Our Humble Little Dwelling

Chapter 2

Keith awoke to the loud sound of the phone ringing. *I’m going to throw that thing into the wall.* He opened his eyes and noticed Vincent was no longer there, but he did hear what sounded like whistling and the clanging of pots and pans downstairs.

*Ring! Ring! Ring!*

“Alright, for crying out loud.” Keith turned on the phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID to see who it was. “Hello?” He snapped.

“Is that how you answer the phone to everybody or just me?” A woman asked.

Keith immediately woke up. “Hello, Auntie. I’m sorry I snapped at you. I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Let me guess, Kyle?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he with you?”

“Yeah. He called me and I picked him up at the Corner Store. What happened this time?”

The woman sighed heavily. “Your uncle. He came home late last night drunk, and you know that when he’s drunk, he’s an angry drunk. And as usual, he seems to always want to get angry over Kyle telling us he’s gay, which was two years ago, by the way. Last night was no different. He burst into Kyle’s room yelling and started slinging the boy around the room. I didn’t do much, but the little push I gave to Gary knocked him off balance enough for Kyle to run away.”

“Where is he now?”

“He left for work an hour ago. Is Kyle okay? He didn’t hurt him?”

“No, Kyle’s fine. I’ll bring him back in little while.”

“Okay. Thanks, Keith.”

“No prob. Bye.” He hung up the phone. Groaning, he kicked back the sheets, and left the bedroom for the bathroom in his briefs.

Kyle was already in the shower when he bursted in, grabbing his toothbrush. “Hey!” Kyle yelled, peaking out from the shower curtain.

“Hi.” Keith replied, mouth full of toothpaste and his brush.

“I’m in the shower, Keith.”

“And?”

“And you could see me naked!”

“Boy, you don’t have anything I don’t have.” He spat the toothpaste out. “Besides, you’re showering behind a curtain.” He ducked his head under the sink and rinsed his mouth out. Kyle sighed, but finished his shower.

After slipping into a pair of jeans and t-shirt, Keith found Vincent in the kitchen just as he poured the whisked eggs with cheese into the frying pan. He looked on the kitchen table and saw a large plate in the center filled with strips of bacon, disks of sausages, and buttered toast. He walked up slowly behind his lover and wrapped his arms around his waist. Just barely able to rest his chin on the other’s strong shoulder, he kissed his neck. “Good morning. I was wondering who was doing all this cooking down here. Smells great.”

“Thank you. I felt like we all needed a small pick-me-up, so I decided to fix breakfast. Where’s Kyle?”

“He’s in the shower. He’s really going to be pissed when he finds out I only have cheap hair conditioners and shampoos.”

“Why?” He stirred around the eggs as they started to fluff up.

“He does hair for a living. Cheap conditioners and shampoos are an insult and a slap in the face to cosmetologists.” They both laughed.

“Excuse me.” They heard a voice from behind them. They turned to see a ticked off Kyle standing with his hands on his hips. “Where did you get your hair products, Keith? A vending machine?” Vincent choked back a laugh.

The older cousin stood with his mouth open, shocked, but it was more fakeness than seriousness. “What’s wrong with my products?”

The boy pointed stiffly to his thick, black hair. “Your mess nearly sucked all the luster out of my hair. I’m going to have to spend all day today at the salon, trying to get it back to the way it was.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Oh please. It’s not that bad.”

“Bullshit. Let’s see yours then.” Kyle walked over to where his cousin stood and ran a hand through his equally thick, black hair. “Just like I thought. Dry.”

Keith looked at him astounded. “Fuck you. I have good hair.”

“True. But it could be better if you’d let me get my hands on it. I can work wonders.”

Vincent grabbed another large plate and piled the cheesy eggs on to it. “Okay fellas. Enough about who’s hair is the best. Let’s just eat.”

Kyle looked skeptical, but you could see the humor in his eyes. “Are you a good cook?”

“I know a few things. I’m not bad at it.”

The boy shrugged. “Good enough for me.” They all sat down at the table to eat. “Question though. Why is the bacon so burnt?”

