Highly Illogical Behavior(32)

That made Solomon laugh and the red went out of his cheeks soon enough. This guy didn’t care if he was gay or straight or agoraphobic or anything. He was perfect. And he was probably the closest Solomon was ever going to get to a boyfriend. Which, despite sounding heartbreaking, actually felt like a real win for a kid who’d only been slightly out of the closet for a month.

A few minutes later, Solomon’s parents got home and walked in on the three of them joking around and eating in the kitchen.

“Troublemakers,” Solomon’s dad said.

“Mom, Dad, this is Clark.”

Clark hopped down from the counter and walked over to shake their hands.

“Jason Reed. Nice to meet you,” Solomon’s dad said. “This is Valerie.”

“Hi. So nice to meet you,” Clark said.

“You have beautiful teeth,” Valerie said. “Do you floss?”

“Every day,” he answered. “And I’ve never had a cavity.”

“Good to hear,” she said. “Lisa, he’s a keeper.”

“I see you guys are getting a pool,” Clark said. “What’s that, a standard eight footer?”

“You looking to buy one yourself, Clark?” Jason asked with a grin.

“I wish,” he answered. “I’ve been begging my mom for one since I was five.”

“Come use ours anytime,” Valerie said.

“Awesome.”

“Yeah, even if you don’t like Solomon,” Jason joked.

“Wow. Nice, Dad. You guys want to go watch a movie or something?”

“Sure,” Lisa said.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Clark said. “I brought Community so you could see the Dreamatorium.”

“Awesome,” Solomon said.

“Okay, you guys have fun with whatever all that means,” Valerie said. “I’ve got a Pat Conroy book that isn’t going to read itself.”

“And I’ve got a lawn to mow,” Jason said, walking away in the opposite direction of his wife.

“Dude, they’re awesome.”

“Yeah, I like ’em okay,” Solomon said.

“No, really. My mom’s a basket case, man. You’ve got it good.”

“He’s right,” Lisa said. “You may suck at cards, but you definitely win the parent game.”

“It’s too bad I’ve driven them so crazy,” he said. “They used to have fun. Used to go on trips and stuff. Last night was the longest they’ve been out in a while, aside from work.”

“They afraid to leave you alone?” Clark asked. “You seem pretty self-sufficient to me.”

“It’s not that,” he said. “It makes them feel guilty or something. I don’t know. It’s like they’re holding out until I’m better.”

“They don’t make you see a shrink?”

“Used to,” Solomon said. “Came here once a week.”

“When did that stop?” Lisa asked.

“A little after the first year. She kept putting me on medicine that made me sick. I begged and begged and they finally told her to stop coming.”

“I saw a therapist when I was younger,” Clark said. “I was scared to sleep in my room alone.”

“That’s normal, though,” Lisa said.

“Not when you’re twelve,” he added.

“I asked my dad if I could try marijuana once,” Solomon blurted out.

“Seriously? Dude, we go to high school in California. We can get you weed.”

“Noted,” Solomon said. “So that’s why they call it high school?”

“Boo,” Lisa said. “Try again.”

“Okay . . . okay . . . umm . . . Upland? More like Highland!”

Clark laughed, but Lisa just shook her head and tried not to smile. Solomon loved how she was always pretending like her sense of humor was above theirs when it was so clear to him that she loved every second of their stupid banter.

At around two in the morning, after more games, an especially lame episode of SNL, and way too many bad jokes, Lisa finally stood up and said it was time to go. Clark seemed as bummed as Solomon, but they all had that middle-of-the-night sleepy look in their eyes. Solomon walked them to the door and they said their good nights. He wanted to ask when he’d see them next, but he got shy about it at the last minute and didn’t say anything. He couldn’t just invite them over every day and expect them to never say no.

Lisa hugged him around the neck before she stepped outside and as he went to give Clark a handshake, he was met with a big squeeze around the shoulders. He didn’t know what to do or whether or not he should hug him back, so he just stood there with his arms limp and let it happen. Then Clark pulled away and had this huge smile on his face. “You’re all right, man,” he said.

Solomon watched them from the door as they walked down the driveway and got into Lisa’s car. He waited as the engine turned on and the headlights lit up, giving them a wave as they backed out and drove off, his hand staying up in the air until they were out of sight. It hadn’t happened before, really, so he tried to think about something else to keep from freaking out. But it wouldn’t go away. He felt it. It was small and it was complicated, but he felt it all the same. He wanted to follow them. He wanted to walk outside and follow them into the world.