Fixing Love

4

The next morning I woke up, feeling more rested than I have in months. I saw the sun shining from behind my curtains, and got up. I stretched and walked into my  bathroom to grab a quick shower. Once I was done, I got out and wrapped my towel around my waist, and walked out. I was about to head to my closet to grab a change of clothes, when movement on my bed made me stop.

"Crap, my head." I froze when I heard that voice. I turn around and see as he slowly starts to sit up. The sheets cover his torso from the waist down, but exposing his bare chest to the cool breeze entering from the opened window. "Shit, who turned on the sun?!"

"Freddy!" He groaned from my yelling, and looked up to face me. At some point he had begun squirming on my bed in a strange attempt to stretch his body, so he was now laying on his stomach. Once his eyes focused on me, he screamed and covered his body with my sheets.

"Carter what the hell are you doing in my house?! And why are you naked?! Are you a rapist?!" He groaned in pain from his own yelling, the dumb ass.

"First off, this is my house. Second, I just took a shower, and no I'm not a rapist. And three, why the fuck are you in my bed?!" He rubbed his temples, and ran a hand down his face. He looked around and finally seemed to remember that he really was in my house, and in my bed.

"Honestly, I have no clue. Last night I got up to pee, and was heading back to sleep. I remembered you saying something about a guest room, but i couldn't remember which room. I took a guess, and I must have ended up in this one. My bad bro." I let out a tired sigh, and stood up straight.

"It's whatever." I headed for my drawers, and pulled out some underwear. I slipped on my boxers under my towel, and started looking for my clothes.

"Dude, you are really freaking big." I turned around and saw Freddy stretching. I gave him a strange look, but he didn't notice. He was now off the bed, and heading for the door. "I'm gonna wait on the couch." He closed my door and I was finally able to dress in peace.

After I finished getting dressed, I walked out and saw Freddy faced down on the couch. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed another glass of water, and some pain pills. I placed them on the coffee table, and sat down on my recliner.

"Oh, salvation. Thanks man." He took the pills, and drank the whole glass down. He sat up, and rubbed his eyes.

"No problem. You feel any better?" I turned on the T.V and started flipping through the channels.

"Much." I turned on the news, and lowered the volume for him. "Hey, can I ask you something? And feel free to say no."

"Depends. Am I gonna want to punch you after you ask?"

"Maybe." He said it so casually, but still had that stupid grin on his face. So I simply nodded for him to continue and reclined my chair back more. "Are you gay?" I swear to god I almost fell off the chair. I looked at him to see if he was joking, but I could see in his eyes he was serious.

"Why do you ask?" Freddy doesn't look like the type to be homophobic. I know a few things about him, but that's not one of them. In the short time that I have known him, he seemed to be a really opened minded and relaxed type of guy. If it didn't affect him, it wasn't a problem for him as far as I saw it.

"I just have this feeling. You always turn women down, you never really showed any signs of having any feelings for someone. And your place is like really freaking clean. Like I'm scared to touch something and mess it up." I couldn't help but laugh at that last one. I looked at Freddy, and saw him looking at me. He didn't seem like he cared if I was gay or not. Out of everyone here, Freddy's the only one I feel comfortable with it. I feel like I could trust him.

"Freddy, what I'm about to tell you can't leave this house. Understood." He nodded, and I took that as I sign for me to continue. I looked to the ceiling for a moment to try and gather my thoughts, before letting out a deep sigh and just letting it all out. "The truth is, I don't really consider myself gay. What I mean is, I have only been attracted to one man. And that's my husband."

"Holy shit, your married?! Dude, where's your husband? And why haven't any of us seen him?" I sighed, and debated about telling him everything. I already said this much, might as well right? So I did. I told him everything. About my past, Ethan, what happened between me and James, everything. I was surprised when he got more comfortable on the couch just to listen. By the end of it, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"So what do you think?" I had to ask when he didn't say anything after a while. He just stared at me, with a blank expression.

"You want my honest answer?" I nodded, and he sat up straight. "Carter, I don't care that you're gay. I think it's cool that you're able to look past gender when it comes to who you love. From what you've told me, I don't think Evan."

"Ethan."

"Ethan, sorry. I don't think that Ethan meant to hurt you. From what I understand, he isn't really experience in any of this. You said it yourself, he'd never even kissed anyone before you. Shit, holding hands was too much for the guy. I think finding out just how close you had been to someone else, a woman possibly pregnant with your child no less. He was probably scared you would leave him to be with them, and hurt that it couldn't be him to give you a family." I had no idea Freddy was so intuitive. He got all that, without even really knowing Ethan. It took me many sleepless nights to even come close to an answer like that.

"So what do you think I should do?" I was now leaning forward, elbows on my knees as I clasped my hands together.

"Well." He crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at the floor. "I would say, you go back."

"Go back?! What makes you think they even want me back?" It's not like I hadn't thought about it. But then I realize, they may not want to see me again. I left Ethan, I pushed James away, I turned my back on my family by changing my name. How could I ever face them?

"Carter." I felt Freddy place a hand on my shoulder. "Stop worrying. Your family sounds amazing, freaking rich as fuck, but amazing." I couldn't help but laugh.

"You wanna come with me?" He looked at me like I had grown a second head.

"What? Really?" I swear his eyes would have popped out of his skull if he opened them any bigger.

"Yeah. You're the one giving me kick in the ass I need to go back. I'm gonna need you there to drag my ass back if shit hits the fan." This time he laughed.

"Sure thing. But just so you know, you're not gonna need me to drag you back here. You're gonna need someone to do that to me." Now we were both laughing. I told him to go pack, and tell Marty about our plans. Gonna need to at least give him time to find people to take over. I may have only known Marty a year, but he has been good to me. Gave me a job when he didn't have to. I just hope that my own family will be as accepting when they see me again.