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June 2015
Ron was buying a liter or twenty of celebratory champagne at King Falls Wine and Spirits – which used to just be called Liquor, the sign barely hanging on in dilapidated letters until Grisham decided that it just wasn’t classy enough for his town and made Brian change the name – when he saw Sammy Stevens in the third aisle standing next to a huge case of gin.
“Sammy!” Ron raised a hand in greeting immediately. He liked Sammy. Met the guy earlier this month at the bass tournament, bullied him a little since he was new in town and all that, but the guy had taken it in his stride.
Ron had seen him a few times since, out and around King Falls, but never without his permanent shadow of Ben Arnold. Ben was a great kid, one of the best. Ron had known Ben and his mom, Betty for what felt like damn near ever, or at least since Ben was young enough not to say his S sounds right. He hadn’t grown much since then, which Ron never missed a chance to rib him about.
But Ron knew that Ben and Sammy were fast friends, and he’d enjoyed Sammy’s company on the few occasions they’d run into one another, so he was a little confused when Sammy didn’t look up immediately, or even seem to recognize that Ron was there.
When he finally did look up, his eyes had the glazed kind of quality that Ron immediately associated with being drunk as all fuck.
“Hey – Ron,” Sammy said, his voice sounding a little hoarse, blinking a few too many times as if to clarify the image of Ron in his head.
Yeah, the guy was definitely too drunk to function right now, let alone be standing in liquor store looking at the display cases forlornly.
“What’s going on, Sammy?” Ron said, because even though he didn’t really know the guy, he felt like he knew him a bit by now. Being Ben’s friend gave him a few points, and besides, there’d been a look in his eye that day at the bass tournament that Ron recognized as a mirror to himself. “You doing alright?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sammy muttered, clearing his throat a couple times, clearly trying to sound as sober as he clearly was not. “What’s…what’s up? What’s with all the – all the – beer?”
“Celebrating,” Ron said with a chuckle, wondering if Sammy knew. Most folks in King Falls wouldn’t, or they’d try to forget it as soon as they heard. “Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage this morning, 5-4.”
Ron could tell in an instant that Sammy already knew; something about him crumpled when Ron said it out loud.
God, the guy was – sad about this? Ron’s quiet suspicion about which way Sammy swung was absolutely confirmed – the straight and narrow of King Falls might be all woe is me over the fact that they didn’t have a monopoly on marriage anymore, but no one looked this wrecked if the decision didn’t affect them personally. The question was why this had put Sammy in some kind of drunken stupor.
“That’s…that’s great, Ron,” Sammy said, a smile halfway on his face, but it seemed to slide off in the next second as he swayed a bit too much for someone standing still. “You – getting married, then?”
“No,” Ron said with a laugh, forcing the old pain down. “Just out celebrating with all of the folks in the tristate who care. I’m gonna head over to Route 72 to pick up Archie Simmons – you met Archie? – and we’re gonna champagne toast with Lindy and Carol over in Big Pine. Not a lot of us out here, most will leave as soon as they get the chance, go to some big city metropolis. But those of us who’ve stuck it out are gonna have a party.”
“Oh,” Sammy said, a little breath puffing out, his shoulders relaxing just a touch. “I – have fun, Ron.”
“You wanna come?” Ron asked, because he wasn’t the type to beat around the bush. Sammy just stared at him, his face betraying no emotion other than shock.
“I – I –” Sammy stammered, and Ron quickly realized without another word that Sammy didn’t just not come out when he moved to this Podunk town, he hadn’t been out when he was a big city radio star either, had probably never been out.
Ron felt a steady stream of sympathy as he patted Sammy’s arm.
“No worries,” Ron said warmly. “Just thought I’d ask. Can I at least give you a ride home? You don’t look like in any state to drive.”
“I ran out of liquor,” Sammy said, eyes wide and apologetic. “So – so I walked here. I don’t know how far…”
“C’mon,” Ron jerked his head toward the door. “And don’t buy anymore or you’re gonna die of alcohol poisoning, and that’s not happening on my watch, you got me?”
Sammy nodded, and Ron noticed his lip was shaking a little, so he quickly took Sammy by the elbow and got him out of the store and toward Ron’s old pick-up.
