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Freefall
By Codey
Chapter 09
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starved.” Tim said as we walked back inside. “I’m going to fix a sandwich before I go to bed. You want one?”
“Nah, I’m too tired to eat. I think I’m just going to go to bed.”
“Okay, I’ll be there shortly.”
I turned down the bed, stripped to my boxers and decided, even though I probably needed one, I’d wait until morning to shower. I barely remember getting into bed and don’t remember my head hitting the pillow or Tim coming to bed at all.
I don’t know how long I slept or what woke me up. I could feel Tim spooned up against me in our normal sleeping position. The first time I’d slept over at Tim’s and awoke with him spooned up against me, I was scared witless. I didn’t know what to do. I’d spent most of the rest of the night awake. I was sure something was coming next and I only knew for sure I didn’t want to miss it...whatever it was. Unfortunately for my teen fantasies, nothing had happened. As our sleepovers became more frequent, I grew accustomed to Tim’s habit of spooning and just ignored it.
I wasn’t sure what time it was but I wasn’t sleepy anymore, and so decided to just lie there. Over the years, I’d come to like the feeling of security I got with Tim spooned against me with his arm thrown across my chest. There’s something magical in the touch of another human being. When terrible things happen, the touch of someone else has a calming effect. A dying patient is calmed and reassured when someone is holding his hand; an injured and panicky child needs only the hug and reassurance from a parent to calm down. This was what I needed: someone I knew and trusted to just hold me and let me believe that everything was going to be okay.
I thought back to all that had gone on from yesterday afternoon into the early morning hours of today. I had to ask myself if I still trusted Tim. I don’t know what’s going on with Tim, but I do know his heart. Whatever it is doesn’t change the fact that Tim has a good heart. When he works out what’s eating at him, the goodness will return; so yes, I trusted him. It would be a guarded trust for awhile, but I made myself a promise lying there with him. I would not let anything that happens, while I’m here, destroy our friendship.
I was beginning to feel a little drowsy from all the peace and quiet, when the door was thrust open and someone was yelling, “Okay, you slackers. Up and at ’em. Assholes and elbows are all I want to see. We’re burning daylight here! Come on...get moving!”
I was so startled, I twisted as I was trying to get out of bed and became wrapped in the blanket and top sheet. I ended up falling on my face, wrapped like a mummy, and flopping like a fish out of water, trying to get untangled. I could hear someone trying to stifle laughter as I struggled. After finally getting an arm free, I was able to get to my knees and could see Tobey nearly doubled over with laughter. “That was totally awesome, dude!” He said between gasps for breath. “That, without doubt, was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!”
“Very freaking funny!” I growled. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“Don’t be silly. People our age don’t have heart attacks.”
“Some do.”
“Only if they already have a bad heart.”
“How do you know I don’t?”
“Because you didn’t die.”
This brought on a new round of laughing from Tobey and this time he was joined by Tim. I turned and glared at Tim who was sitting up, completely uncovered since I had wrapped all the bedding around me as I fell out of bed. “Et tu, Timus?” I asked.
“He does make a valid point, Bri.” he said. “You’re still alive and that was pretty funny, at least the part I was able to see.”
I was beginning to see the humor in it, myself, as the shock cleared from my system, but I tried to hide it behind sarcasm, as I replied. “Yeah, right. It was righteously riotous. I’ll probably break out in a horse laugh every time I see my bruises. At least until they fade away.”
“I’m glad to see we all agree you made a complete ass of yourself, Bri.”
“Wait! I never agreed to that. I protest!”
“Protest noted and denied. Implied consent is an accepted tenet of common law and, even though you attempted sarcasm, your implied consent was obvious. Now on to more pressing matters,” he said, turning to Tobey. “What the hell are you doing here and why don’t you leave and come back at a decent hour?”
“That’s not a very nice way to welcome an invited guest in your home.”
“I didn’t invite you.”
“I know, smart ass, your mom did and, last time I checked the rule book, moms outrank kids.”
“Damn rule book! So when did you talk to my mom?”
“I called earlier to talk to Brian and let him know I wasn’t going to work today, and would come by later, so we could go to the beach and look around the Loop a little. She told me you guys were still in bed and you weren’t going to practice today. She said she was going out and wasn’t sure when she’d be back, so I could come by around noon and wake you up. She told me she’d leave a key under the mat so I could get in. Brilliant place to hide a house key, by the way. I bet no burglar would think to look there.”
