Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 8

the heat of the day. Much as he didn't want to, he really should eat something too. And he had the store brochure clutched in his fingers, waiting for him to open it and read the secrets of Aunt Julie's empire. But before all of that, he couldn't help pulling out his phone, and checking his email.
    ****
    By the time Trey was done with stretching, sit-ups, pull-ups, and weights he was sweating heavily. He thought he should really go for a run too, to work off those calories, but even at five in the afternoon it was too hot outside to make the idea appealing. He opted for a shower instead.
    Trey set the water cool and just let it run over him. He didn't think about anything, didn't try for coherence, just let images of Josh run through his mind. Josh at ten, tossing back a stray soccer ball; "Hey, we just moved in next door, wanna play?" Josh at thirteen, his dark hair sweaty and tousled from rollerblading to the park, laughing at Trey as Trey ran off the pavement onto the grass slope to stop his runaway skates. "Jeeze, Trey, you suck at that. Here, let me show you again, okay?" Josh at seventeen, almost crying. "We're moving. My dad got transferred to New York. It sucks, Trey, it really sucks. All my friends are here; you and Brad and Craig, and Hannah too. We've only been dating for a month. She's not gonna wait for me to come back." And Trey, biting back the impulse to say, "I'd wait forever." Giving Josh a guy-hug and all the comfort Trey could muster.
    Slowly, inexorably, the images darkened down to the one that almost killed Trey. Josh at fifteen...
    Trey tapped his fingers on his knee, waiting for Josh to show up. This was their place, down in the ravine on this big block of old concrete from some long-forgotten project. All Josh had to say on the phone was "Trey, meet me!" and Trey knew where. But he shivered a little despite the heat, because he'd never heard that tone in Josh's voice before. Not when he'd taken a week getting the nerve to ask Meghan for a date and she'd laughed at him. Not when his mother skipped their Little League championship game to take Josh's brother Felix on a play-date. Not even when Josh's dad had refused to let him go on the seventh grade class camping trip because it cost too much.
    If this was worse, Trey wasn't sure he wanted to hear it. It was getting harder and harder to keep his distance from Josh. At night, he sometimes dreamed about Josh having a crisis and coming to his arms for comfort. Time after time he held dream-Josh as he cried for his dead mother or cradled a broken arm or sobbed out the hurt of being beat by some hulking senior. In his dreams, Josh would soften in his hold. He would gradually turn and look at Trey, those gorgeous grey eyes awash with tears, and then Trey would bend slowly and kiss him. But the real sound of tears in Josh's voice had been like ice-water on those dreams. Josh dated girls. Josh was straight. Josh in pain wasn't going to be some kind of fantasy.
    There was a rustling in the brush on the lip of the ravine, and then Josh appeared. He scrambled down the sandy slope obliviously, not even pausing when the hem of his shirt snagged on a bramble. He reached the slab and hoisted himself up near Trey. They stared at each other.
    Josh was breathing hard, his chest heaving. His T-shirt clung to him, damp with sweat. Trey forced his eyes up to Josh's face. That wasn't much better. Josh's mouth was half-open as he panted, his eyes glazed and dark. Trey clenched his fists against his thighs and waited.
    Eventually Josh closed his mouth and swallowed hard. He moved next to Trey, sitting close with his knees drawn up and his arms wrapped around them. Josh stared out at the dry weeds, at the shaggy bark of the summer holly on the slopes, the wash of pale blue sky. Sitting so close, Trey could feel fine shudders passing through Josh, and hear him breathe. Trey leaned just enough to bump their shoulders.
    Josh said, "You know I told you my folks were weird yesterday? Gone all day with Felix, and they actually had Mrs. Grinnel come stay with me for the evening like I was a kid who needed a babysitter?"
    "Yeah." Trey thought Josh's parents were weird a lot, actually. One minute they would ignore Josh like he didn't mean anything, the next they would come down on him for some small flaw as if he was responsible for the status of the whole family.
    "Well, I heard..." Josh stopped, pulling breath through clenched teeth. Trey waited, because whatever was coming