Westpoint Tales
by Kiwi
Entangled Tales - 30 - Justin & Billy
Lana grinned back at Justin in the back seat. "You really are uptight aren't you? Shut up, Justin."
"Where are you guys going to go? What are you going to do today?"
"We'll just cruise on up the road. Might go to the far end of the Gorge or something. I'm not even going to ask what you guys are going to be doing today. I don't think we want to know."
"It's not like that. I think. I don't know. Shut up, Jonathan. Just keep driving. How far have we come?"
"Just over 10k. We're not even half-way yet. Chill out brother."
15 - 20 - 25k. Finally! They were there. Billy was standing waiting by the side of the road, next to a red-drum letter box and a gravelled road which curved and disappeared into the trees.
"Billy! Hey!" Justin fell out of the car. "You know Lana? And that's my brother, Jonathan."
"Your brother? Yeah, I can see some resemblance," Billy grinned. "Hey, Lana, how's it?"
"It's fine Billy. How's yours?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"No way. Drive Jonathan - get out of here! See you later, Guys. Have fun."
"So, here we are then. How far in is your house?"
"Not far - just around the corner and hidden in the trees. Come and see."
They walked along, crunching on the gravel and avoiding the puddles. Billy sang, "L-A-N-A, a-a, a-a. L-A-N-A, a-a, a-a." So when did your brother hook up with Lana Shaw? She's totally hot."
"I didn't know that you were into girls, Billy?"
"Yeah. Of course I'm into girls. What did you think?"
('Oh.' A cloud descended on Justin's sunny day)
"So are they an item then?"
"I, I don't know. I thought he was going out with Claudette Storer."
"So did I. He doesn't waste any time does he? It's called 'playing the field', Justin. There it is - Home Sweet Home - What do you think of it so far?"
('What am I doing here? I wish I was at home.') "It's okay. Sitting in the trees. Yeah, it's cool, like something out of a fairy story."
"Ain't no fairies around here, boy," Billy growled.
('oh.')
"Well, come on. What are you waiting for? Come and meet the tribe."
"Billy, no, look. I shouldn't have ... I think I'd better go."
"Go? What are you talking about? You're not even here yet. Come on - they've all been waiting to see you. I've been waiting. Come on, Justin, Please!"
Justin looked at his pleading eyes. ('Damn. Mixed messages. What am I supposed to do?')
"Well, okay. We're here now I guess."
"Cool! That's more like it. Come on."
('Just a friend? Do I want that? No! Can I handle that? I don't know.')
They crossed the verandah to the door of the big old house. He remembered his grandmother's words as she ushered him into the lounge to face the media. "Be patient and be gracious, Justin. It will soon pass." He wished that he was back there at the hotel now. He had thought - he thought - he almost jumped out of his skin when Billy put a hand on his back to guide him inside.
"Here we go. Here's my mum. Hey Mum, Justin's here."
Billy's mother, Cecily, looked up from the newspaper spread out on the huge wooden, kitchen table. "Justin! Hello. Welcome," she beamed a wide smile, Billy's smile - it must be hereditary.
"Would you like a cup of tea? Or, you could have a beer if you'd rather really? There's plenty there now that Billy's stopped pinching it."
"Mum!"
"Hello Mrs. Mathieson. A cup of tea would be great thanks. I never drink beer."
"Good for you, boy. You hear that Billy? Your hero never drinks beer."
"Mum! Stop it. I've cut right back haven't I?"
"Yes, you have. That's good. Keep it up."
"Cheese. C'mon Justin. We'll do the grand tour while the kettle's boiling."
They went through into the living room, the HUGE living room. This room was enormous. It even had two fireplaces - a space heater here by them and an open fireplace away over on the far wall. The ceiling was really high and the carpet was old, gray and worn. There were double glass doors leading out to the verandah on one wall. The big verandah ran all the way around the house, with the wall of trees growing right up close, it almost made another enclosed room, and made all the interior of the house very dark. Internal doors led off in three directions.
"Mum's bedroom and Dianne's are through there. Denise and Margaret's rooms are out there. On the couch is my brother, Brian, we call him 'Bugs', he's eleven."
