The City of Rossford

Casey swung into the house having come from the General Dollar.

“Did you know they have Juicy Juice and coffee makers there?” he demanded. “They’ve got everything.”

“Yup,” Chay nodded. “Noah shops there all the time.”

“Well, goddamn,” Casey marveled, putting the bag on the table. “He’s been holding out on me. Think fast!”

Casey tossed a bag at Chay, and when the boy caught it he saw it was Cheetos.

“Fifty cents cheaper than at Martins when they’re on sale,” Casey said.

Carefully, Chay pulled the cellophane bag open. He offered it to Casey.

“Nope. All yours, short man.”

Chay popped one into his mouth and then Casey said, “We got a lot of work tonight. I gotta put up my Christmas site. It’s cheesy, but the fags love it.

“And you know, when I say fag I’m not being disparaging, cause I’m a fag too. Fuck all that straight acting shit.”

Chay’s mouth was full of Cheetos, and he waited to be finished chewing before he said, “But you are pretty straight acting.”

“That’s bullshit. A man’s a man, and a man who sucks cocks and takes it up the ass is a queer. It doesn’t need to get any more complicated than that.”

Having uncomplicated things, Casey, in jeans and a grey sweat jacket went to the computer and turned it on, tapping his foot while the old tower hummed to life.

“I should lose this bitch and get a laptop.”

Before he lost his nerve, Chay said: “Casey?”

“Yeah?”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

He put the bag down and wiped his mouth clean of yellow cheese dust.

“Forgotten what?” Casey said paying a great deal of attention to the screen.

“What I asked you. What I said.”

“You gotta be kidding me, Chay. You gotta be half crazy.”

“Maybe I’m crazy all the way. But… I’d like it to be you. I want it to be you.”

“Lots of people want it to be me,” Casey gestured to the computer with a laugh.

Chay’s facial expression did not change as he held Casey’s gaze. Casey, nervous and unable to dissemble, ducked his head.

“Actually, lots of people don’t know me at all. No one wants it to be me. They want it to be the guy we’re going to put on line tonight.”

“I’m scared,” Chay said.

Casey looked at him.

“I want it to happen, and I’m scared, Casey. I’m scared cause I know it’ll happen with some… horrible person. And, I’m not scared of you. I trust you.”

Casey sat down in his office chair, and while the computer screen cast a blue light on his face, he put his head in his hands.

“Chay…” he said. “You’re a kid.”

“I’m fifteen.”

“That’s a kid. I’m too old.”

“Not really. You’re just… you’re not even old as Noah, and Noah was too young to be my dad. Everyone knows that.”

“You’re too young,” Casey said.

“You want me to wait till I’m eighteen?”

“Ideally? Yes.” Casey said, looking at him, and taking his hands through his hair.

Chay came to him. He felt like the two of them were reversed. It was true. No one was here. No one was here much of the time. Casey didn’t have anyone. Casey was his friend. And right now he looked uncertain. He looked a little afraid. Chay took Casey’s hand in his own.

“Please.”

“Don’t beg,” Casey said, simply.

“I don’t want you to be afraid.”

Casey tried to bawk from the accusation.

“I’m not afraid,” he said.

“Then you’ll do it?”

“Yes,” he said. He got up and pulled Chay up with him. Casey wasn’t tall, but Chay was still a head shorter than him.

He’d said yes. He had said yes and now Chay was trembling so hard he thought he’d faint. He loved Casey. That was true. He’d been wanting this since before he suggested it. It had been one of those things that could never happen. And Casey wasn’t going to hurt him. Casey smelled so good right now, and as Chay held onto him, he felt so good. Casey lifted him up simply and said, “Come on, little brother, let’s do this.”

As Casey took him out of the living room, Chay said, “Casey?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t just… rush through it. Make it nice. Please.”

Casey looked irritated, and then his face changed.

“Of course I will,” he said, kissing him on the head.

“You’re not saying anything.”

“I didn’t want to say the wrong thing,” Chay said in the dark. “And then everything feels so right.”

