “Corn tortilla American style for Chayne, and the way they should be for you, Ted.”
“Ouch.”
“We’re glad to have you home,” said Jewell, “if only for a little bit.”
In background, Shania Twain was declaring.
“Oh, oh, oh, get in the action
Feel the attraction
Color my hair, do what I dare
Oh, oh, oh, I wanna be free
Yeah, to feel the way I feel
Man, I feel like a woman.”
“I forgot how good it is to be back in this place,” Ted said, liberally pouring red sauce on a taco. “I forgot how at home a real home is. I forgot—wow!”
“You forgot about that hot sauce,” Chayne said.
“I’ll stick with the verde, and just a little bit at that,” which is what he did, and took the large steak taco to his mouth.
“God, these are good.”
The Hanson brothers were singing:
“Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du, oh yeah
Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba du dop
Ba du bop, ba du dop
Ba du, yeah!”
Ted grimaced and placed his hands on the table, looking serious.
“I forgot how bad the music in here was.”
They looked at each other, trying to hold straight faces, but burst out laughing.
“What are yawl laughing at?” Jewell shouted from the table she was waiting.
“Remembering old times,” Ted said, merrily, and waved his taco at her, taking a more cautious bite.
“You know, you could wipe that off or just start a new taco.”
“No way,” Ted said, “once I’ve started something, I’m committed to finishing it.”
When he had downed the first taco and taken a swig of beer, Ted said, “So…. Rob?”
“Yes, and why did you say it like that? Rob?”
“Nothing. He’s young is all.”
“Well, we’re all young.”
“You know what I—”
“Mr. Weirbach, you’re hitting some very dangerous territory.”
“Fair,” Ted grinned.
He was more cautious with the second taco, and Chayne was finishing his first.
“So… how long after me?”
“Again, none of your business.”
“I just want to know how long it took to get over me. If you had to get over me.”
“I see you’re about to make what should be a fun meal an uncomfortable one.”
“Look,” Ted said, “I assumed that when I left you would easily find someone else, and you did. I assumed I would be easily replaced.”
Chayne stopped eating.
“You were not easily replaced,” he said. “You were not replaced. You can pretend you didn’t matter and you thought you didn’t, if it makes you feel better, but you did matter and when you left it hurt a great deal. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“No,” Ted said, looking angry as he rarely did. “Of course I didn’t want to hear that. That’s the last thing I wanted to hear.”
He looked irritable and then he sat back on his side of the booth, silent.
“Maybe I did want to hear that,” he said, at last.
“I don’t know, Chayne.”
“Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du, oh yeah!”
“God knows I loved us being together, and I feel like I ruined the whole thing. I could have done it so much better. I just didn’t ever expect us to be a couple, and part of me, a small part of me hoped that you would still be single, be waiting for me even though I was a moron and I never told you to, even with how I left—”
“Plant a seed, plant a flower, plant a rose
You can plant any one of those
Keep planting to find out which one grows…”
“I still thought, that…”
“It's a secret no one knows
It's a secret no one knows
Oh, no one knows!”
“JESUS CHRIST!!! “ Ted stood up and shouted across the bar, “SOMEONE TURN OFF THAT GODDAMN SONG!”
The bar went silent in shock, and Ted looked shocked at his own behavior. In his jeans and flannel shirt he stood looking rocked out of his mind, and then put a hand to his chest. His dark tee shirt fit him well, Chayne noticed more than he wanted to, and he only said, as someone did indeed change the song:
“Now that’s the neurotic Catholic Jew I miss.”
Ted pushed up his glasses with his middle finger and then looked shocked when he realized it was his middle finger, and then said, “Well…”
“Yeah?”
“Do we go back to your house? Or my hotel?”
“Thanks you guys have been great. We’re gonna wrap up for now. Have a great night! We love you!” Brad cried.
Brad and Nehru were climbing off stage when Nehru nearly bumped into the young, curly haired man at the base of the stairs.
“Joshua!”
“Nehru Alexander,” he almost purred. “And Brad.”
Brad already knew about Nehru and Joshua and Nehru said, “It’s good to see you, Josh. This is Brad. As you know. I mean…”
“We’re together,” Brad said, frankly.
“Oh,” Joshua looked only momentarily disconcerted.
He said, “It’s just that I was looking forward to…. Seeing you.”
“Ah...” said Nehru, who was less able to save himself from certain situations than he wished he was.
“But,” Josh rolled his tongue in his mouth, “you all are together.”
“Yes,” Nehru said at the same time Brad did. He wanted to say it forcefully, to make up for not having said it before.
“Ah,” Joshua said. Then, “Oh… Well…”
Joshua said nothing else, but neither did he move, so Brad and Nehru didn’t move either, and then Joshua said, “Well does that mean I can see you,” he pointed from one to the other, “together?”
As the remaining crowd applauded, Russell was pretty sure that, as good as Chili Comet Sundae was, alcohol was the main contributing factor to everyone’s joy. Cody slow hopped off the stage and asked Russell, “You wanna take a walk?”
“Are you going to put a coat on?”
“I’m hot.”
“Cause you’ve been on stage. We will both be cold as fuck when we step outside.”
“I’ll risk it.”
“I won’t. I’ll grab coats.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Cody teased.
This irked Russell who said, “Justine Barnard was never half the mother I would be,” and Cody, following after with his hands jammed in his pockets muttered, “When you’re right, you’re right.”
They were pressed together, kissing hard on the little bed in a small, dark room, and his hands were running up and down his body. Joshua kissed Nehru and knelt to reach for his belt, unzipping Nehru’s jeans.
Nehru, on the side of the bed, gasped as Joshua swallowed him. He closed his eyes and shivered into silence, growing large and hard while Brad’s hands massaged his scalp. The wet suction of Joshua’s lips and tongue waxed him, and he reached for Brad’s zipper, opening his jeans and motioning for the taller man to turn to him.
While Josh knelt sucking him avidly, Nehru stopped for a moment and held Brad’s penis in his hand. Slowly, he pulled it into his mouth, feeling it swell as he felt himself swell, feeling Brad become impossibly large. Meditatively, Nehru took Brad’s penis out again, massaging it the way Josh was massaging him. To Brad, the sensation of his penis, firm and wet in Nehru’s hands,dizzied him.
“Jawarhalal Nehru Alexander, get undressed for me, okay?” Brad said, quite gently.
Joshua moved so Nehru could stand up, and gently, pulling up his tee shirt, Nehru obeyed. He unpeeled his snug jeans that revealed no underwear, and kicked them off while Brad undressed too.
