Third period Spanish didn’t help his resolve any. There was a test that he had forgotten to study for that he had surely failed, along with a few more snickering uses of the word mariposa whispered in his direction.

By lunch he was anxious to go and told Allison as much.

“Forget it!” she said vehemently. “You can’t start ditching me at lunch for anyone, no matter how hot they are. Besides, your absence didn’t go unnoticed in choir. You’re Mrs. Hammond’s star pupil. All of her hopes and dreams are being lived vicariously through you now. She practically organized a search party when you didn’t show up yesterday!”

Allison might have been exaggerating, but she did have a point. Mrs. Hammond was the teacher most likely to notice him not being there.

“What did you tell her yesterday?” Ben asked.

“That you were sick.”

“Well, tell her I am again today. Two days in a row isn’t so suspicious.”

Allison sighed and shook her head dramatically. “So what’s going on that you’re so excited about? Is Tim less straight than we initially suspected?”

“No, he’s straight all right, but--” Ben grasped for words but failed to find any that suited him. “I don’t know. I just like him, and taking care of him is sort of like playing house. It feels real, even if it isn’t.”

“So in other words, you are deluding yourself.”

“Maybe, but better an imaginary romance than none at all.”

“I guess,” Allison conceded. “I’m just worried that you are headed for a broken heart.”

“Mm,” Ben replied noncommittally. “What’s up with your heart lately?”

“You mean with Ronnie?” A sly smile crossed her face. “Things are going good. Very good. He has my class schedule memorized and keeps escorting me to each one. We still haven’t been on a proper date, though. Speaking of which, you and I are going to the movies on Saturday.”

“We are?” Ben hadn’t considered it, but this weekend he would finally be free to spend the entire day and night with Tim. He didn’t want to brush Allison off for any reason, even his latest infatuation, but it might be the only opportunity to spend an extended amount of time with him.

“We are,” Allison confirmed. “At least that’s what I’m telling my dad. I need you to cover for me so Ronnie and I can go out. You’ll do that, won’t you?”

“Yes!” Ben breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s perfect, actually. I’ll be over at Tim’s until late, so my parents will think I’m out with you. If your dad calls then my parents will back up the story.”

Allison took a final bite of her sandwich and chewed thoughtfully before tossing the remaining crusts into the brown paper bag. “Who knows,” she said with a wicked grin, “maybe we’ll both be getting laid this weekend.”

__________

Chapter 6

The week finally came to an end after a series of breakneck starts and whiplash stops. The mornings and afternoons spent with Tim went by in the blink of an eye, while the truncated school hours felt twice as long as they had before. Saturday came and Father Time, choosing perhaps to show mercy, steadied to a meandering pace that promised a long and satisfying weekend.

Oppressive humidity forced them to crank up the air conditioning in Tim’s house. Even the dark and shadowy den was affected by the thick heat outdoors as a storm of massive proportions gathered. Ben spent the morning cleaning up around the house and wrestling with the controls of the laundry machine. As fun as it was being domestic, he was glad to be done with the chores and to spend some time with the person in his care. Unfortunately, the pain killers had once again put Tim to sleep.

Ben wandered the house, absorbing the details and decorations that hinted at Tim’s life. On the nightstand in the master bedroom, he found a photo of a grey-haired, stern-faced man with an impressive physique. Next to him smiled a slight and beautiful Hispanic woman, the source of Tim’s dark hair and tan skin. After considering them for a number of minutes, Ben set the photo back down next to the rosary beads that lay there.

As Ben continued to explore he found a number of crucifixes hanging on the wall, as well as a small collection of Bibles in the living room. Possibly the religious items were no more than decorations to Tim’s mother. Ben could remember one client of his own mother who had a thing for rustic crosses despite not being religious, but it was much more likely that Tim’s parents were Catholic. Ben couldn’t help wondering what they would think of him when they met, if they ever did.

There were two types of religious people in the world, in Ben’s experience. The first were those who let their heart lead them, who chose what fit with their world view while disregarding what didn’t. Ben’s parents were like this. They rarely went to church and held a rather idealistic and loving vision of God that didn’t mesh with the Old Testament’s portrayal.

Then there were those who took every piece of Scripture literally. Such people unquestioningly followed every rule and obeyed every command of their spiritual leaders, no matter how nonsensical and outdated these conventions might be. These mindless extremists tended to make life difficult for everyone else. Ben certainly hoped that Tim’s parents didn’t fit into this category.

As for Ben, he tended not to believe in any sort of god or devil. Except when he sang. That was the only time the veil between reality and the impossible melted for him. Singing revealed to him a million worlds made up of colors the physical eye could never see, realms populated with countless spirits and energies of all kinds. God was there too, a benevolent being of as many faces as there were religions on the earth. Oh, yes, when he sang such things were possible, but the second he stopped it all faded away, forgotten until the next time he took up his voice again.

A snort followed by a grunt called his attention back to the present. There was a shuffling followed by the sound of a Coke can opening. Tim was finally awake.

“Oh, man, I slept deep,” he said as Ben entered the room. His hair was sticking up in all directions and was so adorable that it took all of Ben’s willpower not to reach out and muss it up further. “The house looks nice. Thanks.”

“No problem. You can repay me by staying awake. I was going out of my mind with boredom.”

“Sorry.” Tim grinned. “I took too many of those pills. You should try them. They make you feel great.”

“I might take you up on that,” Ben said, remembering the mellow buzz that had followed his tonsils being removed.

Tim yawned like a lion in the Savanna heat. “I feel grody. Would you mind running a bath for me?”

“Bored,” Ben reminded him.

“Oh. Once I’m in the tub you can come in and keep me company,” Tim offered.

Surely Tim was aware of how erotic such a situation would be for Ben. Was he offering more than it sounded like or was he just being playfully flirtatious without any real intentions? Regardless, Ben rose to run the bath without revealing any enthusiasm. If Tim thought he could easily arouse Ben’s appetite... Well, he could, but Ben wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing it.

Once the tub was full of steaming water and bubbles, he waited outside the door while Tim climbed in. It took much longer than it would for an uninjured person, but once he was settled he called for Ben. The shower curtain was half-closed, obscuring from view everything from the waist down. It hardly mattered. Tim’s impressive upper body was enough to evoke an unquenchable lust in Ben.

Ben sat on the toilet, for lack of a better place, directly across from the bathtub. Aside from being the only seat available, it allowed him a more revealing angle. There would have been nothing left to his imagination if not for Tim’s injured leg. The cast was propped on the side of the tub so that it wouldn’t get wet. The unfortunate side effect of this was an obscured view.