Copyright © 2025 by Julien Gregg
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The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
Three
So Travis was going back to school with me and even riding back to Arizona with me. That was fine with me. I’d enjoy the company. We tossed a ball around in the back yard for a while. Then Jacks invited him to stay for dinner. He accepted and called his brother. Jacks made a meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, and corn. We had bread rolls as well. Travis seemed happy enough.
“So Travis is transferring to Saguaro University in Osage in the fall,” I said to Jacks. “He’s going to ride back to school with me when I leave in August.”
“That’s great,” Jacks said. “You’ll know at least one person at school from home then.”
“Yes, and I’m even going back to baseball,” I said.
“That’s great, Jake,” Jacks said with a smile. “I’ve been saying you needed to get back into baseball. You were a damned fine player.”
“Best on the team,” Travis said with a smile.
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “But I held my own. Now I have to try out just like old times.”
“I don’t,” Travis said.
“No you’ll be working with the assistant coach on your strengths,” I said.
“That’s hitting and third base,” he said. “Played third base since little league.”
“Well tell them that,” I said. “Make sure they hear you. The team is doing okay but it could be better. If we whip them into shape we might actually have something.”
“That’d be cool,” he said. “Man am I glad I came over here today. Goin’ to school with Jake and he’s goin’ back to the sport.”
“I have to try out first,” I laughed.
“You’ll make the team,” he assured. “I know you will. You know you will. Don’t give me that make the team crap. We’re gonna rule the team.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “I don’t know all of the players but I know a few.”
“You do?” he asked.
“I’m in Aboo and half the damned team in is also,” I said. “Blake plays short stop.”
“Your spot,” Travis said.
“Todd plays first base,” I said. “John plays second base.”
“We’ll get a bunch of freshman too,” he said. “New ball players.”
“You and I are going to be two of the new ball players at Saguaro,” I said.
“Well at least you’re going back to the team,” he said. “When I heard you quit baseball I wanted to come over here and talk to you about it but I was in school and playing myself. I had a lot going for me until I opened my big mouth to the family.”
“Don’t worry about that now,” I said. “You’re with friends who don’t give a rat’s ass that you like boys and girls.”
“Yeah,” he said, smiling. “When do I get to meet Evan?”
“He’ll be here next Friday,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “I want to meet the guy you’re falling for. You never wanted anything to do with any of us.”
“That’s not exactly true,” I said. “I didn’t know you were willing then. I can’t do anything about it because I don’t cheat. But there were a few of my baseball brothers that I wanted to undress and play with.”
“Like who?” he asked.
“No I’m not naming names,” I said with a laugh. “Just know that I was looking.”
“Okay,” he said. “Listen I have to get back to my brother’s. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. You gonna be here?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Travis was a good friend but he could get a little hyper. I was really sad to hear about what had happened with his family but I’d taken care of him as best I could. He already had a place to stay for the summer. So that was a good thing.
“Travis leave?” Jacks asked when I came back inside.
“Yeah,” I said. “Did you know about him and his family?”
“No,” he said. “But it doesn’t surprise me. His father was never an inclusive kind of guy.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Well at least he’ll be in Osage, Arizona and away from his family for school.”
“Yes he will,” he said. “Listen are you really thinking about going back to baseball?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I need things to focus on that aren’t coding and classes.”
“All right,” he said. “I’ll fly out there to see you play one of these days. You know I’m proud of you.”
“Well thank you, Jacks,” I said.
I went in my room and coded for a bit. Then I just stripped naked and went to bed. I was tired. The next day Travis came over and hung out with me for most of the day so I got very little coding done. He told me that he and his brother had played my game and loved it. I liked hearing that.
“So what are you doing today?” he asked.
“Hanging out with you,” I said. He smiled at this.
“Cool,” he said. “My best friend didn’t come back from school.”
“Jason?” I asked. “He went to UCLA right?”
“Yeah,” he said. “He called and said he got a job there in LA and would be staying in the city for the summer. I was like wow.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I hope he’s doing all right.”
“It sounded like he was,” he said. “He found a girlfriend and everything.”
“Well good for him,” I said. “You wanna go to the batting cages?”
“Sure,” he said.
