Basement Royalty

Chapter 11

By Saturday afternoon, Ray felt about as highly strung as Joel had been the first two weeks he'd known him. The prospect of a large party with a bunch of alcohol and people he didn't know was worrying. And then there was Joel himself to think about. They had been talking all week, and somehow every conversation slipped back into flirtatious comments and occasional backtracking that confused the hell out of Ray.

Now he was waiting on the curb outside his house again, backpack full of clean clothes on his shoulder. He had vivid memories of the last time he'd done this, before Burnie's party. That had been a blessing wrapped up in a disaster, a horrible beginning to a pleasant end. He just hoped that this party would go a little smoother. Then again, with alcohol involved, who knew?

Burnie's battered Volkswagen pulled up to the curb in front of him and brought him back to reality. Ashley waved at him from the front passenger seat and he got into the back.

"Hey, man. How you doing?" Burnie asked.

"I'm good, thanks. I thought you'd maybe go get Joel first."

"I tried, but he told me he wasn't ready, so I came to fetch you while I waited."

"Fair enough. Ashley, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm great!" She replied as Burnie turned the car around in the driveway. "You looking forward to the party?"

"I'm pretty excited, yeah. Never been to anything like this before."

"You'll have a great time, I promise." She turned around in her seat and gave him a thumbs-up. Ray smiled in return. It was a short drive to Joel's house, and they soon stopped in front of the impressive driveway.

"I'm gonna go knock on his door." Burnie said.

"Oh, I'll come!" Ashley followed as he got out of the car, leaving Ray sitting there for a moment before he decided to get out too. He reached the porch just as Burnie was knocking, more vigorously than was really necessary. There was a muffled shout from inside the house, and after a minute's wait, Joel opened the door. Ray almost gasped aloud. True to his promise, Joel was wearing a white button-down shirt, left untucked over a pair of dark blue jeans. His hair was messy in a very deliberate way. The light of the setting sun reflected in his eyes, turning the rich brown a shade of gold as he squinted and turned away from the glare.

"Sorry, I was packing my stuff up." He said, gesturing to the duffle bag on his shoulder.

"No problem, man." Burnie replied. "You went ahead with the shirt idea, then?"

"Yeah, I thought it was a good idea. Like you said, though, I'll probably regret it later." He plucked at the fabric as he stepped over the threshold and closed the front door.

"Alright, let's go." Burnie led them all back to the car. Joel seemed to notice Ray for the first time and walked next to him. Ray managed to finally break his stunned silence:

"Uh... You look good." Joel laughed quietly and put his hand on Ray's shoulder for a brief moment.

"Thanks, Ray. Not looking so bad yourself."

"Are you kidding me?" Ray looked down at his own outfit. "At least you made an effort. I made fake-effort." He pointed at the tuxedo pattern on his t-shirt.

"I wasn't talking so much about the clothes." Ray felt his face get hot as he sat down in the car again, moving to the seat opposite the sidewalk to make room for Joel. Burnie checked everyone had their seatbelts on before turning the car around again, and driving out onto the main road.

*

Ryan's house was much further away than Ray had anticipated. He had expected a ten-minute journey to the suburbs, not a half-hour trek out of town.