Coda 01 - Promises

him.
    Finally, as I was closing out the register, he said hesitantly, “Jared, you really know how to do this stuff?”
    “I really do.”
“What did she mean, you’re ‘supposed to be’ a teacher?” “That’s what I planned to do when I went to college.” “So why didn’t you?”
    I could have given him the same answer I had given Matt, but for some reason, I told him the truth. “The same reason you don’t want me to tutor you. Some people think that just because I’m gay, I’m going to molest every young boy that crosses my path.”
    He was quiet for a minute, and I could tell I had embarrassed him. I felt a little bad about it, but I couldn’t exactly take it back.
    “That’s what my dad says.” His cheeks were bright red, and he wouldn’t look at me. “He says I shouldn’t be alone in the shop with you. I tell him Lizzy’s always here. He doesn’t know that she leaves sometimes.”
    My hands were shaking a little, and I was trying to control the urge to slam things around. “I’ll be sure to keep my distance then.” “The thing is, you’ve never tried anything with me. I’ve never seen you hit on anybody.”

    “Kid, I’m gay. I’m not a pervert, and I’m not a pedophile.” “I’m not a kid,” he said indignantly.
    I took a deep breath to calm myself down. Of course, being seventeen, he didn’t feel like a kid, even if he seemed like one to me. “I know. I’m just saying, just because I’m gay doesn’t mean that I can’t control myself. Or that I don’t have standards. Do you hit on every single girl you see? Even the ones that are only fourteen? Or the ones that are dating other people?” Well, he had just turned seventeen; so maybe that was a bad example. “What about Lizzy? She likes men, too, but you don’t worry about her making a move on you.” I actually saw the wheels turning then as he thought about that. But I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Either he would figure it out or he wouldn’t, but I didn’t feel like staying on the soapbox. “Forget it, Ringo. I’m locking the doors. Turn the lights off when you leave.”
    “Jared, wait!”
    I turned around. He was chewing on his lip, tapping his pencil nervously against his book, but at least he was looking at me. “I’m never going to pass this class without help. I can’t pay you, but I’ll work off the clock if you’ll tutor me.”
    “What about your dad?”
He shrugged a little. “He wants me to pass. I’ll work it out.”
    His sudden change in attitude surprised me. Maybe I really had gotten through to him a little bit. Or maybe he was really that desperate to pass. Either way, I was also surprised to find that the idea of tutoring him wasn’t as dreadful as I had thought at first. I was actually looking forward to having something different to do. It might even be fun.
    Fun?
    That was a pretty sad indication as to the state of my social life. Still, sitting at a counter in a hardware/auto parts store wasn’t exactly stimulating. At least this would exercise some of my neglected gray matter. I could almost feel those unused parts of my brain waking up, stretching, and looking around to see what was going on.
    Ringo was still looking at me, waiting for my answer. Why not?
    “Okay, kid. Let’s see where you’re at.”

    R INGO turned out to be a good student. He had the bad habit of wanting to plug numbers into equations right away instead of working with the variables, but once I broke him of that, he started to make progress. He was also hindered a little by his pride. He often told me that he understood things before he really did, but he never gave up. I had been working with him for a couple of weeks when Matt showed up at the shop.
    “Hi Jared!” he said as he came in. “I was hoping to catch you before you left.” I hadn’t seen him since that night at Lizzy’s when he found out I was gay. I hadn’t expected to hear from him again.
    Lizzy immediately feigned great interest in a shelf of oil filters. I knew she was listening to every word but trying to look like she wasn’t.
    “I still owe you dinner and a beer. How about it?” He glanced around at Lizzy. “You’re welcome to join us, of course.”
    “What? Me?” She managed to look flustered and embarrassed about being caught listening. “No. Brian’s waiting for me, and I can’t drink until after the baby’s born. You two will have more fun without me.”
    We walked down the street to Mamacita’s, our