Chapter Eight #2
“Just in time for all the drama,” Jeremy jokes, still rubbing up on the dramatic horse’s jumpy coat, “I have to take this horse back, but afterwards why don’t we-”
“Hey!”
Jeremy and Merle turn their heads to the voice, Clark approaching them. His brow is furrowed, chest puffed as he says to Merle, “Rezai. I don’t remember inviting you back to my ranch.”
“I’m not here for you. I’m here for him,” Merle explains, nodding upward to Jeremy.
“Didn’t I tell you to lay off Jeremy?” Clark huffs.
Merle raises a brow, “Are you his keeper? Jeremy, what were you just saying? After you take that horse back then we should do what?”
“Yeah, Jeremy, what’s that? Because you’re supposed to be working,” Clark asks him, crossing his arms.
Clearing his throat, Jeremy is very aware that most of the crowd has not dissipated. In fact, many people have inched closer to hear the confrontation better. Jeremy shrugs, voice at a steady volume as he says, “I was just going to show him around. And, I don’t know, talk a little.”
“Talk? About what?” Clark prods.
Biting his lip, Jeremy lowers his hat to cover his eyes as he tells him, “Merle’s asked me to come live with him in LA.”
The crowd murmurs amongst themselves, Jeremy daring to look around.
Yana’s staring up at him, concern written all over her face that he’s just spilled the truth to nearly the whole ranch.
Looking over his other shoulder, Barry’s glaring at him with an expression of pain.
Barry’s eyes flick away, seething and staring at Merle instead.
Clark’s laughter cuts through Jeremy’s perception, “Jeremy, you can’t be seriously considering his offer.”
“And what if he is?” Merle steps in, “Would that be so out of the realm of possibility?”
“Yes, it would,” Clark states as fact.
“How’s that?”
“Because,” Clark glances up to Jeremy before stating plainly, “He’d never leave me.”
“Oh, I see now,” Merle nods.
Clark crosses his arms, “You do?”
Merle gestures between Clark and Jeremy, “You’re his old crush, aren’t you? His first kiss.”
Jeremy’s stabbed in the heart, Merle pinpointing Clark perfectly. He can’t believe that Merle remembered that little tidbit from their first night together, struck by the sudden exposure. He bites down on his lip and refuses to confirm the suspicion.
“Old crush? Jeremy, what’s he talking about?” Clark asks Jeremy.
Merle replies instead, “I started to put it together at the party when you said you two were childhood friends. You kissed him when you were younger and then took it back, right?”
Some audible gasps are heard, the audience more intrigued in this conversation then they were with the bareback bronco riding.
“Jeremy,” Clark’s face is pinched with betrayal, “You told him that?”
“You know you ruined kissing for him?” Merle continues.
“Really, Jeremy, that’s why?” Barry suddenly says, stepping forward, “After all this time, why did you never tell me that?”
“Who’s this?” Merle asks Jeremy, thumbing at Barry.
“He’s, uh, my friend,” Jeremy replies shortly.
“Oh, bullshit!” Barry huffs, “We’re more than that and you know it!”
“Barry,” Jeremy whispers, “Please, stop.”
“No, it’s all out in the open now so let’s just say it!” Barry turns to the crowd with his arms up in the air, “Hey, everyone, Jeremy and I are in a physical relationship! There! Now everybody knows!”
“Oh,” Merle nods, “Now I know who you are.”
“Barry, stay out of this,” Clark warns, putting up a hand.
“Why should I?” Barry asks insolently, stepping into the circle of men, “Do my feelings matter less than yours?”
“Yes,” Clark says.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” Barry seethes.
“Because Jeremy was never serious about you,” Clark puts his hands on his hips, turning to Merle next and saying, “Or you.”
“That was true,” Merle admits, “We weren’t supposed to be. But I’ve changed my mind. I need Jeremy, I want to be with him.”
“Well, I’ve changed my mind too,” Barry steps closer.
Jeremy looks over to him, asking, “Barry, what are you saying?”
“I want to get serious with you, that’s what I’m saying,” Barry nods, “I’m tired of pretending like I don’t like you as much as I do. I want you to stay here, with me.”
“Both of you are fooling yourselves,” Clark spits out.
“You know what I can’t really figure out,” Merle points at Clark, narrowing his eyes as he observes, “Why do you care so much? What’s your stake in all this?”
“Does it have to do with you kissing Jeremy in Hawaii?” Laurelai plainly asks from behind them.
The crowd collectively turns toward her as she steps into the ring. Clark chuckles, saying, “What are you talking about?”
“We all know it’s true,” Laurelai shifts her weight to one hip.
“Oh, yeah? How?” Clark crosses his arms again, looking at everyone but Jeremy.
