Life After College

Chapter 16


Andrew’s POV.........

It was Saturday morning and after going to the gym for a quick workout and returning home for a quick shower, Dicky decided he was going to go to the hospital to check on the shooting victim. What he failed to remember was that he promised to take Damon to the park to play soccer. You see, he promised the boy the first time about a month or so ago, and every time the weekend came around, Dicky pushed it off to the next weekend.

“Uncle Drew?” Sofia said as she walked into the doorway of my room. I was lounging on the bed watching a Real World Chicago re-run. “Your son is sitting outside.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s got those awful long socks on again with his cleats and he’s holding the new soccer ball you got him. He never lets that thing go. I tried to ask him what he was doing, he just ducked his head and held the ball tighter.”

I sighed deeply and put my hand over my eyes. “Oh my God. You can’t be serious. Dicky said he was going to wake him up and take him to the park after he got home from the gym.”

She shrugged again. “Guess not.”

************

I opened the front door and walked out. Damon was still sitting on the step with his head tucked down. Even his best friend Benji couldn’t cheer him up. The dog just whined and licked his hand. “Okay kiddo, lets go.” It was a warm day, so I had on jean shorts -at decent length- and a white Nike t-shirt.

“Where are we going?” He murmured, not looking up at me.

“To the park silly. Gotta keep you up on your soccer skills.”

“Daddy, you don’t play soccer.”

I nodded. “This is true. But we are fast learners. We’ll keep up with you.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“Me and Sofia. Sofia, girl, come on!” I yelled in the house. She was just hanging up the phone when she ran outside, shutting the door behind her. I put my arm around her shoulder and we looked at him. “So, what do you say? Ready to have some fun?”

He twisted his face up in thought. Sofia rolled her eyes. “Come on, squirt. You know you want to.”

Damon started to smile and he and Sofia raced to the car. *I can’t believe he’s picking work over family.* I thought. *Never EVER have I promised to do something with the kids and not delivered. He’s been doing it for a whole MONTH! He’d better hope I’m in a better mood when he gets home.*

************

Dicky’s POV........

“Hello, Officer Taylor. I’m glad you came.” The victim’s mother said. She was standing outside the boy’s hospital room. I shook her hand.

“Well, I just had to see how the boy was doing. Is he any better?”

“The surgery he had two weeks ago took a lot out of him, being that it took so long, but he’s improving. He can form a few words and he’s in less pain. Did you ever find out what caused this? I’m TJ’s mother and I still don’t know why he was shot.”

“We questioned the shooter. He said he was just a hit man. Apparently, TJ stumbled upon some information he wasn’t supposed to hear and this man was sent to kill him.”

“Who sent him?”

“We haven’t found that out yet. But we will.”

“What ever information my son knows, I know he has nothing to do with it. TJ is a good boy. Always brings home A’s and B’s. He’s very smart.” She looked through the window of her son’s door. The nurse was checking his vitals. She looked at his still body. The only way you could tell he was alive was the slight breathing he made. “He’s always told me he wants to be a lawyer.” She started to cry. I walked to her and hugged her.

“It’s ok. It’s ok. We’ll find out who did this and they’ll pay.”

************

Andrew’s POV...........

Either I really suck at sports or my son is a prodigy, because I ate more grass trying to block his goal kicks than a cow with an upset stomach. Damon, Sofia, and I, spent over an hour and a half in the park. It turned out to be more fun than what I had expected. Damon was enjoying himself; even Sofia cracked a few laughs.

When we pulled into the driveway, I saw a black truck parked. You’d think that after all that time while we were in the park, I’d had composed myself enough to keep my cool when I got home. Seeing that damn truck made me pissed all over again.

Their was movement upstairs, so I told the kids to go in the den and watch tv. I found Dicky in the bedroom. He was sitting on the bed -back facing me- unlacing his shoes. When he heard the door close, he turned. “Hey babe. Where you been?” He turned back to his shoes. I frowned and walked up to him and slapped him on the back of his head as hard as I could. “OW! What the fuck!”

“Where have I been?! Where have YOU been, Dicky?! Where have you always been every weekend for the past month?!”

“What?!”

“You don’t know what I’m talking about..........Now that really pisses me off! Every morning, YOUR son has dressed himself in his practice clothes, CLUTCHING his soccer ball, waiting for your stupid ass to come home and take him to the park! That’s where I was!”

Dicky placed his face in his hands. “I completely forgot.” He looked at me. “I was at the hospital, checking on the kid who got shot.” I sighed. “What? Am I not supposed to check on him and see how he’s doing?”

“No! I didn’t say that! All I’m mad about is that it’s always something else you have to do! This weekend it’s the hospital, last weekend it was you wanting to work over, the weekend before that you switched shifts with another man so you could finish the Chris Spalding case!”

“There’s work to be done, and I want to make sure its done right, Andrew!”

I looked him square in the eye, pointed at him, and in a fearsome, calm tone I said, “You do NOT put work before this family, understand? Damon is your son. Just because nothings wrong with him, doesn’t mean his company is less important than theirs. You’ve forgotten that.”

Dicky looked away from me and we sat in silence. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

I sat beside him. “Don’t tell me. Tell Damon.” Dicky walked downstairs and apologized to Damon. He may have made things right with him again, but I took a little longer. Lets just say Dicky had a bad case of ‘dry dick’ for the past two weeks.

************

No sooner I get home from my vacation and had a couple months to get readjusted, I get a call from my boss, Mr. Alex Walton, saying that he chose me to go to a conference to learn about the new mechanical breakthroughs a company called Johnson & Morris have done in the medical field. I agreed, but nearly fainted when he told me WHERE this conference was to be held; New York. Home. He said that since I was from New York, I wouldn’t have a problem finding my way around.

