Wishing on a Blue Star (38 page)

Cary had barely answered the phone before there was another knock on the door. This time Mitch guessed right, as his dad stood on the other side when he opened it.  Mitch quietly told Cary he’d call him back and braced himself for what was to come.

His dad got straight to the point and never even noticed Mitch’s bruised cheek.

“You shouldn’t have come to the funeral. That made me look bad to all those people. You weren’t welcome, and they all knew it.”

As usual, all his dad cared about was himself. Mitch took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

“Dad, I came for Lorraine, not for you. I’ll be leaving in the morning.”

“I told your little friend to stay away from you, that he had already done enough to you.”

“Dad…” Mitch stopped and ran a hand wearily over his face. This conversation would go nowhere, because his dad wouldn’t even hear what he had to say. He looked at his dad and shook his head. “Dad, there is nothing between Aldo and me. You made sure of that years ago when you blackmailed me into breaking up with him.”

“Blackmailed you! You were the one who blackmailed me. I wanted to revoke his scholarship, but you told me you’d stop seeing him if I didn’t.” His voice rose and he gestured wildly with his hands.

Mitch closed his eyes. Even now, after years of therapy, he still found it hard to believe that his father couldn’t recognize the truth when he heard it. His therapist had told him his dad had a personality disorder, but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with the man. He still had a hard time reconciling the fact that his dad could be so different with his parishioners than he had been with his family. Opening his eyes, he looked straight at his dad.

“Go home, Dad. There’s nothing here for you to do, and I’m tired. I’m going to bed, and in the morning, I’ll be gone and back out of your life.”

While his dad sputtered, Mitch guided him through the hotel door and out into the hallway. He shut the door in his father’s face and ignored the knocking at the door. After a minute or so, it grew quiet, and Mitch lowered himself onto the bed. The side of his face hurt, and a headache lurked in the background. He curled into a ball and blinked back tears. It had gone no differently than he had expected, no matter what hope had been in his heart. Aldo hated him, his father still wanted to mold him into something he wasn’t, and a woman he adored was gone. He felt as if he had nothing left. Had he ever been happy? The only time happiness had been in his life had been when Aldo had been part of it.

The impact of another body drove the air out of his lungs with an audible gasp, and Mitch struggled to stay upright. He untangled himself from the other guy to see Rich and his buddies sneering at him. What was up with that? Then he got a good look at the new kid. At least he assumed he was new, since he’d never seen him before. Long dark hair and green eyes tinged with fear gazed back at him. Dressed in a purple shirt and wearing a rainbow bracelet, he darted around Mitch as they got closer. Mitch silently groaned, just what he needed, a confrontation with Rich and his buddies.

“Get out of the way, holy boy. We need to teach the little faggot a lesson.”

The new kid piped up. “No way could you teach anyone a lesson. You have to have a brain to do that.”

Mitch felt his eyes widen at the guy’s wisecrack and saw Rich’s face flush red. The kids standing around laughed.

“Listen, you little prick, I’m smarter than you are any day!”

“Right, that’s why you and your friends were talking about how to light your farts on fire. Definitely smart.”

Everyone burst out laughing again, and one of the jocks said, “Good one.”

Mitch laughed and mimed using a lighter. The new kid giggled.

Rich growled and then snapped out, “At least I’m not a fudge packer.”

The new kid laughed. “I’m not sure if you could get a job packing fudge. They may not take someone who’s not that smart.”

The crowd howled, and the kid grinned. Rich glared at the kid and then spewed out the worst he could think of.

“You’re nothing but a homo, and you’re going to hell, and so is anyone who defends you.” There was a manic tone to his voice as he gazed at the other kids.

A snort came from the new kid. “Please…I’d be careful, dude, or people might think you have something to hide.”

“What?” Rich sputtered.

“Well, they say that the biggest homophobes are almost always hiding the fact that they have homosexual feelings.”

Rich’s mouth dropped open and then he stuttered as he backed away from the new kid with his friends giving him funny looks.  Mitch laughed out loud and high fived the kid.

“Nice comeback. I’m Mitch, by the way.”

“Aldo, and thanks.”