Tim looked at his alarm clock. “Noon? Dammit, Tobey, It’s barely nine am!”
“Well, actually, she never specified a time zone. All she said was around noon.” Tobey pursed his lips and looked thoughtful for a few seconds. “You’re thinking she meant our time zone, huh?”
“Well, duh, asshole!”
Tobey slowly nodded his head, “Yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right. What’s done is done and, since you guys are awake now, you might as well hustle it up and get ready for a fun day at the beach.”
While Tim and Tobey had been talking, I’d been trying to free myself from the blanket and sheet. I had become so entangled that I was unable to free myself. “Uh, guys? A little help here, okay? I’m stuck.”
“You’re stuck? You really can’t get free?” Something in the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes made me nervous when Tim asked.
“Yes, I’m really stuck! Now help me get loose.” I knew I was in trouble when an evil grin spread across Tim’s face.
“Hey, Tobey? Did I ever tell you how ticklish Brian is?” he said crawling towards me on the bed.
“NO! Don’t you dare, Tim!” It was true that I was ticklish...not just ticklish but morbidly so. Tim had only tickled me one time before, and my reaction had frightened him so badly, he’d never again done it. I had hyperventilated and could barely breathe. At first, he thought I was laughing, but when my eyes began rolling back into my head, he became frightened and finally stopped. He apologized over and over. He thought he’d nearly killed me. He did, however, still delight in teasing me that he was going to, because just the simple threat of being tickled would throw me into a near panic. I was pretty sure Tim wouldn’t really do it, but there was always that element of doubt and Tim was a master at exploiting it.
“What do you say, Bri? Are you ready for a good old fashioned tickle party?”
“So help me God, Tim, if you do I’ll...I’ll....”
“Threats? Did you hear that Tobey? The mummy is threatening me. It looks to me like you’re in no position to threaten anyone, Bri. You can’t move, remember?”
“I won’t always be trapped like this and when I get out, I’ll get even. I’ll make your life a living Hell!”
“Ewwww, more threats.” Tim said clenching and unclenching his hand like a claw. Then he started laughing. “Come on, Tobey, help me get the little baby out of there.”
Tobey slipped off his shoes and joined Tim on the bed. They knelt there on their knees, looking at me for what seemed like an hour, but was only a few seconds. “Well?” I asked.
“We’re thinking,” Tim said.
“Well, think faster! I want up from here.”
“It looks like it’s all wrapped around you, Bri.”
“No shit!”
“You’ll need to lie back down and roll to unwrap it.”
“There’s no room. I’m wedged between the bed and the wall.”
“I have an idea.” Tobey said. If we can get him flat on the floor again, we can each grab a corner and the middle of the blanket’s edge and pull up. We should be able to unroll him just like a roll of toilet paper.”
“Yeah, that might work. Let’s do it.”
“Whatever, guys, just hurry. I’m not too fond of the imagery of a roll of toilet paper though. Can’t I be a roll of paper towels instead?”
“I don’t know, Bri. Somehow toilet paper seems to fit you more.” Tim laughed.
Tim held my head as they helped me get laid back down between the bed and the wall. “Make sure you keep your free arm out of the way when we start pulling, or it’ll get caught and just make things worse,” Tim warned me.
They took their places and started pulling on the blanket. At first, nothing happened, but then I felt myself starting to turn. “It’s working!” Tobey yelled.
“Yeah, keep pulling, Tobey.” Tim said. “See, Brian? I told you...just like unrolling toilet paper.”
“Paper towels!” I answered with a laugh.
I was feeling a little more cheerful now that I was nearly free. I’m not saying I was ready to panic or anything like that, but there was something disturbing and a little scary about not being able to move. You feel helpless in that position. Now, though, it was funny. I knew this was something Tim wouldn’t let me live down for a long time; Tobey either, if our friendship developed the way it looked like it would. That was okay, though. It’d just be another good memory shared by good friends.
The blanket suddenly loosened and I was free. I started climbing under the bed, thinking I could sneak up on them from the rear and jump them.
They noticed the slack and Tim asked, “Are you loose, Bri?” Then, turning to Tobey, he said, “He’s not answering.”
“Yeah,” Tobey said. “You think the fairies that live under the bed got him?”
“No way. If he’d been kidnapped by fairies, we’d be hearing groans of pleasure from him by now.”
I froze in place. I’d just crawled out from under the bed and was getting ready to pounce when Tim said that. I could see Tim’s back tense up as he realized what he’d said. Tobey also tensed up but, almost immediately, fell backwards onto the bed laughing.