“You got an address for me?” Ron asked as Sammy stumbled up into the passenger’s, not knowing if Sammy was in any state to remember the address of a place he just moved to.
“The – the only apartment complex on…fifth street,” Sammy said, screwing his face up as if it pained him to remember.
Ron nodded; he knew King Falls like the back of his hand. Only thing he knew better was Lake Hatchenhaw herself. He started the truck up and started making his way down main. It was only a mile or so to get to the apartment, but he didn’t like the thought of Sammy stumbling blind drunk all the way to the liquor store alone.
“Where’s Ben today?” Ron asked, since Sammy and Ben were rarely seen without the other. Sammy had only been in town a couple months and Ron didn’t know how well he’d taken to small town living, but he’d sure taken to Ben Arnold pretty quick.
Sammy shrugged. “Texted this morning,” he said quietly. “I didn’t wanna answer.”
Ron gave Sammy a critical once-over. There was really only one reason why a guy would be crying drunk on one of the happiest days of Ron’s life, and he was pretty sure he knew what the culprit was.
“You got someone to marry, Sammy?” Ron said, matching Sammy’s quiet tone, trying not to push. Ron knew pushing all too well, and he wasn’t the type for it unless the situation was dire.
Ron didn’t have to look at Sammy to know he was crying, so he stayed silent on the subject until they pulled into the apartment complex.
Sammy made a move to unlock the door as Ron pulled up, but Ron put a firm hand on Sammy’s shoulder to stop him.
“I had a bad breakup myself about fifteen years ago,” Ron said, the words a bit foreign even to him. He may be out and proud, but this was surely one of the things he didn’t like to talk about. “Thought we’d be together for the rest of our lives. Turns out, he’s gonna marry someone else. But that’s okay by me. I’ve got everything I need right here in King Falls. It’s all gonna be okay, kid.”
He patted Sammy’s shoulder as Sammy grimaced up at him, his eyes still a little dead. That was alright. It had taken Ron a long ass time to not have that dead look in his eyes every once in a while after Bruce.
“Thanks, Ron,” Sammy said as he stumbled his way out of Ron’s truck and up to the apartment’s front doors. Ron watched him to make sure he knew where his key was before he pulled away.
God, Ron had gotten a vibe from the guy from the first day he met him, but now Sammy Stevens reminded him just a little too much of himself.
June 2016
Running for mayor was taking a lot out of Ron. The bait shack was suffering for it; he didn’t have the time or money for repairs with everything going directly to the campaign. He didn’t have nearly enough time for fishing, and missed Kingsie like hell. She didn’t come up to the shores to say hello, and while Ron was good about getting out on the lake at least once a week to give his girl a few treats, he’d been missing her lately.
But what Ron was not too busy for was noticing that Sammy Stevens was falling apart. Everyone in King Falls and their mother knew that Ben Arnold was destroying himself from the inside out over Emily Potter’s disappearance, but Ron thought maybe he was the only person who noticed the way Sammy looked just as ragged, just as bone-tired as his buddy.
Of course Ron felt horrible for Ben – what happened to Emily was one of the worst things to happen to King Falls just like what happened to Tim. And Ben clearly loved the girl, anyone could see it.
But Ben had support. Whether he was taking it or not, Ron wasn’t sure, but the town knew and wanted to help him. More than that, Ben had Sammy, who Ron knew was an irreplaceable part of Ben’s support system, and maybe the only help he was taking right now.
But Sammy, Ron knew, didn’t have anyone to help him, and was running himself into the ground to keep Ben sane and on the radio every night.
Still, Ben had offered to come cut an ad for Ron’s mayoral campaign, even sounded excited about it, so he had the boys out to his place for dinner one night with Ben bringing along his sound system to yell Ron’s theme music into.
Ben was having difficulty paying attention when the three of them ate, his eyes constantly going in and out of focus, his free hand clenched around a notebook that Ron had heard a little too much about over the radio.
Sammy kept glaring at the notebook, and Ron instinctively knew that Sammy had told Ben that he was not to use it tonight.
“Ben, you want to run down to the shack and get some treats for Kingsie?” Ron said as they finished up their fried chicken. “I’ll take you boys out on the lake before you go and see if we can catch a glimpse.”