"Twelve," said Bugs. "I'm not eleven, I'm twelve. Hello Justin."
"Hey Brian. Why do they call you 'Bugs'?"
"Just a name. I think I ate some bugs when I was little. Something like that."
"And, on the floor there, with their noses almost stuck to the TV (You're sitting too close again!) That's our youngest boys - the twins. Ross is the one with the blond hair. The good-looking one is Robert. They're nine."
The twins looked around and smiled up at him. Small, skinny boys, both still in their pjamas. They looked similar except one was blond and the other had red hair. The 'good-looking' one, the redheaded, Robert, was the spitting image of Billy.
Back in the kitchen, two dark haired girls were standing by the sinkbench. "These are my big sisters. Denise is 16 and Margaret is 15. You might know them?"
"Yes, we've met, at school. Hey, Denise, Margaret."
"Hey, Superboy."
"Hey Justin, nice to see you."
"The passage down the end of the kitchen there leads to the loo, the bathroom, the shower and the washhouse. And there's a huge walk-in pantry. Out the back door here...."
"Billy, the tea's ready."
"Yeah Mum. Won't be a minute. C'mon Justin, out here."
Out through the back door, on the verandah, there were two more bedrooms. "One's Ross and Robert's and the other is Bugs' room. And another washhouse. Two washhouses but only one bathroom - go figure."
They went back into the kitchen and Cecily poured the teas. "Have a biscuit, Justin. I made them especially because you were coming. What do you think of the old place so far?
"It's great, and so big. How many bedrooms do you have?"
"Eight. There's eight bedrooms in the house and half a dozen more in the old worker's quarters out the back."
"That's fourteen bedrooms?"
"Yes, about that. Some of them are pretty rough though. The old place needs a lot of work. Either that or a match - for the insurance."
"You couldn't do that. It's a great house. And that living room - it's huge. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger room in a house."
"Yes, it's big all right. This used to be a hotel years ago. I think it might have been a staging post for the stage-coaches."
Denise said, "That'd be back when you were a girl, was it Mum?"
"No cheek out of you Missy! You just get those spuds finished. We're going to have a roast tea, Justin, and Billy's going to do his famous hamburgers for lunch."
"Billy's famous hamburgers? Do you cook, Billy? I can't even make toast without burning it, I'm a hopeless cook."
"I cook sometimes. I do do great burgers, you'll see."
Cecily continued, "Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes - the big room. I think it used to be the hotel bar and dining rooms. When we first bought the place, my husband, Bob, knocked out some walls in there. The ceiling didn't fall down, so it just sort-of got left. We did have plans of making this into a fisherman's lodge. The river's just out the back. We planned on selling wilderness holidays, fishing, shooting, that sort of thing. But it never happened. The babies kept on coming and then Bob died. He was on a fishing boat, it sunk.
Anyway, the lodge didn't happen. Maybe one of the kids will do it one day. It'd take a lot of work though, and money."
"It probably would, but I'm sure you'd get it back. Wilderness lodges are all very trendy these days. You must have been ahead of your time."
"Yes, ahead of our time. Big dreams and no money, story of my life really."
Two more redheads came in the back door.
"Hello Justin,"
"Hey Justin."
"That's Wayne and Dianne, they're thirteen. They are our other twins."
"No we're not. We are THE twins. Those two in there are the other twins, we're the oldest."
"How many eggs did you get today?" Cecily scanned their baskets.
"Not enough, only about 10. Those bloody chooks have found a new place to hide them. Either that or the rats are getting them again."
Justin shuddered and Billy laughed, "Joys of living in the country, my friend."
They finished the tea and Billy took him out for a 'tour of the estate'. There was a big, square, gravelled yard out the back which was surrounded on three sides by an array of outbuildings - sleepouts, stables, garages, a chook-house, kennels, sheds and a huge old barn, all closely girt by the encroaching trees.
"The river's just down there - we've got our own private swimming hole. Garden's down there, the pigs and the goats are out the back. The barn has got a really cool hay-loft. There's a creek over there. What else? That's about it really. Come and see my room now."
