Rainbow Road (2 page)

Of course, al three of them didn’t have to be together every single hour of the
entire
trip. There were bound to be stops along the way when Kyle and Jason could be together without Nelson.

There remained the issue of wages Kyle would lose by taking the time off. But hadn’t he slaved enough al summer?

In his mind he calculated how many platters he’d made this summer: three minutes per platter meant twenty platters per hour, times seven hours a day, times five days a week, times six weeks so far, equaled 4,200 dead chickens he’d prepared. No wonder he’d lost his appetite for chicken.

What was the point of such a pathetic existence if, at the end of it, he couldn’t share a significant occasion in the life of the boy he loved?

That evening when Kyle finished work and peeled off his apron, Nelson waited for him, arms crossed, stil sulking, neither speaking to him nor looking at him.

“Okay,” Kyle announced. “I’ve changed my mind.”

“About what?” Nelson asked, raising a pink eyebrow.

“About the three of us driving cross-country.”

“Realy?” Nelson’s blue eyes grew wide. “You mean it?”

“Yeah.” Kyle nodded, though hearing himself agree to the idea caused a sudden quiver in his stomach.

“Oh my God!” Nelson screamed, jumping up and down. “You are so awesome.” He snapped his fingers and wrapped his arms around Kyle. “I love you, Kyle. I mean it.”

As Nelson’s warmth enveloped him, Kyle wondered: Shouldn’t he have waited to talk with Jason first? What if he nixed the idea?

On the way out of the mal, Kyle stopped at the candy shop and got some gummy bears for Jason, thinking they might come in handy.

“Hey, wha’s up?” Jason opened the front door, happily surprised to see Kyle. “Come on in.”

“Kyle!” Jason’s little sister ran over, nearly tackling him. “Want to play my new video game?” She grabbed his hand, puling him to the sofa to play Tomb Raider.

“Hey, thanks.” Jason grinned as Kyle handed him the gummy bears. He felt even happier when his mom joined them for a moment, offering Kyle a Coke.

Jason loved how his sister and mom had taken to Kyle. It made him feel like the luckiest boy on earth—surrounded by people he loved and who loved him, a trip to California coming up, and a bag of gummy bears.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Kyle whispered in Jason’s ear as they finished the second level.

Jason turned, searching Kyle’s eyes. From the cryptic tone, Jason could tel it was something private. Once they were able to pul away from Melissa and get to Jason’s room, he closed the door. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Wel …” Kyle sat down in the desk chair. “I told Nelson about—you know—you getting invited to L.A. and, um, he had an idea.”

“Uh-oh.” Jason gave a low laugh, sharing Kyle’s obvious nervousness. “What’s his idea?”

“Um …” Kyle continued. “If you could ask the school for money instead of a plane ticket? That way we could, um, drive to California?” He glanced up at Jason, eyebrows raised hopefuly. “Then I could be with you at your speech. We could camp along the way. It wouldn’t be expensive. I already have a tent and—”

“Awesome!” Jason interrupted. He’d always dreamed of a road trip. How better than with his boyfriend? Just the two of them. “It would be amazing!”

“Realy?” Kyle’s voice quivered. “You wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course not!” Jason paced the room, excited. “We’d use your parents’ car?”

“No. Nelson’s.”

Jason stopped in his tracks, confused. “He’d let us take his car?”

“Wel, yeah.” Kyle stared at Jason, studying him. “He’d be with us. It would be the three of us.”

“The …
three
… of us?” Jason sat down on the bed opposite Kyle. “You’re kidding, right?” Kyle slowly shook his head. “No.”

Jason stroked his chin, organizing his words. “Kyle, I know he’s your friend, and you know I like him okay, but sometimes when he starts bobbing his head and snapping his fingers … I mean, if it was just you and me …”

“Yeah, I know,” Kyle sighed. “But I thought—”

“And why’d he dye his hair
pink
?” Jason’s voice grew frantic. “Doesn’t he realize how ridiculous he looks?”

“That’s just how he is.” Kyle gave a shrug. “Look, let’s just drop it.”

“See?” Jason exclaimed. “We’re already getting into a fight about him.”

“No, we’re not,” Kyle protested. “I agree it was a bad idea.” He walked over to the bed and sat beside Jason, wrapping an arm around him.

Jason felt himself relax again. It felt so good being with Kyle. He knew he’d miss him terribly when Kyle left for Princeton and he stayed behind at community colege.