“Kidnapped by fairies...groans of pleasure…” he gasped between guffaws. “Oh, my God! That is too funny!”
I began laughing too; ss much from the sight of Tobey rolling on the bed as he laughed at the joke. Tim turned to look at me, back at Tobey, and then back at me again. At first, he had a look of confusion followed by relief, but then the look changed back to confusion as he watched and listened to our laughter.
After several minutes of watching us laugh, Tim got off the bed, went to his dresser and grabbed some underwear. “Where do you think you’re going?” I asked him.
“I thought, since you two were busy making complete asses of yourselves, I’d take my shower.”
“Oh, no, you don’t!” I said, starting to get up myself.
“Oh, yes I do! You stole my shower yesterday and I’m just taking yours in exchange.”
Tobey stopped laughing and looked at me. “You stole his shower yesterday?”
“Well, just the water part.”
He then turned to Tim. “So, today, you’re stealing his shower?”
“Yeah, but just the water part.”
Tobey looked back and forth at Tim and me and slowly shook his head from side to side. “You two are whacked! Totally whacked! You do realize this, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Tim answered, looking at me with a grin. “We know.”
“That’s what makes it work.” I said, returning Tim’s grin.
Tobey looked thoughtful and began nodding his head. “Yeah. Yeah...way cool!”
***
We got to the bus stop, on the corner, just in time to see the bus pull away.
“Dammit!” Tobey said. “It’s going to be twenty minutes before the next one. I hope we don’t end up missing the best part of the day.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You never know until the day’s over.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Well, you know how, at night, you lie there and think about the day? That’s when you decide what was the worst and best part of the day. You never know until it’s all over, so you can compare all the things that happened.”
“So if something doesn’t happen to us at the beach, because we aren’t there, it would have been the best part of the day?”
“Maybe and maybe not.”
Tim spoke up. “But if something didn’t happen to us because we weren’t there for it to happen to us, it might have been the worst thing to not happen to us, and not necessarily the best thing that didn’t happen to us.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m getting a brain cramp,” I groaned.
“So,” Tim continued, “maybe what has already happened to us, where we were there for it to happen to us, is the best or worst thing to happen to us today, and what didn’t happen, because we weren’t there for it to happen to us, doesn’t matter?”
“Good point, Tim.”
Thinking back to my predicament trapped in the blanket earlier, I said, “God! I hope what’s happened so far isn’t the best I can expect for the day!”
“I don’t know,” Tim laughed, “I could live with that being the high point in my day.”
“Me too,” Tobey added, laughing along with Tim, as I glowered at the two of them.
We decided, since it would be twenty minutes before the next bus came and it would take us twenty minutes to walk, that we’d just walk to the lake. Tim was against walking, but we outvoted him. He thought we should just wait for the bus and conserve the energy we’d use walking for having fun later. “It’d be a shame to run out of steam in the middle of what might be the best part of the day,” he argued, looking at me and smiling.
“Don’t start that crap again,” I warned. “I vote for walking and risking the consequences.” As we walked, Tobey was telling me how much I was going to enjoy the day, but Tim was strangely quiet.
We were nearing the park, at the lake front, when Tim finally spoke. “Can I ask you guys a question?” Tobey and I said sure. “I don’t want you guys getting mad, so if it’s out of line, just tell me, okay? Why did you laugh, when I said what I said about fairies under the bed, this morning?’
“Because it was funny,” Tobey answered.
“Yeah, and because you didn’t mean it in a negative way. You were just making a joke, and it was obvious, from the way you said it, that that’s all it was. You weren’t making fun of us,” I added.
“But I did call you a name. I called you fairies.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Sure I did.”
“No, you said there were fairies under the bed. Besides, you didn’t say it in a hurtful way. You meant it to be funny and with no hidden meanings.”
“And you guys think Philo has a hidden agenda?”
“Yeah, he does. The things he says are meant to hurt or put us down. You don’t see it because you’re straight. If we were saying things about you straight guys, then you’d see it and we wouldn’t. It wouldn’t bother us if we called each other breeders or some other name you’d consider insulting, just like you straight guys are always calling each other fags and it doesn’t really bother you because it’s just a name. If we called you breeders in a hurtful way, or when Philo calls us fags, it does bother us, and he knows it.” Tim looked thoughtful and nodded.
