Reaching Out

Chapter 14: What’s One More?

By Grant Bentley

“Trevor’s gay and his Mom kicked him out,” Jason exclaimed.

“He has nowhere to go,” John added.

“And?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.

“We have a spare room and he could stay here, couldn’t he?” Jason asked.

“I have no problem with it,” I replied as I glanced at Ian, “but maybe he doesn’t want to stay here. He may have told you he’s gay, but he may not want anyone else to know. Staying here wouldn’t help him if he wants to keep it hidden.”

“That’s right,” Ian said. “I have no problem with it either, but you had better talk to him first.”

“Okay, we’ll talk to him tomorrow,” John replied.

That said, we all helped ourselves to the food on the table, then sat around the living room to eat.

“I feel so sorry for him,” Evan said. “When he was talking to me on the phone last night, I was so scared. I’ve never talked to someone who felt he couldn’t go on–that the only solution he could see was death. I can’t imagine feeling that alone and helpless. His only hope was talking to a stranger on the phone…or someone he thought was a stranger.”

“I can’t imagine feeling like that, either,” I replied. “I’ve felt alone and lonely, but never so alone and hopeless that I didn’t want to live.”

“Well, you won’t be feeling lonely any more,” Ian said as he leaned over and gave me a long kiss.

The boys looked at us and burst out laughing.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s just so weird seeing you guys kiss like that,” Scott said through his laughter.

“Why? You guys kiss,” I said.

“Yeah, but we’re not old,” Pete laughed.

“Well, you will be one day,” I told him. “Although, if you keep making remarks like that, you might not be.”

We kept the banter going for another half hour as we ate. The boys then announced that they had homework to do, so they had better get to it. They moved to the kitchen, cleared the table and got down to work. It was almost 10:30 before they all had their homework finished. Pete, Ross, Scott and Evan all decided they were tired after the events of the last two days and left for home.

“So, it’s okay to talk to Trevor about staying here?” Jason asked.

I looked over at Ian. He nodded, so I said, “It’s okay with us, as long as there are no issues with him staying here.”

“How old is he?” Ian asked.

“He’s seventeen,” Jason replied. “In fact, I think he’s just a month younger than me, but I’m not sure.”

I blinked at that, as I remembered that Jason’s birthday wasn’t too far off, and I needed to get planning something for him.

Satisfied with our replies, the boys said goodnight, gave us a hug and were off to bed.

After the boys were gone, I looked at Ian and asked him if he was sure about Trevor. He smiled, pulled me into a hug, gave me a quick kiss and said, “Absolutely.”

The next day, the boys went to see Trevor again after school. This time there was no uneasiness. Aaron and Theo went with them and were introduced to Trevor, since he only knew them from seeing them in the halls at school.

“Are there any straight guys at Western?” he asked, laughing.

“There are four on the football team,” Pete replied, “but we’ve learned to accept them and treat them as if they’re normal.”

“That’s why I love you guys,” he said with a grin. “You’re always willing to overlook other people’s differences.”

“When do you get out of here?” Scott asked.

“The doc says he thinks I can leave next week. He doesn’t think I’m in any danger any more, thanks to you guys.”

“What’s going to happen when you get out of the hospital?” Evan asked him.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I won’t be going home, that’s for sure. They just have to work things out with Social Services to find me a place to live.”

“How would you like to live with us?” Jason asked.

He looked at Jason and then at John before his eyes filled with tears. “You’re kidding, right?” he asked.

“As long as you don’t mind living with a couple of benders and their two dads, no, we’re not kidding,” John replied.

“Two dads?” he asked.

“You know that, when Jason got kicked out, he moved in with Chris, right?” John asked.

“Yeah, I heard he found you nearly frozen to death or something,” Trevor said to Jason.

“Right,” Jason replied, “and then my stepfather burned John’s house down, trying to kill us. So John and his dad came to stay with us until their new house was built. Well, Chris and John’s dad kinda fell in love with each other. So we have, like, two dads.”

“No way!” Trevor exclaimed, looking at John in total amazement. “Your dad’s gay?”

“Yep,” John replied. “So now we have a spare room. We already talked to Dad and Chris. They said it’s up to you.”

“Seriously? After all the trouble I’ve caused, they would let me live with you guys?” he asked in awe.

“Yep, absolutely,” Jason replied.

“The only thing is, you’ll be living with four totally ‘out’ gay guys, and since six to eight of us get together every night at our place to do our homework and play video games or whatever, you’ll be surrounded by ‘out’ gay guys. So it might be hard to hide the fact that you’re a little bent,” John said, laughing,

“I’ve been thinking about that and talking with the doc,” Trevor responded. “I think I want to come out–no, I know I want to come out. I just wish I were still at Western. It would be so easy there with all you guys and the GSA.”

