First Flight (13 page)

“Kevin,” Chris sighed, almost asleep again.

The phone rang again. Jesse whined, and Chris actually said, “Fuck.” He turned over and tried to find the handset, but the ringing stopped just as his hand closed over it.

“Wrong number?” Jesse hoped so, because the idea that maybe his parents had answered the phone was not one he wanted to think about.

“Maybe?” Chris sighed again and put the phone back on the table, then turned over once more. “C’mere.”

“Hm, gotta behave,” Jesse muttered, even as he bumped his nose against Chris’s. “Gotta go back t’sleep.”

“I know,” Chris said, just before he let the pull of sleep drag him down once more.

Six hours later, the phone rang again. Jesse almost decided not to answer, but he checked the caller ID just in case. “G’morning, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetie. Um, Kevin called this morning, about two thirty,” Leanna said. “You need to talk to him and make him understand that he can’t do that again.”

“God, I’m sorry,” he said, stirring sugar into his coffee. “I’ll see what I can do, okay? I’m really sorry.”

“I know, and it’s not like you asked him to,” she said. “But he doesn’t seem to be listening to either me or your dad.”

“
C
ALL
holding line three, Jesse. Call on line three for Jesse.”

Bracing himself, Jesse turned around and answered. “Thank you for calling Meyer’s Market, this is Jesse, how may I help you?”

“Thank God! It’s finally
you
.”

“Kevin—”

“Look, Jesse, I
need
you back in my life. I just can’t really live without you.”

“You’re going to have to, because I’m not interested. And if you call the house in the middle of the night again, my dad’s gonna be
really
pissed off. So don’t do it.”

“Please. Jesse, God, you’re all I can think about. You’re the only one I can really trust; you’re the only one I can love. Please.”

“No. I don’t love you. I won’t love you. You scare Chris, you wake up my parents, and you’re creeping me out. Stop. Fucking. Calling. Me.” Jesse hung up.

Two minutes passed without anything more interesting than a kid with green hair wandering by.

“Call holding line two, Jesse.”

He took a deep breath and tried to sound polite and professional as he answered. “Thank you for calling—”

“You have to come back to me.”

“No, I
don’t
. Nothing you can say will ‘make’ me want to go out with you again, Kevin,” Jesse said, “and I am
at work
. I cannot waste any more time on this.”

“I’m going to kill myself.”

“What?”

“If you don’t come back to me, I’ll kill myself. But you don’t love me enough to care whether I live or die, right?”

“I—” Jesse shook his head. He couldn’t remember if Kevin had been as excitable when they’d been dating, at least before everything had disintegrated over the fact that Jesse had made a new friend. They’d had their arguments, sure, but nothing like this. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m very serious,” he said, a rattling noise in the background. “I’ve got pills. I’ll take them all and kill myself and it will be all your fault.”

“Stop it. This is stupid, okay? We
broke up
. Because
you
were being an asshole about Christopher. It wasn’t the end of the world, okay? There are lots of other guys out there. Go find one of them.” Jesse watched a couple stroll past his checkstand, their basket full. They ignored his silent pleading to come over and get him out of the conversation.

“I don’t
want
anyone else, Jesse, I want
you
. I
need
you, Jesse. You’re the only one who understands me. What it’s like to be me. You always made it better, Jesse.”

“There are plenty of other guys who’re in the same boat, I swear to God,” Jesse said, guilt and pity stinging him though he knew Kevin was trying to manipulate him. “Look, I have to go. I’m at work and I need to help someone out, here. Goodbye, Kevin.” He hung up.

“Jesse to customer service, please. Jesse to customer service.”

Jesse groaned as Tanner’s voice summoned him, then locked his register and headed over. “Here I am.”

“Hey. Look, you’ve been getting a
lot
of personal calls, lately—”

He held up his hands and shook his head. “No, Tanner, I haven’t. Because the only people who are supposed to be calling me here? Are Chris and my parents. And they
call my cell, which I
don’t
answer, and when I can I call them back. These calls? I
don’t
want them.” Jesse crossed his arms and shifted from foot to foot. “Look, this guy? He’s my... ex-boyfriend. And I broke up with him months ago. Next time he calls, just hang up on him, okay?”

“Okay,” Tanner said, nodding at him. “Is, uh, everything all right?”

