The Reunion

Chapter 7

We got back to the picnic area, I sat next to dad at one of the tables, nobody had noticed that we were gone or that we came out of the woods together, or so I thought.

Dad looked at me and grinned, “did you have a nice walk?”

I snickered, “yes I did, thanks for asking.”

Mike overheard us and looked at me then at Cody, I think he figured out what happened. Just as he was going to say something, Jackie and the other moms came walking back to the area with all the kids. She quickly found Cody and he was once again at her side like a dutiful lap dog.

After about another hour the picnic was starting to break up, everyone was starting to load up and get on their way home. As everybody was saying their goodbyes, I heard Jackie talking with one of our other cousins.

She said, “it was so good seeing you again, be watching for that “save the date” card. I am sure Cody is going to ask me the big question soon.” She let out an evil cackle that just about made me puke. I looked at Cody, either he didn’t hear Jackie, or he was trying to ignore the comment.

They finished loading up and left, I was helping dad carry things to his car and was thinking, shit, Cody was just using me to have some fun. Was he really going to ask her to marry him, God, she did not deserve him, Jackie is such a bitch she would probably get pregnant just to trap him.

Dad said, “mom wants you to stop by, Mike and Stacy are leaving, and she thought it would be nice to all be together for a final goodbye.”

I rolled my eyes, “sure dad, I’ll follow you there.” I have been faking liking my family all weekend, what’s one more time.

I helped empty the car and then helped Mike and Jeff carry their things to their cars.

Mom gave all the kids a hug and was saying goodbye to everyone, I was shocked when Jeff came to me and held out his hand.

He said, “good to see you again Brian, I enjoyed our golf game this morning.”

Stunned, I shook his hand, “yeah, good to see you too, I am always up for a game of golf.”

Mike even gave me a pat on my shoulder, “see ya next time little bro.”

Damn, maybe my little scene this morning worked, I guess they might think more of me than just an annoying little brother.

Mom, dad and I went in the house, dad grabbed a couple beers out of the fridge and handed me one. We headed out to the deck and sat down.

I asked, “so dad, how did you know mom was the “one”?”

Dad thought a minute, “well, I already told you about dating her and your aunt.”

I nodded, “yeah, I know that, but at some point, you decided mom was the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. How did you know?”

Dad answered, “well, we had a lot in common, the same goals, I’m not sure exactly if it was any one thing. Why are you asking about this?”

I said, “it’s just that all weekend, I have seen all these couples and they all seem happy for the most part. I mean even my brother and sister appear to have a good relationship with their spouses, Ray and Laura, Kyle and Ty, hell even Todd and Amy are happy. I just can’t help but thinking that I may be missing out on something.”

Dad smiled, “tell me this, are you happy with your life?”

I nodded, “other than the not having a partner thing, yes, I am very happy.”

He said, “there you go, that’s all that matters. Look you have always been a planner, you set a goal and then you go after it. Maybe you just planned to get your career going first, then become financially stable, now you are ready to move on and find “the one”.”

I paused, “I never thought of it that way.”

Dad asked, “so, are you dating anyone?”

I shook my head, “not really.”

Dad continued, “and Cody…”

“I have no idea what he is thinking, we had a nice talk today, but then Jackie was talking like she was expecting him to pop the question at any time. I think that we are at two different places in our lives right now.”

Dad nodded, “yeah, that makes sense. What is the situation between you and Eli.”

I laughed, “you know I have asked myself that a couple times this weekend. We have been friends for ten years, but neither one of us has ever talked about dating, we just started out friends and have stayed there. Honestly, I think that I am afraid if we did date, it would ruin a great friendship.”

Dad said, “yeah, that is a possibility, but you should at least have a talk with Eli to see how he feels.”

I agreed, “that is definitely on my to do list as soon as I get home.”

Dad put his hand on my shoulder, “hang in there kiddo, you will meet someone.”

Mom came out just as dad was finishing his thought, “oh good, you are going to finally look for a nice girl.”

I shook my head, “mom, you still don’t get how being gay works. For the last time I can’t just turn it off, I like guys, I do not like girls, I never will. I would like to meet a guy and get married and build a life together, just like Mike and Stacy, except that my spouse’s name will be Joe or Bob or whatever.”

Mom put her hands up, “I’m sorry Brian, I just don’t understand how you can be this way. I just don’t know what I did when you were little to turn you gay.”

I sighed, “mom, you didn’t do anything, I was born this way, I’m sorry that I have disappointed you, but I am a good person because of how you and dad raised me, just because I'm gay doesn’t make you a failure.”

She said, “I am not disappointed in you, I just don’t know how to treat you.”

