Jimmy's Brace 03

Jimmy's Brace - 03

I’ll never know how I would have managed without Jimmy. His friendship was unshakable and he never pushed me on the gay issue. We took some time renewing our friendship and ended up being more inseparable than before, if that was possible. Eventually I felt comfortable with talking to him about being Gay. We spent hours at a time discussing how we knew, what we felt, and how to deal with it. Never once did he push me to do anything, even when we resumed our sleepovers.

One Friday evening, a couple of months later, I was spending the evening at his place. We were in a heated video game battle, laughing, cursing and fingers flying as we swore to each other that the other was going down. I glanced over at Jimmy for a second and saw him concentrating hard on the screen, the tip of his tongue poked out a little as he concentrated on beating me. My mind flashed back to the first day we met and like a ton of bricks, it hit me. I was in love with Jimmy. I had absorbed every little idiosyncrasy and quirk of his, along with his personality and friendship from the day we had met. And it had all culminated in a deep love for him.

I stopped playing and sat there looking at him. I was almost unable to comprehend my feelings. He suddenly punched a fist into the air and grinned in triumph.

“Ha sucker, you got owned!” he proclaimed triumphantly. He looked at me with a wide grin on his face. When he saw me, his grin faded and a look of almost panic appeared.

“What?” he asked

I couldn’t make my mouth work and just continued to look at him.

“What?” he repeated, this time the panic evident on his face.

I finally found my voice.

“I love you.”

“Oh is that all? I already knew that.

“No, Jimmy I…..LOVE….YOU.” I said

He sat there for a minute, thinking through what I had said. About the time he realized what I meant and his eyes started to widen, I pounced on him, my lips seeking out his. And this time there was no pushing away.

I couldn’t even begin to describe what happened that night. I was on such an emotional overload that my conscious self couldn’t keep up with what was going on. Jimmy did things to me that left me reeling with passion. And I know I did things to him, but I could never quite remember what they were. The whole night was just one big emotional overload.

The next morning I woke up in a daze. I couldn’t believe how good I felt. And I took just a moment to berate myself for all the wasted time. Especially after I looked at Jimmy, he was still sound asleep but I had never seen him looking happier than he did at that moment. I crept out of bed quietly, feeling like he deserved to sleep as long as possible after the night he had given me.

I made it home in time for breakfast. Things were pretty quite at the table. I noticed my mom and dad giving each other looks. Then my dad looked right at me.

“So Jimmy finally reeled you in did he?” he asked

Orange juice shot out my nose I coughed, sputtered, and finally managed to look indignant.

“What? Jimmy’s my best friend why would you even suggest something like that?”

“Oh come on Brace, We’re not stupid your Mom and I have been watching you two dancing around each other like a pair of blind bats. I’m just glad you finally figured it out. I know we said we’d never interfere but hell I was about ready to lock you both in a room until you DID figure it out.”

I managed to hem and haw a bit but it all became moot when Jimmy burst through the back door, tears streaming down his face.

“I’m sorry Brace,” he said between sobs, “Please don’t hate me again. I didn’t mean to. I thought”

That was as far as he got before I realized what my leaving that morning had caused him to think. Instantly all thoughts of what anyone might think were dashed from my head as I leapt up and pulled him into my arms.

“Shhh Jimmy, it’s ok. I’m sorry I just wanted you to get some sleep and I was hungry. Don’t worry. I love you. I’ve always loved you even if I was too stupid to see it.”

I wiped the tears from his cheeks and bent down to kiss him. Realizing where I was I broke away but when I looked around all I saw were smiles. I guess I was officially out to my family, and from the looks of it, they didn’t care.

It wasn’t long before Jimmy’s family was in on the news and our relationship was given their blessing also.

Once again school started and time flew by. Jimmy and I managed to grow closer, and I became more comfortable with who I was. Spring came around and with it came Junior Prom. After much discussion, Jimmy and I decided we would go together. I guess we were beyond caring what anyone else thought by then.

That night was a nerve racking experience, but a bit of a letdown. Nobody cared. I did catch a couple of dirty looks but all in all nobody treated us any different. I could tell it was a bit of a shock for our friends but it didn’t last too long before they treated us the same as before, although with a bit more teasing.

Jimmy and I had planned to spend the night at a hotel with the help of our parents. So after the prom we started down the highway. I was excited about everything, how well the night went, spending the night with Jimmy away from home and overall just life in general.

I kept glancing at Jimmy while I was driving and could see how excited he was also. I guess I wasn’t paying attention as well as I should have been so when the deer bounded out in front of me I wasn’t ready for it. I slammed on the brakes and swerved into the next lane causing the guy behind me to slam on his brakes and swerve to miss me.

We recovered without hitting anything but I was shaken, my knuckles white on the steering wheel as I concentrated on the road. The guy behind me had moved up in my lane and was tailgating me and that made me even more nervous.

Jimmy noticed and said. “Why don’t you pull off at the next exit and we can sit for a few minutes and calm down?”

I nodded and started looking for the next exit when the guy behind me swung into the other lane sped up then pulled sharply into my lane. I slammed on my brakes and turned the wheel to miss him. I panicked as the car went into a slide and I felt it coming up. I saw Jimmy’s hands shot out to steady himself with the dashboard, and I desperately swung the wheel trying to straighten the car out, but it was too late. With one final lurch, the car seemed to catch and then we were rolling down the freeway. Glass shattered and I was flung back and forth in my seatbelt. The car finally came to a rest on the driver’s side.

I lay there in a daze trying to figure out how hurt I was, when I felt a hot liquid dripping on my face. Looking up in terror, I saw Jimmy hanging limply in his seatbelt, blood dripping off his head. I screamed his name right before everything went black.

I woke up feeling a wet wash cloth on my forehead. I looked around frantically and realized my mom was cradling my head in her lap with a worried look on her face.

“Mom,” I sobbed, “where’s Jimmy? How come I haven’t seen him?”

“Oh honey,” she said as tears ran down her face. “He’s still in the hospital, he hasn’t woken up yet.

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