Charlie

Chapter 12

Charlie entered his junior year of high school still depressed about the loss of Jared. He relied on Ethan as well as his family for support as the fall progressed.

He continued his study of Spanish, becoming interested in the differences between European Spanish and Mexican Spanish. Searches on the web told him that the grammars were basically the same, but some pronunciations were different and as the two dialects had been apart and evolving for 500 years, some vocabulary was different. Mexican Spanish was influenced by the indigenous language which the Spaniards found when they arrived in the New World, whereas European Spanish was influenced more by French and North African languages. All this didn’t cause him much problem as he learned vocabulary easily.

Meanwhile, Ethan was developing an interest in business, hoping eventually to earn an MBA. His summer studies would make it possible for him to join Charlie’s senior class in the next year.

Throughout the year, Charlie and Ethan continued their times in bed, but their feelings had become much more than sexual.

One day, as they lay in bed after a steamy session, Ethan said, “I love you, Charlie.”

“That’s fortunate,” Charlie replied, “because I’m planning to marry you and a loveless marriage would be hell.”

Ethan laughed before saying, “That’s the first time the M word has been mentioned.”

“Well keep thinking on it, because if I have anything to say about it, it’s gonna happen.”

After that, they became more open about their relationship in school. They could often be seen walking the hallways hand in hand, and occasionally they kissed in public. Their classmates were mostly supportive, and those who weren’t kept their mouths shut because they learned quickly that they were outnumbered.

Ethan was thrilled. He had been thinking secretly about the possibility of marriage, but as only a high school sophomore, he had believed it was too early to raise the subject. Charlie had taken care of that for him.

Charlie was also teaching Ethan how to play the stock market. “After all,” he said, “if you’re going to get an MBA, any experience you have will be very helpful.”

Unlike Charlie, Ethan had no trust fund. His parents had been saving ever since he’d been born for his college education, but he couldn’t tap into the savings. Charlie, having been successful, fronted him $50,000. At first, Ethan refused to accept the money, but Charlie pointed out, “If we’re going to be married, what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.”

Ethan knew that some people lost more money than they made in the market, so with guidance from Charlie, he first invested $30,000 in ‘safe’ stocks, those which were not in much danger of falling but which produced little income. The other $20,000 he invested in somewhat but not terribly riskier stocks.

Meanwhile, under Charlie’s tutelage, he researched different companies and began to make plans for future changes.

For Christmas that year, Ethan invited Charlie to spend the afternoon and all the next day at his house. After discussing it with his family, he accepted the invitation, saying that he would drive to the Winters’ home after Christmas dinner.

The boys had agreed not to give expensive presents. As it happened, they each settled for new CDs which they knew their friend would like.

Once again the Websters bought a natural tree and enjoyed decorating it together. Did it matter that the tree leaned slightly to the left? Not at all. They all agreed that ‘natural’ was far preferable to ‘perfect’.

On Christmas morning, the four of them opened gifts, oohing and aahing over what they received.

Joey had announced he was interested in studying marine biology, an interest he had discovered when they first went whale watching years before. They had made a tradition of going every summer since then and taking the twins, who were now in middle school, as well as Ethan. They had learned that each whale watch was different and fascinating.

Joey received a marine biology encyclopedia as well as several videos made by Woods Hole, most of them from the Institute’s deep-diving submersible. He was also given a trip to the Institute when the weather improved.

After a fine, traditional New England Christmas dinner, Charlie drove to Eastham to spend a week with Ethan and his parents. He stayed until New Year’s Day before he drove home.

Charlie’s birthday came in January; he turned 18. Ethan really wanted to give him something nice, and he had saved for the day.

As it happened, Charlie’s birthday was on a Saturday. He invited Ethan to come for the weekend.

Ethan arrived midafternoon, just as Charlie and Joey were finishing shoveling the driveway after a storm Friday night.

Ben baked a chocolate fudge birthday cake, just what Charlie liked. After a rather hilarious dinner, the dads and Joey produced their presents.

The dads gave Charlie a couple of collections of Spanish stories, which they knew he wanted. Joey gave him a couple of new T-shirts.

All that time, Ethan had produced nothing. Nobody said anything because they didn’t want to embarrass him. They knew that money was a little tight at the Winters’ home as they were trying to save for Ethan’s college expenses.

After an uncomfortable pause during which the uncles were beginning to stand and clear the table, Ethan produced a small box and handed it to Charlie. Unwrapping it, Charlie thought it resembled a ring box, but he was certain it wasn’t.

Opening the box, he saw that there was indeed a silver, rather ornate ring inside. He looked questioningly at Ethan, who just smiled. Charlie took out the ring and turned it, looking at the ornamentation.

“Look at the inscription inside,” suggested Ethan.

Charlie looked inside and read the inscription aloud: “It has both our names, Charlie and Ethan, with a heart between them. And it has today’s date.”

Ethan took the ring and slipped it onto Charlie’s finger.

“What is it?” asked Joey.

“It’s called a friendship ring,” answered Ethan. “It represents how much I care about your brother.”

Charlie and Ethan stood and hugged firmly, kissing for a long time.

“Just to make it official,” said Rodney, “are you gay, Charlie?”

Charlie and Ethan laughed hysterically, and the rest of the family joined in.

“Are you surprised?” asked Charlie in the midst of the laughter.

“Not at all,” replied Rodney. “Ben and I just wanted it finally said out loud.”

“Where did you get the ring?” asked Charlie that night as they lay in bed.

