Virgil, 3

(Okay, got out of my death-bed to post this! :)

Gary was all for a trip to the Coast, as long as Lachlan could come too, which, of course he could. So, they went to Westpoint – Gary driving the Chevy with Lachlan and Virgil next to him and Riley Jacob and Colin in the back. It was just as well the Chevy was a big car, it was full.

They left Friday afternoon, drove across, stayed the night with Mrs. M, and met her sons, Ross and Robert, and also Christian and Roman who lived with them. Ross and Robert were twins, fraternal not identical. They were very much alike, but Ross had blond hair and Robert’s was red. His hair was the exact same colour as Colin and Jacob’s, but, apart from that, they didn’t look much like them.

Christian was a Carver too! It was distant, but he was related.

Saturday morning, they all went into Westpoint in 3 cars, and met the Carvers. Ma Carver was an awesome lady. Virgil was impressed, this was his great grandmother! She didn’t seem old enough, but she was. That’s what you get when you come from a long line of slappers.

She was also Colin and Jacob’s great aunty and Mrs. M was their 2nd cousin. Relationships are complicated, but they were all family and that was good. All day long they were meeting more cousins, uncles and aunties. They’d never remember half of their names.

Saturday night, Christian and Roman went home, Ross and Robert stayed at Ma’s and Virgil, Gary, Lachlan, Riley, Colin and Jacob all spent the night at the Adelphi Hotel.

The Adelphi was nothing flash, it was just an old pub, but it was homely and it was cheap. The best thing about it was that it was the home of another cousin, Billy of Billy’s Burgers! He lived there with his partner, Justin, and their son, Jeremy.

Justin was a man, a husband and father, but everyone called him Superboy, even when he said not to. He was an impressive runner too.

Colin and Lachlan both ran with him, in the Square, on Sunday morning. Colin soon dropped out and sat with the others, watching from the grandstand. Even Lachlan, who was a good runner, couldn’t keep up with him for long.

Gary and Lachlan went off for a look around and the others went back to Ma’s for the rest of the morning.

After looking over the village, Gary and Lachlan stopped in the Music Center. Two chaps were working there, a tall dark-haired guy and a shorter blond one, both about the same age as Superboy.

The store was impressive, mostly CDs and DVDs including a large DVD rental area but there were also some music instruments and audio/video equipment. There was a section of sheet music and books on music. What particularly caught Lachlan's eye was a placard on the wall "Studio Available -- Hourly and Daily rates" and below it "Demos Made."

Lachlan asked if there was a piano in the studio and if it would be possible to get a recording of his friend playing the piano. Yes there was and it would be easy to make a recording of his friend playing the piano.

Gary was not too keen on the idea but Lachlan so wanted it, he had been talking for some time that he wanted to have Gary record his playing. So Gary agreed. The studio had a piano and a selection of other instruments including drums and extensive recording equipment. Peter, that was the name of the shorter blond man, turned on the recording equipment and nodded to Gary that he could begin.

Gary started with "Whispering Hope" and then went on to other things including a chopin Nocturne and Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Then, with a grin at Lachlan as big as the piano keyboard, he played the Beatles "Do you Want to Know a Secret" and then rolled into the Beatles "Love Me Do" and "Love You To."

The two of them were grinning and laughing. Peter had to ask, "Are you two a couple?" They acknowledged that they most certainly were with some concern as to how that would be received. No worries, Peter thought it was great and told them the he and Jay were as well.

Gary played some more tunes, just about every genre that you could think of, Scott Joplan's ragtime "The Entertainer" and "Maple leaf Rag," some folk including "Danny Boy" from Ireland, "Minstrel Boy" from Wales, a number of songs from musicals including "Love changes Everything" from Aspects of Love and several tunes from Oliver, and a number of American folk, popular and jazz songs.

Peter said that he had recorded as much as he could get on a CD. He was awestruck with Gary which is something that does not happen to Peter often. He said Gary was the best pianist he had heard since Michael McHale.

"Who is Michael McHale?" Lachlan wanted to know.

Peter explained that he was a pianist in his mid twenties from Belfast, Ireland. He described his version of "Danny Boy" which started out like a traditional Irish folk air and finished up as an American New Orleans Dixieland jazz piece. Peter said that he would have the demo records later that day, how many copies did they want? Gary paid with his bank card.

Gary and Lachlan left to join the others at Ma's thinking what a great person Peter was and hoping they would see more of him and his mate, Jay. They had lunch there, and then Ross and Robert took them for a tiki-tour around the town, meeting even more rellies as they went.

They ate again, at the original Billy’s Burgers, (for free!), and then went back to Mrs. M’s. They said goodbye and went home, arriving there shortly before midnight.

It was a good weekend. They met a lot of people, made some new friends and cemented their own relationships. Virgil fell into bed, tired but happy, and slept like a log. He was a great grandson, and didn’t even know it! Cool.