“He’s just being a pest,” Jesse said, rolling his eyes. “He called, like, three times in the middle of the night last night. He woke up my parents, which is so very uncool that there may not actually be a word for it.”

“That sounds like more than a pest,” Ellen said, shrugging at him.

“All right, we’ll let everyone know that this guy—what’s his name?”

“Kevin. Kevin Woods,” Jesse said, rubbing his face again.

“Okay. So, Kevin should not be passed on to you, but rather disconnected,” Tanner said. He crossed his arms and considered Jesse for a moment. “It’s a good thing you’re a valuable employee.”

“Thank you. I’m
really
sorry about this, Tanner,” Jesse said.

“
H
EY
, Chris.”

“Hi. Kevin’s standing in front of the house.”

“What?” Jesse leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel. “Why?”

“I don’t know why. Should I go ask?”

“No!” Jesse sat up again. “No, I didn’t expect you to know, sorry. Don’t go near him. Is he doing anything, or is he just standing there?”

“He’s just standing there. He’s been there since just after you left.” Chris peered through the tiny hole in the blinds where the cord ran through. There was Kevin, standing on the sidewalk, staring at the front of the house. “That’s all.”

“Okay. I’m coming straight home. If he comes to the door, you’re not home, okay?”

“I do not
like
this, Jesse. Can we make him go away?” Chris had always thought of the house as an incredible fortress, a warm and unusually shaped nest. He wanted to go out and drive Kevin away; wanted to run at him and shout and— Well, pecking at him was impossible, but he could figure out a suitable replacement. “I should… I
should
make him go away. Protect you, protect our nest. Then you would see I am strong and trustable and good.”

“I already love you,” Jesse said, touched despite the strangeness of the idea. “I’m beginning to think we need to talk to the police about this. Anyhow, no, stay inside. I’ll be right there, okay?”

“Okay,” Chris said, but he wasn’t happy about it. Then it occurred to him that if Jesse wasn’t home, he would miss Chris’s display of fitness, which would defeat the whole point. “I will stay in. Drive carefully.”

“I will, I promise.”

Five minutes later, Jesse leaned against the side of his car. “Kevin, go home. Neither Chris nor I are interested in any sort of relationship with you. You need to quit hanging around, and you
really
need to quit calling.”

“I can’t,” Kevin said, walking toward him. “I can’t, because I
love
you. I
need
you. Can’t you see, Jesse? We’re meant for one another!”

“No, we’re not,” Jesse said, shaking his head. “Go home.”

“Yes, we
are
. Why can’t you see it?” Kevin glared and put his hands on his hips. “You’re just like everyone else, like your mom and dad, and those people at the store, and even goddamn Chris. No one else can see it, either, but
I know
. We’re supposed to be together
forever
.”

Jesse rubbed his face with both hands. “I don’t know why. And you know, I never loved you. I’m not
going
to love you. Go home, or I’ll have to call the cops.”

“If you call the cops, you’ll be sorry,” Kevin said, turning around. “You’ll see. You’ll
all
be sorry.”

“If you leave, then I won’t have to,” Jesse said, watching him go. “Leave us alone, Kevin. Go find someone else.”

“
W
OULD
you like something to eat?” Chris said as Jesse came in from the mud room. Even if he couldn’t protect his home, he could at least feed Jesse.

“Not really, thanks.” Jesse looked at Chris, taking his time, studying the way his face was put together and the way the light fell on his hair. He looked perfectly normal, if rather pale.

“What?” Chris tilted his head as he noticed Jesse’s regard.

“Nothing,” he said, smiling at him. “I just like looking at you.”

“Jesse?”

There was something about the tone of Chris’s voice that disrupted the pleasant flow of his thoughts. “What’s the matter?”

“I just need to do
something
, to show you I’m right. That I’m the best one, the
right
one, for you.” Chris fiddled with the cuffs of his shirt. “Unless people don’t do that? Is there only one who finds the food and builds the nest and protects it?”

“Oh,
that’s
it,” Jesse said, blinking at him. He’d spent part of the afternoon trying to figure out the difference between Kevin’s issues and Chris’s apparent previous life as a bird, wondering why Chris didn’t bother him, but Kevin did. “You’re logical and you make sense. And to answer your question, it depends. Some people think that men are supposed to provide all the money and housing and stuff, while women are supposed to stay home and raise the children. Other people think it doesn’t matter who does what, as long as it gets done.”