Ben grinned, just a little, and there was a spark of that twelve year old kid that used to come down to the shack every other weekend, begging Ron to take him out on the boat so he could see the lake monster.
“Sure thing, BRB!” Ben bolted up from the table, but still kept his notebook clenched in his fist.
“Just say be right back!” Sammy called after him, mock-annoyed, and turning to roll his eyes in Ron’s direction as if to make fun of the youth, which was actually pretty rich of him seeing as how Sammy was closer to Ben’s age than he was to Ron’s, but Ron didn’t get Ben out of the room just to make fun of him. There were more pressing matters at hand.
“He’s alright,” Sammy said softly, looking back after Ben’s retreating form. “Better than he was before, at least. I think he’ll be okay as long as I make sure –”
“Much as I care about Ben, I wanted to talk about you,” Ron said, trying to sound as kindly and not pushy as possible, even as Sammy’s shoulders tensed up. “How are you holding up?”
Sammy shrugged, not meeting Ron’s eye.
Ron knew that Sammy knew that Ron knew he was gay, but they hadn’t talked about it in the past year, just made occasional meaningful eye contact when something particularly straight was happening when they were both around. Sammy was the type to run off if Ron brought it up, so Ron hadn’t brought it up.
Ron understood shame. He was pushing fifty-five, and most gay men in his generation hadn’t made it that far into their lives. It was only when he left King Falls that he’d tentatively lived out in the open, and that had only been easier because there was Bruce. The fact that they were both still around was a miracle in itself, even if they didn’t make it together.
Sammy was too young to know about any of that, though. He wasn’t too young not to understand, because Ron was sure even the little kids he saw running around that would grow up to be like him would always understand shame better than those around them, but they didn’t quite come from shame like Ron did.
“I’m fine,” Sammy said firmly, and they both knew it was a lie. “Ben’s really the one who –”
“I know damn well Ben’s the one who,” Ron said, not leaving any room for Sammy to butt in. “But you’re the one who’s taking care of the kid, more so than the rest of us put together. And that’s taking a toll on you.”
“That obvious?” Sammy said, running a hand through his hair with a little smile on his face.
Ron nodded. “You look exhausted. Take care of Ben, God knows he needs it, but take care of yourself, too, you hear me?”
“I’ll try,” Sammy said, and Ron knew perfectly well that he would not. Sammy was an honest guy, a brutally honest guy, but Ron recognized a stretch of the truth when he saw one, and Sammy Stevens was all about stretching the truth, not that Ron blamed him for it.
“You busy this weekend?” Ron asked, deciding to push in one way and not the other. Sammy shook his head, tilting his head confusedly. “I’m driving up to Denver to pick up some campaign stickers. You could tag along. I used to live up there so I can show you all the good places to drink.”
Sammy immediately knew what Ron meant, if the way he blushed was anything to go by. “I – um –”
“I ain’t asking you out if that’s what you’re worried about,” Ron said, the thought occurring to him with a laugh. “You’re too young for me by half. I’m just sayin’ I can show you around. You ever been to a gay club before?”
“Course I have,” Sammy said, his lips twitching just slightly. “Like. In college.”
“So it’s been awhile,” Ron said and Sammy just sighed. “Come on. It’s June – that’s the month for Pride now.”
“I’m pretty sure every month is Pride for you, Ron,” Sammy said with a sardonic yet affectionate shake of his head, and Ron could what Sammy was thinking, that he wished he could spend a second feeling something anywhere close to pride.
“Ain’t always been that way,” Ron said quietly. He didn’t like to think about that, but he thought Sammy needed to hear it. “First twenty-five years of my life, I kept it all under wraps. Got married to this girl – high school sweetheart – when I was nineteen. But then she left me for a friend of mine, and I got the hell out of dodge and lived in Denver for a few years.”
Sammy watched him intently, his eyes a little wide, and Ron knew that no matter how much it hurt, he had to keep going, because Sammy might be a grown ass man but when it came to stuff like this he was a scared kid that Ron could really help if he tried.