I grabbed my bat and we headed out. The batting cages were in a park that had all sorts of things for people to do. There was a swimming pool, put put golf, the batting cages, and go karts. We paid our money and stood there in the box. I hit some balls for a while and worked on my swing. Travis was hitting homers in his box. We had a good time there and when we were done I felt better about going back to baseball.
We went to Taco Bell for lunch and then back to the house. Jacks was back from work by the time we got there. He asked where we were and I told him we went to the batting cages.
We hung out in my room until dinner and then Travis had to go back to his brother’s. Jacks watched him go. He looked at me and I didn’t know what was on his mind. Then he furrowed his brows and looked at the table.
“Is Travis all right?” he asked.
“He’s fine,” I said. “He’s still upset about what happened with his parents, but his brother and sister in law are letting him stay with them. Grayson is a good guy, Jacks. He doesn’t act like his father but he’s working for him at the car lot.”
“If things get out of hand for him tell him he can stay here for the summer,” Jacks said. “We’ll work it out.”
“Yes, Sir,” I said. “If things get hairy I’ll tell him to move in.”
“Good,” he said. “Now let’s eat. I bought tenderloins from the bar across from the office. They’re hot and ready.”
“Cool,” I said. I loved the tenderloins from that bar they were huge and you can use a second bun to make two sandwiches. I did it every time.
“So how were the batting cages?” he asked.
“Good,” I said. “I still hit them like I always did. We’re going to the park tomorrow to see if anyone is playing baseball. Maybe we can join them.”
“Maybe,” he said. “If you’re not here when I get off I’ll come to the park to watch.”
“Okay,” I said as my phone rang. It was Evan and he wanted to know what I’d been up to. I told him about Travis now going to Saguaro this fall and that he is a brother at Aboo here in Quincy. I told him I was going to play baseball this year and he was happy about that. He said I needed things to distract me when I wasn’t coding and he promised to make it to Osage to see me play.
Then I ate my tenderloin. Jacks kept looking at me but he didn’t say anything. I just continued to eat. He’d say whatever was on his mind eventually. I just hoped it wasn’t something to rile me up. He was good at that lately.
“So you’re dating a man from Los Angeles,” he said. “A man that’s a few years older than you when you have Travis looking at you with adoring eyes.”
“Jacks, I can’t control who I feel attracted to,” I said. “Now I’ll admit that I found Travis attractive when we were on the team in high school. I still find him attractive but I’m with Evan and I’m going to stay faithful to Evan because he doesn’t deserve to be hurt by me. I like Evan a lot, Jacks. I may even love him. I have no idea what love is yet but I’m trying to learn. Now please accept that I’m with Evan.”
“I’ll try,” he said.
I went back to eating but I was angry with him for this one. Did he think that thoughts weren’t swirling around my head already? I looked in the mirror that morning at my dark hair and my brown eyes and I thought about Travis in a way that I hadn’t thought of him in a year or more. Then I thought, What am I doing? I have Evan and I really like him. I miss him when we’re not together and that means something. I hadn’t missed Travis. I hadn’t thought of him in the time I was at Link or Saguaro. That right there taught me that Travis had been a fantasy. Fantasies die when reality hits. Mine did. And the reality was Evan.
I went to my room after I cleaned up my mess. I didn’t even say a word to Jacks. I just started coding. I coded until my eyes wouldn’t focus and then I stripped and went to bed. I was so angry about Jacks trying to derail my love life that it was all I thought of while I was trying to sleep.
The next day Travis showed up right after breakfast. We went to the park and found boys playing ball. We asked if we could join them and they welcomed us. These were the Blue Devils that were playing in school now. We took our positions as another group of boys came to take us on. I didn’t know any of these boys. But play began when a boy named Doug pitched a fastball at the first batter. He swung and missed.
Then the second pitch and he swung and missed. The third and he missed. Strike three you’re out of there. The next batter stepped up to the plate. He was a blonde haired boy with his cap on backward. He hit the ball but I caught it. Two outs top of the first inning. A crowed had started to gather to watch the game.
Third batter walked up to the plate. He was a bigger boy than the others. He slapped that ball and it went over the fence. We had to send Jagger to get it. They had a home run. Well that was okay. We had one out to go and then we’d show them who the Blue Devils really were.
