“Woah,” Reece says, looking out the passenger side window. “Holy shit.”
“I know,” I say, glancing over at him. He has his muzzle pressed up to the glass like a kid watching TV. “I know, man.”
“Miller…” he laughs, then turns to me, putting a hoof on my paw that’s on the wheel. He’s done that a few times in the drive over already, which I keep reminding him is not the safest thing he could be doing. I let it go this time because I get it, I really do. “It is exactly like you described.”
“You think?”
“I have heard you tell me so many stories about this town, but seeing it in real life is just creepy. This is it. This is where you grew up.”
Right on cue, the town sign emerges on the left. “Stetson Springs, West Virginia” it says in white painted letters, partially obscured from the overgrowth. “Population 400.”
“Woah!” he exclaims. “Holy shit. Here we are. This is where it all began.”
“Reece.”
He does a movie announcer voice. “Stetson Springs, West Virginia. Coming to you this summer in a theatre near you.”
I can’t help but laugh. I guess it’s good he can’t pick up on how completely petrified I am right now, because Reece is just being his normal silly self.
“Okay, so, I know it seems like these woods go on forever, but that’s because there’s a lot of land that’s considered Stetson Springs. The core of the town is located in a space about the size of our campus.”
“Is that–” he points out the window at the stream running past, obscured by a few trees. “The stream you would go skinny dipping in?”
“It’s all one stream,” I say. “Whole town connected to it. And don’t put it like that.”
“You weren’t skinny dipping?”
“I was a dumb teen without a phone. It’s not like I was, you know, ‘skinny dipping,’” I say with all the liberal arts-dripping emphasis I can, “Like that’s just what you do here. You go down to the stream and you don’t bring your swim trunks.”
“Dude.” He grins at me. “You are gripping that wheel so hard.”
“I’m nervous!” I almost bark. “I’m nervous, okay?”
That seems to get through to him. He gives it a second and lays back into his seat. “What were you saying?”
“So just… going over it one more time. We’re going to go drive to my house. They’re having a kind of welcome home potluck, so there’s going to be a lot of people I know there. Some of my family – mom, dad, Jenna, Chrissy, Kirsten, okay? – and a lot of people from town. You’ll meet everyone. You are my roommate, remember? Not my boyfriend.”
“But–”
“Reece, please.”
“But I’m… okay, I am your roommate, haha, but that’s not…” He whines a little. “C’mon.”
“I told them you were my roommate, okay? I just need a day to read the room and then I’ll tell them if I think it’ll go over well.”
“Your family are great people, dude. What are you worried about?”
“You don’t know my family. Why do you think you know my family?”
“Because I know you, babe, and you’re great. And you talk about this place so warmly. I dunno.” He taps his hooves together in frustration. “I’m sorry. I don’t know them.”
“I’m not trying to be an asshole, I’m–” I huff. “I’m sorry. I really appreciate you coming home with me. I’m glad you’re here. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“I’m glad I’m here too. I can’t wait to meet everyone.”
There are cars parked up and down the whole street. I find a parking spot in a ditch a street away and we walk there. The rumble of a family gathering gradually gets louder. Reece tries to grab my paw before realizing he probably shouldn’t. The back fence is already open. We walk through the front yard and through the fence where the reunion is happening.
And there it is. The furthest place in the world from college. Everyone I have ever met is here, playing in the pool, sunbathing, drinking beers and talking, standing around the grill, just about everything. I have about five seconds to take it all in before my mother takes notice of me and flags us over.
“Miller!” my mom says. “Honey, come over here.” She envelops me in a hug that I don’t try to get out of. It’s like all of college is melting off of me in the Southern sun, like I’m taking off a coat and throwing it away in the closet. She kisses my forehead a few times. My dad stands to the side and watches approvingly.
“Hi, ma,” I whisper. I let her hug me as long as she wants. Her hair is more gray than it used to be.
I pull away and my dad pats me on the back twice. “She missed you more than anything around here,” he says, which is the closest he can get to saying ‘I love you.’ “We all did.”
I look back at Reece. He is grinning ear to ear at me.