“Jesus mom, just treat me like you treat Mike and Stacy, act like you are glad to see me when I come home, and If I ever do bring a boyfriend home treat him like you did when you met Jeff and Jen. Maybe I would stay here if I had my room back like Mike and Stacy, the kids could sleep on the floor like I did whenever we went to see grandma and grandpa when I was a kid.”

She looked down, “I guess I didn’t realize I was treating you any different.”

“It’s ok mom, we both have things we can work on, maybe I should come home a little more often.”

Dad chimed in, “you are welcome here anytime.”

Mom smiled, “of course you are, I never meant to make you feel like you weren’t welcome. It would be nice to see you more often.”

Dad and I finished our beer as we finished our talk. It was nice to finally get all this out in the open. We said our goodbyes and I headed back to the motel. I needed to pack, my flight was in the morning, and I wanted to get to bed early.

The next morning, as I headed to the airport, I was playing the events from the weekend over in my head during the drive. I smiled as I remembered the talks with my dad, especially when he told me about dating the sisters at the same time. The visit from Todd was completely unexpected, as was the night with Kyle and Ty. I was feeling better about the relationship I had with my family, I think mom finally was going to accept the fact that I am gay, and my brother and brother-in-law may no longer think of me as a kid. Then there were all my thoughts about finding my Prince Charming, this was the first time that I had given real thought to finding someone to spend my life with. My next thought was, what is the deal with Eli and me? Could there be something there? The biggest question of all, what the hell was going on between Cody and me? I knew I felt something different when I was with him, but we were at such different places in our lives, could we even make it work? The bigger question would be if he could get away from Jackie.

My flight was on time and uneventful, I got back to my apartment a little after noon. I unpacked and did my laundry, I finished putting it away and was checking my work email, so that I was somewhat up to date when I returned to work tomorrow morning.

Eli walked in the door, he saw me on the couch and ran over to give me a hug, “Brian, I missed you, I am glad you are home, now tell me everything.”

I snickered, “hi Eli, I missed you too.”

He took my laptop away from me and set it on the table, “yeah I know, now tell me about all those hot guys you hooked up with.”

I said, “not much to tell you that you don’t already know.”

He protested, “oh please, my sex life has been nonexistent lately, the least you can do is let me live vicariously through you.”

I relented, “ok, fine. What do you want to know?”

For the next couple hours, I answered all of Eli’s questions, in addition to telling him about Kyle, Ty and Todd, I gave him the whole story on Cody.

He asked, “so where did you leave it with Cody?”

I said, “I just told him he could call anytime, I’m not sure he has the guts to break it off with Jackie. I am afraid Jackie might try and trap him by getting pregnant or some other bullshit.”

Eli looked at me, “do you think she would really do that?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t put anything past her.”

We sat there in silence for a couple of minutes.

I said, “oh, I also had it out with the rest of my family, I think my mom finally understands that I am really gay, and my brother and brother-in-law may finally quit treating me like a little kid.” I told him about both conversations.

Eli said, “wow, sounds like you had quite the weekend.”

I nodded, “yeah, I guess so. Eli, can I ask you a question?”

Eli gave me a look, “of course you can, you know that.”

I paused, “have you ever thought about you and me?”

He asked, “what do you mean?”

“Well, we have been friends since we met, have you ever thought of me as dating material?”

He thought a second, “I guess maybe once or twice, but I didn’t want to screw up our friendship. Why are you asking about this?”

I replied, “it was mostly Kyle and Ty, they seemed so happy, and I started to think that I am missing out.”

Eli nodded, “yeah, I get that, I feel that way sometimes too. Are you suggesting that we start to date? I mean we are already like a married couple, we live together, we care about each other, we have no secrets, hell the only thing we don’t do is have sex.”

I agreed, “I know, and that’s what I told dad too. I certainly don’t want to mess up our friendship either. But I still think I would like to find someone to grow old with.”

Eli said, “I think we should keep our relationship as it is, I could handle you being with another guy, but I would hate for us to not like each other, and it would kill me to never see you again if things went bad.”

“I think you’re right, I don’t want anything to come between us, I guess I only thought about us because you are right here, and it would be easy.”

Eli thought for a minute, “so why hasn’t either one of us ever tried to start something with the other? I have lived with you 10 years and the first time I see your dick was in a text, it’s a nice dick by the way, but a real friend would have shown it to me a lot sooner.”

I laughed, “you are such a horn dog, I told Kyle that you probably jacked off over the pic that we sent you.”

He blushed, “well, maybe. I also was looking at Todd’s face covered in your jizz.”