Fourth batter stepped up to the plate and he struck out. Now we were up to bat. They sent Travis up to the plate first which I thought was a mistake. He was a home run hitter and they let him lead off. He slapped the first ball out of the park. One of their guys had to go get it. I was up to bat. These boys just wanted to see what we could do. I lined up and waited for the pitch. It was a high fastball. Ball one. Second pitch low fastball. Ball two. Third pitch right down the middle and I slapped it back at the pitcher. He had to dive for cover or it would have taken his head off. I made it to first base. The Blue Devil fans cheered. I heard a lot of “That’s Jake Miller,” and I liked that. The batter walked up to the plate and hit a deep center field ground ball. I moved to third base and he made it to second. Then the next batter walked up to the plate. He swung at the first pitch and missed. I winced. The second pitch he hit and it was a line drive right for the center fielder who missed it. I went home and so did the boy on second base. New boy made it to third.
Play continued. Another batter, another line drive. They were hitting them to center field on purpose now. We got another run but the batter only made it to first before they had it back to the pitcher. He struck the next batter out. We had one out. Then a boy named Jagger Melvow hit that ball right out of the park. Two more runs. It was now four to one Devils.
We didn’t score any more runs in the bottom of the first. We moved into the top of the second. Our pitcher pitched and they swung and missed. Three outs really fast. The crowd cheered.
We were up to bat again. This time they had their heads on straight. They put me in the lead off position. I walked up to the plate and hit a line drive straight to center field. I made it to second base. Donnie Tanzie walked up to the plate and did the same thing I did. He came to first base. Then Reggie Tate came to the plate. He smacked it to center field and made it to first. Bases were loaded and up walked Travis. He smacked that ball and over the fence it went. Four more runs. Eight to one Devils.
We didn’t score anymore runs. Jagger didn’t hit a home run when he was up to bat. We were in the outfield for the top of the third inning. By now there were people in the stands on both sides of the diamond.
The ball was hit to me. I caught it. The ball was hit to Travis. He caught it. The ball was hit to center field and Tevin Blinkin caught it. Three outs no runs still Eight to one Devils. I went to bat and hit the ball to center field. I made it to second base before they got it back to the pitcher.
Donnie came to the plate and smacked it to center field. That player needed work. He missed it again. I went home and Donnie made it to third base. Reggie came to the plate and hit it to center field. Now a new player was standing there. The ball bounced right into his glove. Reggie only made it to first base. Travis walked up to the plate and smacked that ball out of the park again. Four more runs counting mine. Twelve to one Devils.
Then it all went to shit. We struck out, hit the ball to the short stop who caught it, and got tagged between first and second base. We were in the outfield for the top of the fourth. They got their shit together that inning. They scored six runs so by the time we got the third out it was twelve seven Devils.
I went up to the plate and surprised everyone by knocking it out of the park. One home run. Donnie came to the plate and smacked the ball down the park it bounced twice before the new center field player caught it. He made it second. Reggie came to the plate and made it to second. Donnie went to third. Travis stepped up and the outfield groaned. But this time Travis didn’t hit it out of the park. He drove Donnie home and Reggie to third but he only made it second.
A few more balls hit. One player walked and we walked in a run. Fourteen to seven Devils. Then Jagger got up there and smacked it out of the park. Fifteen seven. It went to shit after that and we ended up in the outfield where errors were made and they put four runs on the board. Someone was running the score board. It was fifteen to eleven Devils.
Back up to bat I stepped up to the plate and hit the ball to deep left center. I made it to second base. Donnie made it to first. Reggie made it to first. Bases loaded. Travis stepped up to the plate. They didn’t know what to think of this. The crowd was screaming. Travis hit the ball out of the park. Nineteen to eleven devils. Then I noticed that Jacks was in the stands. He waved at me. I nodded back.
Then we traded for the outfield no runs were scored. We were up and no runs were scored. They were up and two runs were scored. Nineteen to thirteen Devils. By the time we reached nine innings the score was twenty-one to nineteen Devils. We cheered and the crowd cheered with us. We had actually eaten into a younger division’s game time. They shook our hands and we went to the stands to watch the younger kids play. They were good both teams were very good. I really enjoyed the game. When it was over I drove Travis to his brother’s house. Then I went home.
Tomorrow I was going to pick up Evan. Travis was going to ride with me. The boys from the field told us we could play with them any time. We told them we might in a few days. They liked hearing that. I got Donnie’s phone number to call him and let him know.