Ethan told him about the jewelry shop in Chatham where he had purchased it.

“It’s perfect,” replied Charlie, who then leaned into Ethan and gave him another long, hard kiss, this time with his tongue.

They had an unforgettable weekend, much of it spent in bed. In the past they had looked at gay videos of men having sex, but they had agreed not to do the A thing until they were married. They never, in all their relationship, used the F word.

The days progressed and, when Ethan’s birthday came in May, Charlie got him a matching friendship ring, saying as he handed it to Ethan, “It’s not much of a surprise, but I wanted to seal the deal.”

*******

In the fall, both boys entered their senior year while Joey became a high school freshman. Charlie was taking AP Spanish and AP English. Ethan, having just caught up, took the standard courses.

They both applied to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst as well as some fallback schools. Charlie planned to seek a degree in Spanish while Ethan was going to pursue his MBA. In March, they both received acceptance letters from the university. There were forms to fill out and a deposit to send. One form asked them for information the school would need to match them with roommates. There was a policy that they had to live in the dorms for their freshman year. They asked if they could room together, and the university agreed.

In May, Charlie tipped off their classmates that Ethan was going to have a birthday.

The classmates secured an empty classroom, and during the lunch break they decorated it with crepe paper, posters, and balloons.

At dismissal time, Charlie corralled Ethan, who had no idea what was happening. Charlie said that he needed to show him something, took him by the arm, and escorted him to the room.

Puzzled, Ethan opened the door and a loud chorus of “Surprise!” greeted him. Charlie ushered him into the room where there was a table of presents, mostly funny little things and a huge cake.

The president of the class, Peter Harwood, made a brief speech, saying that they wanted to give Ethan a party because he had accomplished in three years what had taken the rest of them four.

A chant of “Kiss, kiss, kiss,” went up, and Charlie, amidst cheers from their classmates, obliged.

Ethan cut the ceremonial first piece of cake before turning the duties over to Peter. He took the piece to Charlie and fed him, little by little, as they both giggled.

Before the senior prom, Joey asked Charlie, “Who are you gonna invite to the prom?”

“Ethan, of course,” Charlie replied.

“But you can’t dance with another boy,” protested his younger brother.

“Why not?”

“Well…well…who’s gonna lead?”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

They did indeed figure it out. They were both dressed in tuxedos, and each gave a boutonniere to the other. Ben was on hand to take the mandatory photos.

They had a wonderful time. For the last dance, which was traditionally a slow, romantic one, they were in the middle of the floor dancing, unaware of anybody else. Slowly, people began to clap. Looking around, they saw that everyone else had formed a large circle with them in the middle.

Who led? Nobody. They danced as totally equal partners.

When the dance was over, they kissed long and hard to more applause. They went to Ethan’s home for the night, a wonderful night to top off their dance.

Not needing to study that summer, Ethan got a job scooping ice cream, hoping to save some money for college. In fact, he spent most of what he earned on new clothes and other supplies he would need.

Charlie purchased an SUV that summer, so he and Ethan could drive to Amherst with their belongings.

So it was that, shortly before Labor Day, the boys kissed their parents goodbye and headed to Amherst for their next adventure.

Afterword

The boys spent five years in Amherst, eventually receiving master’s degrees in their chosen majors. Charlie also received a teaching certificate.

After their graduation, they married. The ceremony was outdoors on the beach. Joey, who had just finished his sophomore year in college, was Charlie’s best man. Ethan’s mother proudly processed with him before sitting with his father.

Following a joyful reception with relatives and friends, Charlie and Ethan headed to Boston and caught a flight to Spain, where they had a four-week honeymoon. Their first night in Spain, they consummated their marriage with anal sex. As they experimented over the next few days, Charlie discovered that he liked being the bottom and fortunately Ethan very much preferred the top.

They traveled through Spain, enjoying the sights while Charlie put his Spanish to work. While in Madrid, Charlie visited a publisher who was interested in hiring someone to translate Spanish novels into English. Charlie had been in touch with the publisher even before he married. The interview went well, and Charlie was assured that the work could all be done online.

By the time they left Spain, full of memories of their travels as well as their lovemaking, Charlie had a new job.

They had put down a deposit on a house in Orleans. While the house was not large, there was a room Charlie could use as an office for translating.

From Orleans, Ethan could easily commute to Chatham, where he was employed in a bank. Within a short time, he became manager of one of the bank’s branches.

Meanwhile, Charlie had landed a part time job teaching Spanish at Nauset Regional High School. He began teaching introductory courses in addition to his translating, but he soon found himself teaching honors Spanish and AP Spanish to seniors.

After a few years, the boys began to talk about adopting a child or children. It took them some time but eventually they found five-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, who were living in foster care and were available for adoption.

At this point they needed a larger house. They found one which had five bedrooms in Orleans. That gave them space for the children to have their own rooms while Charlie had an office and they had a guest room.

As his translating business took off, Charlie gave up his teaching position so he could be home for the twins.

At first, Charlie’s and Ethan’s parents were surprised, as they had assumed they would never have grandchildren. As grandparents do, they doted on the twins, visiting them often. There were a few issues around who would visit whom at Christmas time, but they all worked it out so that, whichever grandparents had the twins for Christmas morning, the others had them in the afternoon.

Quickly adjusting to having two dads, the twins grew and thrived under the love and care that Charlie and Ethan gave them. At school they occasionally had to explain the arrangement to their classmates, but they were always accepted.

The entire family loved the Cape and the ocean. None of them ever left, living out their lives surrounded by family and love.