His face was in Casey’s chest. He was nervous about taking any control; he pulled himself close to Casey, and was rewarded by Casey’s body tightening around him.

“I know,” Casey said.

“You’re surprised?”

“I thought I’d be in hell right now.”

Chay chuckled.

“No,” Casey said. “Seriously.”

“I didn’t know you believed in hell.”

“Sometimes I do. Like when I sleep with fifteen year old boys.”

“You do this all the time?”

“It’s not funny, Chay,” Casey said. And then, in a more tender voice, “None of this in funny.”

“Do you mind if I stay the night? If we stay together?”

“No, I don’t mind at all.”

“Good,” Chay nestled back into his arms again, Casey’s body feeling solid and warm against him.

“Chay,” Casey said.

“Yeah.”

“You know this is a one time thing, right? You know it can’t ever happen again. It wouldn’t be right.”

“Yes,” Chay said. “I know.”

And that was how it all began.

DYLAN AND MAIA raced around the house trailing garland,and Adele was at the counter, her arms white with cookie dough while Jefferson Starship Thundered:

We're sailin' 'cross the river from Liverpool,

Heave away, Santy Anno.

Around Cap Horn to 'Frisco Bay,

'Way out in Californio.

So, heave her up and away we'll go.

Heave away, Santy Anno.

Heave her up and away we'll go.

'Way out in Californio.

At the kitchen table, Fenn was ashing a cigarette and telling Brendan, “I’ve been thinking.”

“About?”

“About the fact that we need to go grocery shopping tomorrow, firstly,” he said. “And then about my niece.”

“Layla?”

“Unless something else is going on I don’t know; Layla is the only person who fits that description.

“She’s sort of…. Well, she’s drifting. And then the marriage didn’t turn out… I better go talk to her.”

When Fenn crushed out his cigarette and got up to head out of the kitchen door, Brendan said, “I’m off all day tomorrow. We could go early. You always forget to get Doritos.”

“I don’t forget, Bren. But we can go early,” Fenn said as he came into the living room where Layla was.

“Layla, I’ve got an idea.”

“Yes?”

“You’re shit is falling apart,” her uncle said.

“Oh, no!” Layla got up. “No. Damnit, Fenn Houghton. You’re the last person I ever expected to get that speech from.”

“You’re not going to get a speech,” he said. “You’re going to get an idea. So, just hold on.”

“Alright. Fine.”

“Go to Valpo. Go there and get your Masters in something.”

“I don’t know what I would…”

“Anything you like. Don’t worry about paying and everything. Just go.”

“But…. You think I’m going to find my purpose. Or… stop drifting if I go there.”

“Layla, you don’t have a job or a home or anything. There is nothing wrong with drifting, but there is a way to drift in style and get a little bit of respect for yourself. Quit looking at horrible jobs. You’re going to graduate school. For you, I would say in English.”

“And if I don’t like it?”

“You quit. Don’t get ambitious, your grades aren’t all that. Just go where they take you. You don’t know what you want yet. That doesn’t make you different from other people. But you know all that about yourself, and that makes you very different. Graduate school is an excellent way to hide out from the world, and as the head of this family, I’m saying: make it happen.”

“So…. I guess that takes care of the job thing. Now I just need the house thing.”

“Layla Lawden,” Fenn told her. “I’m your godfather, your fairy godfather. You just do that one thing, and you leave the rest of this to me.”

Layla smiled. She took a breath and realized she hadn’t been breathing, not really, in weeks.

“I thought Kevin would change me. He would make me a wife and take away my troubles.”

“Yes, well…” Fenn shrugged. “Back to the drawing board.”

“Fenn?”

“Layla?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes. I guess.”

“There’s a rumor that… Well, I’m just gonna say it.”

She crossed her arms over her chest: “Did you gamble on my wedding falling apart?”

“Are you sleeping with Will Klasko?”

Layla looked at him.

He looked at her. They looked at each other.

“I should go check on the chicken in the oven,” Layla said.

“Yes,” Fenn told her.

“Um hum,” Layla said, and walked away.

Be here for our next chapter when our tale takes an irrevocable turn which will change rossford forever.