The Tin Box (16 page)

She scowled at him. “I been workin’ this place since I was six, Colby. I don’t need baby-sitting.”

“Yeah, but it’s been a while.”

“I haven’t forgotten. Get the hell out of here.” As gruff as her words were, there was a little sparkle in her eyes when she looked at her son.

“Yeah, yeah. Oh, wait! Hang on, Will.” Colby zoomed around the counter and through the door to the back room.

William and Cammie looked at each other.

A series of muffled banging noises came from the storeroom, but Cammie didn’t turn around. Instead, she narrowed her eyes and dropped her voice to a coarse whisper. “Don’t break my baby’s heart, you hear?”

William gaped at her. “I… uh…. We’re just friends.”

Her expression didn’t waver. Colby came sailing out, a plastic bag held triumphantly in one hand. “Almost forgot this. And then I almost forgot where I put it.” He paused long enough to kiss his mother loudly on the cheek. Then he came around the counter, grabbed William’s hand, and pulled. “Let’s go! I’m starved. Bye Mom!”

She gave a dismissive wave. William mumbled a farewell too, but she might not have heard it.

Out in the parking lot, Colby bounced up and down. “I’m so psyched to introduce you to the world of cruising! C’mon. Let’s eat so we can hit the road.”

William didn’t get a chance to ask where they were going to eat, because Colby was dragging him across the lot to JV’s only restaurant. Dos Hermanos was located in a squat stucco building. The door was flanked by a wooden bench and two large Mexican flower pots full of colorful blooms. The inside wasn’t especially impressive—white walls covered with black-and-white photos of people who might have been celebrities but didn’t look familiar. A couple of overgrown potted plants. A dozen or so chrome-and-Formica tables, each surrounded by four chairs. A large opening in a wood-paneled wall revealed the kitchen, occupied by a tiny bustling woman and a large man in a hairnet. The restaurant smelled wonderful, however, warm and spicy.

Another large man greeted them as soon as they entered. “Colby! ¿Cómo estás, mi amigo? Rafa’s got fresh tamales today.”

“Hey, Luis. I’m glad to hear that ’cause I’m in a tamale mood. This is Will.”

Luis shook William’s hand enthusiastically. “The guy from the hospital. We were wondering when you’d stop in. Glad to meet you, man. You gotta try my brother’s tamales. He’s
gordo y feo
but he sure as hell can cook.”

The man in the kitchen shouted something in Spanish that made Luis laugh.

Luis led them to a table and waited for them to sit. “Drinks?”

“Diet Coke for me,” said Colby. “Will?”

“Just water, please.”

Luis nodded. “You want menus or you just gonna get the tamales?”

“Did Rafa make the ones with the chicken mole filling?”

“Claro que sí.”

Colby looked at William for approval and then nodded to Luis. “Tamales it is.”

“Coming right up.”

As Luis bustled away to fetch their drinks, William looked around a little more. Only two other tables were occupied, both by couples in their sixties. Colby waved at them and they waved back. William figured they were locals, which made sense. Not many tourists passed through town on a Tuesday evening.

“I thought your mother lived up in Redding,” William said.

Colby made a face. “She does. But she had a fight with her husband and showed up on our doorstep yesterday.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“No biggie. Happens a couple times a year. They’ll make up soon. He’s not a bad guy, but Mom’s kinda hard to live with, I think.” As always, Colby seemed unable to feel down for long. He gave William a bright smile. “And the timing turned out really great. I didn’t have to shut down the store early, and she can make sure Grandma and Grandpa are taken care of tonight.”

“You have a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders.” William was five years older than Colby and had no responsibilities other than himself. For all his bounciness and lightheartedness, Colby suddenly struck William as one of the steadiest people he knew.

Luis arrived with their drinks and some chips and salsa, gossiped with Colby for a minute about a local resident who’d recently been arrested for drunk driving, and then left. William tried some of the chips—they were probably homemade, still warm. The salsa was good too, with its tomato base punched with cilantro and hot peppers.

“This place was one of the things I missed about JV when I lived in the city,” Colby said with his mouth full. “Yeah, there’s plenty of good Mexican there too, but it’s not the same.”

“What else did you miss?”