“Oh, um,” I say. “This is my roommate Reece.” I notice already that my accent is much thicker without me intending it. Code switching rules!
We repeat the same process we just did. My mom yelps “Reece!” and then envelops him in a hug even though they’ve never met before in their life. Reece is a good sport about it, though. “You’re a handsome young man, aren’t you?” she says. “My son picks good company!”
Reece laughs it off. “I appreciate it, Mrs. Roberts.”
“Please, don’t call me that. Makes me sound like my mother. Sorry ma! Call me Anna.”
“Anna. It’s nice to meet you.”
My father gives Reece a handshake. “How ya doin’, kid?” he asks like he’s asked every single friend I’ve ever had since I was 5, his mouth barely visible under his mustache. At least he hasn’t changed at all.
“I’m doing great! Thank you both for having me over.”
“We’re glad to have you,” my dad says.
“Go have some fun,” my mom adds. “Plenty to eat. We’ll catch up later.”
“Thank you both,” Reece says with a nod. My mom takes our luggage from us.
I just smile blankly as my dad walks back to the grill and my mom goes over to some of her girl friends to talk about what a polite young man Reece is and how his girlfriend is probably so happy and how he fills women with semen on the reg. Reece and I back up towards the screen door before anyone can catch us in conversation.
“I love your parents,” Reece says. “They are so cute. I love his mustache so much. I want to tweeze it off.”
“My mom wants to take a bite of you, oh my god.”
“What is with your accent, dude? I have never ever ever heard you talk like that before.”
“LIke what?”
“‘Laaik wuuut?’”
“That was mean. I’m from West Virginia. I’m gonna talk like that when I’m here.”
“I’m sorry,” he says, putting a hand on my arm. “Hey, I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to mock you.”
“I mean, it was accurate, it was just mean.”
“‘Wut,’” he says, trying to do the accent again. I hope we don’t all sound like that. “‘Do ah sound laaik uh wes virginyin?’’”
“No. No. Don’t do that. Not good. Not accurate. Also don’t call me baby right now.”
He pulls his arm off. “Okay. Sorry. Anyway, this is really awesome. Do you wanna go schmooze?”
I laugh. “You wanna? I can also show you my bedroom.”
“We can do that later! I wanna meet everyone!”
After grabbing a hot dog for the both of us, we go around and introduce Reece to everyone. It’s really a good smorgasbord of all of the people from my life – pretty much all of the neighbors from my street, all of my sisters’ moody teenage friends, half of my extended family. I have to introduce people with qualifiers like “this is my not-first-cousin Angie!” and Reece just has to take it. We talk about summer gardens and Diet Coke and family gossip and Church and bad cookin’ and just about everything else there is to talk about.
He has particular fun with the more bro-y guys here, the kind wearing Carhartt and who have sunburns all over their body. They’re construction workers and really actually need to wear clothes like that, by the way. It’s not just a fad. He tries to mimic their flat way of speaking and calls them “bro” back.
Everyone is really impressed with my very East Coast roommate – they ask him where he’s from (New York) and what he’s studying (Premed, to which they go “Ooh, a doctor! A doctor, honey!”) and he does a majority of the conversation making. Reece fits in better here than me, honestly.
It’s an hour later when my littlest cousin Ava is screaming to us about the mud turtle she caught when I’m finally tired of this. “Reece,” I say. “Let me go show you the sleeping arrangement.”
“Alright! See you later, little lady,” he says to Ava, who goes back to playing in the mud without any resistance.
I walk Reece through the house and to my bedroom. It’s definitely been cleaned up since I was last in here. I guess the twins didn’t want to separate rooms because it hasn’t been turned into a 14-year-olds Taylor Swift vs. Jellycat battleground. My Magic the Gathering posters are still on the wall and my gay porn magazines are still probably stuffed under the mattress.
“I like it,” he says. “Very 16-year-old boy.”
“Thanks.” I sit on the bed. “Ugh.”
“You okay, babe?” He sits and puts an arm around me. I close the blinds. “C’mon, cutie, what’s up?”
“It’s all a lot.”
“Your family is so freaking cool. I love all these guys.”
“You really liked Jake. You got more words out of him than I ever could.”
