Page 9 of Social Sinners

“I’m failing to see the humor here,” I informed him.

“Really? What you just went through not only gave me the courage to finally come out, but it virtually bitch slapped our piece of shit father upside the head.”

Through my anger, I could see Nathan and Randy hanging on to every word during our exchange. Hell, all the kids were, but their attention never wavered. Easton walked in, which was a good thing as it kept me from blowing up which was something none of these kids needed to bear witness to. Seattle was extremely forward with LGBTQ initiatives, which made this an even harder pill to swallow. I’m sure there are several political cages I’ll be rattling about this after today, and I can’t think of a more deserving individual to have the rug ripped out from underneath them while their world implodes than our father.

“Well guys, the boss man is here. So, I’m guessing our time is up,” I glanced over at Easton who nodded in confirmation, and I winked back at him, loving the blush that crept up his face. “Alright, next time there should be a kit set up for us to get to work on. Might be a good thing if you could each google the components included in a drum set and familiarize yourselves with them and what they do.”

“Should we bring our own set of sticks?” The girl, I believe she said her name was Amy, asked.

“Why don’t you leave that to me, my gift to you guys.” I had cases of sticks with our band logo on them that I could bring in. After they left, I pulled my brother in for another hug, whether he wanted me to or not, this was probably gonna happen a lot.

“Damn, you’re as tall as I am,” I said to him as we walked down the hall.

“Yeah but you’re huge. Spend all your free time lifting weights, gym rat?” my brother joked.

“Nah, about an hour a day. Rest of it’s from banging away on the skins. Jay, I hate the way we came together, but I can’t deny how beyond thrilled I am to have you back in my life.”

“Think Mickey will be okay with me crashing at your place?”

“You bet your sweet ass he is,” Mickey added from behind us. “It’ll be good for this grouch to have you around.” He pointed to me and laughed. “Besides, we have an extra bedroom that’s never been used. So, it’s yours.”

“Fu…” I stopped myself, seeing that we were in a room full of kids. “I’m not a grouch,” I said, but it came out more like a whine.

“Haha,” Mickey and Jay busted out.Oh, I see how this is gonna play out.

“His new phone, laptop, clothes, personal products, and other supplies are being delivered to Mickey’s house as we speak,” Easton told us. The man never ceased to amaze me, he had connections for literally everything, including personal shoppers and rapid delivery.

“Thanks, babe,” I said to him, to the tune of more razzing.Ugh, payback is a bitch.

“Hey,” Mickey said to our group, “why don’t we have something food related delivered, and everyone can come and chill back at our place?”

“Sounds like a plan to me, gives me time to catch up with my little bro,” I added, catching Nathan sitting in the corner acting as though he was interested in whatever he was fake reading. “Hey East, see what you can find out about that kid Nathan that was in my class.”

“On it, I also have the caterers delivering food to the house at four,” he said over his shoulder as he headed for the director’s office. Something about this Nathan kid was getting to me, and I needed to know his story.

“Diamond?” Jay questioned. “What if he’s been through the same crap we have?”

“My thoughts exactly.” His clothes weren’t dirty but weren’t in the best shape either. Jay and I were always well dressed at my father’s instance, so we both know firsthand you can’t judge a clothed book by its cover. Underneath it, we hid bruises, and buried deeper beneath the surface were the emotional scars. He was thin, as were most teenagers his age, and he seemed to be alone. Randy, the kid who had sat beside him, had already wandered off with his parents.

I walked over to join Joey, Stoli, and Mickey who were signing autographs for the group that had gathered around them and doled out a few of my own before Easton alerted us that the car was here. We waved to the crowd that flanked the perimeter fencing as we crawled inside the limo.

“Diamond, I got the information you wanted on Nathan. Seems he wasn’t one of the lucky ones. Typical story, parents found out he was gay and kicked him out with only the clothes on his back.”

Jay scoffed from the other side of me, having literally just lived that himself.

“He’s staying with the Ortega’s who volunteer at the center. I believe you had their son Randy in your class today too.”

“Yeah.”And now you know, Diamond, so what are you going to do with this information?I needed to focus on Jay and make sure he was set up before I could take on anything else. But this kid got to me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave it alone.

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