Westpoint Tales

by Kiwi

Entangled Tales - 31 - Justin & Billy

They could have, would have, sat there all day, but Denise came banging on the door and demanding. "Are you going to do these burgers for lunch or not, Billy Mathieson? Get your butt into gear Boy, we're starving out here."

They came, laughing, back to the kitchen, and Billy started making lunch - burgers for ten with oven baked french fries and coleslaw. Justin was trying to help, but soon found himself ordered out of the kitchen.

"You're friggin' hopeless, Superboy. Bugger Off! Go and play with the children while the cook's working."

He went out the back and sat in the sun at the old picnic table and was immediately surrounded by admirers. Cecily came out with two cups of tea and put one down in front of him.

"You all right there, Justin? This lot are not too annoying are they?"

"I'm fine Mrs. Mathieson, thanks. The kids are not annoying, they're great. You have a great family."

"Yes, I suppose they're okay. Though sometimes I could knock their heads together. Have you got any other brothers and sisters? Apart from Jonathan I mean."

"No there's just Jonathan and I only found him a couple of weeks ago. I grew up with no brothers or sisters at all. Jonathan's got some though, two brothers and two sisters, but I haven't met them yet."

Bugs asked, "How can Jonathan have other brothers when you haven't, and you're his brother? That doesn't make sense."

"Jonathan was adopted when we were babies. He grew up in a family, I didn't."

"Man. I wish I didn't too."

"No you wouldn't. You're much better off as you are. Being an only child is miserable. Trust me, I know."

"Well you can have some of ours if you like. We've got far too many."

Cecily said, "Well at least you've found your brother now. Are you fighting with him yet?"

"We have our moments, but mostly it's good. I love my brother and I'm never going to lose him again."

Red-haired, thirteen year old, Dianne sat down opposite him. "Is it really true that you're gay, Justin?"

He blushed red and Cecily said, "Dianne! Be quiet, you're embarrassing our guest."

"It's all right, Ma'am. An honest question. Yes it's true that I am gay, Dianne."

"So is there no hope at all for a girl - a big girl, one your age. Even if she's got a huge crush on you?"

"You shut up Dianne Mathieson." Margaret lunged at her. "You stop your bloody stirring. I have not."

"Have too!"

They were saved from a battle by Billy's arrival with a roasting dish full of french fries.

"Eat up. Get them while they're hot. Burgers are coming." He went back inside, and returned with a big covered tray of burgers. Dozens of burgers.

"Wow. Look at them all. Are you expecting an army?"

Billy grinned. "No army needed. You just watch them go. C'mon try one, tell me what you think."

Justin took a burger and looked at it. A small to medium bun, only partly cut in half so that the fillings were in a pocket, like Pita bread. "Smells great, and," he bit into it and his eyes popped open. "Mmm. Ohmigod! What's in this? This is amazing Billy." He had another, larger, bite. "Brilliant. Bloody brilliant."

Billy beamed. "Pleased you like them. We do our best."

"Oh, come on. Who are you Billy? Where did you learn to make burgers like this?"

"It's just my hobby." He took a burger himself. "I'm on a quest - the quest to find the perfect burger."

"I think your quest is over. But what's that taste? There's something here I've never tasted before, and I've had a lot of burgers. What is it?"

"That'd be the fern roots. Bracken fern. I cook them up in the chutney. Good eh?"

"Not good, great! That makes them unique then. You could make a fortune selling these."

"He certainly could," Denise said, taking her third burger. "I've got a marketing plan too. Make them small, give the first one free and charge $5 for all the rest. You'd make millions, Little Brother."

Billy, embarrassed now, grinned, "Okay, enough. Shut up and eat."

Justin got in the last word. "Billy's famous burgers, eh? You're not just a pretty face are you?"

They spent the afternoon just hanging about. It was too cold to swim in the river, but it was a pleasant place to sit and talk. Everywhere they went, they were surrounded by siblings.

"I actually thought you had more than this. Around at Ma's there seemed to be dozens of little Mathiesons."

"No, that'd be the cousins. Dozens of cousins. One thing that the Carvers are good at is breeding."

"Yeah. And they do it so well - beautiful boy."

"Shut up, Justin."

They ate at 5 o'clock. At 6, Justin said goodbyes and Billy walked with him out to the main road. He wrote his telephone number on Billy's hand, and they arranged that Billy would ring him, after 9pm., if he could get on the phone. They only had the one line.

They stood at the end of the driveway, next to the main road. Billy asked, "What time did you say Jonathan was coming to get you?"

"After 7 o'clock."

"But, it's only just after 6 now."

"I know. I just wanted to get you on your own for a while. I really like your family, but it's you I came to see."

"That's cool. Nice to have some time out. But you should have said, we could have gone back to my room."

They stood chatting, kissing, cuddling and waiting for Jonathan. Justin was feeling on top of the world, until Billy dropped a bombshell on him.

"The school ball's on next Friday night. Or the 'prom' as they're calling it now. Will you be going?"