“Met my ex there – Bruce,” Ron said, the memory twisting in his stomach, but it wasn’t as bad as he remembered it being. “First time I ever lived openly was with him. We were together ten years – but then my dear old dad died and I knew I had to come back to King Falls. Missed this place like hell all those years, but thought it was worth it to live openly. Didn’t think I could do it here.”
Ron cleared his throat as a couple tears welled up. “But I did. I moved back – without Bruce, he wouldn’t come, hardest thing I ever did was choose King Falls over him. But it’s my home in a way that no big city could ever be. And I decided that small town small minds weren’t worth jack shit and lived as openly as I could and didn’t care what anyone said about me. I did care for a few years there, but I toughened up and now I can honestly say I don’t. I just had to buck up and get used to it. It got easier.”
“I’m not…” Sammy said, staring down at his hands. “I’m not that brave, Ron.”
“I ain’t askin’ you to declare it live on the radio,” Ron told him, laughing a little. “I’m askin’ you to come have a fun weekend with me in a town a few hundred miles away.”
Sammy was silent for a moment before shaking his head jerkily, not meeting Ron’s eyes. “I’m – I’m sorry, but I can’t, Ron. I wish I could.”
“This about Ben?” Ron asked, and Sammy didn’t answer. “Or the guy who broke your heart and made you think it was a good idea to move to the middle of nowhere, USA?”
That made Sammy look up, his eyes suddenly wide with fear. “I – I don’t –”
“Breakups are rough,” Ron said, “and they take a long time to get over. But you’ll get there someday. And as for Ben, Ben can live for a weekend without you. Or hell, he can come, too. I don’t think the kid’s gay but he could use a distraction and a good time. And I know he’d love you the same.”
“I know,” Sammy said, and at least that he didn’t have any hesitation about, even if he said the words a little too miserably. “But he’s…fragile right now, I can’t just spring that on him.”
“Take it from me, Sammy – there’ll always be an excuse not to tell someone,” Ron said, years of experience swimming somewhere up in his head. “But anyone worth sticking around for isn’t gonna care.”
They were cut off as Ben bounded back into the room, a little out of breath lugging a huge used dog food bag that Ron had filled up with all kinds of goodies marked KINGSIE.
“How big is this lake monster?” Sammy said as he noticed the bag, a little alarmed, and Ben and Ron both laughed at him.
The conversation was clearly over, but Ron hoped that Sammy would at least tell Ben one of these days, so they could help each other out of their respective black holes.
June 2017
Ron was running out of ideas.
The bait shack had been losing money steadily ever since November – and wasn’t that just like fucking Grisham – and his community service hours on top of all of it weren’t helping Ron feel any better about his situation, financial or otherwise.
All the years his father and grandfather had poured into the shack and Ron was going to waste it away. He’d be the last one, too, since he’d never have a son to pass it on to. Maybe Ben could take it someday, but that would never happen if Ron kept losing out on money. Another few years of this and he’d have to close down, and Grisham wasn’t looking to give up on making his life a living hell anytime soon.
“What can I do?” Sammy asked, serious as could be, over drinks at the bar on Main Street. It was a Saturday night so Sammy and Ben didn’t have to head up to the radio station in a few hours, and Ben had taken full advantage by drinking way too much than his tiny body could handle, and had gone off to argue with Pete Myers at the corner booth a good ten minutes ago and didn’t show any signs of coming back. “I’ll help with anything.”
“I know you will,” Ron said, because Sammy was nothing if not dependable. “I’ve got a few ideas for money-making. Some special events coming up and such. I did want to ask you about one thing specifically, though.”
“What’s that?” Sammy said, taking a brief swig of his beer. Ron waited until he was done drinking just in case he was going to do a spit take.
“I was thinking about doing something for Pride later this month,” Ron said, trying to keep his voice casual. “A parade or something of the like.”
“Okay,” Sammy said slowly, and though he wasn’t running away, he quickly tensed up. “That would be…cool. Are there enough people in King Falls that would come to it, though?”
“No idea,” Ron said because he really didn’t know. Most people were pleasant to his face, but he knew perfectly well they weren’t behind closed doors. “Which is why I’m not gonna spend the money on it unless you think it’s a good idea.”