I know that if I go back home, I will have to see my parents. “See my parents”. That’s something I haven’t said in a long time. You know, it’s been four years since I’ve “seen my parents”? Hell, I don’t even know if they are still alive. I guess that factor made me say “yes” to Mr. Walton. Four years is way too long for a child to not see his parents. Even if they barely open the door to me or don’t open the door at all, just let me hear their voices and I’ll be satisfied until another four years when maybe then they’ll open the door to me again like they did once before.

I packed my suitcase the night before I was to leave and me, Dicky, and the kids went out. We stopped at the mall, Toys ‘R Us (of course), then we stopped at IHOP to eat. There’s nothing wrong with eating an omelette for dinner. One thing I noticed during our night out was that Damon was acting different. He wasn’t talking a lot and the only smile I could get out of him was when we bought him a Spider-Man toy. It was like that all night. Even when I was about to board my plane, he was quiet. Now, I know that doesn’t sound completely out of his character, but he was never shy around us.

“Bring me back something!” Sofia said as I kneeled before her and hugged her.

I smiled. “Never too tired of gifts. You be good, okay? And try not to stay on that phone all day. You remember what I told you about that right?”

“Yeeaaahhh. If I stay on it too long, a lightening bolt will come out of it and zap me in my ear. You know, it hasn’t happened yet, Uncle Drew.”

I laughed. “Well anyway, I might try to call and I want to be able to get through.” I let her go with one arm still around her and I motion for Damon. He was standing beside Dicky, with his Spider-Man in one hand, with a very solemn look on his face. He walked to me and I grabbed him with my free hand. “What’s the matter, love?” He ducked his head then shook it. “Nothing, huh?\" I bent my head down to make eye contact with him. \"Well then are you going to atleast say ‘goodbye’?” Damon looked up with watery eyes.

“Bye.” He whispered.

I sighed and pulled him into my arms. “Oh honey. Don’t cry. It’s only for a week.”

“He’s such a baby.” Sofia said. I plucked her lightly on the hip. “Hey!”

“Stop it. You acted the same way when you were his age.” I heard the call for my plane and I pulled him off me. “I’ll be home soon, okay?”

He nodded. “Okay.” I kissed both of their foreheads, then stood up to Dicky. I sighed and shrugged. “Time for me to go. I’ll call you as soon as I get there.”

He held one big hand to my cheek and caressed it with his thumb. “I’ll be sitting by the phone.” We kissed once, no twice, no............three times, before we hugged. We had made love the night before, after we kids went to bed, and Dicky still smelled like sex.

They watched me leave and I boarded the plane home.

************

When I arrived in New York, it looked exactly the same as when I left it for college. It was lively, beautiful, and reeking of opportunity.........or was it smog. I checked into my hotel room and called Dicky. When I hung up the phone, I decided to walk the street since the meetings wouldn’t start until the next day. I stopped at a small mom and pop deli that I used to go to called, Mom and Pops. When I was living at home, I ate at Mom and Pops atleast three times a day.

I walked inside and there was old lady ‘Mom’, who served as a waiter/mascot for the deli and her son, Paulie, who took over the business when ‘Pop’ died. There, I sat and ate, until a hand rested on my shoulder. “Andrew Payne?” I nearly froze. I could never forget that velvety voice. In a way, I felt glad that I found someone I knew from long ago so I wouldn\'t be bored, but at the same time, I wished that that “someone” was someone else.

“Nicolas Fairbanks.” I turned around and sure enough it was him. Nicolas was around my height with black short hair, emerald green eyes, and a dashing -newly whitened- smile. Like me, he was wearing a suit and was pulling it off well. Nicolas and I were the closest of friends when we were little. We did everything together. Nicolas was also my first love. Notice I said “love”. That’s because we were. Nicolas and I were head over heels for each other when we were dating. Come to think of it...........we never really broke up. When I moved to California for school, we didn’t get mad and fuss then split up. We just hugged and kissed for twenty minutes and promised each other we’d write. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Great now that I’ve seen you again.” He gestured to the chair. “You mind if I sit down?”

“No. Go ahead.”

He sat down in front of me and crossed his legs. “I’ve been asking about you whenever I see your parents. But whenever I ask, they always change the subject.”

I rolled my eyes. “Figures.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I came out to them four years ago. After that, they didn’t want anything to do with me. Especially after I told them I was getting married.”

“You’re married?” He asked me with what looked like hurt in his eyes.

I rubbed my thumb over my gold ring. “I found someone in college and now we’ve been married for just over six years.”

“Well..........congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“You know, I was hoping I’d be the one to marry you.” I looked away and stared at the table. “We talked about it so many times before when we’d be alone together...............I still love you, Andrew.”

“No you don’t. You just always have a problem with losing something you had to someone else. You\'ve been like that for years.”

He shook his head slowly. “No. This is different. You were the only one who captured my heart. You still are. Did you know I’ve been a bachelor since you left for college? I hoped that after you’d graduate you would come leave and come back to New York...... to me.” He reached for my hand and held it. “You still can.”

*God, his hands are soft. NO! NO, don’t think that way.* I pulled back my hand. “I won’t cheat on my husband, Nicolas.” I got up to leave and reached in my pocket to get ready to pay for the food.

He stood up too. “I’ll pay for it.”

“No. I have my own money.” I paid and started to walk out.

“Well, atleast let me walk you back to your hotel room!” He called after me, but I kept walking. *You’re doing right, Andrew. Keep walking. Keep walking. Don’t stop.*