Jay woke up to Nathan's wheezy breaths in his sleep. Jay placed his hand on Nate's head and played with his hair.
Nathan cuddled up to him even closer, which made Jay smile.
"Am I snoring?" Nathan said in a tired voice.
"It's okay. I am just watching you sleep anyhow."
Nathan looked up at Jay. "That's creepy bird."
"Be quiet and go back to sleep."
Nathan closed his eyes and snuggled back up to Jay. "Do you have your alarm set for sound check?"
Jay's eyes widened. "Um no." he said then quickly reached for his phone and looked at the time. "Shit."
Nathan groaned. "Are we late?"
"Well no, but it's later than I thought." He said then noticed the 12 missed messages on his phone. He frantically began checking them.
Nathan rolled onto his back and covered his face with a pillow.
Text from dad (3 hours ago): Looking forward to tonight!
Text from dad (2 hours ago): Hitting the road, be there soon.
Jay began to panic. "Shit, shit."
"Bird, how much time do we have?"
Jay ignored him and continued to check his messages.
Text from dad (1 hour ago): I will pick you up at the hotel. We can do dinner. I hope you are getting these messages.
Text from dad (15 minutes ago): I'm here. Do you want to meet me in the lobby or should I come up?
Just then there was a knock at the door.
Jay jumped out of bed and quickly threw on his pj pants. "Nate, get up." He shouted.
Nathan sat up in confusion. "What is the matter?"
He threw Nate's pj pants at him. "Put these on and get up. Hurry."
"Jay are you in there?!"
Nathan put his pants on with a confused look on his face. "Who is that and what has gotten into you?"
Jay looked around the room. He couldn't explain Nathan being in his room with pajama pants on. Maybe if he had clothes it wouldn't be so bad.
"Jay?" Nathan asked.
"James, open the door already son!" his father shouted from the other side.
A look of realization came upon Nathan's face.
"Oh don't give me that face." Jay said then pulled Nathan over to the closet. "Here go in here just for a few minutes okay?"
Nathan frowned. "You want me to hide in the closet....from your dad?"
Jay felt awful. "It will only be a for a few minutes okay? Please?"
Nathan did as he was told.
Jay closed the door of the closet and ran over to open the door for his father. "Dad!" he said with a cheesy smile.
His father patted his shoulder. That was all the affection he was going to get from him. "What the hell took you so long?"
"Sorry I was sleeping." He said then closed the door.
His father made himself at home and sat on the bed that was made. "So can you go to dinner with me?"
Jay checked the time. "I can get something quick. We have sound check in 2 hours." He explained, then quickly glanced over at the closet. He knew it was shitty of him to hide Nathan, but he just wasn't ready to deal with his father right now.
Mr. McGuiness scanned the room and noticed the lube on the counter.
Jay quickly ran over there and put it into the drawer. "Sorry about that."
His father waved it off. "It gets lonely on the road. We are men, it's what we do."
His father was talking about jerking off with him. This was almost as bad as when they had 'the talk' when he was in grade school. "Yeah I suppose so."
"Well its not like there is a shortage of women. You must have tons of them at the shows."
Jay shrugged. "Yeah. I guess."
"Not like that friend of yours wants any of that. I saw him in the paper kissing that guy." His father said in disgust. "I always knew he 'tip toed in the tulips'."
Jay shook his head. "That is not nice dad."
"Stop being so understanding son. This could scare the girls away. Ever think of that?"
Jay glanced over at the closet again. He felt horrible that Nathan had to listen to his father talk about him. He couldn't even defend himself.
"He better not try anything with you!"
"Dad I am 24 years old! I can handle myself."
In the closet, Nathan could not believe what he was hearing. His father was a real son of a bitch, he thought to himself. He understood what Jay was dealing with, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Why was he, Nathan, hiding in a closet. Hadn't he already come out of the closet in a sense?
He feared Jay would be in the closet forever without a key. The thought made him sick to his stomach and fearful of the future.
"Let's get dinner. I don't want to talk about this gay stuff anymore." His father said then stood up.
"Okay, can I get dressed and I will meet you downstairs?"
"Don't be silly. I will just wait for you here."
Jay didn't know what to do. "Um okay." He said then grabbed some clothes and ran to the bathroom to change. When he came out his father was watching football on the television. "Okay let's go dad."
His father turned off the tv and headed for the door.
"Oh wait I forgot something. I will meet you outside."
"Why are you acting weird son? I will just wait for you right here."
Jay forced a smile. "Right then." He said and grabbed his wallet off of the counter. He took a final glance over at the closet. He wished he could say sorry to Nathan or at least let him out. He would text him as soon as he could. He had never felt so horrible about himself in his entire life.
Nathan waited for the door to close and then slowly opened the closet door. He grabbed his phone off of the dresser and saw a text from Jay.
Text from Jay: Baby I am so sorry. We'll talk later okay? Please forgive me. I love you.
Nathan fought the tears welling up in his eyes. He quickly sent a text to Rico.
Text from Nathan: Rico, I really need to talk to you.