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AS THE WORLD TURNS

"Luke & Kevin" - Part 19

The sounds of teenagers laughing, along with the sent of various summertime food items, filled the patio of the Oakdale Country Club. There were nerds, jocks, band geeks, and cheerleaders, even some of the emo crowd. Most of them were members of Oakdale Latin High School's class of 2007, and all of them were slowly counting down the days until they could strut around school as seniors.

One of them, Luke Snyder, aired out his frustrations about senior year by immersing his body into the cold water of the country club's pool. The frigidness gently tickled him as he backstroked a few laps, but he liked it that way. That slight mixture of the warm sun beating down on him and the cool water freezing him was the perfect combination of all of what summer had to offer. To Luke, summer was hope, it was carefree, and most of all, it was free. Just like how he felt when he'd swim in the country club pool. Free.

He rose from the water, revealing a pair of red and yellow swimming shorts, and toweled off. From across the way, he could hear some of the girls talking about him.

"I think I'd like to have a piece of that," a girl who was new to the area said to another. "Who is he?"

The new girl motioned for her friend to look at Luke. Her friend couldn't help but snicker. "That, my cousin, is Luke Snyder. He's not interested in you."

"And what makes you say that?" asked the new Oakdale resident. "I'm not ugly."

"You are also not a guy, which means that you are not his type."

"No way."

"Yes. Way."

Luke rolled his eyes as he heard them speak, but he decided to be mean just for a little bit. He went to where his things were and picked up his cell phone. I have a boyfriend, he thought, but they don't. What would be wrong with flaunting that, if only to prove to this new girl that I am, indeed, gay? Nothing at all.

He clicked on Kevin's name in his phone and, as he waited for the line to connect, he turned to face the girls who spoke of him behind his back. They were obviously staring at him. It was evident in the way they quickly looked down when he turned around. Nevertheless, Luke continued to try to make them feel played.

"Kevin," he greeted in a smooth, bright voice. "How's my favorite guy?"

The new girl's eyes widened as her cousin nodded her head. They walked away.

Luke laughed, confusing Kevin. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Just taking care of some business. Nothing important. How have you been?"

Kevin was in Nora's car as they drove to the mall. Nora had made a wise decision in driving herself to the Lakeview. She knew for certain that after the breakfast would end, there would be a separation necessary between mother and son. They left Sheryl at the hotel and went ahead to the mall.

"...Fine," Kevin unsurely answered. "It's...it's just one of those days. One of those days."

"Oh, really?" Luke responded. He sat in the shade of a table covered by an umbrella and leaned back, making himself more comfortable. "And just exactly what kind of day is today?"

Kevin could sense that Luke was in a good place, and he sure didn't want to be the downer in his day. "It's...it's nothing, don't worry about it," he said. "So what are you up to?"

"Nothing much at all, just soaking up some sun and fun down at the country club. What about you?"

"Oh, well me and Nora are headed to the mall to do some random shopping, I guess."

"We're still on for the movie tonight, right?"

Kevin felt indifferent towards that. He figured he'd just go on home after the mall and mope around the apartment until he fell asleep, totally forgetting about his and Luke's previously scheduled plans. He wanted to say yes, the plans were still on and he was still ready, but he just couldn't. "Um...sure, I guess...but I think I'm feeling a little under the weather..."

"Under the weather? Like sick? Kevin, if you're sick that's definitely much higher on my little personal hierarchy than going to see 'The Rosehill Slasher.' We'll do it another time."

Kevin suddenly felt guilty about lying to Luke. "No, we'll go, we'll go. I'll be okay."

"You know what? I have an idea. How about we just get together at Grandma Lucinda's. We can have dinner, watch some TV, listen to some music, that kind of stuff. What do you think?"

That would be a better idea, Kevin thought to himself. He could already imagine how comfortable it could be. Some nice, romantic music playing in the background while he and the boy he loved were sprawled out on the floor, just talking together. "Yeah, that sounds good," he said. "I'll see you then."

"See you," Luke replied. He smiled as he closed his phone. He sure felt lucky. That new girl and her cousin were obviously lonely individuals with no love to share. Not Luke, though. He had himself a guy to dote on and it felt good.

He started to gather his things together just as Jimmy Warner came out of the country club building. Upon seeing him, Luke sped up his pace just a little bit. One run-in with that guy was enough for him in just one day. For a second, Luke felt that it was kind of stalkerish. Major coincidence? Totally. But just what were the odds of Jimmy showing up at Java while Luke was there and now him showing up at the country club...while Luke was there. It made Luke just a bit scared. Did this kid follow him around town all day long or something?

