Cool Fools 9: Heaven

It seemed all too soon when the sun’s rays began to reach through the blinds and fell at the foot of the bed. It was a whole new day, and from the looks of the red-orange glowing sky outside, it was going to be a beautiful one. Old troubles were yesterday’s news, and great tidings were in store for the present dawn.

“Oh, my god, dude!” Woody said, quite shocked, “You didn’t hit on me at all tonight. Not once!”

Reed snorted, “Um, were you expecting me to hit on you?”
“I…well…I mean…you did at every sleepover in high school,” said Woody, “And now that you’re ten times more confident about yourself, I’d thought you’d be ten times more likely to entice me…”

“Well!” Reed said indignantly, “Just so you know, Mr. Woody Allen, you’re not the hottest thing on this planet. My boyfriend is! And we are in a deep, serious relationship, okay?”

Woody cringed at the name ‘Woody Allen.’ He has always had a problem with his name. With the name Sherwood, he had to obvious choices in nickname: Sherry or Woody. He chose the latter because it sounded cooler. But in middle school, he learned that not only was he named after his father’s author Sherwood Anderson, Woody also had to share his nickname and middle name with the talented but geeky director.
Luckily, only Reed, the Welling twins, and Ethan knew Woody’s middle name.

“Well, whatever the reason. I wanna thank you.” Woody sighed, “I used to have both you and my sister whom I could just talk with all night long. But then Laurie passed away, and then you came out of the closet, and we just couldn’t spend a night without some sexual stuff going on between us. But I’m so freakin’ glad you’ve fallen for someone else. I mean, I have to meet this guy and thank him for allowing us to be what we were always meant to be…best friends…”

“I’m sorry I was such a lousy friend before,” Reed said, “And I’m so grateful you never kicked me out of your life.”
“How could I…I love you, man. You’re the best! You’re the absolute bestest friend in the world.”
“I love you too!”
The two best pals came together for a warm, tight hug, patting each other on the back, and planting a light kiss on each other’s cheeks.

“Hey, you know, I think you can thank my boyfriend soon. I told him to pick me up for breakfast today.”

“Oh, wow,” thought Woody, “You’re boyfriend’s amazing. He’s driving 100 miles to pick you up for breakfast?”
“No, no,” said Reed, “He actually lives here in Ashton. He usually comes down to Southwind every weekend.”

“How long have you guys been dating?”
“Oh, two and a half months!” replied Reed, “But our relationship has built into something much more than the time seems to suggest. I am so in love with him, and although he hasn’t said it yet, I think…I know…he feels the same way about me.”

“That awesome. I can’t wait to meet him!”

The tune of “Hero” by Christinia Aguilera came on and Reed quickly jumped out of bed, “That’s him!” Snatching up his phone by the table, Reed flipped it open, “Heeyy!” The smile on his face only grew wider, and the twinkle in his eyes only sparkled brighter, “How are you?...I’m dandy….yeah…I’m here in Ashton at my best friend’s apartment…Oh, yeah sure, here’s the address again…134 West Summer Street, apartment 12….um, yeah…I think that’s the right address…” Reed looked at Woody for confirmation. Woody nodded, and Reed continued, “Yeah, it is….um…WEST…not East…yes, I’m sure…It’s right across from the Dairy Queen. Okay, great. See ya soon. I love you…Bye.”

As Reed flipped the phone closed, he started to jump up and down and started singing, “My hot boyfriend is picking me up. My hunky, gorgeous boyfriend is picking me up for breakfast. I’m gonna eat breakfast with my amazing…oh, hey, ETHAN!”

Woody immediately sat up as Ethan entered the room. His hair was disheveled, and dark bags lined under his eyes, but in spite of that, Ethan had a soft smile on his face, “Hey, Reed. Came here for the Renaissance Faire?” Reed nodded, and Ethan turned his head to Woody, “Hi, honey. You must have been scared sick…”

“I WAS!” growled Woody, “WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t answer your calls...”
“Yeah well,” Woody asked again, “Where the hell have you been?”

Ethan walked slowly to the bed and sat on the edge, “I’m sorry for the way I acted on Thursday. The situation of my family should have only been between me and my parents, and it was wrong of me to cast you into it. And to be mad at you for doing the right thing was just pathetic of me. Please, can you forgive me?”

“I will as soon as you tell me where the hell you’ve been and what the heck you’ve been doing!” said Woody.

“I promise I’ll tell you everything when we we’re alone, without company. I’ll sit you down and explain it all,” said Ethan, “But for right now, just rest assured that I’ve straightened everything out. It’s all good again. I love you. Thank you for being such a great support this last month.”

“I love you too!” Woody welled up, his voice cracking, “But don’t you ever disappear like this on me ever again. You hear?”
“I promise!”

“Ah, shucks!” Reed sniffled, “You guys are making me cry! I don’t want my boyfriend to see me blubbering.”