Vincent smiled. “It’s not burnt. That’s the brown sugar melted on to it.”

“Brown sugar?”

“You never had bacon that’s had brown sugar on it?” Kyle shook his head. “Taste one.”

Kyle grabbed a strip and bit into it. His face lit up. “Wow! That’s good!”

Vincent smiled. “You like it, huh?”

“Hell yeah, I like it!”

Together, the trio sat, ate, and made light conversation with each other until every piece of toast, egg, bacon, and sausage was eaten. Vincent and Keith both washed the dishes. When they were done, he looked at his watch. “I need to go.”

“Really? Cause you don’t have to.” He stood up on his tippy-toes, put his arms around Vincent’s neck, and kissed him sweetly. “We could spend the Saturday together—“ He kissed him again. “Doing ‘grown up’ things.”

“Sex.” Kyle interrupted, filling in the blanks to the double entendre, that no one in the room didn’t catch. “You mean have sex.”

Keith sighed and shook his head. “Yes, brainiac.”

Vincent smiled at the two cousins. “That’s very tempting, baby, but I can’t. I need to go to town to pay my light bill, before my ass is put into the dark. I have other little errands I have to do today too. Then tonight, I have to play at the club.”

“Oh damn.” Keith looked down to the floor, disappointed. But Vincent lifted his chin to look back into his eyes.

“I’ll call you though. As soon as I get a chance, so look for me, okay?”

“Okay.”

Smiling, Vincent kissed the young man with pale gray eyes, then smacked his ass. “Gotta go.” He walked to the door, slipping on his jacket. “Later Kyle!”

“Bye!” When Vincent left, Kyle looked back towards his cousin, who was currently leaning back against the counter with a smile on his face and dreamy eyes. “You’re gonna make me vomit.”

“Did you see his ass? It’s so perfect.”

“Well, I—“

“Nevermind. You’re not supposed to be looking at it anyway.”

“Hell. How can you not?”

Keith sat in the chair next to Kyle’s. “I’m falling for him, Kyle. I’m falling hard.”

“Well, don’t jump the gun too quick. Remember you two only just met a month ago. Take it slow.”

“You’ve always been a wise old soul, haven’t you? You’re right. I should take it slow. In the meantime, I guess I could kiss on you, couldn’t I?”

Kyle’s eyes bugged out. “No. You really couldn’t.”

Keith begged to differ. “I really could.” He smiled as his young cousin slowly stood up from his chair. “I could spoil you with ‘granny kisses’.”

“Not the ‘granny kisses’, Keith.” He saw Keith stand up and he backed up as he started to walk towards him.

He crooked a finger at Kyle. “Come heeeeerrrrre, Kyyyyyyyyyle.” He almost sang.

“No.”

“Now don’t be like that. Come give granny some sugar.” He said in an old, feeble woman’s voice.

“No!” Kyle sprinted down the hall, set on making an escape to the guest bedroom and locking the door, but Keith was dead on his heels. Kyle had no idea where or when Keith came up with that ‘granny kisses’ thing, but he knew he couldn’t stand it. Because when he did it, he made sure he licked his lips a billion times, so the kiss on the cheek was long, wet, sloppy, and loud…..like what annoying grandmother’s give their grandchildren.

Keith caught Kyle just as he was about to open the bedroom door. Grabbing hold to the side of the boy’s face, Keith planted a ‘granny kiss’ on his cheek; long, wet, sloppy, and oh so loud. “Eh!” Kyle yelled, wiping his cheek off. Keith was hysterical with laughs. “Why must you keep doing that?”

“Just to watch you act like that!” Catching his breath, Keith panted. “Come on, I need to take you back home.”

Kyle quickly reached for his cousin’s arm. “Please, please don’t take me home, Keith.”

“I have to take you home, Kyle.”

“No, you don’t. You don’t have to. You can let me stay here….with you.”

“Kyle.”

“Aren’t you tired of living in this nice house by yourself? You need company. Someone that will make noise in this quiet place. And who better else than your young, gorgeous, slightly mischievous cousin?”

Pale gray eyes, met pale gray eyes in a stern glare. “Are we going to have to talk about this every time you come over? You’re going home.”

