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ON WITH THE STORY
Chapter 11
Well, now that everything was sorted out with regard to what Ryan would do, there was the sobering problem of his ex-friends and his parents. The latter of these was made known to us the next day when Ryan received a letter from his dad's lawyer, stating that his dad was in essence telling Ryan to never come back onto his home's land and that everything in his room at home was no longer his.
As for his ex-friends, they were giving him the cold shoulder, and by Tim and me hanging around him, we were going to be outed soon unless we could do anything about him being re-accepted by his friends. To avoid this we decided to have another "date" with Sarah and Claire, the two girls that we "dated" last time. When we called them, and suggested a movie they were all for it.
We made sure to talk about the "double date" a fair bit around college, as it was bound to quash suspicions about us being a couple. The on-campus cinema was showing some chick flick that the girls wanted to see, so we went and saw it. Both Tim and I liked the beach scenes (for obvious reasons). After the movie we had dinner at one of the café nearby, and it was an enjoyable evening. Sarah and Claire were a lot of fun to be around. We walked them back to their rooms and gave them a goodbye kiss on the cheek each, prompting the inevitable giggling from them.
As soon as we were in my room Tim gave me one of the hottest kisses of my life. "Dan, I've wanted to do that all night" he told me once we broke the kiss, prompting a hot make out session, which ended up with us in our boxers on my bed. As it was late then we went and showered together. I never knew that showering could be so much fun. After the shower we slept together in Tim's bed. I sleep so much better with him.
The next morning we went over the pros and cons of coming out. The pros were that Ryan and Alex may be accepted a bit more, as Tim is seen as being part of the `in' crowd. Also we could obviously be more open with our affections. The main problem was that we could be ostracized by everyone. Our parents didn't know so if we came out that could also cause even more problems. We eventually decided that our parents had to know well before we came out.
We decided to come out to my parents first. I was very apprehensive about it even though they have never said a bad word about gays. I really didn't want to do this, but there was no point in hiding it anymore. Tim kissed me and assured me that it would be all right. We decided to call them in the evening, when they would both be home.
I dialed their number with shaking hands.
"John O'Toole speaking"
"Dad?"
"Danny, what's wrong?"
"Dad, can you get Mum on the phone too? I have something to tell you both"
"Ok, hang on"
I heard him yelling to Mum and then a click as she picked up on the extension at home.
"Hi Dan. I'm on the line"
"Mum, Dad. This may come as a bit of a shock. I'm sorry about this, but I'm gay"
I heard laughter coming down the line.
"It's not a joke!" I shouted
The laughter stopped abruptly.
"Son, we're sorry about laughing, but we were all worried and then you told us something that we expected" Dad replied
I was floored
"You... you EXPECTED this?"
My mum broke in with "Danny, we have known you for all of your nearly 18 years, did you really expect us to not know? By the way, I bet Susan knows"
"Actually.. I told her ages ago"
"Oh, well she definitely knows then. Why didn't you tell us before?" Mum sounded a bit hurt about Susan knowing before she and Dad did.
"It's not that I don't love you or anything, I was just scared about your reactions."
"He was scared out of his mind about calling you" Tim said.
"Who is that?"
"Dad, I'd like you to meet Tim Carter, my boyfriend."
"Hello Tim"
"Hello Sir" Tim replied shakily
"Don't sound so worried Tim. We're not going to be the Spanish Inquisition. We trust Dan that you're a good person, and we look forward to meeting you."
Tim visibly relaxed at this. After a few more pleasantries we hang up and then called Tim's parents. They were out, and we didn't leave a message (for obvious reasons).
We caught up on our uni work then and decided to have a bit of a break (which turned into a heavy make-out session) before calling it a night. I felt like I had just drifted off when I was awoken by a pounding on my door. I opened it to see Tim in his boxers with a white face.
"Tim, what.."
"Get dressed" he cut me off with "Alex and Ryan are in the hospital. They've been attacked." Within 5 minutes I was dressed and Tim ran out of his room a minute later.
On the drive to the hospital Tim filled me in on what he know (which was very little). Alex and Ryan had gone to one of their chess club meetings and were walking back around 9. They were attacked by unknown assailants and one of them activated the nearby security alert point (they are emergency phones all over campus). Unfortunately the call point didn't work, and they were unconscious and bleeding by the time someone saw what was going on. By pure chance Bob (on of Ryan's "ex-friends") was going back to college along the same route and saw the attackers, by which time they had knocked both Ryan and Alex to the ground. He let out a yell and ran towards them. The attackers then ran off, but he saw the glint of a knife. Bob called an ambulance, and then called Tim once Ryan and Alex were on their way to the hospital. Bob said that he was on his way there too.
Once we arrived at the hospital we found Bob in the Emergency department waiting room. As soon as I looked into his brown eyes I knew that the news was not good. "They both had knife wounds. Alex will be fine, but Ryan is in surgery now, its touch and go with him," Bob ran his hands through his brown hair. "How could anyone do this to them? I mean they're gay, but no one would want to kill them for that."
"Bob, have you ever heard of Matthew Shepard?" Tim said, sitting down next to him. "He was a guy in the US who was beaten to death for being gay. People have been killed for being gay. Many more of them commit suicide. You carry a lot of sway with all of Ryan's ex-friends. When he is out he will need their and your support. See what you can do, please"
All three of us sat there for an hour, but it seemed like eternity. Eventually a doctor came into the waiting room. "Robert Creek?"
"Here, Dr. Webb" Bob replied, noting the doctor's nametag "Is Ryan OK?"
"He will survive, but he will remain unconscious for a while. He is in intensive care and we can only allow family in. I also feel compelled to warn you that there is a possibility of permanent physical and mental impairment"
"How is Alex?"
"Alex will be fine; it looks like he will be released within a day or two"
As he finished speaking a policeman strode in through the doors.
He walked up to us and addressed the Dr. Webb. "Ian, thanks for getting the hospital to call me. The paramedics failed to notify us, again. Are either of them conscious?"
"Alex Tanner is conscious, Harry, but Ryan Mathers is unconscious and can't be questioned for a few days. These gentlemen here are their friends. I believe one of you witnessed the attack?" The doctor said, turning to us.
"I did" Bob said
"What's your name?" the policeman asked him
"Robert Creek"
"Mr. Creek, I am officer Andersen of the federal police and I'll need a statement from you about what you saw."
"Ok." Bob replied
Dr. Webb led them into a room while Tim and I waited. We weren't allowed to see Alex until officer Andersen had, so we couldn't "tamper with his recollection" or anything. It had something to do with the medication making him suggestible or something.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably about 20 minutes or so, Bob came out of the room and sat with us. A minute or two later Dr. Webb and Officer Andersen came out of the room and walked over to us. "Gentlemen, I will be seeing Mr. Tanner now, and you may visit him after I have spoken with him. If you wish, you may wait outside his room until I have questioned him."
We followed Dr. Webb and officer Andersen to Alex's room. As we approached Alex's room we saw his parents arguing with an officer guarding the door. Tim asked why there was an officer on guard and Dr. Webb replied that it was standard procedure when someone has been attacked. Alex's parents were insisting that they see him, and the officer was refusing to let them in. Officer Andersen explained the situation to them, that no one could see him until his statement had been taken, so no one could unintentionally taint his recollection. They calmed down then, but urged officer Andersen to complete his questioning quickly so they could see their son.
Mr. and Mrs. Tanner sat down with Bob, Tim and myself to wait outside Alex's room. They asked what had happened, and Bob proceeded to tell us about their attack. We couldn't believe what we heard.
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