“Lots of things. Family. Everybody knowing everybody else’s business. Warm sunshine. The cows. I even missed the stupid store.”

“But it must be hard for you here, too. I mean….”

“The total lack of homo hoodies? Yeah. But… I don’t know. Grandpa’s been talking about selling the store. I can’t afford to buy it from him. I mean, he’d give me a deal. But I can’t run it by myself and I wouldn’t be able to afford to pay an employee. Grandpa’s paying me way less than minimum wage.”

William didn’t like to see a frown on Colby’s face. It went against the natural order of things. Still, he had to ask, “What will you do with yourself then?”

“Dunno. Maybe I’ll go back to school. I’d like to travel. I know a guy who got a job working on a cruise ship. That might be cool. Maybe Prince Charming will sweep me off my feet and we’ll get married and have two-point-three children and spend all our vacations at Disneyland.” He said the last sentence with a roll of the eyes, as if the concept was too ridiculous to consider, but William had the impression that the Prince Charming fantasy wasn’t far from Colby’s real hopes.

Their food arrived and they were both silent for a while as they ate. William had to admit, everyone had been right about Rafa’s tamales. They were ambrosial. He regretted having bypassed them in his first few weeks.

Colby took a bite of his refried beans and then chuckled. “I guess I’m limiting my romantic prospects for tonight.” When William looked at him, puzzled, Colby elaborated. “Never eat beans before anal. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

William was aghast, which must have shown on his face, making Colby laugh even harder. “Hey, Will. If I’m gonna be your Yoda, I’m gonna give you the whole truth. Better you hear it from me than learn it the hard way. And I’m guessing you and Lisa never went where no man has gone before.”

Were they really having this discussion in the middle of a restaurant? William felt his cheeks burning and wanted to melt under the table. Except… it really was a topic that had been niggling at him. Not meeting Colby’s eyes, and keeping his voice to a whisper, William said, “How do you know if you… you know. If you
want
that.”

Colby shrugged and swallowed a mouthful of mole. “You give it a try, I guess. But
slowly
, and with someone you trust. Preferably someone experienced. My first—well, inside of thirty minutes he had me warbling opera and ready to sign the Bottom Forever contract.” His eyelids fluttered briefly at the memory. “But it’s not always great. It can hurt, especially if you’re not relaxed, and it can be gross… hence the no-fly zone for frijoles.” He pointed his fork at William. “But when it’s good, Will, it’s very, very good.”

William scrunched up his face. “I don’t know.”

“So here’s the deal. Some guys say they’re exclusive tops or bottoms, and I guess most guys sorta prefer one or the other. Like me. In my experience, the men who swear up and down they’re exclusive tops and that they’d never let a cock anywhere near their precious assholes… well, most of them have some serious issues and they make lousy lays. I think you gotta try the other side at least once or twice if you wanna be really good.”

“Okay.” William felt a little as though he should be taking notes.

“You know what else? You’ve been surfing those websites, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You get an A for Completes Homework on Time. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed there’s a lotta things two dudes can do with each other to get off. Butt sex is not the Holy Grail. Some guys never like it and they still go on to live fulfilling homosexual lives.”

William was relieved to hear this. Considering the limited extent of his experiences so far, he didn’t know how long it’d be before he felt comfortable becoming more intimate with a man. It was probably a little premature to be worrying about the exact positions in which he and a hypothetical partner might engage. Still, one less thing to stress over. He sighed. “Straight sex is easier, I think. It seems simpler. Maybe just because we’re all exposed to it more often.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You mean you’ve never had sex with a woman?” William said that a little louder than he’d meant to. Luckily, nobody seemed to hear except Colby.

“Nope. I told you, I’ve known which team I’m on since I went to kindergarten and developed an enormous crush on Tony Vieira. I used to tell everyone we were gonna get married someday, and me and Tony’d play house for hours.” He snorted a laugh. “I wonder whether Tony remembers that? He’s got a wife and two kids. Maybe I’ll remind him next time he comes into the store.”

If William had any sexual or romantic thoughts about anyone, male or female, before his fifteenth birthday, he’d repressed them pretty thoroughly. “But are you—”

“If you ask me how I can be sure I don’t want pussy if I haven’t tried any, I’m gonna come around this table and slap you.”