Luke sure didn't want to find out why Jimmy was there, so the quicker he could get his things together and get himself out of there, the better. But it did not turn out that way.

"Luke," Jimmy began when he saw him standing there.

Luke, head down and all possessions on him, tried to move out of Jimmy's way, but the bully stopped him by grabbing his arm. Luke's natural reflexes made him look up, which was the last thing he wanted to do. He once learned in driver's ed that if you're sharing the road with an aggressive driver, it's best to avoid eye contact. For now, the paved pathway to the patio door served as a road, and Jimmy was the aggressive driver.

"Look, I'm moving out of your way, okay? Can you please let me go? Besides, we've already had our round for today," Luke snapped at Jimmy.

Jimmy briefly closed his eyes and he shooked his head in disapproval of himself. "All I just wanted to say was...well, I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry for...you know, messing with you and Will at Java this morning. I didn't realize that it was way too early for that childish stuff."

A bewildered Luke was able to stand on his own once Jimmy released his grip on him. He didn't walk away, though. What Jimmy was saying was too strange to walk away on. "Whatever, Jimmy. Can you just save the stupidity for another day? Please?"

"I'm being serious, Luke, I'm serious!" Jimmy smiled at him to show that he wasn't a threat to him. "I mean...I don't know...me and my girlfriend, we got into a fight after all of that because she happened to be sitting in the corner at Java and saw it all. What can I say? She knocked me down a couple of pegs."

"And now she's forcing you to apologize. Well, you can tell her that my forgiveness is just as real as your apology."

Jimmy laughed. "There's no getting through to you is there?"

"What do you expect? For every moment of the last year or so until now, any encounter between the two of us usually ended with me storming away as fast I can. Except for that other time, you know, when my pregnant mother had to get in the middle of it. Tell your little G.F. that I apologized if it means you leaving me the hell alone. I don't care."

And with that, Luke left the country club. Jimmy turned to go after him but decided against it. The last thing he wanted to do now was make him mad. He felt that it was now time to finally make the changes that he'd been thinking about for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~

Nora and Kevin walked through the entrance under a large sign that read "Oakdale Leaf Mall." What a weird title, people had always thought. Oakdale Leaf...it made some kind of sense, if you thought about oak trees and the leaves that grew on them. But it seemed foreign for the name of a shopping center. A golf course, maybe. A retirement home, definitely. But a mall? No.

The cousins, without words, both headed down to one of the most popular clothing department stores, Major's. It's stock was a blend of trendy and sophisticated, with something for everyone. The elderly lady could find the perfect outfit for the Sunday service. A athlete could find the perfect sneakers for his work-out. Teenagers shopped there, but so did their parents.

Kevin wasn't as keen on clothes and fashion as his cousin was. It was one of the many gay stereotypes that he did not fit. He liked clothes, and he had some preferences, but as long as it was something comfortable and in a color he liked, he had nothing against it.

"You would really waste your money on this ugly thing?" Nora asked in disgust as she yanked a green and blue shirt out of Kevin's hands. They'd been in Major's for a good ten minutes and had spent most of that time apart.

"All I said is that it looks nice," Kevin responded defensively. "And besides...I already bought one just like it a couple of weeks back."

"Well, if you're going to be stay with me long-term, you're going to have to acquire a better fashion sense," Nora smirked.

Kevin smiled in shock. "This is coming from the woman who sleeps in flannel PJs with little barnyard animals on 'em!"

"Oh, really?! I'd appreciate it if you did not make fun of my sleepwear."

"Oh, sleepwear? That's what we're calling it now? Whatever you say, sweetheart, whatever you say," Kevin joked. "Maybe you can graduate up to hearts or something one of these days."

"Haha, cousin, haha."

As Kevin put his green and blue shirt back on its rack, he took note of Nora's empty arms. "We've been here for, what, ten minutes and you haven't found anything that you like? Are your standards that immensely high?"

"Actually, I found several things. All I can do is hope that they're all still here when I come back on Saturday," Nora said as they started to exit the store.

"Why Saturday?"

"Cousin, you know nothing about shopping do you? That's the day of the weekly one-day only sale!" Nora exclaimed matter-of-factly.

"Weekly...one-day only...I'm sure that if you add it all together, it cancels out fine. Whatever."

They were now out of Major's and in the barren space in front of it, the space that was decorated with several potted plants, a car, and a few benches. "Yea, I think I drank just a little bit too much at the Lakeview. I have to go to the ladies' room," Nora said.