The next day I was on the road to St. Louis at noon. We got there about two and a half hours later because of an accident on the highway. We pulled into the airport with time to spare. I knew his gate so we went to hang out by it. Travis asked a million questions about Evan. I saw him when he got off the plane. He had a full beard and mustache now. Damn did he look sexier!
I hugged him when he came through the jet way. Then we were headed to my truck. I drove us back to Quincy and we made better time. I drove to the house and showed Evan where to put his clothes. He spent some time unpacking. He would be there for two weeks. Jacks wasn’t off work yet so we hung out in the kitchen and talked. Travis asked him a million questions about working for Microsoft. Evan answered them as patiently as he could. No he did not work on Windows he worked on games. Yes he had been on the team that brought them “Everquest.”
He’d be in town for two weeks on his vacation from Microsoft. Yes he was my boyfriend and he was hoping to be elevated to the lover status soon. I was confused about that but just smiled at him. I didn’t know what he meant by that but would ask him when we were alone.
Jacks came home and found Evan in he kitchen with us. He shook his hand and introduced himself because I was still mad at him for his last big bombshell about Travis. I’d been watching Travis all day and he was looking at me with adoring eyes. I didn’t understand it but whatever. Evan was there with us now.
Evan told Jacks that he was helping me code the new game but giving me all of the credit due to his exclusivity contract with Microsoft. He told me that he was finished with his section of coding and ready to go on to another section of the code. I told him I could accommodate him later. Travis laughed about that. I just looked at him and he stopped.
“Well it’s nice to finally meet you, Evan,” Jacks said. “I want to get a few things straight with you so we’re on the same page. Jake is my only family and I’m very protective of him. Now if you’re not serious about him or if you’re only interested in his money I’d like you to leave him alone. He’ll be heartbroken but he’ll get over it. If you are serious about him and don’t want his money then welcome to the family.”
“First let me tell you,” Evan said, clearly upset. “I don’t give a damn about his money. I make damned good money working for Microsoft. I am interested in him to the point that I’m in love with your nephew. Welcome to the family? Well thank you but please don’t ever mention me and Jake’s money again.”
I was livid. How could Jacks say all of that to Evan on first meeting him. Damn first impressions. I glared at him but he looked calmly back at me. Travis didn’t know where to look so he looked at the table.
“Jacks,” I said and took a breath. “I appreciate that you want to protect me but there’s nothing to protect me from. Evan has shown me nothing but love and friendship since we’ve met. He has never mentioned my money much less asked me for anything but myself. If you had listened when we had this conversation you would look less like an ass right now.”
“Jake, I won’t stand for being talked to like that,” he said. “You know better.”
“I know better than to tell you anything that isn’t the truth,” I said. “The truth is that you look like an ass right now. You just accused him of being a gold digger to his face. That was disrespectful and uncalled for in so many ways. You got your answers from me when you told me you were worried about me. Why did you have to rehash the whole thing with Evan? He’s done nothing to show you or me any disrespect. Now he is my lover and you’re going to have to accept that. If you can’t then we’ll go to a hotel and you won’t see me for the rest of the summer. I’ll just go to Los Angeles for the rest of the summer.”
“I accept that he is your lover,” Jacks said calmly. “I know that you didn’t agree with me saying any of that to your lover but I am your only family and I will look out for you until the day I die. I love you, Jake and I won’t stand by and let anyone take advantage of you. Now I should have done that in private but I’m not a private man. I meant it when I said welcome to the family by the way.”
“Thank you,” Evan said.
“I’ll let this go if it stops now,” I said.
“There’s no reason to continue it,” Jacks said. “I had questions as your uncle and I got my answers loud and clear.”
“Okay,” I sighed. “I’m letting it go.”
“Thank you,” said Jacks.
“Evan I’m sorry for what just happened,” I said. “If I had even an inkling that it would happen we’d be in a hotel right now.”
“Jake you’re being a bit hard on your uncle,” Evan said, shocking me. “He was looking out for you. I got a little upset by the implication but once I weighed his words in my mind I understood exactly what he was trying to do. I’m not even angry about it.”
“Okay,” I said with a sigh. “Are we going to eat or not?”
“I’ll order a couple of pizzas in a moment,” Jacks said. “Travis are you staying?”
