Roomies (boyxboy)

In the Garden

In the Garden

Cameron almost ran and told Mike the doorbell rang. Already he had jettisoned his plan. What an idiot. He was going to flirt with Mr. Jefferies? His math teacher? His tea-cher??? Nope. So dumb. He regretted now wearing anything other than sweats and a regular shirt. Did he have time to go put his shoes back on? No. Darn it.

He opened the door.

"Hi." Mr. Jefferies said, surprised, standing in the doorway. "Uhhh...Hi Cameron."

"Hi, Mr. Jefferies, come on in. Mike and Coach are in the back." He gestured for his teacher to follow him, first showing him where he could stow his laptop on the coffee table. Mr. Jefferies set it down.

"Cameron, I'm so glad to see you. Everyone in class has been worried about you. Including me." He put his hand on Cameron's shoulder, trying to get Cameron to look at him. The younger boy was looking at the ground. But at the touch, he looked up.

"Yeah. I'm...I don't know...I guess I'm ok. I don't know." He didn't know what to say; he'd never thought about what he would tell people going back to school. He didn't really think anyone would notice he was gone. "I...I had a really bad flu."

"Oh! I hope you're feeling better." He took his hand away.

"Yeah, yeah no worries. I'm not contagious." Cameron chuckled.

Mike and Coach coming into the living room paused. That was the first laugh out of Cameron in two weeks.

"Jason! So glad you made it." Coach pulled him into a big bear hug, which the teacher returned good naturedly. "Mike made pesto pasta! It's delicious. Not too much chili flakes. And there's garlic bread! Let's go into the backyard to eat. Would you like a glass of wine?"

Jason shook his head, "No thanks. I'm good with water."

"Well, come on. Cameron, would you get Jason some water."

"Sure."

------

On the patio, Jason turned around and around.

"This is beautiful. I feel like I'm on a movie set or something."

Mike smiled, looking at his precious lights and candles. "Thanks, it makes eating outside more exciting.'

Cameron came out and put two glasses of water on the table.

Coach handed him a salad bowl. "Why don't you show Jason the vegetable garden, Cameron, and get some of the lettuce."

"Sure. It's this way." He smiled briefly at Jason.

Cameron led the way to the back, walking from one paving stone to the next around some flower beds. He hoped his naked feet were doing something for somebody, because all he kept thinking about was how much it would hurt if he stubbed his toes.   Or that Jason might accidentally step on his feet. He missed his shoes.

Back along the fence were four large raised boxes filled with veggies. Different kinds of lettuce, herbs, mint, some tomato plants. Everything was lush and green.

"I'm kind of blown away," Jason said quietly, as Cameron pulled a few red and green lettuce leaves "Which one of them is the green thumb?"

"Well, it's not me. What kind of thumb do you have, I wonder, if you read too much?" Cameron mused. "It's Mike. He loves coming back here and making things grow. It's a lot of work."

"I can imagine."

Cameron turned on a spout nearby, rinsed the leaves and shook them dry.

"I'm kind of embarrassed," Jason murmured. "If I'd known we were eating like this, I would have brought something. Do you think I look like a jerk? A rude jerk who shows up to a dinner party without something for the host? That's a thing adults do right? Jeez. It didn't even occur to me."