“I – me?” Sammy said, blinking a couple of times.
“You hear people talk shit, I’m sure, and they don’t know better than to not say it around you,” Ron explained himself. “But either way, I don’t wanna have Pride unless you feel like you can be a part of it, alright?”
“Don’t put that on me, Ron,” Sammy said, taking a very long drink.
“I’m not putting anything on you,” Ron said. “I’ve got plenty of other ideas, and ones that’ll probably be more universally popular and make me a few more bucks. But Pride isn’t meant to be a moneymaker, it’s meant to be a celebration. So I’m asking all of the folks in town who have a vested interest – you, Archie, Dwayne and Kirk, Carol and Lindy, Janice –”
“Janice Finkle?” Sammy said with a laugh before quickly sobering up. “I – I don’t want to take this away from anyone else if I say no, Ron.”
“You think you’re the only person in town nervous about this?” Ron asked, shaking his head. “C’mon, Sammy, most of us have a lot more practice with the closet than you do, even if you’re a bit too attached to it. Give me your honest answer.”
Sammy ran a hand through his hair, which had gotten quite a bit longer over the years. Ron wondered if it was a result of Sammy being more comfortable with himself or if he was just not paying enough attention to it.
“I would go. I would be supportive of it,” Sammy said slowly, “but only as someone without a vested interest. I don’t think I can – can tell anyone. And even if I could, I’d need to tell Ben first.”
He looked across the room at Ben, who was half-falling down drunk as he and Pete yelled something about potato chips at one another – or was it French fries? Their argument had been devolving for a while now, that was for sure, since neither of them were anywhere close to sober.
“Work on how to tell Ben, then,” Ron said, deciding to close the topic for now. “Some of the others I talked to have similar reservations. Even if they’re out, they’re nervous about being that out. We’ll see if I’m still on my feet next year and talk about it again, alright?”
Sammy nodded, a bittersweet smile twisting on his face. “I still want to help you, though. What can I do?”
“Buying me this beer would be a good start,” Ron said, hitting his glass against Sammy’s with a clink. “I’ll think of something else that you and Ben can help me with one of these days, alright?”
Sammy stared at Ron for a second, and then something changed in his eyes. “I can think of something.”
The next day, Ron found a check waiting for him at the bait shack for more money than Ron had had in his bank account in ages. It was accompanied by a note in Sammy’s messy scrawl that said don’t pay me back.
“Damn fool,” Ron muttered under his breath as he whipped out his cell phone, intending to set Sammy straight on the record that Ron would damn sure pay him back no matter how long it took.
June 2018
Ron had a different plan of action this year, one he knew would work, because the obvious first step that he’d been missing all this time was that he needed to go through Ben.
Sammy couldn’t say no to anything Ben asked of him, and that was a fact. So Ron dialed up Ben a few days before the start of June.
“We’re going to have Pride in King Falls this year,” Ron said by way of greeting.
“Fuck yes,” Ben said immediately, real excitement in his voice the likes of which Ron hadn’t heard in a while.
May had been rough as hell on everyone, but Sammy most of all. His outing had hit Ron harder than he’d ever expected, if only because it was done so cruelly and thoughtlessly, and then to hear Sammy’s story when it should have just been Ben’s to hear…
Ron hated himself for not seeing it sooner, that the haunted look in Sammy’s eyes wasn’t the kind of thing caused by a breakup and could be fixed by a night out. He’d just projected a little too much of his own past onto Sammy.
But this month, ever since that awful night when the radio tower fell, had given Ron some time to make up for that. Sammy had been out at the bait shack a few times a week, asking what he could do, looking more than a little lost.
He was living with Ben now, Ron knew – in Sammy’s words, Ben had an octopus grip on him and wouldn’t let go, which Ron felt was pretty justified after everything that had happened.
Ben had always been Sammy’s shadow, but he seemed to be taking that role even more seriously than he ever had, permanently sticking himself to Sammy’s side, which Ron thought might make dates with Emily a little awkward, but figured that the girl was probably used to it by now.
Sammy had promised Ron that he wouldn’t kill himself, and Ron believed him, but he was damn well going to show Sammy some support this year and even if the guy still couldn’t have any pride of his own, the town could have pride for him.