“Yes, Sir,” he said. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” he said. “You’re another one of the boys around here.”
“Thank you for that,” Travis said with a smile.
Jacks went in the other room to order the pizzas and I looked at Evan. He looked at me and smiled. I wasn’t sure what there was to smile about just yet but I smiled back. I was happy to have him in my house. That was one thing to smile about.”
“It’s good to see you, Jake,” said Evan.
“It’s good to see you,” I said. “You and I need to have a talk later.”
“Uh oh,” he said and looked at Travis.
“Nothing like that,” I said. “I need to say a few things and make you understand something about me. We’ll talk later.”
“Okay,” he said as Jacks came back into the room.
“I ordered two pies with everything on them,” he said.
“That’s fine with me,” said Travis.
“Me too,” said Evan.
“You know it’s all right with me,” I said.
“Are you boys going to play baseball at the park again soon?” Jacks asked. “I really enjoyed watching you.”
“We have Donnie’s number to let him know when we’re ready,” I said. “I want Evan to be able to watch too.”
“That’s what I was getting at,” Jacks said. “Travis I saw you hitting home runs just like you did in high school.”
“Yeah when the pitch is right down the middle they’re easy,” he said. “I love it when they’re right down the middle.”
“It shows, son,” said Jacks. “You’re going to be on your baseball scholarship at Saguaro?”
“Yes, Sir,” he said. “It transfers.”
“That’s good,” Jacks said.
“It certainly is,” Travis agreed. “If it didn’t transfer I had no way to pay my tuition.”
“Well if it had come to that we’d have figured something out,” I said.
“I don’t want your money either,” Travis said, making Evan laugh.
“I didn’t mean that,” I said with a smile. “I meant financial aid.”
“Oh,” he said and blushed. “Sorry.”
“No problem,” I said.
“Jacks what do you do for work?” Evan asked.
“I’m a lawyer,” he said. “I know it isn’t a glamorous profession but it pays the bills and keeps this house over our heads. It would have sent Jake to school but he got a scholarship to do that. Then there was the money.”
“So Jake’s going to be a game designer,” Evan said. “What about you, Travis?”
“Psychology major,” he said with a grin.
“So you want to be a psychiatrist?” Evan asked.
“That was the original idea,” he said. “But since then I’ve narrowed my focus to councilor either at the high school or in a clinical setting. If I get my Master’s degree I can be a psychologist.”
“Well as long as you have a plan,” Evan said.
“I can work as a councilor and pay for schooling to go further,” said Travis.
“Yes, you can,” he said. “It’s good that you have a goal.”
“Yes they’re both very goal oriented,” Jacks said. “I was skeptical when Jake wanted to go into Computer Programming with an emphasis on gaming. I wasn’t sure there was money in it. But you’re working for Microsoft and you’re doing what he’s going to school to learn.”
“He already knows how to do a lot of it,” Evan said. “He’s just getting the fine tuning that a degree program will give him.”
“Is that so?” Jacks said. “Are you talking about the game that you’re helping him write?”
“Yes,” he said. “Ordinarily those games are worked on by a team of code writers. They sit in an office and work on different aspects of the game. Jake’s got two and he might need a third. I’m done with the section of code I was writing for the game but there’s so much more to bring his vision to fruition.”
“Jake I had no idea,” Jacks said.
“I tried to tell you about it but your eyes glazed over the way they do when I talk about computers,” I said with a smile.
“Yeah, I have no interest in computers,” he said. “I use one at work and I have one here in the house but I just play games on the one in the house. Recently I played the game that Jake wrote and I love it.”
“Thanks Jacks,” I said with a genuine smile.
The pizzas came after that and then we were all eating. No one said anything for a long time. When the two pizzas were just empty boxes with cheese stuck to it we cleaned that up. I took Evan and Travis to my room. We watched a movie and then Travis had to go back to his brother’s.
“What did you want to talk about?” Evan asked.
“What’s the difference between a boyfriend and a lover?” I asked.
“In my world, what we are right now is boyfriends,” he said. “We’ve gone no further than oral sex with each other. To be lovers one or both of us has to take the next step.”
“You mean anal sex,” I said.
“Yes,” he said. “Once we start doing that then we’ll be lovers. Now don’t mistake it for being in love. I’m in love with you but I’m completely comfortable with the fact that we’re at different stages of the relationship.”