Laurelai nods up at Jeremy still on the horse, saying, “I heard him tell Barry. Back when they were having sex in the tack room.”
Clark’s brow wrinkles with sorrow, glancing up at Jeremy and asking quietly, “So that really happened? You and Barry fucked in the tack room the day I got back from Vancouver?”
Jeremy squirms on the bareback horse, voice low as he says, “What does it matter? How is that any different from what you were doing at the party?”
Yana clutches her mouth beside them, the only one following what Jeremy’s talking about.
“That’s totally different,” Clark hisses.
“How?”
“Cuz that was Laurelai’s idea. It meant nothing,” Clark shifts his weight, looking away, “Does that ring a bell?”
“What is he talking about?” Merle intrudes.
Jeremy takes a deep breath, “After we - you know - did it, I told Clark that it didn’t mean anything.”
“I see,” Merle puckers his lips, asking, “And did you tell him that before or after this kiss?”
Squirming, Jeremy admits, “Before.”
Merle turns to Clark, asking, “Is that why you kissed him? To get back at me?”
“Why doesn’t the ranch hand tell you the reason? Since he knows so much,” Clark clears his throat, averting his gaze from anyone.
“I would also like to know,” Laurelai chimes in.
Barry shrugs, “He didn’t tell me.”
Jeremy feels all eyes on him, weighing him down. Peeking up from the brim of his hat, he catches Clark’s eye. He never wanted his kiss with Clark to be such a public affair, wants to hold their conversation close to his chest now.
Clark does the opposite, stepping forward and telling everyone as he maintains eye contact with Jeremy, “It’s because I want to be with him.”
The crowd explodes with noise, everyone talking to each other at the sudden proclamation from the movie star. Jeremy’s speechless and slack jawed, surprised that Clark just announced that to the entire ranch.
Laurelai laughs sharply, shaking her head, “Oh you do? Forgetting something? Maybe your wife?”
“Oh, you want to do this here?” Clark turns to her.
She slaps her hand against her thigh, shrugging, “Why not? You’ve already embarrassed yourself this much.”
“I’ve tried to leave you so many times, and you keep convincing me otherwise but enough is enough!” Clark blurts out, continuing, “We should end this once and for all.”
“Just like that? Why? Because of your little gay crush?” Laurelai bobs her head as she shouts.
“No, because I don’t love you. You’re mean, and manipulative,” Clark puts his fists to his side, standing his ground.
Laurelai’s lip quivers and her eyes mist over. Jeremy gets a glimpse of her as an authentic human being and feels for her before she steels her face and turns her glare towards him. Her voice is pure hatred as she says, “You! This is all your fault!”
“Hey, didn’t I just say he has nothing to do with this?” Clark tries to interject.
“What? Do you think I’m stupid? Of course he does!
” She shouts, tears flowing down her face and smudging her mascara, “I saw that picture of him from when you were kids in your nightstand! I know he’s the reason you wanted to move back to this shithole town!
You’re in love with him, you always have been! ”
Jeremy is reeling from this revelation, trying to wrap his head around Clark looking at his picture at night after all these years.
“Laurelai,” Clark tries to reach out to her as she starts sobbing more.
She slaps his hand away, screaming, “Just admit it!”
Clark doesn’t respond, face strained. Laurelai crumbles, taking that as a confession and starting her crying all over again.
She turns away and runs toward the house.
Clark turns to the silent crowd and says, “Alright, show’s over!
Everyone back to work! That means you, Barry. And Rezai, I want you out of here.”
“Fine, but you should know,” Merle says, looking up at Jeremy as he says to Clark, “I’m not giving up on him. I’ll be back, and then it’ll be Jeremy’s choice.”
Gulping, that statement weighs heavy over Jeremy’s head.
Merle half smiles at him, casual and cool as if he’s already bought Jeremy’s plane ticket to LA.
He feels another pair of eyes on him, glancing to his left and seeing Barry staring at him from over his shoulder as Yana claps his back compassionately.
Finally, he looks over to Clark whose back is already to him as he walks after Laurelai.
He pauses, then turns back and stares deep into Jeremy’s eyes.
His heart is in a cage, his brain racing in all different directions. Jeremy turns the bronco around, gathers Asher’s reins, and starts walking them back to the stables. The dramatic turn the day has taken makes Jeremy feel torn apart, unable to focus on even the horizon stretched out before him.
Déjà vu. Jeremy couldn’t sleep so he went walking through the ranch.
He’s landed on a fence, sitting on the top wooden rung and chain smoking.
The thin spread of clouds race across the sky, rushing by and cutting into the moonbeams. He remembers months ago sitting out here and worrying over Clark coming to Willmaker Ranch.
Those problems seem so much smaller than the ones he faces tonight.