Mayfield Titans

CHAPTER 2

WALKING THE WALK

 

 

Nolan, Aiden, and Espowyes joined Phil and Larry for breakfast at the resort. Phil and Larry’s meals were included in their package. They purchased breakfast for Nolan and Aiden, but Espowyes insisted on paying for his own.

 

“Consider it payment for what you did for the boys,” Larry said. “For the first time in a long while they look comfortably happy with each other.”

 

“I accept the meal money and return it to you to spend on the boys’ lunch,” Espowyes responded.

 

“We accept your offer,” Larry said.

 

“Why does everybody think we need food all the time?” Aiden asked.

 

“Maybe it’s because you do,” Phil laughed.

 

Espowyes left after they finished eating breakfast. Phil and Larry thanked the old man profusely, much to his embarrassment. He was not embarrassed, however, by the sincere loving hugs he received from the thankful boys. It was those hugs and the looks of love the boys had given each other all morning that he had worked for.

 

After Phil and Larry checked out of their cabin, they left their luggage and the luggage of the boys in the resort office. They then took a hike to the lake and enjoyed a box lunch they carried in Larry’s pack. They were dusty and sweaty when they returned, and the pool looked perfect. The resort had a special package for guests who had come from the west on the “Empire Builder”. The package included lunch, dinner, and full use of the recreational facilities, including a changing facility. The only requirement was that they be out of their cabins by checkout time. The westbound “Empire Builder” wasn’t scheduled to leave until 9:10 in the evening, so they had a full day to fill.

 

While they were enjoying the pool on the hot August day, Aiden told Nolan he needed to have his private talk with his dads. Aiden had told Nolan he wanted the private talk when the time seemed right, so Nolan wasn’t surprised. Nolan sat in a lounge chair under an umbrella and Aiden went to the table where his dads were sitting sipping lemonade and enjoying a bowl of nuts.

 

Larry left to get Aiden a lemonade and Phil added more sunscreen to Aiden’s face and torso. “You and Espowyes both think Nolan and I are going to catch fire out in the sun the way you keep putting sunscreen on us.”

 

“We’re up at 3,000 feet and the sun is a bit nastier at higher altitude,” Phil told him, not for the first time on the trip.

 

“Okay, kiddo, what’s up?” Larry asked after returning with Aiden’s drink.

 

“Feel free to grab nuts,” Phil said.

 

Aiden gave Phil a look that said, Oh really? Larry and Phil couldn’t help but crack up, which delayed their hearing what Aiden wanted to say for a couple of minutes.

 

Finally, order was restored, and Aiden sat between his dads. “Espowyes taught us a lot and reminded me what I was learning when I went to the Fourth Dimension meetings.”

 

“And that was what?” Larry asked.

 

“Which was to say I’m sorry for being an asswaffle.”

 

“If you start going to those meetings regularly and with a purpose and meet with your sponsor with the idea of doing the Twelve Steps, you’ll learn there is more to making amends than saying you’re sorry,” Phil said.

 

Aiden looked deflated when Phil finished. “So, I shouldn’t say I’m sorry?”

 

“With what you know right now, you did just fine,” Larry told him. “I think what your dad was saying is that what happened here with Espowyes is just a start and that the real work starts after we get back home.”

 

“What if I say I’ll never act like an asswaffle again?”

 

“Then we’d say that probably isn’t going to be true.”

 

“I’m not lying,” Aiden said defensively. This was not going at all the way he had planned.

 

“No, you’re not. But you are a couple of weeks short of being twelve and you are moving into puberty. There are going to be days when you’ll act like a sullen brat whether you want to or not. That’s when your’re doing the work you need to do will pay off, because you’ll possess the tools to make things right. You will see friends who don’t possess those tools who will lose sight of what they need to do and look to drugs and alcohol for the answers, while you will know where to look for better answers.”

 

“You mean it’s like puberty will turn me into an asswaffle at times?”

 

“As you know, it already has and it will again,” Phil laughed as he ruffled Aiden’s hair. He laughed even harder when Aiden cringed and ducked away from his hand.

 

“It’s stuff like messing with his hair that makes a nice boy turn into an asswaffle,” Aiden said with a hint of good humor.

