Something Like Summer (6 page)

“
Pff,” came the reply.
“Please. This is a 3000GT!”

“
Right.” Ben risked a
glance over to see Tim wearing an expression of mock
offense.

“
What kind of a guy
doesn’t know his cars?” Tim pushed.

“
I’ll give you three
guesses,” Ben said evenly.

Tim was silent for a
moment. “So it’s true?”

Ben let a slow smile play
over his face. He loved this part. It always felt like revealing to
a disbeliever that he had magical powers or something.
“Yup.”

“
Hmmm.”

That took Ben off guard,
since it wasn’t the usual response. Normally, one of two things
would happen. The guy would either play it off like he wasn’t
surprised and name some random gay uncle or somebody else he barely
knew to show that he was both worldly and accepting of such things,
or he would slide straight into being offensive. Tim had done
neither and opted for a musing “hmmm.” Whatever that
meant.

“
You have some sort of car
name, right?”

Ben chuckled. “Yeah.
Bentley, but I don’t know anything about Bentleys
either.”

“
So, Benjamin Bentley, do
you know my name as well as where I live?”

“
It’s Ben, not Benjamin,”
he replied, avoiding the question.

“
Benjamin it is,” Tim
teased. “Hey! Easy on the curves! Jesus!”

“
Sorry. So where are you
from? I mean, I haven’t seen you in school before this
year.”

“
Kansas.” Tim settled back
into his seat, but was now watching the road with prepared
alertness. “We moved down here so Dad could straighten out the
southern division of his company. So he says. I think it’s only
because Mom never stopped bitching about the winters up
there.”

“
You miss it?”

Tim sighed and looked out
the passenger side window. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Ben wished he knew how it
felt to leave everything behind. He had lived in The Woodlands his
entire life and often fantasized about moving somewhere new.
Anywhere would do, even Kansas. He just wanted to see something
unfamiliar.

“
Fuck!” Tim
yelled.

Ben snapped out of his
daydream in time to avoid hitting the car ahead of them that had
slowed at a stop sign. He swung into the empty oncoming traffic
lane and barreled through the intersection to the angry honking of
an old pickup truck. He hit the gas again to make it through before
they collided with anyone and veered back into the proper lane on
the other side.

“
Pull over!” Tim growled.
“I’m driving.”

“
We’re almost there.”
Ben’s nerves were steady as steel. Something like this happened
every time he drove.

Ben pulled up and stopped
the car at the hospital’s emergency entrance where wheelchairs were
scattered around aimlessly like shopping carts at a supermarket.
Once he had Tim settled into one of these, Ben got back into the
car and parked it, having to brake suddenly at one point to avoid
hitting an old lady.

“
It’s no wonder you ran me
over,” Tim said as Ben pushed him toward reception. “They shouldn’t
let you near anything with wheels.”

Clipboards and paperwork
occupied the next half hour, followed by a heated debate with the
receptionist as to why Tim didn’t know what sort of insurance
coverage he had. Eventually, everything was handed in and they were
left to wait with a number of other patients with minor
injuries.

Tim became withdrawn again
as they waited, his head leaned back and his gray eyes focused on
the ceiling. His jaw clenched occasionally. Ben watched, counting
the seconds between each clench, like he did with thunder to
measure the closeness of a storm. There was the slightest hint of
stubble on the line of his jaw. Ben wanted to reach out and trace
his finger along his skin to see what it felt like.

“
I hate doctors,” Tim
murmured.

“
Do you want me to hold
your hand?” Ben asked with a straight face before he and Tim both
burst into laughter.

“
I really do,” Tim
insisted. “Hate doctors I mean. You have no idea!”

“
Oh, I might,” Ben said
with a smile. “One of the few times I was in the hospital as a kid
was for a couple of fillings.”

“
Like for your teeth?” Tim
sat up and looked at Ben.

“
Yeah. I screamed and bit
my way through so many dentists that it was the only option left. I
was terrified. Once they got me there, I ran away before the
procedure began, hospital gown and all.”

“
How old were
you?”

“
This was last
week.”

“
You’re full of it,” Tim
chuckled.

Ben grinned back at him.
“Seriously, though. I must have been nine or ten. Eventually my dad
came to find me and they had to put me under with a shot to the
butt.”

“
What, did they shoot you
with one of those tranquilizer guns like in Jurassic
Park?”

“
Something like
that.”

“
Wyman!” a nurse called,
glaring at the waiting room impatiently.

She led them down a hall to
a room where, much like at a doctor’s office, vitals were taken and
they were left to wait again. Before long, a gray-haired doctor
came in consulting a chart.

“
Mr. Wyman,” he said. “I’m
Dr. Baker. And this is?”

“
I’m the one who did this
to him,” Ben answered sheepishly.

“
Ah, and what exactly
happened?”

Red-faced, Ben recounted
the accident, blaming the collision on a squirrel dashing across
the sidewalk. The doctor nodded and “mm-hmed” his way through the
story while examining the ankle in question.

“
I see,” Dr. Baker said
when Ben was finished. “We’ll need X-rays to be sure, but I believe
the ligaments in the ankle might have torn completely.”

“
Yes!” Ben exclaimed
victoriously. “I knew it. A class-three sprain.”

“
Well, well!” Dr. Baker
said appraisingly. “Are you a medical student?”

“
No. I just did a little
research is all.”

“
I think he just runs
people over so he can diagnose them later,” Tim said.

“
Let’s hope not.” Dr.
Baker smiled. “I’m busy enough as it is. If the X-rays check out,
we’ll get the swelling down and put a cast on it.”

“
You think it’s broken?”
Tim asked.

“
Casts aren’t just for
broken bones. We need to keep the ankle protected and in position
so it can heal. We’ll have it off in a couple weeks, don’t worry.
I’ll need to inform your parents about this, of course.”