He turned to face Kyle. A split second later they were making out like crazy, forgetting about Nelson, and road trips, and colege, til Kyle checked his watch.

“I’d better go,” he told Jason, but then they began kissing again, til Kyle said, “I’ve got morning shift tomorrow.” At the front door Jason snuck Kyle one last kiss. Then he went to the kitchen, where his mom was rinsing dinner dishes.

“It was nice seeing Kyle again,” she said cheerily. “I thought I’d see more of him this summer.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed and helped load the dishwasher. “So did I. But between work and everything … I wish he could go with me to California.” When Jason had told his mom about the school invitation, she’d been excited for him, except she worried about his air trip. She always freaked out about flying.

He now mentioned the road trip idea and—just out of curiosity—asked her, “What do you think?”

“At least you wouldn’t have to fly.” She handed Jason the last plate and dried her hands. “It might be a lot of fun for you guys.”

“Yeah …” Jason nodded and closed the dishwasher. “Except … Nelson’s kind of weird.” A slight smile creased his mom’s lips. “Wel, maybe if you got to know him better he wouldn’t seem so weird.”

“Or,” Jason replied, “he might seem even weirder.”

He didn’t feel like talking about it anymore. Later, as he climbed into bed, he tried putting the road trip idea to rest. But thoughts of days
and nights
with Kyle and visiting places he’d never seen kept him tossing and turning.

Maybe his mom was right. Perhaps the time with Nelson wouldn’t be so bad. In fact, hadn’t Jason grown to like him okay? If only he’d stop puling stunts like dyeing his hair pink.

The folowing day, thoughts about the road trip kept nagging Jason, til he decided to phone the L.A. school and see what they’d say.

His palm sweated beneath the receiver as he explained to the principal the idea of driving instead of flying. “But there’s no way you could do that,” he told her,

“right?”

In his gut he hoped she’d say, “No way.” But in his heart he hoped …

“Wel …” She hesitated, as if considering. “Did your parents say it’s okay?”

Jason switched the receiver to his other hand, wiping his palm on his pants. “Yeah. Actualy, my mom’s afraid of me flying.” His response apparently had an effect on the principal, for she turned silent a moment. “Wel,” she said at last. “I guess there’s time. Are you sure that’s what you want?”

Jason could feel his stomach grinding. But he thought of Kyle, took a deep breath, and replied, “Yes, ma’am.” As soon as he hung up, he phoned Kyle. “The school said they’d send a check.”

“You caled them?”

“Yeah. You said you wanted to come with me, right?”

“Yeah! But are you sure you can deal with Nelson?”

“Sure,” Jason said, though he realy wasn’t sure at al. “You and I wil have some time alone together, won’t we?”

“Definitely,” Kyle said.

“Okay, then.” After hanging up Jason heaved a huge sigh, trying to foresee the worst that could happen. Nelson and he might end up kiling each other. Kyle and he could come to hate each other and never speak again. The trip might be a total disaster. And yet in spite of al that, he let out a whoop of excitement.

“Woo-hoo!” Nelson sprang into the air when Kyle caled and told him that both Jason and the school had said yes. “See? I told you Jay-Jay and I are, like, best buds. You’l see how much he loves me after this trip. He’l never be the same again.”

“That’s supposed to reassure me?” Kyle asked.

“Lighten up, Kyle. Chilax. We’re going to have the best road trip ever.”

Only one catch: Nelson stil had to tel his mom. He’d chosen to wait til after the trip was definite, since his mom had a tendency to freak out, like when he admitted to her he’d had unprotected sex (“You did
what
?”), or when he was dating an HIV-positive guy (“You’re doing
what
?”), or that he’d decided to take a “gap year” between high school and colege (“You decided
what
?”).

This time he planned more strategicaly how he’d tel her. First, he held off til it was his night to make dinner. Then he prepared soft-shel crabs, one of her favorites (and his, too; he loved seafood), and served her a glass of Chardonnay.

For dessert he made peach cobbler, and after that invited his mom to watch a chick flick he’d rented. She laughed, cried, and loved it. Now she was in the perfect mood for his news: happy, weepy, and a little bit tipsy.

“Mom?” he began. “Remember hearing about that new gay and lesbian high school opening in L.A.? Wel, Jason got invited to give a speech at the ceremony, since he’s a jock.”