 

“All the more reason for you to start doing the work, because ruffling your unruly hair is so inviting.”

 

“Dads, is that why Marty drank like he did? Because he didn’t have the tools he needed?”

 

“That is part of it. But Marty is also an alcoholic. Most kids who drink become more normal drinkers as they grow into adults. Marty was doomed because of his alcoholism. The same with Sammy and with Peter Astor and some of the other boys you’ve met. And maybe one of your best friends in your little group will have the same problem.”

 

“Remember that alcoholism runs in families,” Phil added. “Your father, your Uncle Troy, and me, along with your Grandpa Al, are all alcoholics. And from the way you got that craving for alcohol even though you hadn’t had a drink in three years, that says you probably have the same curse. As Troy said to Keegan and me not long ago, we’re all Millers and some things won’t come easy for us. He included you, Chase, and Logan in that comment.”

 

“Chase and Logan have never drunk alcohol,” Aiden reminded his dads.

 

“Which is something I know Troy keeps praising them for. He’s made it very clear that if they do drink, they are likely to drink alcoholically,” Phil told his son. “Your pop and I might not have done as good a job telling you the facts as your Uncle Troy did with your cousins.”

 

“You did okay. It’s not your fault I was acting like I did and wanting to sneak to that party.”

 

“What is our fault is that we could have done a better job of helping you get the tools. We could have been stricter about you going to those meetings or seeing your sponsor, but we knew you wouldn’t get anything out of it until you wanted to get those tools, not because we told you to. We might have been wrong, but sometimes that bottom has to be painful before you’re willing to change.”

 

“I won’t drink today. I’m gonna go be with Nolan now before he melts.”

 

Larry and Phil knew that Aiden’s attention span had reached its limit. That coupled with his wanting to be back with his boyfriend meant the chat was over. They also knew that if Aiden stayed on track to work for his sobriety tools, there would be more chats. And they had also discussed if the direction they were taking didn’t work, it might be a good idea that he work with a drug and alcohol counselor.

 

The “Empire Builder” left Whitefish on time. After placing their carryon items in their roomettes, Nolan, Aiden, and the dads went to the Sightseer Lounge, found an empty table, and played three games of cutthroat hearts. Aiden won two of the three and Phil had the other win. They returned to the roomettes to find the beds had been put down by their attendant as they had requested.

 

Aiden and Nolan took care of their pre-bed business in two of the downstairs bathrooms, locked themselves in their roomette and stripped naked. This time Nolan had the upper bunk while Aiden took the lower one. They had agreed in advance not to mess around and get right to sleep, which is what they did.

 

 

In the morning, Phil woke the boys by knocking lightly on their door.  The boys each pulled on a pair of lounge pants and headed shirtless into the corridor. They washed and donned fresh underpants and their lounge pants in the downstairs bathrooms, and then dressed fully in their roomette. They decided to wait until they got home to shower. Phil and Larry were dressed and ready for breakfast before the boys finished washing.

 

By morning, the Builder was climbing the east slopes of the Cascades as the four were seated for breakfast in the dining car. The train moved through the almost eight-mile long Cascade Tunnel just before their orders arrived at their table. The trip through the tunnel took fifteen minutes and the boys were more than happy to see sunlight and trees again.

 

Nolan agreed with Aiden that the best part of the morning trip was the ride from Everett to Seattle. The train ran along the shore of Puget Sound. The snow still left on the Olympic Mountains glistened as the boys eyed the scenery out of the large windows in the lounge car.

 

After arriving in Seattle, they changed to an Amtrak Cascades following an hour-and-a-half layover and were in Centralia an hour-and-a-half after that. They drove up to Nolan’s house just before three o’clock.

 

Nolan’s mother came right to the door as soon as she saw Larry’s car pull up. Phil had texted her when they left Centralia, so she was ready for her son’s arrival. Much to Nolan’s embarrassment, as soon as he walked through the front door his mother grabbed him, hugged him tightly, laid a sloppy kiss on his cheek, and told him how happy she was to see him. Aiden was happy he had two fathers who didn’t land sloppy kisses on him in public, or in private for that matter.

 

Paul Moyer entered the living room and fist-bumped his son; the hug would wait until later when it would be private and without the obvious embarrassment Nolan had exhibited after his mother’s greeting.