"Okay, I'll just be around. I have my cell, so just call me when you're ready to leave or whatever."

"Got ya," Nora said in parting as she went one way and Kevin went the other.

He aimlessly strolled down the main corridor of the mall, looking through the windows of the stores he passed. He had passed by a shoe store, a women's boutique, and a small electronics store before seeing a face that he thought he'd never see again. The face was smooth, free of acne and the other plagues that teenagers endured. The hair was long, silky, and the darkest brown he ever did see. The body was still the same: perfect in all of the right places, shaped in a way that would make all of Kevin's contemporaries sigh.

But it still did not have that affect on him, nearly a year and a half later. She was his ex-girlfriend, Stacey Matheson, and for about eleven months, she was his world, or so she thought. They were a couple when they were freshmen and sophomores at Oakdale Latin, but Kevin felt so trapped in the relationship. Stacey was one of the school's most atheltic girls, participating in volleyball and track, while also maintaining a high GPA in gifted and talented classes. She wasn't stuck up like many of her acquaintances were, but she was independent and she knew that she deserved only the best. Being as attractive as she was, she didn't have to do much to get a boyfriend.

Honestly, Kevin never did see why so many guys thought she was so attractive. She was gorgeous, he couldn't deny that. Her body was indeed nice to look at, but he never did feel that way about her. He loved her, but as a friend, and she kept expecting more out of him, more of something he couldn't give her. After those eleven months, they broke up. Stacey and her family moved to Bay City about a month after that and thus the end of their relationship and friendship was cemented.

But there she was, back in Oakdale, standing in line at an ice cream parlor in the mall. Kevin's feelings about seeing her were mixed. It would be interesting to see where her life's been going the last year and to find out why she moved back, but what if she resented him for breaking up with her? Surely, however, when she moved to Bay City, the boys there were just as spellbound by her beauty as they were in Oakdale. She must have rebounded quickly.

And so, Kevin's curiousity about Stacey and a sudden craving for chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream won him over and he soon found himself two spots behind Stacey in the line. He secretly begged inside for her to notice him, but it looked like it wasn't meant to be as she took her cone of rocky road and started to walk away. In a freakish turn of events, though, she didn't see a sign that read "WET FLOOR" and slightly slipped. She didn't fall, she was barely embarrassed, but she loosened her grip just enough for her cone to fall right onto the floor.

Kevin jumped on the chance to help her out. He hopped out of line and started to help her pick the cone up. "Thank you very much, but I think I can handle it," Stacey said before she could look up and see who her knight in shining armor was.

"No, I want to help," Kevin persisted.

Stacey smiled, looked up, and then the shock came across her face. "Kevin!? Oh my God, Kevin?!" she exclaimed.

"Stacey?" Kevin asked in pretense.

"Yeah! It's me!" she answered, clearly excited to see him and not resentful at all. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine, just fine," he said as they both stood back up. "What are you doing back in town? I thought you all moved to Bay City."

"We did, but Daddy wanted to come back home, so we found a nice house for a good price and jumped on it," Stacey graciously explained.

"So you'll be going to Oakdale Latin when school starts back up?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

The stood in a smile-filled silence for a while before Kevin thought of the admirable thing to do. "Hey, let me replace that cone for you."

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that. I shouldn't be eating ice cream anyway, if I want to keep up my figure."

"Aw, come on, one little ice cream cone isn't going to hurt."

"All right."

They stood back in line and, this time, got their ice cream without any trouble. They sat on one of the benches in front of Major's and continued to catch each other up on the other's life.

"I was going to try out for the football team, but I decided not to. It just wasn't my thing," Kevin told her.

"Your heart belongs to baseball," she reminded him. "I bet you thought I forgot that."

Indeed, he was somewhat surprised that she remembered that detail about him. "Yeah, I kinda am. I bet you thought I forgot about your little poetry books."

"My poetry books are not little, Kevin Davis!" Stacey said, smiling. "I'll be a very well-known poet one day, just you wait and see."

Kevin leaned back on the bench and, to his own surprise, put his arm on the bench behind Stacey. It was completely force of habit. He couldn't think of what it would be like not to at least touch her as they sat next to each other. "So, what's been going on in your world for the last year and a half?"

"Hmm," Stacey began. "My GPA's finally getting up there again. Last time I was at Oakdale, I had a 3.677, but now I have a 3.792, so I definitely won't be valedictorian, but I can be good old salutatorian."

"With my 2.9, I'll be lucky if they even give me a diploma."

"Aw, you're not stupid, Kevin."