“If you’re living with us, Chris and Dad could talk to Mr. Thiessen,” John said. “Maybe he will let you back in, especially if we explain everything to him. He’s really a great guy.”

“So, are you going to answer our question or not?” Jason asked.

“What question?” Trevor asked.

“Do you want to live with us?” John asked before leaning over to Jason and saying, ”Not the brightest light on the tree is he?” just loud enough for everyone to hear, resulting in them all cracking up laughing.

“You going to be this mean to me all the time if I do?” he asked.

“Pretty much,” John replied.

“Then yeah, I can’t think of anywhere I would rather be. Thanks. I don’t know what else to say…Thanks,” Trevor responded.

The next week went by in a flash, and before we knew it, we were going to the hospital to pick up Trevor. Ian and I had been up to visit him a couple of times, just so we could get to know each other a little bit. I got the same good vibes from Trevor that I had got from Jason and John. I almost instantly liked him and I knew he was a good kid. Ian felt the same way.

Ian and I also talked to Scott Thiessen. He, of course, was aware of the suicide call and knew it had been Trevor. He hadn’t been aware that Trevor would be living with us. His only comment was that Jason and John never ceased to amaze him. We explained Trevor’s situation at home and that it had led him to put on the homophobic act to keep from being discovered. Taking everything into consideration, especially his new living arrangements, he gave permission for Trevor to return to Western, although he would be on probation. We were quite sure that it wouldn’t be a problem, and we let Scott know that. We left, feeling like we would have one happy boy when we let him know he could be back with his friends again.

We knew the boys had something planned to welcome Trevor home. When we arrived, our usual eight plus one–Pete, Ross, Scott, Evan, Aaron, Theo, Jason, John, and Cary–were at the door to greet him. After all the hugs, John grabbed one of his suitcases and told him his room was down the hall, the second door on the left. Trevor grabbed his other suitcase and started down the hall to his new room while John hung back a bit. The boys started a countdown. They got to four before we heard the yell from down the hall.

“You assholes!” Trevor yelled.

The boys lost it instantly. They were laughing so hard that tears were rolling down their cheeks. Some were holding their sides and a couple of them dropped to the floor and were rolling around.

Ian and I ran down the hall to see what was so funny. Trevor was standing in the doorway, looking like he had seen a ghost. His mouth was hanging open and he was just staring into the room.

One look at the room and the two of us were in the same shape as the boys. I hadn’t laughed so hard in years and I quickly discovered that you can laugh so hard that it hurts.

Thankfully, it only took Trevor about a minute to see the humour, and with eleven people rolling around in hysterics, it wasn’t long before he, too, was laughing hard enough to have tears running down his face. Even so, he did manage to use the term ‘assholes’ at least four more times.

It was at least five minutes before everyone calmed down. Once they did, they trooped down the hall and led us in to take a good look at what they had done. Unknown to us, the boys had purchased pink paper, borrowed pink sheets and pillowcases and a Barbie comforter from Theo’s sister, flowers and an assortment of ornaments and dolls from several other sisters and mothers, most of which were fairies, ballerinas and pink angels, and two posters of Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, one of Cher and one of Barbra Streisand. They had covered two walls in pink using the paper, the bed had several dolls and teddy bears on it, the Barbie comforter, and of course, the pink sheets and pillow cases. Every surface, including the desk, was covered in cute little ornaments. The posters of Judy, Cher and Barbra were on the far, now-pink wall, opposite the door.

Across the wall, above the bed, were the words ‘Welcome Home Trevor We Love You’ in blue cut-out letters, but you had to step into the room and turn back towards the door to see them. When Trevor finally did, he just stared for a minute, turned to look at the boys and gave them a huge smile before he broke down and was immediately part of a group hug.

Ian and I decided to leave them to it and slipped out to the kitchen for–what else–a cup of coffee.

“I think we did the right thing,” Ian said as we sat down.

“I think so,” I replied. “We definitely have one very happy boy there.”

About an hour later, the boys came out with all kinds of bags. They had taken all the ‘pink’ out of the room and replaced it with the sheets, comforter, etc. that had been in the room originally. They also had brought over some of the posters that they knew Trevor had had in his room at home, as well as a couple of posters with very cute young men with their shirts off. The only thing that stayed was the ‘Welcome Home Trevor We Love You’. He said it would never come down as long as it was his room.

The boys grabbed Cokes and several bags of chips and set themselves up all over the living room floor. They spent the next couple of hours just talking and enjoying themselves. At about 11:00, as usual, everyone got up and announced they had better get home since there was school tomorrow.

As they were getting ready to leave, Pete looked at me questioningly. I just nodded.

Chapter 15