“That’s the other thing,” I said. “I don’t know what love is.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean I love my uncle,” I said. “I loved the guys on the team, but that’s not what you mean when you say you’re in love with me. I don’t know that kind of love. You’re the first person I’ve ever done any of this with. How will I know when I’m in love? I mean I want to say it, and I think I might be but how do I know?”
“If I’m the first thing you think of in the morning and the last thing you think of before you go to sleep then you’re in love,” he said.
“Well then I’m in love with you, too,” I said with a smile.
He pulled me closer and kissed me long and hard. Then I was in the bed with him. We made out like a couple of love sick teenagers. He started to kiss my neck and I let him. Then he moved on to my ear and I went nuts. Needless to say we became lovers that night.
The next day I gave him another section of the game to code. He got down to that while I made breakfast. Jacks was already gone. I made waffles with sausage links. I served him while he was coding.
“Thank you,” he said, taking his plate and closing his laptop.
We sat in my room and ate our breakfast. I told him not to tell Jacks that we were eating in my room. He looked all around the room at my baseball posters and the trophies on the dresser. I hadn’t taken all of the trophies to school with me. Two of the trophies at school had come from Link University.
We ate our breakfast and it was gone. He asked about the trophies I told him I played baseball most of my life. I started with t-ball and graduated to little league then I was playing on teams most summers. When I got to Junior High School I was a comet. I played on the team all three years that I was there. Then I went to high school and played on the varsity team the three years I was there. I got trophies from the school for six years. Then I played on the team at Link University and got more trophies from them. Then the crash happened and I stopped playing.
“But you played yesterday,” he said. “Your uncle told me all about it.”
“Yes, Travis and I played with the team of Blue Devils that are now playing on the school team,” I said. We had a good day and it was fun. I’ve got Donnie’s phone number to tell him that we want to play and he’ll get the team together and we’ll find whoever wants to play against us.”
“I would like to watch you play,” he said.
I took out my phone and called Donnie he told me that they would play the next day so I told him that Travis and I would join them. He yelled that we would win again. I laughed at that and told him to expect us at the park after we’d had breakfast.
Travis showed up at the house a little bit later and I filled him in on what I told Donnie. He said we’d play. Evan asked him why he was living with is brother instead of his parents. Travis went through it all over again and got a little quiet when he was done. Evan looked upset about it but he covered it by smiling at him.
“You’re going to Saguaro,” he said. “You’ll be in the Alpha Beta Omega and make new friends and have a lot of fun. You can come back with Jake every summer.”
“Once I get to Osage, Arizona I’m not coming back to Quincy,” he said. “There’s nothing here for me. My brother is moving to Florida when I leave for school. He’s got a job down there and I don’t want anything to do with Florida. I’ll probably get a job in Osage and just stay there.”
I felt sorry for him when he said all of that. Maybe he’d find a scout to take him to the minor league and then he’d be fine. I hoped he had something good happening to him. I felt sad that he was so bereft.
“Well if you need us just call either of us,” Evan said. “I’m going to give you my phone number. You’ve already got Jake’s.”
He scribbled it down and handed it to Travis who took it and put it in his pocket. I forgot that he didn’t have a phone. I reached into the top drawer of my dresser and pulled out the phone I’d gotten for him. He tried to tell me that he wouldn’t take it but I just held it out and glared at him.
“You take this phone from me and use it,” I said. “I’ve already had it added to my account. It’s only twenty dollars a month. If you come up with that you can pay me back for it. The phone was free.”
He took it but didn’t seem happy about it. Evan had a small smile on his face the whole time. I told Travis that his number was already in my phone and called him so he’d have mine. Then he was adding Evan’s number into his contacts. I just watched him in silence.
“Thank you, Jake,” he said after a long moment.
“You’re welcome,” I said. “You need that phone so I can call you while we’re at school. You can call me and we can study together or whatever. I know we’ll be in the same house but our schedules won’t be the same. We’re two different majors.”
“All right,” he said. “I took the phone and I’ll keep it. When I get a job next summer I’ll take over paying for it, too.”
“Sure,” I said. “Now let’s go see what’s going on at the park.”
There was no baseball at the park so we just sat on the picnic tables and watched the kids play. We talked about the game we were coding and Travis asked many questions. He was an avid gamer so he was interested.