 

“You boys look a lot happier than you did when you left,” Paul observed.

 

Nolan grabbed Aiden’s hand and flashed his winning smile. “We look happier because we are.”

 

Paul waited for his son to say more. When it became obvious that was all he was going to say, Paul let the matter drop. He was certain Nolan would tell him more when he was ready to talk.

 

As soon as the parents started talking to each other, the boys took advantage and hustled up the stairs to Nolan’s room.

 

“I wish I could spend the night,” Aiden said as he closed the door.

 

“Me too, but we’re leaving on our vacation in the morning. We got lucky that mom and dad were willing to put off the trip for a day so I could go with you. Since they waited, we’re leaving early in the morning. Mom and Dad have the trailer packed and ready to go except for my stuff which I’ll start packing real soon,” Nolan responded.
 

“Don’t start packing until I give you a big kiss.”

 

Nolan flopped on his bed and stretched out on his back. “Come and get me.”

 

Aiden dropped next to him and snuggled. Nolan turned on his right side and Aiden turned to face him. The deep kiss that followed sent jolts of electricity through them.

 

“Wow, doing it on your own bed is the best,” Aiden whispered. They kissed again, their hands fumbling with each other’s buttons and zippers as they worked their partner’s pants open. Hands went into underpants, tongues went into mouths, and the two young boys made no pretense of holding back—they knew time was of the essence.

 

Nolan shot first, covering Aiden’s hand and filling his own underpants with his seed. Aiden followed soon after, shooting out his lighter boy ejaculate. That was followed by more kisses for another ten minutes until they had to stop when Larry called out Aiden’s name. “Time to go, son.”

 

“Coming, Pop,” he shouted back. He looked at Nolan and petted his smooth cheek. “I love you, Nolan. I’m so glad you went to Montana with me.”

 

“Me, too. I don’t ever want to lose you, in any way. I was so afraid it was going to happen.”

 

Aiden fought back tears. “It almost did. I was so lost and…and…”

 

“Aiden!” came the voice from downstairs.

 

“Shit, I better go.” Aiden finally closed his pants. “I love you, Nolan. I’m gonna miss you.”

 

“It’s just a week, but I’m gonna miss you terribly. It sucks that we just got things together and now we’ll be split up for a week.”

 

“We’ll be texting each other when we can.”

 

“Aiden, this is the last call!”

 

After grabbing another kiss, Aiden hopped off the bed and Nolan followed him, quickly securing his pants as they headed out the door. They entered the living room holding hands. “Sorry, Pop,” Aiden said to Larry. “We were saying goodbye.”

 

Nolan wanted to give Aiden a final kiss but decided that holding hands was as much as he was willing to dare in front of his parents right then. Aiden thought he might get a kiss, saw Nolan’s hesitation, and understood what his boyfriend was thinking. But the boys did share a quick hug followed by a fist bump and then Aiden was following his dads out of the front door.

 

Sitting alone in the backseat of the car he felt a sense of loneliness that was different from the loneliness he had felt before Montana. One was the result of fear and lost direction, while the other was the result of being away from the person he loved most in the world. Aiden didn’t understand the reason for the different feelings, but he did learn that there were many ways of being lonely.

 

MONDAY, AUGUST 18

 

 

 

Sammy woke up with David snuggled against him. He wrapped his arm around his boyfriend and kissed him lightly on the lips. He then turned to check the time and saw his clock reading 9:35. That’s just right, he thought. Late enough to be called sleeping in and early enough for me to shower, get breakfast, do some chores, and be ready for Aiden to stop by.

 

He gently shook David, who opened his eyes with a pained moan. “Oh, it’s you,” David mumbled.

 

“Who were you expecting, Sandy Jones?”

 

“Oh, hell no,” David moaned. Like David, Sandy Jones was sixteen and about to start her junior year. She made no secret about having a major crush on David, while David made no secret about not being interested.

 

“Do you want to shower with me?” Sammy asked.

 

“Sure, but no sex.”

 

“What do you mean no sex?”

 

“How many times did we cum last night?”

