Lawn Boy

Arriving at Asher house, I was so nervous. It would be the first time I would properly meet his father and the first time even seeing his brother. When we walked into his house, his father was in the kitchen cooking and his brother was in the living room. He and his brother seemed really happy to see each other and they hugged tightly. They seemed really close, but Asher never talked about his brother. That was a bit confusing to me.
Casey was tall, about as tall as Asher. He had blonde hair and pale skin just like Ash and he had the same blue eyes.
“Case, this is Max,” said Asher. “Max, this is my brother Casey.”
“Dad didn’t say you were having a friend for dinner,” said Casey. “Hey, it’s nice to meet you.” He stuck his hand out to shake. I shook it.
“Dad didn’t tell you?” Asher asked.
“No,” he said. “Should he have?”
“No I mean…”Asher cleared his throat. “Max isn’t my friend, Case.”
“He…isn’t?”
“No, he’s my boyfriend,” said Ash as he took my hand.
Casey was silent and then he cleared his throat. “Excuse me. I have to go and, ah, wash up for dinner.”
When Casey left, I could tell that Asher was disappointed. I let go of his hand and stroked the small of his back.
“He’ll come around,” I whispered.
Then, Asher’s father walked in. I let go of Asher’s back.
“Hello, Mr. Grant,” I said nervously.
He smiled. “Call me James.” His smile and casualness relaxed me and I smiled. He really was okay with it all.
He led us into the dining room. He said dinner was nearly ready and we could sit at the table. He asked Asher about Casey and Asher told him where he went, but not the rest. I suppose he was embarrassed.
Mr. Grant, James, brought us two glasses of cola. He asked before he brought it, of course, if I liked cola. He came back with a bottle of wine and one glass for him.
“Damn it, where’s your brother? The food is going to get cold.”
He went back into the kitchen and brought out a bowl of pasta primavera. The colors in the blow were so bright and vivid. All of the reds and greens just cheered your day right up. He went back into the kitchen and brought out another bowl, this time it had Caesar salad in it.
“Casey! Get down here! The Pasta is ready!” He sat down at the head of the table. “Sorry about that, Max.”
“It’s fine,” I said.
“We normally have dinner on time when it’s just me and Asher.”
“It’s totally fine,” I said with a smile. “I’m in no rush.”
I sat across from Asher and I suspected that Casey would sit at the other end of the table. Anyway, he finally showed up.
“What took you so long?” asked Mr. Grant.
“Sorry I was, uh…I was washing up,” said Casey as he sat.
“So?” Asher asked Casey.
“So what?” Casey asked.
“Are you going to say anything?” Asher was getting irritated.
“What’s going on here?” Mr. Grant asked.
“I told Casey that I’m gay and he just went upstairs without saying anything.”
“Is that true, Casey?”
“Yes,” said Casey, serving himself salad.
“Well, you should say something to you brother. He needs your support.”
“Well what if I don’t support him?” He asked, looking at his father.
Asher got up and left the table. He ran out of the dining room and up the stairs. Mr. Grant called after him, but I said that I would go talk to him. As I left the table, I could hear Mr. Grant and Casey continue a conversation, but I didn’t pay attention to it. My focus was on being there for Asher.
As I walked up the stairs I prepared myself for what I was going to see and tried to think of what to say. I wanted to say the right thing, but there’s always the chance of me messing it up as always. I knocked on his door and I announced that it was me. He told me to come in. When I walked in, he was laying on the bed on his side, away from me. I could hear him sniffling.
“Hey baby,” I said.
He sniffled. “Hey.”
I sat on the side of his bed, which was right next to him since he had a twin bed. I put my hand on his waste and started to caress him.
“Do you know why I never talked about my brother?” Asher asked, wiping his nose.
“No, I don’t.”
“It’s because I always miss him so much that it hurts to even think about him.”
“You’re close.”
“Well, we were,” he said. “Now he can’t even look at me.” He sniffled. “We used to do everything together.”
“I’m so sorry, Ash.”
A knock came to the door, and his dad came in.
“Hey, Champ. Sorry about Casey. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”
“It’s not your fault, dad,” said Asher as he sat up next to me.
“Well, he’s gone. He went out for a drive. We can have dinner now. It’d be a shame to let that pasta and salad go to waste.”
Asher wiped his face. “Okay, we’ll be right down.”
“Take your time,” he said before he left the room.
“Your dad’s really sweet, Ash.”
“Yeah, he has his moments.”
“Ready to go down there?”
“Yeah, you can go down there. Just give me a minute alone?”
“Okay,” I said. I kissed his gently on the cheek and then left his room.
When I got back down to the dining room, Mr. Grant was pouring himself another glass of white wine. I sat down in the same chair I was sitting in before. Before saying anything, I took a sip of my coke.
“Asher will be down in a minute. He just wanted a minute alone.”
“Okay,” he said. He took a sip of wine. “You know, I’m glad Asher has you. He gets very emotional and he needs someone to be there for him.”
“Well, what about when he had Brenda?” I asked.
He laughed under his breath and took another sip of wine. “Brenda. Brenda wasn’t interested in Asher’s wellbeing. She was only interested in herself. That much was clear. I never told Ash that because it’s his life and I have no place to interfere in what he wants, but I was glad when he told me that he broke up with Brenda. Now that I see how you two are. I can see it in the way you look at each other. It’s real.”
Mr. Grant was obviously getting drunk from the wine. As much as I didn’t want to take him seriously, I knew he was telling the truth.
“You love my son, don’t you?” he asked very bluntly.
I smiled. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
Mr. Grant smiled back. “That’s good, because I’ve never seen him this happy. I like you, Max.”
Asher came back from upstairs and I was relieved that he was back. He put his hand on my shoulder before walking around to sit in his seat.
“Okay, let’s dig in,” he said with a forced smile.
We all took turns putting servings of pasta and salad on our plate. We ate dinner pretty silently. There were the usual compliments to the chef of the good food and Mr. Grant graciously thanked the both of us. When we were finished eating, Mr. Grant exclaimed he bought red velvet cupcakes for dessert because they were Casey’s favorite. He asked if I wanted one anyone. I said yes.
“I’ll have to take this with me because I’m stuffed,” I said as Mr. Grant handed me a cupcake.
“That’s fine. You drive home safely.”
“Actually, Ash brought me.” I looked at him next to me. “Are you okay to drive?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said.
“Okay. I should get going. Thanks for dinner Mr. G.”
“Anytime,” he said.
When we got to my house, Asher walked me to my door. I’ve never had anyone do that for me before. I did it for a girl once when I thought I’d date to hide the fact that I was gay, but that’s the only experience I’ve had with that. It made me feel really special.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Thanks for what?” he asked. “It was disaster. I’m so sorry. I was a wreck.”
“It’s okay, really.”
He paused and took my hands in his. “I heard you talking to my dad.”
“You did?”
“Yeah,” he said with a smile, pulling my arms around his waist and me into him. “It was really sweet.”
“I was just making conversation.”
“You told him you love me.”
“I do love you,” I said with a smile, looking up at him.
“I love you, too.” He planted his lips on me and gave me a soft kiss.
“Night,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”
“Okay,” he said with a smile.