“
They’re in Switzerland,”
Tim said, scowling at his ankle as if it had betrayed
him.

Dr. Baker adjusted his
glasses. “Any other family in the area?”

“
Nope.”

“
My family can take care
of him until they are back,” Ben offered. He had no idea if they
would actually be willing to, but it didn’t really matter. He would
find some way of making it work.

“
So much for parental
consent,” Dr. Baker said with a sigh. He consulted the clipboard.
“The good news is that we managed to track down your insurance
information. However, with your parents out of town, I would feel
better if you stayed overnight.”

Ben’s stomach grumbled,
prompting him to look at his watch. It was well past eight and he
had promised to be back in half an hour when he had left to check
on Tim. He wasn’t likely to get in trouble, but he didn’t want to
raise suspicion that something was up. And what was up exactly? Ben
felt he was on the verge of something big. In front of him was a
guy who needed his help, with no friends or family in the area to
look out for him, except Ben. As dubious as the methods had been,
he now stood a good chance of getting close to Tim. He didn’t want
anyone intruding on that now. If his mom found out what was going
on, she would probably hire a nurse to take care of Tim, but Ben
had a different plan in mind.

“
I have to get home,” he
said. “But I can pick him up tomorrow?”

“
I suppose,” Dr. Baker
said. “Could you please bring the number of his parents’ hotel with
you? Or better yet, phone it in tonight?”

“
Absolutely,” Ben
lied.

“
Wait, you’re taking my
car?” Tim sounded panicked.

“
It’s not like you can use
it,” Ben said, happily patting the pocket that held the keys. “See
you tomorrow, tiger.”

A few minutes later Ben was
sitting in the something-or-other 3000GT with a big smile on his
face. The next few weeks were going to be very interesting
indeed.

__________

Chapter 5

“
Oh. My. God.” Allison
stood slack-jawed in the middle of her driveway.

Ben leaned over to get a
better look at her out the passenger side window. The movement of a
curtain caught his eye, just as he was about to say something
smart. Allison’s father stood in the living room window,
immaculately dressed in the type of conservative business suit he
always wore. Ben had never seen him wear anything different. He
wondered if the man slept in a suit as well. It was hard to imagine
him in something as casual as pajamas and impossible to believe
that he would sleep in his skivvies.

Mr. Cross gave a smoldering
glare that sent chills up his spine.

“
Just get in,” Ben said
impatiently.

Once his passenger had
boarded and they were a block away, he felt free to resume his
jovial mood.

“
When you said you were
going to pick me up for school, I thought maybe you had your
parents’ car or something!”

Ben shrugged, enjoying
keeping Allison in suspense. This didn’t dissuade her from finding
out the truth. She popped the glove box and pulled out the only
contents--the insurance card.

“
Tim Wyman?” Once again
her jaw lost the ability to hold her mouth shut. “You have got to
be kidding me! Does he know you have it?”

Ben was offended. “What,
you think I stole his car or something? I’m not that
sick.”

“
Well, how
then?”

“
I put him in the
hospital.” Ben laughed. “That’s how.”

Allison didn’t find this
statement amusing until he told her the complete story.

“
That’s the most depraved
thing I’ve ever heard,” she said once he had finished. “You realize
that you need help?”

“
Say what you like,” Ben
said as he waved a hand dismissively. “My methods get results. If
things aren’t going so hot with Ronnie, cripple him. Guys are crazy
about it, trust me.”

“
So what’s next?” Allison
asked as she reached over to gently take the wheel. She turned it
slightly, just enough to stop the car from barreling into a trash
can on the side of the road.

“
Oh, thanks. Next is
complicated. I’m supposed to pick him up, which I figured I could
do during lunch, but I don’t really want to come back afterwards.”
Ben pulled into the school parking lot and swung into the nearest
empty spot. He killed the engine and turned to his best friend. “I
need you to cover for me in choir. Say I started hurling during
lunch or something.”

“
Will do.”

“
I don’t know what to do
about the other classes. I guess my parents will be getting a call
tonight.”

Allison shook her head.
“You should be fine. Have you ever noticed that they only take
attendance in second period?”

He hadn’t, but now that she
mentioned it, that’s how it always had been. The first week of
school every teacher did a roll call, but after that only his
English teacher still did so.

“
The office would go mad
trying to compare every attendance record,” Allison continued, “so
they just go by the one from second period. Mindy Scott was an
office assistant last year and told me how it works.”

“
So as long as I’m there
during English I can skip the rest? Awesome!”

“
Well, within reason. If
you don’t show up for a week, a teacher will probably ask the
office if you keeled over or something.”

This was still good news
and made his future plans much easier to execute. “Can you find a
ride home?” Ben asked as he unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out
of the car.

“
I’m sure Ronnie wouldn’t
mind bringing me,” Allison said with a smile.

“
Yeah, well, just make
sure he’s out of the house before your dad gets back.”

“
Like you need to tell me
that.”

Ben was resiliently happy
during his morning classes. In P.E. a baseball hit him in the
shoulder, giving him good cause to swear loudly and be sent on
another jog around the school. He felt twice as daring as usual and
made sure to stand out of sight until he heard the coach call
everyone back in.

English was pleasant and
the usual teacher was back in Spanish class. When Ben was called to
the front for an exercise, a number of students made sure to try
their new word, but
mariposa
failed to cause a reaction in the teacher. Maybe
the substitute hadn’t given them the right word, or maybe Mrs. Vega
chose not to hear. Ben didn’t know how aware the teachers were of
his sexuality, but surely the faculty gossiped just as much as the
students did. The name calling irritated him, but he was so close
to escaping school for the day that he tried not to dwell on
it.