Page 17 of Pride High 2: Orange

Anthony nodded solemnly. “We’ll have to sprinkle holy water over the graves or nothing will grow on that spot for centuries to come.”

They returned to the car and gathered what supplies they needed. Anthony and Cameron looked for the best place to hide a body, and once they found it, began digging. When finished with their work, they marked the spot with a crucifix fashioned out of the real estate signs that always cluttered the back of Mrs. Huxley’s station wagon. Then they swore a solemn oath to never tell others of their crime before searching the horizon for unwanted witnesses. As far as Anthony was concerned, it was the best possible way to kick off the holidays.

* * * November 29th, 1992 * * *

“Time to go home, dude. Even if your relatives are still there. I need to jack off.” Omar noticed the way his best friend’s attention darted down to his crotch and up again before his face turned pink. “Unless you want to stick around and watch,” he added, the pink graduating to red.

Anthony rolled his eyes before he stood and began gathering his things, glancing over his shoulder at one point to ask, “You didn’t find time in the shower?”

“Nope. Between you and my sister, there’s hardly been any hot water. I’ve only had time to soap up and rinse off. And now I’m crazy horny, so you’ve gotta go. Before I lose control and start playing pocket pool right in front of you.”

Anthony spun around. “Would you stop?”

“What?” Omar asked innocently.

“Just imagine if you were friends with a girl and she said that kind of thing to you.”

Omar replayed the conversation in his mind. “I’d think it was super-hot! And I bet you do too.”

Anthony shook his head and continued collecting his stuff.

“Unless it bugs you,” Omar pressed. “I’ll stop if it really does. Like, if it’s torture that you can’t have my body or something.”

“You wish,” Anthony grumbled. “Maybe itusedto be like that, but these days I mostly think about my boyfriend.”

“Mostly, huh?” Omar asked. “So you do fantasize about me!”

Anthony grabbed Omar’s camcorder and held it high above his head, threatening to let go. “How bad do you want to know?” he asked.

Omar laughed. “I’ll stop. But it is flattering. Really!” he added when Anthony narrowed his eyes. “If I was gay, I’d be over the goddamn moon that you’re into me. Or were. Either way, Cameron is a lucky guy.”

“Thanks,” Anthony said, seeming appeased. “Silvia is a lucky girl. I would have gone down on you after getting that love cake. Right there in public. Just don’t tell your grandma.”

“Ha ha! We’ll keep that between us.” Omar walked him downstairs and opened the front door. “It was fun hanging,” he said.

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me escape the madness.” Anthony grimaced. “See you tomorrow at the other insane asylum.”

School. After five glorious days off, Omar was anything but ready to return there. He bumped elbows with Anthony before they parted. Instead of going upstairs for some lonely action, Omar wandered into the kitchen to see if there was any leftover cake. Which was a mistake, because his father was sitting at the dining room table while paying bills and had one ofthoselooks on his face. Sure enough…

“Did I hear Anthony leave?” Yousef asked.

“Yeah,” Omar confirmed.

His father nodded at the chair across from him. “Take a seat.”

Omar complied. He wasn’t sure what they were going to talk about, but he had a few guesses. Aside from when he got a little too edgy, his dad was usually happy with him. They got along well, all things considered. That would only last a few more weeks when report cards came out.

“I think we can call Thanksgiving a success,” Yousef said amiably. “Everyone seemed to have a good time. Did you?”

“Yeah! I’m eager to go over the footage I filmed. I want to put together a video for the whole family. We can make copies and send them out for Christmas.”

“Great idea,” his father said with a hint of hesitancy. “Although perhaps for New Year’s instead.”

“Yeah, of course. Duh!” Most of his family was Muslim and didn’t celebrate Christmas. His parents had always made an exception, despite their beliefs, to spare Omar and his sister from feeling left out as children. But it was the little kid version of Christmas that was all about Santa, decorating trees, and best of all, presents. Sort of like how celebrating Halloween had nothing to do with its Pagan roots. Although that would have been a better holiday for Jesus to come back from the dead. Christianity had missed a trick there. Omar’s fingers twitched as he thought about turning that into a sketch, which reminded him of the topic at hand. “Maybe I can do a video that looks back on the entire year, so it fits the theme.”

“We could mail them out after the twenty-fifth so there isn’t any confusion.” Yousef nodded in approval. “Let’s plan on it.”

“Sweet!” Omar said, happy that his father saw value in his greatest talent. Although the subject was quickly moved on from.