The other kids started to wander off until just Mitch and Aldo remained. Aldo grinned up at him.

“So, you want to grab some pizza, or are you afraid of being seen with a homo?”

They had both laughed and that had been the beginning of their friendship, but it had taken until the summer between their junior and senior year before they discovered they wanted, no…needed more from each other.

* * * *

Three months later:

Mitch fought the urge to hit his computer screen. He rubbed his eyes and tried not to yawn. At the rate he was going, it looked like he would be here all night. A cough had him looking up to see his boss, Peggy standing there.

“Sorry, Peggy. I’ll have the paperwork done for you soon. I have almost everything typed up except the brief for the Hiller case. I’m still working on that.”

“Is that Jonathon’s case? He won’t need it until the end of next month. They moved his court date. So if that’s it, you should go home and get some sleep. You look tired.”

He laughed at that. Tired?  He was so far beyond tired that he could barely function. “Yeah, okay. I think I will go get some sleep. It’s been a long week.”

She mock frowned at him. “You will. That’s an order. I need my best paralegal to be in top shape next week.”

“Aye-aye, ma’am.” Mitch saluted her. He shut his computer down and gathered up his things. With a final check, he headed to the parking lot. His cell phone rang as he went out the front door. It was probably Cary calling to check up on him. With a growl he pulled it out and answered it.

“Yes?”

There was silence at first, but then a male voice come over the line. “Mitch?”

Mitch nearly dropped the phone in surprise. “Aldo?” 

“Mitch…” There was silence again. “Fuck, I need some help with a legal matter. My dad is trying to take my inheritance from my mom. He claims that they never finalized their divorce, which gives him the right to the money.”

“I…you want my help?” Mitch got into his car so he could sit down. He wanted to believe that Aldo had forgiven him, but he knew that couldn’t be. He couldn’t let himself believe that. “Why would you come to me for help? I’m only a paralegal.”

“Your sister told me you work for a great law firm. She told me some other things too. Like the fact that you almost killed yourself after becoming a minister and that you date guys.” His voice grew accusing. “You didn’t tell me any of that in that stupid letter you wrote.”

Mitch sighed. “I didn’t want you to feel sorry for me or to think I wanted you to think I was trying to get you back. Wait, you talked to Melissa?”

“She caught up with me at my show at Deloraz in New York. So you don’t want to get back with me? Is that how little I meant to you?”

The beginnings of a headache started behind Mitch’s forehead. “Aldo…I…shit! No matter what I say, you’re going to take it the wrong way, aren’t you? I wrote the letter to apologize, nothing more, because I don’t deserve anything more. Okay?”

“Fine.”

“Fine.” Mitch rubbed his forehead. “Look, let me talk to my boss and see if she can tell me anything. Fax me any documents your dad has given you on this to my office and detail what exactly he wants. I’ll see what we can do for you. And Melissa shouldn’t have told you anything. We had already said all that needed to be said.”

“I’m in town. I could bring everything over to you, and obviously we haven’t finished hashing it out if I didn’t know these things.”

Mitch’s heart leapt and he nearly dropped the phone. He fumbled it and then caught it. “I...that is, well, yeah, okay, maybe you’re right about that. You need my address, or did Melissa give it to you already?” His headache disappeared as he gave his address out.

Pulling up to his apartment building, Mitch spotted Aldo standing at the front doors. He wasn’t sure if he should be excited or dread seeing him. Dressed in his usual flamboyant way, Aldo lifted a hand to wave at Mitch. His face was neutral, and he carried a briefcase with him. Mitch walked up and greeted him with a wave. He tried for casual as he invited him up.

“So you want to come up, or do you just want to hand everything over now so you can go?”

“Are you going to be sarcastic, or do you treat all the guys you have over this way?” Aldo said nastily.

The words hit Mitch hard, and he had had enough.

“I don’t have guys tripping in and out of my apartment, Aldo. I rarely date, and when I do, it usually ends up being a one-off. So knock it off. It’s not like you care anymore, so don’t begrudge me some happiness.”

His voice had gotten loud, and a couple walking up to the building shot him a disgruntled look. He sighed again and rubbed his forehead. He couldn’t believe he’d just started arguing with Aldo right after seeing him.