“I do?” It seemed to be a good thing, so he decided not to worry about it. “But what about
you?
And am I not supposed to do anything? For you?”

“Yeah, you do. You think about things like a bird does, but like I said, it all still makes sense.” Jesse waved the words away and closed the distance between them. “I’m glad you said something,” he said, slipping his arms around Chris, trying to soothe away his unhappiness and uncertainty.

“Me, I’m more of a ‘let’s decide who’ll do what and then do it’ kind of guy. And if you want to do something to show me you’re right for me, then I won’t stop you. It’s just that you don’t
have
to prove anything to me, okay? Because I’ve already accepted you, or agreed, or whatever. I wouldn’t have asked you to be my boyfriend, wouldn’t have wanted to kiss you or anything, if I hadn’t. Okay?”

“Okay,” Chris said, “and I know you asked me, and that was a good thing. But something tells me to do this, inside.”

“Instinct again?” Jesse kissed him on the cheek and stepped back. “That’s all right, then. I—”

The phone rang.

“I don’t want it to be Kevin,” Chris said, frowning at the phone.

“I’ll see who it is.” Jesse sighed and walked over to check the caller ID, brightening as he recognized the number. “Oh, good. Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetie. Have you and Chris eaten, yet?”

“No. I just got home and Chris offered to make me something to eat, but we haven’t.”

“Oh, good. Your dad called me and said he wants to stop by Salvatore’s on his way home.”

“Ooh, Salvatore’s?”

“Mazzafegati!” Chris said, bouncing a little. “Please.”

“Chris would love some mazzafegati, please. Me, I’m happy with two loaves of garlic bread and a huge house salad.”

Leanna laughed. “I’ll let him know. Mazzafegati, bread, salad. Anything else?”

“Just a sec,” Jesse said, then turned to Chris. “Is that all you want?”

Chris grinned and nodded, his hands folded behind him. “I love mazzafegati.”

Jesse smiled and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s everything, Mom.”

“All right, I’ll go call him back, now. Love you.”

“Thanks. Love you too.”

“Mazzafegati, mazzafegati,” Chris said, rocking heel-toe, watching Jesse hang up. “Mazzafegati!”

“You’re so silly,” Jesse said, grinning at him. “Not just mazzafegati! Bread, too, and probably soup, and who knows what else?”

“Salad,” Chris said, smiling back. “You said.”

“Well, yeah, but I meant—” The phone rang again. He looked at the little screen, but it said
withheld
. “Swanson residence.”

A pause, and then a low voice said, “You’ll be sorry. You’ll see.” The line went dead.

“Okay.” Jesse put the receiver back and looked at the phone as if it could offer an explanation. “That’s not funny.”

“What’s not funny?” Chris’s cheer faded at the look on Jesse’s face.

He gestured at the phone. “I think that was Kevin. He just said ‘You’ll be sorry, you’ll see’ and hung up.”

Chris crossed his arms. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.” Jesse sighed. “This isn’t your fault, just so you know, okay? If he tries to blame anything on you, don’t believe him or think that it is or anything. It’s all
his
fault.”

“Okay. Why would he say that?”

“Because he was certain that you and I were sleeping together back when we first met,” Jesse said, rolling his eyes. “Never mind the fact that, you know, we weren’t
allowed
to, plus at the time I wasn’t thinking about you like that.” Or at least not more than in passing.

“Why?” That was such a strange idea. “I didn’t say anything. I didn’t
know
that I even wanted you. I
couldn’t
say anything to him that would make him think that.”

“I know.
You
know. And that’s why I said this
is not
your fault,” Jesse said, putting his arms around Chris again. “Because he’s the one who started imagining things.”

“Leanna says having imagination is a good thing,” Chris said, frowning even as he relaxed into the embrace. “But this isn’t.”

“She’s talking about things like… like imagining what would happen if a talking dog became president, not this,” he said, patting Chris on the back. “It’s one of those things, though. If you can imagine the dog, you can imagine your boyfriend cheating on you. The difference comes when you
say
something about being worried about the cheating.” Jesse let him go, stepping around him to wash his hands.