“C’mon, how could I not? He digs culverts for a living. He’s like a real proper Southern boy.”
I lie down. “They all liked you too.”
“What can I say?” He flexes and kisses his biceps. “Just kidding, haha.”
“I mean, you’re right. You’re so much more extraverted and masculine and–”
“Hey hey hey.” He kisses my forehead. “Miller, c’mon. You’re okay.”
We cuddle for a little bit. It’s the most action anyone’s gotten on this bed ever, considering all I did in this bed in high school was jerk off three times a day into the crusty sheets. It’s so odd having Reece in here but he’s being so normal about it. He’s being so nice and talking to everyone so well.
After a while he gets up and gives me another kiss on the forehead. “Do you wanna go swim? Get some grub?”
“Maybe…”
“Do you need some alone time?”
“I’m gonna go talk to Kirsten, okay?”
“Sure. Do you mind if I swim?”
“Go ahead.”
“Coooool. I’m gonna change. See you in a sec, baby.”
I head back outside and look around for Kirsten. She’s lying on one of the chairs in a black bikini, sunglasses over her eyes. I think she entered her goth phase since I’ve been gone, which just about checks out.
“So…” she says when I take the seat next to her. “Roommate.”
I laugh. “First words you’ve said to me this whole time.”
“You’re telling me he’s your roommate and you don’t want me to call you out on it?”
“Is it obvious?”
It’s her turn to laugh now.
“Shut up!” I say.
“Is he good to you?”
“He’s great. He sort of runs his mouth off sometimes but that’s just because he’s a little hyper… but he’s so fun and so nice.”
“I’m glad. He’s cute.”
“I know. Mom thinks so too.”
“Ewwww. Of course she would.”
“He’s really getting along well with everyone. He fits in so well.”
She raises her sunglasses and looks past me. “You think?”
“What?”
She motions to the same place she’s looking. I turn my head around.
Reece is standing at the top of the deck in a bright green Speedo and sunglasses over his eyes. Nothing else.
“Bull fucking shit,” I say.
He goes over and cohorts with Jake and his crowd. One of them pats him on the back and hands him a beer. He’s the tallest and manliest among a bunch of tall and manly men, with his big pecs and big arms and his tiny Speedo. He’s the only deer here and his antlers tower above everyone else. Reminder, he’s in a tiny little green Speedo. The color of a reflective jacket. Where the hell did he get that?
“Are you gonna go wrangle your boyfriend?”
“I…” I try. “Um. Jesus H.”
He finishes up with his bros and goes to the beginning of the pool. He takes a step in and enjoys the cool water on his hooves. Don’t get me wrong, he looks so fucking hot, but I cannot believe he’s in a freaking Speedo in front of everyone.
“Yeah,” I finally say.
“Go have fun,” Kirsten says.
“Don’t, um… tell anyone else, please.”
“I won’t!” she intones.
I take a seat at the edge of the pool near him, dipping my cargo shorts into the water.
Reece smiles at me. “Hey! You likey?”
“Where did you get that from?”
“I bought it before we came. Thought it would help me fit in.”
“You think West Virginians wear Speedos?”
“They don’t?”
“Do you see anyone here– they wear them in Europe, man.”
He laughs. “Oh well. I think it looks good.”
“You look great.”
“You wanna come in with me?”
“I think I’m just going to watch.”
“Awesome!”
I watch as Reece dives into the pool and immediately goes and plays with my 11-year-old cousin and his friends, who all of course think he’s the coolest guy in the world. He joins in on this game where they’re shooting water guns at each other. At one point he lets one of them climb on his back so they can do water wrestling, I guess. They are laughing like crazy.
It’s probably been family gossip for years that I’m gay, ever since I got that haircut as a 12 year old and I stopped coming out of my room. But it’s a whole other thing for me to bring my hulking deer boyfriend to a family reunion and for him to be wearing a construction worker green Speedo in an effort to fit in. Clearly everyone likes him so much better than me. They’d probably never expect that he’s gay – they’re not as smart as Kirsten. I put my face in my paws and moan. I don’t know what the hell to do.
I can’t look at him anymore. I climb out of the pool and head back towards my room.