Denim Jackets and Good Intentions

Chapter Ten

A month or so later, the older boy was surprised with concert tickets. They were sitting in Douglas' dorm, hanging up the Fleetwood Mac poster that Mary had given him for his birthday. Eric had taped it to the wall, patting the surface once he was done and then jumping down from the bed. Douglas glared at him, the sound of his weight thumping against the floor no doubt radiating through the ceiling of the dorm beneath him. Completely ignoring the stare, Eric pulled the other up from the chair by his hands and spoke.

"So you know how I didn't get you anything for your birthday?"

Douglas' face softened considerably, he parted his lips to speak but Eric did first.

"The kiss didn't count," he said, earning a sympathetic frown.

The blond reached into his pocket and pulled out two small cards, fanning himself with them as he explained.

"It's all standing view, but still. May 7th of next year, Oakland. I figured we could make a road trip down there, hang out..."

The tickets read the date and venue, and many more technical details that they could care less about in this moment. Joy filled his veins and he hugged the younger boy close, closing his eyes. He'd never been to a concert before, hopefully Eric had and he'd know what to do and where to go. They stood there for a minute in the embrace before pulling away and the tickets were shoved into his pocket again.

"Alright, let's go get something to eat."

...

The months went by slowly, or so it seemed when at the end of that long road sat the concert. Douglas spent Thanksgiving back in Maine with his mother, but came back and celebrated Christmas with the Rosses. They each got one present from each other, it was minimal, simple. Eric got him a Beatles t-shirt. He got the boy some new blank cassette tapes to record over, and gave Henry some of his old books that he hardly ever read any more.

For New Year's, they had a small party. Lisa and her family came over, the neighbors packed the house and music was played over the loud clamoring. Five minutes before midnight, the two boys snuck up to Eric's room and opened up the window, watching the fireworks being set off a few streets down. They kissed, making sure to keep it short and chaste so they could sneak back down to the party when needed. It was something of a movie scene, the two of them leaning down against the windowsill while the dark sky lit up a few blocks down with explosions of light.

On Valentine's Day, they stayed in while Thomas and Mary went out to dinner. They watched a movie together in the living room, Eric eventually nodding off on the other's shoulder halfway through. Douglas caressed the pad of his thumb over the boy's knuckles as he slept, the youngest Ross already in bed by the time the movie ended. He was sure to wake the other up before his parents came home, hauling him over to his room and spending the night.

The next few months were uneventful. There weren't any big celebrations after February, not until the blond's birthday in late May, which would come after the concert. On the day before the concert, Henry was complaining to Mary about not being able to go. Douglas shoved a blanket into the backseat of the car, then closed the door, flinching at the creaking sound. Eric kissed his mother on the cheek, looking around quickly.

"Where's dad?"

"I think I saw him head down the hall," she said, dragging the unruly eleven year old away from the door.

Eric half-jogged down the walkway, stopping by his door when he saw Thomas in his bedroom. He stepped inside quietly, watching the man where he stood by the stereo. With his eyebrows knitted together, he stepped closer until he could see around his father's arm. The vertical set of photos that had popped out of the photo booth he and Douglas visited a week or two earlier was in his hand and he froze, feeling the color draining from his body. The pictures were intimate, three out of four of them displaying Eric's hand threaded deep into the other boy's dark brown hair, their faces pressed together at the mouths. He was gonna get reamed.