“Keith. Please? I don’t want to go home.”

The man saw the genuineness in his young cousin’s eyes. Keith wanted to say ‘yes’. To tell Kyle that they were going to pack his things and bring him there. And he knew his cousin wouldn’t be a bother to live with; quiet when need be, respectful, helpful, very meticulous in cleanliness, and would be a good way for him to get free shampoos and conditioners that didn’t soak all the moisture out your hair. But there was one problem…his Uncle Greg. Aunt Geraldine would be easy to convince of letting him go, but his uncle would be another story. The man was so unpredictable, no one ever knew what he would do to or with any of them. He couldn’t take the chance of telling Greg Kyle was leaving, and witness that whack-job snapping.

“Your mother’s worried about you, Kyle. I’m sorry.” Keith watched as his cousin’s olive face fell three levels into sadness. “I have a pair of sweatpants in my room. Grab those and meet me downstairs.” Without a word, Kyle walked off to do as he was told.

Minutes later, as Keith was putting on his jacket, he met Kyle just as he came off the stairs, adjusting the slightly big gray sweatpants that went with the blue sweatshirt Vincent gave him. Face still glum.

“You ready?” Keith asked, grabbing his keys off the key-hanger. Kyle nodded.

Kyle never spoke a word as they got in Keith’s black Mercedes Benz (an old—but very well kept-- 90s model, not those expensive new ones), nor when they finally reached their destination. Kyle’s home was only thirty minutes away from Keith’s, but the neighborhood wasn’t quite as nice. It was an old neighborhood, filled with old white-chipped houses, and even older residents. It was Greg and Dudley’s –Keith’s father—parent’s house years ago. Built by their father’s own two hands, the house looked amateur. But so were all the houses on that strip. They all built their houses back then to cut back on costs. Kyle admired his grandfather for what he did back then, but he didn’t understand why THEY had to stay there. Many affordable homes have come through over the years, but his father insisted they stay put. Greg called it ‘the preserving of history’. Kyle called it, ‘being lazy’.

Keith pulled into the driveway. Kyle, looking down at his hands, didn’t move. “Kyle, you know you can over anytime you want to—“

“Just not to stay, right?” Kyle snapped. Before his cousin could answer the raven-haired youngster quickly got out the car, shutting the door hard. Keith sighed. *What to do?*

***

“300 dollars?!” Vincent repeated to the customer service representative. “Why in the world is my light bill $300?”

“Well sir, our payment charges have gone up 30%.”

Vince looked at his bill again, reading: Payment Balance Due…………………$300.00. “But this has got to be a mistake though. I’m the only one living in that apartment. How did I use up $300 worth of electricity?”

The middle age red-head woman shrugged her shoulders. “That’s just our new policy now. It has nothing to do with how much you used. Everyone’s payments went up 30%.”

“How am I supposed to pay for this? I don’t have that kind of money laying around, unless I want to starve until the end of the month.”

“Maybe we could set up a payment plan for you. Then you won’t have to pay the whole thing at once, but bit by bit before your next bill comes the next month.”

Vincent ran a hand down his light-brown skinned face. It was only 11:00 a.m. and he was already exhausted. “Give me whatever you’ve got.” He watched the woman walk out her office to grab papers on a payment plan.

After leaving there, Vincent spent the rest of his morning and part of his afternoon doing other errands before he came back to his apartment. The apartment was small, colored in the dull pale green all the apartments in that complex seemed to have, and lacked any personality. Vincent was terrible at decorating anything, so he didn’t bother. The place was also messy, but not in the trashy way. Since Vincent was a DJ, the small apartment was filled with crate after crate after crate of music vinyl. There wasn’t a room that didn’t have a collection of LPs. He couldn’t get rid of any of them, because he never knew when while deejaying at someone’s party or at the club, a person would want to listen to that particular record. A DJ must always be prepared.

Vincent had bought five more new albums while out that Saturday. Tossing them on the table, he would categorize them with the others later, he flopped down on his couch. Closing his eyes, he thought about the very likely possibility of taking on a second job, when a knock came to his door, followed by the sound of someone opening it.