They walked across to a small cottage at the far side of the yard. Verandah along the front, complete with old car seats, sash windows either side of the door, a brick chimney and trees all around.
"Wayne's room is over there - well away from me. And this is mine."
He opened the door and they walked into a typical boy's room - messy! Clothes, books, old toys, models, and music everywhere. A small TV and DVD player. Tapedeck. Posters all over the walls. But, no bed - just two large armchairs, one either side of the open fireplace.
Billy pulled aside the green velvet curtain on the back wall, "The bedroom's in here." (A big queen sized bed in the small room.) "There's another bedroom in there, but I don't use it. It's just empty, except for junk."
Justin stood and looked around. The posters were mostly of rock groups and (girl) singers. A couple were of motor bikes, one of a sailing ship. The smaller posters were of nude women - Playboy, Penthouse etc. ('oh.')
"It's nothing flash, I know. But it's all mine. No-one comes in here but me. What do you think?"
"It's good. You're really lucky to have your own rooms like this."
"You can be honest, Justin. It's all a bloody old dump really, isn't it?"
"Not at all. Okay, it's all a bit old, and a bit run-down, but it's really cool. The huge house, the barn, the trees, the river and you have a great family. You're really lucky, Billy. This must have been a wonderful place to grow up in."
Billy beamed his sunny smile. "Yes, it was that. I suppose it's not too bad. Sit down. You won't want a beer. How about a coke? Cigarette?"
"A coke would be good thanks. Nothing else."
"You don't smoke either?" He disappeared behind the curtain, into the junk room, and came back with two cans of lemonade.
"No coke left. Sorry. Lemonade okay? I've got something to show you." He turned on the tape deck, pressed 'play' and familiar music started.
"Over the Rainbow? That's me. Where did you get this?"
"Mrs. Lewis gave me a copy of hers. I know it's you, cool eh? I really love this."
They sat quietly in the chairs, facing each other, listening to the song. Red-faced, Justin sat and stared at the floor in front of him. Billy stared at him.
When the song finished, Billy turned off the tape. "What's wrong, Sweetcheeks?"
"Oh. It's that song, it makes me emotional. It's just personal, it's got memories to me."
"I'm not talking about the friggin' song. There's something else. Something's bugging you. When you arrived here you were all excited, happy and smiling, then all of a sudden you switched off. You shut down and you wanted to go home before you even came in. You're just going through the motions - this is nice and that is nice, and all the time you're just waiting until you can get the hell out of here. What's wrong? Are we not good enough for you?"
Justin sighed and hung his head. Taking a deep breath, he raised his head and looked at Billy.
"You are. You are what is wrong, and I'm not good enough for you. I'm sorry, Billy. I really should leave now."
"No. Don't. You don't just walk out and leave me up in the air like that. I don't get this. What do you mean you're not good enough for me? That's just fucking bullshit, Man."
"It is not! Look, can't you see? You are the most beautiful person that I have ever seen in my life. I have been watching you, stalking you, courting you. Long story short, I was wrong. I am gay, you are not. You might just want us to be friends, but I can't. I'm not that strong. I should just go and leave you alone. I'm sorry.' He stood looking down at him from tear-filled eyes.
Billy, standing up, came at him from below and kissed him on the lips. One hand held Justin's head and the other wrapped around his back. Justin shuddered, hugged him and kissed him back.
"Billy? Oh, Billy!" he cried.
Billy kissed his eyes lightly, brushing them with his lips. "For a so-called genius type, you can be pretty thick, Sweetcheeks. Who says I'm not gay?"
"You did. You said that there are no fairies around here."
"Well," he grinned. "I lied. Kiss me Sweetcheeks."
And, suddenly everything was right in Justin's world again. The clouds were gone and the sun was shining, in his mind, in his heart, and in his face. There was nowhere else in the world that he would rather be.
They sat in the armchair, Billy across his lap, and kissed and cuddled, and hugged, and kissed. And they talked and kissed and talked and cuddled.
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