“That’s wonderful!” his mom exclaimed. “You know, I should invite him to come speak to my PFLAG group.” Nelson cringed. How come she’d never asked her own son to speak to the group?

As if to add insult to injury, she asked, “How’s it going with him and Kyle? They make such a cute couple.”

“Whatever, mom.” Nelson gripped the sofa arm. “Can you just listen, please?”

“Sweetie, I’m listening. I just want to know how it’s going. I’ve hardly seen Kyle al summer.”

“He’s been busy with work,” Nelson groaned. “He and Jason are fine. Everybody’s fine. Now can I finish what I was saying?” His mom nodded, and Nelson continued, “So, Jason needs to get to California. I told him the three of us could drive cross-country.” The statements sounded perfectly logical to Nelson, but his mom cocked her head to one side, as if his reasoning was faulty.

“If the school is inviting him to go there,” she questioned, “why aren’t they just flying him out?” Nelson knew he had to evade the question, but he didn’t want to lie. “Mom, you know al the states are cutting budgets. Anyway, so we’re going to drive cross-country.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” His mom waved her hands in the air. “Hold on. When is al this supposed to happen?” “Next week,” he said casualy.

“Next week!” His mom’s voice officialy reached freak-out pitch. “What about your job? You can’t just take off like that!”

“My manager said it was fine.” Nelson gave a shrug, struggling to stay calm. “It’s realy not a big deal, Mom.”

“Not a big deal? Driving across the continent? Where would you stay?”

“We’l camp. Kyle has a tent and stuff.”

His mom raised an eyebrow. “And exactly whose car were you thinking of taking?”

Uh-oh. They’d reached the biggie. Nelson summoned al his theatrical briliance to feign nonchalance. “Mine.”

“
Yours?
” His mom looked him straight in the eye. “I haven’t given permission for that.”

“It’s my car,” Nelson retorted. “You gave it to me.”

“To help you get to work each day, not to drive cross-country. I’m stil the legal owner. And I’m the one who pays the insurance.” Wel, duh! If he paid the insurance, he wouldn’t have
any
salary left. “But I already told Kyle we could use it.”

“Nelson! Don’t pul that on me. You should’ve asked me first. Why didn’t you?”

“Because I knew you’d freak out. What the heck’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is something might happen. You could have an accident.”

“Mom, most accidents happen three blocks from home.” Or something like that. He’d heard it in Driver’s Ed.

“I thought you were saving your money.” His mom glared across the sofa at him, but he thought he heard a softening in her tone.

“Camping won’t cost much. And the car doesn’t eat gas.”

His mom tapped her hand on the armrest, as if considering. “How long were you planning?”

“I don’t know. A couple of weeks, I guess.”

“Two weeks!” His mom sat up. “Absolutely not. I don’t feel good about this, Nelson. It’s not a wise idea.” In spite of her protest, Nelson sensed he was winning. Besides, how could she stop him? Cal the cops for stealing her car? She’d never.

“Mom?” He drew breath and braced himself on the couch. “I’m eighteen now. You gave me the car. I want to do this. Plus, Kyle is going. You’ve always said how responsible he is.”

If that didn’t convince her, nothing would.

She stared across the length of the sofa at him. He stared back at her. After about a century, she gave an enormous sigh. “Before I say yes, you need to have the car checked out. Agreed?”

Nelson gulped. She was practicaly saying yes already. And he knew the car was fine, except for that scraping sound when he braked … and the rattle when he turned … and the shriek when it started.

“Everything wil be great, Mom.” He slid across the sofa and wrapped his arms around her. “You’l see.”

“I hope so.” She patted his back gently. “But I want to talk to Kyle before you guys leave.”
chapter 7

Kyle was surfing the Web, checking mileages and charting possible cross-country routes, when the phone rang.

“My mom said we could use the car,” Nelson announced.

Kyle’s hands dropped from the keyboard. “You hadn’t asked her yet?”

“Nah, I didn’t want her to freak out til I was sure we were going.”

“But Nelson, what if she’d said no?”

“She did say no. But I knew she’d come around.”

Kyle never ceased to be amazed by Nelson’s determination.

“Oh, and she wants to talk to you before we leave.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know. Probably to say how she’s putting my life in your hands.”

That was an ominous thought. Kyle leaned back in his desk chair, almost tipping over.

“How about
your
mom and dad?” Nelson asked. “What did they say?”