 

“I squirted four times. Once in your mouth, once in your ass, and twice on your stomach. I think you might have squeezed out three. Once in my ass, once on my face and once on my stomach. That was three times, compared to my four, old man.”

 

David had turned sixteen on July 22 and Sammy had turned fifteen on July 24. For two days David was two years older than Sammy, a source of teasing for both teens.

 

“Think about it,” Sammy went on. “I shoot one more time than you, but you’re the one whose cock is too tired to have sex in the shower.”

 

“Let’s just shower and then after you meet with your little friend, I’ll make you eat those words by fucking you ass harder than anything you’ve ever taken.”

 

“Hey, Jeffrey does a pretty good job of pounding me.”

 

“Fuck, Jeffrey, I’m taking the crown.”

 

“Since when have you become so assertive?”

 

“Since you decided to call me ‘old man’. Now, let’s shower and eat.”

 

David might not have been ready to cum, but he had no problem with Sammy pumping his load over his belly and groin as they stood in the shower. “You’re sure a horny fuck,” David said after Sammy’s orgasm.

 

“That’s because fifteen rules, old man.”

 

The teens ate in the nude. They remained nude while Sammy did his short list of chores with the help of his boyfriend. At quarter to eleven, Sammy put on a pair of gym shorts, a t-shirt, and socks.

 

“I’m hanging in your bed,” David said. “I might as well take a nap while you work to do your sponsor job or whatever it is you do.”

 

“Don’t you want to at least see him?” Sammy asked. “You know you want to see him, since you think he’s one of the sexiest boys at Mayfield Middle School.”

 

“You think the same way,” David said defensively. “But since he won’t be naked, I’ll pass this time. Some dude who thinks he’s a young stud kept me up way too late last night.”

 

“Whatever. Just don’t disturb us with your snoring.”

 

Aiden arrived five minutes early, carrying his Big Book with him when Sammy answered the doorbell. Sammy had been surprised when Aiden called Saturday night and asked to meet with him to start his program.

 

“What made you change your mind about seeing me?” Sammy had asked after greeting Aiden on the phone.

 

“I was scared,” Aiden answered.

 

“Good enough. Are you going to come to the Fourth Dimension meetings again?”

 

“Yep. I’ll be there on Tuesday.”

 

“I can’t see you until Monday since I have family stuff tomorrow. Be at my house at eleven.” Aiden had said he would be there and disconnected.

 

As Sammy opened the door, he took a long look at the eye candy that was Aiden. More importantly, he was glad Aiden wanted to get back on track. He wondered if his trip to Montana had anything to do with it. Aiden had mentioned to him that he would be talking to an old guy who was, “like a guru or something.” As far as Sammy was concerned, Aiden needed an AA sponsor close to his age, not some old dork who hadn’t been young for fifty years. Sammy figured he was the guy. Well, there was Marty, too, and Marty made a way better guru than some old fart with gray hair.

 

Aiden and Sammy had agreed on the phone to study the First Step as the start of Aiden’s work. They worked together for about 45 minutes and then set a time for the next week. Sammy wished he had put on t-shirt and underpants. Sitting with Aiden in a room while wearing nothing but a pair of gym shorts threatened to turn him on, and he said a couple of silent prayers to keep his cock from getting hard. Aiden didn’t help matters by wearing just a t-shirt and shorts. Sammy thought his hair was delightfully messed up, mostly as the result of wearing his bicycle helmet on the way over.

 

“I’ll see ya tomorrow at the meeting,” Sammy said as Aiden left. He then pulled off his shorts and dashed naked up the stairs to receive his promised fucking.

 

 

 

Aiden walked into the room where the Fourth Dimension met. Grant North was setting up the chairs for the upcoming meeting, which was scheduled to start in twenty minutes.

 

“Hey, Aiden,” Grant said without much enthusiasm.

 

“Hi, Grant.” Aiden could see that Grant looked down. “Do you need any help?”

 

“If you could finish the chairs then I can get the books out and set out some cookies and get the juice out of the fridge and get out the cups and do all the stuff I’m supposed to do or I wouldn’t have come but I didn’t want to make Peter mad but Peter hasn’t answered my calls for two days and I need to talk to him bad. My counselor told me that when I come here, I have to do everything I can to help everybody. It’s called service work,” Grant went on nonstop.

