Page 19 of Finding Jeremy
Choking on air, Gray sputtered, gasping as he started laughing so hard, he seriously couldn’t breathe for a moment. His face felt flush, his chest grew tight, and still he couldn’trein himself in. Not with Jeremy cackling like crazy and rocking against him. It wasn’t just the image that popped in his head that kept the laughter going; it was the way Jeremy told stories, building up to that moment when things were already so outrageously ridiculous it was impossible to imagine anything more extreme. Then he hit you with the punchline, and you realized you were wrong and loving every moment of it.
Those little glimpses Jeremy shared of what life in Foggy Basin had been like while he was away helped Gray connect the dots between the place he’d left behind when he’d been locked away and the vibrant haven of creative folks he’d returned home to. It was an amazing feeling, just like having Jeremy in his arms. As his boy finally started to fall asleep on him, Gray lay there struggling to follow the plot of the movie, looking forward to hearing the rest of the stories Jeremy had to share.
Chapter 8
(Jeremy)
Everything smelled sweet and sticky as they roared into the parking lot behind the park, and Gray killed the engine on his Fat Boy. The lights from the rides sent slashes of neon colors over everything, while music and laughter filled the air. Jeremy slid off the back of the bike, trembling with excitement, his thoughts scattering in a dozen different directions as he tried to decide what he wanted to do first. Then Gray’s fingers slid up his spine, his hand coming to rest on the back of his neck before he gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Do I need to clip my wallet chain to your belt loop, so I don’t lose you in the crowd?” Gray asked.
Jeremy drew in a deep breath, grounded by the feel of Gray’s fingers. “Naa, I’m not gonna run off anywhere. I’d miss you, even if it was just for a few minutes.”
“Well, just in case, I think I’m gonna hang on to my prize while we go look for that stuffed critter you were eager to win,” Gray said, draping an arm over his shoulders.
It was better than a weighted blanket and helped him further organize his thoughts. He’d been hyper all his life, and yet his old man had refused to allow him to be medicated after the first time they’d prescribed him pills. All he remembered of those months was feeling like a zombie and stumbling through his days like he was in a fog, never retaining the things they’d been teaching in school. He’d been grateful when his old man had said enough and argued with his principal, telling the man in a profanity-riddled rant that it was no way to live.
Children are fidgety, for fuck’s sake, and you wanna drug him just to make him sit still in a chair while someone cackles at him about a bunch of shit you don’t need in real life anyway? If you want him to quit squirming around, then give him a reason to sit still. Put something in his hands that he can take apart or create, and you’ll be shocked to see just how focused he can be. He ain’t taking no more medication, and I don’t wanna hear about him being sent out into the halls for being disruptive. If you can’t teach him up at that school, then I’ll figure out how the fuck to teach him at home, but you’re not gonna punish him for being curious about the world and eager to interact with it.
They’d placed him in more interactive classes after that; the same ones Haven had eventually been placed in too.
As they headed into the crowded park, Jeremy knew just how lucky he’d been to grow up with a father who’d always fought for him, even when Jeremy was constantly poking into things he shouldn’t have been.
They passed picnic tables filled with people he’d known all of his life, several who smiled and waved at them, and others who turned their noses up and looked away, shunning him the way they always had, simply because of who his father was.
Fuck them.
Like every small town, there were snobs, and then there were those who never felt like they belonged there in the first place and were constantly searching for something better. Jeremy chose to focus on those who loved it here, enjoyed interacting with their neighbors, and turned up whenever anything exciting was going on.
Like tonight.
Holy crap, the park was packed, and the lines for the rides were long.
Which also meant that the lines for the games and the food carts were shorter than they could have been if those folks waiting to get on the Ferris wheel were busy trying to score cotton candy and funnel cakes.
And oh, holy shit.
Jeremy froze in front of a cart offering caramel apples rolled in toffee bits and drizzled with more caramel. He whipped his wallet out so fast anyone watching would think he was afraid the apple would disappear, despite there being several in the stand, along with candy apples rolled in crushed Jolly Rancher bits.
Beside him, Gray chuckled, wallet in his hand too. “Give me one of those Jolly Ranger ones with the green bits,” Gray said. “They look interesting.”
“A sour apple rolled in sour apple candy sounds amazing,” Jeremy said to the older woman manning the cart. “But I’d love a toffee-covered caramel one, please.”
“So much for funnel cake,” Gray said as they paid for their treats.
“Oh, I’m still gonna get funnel cake,” Jeremy replied. “I’m just willing to wait until after the derby.”
Biting into his apple, Jeremy moaned, juice dripping down his chin as he savored the first taste. When Gray leaned in and lapped it away, their eyes met, and Jeremy held out his apple,wanting him to have a taste of it too. Gray never took his eyes off Jeremy as he bit into it, a wicked smirk creasing his lips as he licked them, winked, and held his apple out for Jeremy to try.
Despite the lights, the laughter, the carnival music, and all the motion around them, it was like they were in their own little world. Biting into that crunchy sweetness, Jeremy was immediately hit with the sour tang too, bright and intense. He took his time chewing and swallowing it, then went up on tiptoes to kiss Gray so he could taste it on his lips.
“I’d forgotten how good fair food was,” Gray murmured as the kiss came to an end. “Or maybe it’s just tasting it on you that makes it the best damned food in the world.”
“Don’t let the old man hear that,” Jeremy quipped, “or he’ll get personally offended on behalf of his barbeque. Or do let him hear it, so he breaks out his recipe for fried Snickers and really gives us a treat.”
Gray threw his head back and laughed, wild and hot as sin, bathed in the neon of the nearby rides.
As hard as waiting had been, as difficult as it was to carry on conversations, let alone deepen a connection through bars and Plexiglas, Jeremy was glad he’d followed his heart and been persistent, even when there had been times when Gray had tried to order him not to come back.