“I love it,” Ben said after Ron explained himself. “I’ll do whatever you need. I’ll organize floats, I’ll get the King Falls High Marching Band, I’ll get some performers – not Dusty Reynolds, he does not belong at Pride, but one of those acts from the Ambient Music Festival could come. We can get Troy to file all the permits, we can sue for discrimination if Grisham tries to put a stop to this – oh, damn, I hope we can sue Grisham –”
Ron just laughed. There was no one in the world like Ben Arnold, that was for sure, and he knew the kid was itching to have something to do with the radio station out of commission.
“I’ll start working on Sammy now,” Ben said. “Give me…oh, a week, and he’ll have agreed. I’ll need to ease him into it, lay some groundwork first, but I can do it.”
Two weeks and a few hundred donations from town members later, and the entirety of the main street of King Falls was decked out in rainbows. Streamers hung from the trees, a dozen and a half floats were lined up on Old Bombing Range Road waiting to come into town, and it seemed like at least half of King Falls had come out in rainbow attire.
“Just so you know,” Ron said to Sammy as the festivities around them buzzed excitedly in anticipation for the floats to roll by, “this wouldn’t have happened a year ago. This is all you.”
Sammy blushed, looking at his feet. Ben had somehow wrangled him into wearing a pride t-shirt – it wasn’t anything fancy, just had the icon of a pride flag in the middle of his chest – but Ron wouldn’t be surprised if Ben had to wrestle it onto him.
“No, this is all you,” Sammy said, his voice quiet but more than a little awed anyway. “You’re the trailblazer here, Ron, who ran for mayor despite the odds. You’re the leader of the Resistance. This is you.”
“Alright, so it’s both of us,” Ron said with a shrug. “And also at least a little Ben, who’s out there vying for the title of ally of the year.”
Ben poked his head between theirs as he pushed his way to the front of the crowd, wearing about six different rainbow-themed additions to his outfit, from rainbow shorts to socks to sunglasses.
“Allies don’t need to be rewarded for having human decency,” Ben said with a solemn nod before he turned on the bullhorn in one of his hands and Ron winced for impact. “Ten minutes until parade start, people! Please do not cross the yellow line or the horses will poop on you!”
“We have horses?” Sammy said with a long blink and Ron nodded in the affirmative.
“And pomchis, which should surprise no one,” Ron said. “Hell, I would’ve gotten Kingsie out here to be her own float if I could have.”
“Ben tried to get Paul Pawtucket’s hunting dogs involved as well but it wouldn’t take,” Emily said as she approached from the edge of the crowd, wearing a rainbow sundress. “Sorry I’m late, the library was packed up until now. I added an LGBT Youth Lit section this past week and it’s been empty ever since. Hi, Sammy! Hi, Ron!”
“No hi for me?” Ben grinned as he pulled the bullhorn away from his mouth and Emily rolled her eyes at him.
“Hi, Ben, I saw you fifteen minutes ago,” Emily laughed. “But hi.”
“Well, I’ve gotta get going to the bait shack’s float,” Ron said, feeling more than a little proud of Sammy for even standing there in the midst of all this. “Ms. Potter, if you’d like to accompany me, I can drop you off at the library’s float.”
“Sounds great!” Emily grinned up at him, side-stepping Ben and Sammy to follow him away from the main drag. “I’ll meet up with you guys for the party later!”
“Right, there’s a party, too,” Sammy said, his voice long-suffering, but Ron could tell there was something awestruck in there, too.
As far as Ron could tell, Sammy made it through the parade without imploding, and by the time he and Emily found Ben and Sammy again in the park off Main Street Square where the party was planning on going all night, they were both more than a little tipsy off of the rainbow colored drinks Doyle mixed everyone.
“Emily!” Ben threw his arms around his girlfriend the moment he saw her, which was more than a little sweet. Ron supposed that some straight people were allowed to exist for Pride, but he was limiting it just to the two of them for now.
“Enjoy the parade, Sammy?” Ron clapped Sammy on the back. He looked more relaxed since having something to drink, and even grinned at Ron, happier than Ron could remember seeing him in ages.
