Chapter 11
Miles pulled his ringing cell phone from his belt. Glancing at the number on the screen, he sighed and flipped it open. Putting it to his ear, he said: “Hi, Mom.”
“Miles!” she shrieked in his ear, making him wince and pull the phone away. “Is it true?!”
“Is what true, Mom?” he asked, knowing what she was getting at but hoping against hope that he wouldn’t have to answer her question.
She made a loud snorting sound. “Don’t play dumb with me, Miles! I saw the show today! Farley was talking about you! Are you two together?” she asked eagerly.
He sighed. “Yes, Mom, we are,” he replied.
Another loud, happy squeal. “Oh, Miles, that’s wonderful! But why didn’t you tell me?” she chided.
“We haven’t been dating that long, Mom. I would have told you in a few weeks,” he said defensively.
“Okay. I’m just so happy about this whole thing that I’ll let it go. You have GOT to invite Farley over to lunch at our house sometime soon. I want him to have more pleasant memories of your father and I than the ones he has about our anniversary party.”
Miles felt a twinge of guilt as he remembered how he’d ruined his parents’ anniversary party. “All right, Mom. I’ll ask him what day is good for him. Then I’ll call you back.”
“Great! Also, find out whether he likes fish. I have some trout that your father caught on his last fishing trip in my freezer. And I also have this recipe for lemon pepper sauce that will blow you guys away.”
“Sounds good. I’ve got to go now, Mom; Farley’s here,” he told her.
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later, Miles. Give Farley a big kiss for me.”
“I will,” he said, closing his phone.
The blonde came bouncing up to him. “Miles!” he cried. “What do you think of this?” he twirled around to show off the outfit he was wearing, seeking his new boyfriend’s opinion.
Miles eyed the long-sleeved tie-dyed shirt cynically. It had frilly cuffs and colorful ribbons as laces at the front. He was also wearing blindingly whit, skin-tight jeans that were cut so low they showed off a pair of slightly jutting hipbones. If they were any lower people would be able to see the beginnings of curly golden pubic hair. Miles felt his lips compress. He was working hard not to snap at Farley; after all, he’d told the man that he could dress however he wanted. That included this pair of whore jeans.
Accurately reading his expression, Farley glanced down at his new jeans. “You hate these, don’t you?” he said shrewdly.
Miles sighed. “I won’t lie to you,” he replied grimly. “I do. But I told you that you can wear anything that you want, and I won’t go back on my word.”
Farley smiled brightly at him. “You’re sweet, Miles,” he said happily. “Even though you hate these jeans, you’d still let me wear them. But the least I can do in the face of such sweetness is put these in the back of my closet and never wear them again.”
Miles blinked. “You’d do that? For me?” he said in disbelief.
Farley nodded. “You mean more to me than a new pair of jeans, Miles,” he said, coming to take his arm and twine it with his own.
He felt some emotion that clogged in his chest and made it feel tight. He pulled his arm away from Farley’s but before the blonde could react he put it around the weatherman’s waist instead. “Thank you, Farley,” he said gravely. “I appreciate this.”
Farley snuggled up to his shoulder, rubbing his nose against Miles’ neck. “You’re welcome, Miles,” he said softly. “But I’d do a lot more than not wear a pair of jeans for you.”
Miles felt his stomach contract at these words, and decided to change the subject. “My Mom just called. She saw the show this morning and she’s ecstatic that we’re dating. She wants to invite you over for lunch sometime this week. Whenever it’s good for you.”
“Oh, how sweet! I love your mom,” Farley exclaimed. “I’d be happy to go to lunch at your parents’ house. How about Wednesday afternoon?”
“That’s fine. I’ll call and tell her. Also, she wants to know if you like trout,” Miles commented.
“Yes, I do. Is that what we’re having? It sounds great.”
“Mom says that they have some in the freezer from Dad’s last fishing trip. He likes to go fishing with a group of his friends once a year in Montana. Mom almost never goes with him; she hates camping and fishing both.”
Farley giggled. “I know how she feels. I hate camping. Sleeping in the dirt, bugs flying everywhere and biting you…ick.”
“I can see that you and she are going to get along like a house afire,” Miles said dryly as they left the mall together.
*****
Miles’ cell phone rang again as he was getting into his car. He frowned as he pulled it off his belt and looked at the number. “My sister,” he remarked in resignation.
“Is that a bad thing? I like her,” Farley said as he buckled on his seat belt.
“I do too; I just have the feeling that this conversation is going to be a sort of déjà vu,” Miles commented sardonically as he flipped open his phone and put it to his ear.
“Yes?” he said. “Did you see the show today too?”
“Of course I did,” Melanie’s voice replied merrily. “You know I’m a regular viewer. So was Farley just yanking your chain, or are you two doing the wild mambo together?” her voice was hopeful.
He sighed in a long-suffering sort of way. “We’re dating,” he told her.
“Oh, Miles, that’s awesome!” she squealed, making him wince again. Why did the women in his family have voices like ambulance sirens? “I’m really glad! So how did it happen? How did you two get together? Did you apologize to him and everything?”
“Yes, I did. And we got together because Damien Hunt told me that he and Farley weren’t together; that they just flirted on air but that nothing else had happened because Farley was still hung up on me. And when I asked him about it, he admitted that he still cared about me. Which was great news for me,” he added, glancing sideways at Farley who grinned and winked saucily at him. “So we started dating. That was only a couple of weeks ago.”
Melanie chuckled over the phone. “You lucky guy, you. Listen, why don’t we all go out to grab something to eat together tonight? My treat.”
He hesitated, not sure that he wanted to hang out with his sister when he could be alone with Farley. But the blonde leaned over and whispered in his ear: “What’d she say, Miles?”
He put the phone away from his ear and said softly: “She wants to take us to dinner tonight.”
Farley brightened up at his words. “Can we go, Miles?” he asked eagerly. “Please?”
Resigned, he put the phone back to his ear. “We’ll be there, Mel,” he told her. “Where do you want to go?”
“Cool. Our favorite place, of course. We want to introduce Farley to it, don’t we? Seven o’clock, okay? See you guys then.”
“All right,” he hung up the phone as Farley looked at him questioningly. “Seven o’clock at this place Mel and I like to go to for lunch. Is that okay with you?”
Farley bounced in his seat. “It’s awesome! I’ll wear that blue velvet suit of mine…”
He broke into open laughter at the expression on Miles’ face at his words. “You’re so fun to tease, Miles!” he cried, hugging his boyfriend from the side and pecking him on the cheek. “Don’t worry; I have some semi-normal clothes that I can wear tonight. Just for you,.” he patted Miles’ thigh, making the newscaster sigh a little as he started his car. But since he was used to being teased by his little sister, why was it any worse when his boyfriend did it to him? It was just the way that the world was…well, his world anyway. And it was a world that he couldn’t quite bring himself to complain about.
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