“Do you have their number handy?” Dr. Baker interjected.

“Oh! No, sorry,” Ben apologized. He had been prepared for this question. “I totally forgot it.”

“Well, as long as they were informed,” the doctor said meaningfully.

Ben gave him his best innocent, doe-eyed look and nodded. This seemed to satisfy the doctor, who began scribbling on his clipboard.

The nurse returned and began to help Tim dress. While she was doing this, Dr. Baker gave Ben some papers and went over instructions that were to be given to the in-home nurse. Ben tried to keep up and nod when appropriate, hoping to get through it as quickly as possible since the doctor was standing in his line of vision. By the time the droning had ended, Tim was dressed. The doctor and nurse helped Tim into a wheelchair and gave him over to Ben.

He couldn’t help but be reminded of when they adopted Wilford. Ben’s family had visited the animal shelter and picked him out from among his litter mates. Then there was a grueling waiting period of one week, during which the dog received his shots and was neutered before Wilford could be picked up. When they finally handed Ben the leash, he had felt proud, excited, even nervous. But mostly the experience had made him happy. Much like he was feeling now. He hoped that Tim would feel the same once he caught wind of his plan.

* * * * *

“So, no nurse?”

“No nurse,” Ben repeated.

The expression on Tim’s face was hard to read. He looked concerned, or maybe just confused. He leaned back on the peach living room couch and raised an eyebrow. “And you never called my parents? They have no idea I was in the hospital overnight?”

Ben started having second thoughts. What sort of monster intentionally kept parents in the dark about their son being injured? “They have no idea,” he admitted.

The worry scattered from Tim’s face as a broad smile appeared. “Thanks, man! That was really cool of you!”

Ben breathed out in relief. “I’m glad you think so! I was worried that I’d done the wrong thing.”

“Naw, they would have been pissed.”

“Really?”

“Really. A couple of years ago I came down with the flu the day before they were flying to Japan. It totally messed with their plans. They had to reschedule everything, missed out on some group tour thing. I don’t know.” Tim scratched at the skin near his cast. “They were so pissy the whole week after that I wished they hadn’t bothered staying.

“I’m a mistake you know,” he continued. “My parents are pretty cool and all, but it’s obvious that it was never in their plans to have kids. I’m an only child, and my parents have done everything in their power to keep going with the lifestyle they had before me.”

Ben wasn’t sure what to say to this. His own parents were always supportive, loving. In a way he wished he had some dirt to dish on them so he could commiserate, but there wasn’t a single bad memory that sprang to mind. “So you have two weeks to survive without them,” Ben said, guiding the conversation where he wanted it to go. “I’ll help you of course. That’s why I didn’t think we needed a nurse. I can come by a couple of times a day to cook, clean up, that sort of stuff.”

“You can cook?”

“Sure,” Ben lied. As much as he’d been stretching the truth in the past couple of days, it was practically instinctual.

“That’s good, because I’m hungry.”

“Well, let’s get you set up comfortable here, and then I’ll whip something up.”

“Not here,” Tim insisted. “I hate this room.”

With the assistance of his crutches, he stood and swung his way toward the back of the house, Ben following. He led them through the dining room, across a large, open kitchen, and down a hall that ended in a dimly lit room.

The den, as Tim introduced it, was his father’s stronghold. His mother was in charge of the rest of the house, but here his father had full reign. He decorated the room in typical masculine style. A big-screen TV dominated one wall with massive boxy speakers to each side. A number of bookshelves held everything but books--namely sports memorabilia, business awards, and an impressive video collection. Bar signs and beer advertisements hung on the ebony, wood-paneled walls that complimented the equally dark carpet. This combined with the shuttered windows kept the room cool and comfortable.

“I figure this is a good place to make camp,” Tim said, as he headed toward a brown leather couch. “There’s even a fridge to keep drinks in.”

Ben turned and found a wet bar in the corner. The unit was basically just a sink, shelves for glasses, and one of those tiny refrigerators that he always associated with college dorms.

“So what all do we need then? Blankets and pillows obviously… Um.”

“In one of the hall closets,” Tim said. “I want my pillow from upstairs. And some real clothes. Throw something in the oven too, will ya?”

“Right,” Ben managed to say just before the TV blared into life. His patient had certainly taken to the idea of him playing nurse!

Ben realized with some delight that he now had free reign over the house. With Tim settled in, he was now free to explore. He had been tempted to last night when he dropped the car off. He figured arriving home in a shiny new sports car would be beyond suspicious, so Ben had returned it to Tim’s driveway. As he had done so, the keys in his pocket had been a major temptation but the idea had felt too creepy. Now he was free to look around anyway.

He started with the kitchen. The refrigerator was well-stocked with frozen entrees, which meant cooking wouldn’t be too hard. He chose two pizzas and fiddled with the oven for a while before he got it running. Once that was finished he went upstairs and located Tim’s bedroom.

Ben entered and felt strangely intoxicated for a moment. The whole room smelled exactly like Tim, as if someone had bottled up his essence and sprayed generous puffs of teenage boy into the air. Being there felt so personal. In a way, everything present was an extension of Tim, representative of what he liked and the place where his private life took place. Adults had an entire house and maybe an office or workspace to spread their existence over. For their kids, personal life was contained to just one room. In this small space Tim lived, slept, talked on the phone, watched TV, jacked-off, and did whatever else he wanted to do.

Ben sat on the king-sized bed and looked around. Music and baseball posters covered most of the walls. He found all sports boring, but at least some of these featured pretty hot athletes. The only exception to the generic posters was an abstract painting, a collection of cool colors that might be depicting an ocean or waves. He stared at it for a while, wondering why it had been included. Did Tim choose it, or was it his mother’s idea?

Across from Ben sat a dresser that supported a medium-sized television and VCR. A closet door and bookshelves were to his right, this time actually filled with the intended content. Ben browsed the titles, hoping to get a hint of what Tim liked to read but unable to do so. They were a completely eclectic mix, some even written in Spanish. His music choice was easier to discern, the CD rack containing nothing but popular alternative music. Well, that and the Little Mermaid soundtrack. Ben mentally filed that one away as potential ammunition.

He paused to gaze out the bedroom window at the long, well-groomed backyard before returning to the dressers to collect a change of clothes. Socks were easy to find, as was underwear. He didn’t examine the contents of this drawer too carefully. Doing so felt like cheating, like peeking ahead at the end of a book, since he hoped to discover Tim’s underwear one by one over a series of hot encounters. Ben laughed at his own presumptions and went to the closet for a shirt and jeans.

He brought these items and the pillows back downstairs to his patient. The pizza was soon done afterwards and served. They ate together while flipping back and forth between MTV and VH1 to avoid commercials, laughing at most of the videos but genuinely enjoying a handful. There were quite a few songs that Ben wanted to sing along to, but for the first time in his life he was feeling too shy to perform. Finally the Fugees’ new version of “Killing Me Softly” came on, which was too perfect of an opportunity to show off.