"Wow, thank you, Stacey, considering I never even said the word 'stupid.'"

"Well, you know what I meant!"

The laughter died down a little as Stacey kept sneaking peeks at him eating his ice cream. From the second she recognized him when they were on the floor, she could see that it was still there. The reason why she devoted her life to him for those eleven months and the reason why she cried her eyes out almost every night for the week before she moved away...it was still there! Could she...would she...should she try to get back with him? She didn't even know if he was taken or not. Nevertheless, it was time to turn on the subtle flirting.

"So, I hope you haven't been lonely lately," she asked, emphasizing the word lonely, hoping that Kevin would pick up the hint.

He picked up a hint, all right, but not the one she intended. Lonely, Kevin thought to himself. Lonely? Is she trying to say that she's been lonely? She seemed so pleasant that he put away all thoughts of her being resentful, but now he thought that maybe he judged too soon. He knew he was on thin ice with a person that he felt he could confide in about some of his problems, so he tried to make up for it. "Lonely? Me? No, no...not really. I know you haven't been."

Stacey was a bit taken aback. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well...um," Kevin stumbled, "I just assume that a girl has hot as you has some lucky guy wrapped around your little finger."

Stacey laughed. "Well, that used to be you, remember?"

"Yeah, it sure was," Kevin said, happy that she laughed. If she laughed, that meant she didn't hate him.

"You say you haven't been lonely. Who's been making sure you stay that way?" Stacey carefully mused. She didn't want to make it too obvious.

"Well," Kevin began, instantly turning his head and focusing on something else, like the pre-teen girls who were walking into Major's. He remember he once told Luke that he didn't care who knew about his sexuality anymore. He did not care, and if people were going to start finding out, by the time school opened again, everyone would know. He felt that it would be best if he was the one who told Stacey, so he sucked up all of his fear and just let it go. He took a deep breath, turned to face Stacey again, and blurted it out. "Me and Luke have been together for a little while now."

Stacey laughed out loud. "Oh, really now?"

Kevin tried to laugh too, to make the pressure lighten, but he wanted to go through with it. "I'm serious, me and Luke...we've been together for a while..."

Stacey's laughter went away. "No...way. You...you have to be kidding. If you and Luke...that would make you...Kevin, you're gay?"

"Yeah, I guess that would make me gay..."

Kevin could see the surprise in Stacey's body. "Wow...that's...that's something I never would have expected. But...wow, wait a minute, were you gay when you were with me?"

"Welll...I guess you can say that," Kevin slowly stated, but he didn't want to make her feel bad. "But, please, know that it wasn't you. You didn't have anything to do with it, Stacey. It's all me."

"Is that why you broke up with me?" Stacey asked quickly. She could sense that Kevin was growing a bit uncomfortable, so she felt it was her duty to ease the situation for him. "You can be honest with me, Kevin, I'm not going to say anything."

"I...I broke up with you because we didn't...no, not you, me, I didn't...I didn't want to mess anything up. I didn't want to lead you on for so long because I didn't know when I'd ever get...get the, you know, the courage to do what I had to do. The courage to come out."

"Okay," Stacey said seriously, pausing for a moment. She slowly turned her head away before repeating herself. "Okay, okay. It's all good. I wouldn't want you to be unhappy just to make me happy, Kevin."

"Thank you," Kevin said. "That means a lot to me."

Stacey took his hand and smiled. "We need to get together again real soon, me, you, and Luke. It's been forever since I've seen him too, so I guess the three of us need some catching up to do."

"You won't...you won't feel weird about it?"

"Oh please, of course not. I think you forget that my brother came out three years ago. I stuck by him and now I'll stick by you," Stacey reminded me.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot that Ryan was gay!"

"Exactly! And his world is still turning and yours will too," Stacey said. "Now, I better get back to work before you get me fired. See you later."

She hopped up and started to walk towards Major's, but Kevin called after her. "Hey, what's your number?" he asked. "I'd like to call you some time."

He took out his phone so that he could put Stacey's number in, but she took it from him and put it in herself. "I hope that's a promise," she said, before taking him into a hug. "See you later, hot stuff."

Kevin watched as she walked away and knew that he was lucky. Not because he had once had Stacey Matheson as a girlfriend, but because he had once had Stacey Matheson as a friend. Hopefully, they could get closer again, this time without a pesky romantic relationship in the way.

He walked away from the area they were in, just in time for someone to appear from behind a rack that flanked the opening to Major's. It was Lily, and she had just witnessed Kevin and Stacey's number-swapping, not to mention the kiss.

TO BE CONTINUED...