“I think it sounds awesome,” he said. “I can’t wait till it’s done.”
“Well it’ll be a while before it’s done,” I said. “I need more good coders to get all the code work done. I’ll see what Neal’s come up with for graphics when we get back to school in August.”
“Did he pull another graphic artist into it?” Evan asked. “He said he was probably going to have to.”
“I don’t know if he has or not,” I said. “He needs to tell me these things because when we go to sell the game to a game company we have to give money to everyone who worked on it.”
“Just not me,” Evan said. “I’m just doing it for you. Don’t pay me for it because legally I didn’t work on it.”
“Right,” I said. “But by the time the game’s done I’ll be living with you in Los Angeles and probably working for a gaming company where I’ll just bring it to the table.”
“Sounds about right,” laughed Evan. “Seriously you could get it done with three more coders plus me. We could be done with it by the end of your first semester if we code a little each day.”
“I’ll work on that,” I said. “I’ll talk to my professor about more coders.”
“You can do that or just put a notice on the board,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Three more huh?”
“At least,” he said.
“Well I can do that,” I said. “Do I pay them for their work or just add them to the creators list?”
“You can pay them outright and then they aren’t on your list,” he said. “You could have done that with Neal too.”
“Yeah but Neal is a different story,” I said. “I don’t mind sharing credit with Neal.”
“Well all right then,” he said. “So Jacks is worried about you and me huh?”
“He’s got a bur up his ass about us I’ll say that,” I said. “Pissed me off.”
“I noticed,” laughed Evan. “It’s all right. He was just looking out for you.”
“Yeah but we’d had that discussion already,” I said. “He even tried to get me to just date Travis, but Travis is bisexual and I don’t want anything to do with that.”
“Plus you have me,” he said.
“Yes,” I said with a smile. “I am totally in love with you so it wouldn’t have worked out with Travis.”
“So what’s next after this game?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t taken the time to think up another game.”
“Well I’m asking because you could form a company that just does the games that you want or you can join a company where you’ll work on what they want. It’s all up to you. The company where you work on what you want will depend on the success of this game.”
“Well we’ll talk about that after I find out how well this game does,” I said. “I want to start that company but I don’t know what I have right now. It could not work.”
“Oh it’s going to work that isn’t the problem,” he said. “Just give the coding team that you put together pieces like you’ve been doing with me. They’ll get it written and the game will go forward. But if you go your own way with the company you’re going to have to hire a coding staff and a graphics staff. You’ll need your own studio for fight scenes and the like. It’s a lot.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Well let’s see how this game does.”
“I think this game is going to go all the way,” he said. “It’s a good premise and the coding is actually very cool.”
“Thank you,” I said, smiling. “This one is my baby.”
“I hear you,” he said. “So change of subject. Are you playing baseball at school this year?”
“I’m going to try out for the team,” I said. “We’ll see what happens.”
“Well If you are I need a schedule so I can fly in to see you play,” he said. “You have no dreams of going professional?”
“None,” I said. “I’m a video game designer. That’s all I want to be.”
“Well okay then,” he said. “I just wondered if I was going to be working from hotel rooms all over the country for a while.”
“You’d follow me if I went pro?” I asked.
“Of course I would,” he said. “Jake, I love you. Love can move mountains.”
“Yes, I suppose it can,” I said. “I have no desire to go pro. They’ve always talked to me about the next step. In high school it was college in college it will be the minor league there it would be the major league. I don’t want that.”
“You want the game to be fun,” he said.
“That’s it exactly,” I said. “When it stops being fun I’ll stop playing it.”
“You could coach,” he said.
“I don’t see myself as a coach,” I replied. “I just want to write video games and live with you.”
“I like that answer,” he said with a smile.
I cleaned up our breakfast dishes and then we went to see Arts in the Park. There were many local artists that had their work on display. I bought a few things and he did too. We went to Taco Bell for lunch and then just walked the park. He didn’t hold my hand because Quincy wasn’t a forward thinking place. We just walked and talked. I really enjoyed that.
When we got back to the house Travis was there with Jacks. We went out to the back yard and threw the ball around for a while. Evan shocked me by getting in on it. We had a good time standing there throwing the ball from one to another. We did it until Jacks called us in for dinner.
