Chapter 8 #2
Gabriel told him about his time at camp over the last week.
It was a mixture of stress and excitement.
He talked about the young counselors fondly, like someone would talk about slightly younger siblings.
His parents were doing well, but his dad was tired.
The cancer was gone, but his energy wasn’t what it had once been—the cancer had aged him, even if he didn’t like acknowledging it.
That meant that Gabriel had to pick up even more slack than he was used to, but he didn’t seem to mind.
It was clear that they loved Orion’s Belt Hockey Camp, even if it was his parents’ dream, not his.
Drew served the omelets with more herbs as garnish. The house he was renting had a beautiful elevated deck. They ate out there at a little table. There was a comfortable breeze, and the Lake looked like an ocean, with waves rolling against the champagne-colored sand.
“What do you think of Orion, now that you’ve spent a week here?” Gabriel asked.
“I think it’s a lovely town. It reminds me of growing up in Alton, though it’s a little smaller.”
“It’s grown since I was younger. That might be hard to believe, but it’s bigger.
Most of the people who’ve moved here are older, though.
Retirees from Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Detroit.
They move here for the summer months and go south when it gets cold.
Not many of my friends I grew up with are still here.
There’s Aubrey, but she’s only here in the summer months.
That’s nice, and I enjoy seeing her, but she has a whole life in the city now. ”
“Do you wish you weren’t back?” It was a personal question, but Drew trusted that Gabriel wouldn’t answer if he was uncomfortable.
“Yes and no,” Gabriel admitted. “I miss my college friends, and sometimes it’s hard knowing that they’re moving on and meeting people in Chicago and other cities without me, but that’s how life is. You have different seasons, and you don’t know what’s going to come next.”
Drew thought that was very true; this wasn’t a season he had expected, and he hadn’t known that Gabriel would come into his life. He didn’t know what it meant now that he was here, but he was enjoying figuring it out, and he felt no pressure to know exactly what they were or what they would be.
He told Gabriel about the astrology book he was reading. They had finished their breakfast, which was excellent, and Gabriel was interested in the book.
“Can I see it?” he asked.
They cleared the table and brought the dishes inside to the sink. Gabriel refilled their coffee mugs, and Drew went to get the book from his bedroom. He found Gabriel in the living room, admiring the art on the walls.
“I’ve seen this house from the outside,” Gabriel told him, “and I knew that the Aaldenkamps had money, but I’ve never been inside. I told you Mrs. Aaldenkamp was one of my teachers in high school, right?”
“You did,” Drew said. They sat on the couch next to each other and flipped through the astrology book. Gabriel looked at the pictures and diagrams with interest.
“Do you know much about astrology?” Gabriel asked.
“No. You inspired me to get it, with what I’ve learned from you. I’ve thought about going to Irma’s store to get some more things to read.”
Gabriel’s eyes sparkled with interest. “Have you ever done a Tarot reading?”
“Just with hacks.”
“If you’re interested, we should do one.”
“I’d like that.”
“Amazing. If you want to do one today, we can stop by my cottage after we go to the Dunes. I’d like to do a reading for you, if you want me to.”
“That would be fun.”
Drew liked talking to Gabriel. He liked the earnest innocence with which Gabriel talked about his beliefs and interests.
He had already taught Drew about things Drew had never considered.
Drew recognized he was close-minded about some things, and he was thankful for Gabriel pushing him to open his mind about these things.
They washed the dishes from breakfast, dried them, and put them away. Gabriel suggested that Drew change into a bathing suit. The Lake would still be chilly, but they might want to get in. And it was always nice to wear a bathing suit at the beach, just in case.
Drew went upstairs to his bedroom, Gabriel staying respectfully downstairs.
Neither was sure about where this was going physically or intimately.
Part of Drew wanted to throw aside their plans for the day, bring Gabriel to his bedroom, and make love to him all day.
He had a strong feeling that they would be physically compatible, but he also didn’t want to rush things.
In the grand scheme of things, they didn’t have a long time together, just the rest of June, July, and August. Even though that only added up to a handful of weeks, Drew wanted to savor all of them.
He changed into a pair of striped swim trunks and went back downstairs. Gabriel had packed beach supplies in his bag, and Drew filled a cooler with things for their picnic, including a bottle of white wine and an ice pack to keep it cold. It would be a good day.
