The Lockdown

20

The weather turned cold again, it was a gloomy, showery Monday morning, the rain turning to sleet, the streets grey and wet. Running would have been a bad idea so Andy took out the yoga mats and they started doing their exercises, but he saw that Cam's heart was not in it and they stopped after a short while. Cam was quieter than usual.

"Is everything all right?" Andy asked the young boy. "It's fine, stop asking that," he answered curtly and went to his room to take a shower.

Andy checked on him later, the youngster was spread out on his bed with his laptop on his stomach, he was reading something intently and did not even react when his boyfriend peeked in the door. Andy let him be and went back to the living room. He called his uncle to thank him and they agreed to meet at the bar later that afternoon to discuss the details.

Andy fixed a little lunch which they ate quietly, he dressed up warmly and headed to the bar. He had been his uncle's assistant manager for the past year, so he thought he was very familiar with the inner workings of the bar. Boy, was he wrong. Plumbing issues, employee turnaround, payroll tax, certain finicky suppliers, mandatory inspections, a problematic councilman who tried to shut them down twice, a small leak in the roof, the list was growing by the minute and his uncle kept going on and on and on. Andy's head started to ache and his uncle noticed his anxiety.

He stopped talking about the bar and looked Andy in the eyes. "I know it's overwhelming at first but I have every confidence in you."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Andy snorted in doubt.

"I've been putting more and more responsibilities on you the past year for a reason," his uncle countered, "and you are yet to screw up too badly. I am not going anywhere, I will be here to help you through the first few months. We will go over all of these issues multiple times, I just wanted to make sure that you know the brunt of it before we sign all the papers. Now go home to your boy, think about it and we can continue this in a couple of days."

"I have to talk to that woman," Andy said referring to his mother who apparently took it upon herself to inform everyone about his personal life. His uncle clapped his back smirking and let him go on his way.

It was almost dark when he got home. The apartment was quiet. He went to Cam's room but he did not enter as he heard the boy talking to someone on his computer, he apparently decided to do a session for the website. His heart constricted for a second but he shooed his feelings away. He did make the decision a long time ago after all that he wouldn't interfere in Cam's business and he couldn't allow himself to be jealous over it. At least the music was not on so that part must be over by now. He went to the kitchen and made some sandwiches for dinner.

An hour later he softly knocked on the door of Cam's room, hearing no response he quietly entered. The boy was curled up under the covers sleeping. Andy took his clothes off silently and climbed into the bed to accompany him.

When he woke up the next morning, the bed was empty and cold. Andy's clothes were on the dresser neatly folded, Cam's laptop and phone at the foot of the bed but there was no sign of the boy. He went to the living room, checked the bathroom and his room but Cam had apparently left the apartment. The rain had stopped during the night and Andy thought that he must have gone for a run. He changed into his running suit and went out to find him. He took their usual route across the park but did not see the youngster anywhere. He probably just took a longer route or ran in another direction, or maybe he just missed him, he thought and headed back to the apartment. It was just as quiet and empty as he left it. He wasn't too worried at first confident the boy would show up eventually, but half an hour later he was getting antsy. He went to the park again, walked around the streets and he even checked the bar. He realized that he left his phone at home so he ran back but he had no missed calls. He started dialing Cam's number when he remembered that the boy left his phone is his room. He was getting desperate now thinking about the possibilities. He decided to go to the hospital just a block away when his phone started ringing. It was Sarah.

"Sorry Sarah, I can't talk now, I can't find Cam, I think he went running but he isn't back and I have to go out again to find him," he rambled.

"He is here." That stopped Andy's babbling and he felt an immeasurable relief. "He showed up an hour ago but he wouldn't talk to me. What did you do?"

"Nothing. Everything was alright last night when we went to bed until I woke up this morning alone."

"You must have done something."

"What does he say?"

"He is curled up on the sofa and refuses to say anything."

"I am coming over" Andy decided picking up his keys.

"Don't. Give me a few hours, I will try to make him talk and I will call you back."

Andy was pacing up and down in the living room wearing out the carpet staring at the clock urging it to go faster so Sarah would finally call him back. He cleaned the whole apartment top to bottom, even Cam's room. He did laundry for both of them, changed the sheets and took out the trash. Still no call. He gave up late afternoon and tried calling Sarah several times but she would not pick it up; he only got a couple of text messages a few minutes later.

nothing yet

I think you need to give him some space, call you tomorrow

He slumped down on the couch staring at the drawing of the sleeping Cam they hanged above the TV, missing the boy terribly.

He hardly got any sleep that night and went to meet his uncle the next morning at the bar. He was distracted and useless, Joe tried to prod his nephew to talk but he did not feel like sharing his problems with him. Frustrated, he finally gave up and sent Andy home. He didn't want to go back to the empty apartment so he started wandering aimlessly all around the town. A cold drizzle enveloped the streets and a couple of hours later Andy found himself in front of Sarah's building. He stood there for a long time shivering in the cold looking up at her balcony desperately wanting to go up and see Cam. Finally, his phone rang.

"Go home Andy, this is not helping anybody." Sarah implored him.

He dragged himself back and collapsed on the couch not even bothering to remove his damp clothes. He fell into an exhausted, dreamless slumber.