We had pork chops and mashed potatoes. He’d made gravy and peas. For drinks we all had iced tea. Jacks asked us what we’d been up to all day. I told him about Arts in the Park and walking through the park at the river’s edge. He said he had a case to work and might be late some nights. We said we understood.
Then it was movies in my room with both Evan and Travis. Travis ended up sleeping on the couch that night. Evan and I showed our love and then fell asleep wrapped around each other. In the morning Travis came in to get his clothes for the day and went to take a shower. We got up but weren’t moving very fast.
I put on shorts and went to make eggs and bacon with toast. I got plates ready then I sat at the table with Evan and Travis to eat. Once that was done I left Travis with the dishes and went to take my shower. I dressed in cotton shorts and a t-shirt. I put my socks and shoes on because we were going to play ball today.
Evan showered after me. He was looking forward to the game. So was I if I’m honest. It would be good to get my heart pumping again. I’d had so much fun at the last game. That’s what I wanted baseball to be was fun all of the time.
We got in my truck and headed for the park. Just as he’d said the whole team was on the diamond. We quickly joined them with our bats and gloves. This time they made a line up and we followed it. I batted first, Donnie second, Reggie third, Travis fourth. Then it was Tim, Dave, Brock, and Jagger.
The team we were playing today was a bunch of kids that didn’t make the team at the high school. Play got under way and I slapped the ball between center and left field for a double. Donnie did the same thing. I moved to third and Donnie came to second. Reggie hit a ground ball and made it to first base. We were loaded as Travis stepped up to the plate. He smacked the ball out of the park for a grand slam. Our team went nuts the score was four to nothing as Tim stepped up to the plate.
He struck out but Dave hit the ball to the back fence where it bounced off and hit the ground. He made it all the way to third base on that one. Brock smacked the ball down this side of the foul line and made it to second. Jagger stepped up to the plate and sent the ball over the back fence. Three more runs in the top of the first inning. We rotated and I was up at bat again. I slapped it between second and third base but they had it before I could move past first base.
It went on like that for a while. We struck out and moved to the outfield and they put a few runs on the board. Someone was operating the score board. People had come to watch again. We played nine innings and at the end of it we were up by two runs. We won but they had played their asses off and almost beat us. We shook hands with them and said, “Good game.”
Then we were all going our separate ways. Travis, Evan and I went home. I needed another shower and so did Travis. Evan went on and on about how we played. He’d had a good time at the game. We’d all had a good time.
We had lunch there at the table. It was just ham sandwiches with chips and iced tea. Evan was still congratulating us on a hard win. Travis ate that up but I just smiled and kept eating. It had been fun but it was over and I wanted to do some coding today.
Travis went back to his brother’s house and Evan and I coded until Jacks came home. We took a break then and had dinner with him. This time he’d ordered tenderloins again. He asked about the game and I told him we won by two runs. He said that he was sorry he missed it.
After dinner Evan and I went back to coding. We coded until we couldn’t see straight and then went to bed. We showed our love and went to sleep. The next day it was just the two of us so we coded after breakfast and we went on coding through lunch until Jacks came home and told us to get the hell out of my room and eat some dinner. We were starving.
“You boys been working on that game all day?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“That’s the thing with him,” Jacks said to Evan. “He’ll work on those games and shut everything else out. Next thing you know he’s either running to the bathroom or he’s eating a bag of chips. I say it’s not a good thing.”
“We’re all like that,” Evan said. “Most of the time we have chips and soda or something to eat while we code but Jake says there’s no food or drink allowed in his room.”
“That’s my rule,” he said. “As absent minded as he gets when he’s in there on that computer I’m afraid he’ll spill shit all over the place.”
“He might,” Evan laughed. “God knows I have a time or two.”
“Now you make a good living doing what you’re doing?” Jacks asked.
“We make good money in video game design,” he said. “It’s a growing market.”
“I had said a few times that I didn’t think this was a good path for him to follow,” Jacks said. We’d had many of those discussions over the years. “But knowing that there are jobs out there like yours has changed my mind about that.”
“There’s money out there to be had if you’re good at what you’re doing,” Evan said. “Jake is good at what he does. He’s so good that I offered to help. I don’t offer to help anyone in this business. I do my job and work with other creators on one concept but I don’t help up and coming creators the way I’m helping Jake.”
“So that says something,” Jacks said with a smile.
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