It was about five minutes later when the doorbell rang. And the three young men wiped the tears from their faces and made their way out into the living room. Reed, excited as he was to see his boyfriend, managed to stand back long enough to let the tallest of the boys open the door.

As the main door swung open, the screen door acted like some sort of hazy, distorted mirror, juxtaposing the likeness of the visitor and greeter. Ethan’s darker brown hair compared to the visitor’s slightly lighter brown locks. Ethan’s rectangular face compared to the visitor’s similarly shaped visage. Ethan’s thin upper lip and fuller bottom lip…as opposed to the visitor’s fuller upper lip and thin bottom lip. But it was their eyes…deep blue framed in gorgeously long lashes…that were most strikingly similar.

“Adam?” uttered Woody and Ethan simultaneously.
As Adam opened the door for himself and walked in, Reed could no longer restrain himself and went up to the tall, handsome boy and planted a big kiss on the lips. Seeing Woody and Ethan’s shocked faces, Adam flustered and pulled away from the kiss.
He cleared his throat, “Uh, come on. Let’s go have breakfast.”

“Okay!” Reed agreed easily.

“Wait a minute. Why didn’t you ever tell me it was Adam you were dating?” asked Woody.
“I know you guys had some beef with each other…the details of which I don’t know. I wasn’t sure how you’d react when you find out,” said Reed, guiltily, “So…are you alright with it…with us?”
“I…” said Woody uneasily. “Yeah…sure.”

“And how come you never told me your best friend was Woody?” asked Adam.

“Well…honestly, I…um…was trying to get over him at that time,” said Reed with a small gulp, “And I knew if I started talking about him, I’d never stop. And I really wanted the 48 hours we get to spend together every week to be only about us. So…that’s why.”

“Alrighty then!” said Adam, satisfied with the answer, “Let’s go. Unless, you guys want to join us?”
Ethan shook his head, “Uh, thanks but no. I think this would be a good time for Woody and I to talk about some important issues.”

“Kay. Cool,” said Adam, turning to Reed, “You ready?”
Reed nodded, and in no time, the two had disappeared from the apartment, leaving Woody and Ethan to reflect on the circumstances.

“Ha,” chuckled Ethan, “What are we gonna do with those two?”
“That’s not really important right now,” said Woody, his face growing more solemn, “What’s important is that you start telling me what you did these last two days.”

“Fair enough!” said Ethan as the two sat down by the couch. The older boy took in a long drag of air and slowly let it all out. He took in another big breath and just as slowly let it draw out. He stared at Woody, and took his hand. Woody gave him a look of ‘I’m waiting…’ and so Ethan told his story, “When you rejected me at the courthouse, I went driving around for a couple of hours. And that gave me the chance to realize that I shouldn’t have got you involved. And the two people I should have been dealing with were my parents. So I drove back to Southwind, and I got both of them together, in our old home, and I locked all the exits and I turned off all our phones. I just wanted to hear them explain everything, why the hell they were doing this to our perfect family. It’s a pretty extreme thing to do, but I wanted to know before I could let them go.”
“The reason I was so upset with their divorce was because everything Adam said was true! I was sure as hell scared when you mentioned that word ‘routine.’ I was freakin’ crawl out of my mind knowing that spending the rest of my life with you meant doing the same thing over and over again. But I was also too afraid of losing you. Then I took relief in knowing that I had my parents; I had them as role models. My dad was the only man of the White family I knew who got over this crazy fear that we all have. So it fucking devastated me when I learned they were getting a divorce.”

“So…in the end…” said Woody, “Did you learn anything?”
“I learned what I always knew,” sighed Ethan, “That they never loved each other. They married because she was pregnant. They pretended their relationship was growing stronger everyday, but in actuality, it was straining and waning from the moment they said ‘I do.’ They were never truly happy with each other. But that’s good; do you know why? Because…I’ve never been more happy than when I’m with you…even at the height of my phobia, knowing it was you I’m fighting for made the struggle worth it. We love each other. And that’s the difference.”

“What about this?” Woody reached for the bottle labeled mirtazapine—Ethan’s antidepressant—on the coffee table, “Do you need this any more?”
“No, I don’t feel like I need it,” said Ethan, “But the responsible thing for me to do is finish the prescription and check up on the psychiatrist and let her decide...”

Tears welled over his eyes, but for the first time since Ethan appeared this morning, Woody let open a smile, “I’m so glad you’re back!”
Taking the younger man into his arms, squeezing tight never to let go, Ethan whispered, “I’m so glad I’m home.”

Their faces came together for a tear-filled kiss which grew stronger and more passionate as the seconds ticked by. For observers, it has only been a day and a half since their lips touched, but for them, it had been twelve hundred thousand seconds of sheer agony.

Affection led them down the hall to the bedroom. Desire took away their clothes and threw them across the floor. Passion caused their bodies to tumble onto the mattress...