“What’s up, Vince? How’s it hangin’?”

“It’s hanging pretty low.” He murmured, almond eyes still closed.

Leonardo Stephens was 21 years old. With low shaven dark brown hair, keen hazel eyes, and a short but strapping 5’10” frame, he and Vincent had been friends for years. He started out being the young tag-a-long when they were kids, but as he got older his ‘cool points’ grew. Wearing a baby blue polo shirt and jeans, he flopped down beside his long-time friend. “What’s up?” Leo asked in his velvety voice.

“I’m broke. And life is kicking my ass.”

Leo chuckled. “Ditto.”

“I need to get another job, Leo.” Vince said, looking at his friend. “Hear of any hirings?”

“Well, my job is looking for another server. Other than that, I haven’t heard any.”

“How long have they been looking?”

“Not too long. Maybe a week.”

“Have they got their eyes set on someone yet?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow to fill out an application.”

“Cool. Say, speaking of the restaurant. I had packed up extra baked ziti and was going to drop by last night, but you weren’t here.”

Vince grabbed the remote and turned the tv on. “No, I wasn’t. I slept over Keith’s house.”

Leonardo smiled. “Ohhhh. Slept over lover-boy’s house, huh? Did you have sex?”

“Of course we did.” He kept clicking through the channels.

“Was it good?”

“Of course it was.”

“You gonna let me have a crack at ‘em?” Leo joked.

“Of course….not.” They laughed.

“But for real, man. When are you going to let your best friend meet the boyfriend?”

“Soon, I guess. He wanted us to spend some time together today. Maybe I’ll invite him to the club tonight. You’re riding with me there, right?”

“Sure.”

“Hand me the phone.” Leo got up and grabbed the cordless from it’s base in the kitchen and handed it to Vincent. Vince dialed Keith’s number.

“Hullo?” A groggy voice said.

“Hey, Keith. It’s Vince. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No. No, I was just resting. What’s up? Where are you?”

“I’m just taking a breather here at home before I have to get ready for tonight. Listen, you remember my friend, Leo, I told you about a couple days ago?” Leo mouthed, “The cute guy.” hoping his friend would repeat it over the phone. He didn’t. Instead, Vince smacked him on the back of the head.

“Yeah, sure. What about him?”

“I’d like for you to meet him. I mean, we’re getting pretty steady in our relationship and I want you to start meeting some of my friends.”

“Okay. I don’t have a problem with that. Just tell me when and where.”

“Well, I know you had wanted us to hang out today, so how about tonight? You can meet me at Blue Velvet and I’ll introduce him to you then.”

“Alright.”

“Say, maybe you can bring Kyle with you? He could use all the ‘getting out the house’ time he can get, I would imagine.”

Keith sighed. “He really could. But I don’t think he’s speaking to me right now.”

Vincent’s raven colored eyebrows frowned confused. “Why not? What did I miss after I left?”

“I told Kyle to get dressed because I was going to take him home. He started begging me not to take him. Instead, he wanted to move in with me, permanently. I told him his mother was worried sick about him and wanted me to bring him home, which was the truth, but—“

“He didn’t really give a damn about all that.” Vincent finished for his lover.

“Right. He got out my car pretty pissed at me. But, I’ll give it a shot. Maybe he’ll come with me.”

“Try, okay? I gotta go. I’ll see you later then? At the club?”

“Yeah. See you then. Bye, baby.”

“Bye.” He hung up. The DJ with the mulatto skin looked at his friend who suddenly looked faintly intrigued by something. “What?”

“Who’s Kyle?”

“Kyle is Keith’s cousin.”

“Reeeaaallly.” Leo slowly rubbed his hands together, now even more intrigued. “And what does Kyle look like?”

“Like Keith.” Vince responded simply.

“That’s good. I can trust your tastes, Vince. You wouldn’t fuck, let alone date, an ugly guy. But out of curiosity, what DOES Keith look like?”

Vincent laughed at his friends prying. He smacked the shorter man’s knee before he got up to shower and change for the night. “You’ll see tonight.”