Page 14
“Look at me, please,” I requested when he kept his eyes on the tabletop in front of him even after I sat across from him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t check my phone,” he said when he finally looked up at me. “I was in a bad mood and didn’t wanna fill the feed with a bunch of expletives.”
“Why?”
“’Cause man, you shouldn’t have to deal with me raging about a fuckhead interviewer and the sudden realization that most of my jeans are one wash away from a wardrobe malfunction.”
“Man? Wow. When you say it like that, you’d think we were just casual friends who hung out for football and beer,” I replied, slightly hurt by that.
He sighed and pressed his palm to his face.
“You raging about anything is exactly what I want to be there to help deal with, even if it’s just from the opposite side of the screen. I didn’t use the term Daddy lightly and I know you know what it means, but I think you and I need to define what that’s going to mean between us. Do you think you’re ready for that conversation?”
At first he just watched me, saying nothing, fingers drawing a swirl pattern on the wood, lips pressed together in a hard line while he wrestled with his words. That’s okay. I could wait, though patience wasn’t one of my strong suits. For him I was willing to work on it and keeping my voice on an even keel, since he’d been yelled at far too much in his life. He was trying it though, as the seconds ticked into minutes I found myself drawn into a silent stare down with him.
“I guess we have to, don’t we?” he said after almost five solid minutes of squirming around in his seat.
“Yes, we do. Do you know why I came to get you?”
“I…um….no, but um, thank you. I didn’t wanna live on my own, so I never started looking for a place after Bowie and Pressley got together. When he offered to let us stay there, I guess I always had it in my head that we’d be moving out together and into our own place. I didn’t have a backup plan. Kinda like with my clothes. I never thought about the double wear and tear of performing in my everyday shit until one of the pockets fell out of my jeans on the way into the radio station. At that point, I dunno, add the interview and feeling like a third wheel over at Pressley’s and I ended the day feeling like an utter failure at adulting.”
Damn.
“You’re not. You might not be able to see it right now but every new step you take is adulting. It might not be a successful step. You might hit the yellow square and think, jackpot only to find a trapdoor instead of treasure and need to phone a friend. You’re not expected to have all the answers, especially not when you’re doing something for the first time. You think I haven’t seen wardrobe malfunctions because someone thought their prized holey jeans could survive one more stage dive? Diamond literally climbed back on stage naked one night and had to rush backstage to find something else to perform in after his jeans fell apart as folks were passing him around. Pretty sure a few well place tugs helped things along, but still.”
“How many naked pictures of him has Easton had to issue take down notices for?”
“Enough that they could wallpaper the inside of their house with them and still have some left over,” I replied. “But we’re not going to talk about those tonight. We’re going to talk about us and what you think me being your Daddy should look like?”
More squirming.
Silence.
The old jeopardy theme song played in my head as I waited for him to trust himself and me enough to share what was in his heart.
“Kind of like the other night, when we just chilled and watched Cars,” Tony finally admitted. “Though, um, it would be really cool to be able to maybe play a few racing games with you now that my game system is over here.”
“I never got around to hooking up the one I bought last year,” I admitted. “There’s a pile of games around here someplace too, probably still in the plastic. If I remember right, there are a few racing games in there, so it sounds like we’ll have plenty to choose from.”
“Not when you see how many I have. They make up more than half of my collection.”
“Perfect. I look forward to being introduced to them all,” I replied. “But I’d also be just as willing to get down on the floor with you and set up racetracks or grab some remote-control cars and take them somewhere we can race them where they won’t get run over.”
“Oh sweet! The monster truck ones are awesome, especially when you set up a row of smaller cars for them to drive over.”
“I built more than my fair share of ramps growing up,” I admitted. “For my cars, and to launch my fool self-off of on my skateboard. The look on my mother’s face when she stepped outside just in time to see me sail over the family sedan was priceless. She didn’t know whether to applaud the landing or scold me for being reckless. In the end she just said that I’d better not let my old man catch me doing it, then she ducked back inside and didn’t come out the rest of the time me and my buddies were out there.”
“I’d love to build ramps with you, but I don’t think either of us should be jumping skateboards over them,” he replied, a hint of sass peeking through.
“Good call. I’m in agreement with you there, we’ll leave that to the trucks we find.”
“Cool, that’s going to be awesome.”
Chuckling, I nodded, in complete agreement, mind already dreaming up a series of ramps and jumps we could turn into a racecourse for our trucks.
“Being your Daddy isn’t just going to be me playing with you and watching movies together,” I said. “I need you to understand that right from the start. I’m going to be making sure you’re eating right on the road, hydrating properly, getting enough rest, not getting overtaxed or over stimulated to the point of shutting down, and yes, even seeing to it that you have the right clothes, and enough of them, so it isn’t your junk Easton is issuing takedown notices over. That’s not for the world to see, that’s for your Daddy.”
That blush was never going to get old. Butt squirming, cheeks pinking up, he worried a twisty surface on the tabletop with his fingertips, turning redder the longer he stared at me.
