“I know, I heard you. I just…” Then he pastes on a rather forced-looking smile, like he thinks that’ll make me forget everything. “Do you think Leland is doing something I should be afraid of? Should Cam and I simply… go to a different friend’s house? Or maybe Henry will take us in.”
“I think you’ll be alright,” I respond, a little uncertain myself but doing my best not to show it. “Does your friend know Leland and I are a couple? If that bothers you, you don’t have to tell him right away.”
“I told him. He didn’t seem to care,” he says. “I… I haven’t told all of my friends but I knew he wouldn’t care.”
“That’s good.”
“But I didn’t warn him about Leland.”
“I don’t think there really is a good way to warn someone… they just have to meet him,” I say, which makes Waylon laugh.
I drive to his friend’s house, and before I’m even stopped, the teenager comes rushing out with a bag.
“This car is so cool,” he enthuses as he slides into the back. “My dad would love it, but he’s not here right now. He’s picking up the food for the party thing they’re having tonight. I’m so glad I don’t have to be here for it. My mom’s friends love to pester me, and this one lady brings her daughter who’s like four years younger than me and thinks I should babysit her. And all she wants to do is put makeup on me.”
“I don’t blame you. Why should you have to watch her kid?” Waylon asks.
“No idea.”
“Cam, this is Jackson.”
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” he says.
“I got some new games. Thought I’d wait to try them out until you came over,” Waylon tells Cam before rattling them off.
Cam seems quite impressed. “You got all of that? Do you have a part-time job?”
“No… they just… I don’t know, Leland and Jackson just buy me whatever I look at for some reason,” Waylon says.
“Leland does,” I correct. “I think he has this strange idea that showering you in stuff will make you happiest… he did the same thing to me when we were first together.” I pat my car as a clear example.
“I told him it was too much, but he really doesn’t listen very well,” Waylon says as I pull into the driveway, and he nervously eyes Leland’s car which signals his return. “I… I see Leland is here.”
“I see that too,” I say.
The front door opens, and Waylon locks the car door with all of us still in it.
“What are you doing?” Cam asks.
“Ha… haha. My hand slipped,” he says as I look at the way Leland is beaming from the doorway. It’s the biggest shit-eating grin I’ve ever seen, and if I were Waylon, I’d also run.
I sigh and get out of the car before heading toward Leland. “Hon, your happiness is terrifying our child.”
“There’s no possible way!” Leland says. “I want to introduce his little friend to The Fence.”
“I’m sure that’s the very thing a fifteen-year-old boy would love to spend his Saturday doing.”
“I’m happy you also think that,” Leland says as he walks over to the rear door and raps on it. “Waylon, you need to grab the handle. Pull the handle. Like this.” He mimes how to open thecar door while Waylon shrinks in his seat. “Waylon, I know you can do it. You have that big brain in there that’s always working overtime. Grip and pull. Do it with me. Grip… and… pull.”
“You’re embarrassing him,” I warn him.
Leland gasps. “I would never.”
I use the keys to unlock the door, and Leland pops it open and smiles down at Waylon. “You better hurry,” Leland announces.
Waylon’s brow furrows. “Why do we have to hurry?”
“We don’t want to miss an ounce of fun.”