We entered Grant’s Park near the fountain. The park was crowded, as kids took advantage of one of the last weekends before school started for the year. There were people of all ages, but by far, more kids than older people. The younger kids were there with their mothers mostly, but some seemed to be there alone.
“Hey! Tobey!” we heard someone yelling.
We looked to see who it was, and there was a tall guy on the other side of the fountain, waving in our direction. “It’s Jason,” Tobey said.
“Who’s Jason?” Tim asked.
“The guy I told you about last night.”
“You know, Tim,” I said. “The guy that threw his soda away and claimed to have spilled it, so he could have an excuse to go back and talk to Tobey some more.”
Tim looked confused, and Tobey just sadly shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Brian, they never listen to me. They’re always too busy laughing at the names Philo’s calling me. I’m gonna go see him for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
“What’s he pissed about?” Tim asked me.
I retold Tim the story Tobey had told us the night before. “I don’t remember him telling us about this guy,” Tim said.
“Maybe because he’s right and you guys never listen to him.”
“I listen to him. I always listened to you, so why wouldn’t I listen to him?”
“Did you listen to me, Tim? Or did you just hear me but not really listen? Can you remember anything about any of those times I talked to you about being gay or how it affected my life?”
At first, Tim looked angry but that slowly changed to a look of guilt. “Why didn’t you ever say anything before?”
“I did, but you weren’t listening then, either.” Tim never responded and just looked away. I wondered if he was listening this time.
Tobey returned with Jason in tow. He introduced Jason to us and us to him and then said, “I asked Jason to hang out with us, if that’s okay with you guys.”
We both welcomed him, and Tim noticed Jason was carrying a Frisbee. “Are you any good with that, or do you carry it around just to look cool, like Brian does with a soccer ball?” he asked.
“Well, I’m better when I’m home and have my dog to fetch it. I’d show you, but it’s hard to do without my dog to catch it.... That is, unless you want to play the dog’s part. I won’t expect you to catch it in your mouth, but a few fancy flips would be cool.”
“I won’t promise any fancy flips, but if you toss it to Brian, I promise you’ll see a few fancy trips,” Tim laughed.
“Are you kidding?” I asked. “I’m a soccer player. Fancy footwork is my style. The only time I trip is when some dumb football jock like you tries doing what I do!”
Jason laughed. “So, I play extreme Frisbee, you’re a soccer player and Tim’s a football player.” Turning to Tobey he asked, “So, what do you play?”
“Oboe.”
“Oboe?” Jason laughed, followed by both Tim and me. “Not a lot of demand for Oboists is there?”
“Sure, there is. All the leading restaurants are looking for Oboists.”
“Restaurants?”
“Yep. Think about it. If a restaurant needs a dishwasher, who they gonna call? A Frisbee guy who might forget and start tossing plates around? A soccer guy or a football player would soon break more dishes than they’d wash, because a football player fumbles a lot and a soccer guy isn’t allowed to use his hands, and would keep breaking them, trying to wash them with his feet. Yep, Oboists will always be able to find a job.”
Tim and I rolled our eyes but laughed in spite of ourselves. “I think I’m losing it,” Jason said. “That actually makes sense, in a weird sort of way,” and then he was laughing too.
We headed off to find a place clear enough for us to toss the Frisbee around. Tim and I were following Tobey and Jason. Tobey turned around, and looking at me, raised his eyebrows in a silent question. When I smiled, nodded, and gave him two thumbs up, he nodded and smiled back. I’d just given him my approval of Jason.
As crowded as the park was, it took a while before we were able to find enough room to play Frisbee. We finally found a place down near the south end of the park. It wasn’t nearly as crowded down here, because it was so far from all the food stands and bathrooms.
We started tossing it around, and it was soon pretty clear that Jason was good. He’d toss it and it’d skim across just above the grass and then swoop up into your hands. He could toss it way to the side but it would curve so much, you barely had to take a step to catch it even though it looked like he was throwing it away from you. Once, when he was tossing it to Tobey, he threw it towards him but way high. Tobey started backpedaling to be under it when it came down, but instead of still going towards Tobey, it reversed itself as it came down and came right back to Jason. He was awesome!
The rest of us, on the other hand, sucked. Whoever one of the three of us were throwing to spent a lot of time chasing down a rolling Frisbee. Tim was much better than Tobey or me, but nowhere near in the same league as Jason. Usually, when Tim tossed it, it would at least go in the general direction of the intended receiver. That wasn’t the case with Tobey or me. When the Frisbee left our hands, it seemed to have a mind of its own and go wherever it wanted. I’ll admit, Tobey was a little better than I was, but not by much.