“Yeah, it was cool,” Sammy said, his voice more than a little affectionate. “Have any horses poop on you?”
“Not me, but Archie Simmons might be a little late to the party since one of his prize pomchis got diarrhea,” Ron laughed, and Sammy, Ben, and Emily all joined in, a little harder than needed, but it was a good night that deserved some laughs.
“Oh, Ron,” he heard Archie’s voice sigh from the park bench across from them as Archie made his way over toward them, wearing the most prideful outfit next to Ben’s, with a handmade rainbow suit that he’d been working on all month ever since Ron told him they were working on having pride. “You’re so uncouth. I got Jezzamine to take the dogs home so I could come have a good time with the rest of you.”
“Happy pride, Archie!” Emily said, leaning up to peck Archie on the cheek. Archie blushed but hugged her all the same – Archie wasn’t like Ron, wasn’t the type to be out and proud, but he was the type that everyone assumed things about. Just because they were true hadn’t made Archie’s life any easier, Ron was all too aware. Archie was even older than he was, and had a tougher time hiding behind closed doors.
“Yeah, happy pride!” Ben leaned over to hug Archie, too, which Archie accepted gracefully and without any unnecessary flirting, Ron was pleased to see.
“Well, Benny, I’d kiss you to celebrate but I don’t want to make this little lady here jealous,” Archie patted Ben’s cheek all the same. “And I figure if you’re kissing anyone but her tonight, it’ll be Shotgun here.”
“Hey, no,” Sammy said, even though he laughed. “C’mon, Ben’s not gonna kiss me.”
“Well, I will,” Archie said, and reached over, but only kissed Sammy’s cheek. “I’d see if you wanted more but I know you’ve got a man to marry waiting for you.”
“Thanks, Archie,” Sammy said, blushing more than a little, and that haunted look creeped back in his eye. Ron couldn’t let that stand tonight, though – he knew not having Jack was tearing Sammy apart, and that everything about this night would be bittersweet without him, but it was his job to make Sammy forget that, if even just for one second.
“Well, c’mere, you old bastard,” Ron reached a hand out toward Archie. “I know you’ve been dying to have me for ages, but –”
“Oh, you curmudgeonly old –” Archie started in with a roll of his eyes but Ron didn’t let him finish before he kissed him square on the lips. He didn’t use tongue – he didn’t want Archie getting any ideas – but the two of them had been the only two men in town brave enough to live their lives the way they did, and Ron wanted to celebrate how far they’d made it, that they could both stand on a street in broad daylight and kiss just for the hell of it.
Ben whooped as Sammy and Emily laughed, and Archie hugged the hell out of Ron as they broke apart.
“Alright, I think I do have to kiss Sammy, though,” Ben said, his voice sounding a little too gleeful.
“No,” Sammy said, backing away slowly but his laugh was giving him away. “You really don’t.”
Ben broke down with a laugh as well. “It’s just – you’re so tall – I’m not gonna – be able to reach –”
Ben could barely get the words out he was laughing so hard, and Emily quickly interrupted with a bright smile. “Get on my shoulders, Benny – you can be even taller than him that way.”
Ben’s eyes lit up as Sammy said “Wait – wait, no – you guys are ganging up on me –”
“I’ll help you up,” Archie said brightly as Emily crouched down and Ben climbed on top of her shoulders without another thought.
“People are staring,” Sammy said, putting a hand over his face and peeking through his fingers as Archie helped keep Ben balanced as Emily stood up.
Ron surveyed, making sure Sammy really wasn’t uncomfortable with this, but the guy was still smiling, smiling in a way Ron hadn’t seen all year. He had support now, and it honestly looked like he was going to take it, that his unfortunate run-in with suicide had turned a new leaf for him where he was actually willing to believe that the people around him loved and cared about him.
It was one of the proudest moments of Ron’s life.
“I’m gonna run away,” Sammy said even though he made no moves to do so. “And you’re not gonna be able to chase me.”
“We can try!” Ben yelped as he almost lost his balance, but Archie kept him steady. Even on Emily’s shoulders, Ben was only a head or two taller than Sammy, but he leaned down and kept a tight hold on Sammy’s face to keep from falling.