William opened his mouth to respond, but the look of mock fury on Colby’s face overcame him and he laughed instead.

T
HE
gravel crunched under their feet as they made their way across the post office parking lot.

“You’re not planning to wear
that
, are you?”

William paused before getting into his car. He looked down at himself: khakis, button-down, blue tie, sports jacket. He looked over at Colby. “My Total Dance Whore tee’s in the wash.”

Colby stuck out his tongue. “Fine. I suspected this was gonna happen. We’re stopping by your place.”

“I’ve got nothing better to wear, Colby.”

“Trust me, oh Padawan.” And they proceeded to the asylum.

Colby carried his plastic bag inside. Tonight he seemed giddier than usual, dancing down the hallway and singing snatches of songs. William slogged behind with a small smile on his face.

When they got into the apartment, Colby looked him up and down. “Okay. Strip.”

“Um….”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before, baby boy. Let’s go.”

Colby waited impatiently as William took off everything except his boxers, which made Colby snort dismissively. “Those are totally not giving your ass its due, Wills. You got a nice little butt. You oughtta show it off. And you probably come by it naturally. I gotta work my glutes like mad to achieve this perfection.” He slapped himself on the ass, and William tried not to stare. It was a very nice ass.

Colby scrunched his mouth to one side. “A thong is probably a step too far for you. You need boxer briefs. Okay, well, next time. Clock’s ticking.”

William was relieved. He couldn’t imagine himself in a thong.

Colby was already rummaging through the dresser, tossing rejected clothing aside. “Aha!” he said, holding up a pair of jeans. “We have denim!”

“Those… those are old. I think I’ve had them since my undergrad days. I don’t know why I’ve even—”

“Put ’em on.”

William did. They still fit and were worn soft and almost white in places. He’d forgotten how comfortable they were.

Colby circled him. “Not bad. Not tight enough, but they’ll do.”

He went to the table and rummaged in his plastic bag, retrieving a square of dark-green fabric. He held it out to William. “Put this on.”

It turned out to be a T-shirt, and it was at least two sizes smaller than William was used to. It fit him like a second skin.

“Nice!” Colby said. “I thought that would work. It brings out the little flecks of green in your eyes.”

William had always thought that his eyes were the color of a muddy pond. They certainly weren’t a gorgeous sky blue like Colby’s. And he was a little overwhelmed that Colby had shopped for him, buying something because he thought it would match William’s eyes. Lisa had never bought him clothing, except for birthday pajamas or a few pairs of socks when she happened to visit Target.

But Colby wasn’t done. Now he had his head stuck in the armoire as he talked to himself. He selected a shirt with vertical white-and-blue stripes. “This one’s not bad.”

William didn’t feel too awkward with the outfit Colby picked out for him; it wasn’t so different from his ordinary wear. But then Colby eyed his hair thoughtfully.

“No gel!” William demanded.

“Fine. Sit so I can reach you, Jolly Green.”

William sat. For a man in a hurry, Colby seemed to take an inordinate amount of time messing with his hair, combing it this way and that. William was a little shocked at how good Colby’s fingers felt against his scalp.

“It’s really soft. What kind of product do you use?”

“Um… shampoo?” said William. “Sometimes I condition.”

“Lucky. Good color too.”

“It’s just… plain. My mother called it dirty blond.”

“Well, don’t bleach it. It’s cute as it is.”

William tried not to smile. “I wasn’t planning to bleach.”

Finally satisfied, Colby gave his head a light pat. “Okay. Stay. I’ll be right back.” Before William had a chance to ask where he was going, Colby grabbed his bag and ran to the bathroom.

William waited on the chair, jiggling his knees anxiously. He realized that Colby hadn’t given him any instructions as to footwear, so he ended up sliding on a pair of loafers—it wasn’t as though he had many options.

It didn’t take Colby long to reappear, and when he did, William’s breath caught. Colby wore a bright-purple dress shirt with darker purple pinstripes. It wasn’t as tight as his usual tees, but it had a tailored cut that showed off his sleek muscles and trim waist. He also wore charcoal-colored trousers and black dress shoes with tapered toes. He’d outlined his eyes with a bit of liner.