There were a couple of young boys sitting with their mother under a tree near the sidewalk running around this section of the park. The youngest looked about eight and the oldest was about twelve or thirteen. Every time the Frisbee got away from us and went in their direction, the two of them would race to get to it first and throw it back to one of us. After a couple of dozen times they chased it down for us, we had a huddle and decided to ask them if they wanted to play too.
We went over and introduced ourselves to the two boys and their mother. Levon was the youngest, at eight, and Tyrelle was the oldest, at twelve. She looked too young to have a twelve year old son and had the saddest eyes I’d ever seen. At first, she was cool about the boys playing with us. She was afraid they’d get hurt playing with us, since we were so much older and bigger. We promised to be careful. “And besides, I think we’re the ones likely to be hurt. These look like two tough men you have,” Jason told her. Levon beamed at this.
We tossed the Frisbee around for about a half hour, before just playing catch started to get boring. We sat around in a circle to rest for awhile and decided we’d play Frisbee football.
Choosing sides turned out to be tougher than we’d thought. Finally, it was decided that since Jason was the best with the Frisbee, he should take the worst player to even things out. Even though I protested vehemently, I was unanimously picked by the others as the worst. It ended up with Tim, Tobey and Tyrelle against me, Jason, and Levon.
We’d decided to play touch since we were so much bigger than the two youngest guys. This didn’t last long. The game soon deteriorated into tackle. Tyrelle and Levon turned out to have an advantage because of their smaller size. They were quick and could change direction much faster than the rest of us. Also, being small, they were hard to tackle. Strategy, on our side, ended up being mostly toss the Frisbee to Levon and Jason and I would block for him. The other team’s strategy was similar, with Tyrelle carrying the Frisbee most of the time.
At one point, Tim threw to Tobey, but Jason was right there and tackled him pretty hard. They both just laid there with Jason on top of Tobey. We ran over, thinking they’d been hurt. When we got there, they both had goofy grins on their faces. “Uh, guys?” Tim said. “The play’s over.”
“We know,” Tobey said.
“You can get up now.”
“We know,” Jason answered.
“I think they’re gonna kiss!” Levon said. This got us all laughing, and Jason and Tobey separated, but from that point on, they both went out of their way to tackle the other, whether they had the Frisbee or not.
Tobey threw to Tim for what turned out to be the last play of the game. It looked as if Tim had a clear shot for a touchdown, but Levon came from nowhere and latched onto Tim’s leg. Tim stumbled but didn’t go down, and Levon didn’t let go. Tim made it for a touchdown by dragging Levon along, holding onto Tim’s leg and yelling, “I got him, guys!” all the way. We were all laughing so hard we couldn’t help Levon at all. Even the boy’s mother was laughing at this.
We all collapsed to rest back under the tree where their mother was. “Who won?” she asked.
We all looked at each other. “Was anyone keeping score?” Tobey asked.
Apparently, no one was. “I guess it ended up a tie, then,” Jason said.
“Well, we would have won, if someone would have helped me when I had Tim on that last play!” Levon said with a pout.
“You’re right, lil bro.” Jason told him. “Brian really let the team down by not going to help you.”
“Me?” I asked. “Just where were you?”
“I was busy blocking Tobey,” he answered with a smirk.
“Uh-huh,” I replied as sarcastically as I could muster without laughing.
“I want to thank you guys for letting the boys play,” their mom said turning serious. “It’s hard to find safe places for my kids to play, living in the inner city.”
“You’re welcome,” Tim said. “I think we had as much fun as they did.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“We need to get going, guys,” Tobey said. “We still have a lot to do today.”
Tyrelle and Levon looked sad as we left. We’d gone a few yards, when Jason turned around and tossed the Frisbee to Tyrelle. “Here, guys, keep this for me and practice. We’ll play again, the next time we see each other.”
We’d gotten to the end, off the grassy area, when I looked back, and Tyrelle and Levon were tossing the Frisbee around. I know we were too far away to hear them, but I’d swear I could hear them laughing as they played. I noticed Tobey was looking back too and, when we caught each other’s eyes, we smiled and both looked at Jason. I hoped things worked out for Tobey and Jason but couldn’t help but feel a small pang of jealousy.
“Yeah,” I thought to myself as we went in search of the best thing to happen that day, “I definitely approve of Jason.”
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