 

“Hey, dude, slow down a bit and tell me what’s going on.” Aiden grabbed two chairs to set in the circle of chairs Grant had started.

 

“Nothing’s going on.” Even though they were in the same grade at the middle school, Aiden didn’t know Grant very well. They had only had one class together in sixth grade and that was science. Grant had struck Aiden as being a quiet, studious, kind of nerdy kid who was pretty much a loner. Grant had attended Parkwood Elementary while Aiden went to Lakeside. Aiden tended to hang out with boys who played sports and Grant didn’t play on any teams. Aiden had known another Grant, Grant Stovie, who he had played baseball with, but had moved away, but knew little of Grant North, even though he had lived his entire life in Mayfield. And yet, Aiden could see that something was troubling Grant.

 

“Are you okay?” Aiden asked.

 

“I’m fine,” Grant answered curtly.

 

“Everybody says it helps to talk about stuff that’s bothering you.”

 

“How would you know? You haven’t been showing up to meetings.”

 

Aiden felt out of his element and wasn’t sure what to say. He wished he had the experience of wisdom of Marty, Espowyes, or even Sammy.

 

Grant hung his head. “I’m sorry, that was a stupid thing to say,” he muttered quietly.

 

While Aiden didn’t know what to say, he did know how much a hug and can help a person feel better. He stepped toward Grant, who had just set down the lemonade bottle, and wrapped an arm around his friend’s shoulder. Marty had told him that AA was a fellowship, and that he would make new friends there. Aiden couldn’t help but think he had just made a new friend.

 

Grant’s reaction surprised Aiden, even though he should have anticipated it. He placed his head on Aiden’s chest and started sobbing. Still not knowing what to say, Aiden said nothing; he simply held Grant tighter and patted his head.

 

The scene was interrupted by Barry entering the room. “Whoa, looks like you have a new boyfriend, Aiden.”

 

Before Aiden could react, Sammy followed Barry into the room. Unlike Barry, he read the moment correctly. “Shut your mouth, Barry. I think we have a problem here.”

 

“I’ll say,” Barry responded with a smirk.

 

“Either shut your mouth or I’ll throw your ass out of here.” The look on Sammy’s face convinced Barry that shutting his mouth might be the better option.

 

Sammy looked down at the two tweens who were sharing an emotional moment. “What’s got Grant so upset?”

 

“I’m not sure yet,” Aiden replied. “Something to do with Peter Astor.”

 

Grant let go of Aiden and looked up at Sammy. “Peter won’t answer my calls and won’t answer my messages and I need to talk to him because I was going to be bad last night,” Grant went on in another ramble. Aiden was now standing behind Grant; he draped his arms gently over Grant’s skinny shoulders.

 

Sammy grabbed a napkin from the stack that Grant had just set out on the counter and wiped the tears off his chin. Barry looked on, feeling remorseful over how he had misinterpreted what had been unfolding in front of him.

 

“Peter went away with his dad for a few days,” Sammy said gently. “He told everybody at Saturday’s meeting. He said they would be staying at a cabin up in the mountains that had no phone service.”

 

Grant’s sniffling started to increase. “I was so scared I forgot he told me. I called him and nothing happened, and I forgot.”

 

Sammy wanted to tell Grant he could have called him but decided this wasn’t the time to chide the distraught boy. “What happened that scared you?”

 

Grant glanced around at Sammy, Barry, and Aiden. He didn’t want to say anything with Barry in the room and clammed up again. He started fighting tears again as John Williams and Gregg Wagner, two of the Kentburg boys, entered the room. Sammy was surprised to see them since they generally only came to the Saturday meeting.

 

“Why don’t you help Grant get cleaned up,” Sammy said quietly to Aiden as Lexi Jones and Lonnie Stevens came in.  “We can finish getting things set up.”

 

Aiden nodded and started to lead Grant out of the room. Once again Grant surprised him by grabbing hold of his hand. The two tweens walked out the door hand-in-hand to the bathroom up the hall. Aiden wanted to hear what Grant had to say but was afraid of pushing him into clamming up even tighter. He wished Marty was there to guide him.