They stared at each other for a second, both clearly seconds from laughing, before Sammy stood on his toes and Ben kissed him for at least a full three seconds before Ben fell off of Emily’s shoulders and into Sammy’s chest.
Sammy could only hold him for half a second before they both fell backwards into the dirt, laughing their asses off with no signs of stopping.
“You’re the worst!” Sammy said, shoving at Ben. “I’m gonna have bruises!”
“So am I!” Ben shoved right back. “Totally worth it, though!”
“Yeah, whatever,” Sammy said with a laugh, but his eyes were soft and affectionate as Ron helped him to his feet.
The night ended in a fireworks display donated by Tim and Mary Jensen, finally back on their feet and wanting to give something back to the community that had helped them so much, but Ron knew they were doing it for Sammy more so than anyone else.
Sammy had gotten a little more melancholic as the evening ended, but he still had a look in his eye that he couldn’t quite believe he was here, in a good way.
Ron reached over to clap him on the shoulder before the fireworks could end and Sammy turned to him with a bashful grin.
“Good night?” Ron asked, and Sammy just laughed.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “The best. I just wish Jack could’ve been here.”
“Hey,” Ron squeezed his shoulder. “Next year, alright? That’s a promise.”
“I don’t think that’s the kind of thing that can be promised –” Sammy started, the seeds of doubt in his eyes, but Ron cut him off.
“But it is one,” Ron said, leaving no room for argument. Sammy bit his lip before nodding, accepting Ron’s word for it.
June 2019
Ron was in the studio before Sammy and Jack arrived, listening to Ben jabber a mile a minute about how he thought he could probably book multiple musical guests this year and they could make Pride a weekend-long event instead of just a day.
“So I thought we could start by looking into the businesses from last year – oh, hey, Jack! Sammy! Happy pride!”
Ben bounded up from his chair the second Sammy and Jack came in the studio, hugging Jack first before he and Sammy shoved at each other for a couple seconds in their most antagonistic version of a hug.
“Happy….pride?” Jack said, looking a little confused. “Ben, why is your entire outfit a rainbow?”
“It’s June first,” Ben said as if that explained it, which, well, it did. “Pride month. Ron’s here to talk about putting together the parade. It’s three weeks from Saturday!”
Jack laughed a little incredulously, though he waved at Ron when he noticed he was sitting in the guest’s seat. “King Falls is big enough for pride?”
“Not really,” Sammy said. “They tried it for the first time last year and it went okay.”
“If by okay you mean it was a raging success, then yes, it went okay,” Ben said, kicking at Sammy’s leg. “C’mon, you liked it!”
“I liked it,” Sammy admitted before turning to Jack with a bit of a sheepish smile. “You’ll like it, too. It’s…fun.”
“I’m sure,” Jack said, that same kind of awestruck look in his eye that Sammy still got every once in a while when someone was openly supportive of him. “I just – wow. Pride. I’ve never been to a pride parade.”
“There’s a first for everything,” Ron said, getting up to shake Jack’s hand. He’d met the guy multiple times before, but it was always nice to see him. Jack was a great guy, hyper smart like Ben and with movie star good looks. “I’ve been out damn near thirty years and it was my first pride, too. I’m here to yack your ear off about it for a few when the show starts, so you can learn all about it then.”
“Sounds great,” Jack said, laughing a little, sharing a quick look with Sammy as they sit down opposite Ron and Ben.
“Welcome to King Falls AM,” Ben said into the microphones a moment later. “Tonight we’ve got Ron Begley in studio to talk about the second annual King Falls Pride Parade, quickly becoming the favorite new tradition of our little mountain town. So how about it, Ron? Is Pride this year going to be bigger and better than ever?”
“Well, Ben,” Ron said, “I promised Sammy last year that this Pride would have what the last one was missing, and I think that even if we threw in the towel now, this Pride would be the greatest the town’s ever seen.”
“Oh, shut up,” Sammy leaned forward into his mic. “I’m sure Jack’s ego thanks you for that but –”
“Jack’s ego can speak for itself, but thank you, Ron,” Jack said with a laugh, and Sammy’s hand reached over to squeeze his from where they both sat on table.
Ron was pretty damn proud of that.