Gabriel volunteered to drive because he knew the area.
“If you don’t mind driving in a peasant car like mine,” he joked.
“I prefer it,” Drew admitted. “And it’s not a peasant car.”
Gabriel had a Jeep Grand Cherokee, maybe a decade and a half old, though he clearly kept it in good condition.
It was clean and smelled like air freshener.
They rolled the windows down while they drove.
Gabriel plugged his phone in and told Drew he could choose the music.
Drew stuck with the musical theme of the morning, picking an album by Patti Smith, and Gabriel sang quietly along.
“You’re surprising for a hockey player,” Gabriel said when they were out of Orion, heading north towards Turtle Dunes State Park, which he told Drew was about five miles outside the town’s limits.
“How so?” Drew said with a small smile.
“I suppose I expect the stereotypical dumb jock from a hockey player,” Gabriel admitted. “That’s unfair of me, I guess.”
“It’s not untrue about some of my teammates.”
“You’re very interesting. You read, and you cook, and you have an open mind about the world. I like that.”
“I’m trying to have a more open mind about the world. You’ve helped with that, already.”
“Are you out to any of your teammates?”
Drew was silent for a moment. He hadn’t told anyone else about Quentin, but this was his chance to share and get it off his chest. It had been weighing painfully on him ever since it had happened.
He hadn’t had the chance to process it, and he feared that it would eat away at him if he didn’t get it out.
“One of them does,” he said quietly.
Gabriel glanced briefly over at him, then looked back at the road for safety.
“I’ve told you I came up here to get away,” Drew said. “I wanted to get away from the busyness of the city, and I needed space to recover from my injury.” He smiled wryly, without humor. “My knee wasn’t the only thing hurt during the Crawford Cup Final.”
Gabriel was respectfully quiet while Drew got his thoughts in order. Gabriel navigated the roads easily, keeping the forested landscape of Michigan to their right and the ocean-like Lake to their left.
“I was in a relationship of sorts with one of my teammates,” Drew said after a long pause.
“We’re both closeted. The relationship was mostly sex, if I’m being honest, but it was good sex, and it was fun.
I fell for him, and I think he fell for me.
When I raised the idea of us being more than just sexual partners, he turned me down.
He was very certain about saying no, and… well, he was harsh about it.”
Drew didn’t like to show it, but he was a sensitive person. The way Quentin had so abruptly ended things hurt, especially because he was almost certain Quentin had felt the same way about Drew as Drew felt about him.
“I suggested we make things more official and public on the day of the Crawford Cup Final,” Drew said.
Emotion made his voice catch. “He said no, and that was one of the reasons I was so distracted during the game. I don’t blame him for my injury, but the breakup meant I wasn’t in a good headspace during the game.
I can usually compartmentalize my thoughts and put personal stuff aside when I’m on the ice, but I couldn’t that day.
It was too hard, especially with him being on the team with me. ”
“I’m very sorry,” Gabriel said. If he was surprised or overwhelmed by what Drew had shared, he didn’t show it. He was remarkably mature and gracious.
“I guess I came here hoping to think about it and to move on. I’ll have to go back next season and see him every day.”
“Do you think that will be hard?” Gabriel turned left off the road, following a long drive to a parking lot. The road had taken them up on a long sloping hill, and now they were in the outskirts of the State Park. Drew could see the beginnings of the dunes.
“I guess it depends on how I’m feeling at the end of the summer,” Drew said. “I’m trying not to think about that yet, but just take it one day at a time.”
“That’s all you can do.” Gabriel parked beside another Jeep.
They rolled up the windows and got out. The day was shaping up to be a pleasantly warm one.
The sky was perfectly blue, without a single cloud.
There was a gentle breeze coming off the Lake, occasionally sending a lace of sand through the air.
They decided to leave the picnic cooler in the car for now and walked side by side out of the parking lot, headed towards the long stretch of sand.
To the north of the parking lot, the sand rose up in a series of grassy hills, stretching all the way to the wooded hills that blended into the northern forests of Michigan.
To the south, the sand sloped down, thick with dune grass and signs cautioning tourists to keep off the grass.