 

The men’s room was small, with a stall, a urinal, and a sink. Aiden ran the water, pulled out a paper towel, and dampened it. He wiped the tears from Grant’s face. “You’re a good looking dude,” Aiden said with a smile.

 

“You really think so? I mean I’m just me and you’re, like, a big star jock and everything.”

 

“I’m just a kid like you.” He remembered something Sammy had told him the day before. “And we’re both here for the same reason.”

 

Grant nodded. “There’s a place behind the church with a little garden and benches. I don’t want to talk in front of everybody. I mean I know it’s, like, a good idea, but I’m not ready. I gotta pee bad and then let’s go out there before we go to the meeting.”

 

“You pee and I’ll pee and then we’ll talk.” Aiden took care of his business in the stall and Grant used the urinal. Aiden found himself wishing he could have come up with a good reason for the two of them to pee in the stall together, but he shook the thought out of his mind. Somebody was reaching out to him for help and he knew he had to respond to it in the right way, just like Sammy or Marty would have done for him.

 

After taking care of their business, the boys went outside and sat on a stone bench with a back, situated in a quiet flower garden behind the church. As the boys sat next to each other, Aiden could see that Grant was nervous, maybe even frightened, by the emotions that were hitting him. He wanted to put his arm around the skinny little boy who had suddenly become very important to him. His instincts told him that a comforting hug was exactly what Grant needed, so once again he wrapped his arm around his new friend’s skinny shoulder. Aiden couldn’t say why the hug was the right thing to do, he just knew that it was.

 

He waited a couple of minutes for Grant to start the chat. Finally, the little blond said, “We’re going to miss the start of the meeting.”

 

Remembering what Marty and Espowyes both had preached to him, Aiden moved the direction of the conversation to the person he was trying to help. “We’ll do what you want to do. We can go or we can stay; it’s all up to you.”

 

“I forgot all about what Peter told me because I was scared and needed to talk.” He waited for Aiden to ask him what he was afraid of, but Aiden sat silently. Grant thought that the arm around his shoulder felt surprisingly strong. The fact that Grant was a little over four months older than Aiden, something that was often so significant to pubescent boys, had lost all meaning in the flower garden.

 

“I was riding my bike and saw Alex in his yard yesterday.” Aiden knew that Grant was talking about Alex Guerrero, who was also going into seventh grade. Alex and Grant had been friends for a long time. Alex lived a few houses away from Grant and was the person Grant got drunk and stoned with before their parents started them on the road to recovery. Grant had been sober for eight months, but Alex wasn’t ready for sobriety and still got fucked up frequently. He had started coming to Fourth Dimension meetings but hadn’t been to one since the end of July.

 

“He’s still my only…I mean my best friend, even if he, you know, still does it. His parents were gone to work, and he said he had a new video game and we went into his house. Only what he had was a bottle of JD and he mixed some with two glasses of Coke and said, ‘Let’s get drunk.’

 

“He’s done that before and I said no thanks and left but this time I was, like, he’s my only friend and I don’t want to have no friends. I said I’d drink just one so I wouldn’t get in trouble and he said that was cool.”

 

Aiden squeezed Grant’s shoulder a little tighter to tell Grant he still had his support. Grant felt that support and began to speak more freely.

 

“I drank some, like half a glass and I was getting a buzz and got scared because I remembered what used to happen. I started crying and Alex called me a pussy and I left and called Peter. He said call before I take a drink, but it wouldn’t have helped because he never answered. I went home and got some mouthwash in the bathroom and went to my room and cried and feel asleep, thinking I wouldn’t have to tell Peter since half a glass wasn’t much.”

 

Aiden wanted to say things like you could have called Sammy’s number or the other numbers people must have given you before you drank, but he didn’t. What he did say was, “How come you didn’t use your tools?”

 

“I said I should have called Peter first,” Grant replied with a hint of annoyance.

 

“I mean like the tools in the Steps you did.” He wondered if maybe Grant had been as bad at doing the Steps as he had been. “You and Peter did go through all of the Steps together, right?”

 

Grant nodded. “My counselor as done them with me, too. But how are they tools? I mean I know I asked my Higher Power to keep me from drinking, but he didn’t do it and so he fucked up, too.”

