Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wednesday Briefs


*For this month my flashes will be about brothers. If that doesn’t appeal, you might want to skip this round. Welcome to the Wednesday Briefers flash group. The short stories have a maximum of a 1000 word count plus links at the bottom to the other flashers. The prompt for this week is: "I'm glad that I'm finally done with..." or use the alternates.

Use: pony, magician, strike

or "When did you last see...?"

or use either a sunset or sunrise in your story

or "I know I'm forgetting something..."

or use: purple, ambidextrous, sugar. 
~I'm using sunrise.

Choices

Two days ago, Sandler turned eighteen. Today the long awaited day had arrived, and he’d graduated high school. Finally. It had been a horrible year. His mom had been having an affair, and when his dad had found out, things turned ugly. His parents had divorced and what a mess that had been. Months passed while they fought over every little thing, called each other ghastly names and, thanks to that, all the cops knew their address from memory. The nasty atmosphere had gotten to him. He spent less and less time at home.

It was Saturday night and everyone had gathered at a bonfire. There was nothing else to do where they lived. While he was there, he’d locked his keys in his car and only realized it after everyone else had left. Alone, daylight coming soon, and afraid, he’d called Cooper for help. He called the brother he hadn’t seen in over five years. His parent had kicked Cooper out as soon as he turned eighteen because he was gay. Needless to say, he’d never told his parents he was gay also. That wasn’t the only thing he hadn’t told his parents.

He loved his brother, was in love with him. Cooper had refused to touch him, saying Sandler was too young. But Sandler knew the feeling was mutual. He’d seen how Cooper looked at him, seen the porn videos that featured twinks that looked like him. His brother kept in touch after he left, but only to the extent of sending gift cards on holidays. Outside of that, Cooper refused to have anything to do with him. Their parents never knew what was brewing between them, and Cooper wouldn’t allow things to develop as long as Sandler was underage.

When he called Cooper tonight, he hadn’t known what else to do. No way was he calling his parents, and that was if he could find either of them. It was the weekend, after all. After Sandler explained where he was, Cooper remembered the place. All the kids through the years had hung out in that field in the middle of nowhere. It had taken Cooper close to an hour to get there since he lived in the big city and had been at work.

* * * *

Almost an hour on the dot; headlights lit up the area. A slick, midnight black chromed-out Chevy truck made its way slowly over the ruts to where Sandler waited.

“Nice,” Sandler whispered as the truck parked. His brother was doing well, it seemed, at whatever he did for a living.

The truck headlights went out, but the remains of the bonfire provided ample light. Sandler’s eyes bugged out of his head as the door opened and a leather-encased leg stepped out. What followed made his mouth go dry. Cooper wore tight leather pants, a black mesh shirt with a leather vest, and black biker boots. His wavy blond hair was shoulder length now.

“Hey Sandy.”

Sandler blushed at the old nickname.  “Coop? Is that you?”

“Yeah.” 

Sandler saw that Cooper wore black eyeliner on his big brown eyes, and he had a silver piercing through one eyebrow. The light from the fire showed the tats through the mesh shirt too. There were muscles that hadn’t been there before. And stubble on Cooper’s face was new too. Sandler shook his head—his brother had grown into a man. A very sexy man.

“Wow. You look… wow. Different.” Sandler watched as Cooper used some sort of tool to unlock his door.

After Cooper was done, he moved by the fire, away from Sandler. “And you look the same as always. I mean that in a positive way, little brother. To me, you were always perfect.”

“I missed you.” Sandler stepped closer. “All those years—I missed you.”

Cooper stood his ground, letting Sandler come closer. “I missed you too. All those years, I wondered if you understood I didn’t abandon you.”

“I knew why you left. The whole neighborhood knew why. Our parents screamed it loud enough when they kicked you out. But things weren’t the same after you left. I felt so alone.”

“Our parents wouldn’t have let you go with me—you were too young. Damn young. They probably would’ve called the cops on me if they thought for a second I was interested in you.” Cooper shrugged. “Back then, I couldn’t have supported you anyway. I could barely support myself. But, yeah, I felt alone without you too.”

Sandler stopped in front of Cooper, barely inches between them. “You wanted me then. I knew you did. I just knew it! And now? What about now? I’m eighteen, Cooper. Same age as you when they kicked you out. Mom and Dad can’t control what I do. Hell, they don’t care anyway—too busy with their own lives to worry about me.”

Cooper ran his hand over Sandler’s hair. “True, you’re a man now, but you know nothing about me.”

“So?” Sandler moved closer, their chests touching. “You think that matters to me? I’ve waited for you for a long time, Cooper.”

“Still.” Cooper took a card out of his wallet. “Take this week to think about what exactly you’re doing. We’re brothers, Sandler. Very few will accept us as a couple. It won’t be easy, and like I said, you know nothing about who I am now. Next Saturday night come to this address if you still want me. That will get in you immediately. Just show the card to the bouncer. After you see where I work, and what it is I do… we’ll talk. If you want to run after you see what I am, then you can. I’ll never know.”

Sunrise broke across the land.

 “I’ll be waiting.” Cooper turned back to his truck. “Head home, Sandy, and think about this.”

“I don’t need to think, and I’ll be there!”

“I… hope so.”
TBC.
Make sure to check out the other flashers!

Tali m/f
Cia m/m