Short Stories [Man on Man]

The Teacher [8]

“Hey, Dad?” Austin asked as he handed his dad a rag. “Can I go out tonight?”

“Sure. Who's all going?”

He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, though he was anything but. “Just some friends. Might have a bonfire at someone's house.”

“Okay, but don't be out too late.”

After his dad gave him the okay to go home, he hopped in his truck and took out his phone. He'd half expected Knox to have called him, somehow fishing his number from someone. But no. There were no notifications. He unlocked his phone and dialed Knox's number. He'd already memorized it – not on purpose but sheerly because he'd looked at it for such long periods of time, deciding whether or not to call.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Austin said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. “It's me.”

“Finally!” Knox laughed. “So how're you?”

“Good. Kinda nervous. But good.”

“Austin, trust me, you have nothing to be nervous about.” The older man took a deep breath. “At least, you're talking about this, right? Not going off with some other guy?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I'm talking about this. I guess... I guess I just never thought it would actually happen. Sometimes, I still think I'm dreaming, when I really think about it.”

“Why don't you come over, then? We can hang out and ya know...just chill.”

“Okay.” He laughed. “Want me to bring anything?”

“Just you. Oh, and are you hungry? I was thinking about making a late dinner or something. What do you like?”

“Anything, really. As long as it fills me up.”

“Fills you up?”

Austin felt his face go red. “Yeah. I get pretty hungry.”

There was a long pause, but then Knox rattled off his address and told Austin he'd see him a little bit. After putting his phone down, Austin started up the truck and headed back home. He had a lot of oil and grease on his shirt. He didn't want to smell like a garage when he finally got to spend time with Knox.

At home, he took a quick shower, made sure to wash that metallic smell off his skin, and took way too long deciding what to wear. He finally settled with just being casual. A pair of well-worn jeans and one of his nicer polo shirts.

He said a quick good-bye to his mom before getting back into his truck and heading out to Knox's house. It wasn't that far away – maybe twenty minutes or so – and he found the blue, reflective address marker that read the older man's address.

He pulled into the gravel driveway and drove through what felt like an endless amount of trees. It was dark, and only the moon lit up the woods surrounding his truck. Moments later, Austin pulled up to the house, which was actually pretty big. The lights were on, and for a second, he thought he could see some movement from inside. It made him nervous. His hands were sweating. He wiped them on his pants legs as he walked up to the front door.

He rang the doorbell and waited.

From inside, he heard something clatter, then quiet footsteps, and Knox was standing in front of him. He wore jeans, too, and it was a sight he'd only seen once or twice. The man filled them out nicely. About as nicely as his arms and chest filled out what looked like an old college t-shirt.

“Hey, Austin.” Knox stepped outside and held the door open. “Glad you could make it.”

“Me, too.”