 

Once again, Aiden remembered something Marty had told him. It didn’t make much sense to him but at the same time, with his arms still around Grant, he understood what it meant. “God doesn’t do windows.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Well, it’s like this dude has dirty windows. So, he says to God, ‘God, please give me clean windows,’ when he goes to bed. And the next morning he wakes up and the windows are still dirty. So, he tries one more time and they still don’t get clean, so he gets pissed off at God for not doing his windows. He’s had the money to buy all the tools to clean the windows and had them all in the house and he learned how to use all the tools and soaps and stuff like that, but he doesn’t do anything with all that. God gave him the tools all his life, but he’s the dude who has to do the work. Does that make sense?”

 

“I guess. I have tools like my phone, and my book, and my friends, and I got them all here at the meetings, but I’m the one who has to use them. I was gonna not come to the meeting today, then I decided I had a job to do, so I was going to come but not tell anybody about yesterday. And I was so scared everybody would know and scared I’d go home and find Alex and say I want to get drunk this time, because it’s what I wanted to do yesterday.”

 

“Didn’t you say you have a counselor too?” Aiden asked.

 

“Yeah, but I never put his number in my phone. I know, it’s dumb.”

 

Aiden was beginning to realize that Grant was not a boy of few words once he got started and waited to make sure Grant was finished before saying anything. He was happy he had paused because Grant continued. “I thought since I had eight months of being sober, I was like cured and it was all cool. Peter told me that was the wrong way to think that I had to think a day at a time, and I thought he was wrong and you all were wrong. And then all of a sudden I found out he was right.”

 

“I got drunk when I was just eight,” Aiden told Grant. “When I moved to Mayfield, I never even thought about that. I went and got used to my new family and made new friends, played sports, did my best in school, and then, after three years one day it was like I’d been drinking my whole life. I wanted to be like I was when I was eight and I had no tools to help me at all. So, yeah, you and me both know we can get that urge any time unless we have tools to use. You know, you used a tool today.”

 

“I did? Oh, you mean I used you as a tool so I could tell somebody?”

 

“Yeah, I didn’t think of that, but I guess you did. But you also came to the meeting and did service work. Espowyes told me that doing service for people is a tool to keep me sober which I would learn if I came back to the meetings.”

 

Grant sat quietly for a moment and said, “Who is Espowyes?”

 

“I’ll tell you someday.”

 

“I wish you could be my friend. I can’t be friends with Alex no more unless he stops drinking and everything.”

 

“I am your friend.”

 

“Really? You want to be friends with me?”

 

“Of course, that’s why I’m inviting you to my birthday party. It’s going to be a pool party and all my friends will be there, so you’d better be there since you’re my friend.”

 

“But I won’t even know them.”

 

“You’ll know some from around school. And they’ll know who you are since you were at the top of the honor roll last year.”

 

“So were you. But when you’re a jock, it’s cool but when you’re a nerd everybody hates you.”

 

“Come to my party and you’ll make a lot of friends who will like you and never hate you. My friends are super great dudes.”

 

Aiden gave Grant the date and time of the party and his address. They exchanged phone numbers and agreed they had time to go back inside and take part in some of the meeting.

 

When they entered the room, the kids all looked at them, wondering what had been going on. Sammy was sharing when Aiden and Grant entered. He finished his share quickly and asked Grant if he wanted to share with the group.

 

“My name is Grant and I’m an alcoholic. Yesterday, when I woke up, I was sober for eight months and today when I woke up it was my first day.” Grant’s confession brought a collective gasp from the other kids in the room. Without mentioning Alex’s name, he told what he had done. He unsuccessfully fought back tears. “I had half a glass and was lucky it wasn’t more. I thought it shouldn’t count, but I know I was lucky I didn’t keep going. I was going to lie about it, but one drink is too much and so now I have to start over on my birthdays. But one good thing happened to me.” He wiped his eyes and sniffled before saying, “I got a brand-new friend and his name is Aiden.” And for the first time all day, Grant North smiled.

 

Aiden decided to share next. He had not been to very many meetings. When he attended one and shared, there was one thing he never said. With a lump in his throat and for the first time in his life Aiden said, “My name is Aiden and I’m an alcoholic.”

 

Next: Skinny Dipping