“Look, I’m sorry. Give me the paperwork and I’ll have Peggy look over it and call you. Okay?” His headache was back with a vengeance.

“Fine.” Aldo bit out the word. He handed Mitch the briefcase and started to walk away before coming to a halt. With his back to Mitch, he turned his head and said quietly, “I do still care. I don’t know why, because you hurt me badly, but I do. I just don’t know what I want to do about it.”

Mitch laughed quietly. “Welcome to my world. I never got over you, and my therapist told me that I use that to hide from any other relationship.” He waited for Aldo to turn back toward him. “Look, come up with me. Let’s at least talk. Maybe if nothing else, we can be friends again. I’ve missed that.”

He waited for Aldo to make up his mind, but finally, Aldo nodded and stepped back toward him.

Upstairs in his apartment, Mitch set the briefcase down on the table.

“Would you like some coffee?”

“No, I better not. Caffeine makes me even more hyper than I normally am.”

“I have wine, water, soda as well. Ummm, beer too.”

Aldo laughed as he moved into the living room. “Beer…remember when we were fifteen and you stole that beer from your dad’s garage? Man, we were so hung over the next day when your dad chewed us out. Hey, that’s my print. You have my print in your living room.”

“Shit.” Mitch muttered. He had actually forgotten about that. He moved into the living room and saw Aldo standing in front of his couch, gazing at the framed print.

“Um, yeah, I bought it a couple years ago. I couldn’t afford an actual painting, but I wanted something of yours to put up in here. This one is so cheerful. It made me smile when I saw it, and I knew it was what I wanted for my place.”

Aldo turned around with a quizzical look. Mitch smiled at him. “You were always so cheerful and made me feel happy when I was around you. After I almost did something stupid, I wanted something to remind me of what it felt like again.”

“You mean wanting to kill yourself?” Aldo sat on the couch. “Why, Mitch? Why did you get to that point? I really don’t understand why you didn’t just walk away.”

“At the time, I thought I had no options. My therapist said I was overwhelmed by guilt and pressure from my family. I guess I’m a weak person.” Mitch shrugged. “The only smart thing I did at that time was calling the hotline. That’s why I volunteer there now.”

He looked up to find Aldo studying him. He looked away and found himself gazing at the print, a whirlwind of leaves in a rainbow of colors. It lifted his mood, just as it always did.

“I wish you would have let me be there for you.”

Mitch sat on the couch with a tired laugh. “I made sure you wouldn’t be there, Aldo. Remember? I had to drive you away. At least that worked, and you got to keep your scholarship.” He stopped, horrified. He couldn’t believe he had let that secret slip out. Glancing at Aldo, he saw the moment it dawned on him what he had said.

“What do you mean…I got to keep my scholarship?” Aldo spoke very quietly.

Mitch got up from the couch and started to pace.

“I shouldn’t have said anything. It was over a long time ago. Everything worked out. You got to go to State and get your art degree. I got a good education at…at…at…”

Fuck, he couldn’t even say the name of the college. Hands gripped his arms, and he realized that Aldo stood in front of him with an iron grip on his upper arms. Mitch inhaled the spicy scent of the other man and fought to keep a clear head.

“Why did you think you had to drive me away or I would lose my scholarship, Mitch?” Aldo stopped, and then it was as if he read Mitch’s mind. “Your dad was on the scholarship board, wasn’t he? He threatened you. Told you he’d revoke my scholarship if you didn’t end things with me. How did he find out about us? Oh shit, you came out to him, didn’t you?”

Mitch nodded and tried to back away. Aldo wouldn’t let go. Mitch gave up and stood still while he talked.

“I told him I was going to go to State. I told him that I was in love and that I didn’t want to be a minister. He insisted I did and that no little bimbo was going distract me from my duty to the Lord.” Mitch snorted. “You should have seen his face when I told him it was a guy, not a girl. He guessed it was you.”

Aldo let his arms go and stepped back. His face was blank, and Mitch cringed inside. He knew that look. It meant that Aldo was shutting him out. Aldo turned toward the door.

“I have to go.”

“Please don’t. I never wanted you to know.” He reached out a hand toward Aldo.