He chuckles again and pats my back. “Chin up, Wes. As far as obsessions go, that one was pretty tame.”
Jeez. I think I’ll take all mentions of my scrapbook of Jett to my grave.
“I wouldn’t call it obsession…” I respond.
“Please, between you and Dennis watching him every time he had a big race on television, it was chaos.”
Once Dennis and I became friends in our junior year of high school, wewerequite chaotic. We have similar personalities, which is why we meshed so well.
“What’s going on with Jett these days?” he asks, pulling his line back in, while I do the same. “Last time I heard about him, he was a no-show at the last summer games.”
“Believe it or not, he works at the university as an assistant trainer for athletics.”
“No shit? You know we’ve met his parents a few times over the years. His father swung by the shop for repairs or oil changes before they moved to Hillsboro. Your grandmother made all the curtains for Jett’s mother. They never said a word about what happened to their son, but for a while there, the gossip was nonstop, being a small town and all. I suppose that’s why they left town. Where’s he been all this time? He say?”
Screw it. Just bite the bullet. What the hell. “Nope, but he kissed me.”
Granddad gapes at me. “He kissed you? I mean… You talked first at least, right?”
I laugh and shake my head. Leave it to Granddad to bring you back down to earth. “Yeah, we talked first. The kiss was… a surprise.”
“And what didyoudo?”
“I, ah, kissed him back.”
He looks at the water as he throws his line back into the shallow waves, saying nothing as he processes.
“How do you feel about that?” he finally asks.
“Confused?”
“I bet you do.” He reels his line slowly back in. “So, do you like him?”
God, I love my family. I love how they don’t make big deals out of things. We just talk it out. It helps that Dennis, who’s openly gay, has been in my life for nearly ten years.
“I don’t know. I’ve never wanted to kiss a guy before. Never thought about it. At the same time, I’m not sure if it’s the kissthat has me all wrapped up in knots, or if I kissed him back because he’s my childhood hero.”
Granddad nods thoughtfully. “Makes sense. Have you two talked about it?”
“Tsh, no. Let’s just say meeting someone you’ve looked up to for years can be disappointing. He’s not exactly a conversationalist.”
“Well, I think you need to decide what you want. Did you like kissing him enough to see where it goes? Or are you too irritated with him and want to forget about it?”
The wind has shifted, blowing my bangs into my face. I finger them back and shrug. “I think I’m too annoyed with him to pursue anything. It’s a long story, but yeah, he hasn’t been exactly pleasant. But it does have me… questioning things about myself.”
“He’s been gone for over two years, Wes. Not one peep about where he’s been or what happened to him. It’s all been very hush-hush.”
I give my granddad a bland look. I know this already.
“Don’t look at me like that. Something happened to that young man. You don’t just show up to the most important sports event in the world, then turn your back on it for no reason.”
There he goes. Granddad, putting reason on the table. “The thought crossed my mind, but—”
“But you got too irritated with him to ask.”
I kick at the sand, feeling guilty now. “Maybe.”
“Talk it out with the kid.”