"No. I hadn't planned on it. Jonathan is - though I don't know which girl he'll be taking. It doesn't interest me."

"Oh, come on, Justin. Come to the ball, it'll be fun. Get all dressed up and dance all night."

"Umm.. Are you asking me to the ball?"

"Me asking you to the ball? Get off it. Course I'm not. Boys don't take boys to the ball, it's a boy-girl thing. I'm going with Sherry Combs, really looking forward to it too - it'll be a blast. You should come though. Why don't you take one of Jonathan's girls?"

"No. If I can't go and dance with you, I don't want to go at all."

"Well you can't go with me, I'll be with Sherry."

"You'll be with Sherry. On a date?"

"Yes, of course on a date. I might get lucky too."

"But what about me?"

"What about you? You get your own girl."

"I don't want a girl. I'm gay, remember? I thought you were too."

"I guess I must be bi-sexual really. Boys, girls, whatever."

"But what about me and you?"

"What about us? We're not married or anything, Justin, we just had a bit of fun. Some day, some time, we'll do it again. But that doesn't mean we can't see other people too."

"But I don't want to see other people."

"That's up to you then, isn't it? But I do, and I will. I'm not getting tied down in one relationship for years yet. If ever."

Justin stood glumly looking at the road at his feet. Billy, sensing that something was wrong, very wrong, went to slide his arms around him, but he shrugged him off and moved away. (‘Fine then!’)

Luckily, before anything worse developed, Jonathan's car appeared. As soon as it stopped, Justin said, "Goodbye Billy." and got in the back seat, closing the door.

"But... You...oh whatever. Bye Justin."

Jonathan glanced back at him, "What's this? Trouble in paradise?"

"Shut up, Jonathan. Shut up and drive."

"Oh. Okay then." He pulled away with a' beep-beep', leaving Billy standing there at the side of the road. Justin didn't look back.

They drove along in silence for a couple of minutes, then Lana looked around. "What's the matter, Justin? Did you guys have a row?"

"Just shut the fuck up, Lana. I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh. Right then." She turned around in her seat.

Jonathan said, "There's no need to take it out on Lana. You shouldn't . . . "

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up! Shut the fuck up and leave me alone."

"Ooo - Nice. Keep this up and you'll have no friends at all."

"If you're not going to shut up, stop the fucking car and I'll walk."

"You can't walk all the way back to town."

"Just watch me!" He opened the door.

"Justin! What're you doing?" Jonathan jammed on the brakes and stopped the car.

"All right, you win. Everybody shuts up, okay? Let's just go home." He started again and they drove in silence back into Westpoint.

When they pulled up outside the Adelphi, the two in the front seat swung around to look at him, but Justin simply said, "Thanks", got out and disappeared inside.

Jonathan looked at Lana, shrugged and said, "I don't know. Come on, let's get you home, girl."

Justin went straight up to his room, closed the door and flung himself across the bed. But it was early, and he wasn't tired. Anything but. After a few minutes, he got out his old guitar and sat on the window ledge in the dark room, quietly plucking the strings and watching the traffic in the street below. His mind was a mess of half-finished thoughts

The phone rang at 9 o'clock, he ignored it. It rang a dozen times, stopped then started again. And again. And again. He ignored it, waited for it to stop, then cried when it did.

Jonathan came home reasonably early - before 11pm. He went up to their room but Justin was not there. The bed was still made up and undisturbed. He went into their other, unused, bedroom and Justin was in the bed there, lying on his back, hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling - watching the lights from the traffic below.

"There you are," He stripped off his clothes and climbed into bed. But as he got in, Justin silently slid out the other side. He went and got into the bed in the other room. Jonathan lay there for a minute, then got out and went into Justin's room.

He knelt at the side of the bed, next to his brother. "Justin? What have I done? Tell me what I've done and I'll fix it. I can't do this without you, I need you. I love you, Justin. What have I done?"

Justin looked sadly at him, then got out of the bed and wrapped himself around his brother. "Jonathan! You haven't. I love you, Jonathan. Love me my brother, love me."

They lay entwined on the floor beside the bed. Justin cried his heart out, his aching breaking heart. Jonathan held him and cried because of his brother's pain.

"What has that Billy done to you? I'm going to kick his arse whatever it was."

"No. You're not." he wiped his eyes. "He's done nothing, it's not his fault. Let's go to bed, it's bloody freezing out here."

They got up in the bed and snuggled together. "What then, Justin? What's wrong?"

Justin teared up again and whispered, "One shot. I had one shot, Jonathan. One shot at love, at life, and ...I missed. I missed, Jonathan, I missed. I wish I was dead."

"No! Don't say that, Justin. Don't you ever think that. It would kill me too if you weren't here. And Gran, and Granddad, and everyone else that loves you. You can't do that to them. You can't do that to me."

"Sure, everyone loves Superboy. Everyone loves me, except the one I love. I love him. I love him and he doesn't love me. He doesn't. What am I going to do?"