He had a weird dream about Ma coming out of a big burning building with her huge family trailing along behind her, like the Pied Piper’s retinue.

He went to school next day in a good mood and with a smile on his dial. He walked down the hill, in the morning, with Dylan James and the very gorgeous William Scott, who was really a nice kid. They were trading stories of their respective weekends in Westpoint and he was feeling on top of the world.

That was the end of the good times. He didn’t realise that at the time, but it was. He thought things were on the up and up when he was actually digging himself into a hole.

It started with a smile. Or, a frown really, but then a smile. They arrived at school and Dylan and William left him and walked away together. Virgil watched them going and sighed. Okay, so he was jealous.

Those two were obviously good mates and they were happy together. Dammit. Dylan and William might be in different year-groups, but at least they were in the same town and the same school. He and Joel weren’t even on the same bloody island!

The gulf that separated them might as well be a million miles. Six weeks! He frowned.

The de Groot brothers, together as always, walked past. For what seemed like the first time ever, one of them, the middle one, looked at him. Their eyes met. Virgil frowned and the Canadian kid smiled at him!

Why? They’d never had any interaction before, they all ignored everybody. But, he smiled and, Damm! What a gorgeous boy. Shit, not even William looked that good.

Also, it was gone in a flash, but he was sure that he saw a look of interest in the kid’s eyes. Whoah. One of the Untouchables was checking him out!

He knew that he shouldn’t care, but he was flattered and he went into school smiling for the second time in a week.

Not even Lachlan could bring him down now. The Kid was positively glowing this morning and had a grin from ear to ear. He was obviously very happy with life, and it showed.

Amazing what some good loving could do. No-one would ever guess what a sad, lonely git he used to be. Virgil was not about to admit it to anyone, but he used to have his suspicions about Gary. He was wrong. Gary was the best thing that could’ve happened for Lachlan and he was happy for him.

He wondered how Joel was doing this morning? Good, he hoped, but not too good. Joel said that he was one of 15 guys on this course, 12 of them were staying in the hostel. He said there was a couple of annoying dorks amongst them, there always is, but most of them were good guys.

He was missing Virgil but keeping busy and he was enjoying the course. He was learning a lot. Good for him, but Virgil hoped he wasn’t too happy up there. Dammit.

He wasn’t looking for trouble, trouble found him. That was his excuse anyway – not much of an excuse, but that was all he had. The middle de Groot brother sat down next to him and smiled.

“Hi ya. How’re you doing? Virgil, isn’t it? I’m Hans.”

(‘Wow. He’s talking to me!’)

“Ah, yeah, I’m Virgil. Hey Hans.”

“Hey. I hear you had a boyfriend?”

“Not had – have. Joel is my mate, he’s away on a course, in Wellington, but he’ll be back.”

“You hope. How long has he gone for?”

“Six weeks,” Virgil sighed.

“Six weeks? Long time!”

“Yeah, it is. It’s a very long time, dammit.”

“Oh?”

The teacher came in and the lesson started so they couldn’t talk anymore. Talking during Mr. Collis’ classes was a sure way of getting thrown out of there. They could still look at each other though, and they did.

Every time Virgil glanced at Hans he was looking back and smiling at him. Wow. He was flattered and it felt good. He had to smile back.

They separated at the break, they had 2 different classes to go to. Hans glanced around, (for his brothers?), and said, “Virgil, I’ll wait for you in the quad at recess.” He grinned and walked away.

Virgil stood watching him go and he was smiling too. He did have a, fleeting, sane moment when he thought, ‘Whoah. What’re you doing? Play with fire and you’ll get burnt.’

But, he didn’t want to listen to that, he liked this Hans. Okay, he was bloody hot! The de Groot brothers had been in town for a couple of weeks now and already they had a reputation for two things. They were all very good-looking, they were bloody gorgeous. Everyone was agreed on that, well they would, wouldn’t they? That was as obvious as the cute little noses on their faces.

The other thing was that they seemed to be snobs. They were stand-offish and never engaged with anybody. They didn’t even talk usually. So, it was flattering that Hans was showing some interest in him. Very flattering.

Virgil felt like he was special, like he was the cutest kid in town or something. He wasn’t of course, he knew that, but if Hans wanted to think so, he wasn’t complaining.

Was he going to meet him? Yes, of course he was. Joel wouldn’t mind. Joel would never bloody know anyway, he wasn’t there. He was away on his dumb course, having fun and he was too busy for Virgil. Why shouldn’t he make a new friend anyway. (Dumbass!)

So, feeling way too excited, he went to the quadrangle at recess and looked around for the cute boy. There were kids everywhere, being kids. It was about time some of them grew up a bit. But there was no sign of the one he was looking for. He wasn’t there.

He waited and he almost came to his senses, like what the hell was he doing there? Joel would not be impressed. What would he know anyway, he was away, having fun in Wellington.

His mind was surging, one way and then the other. His better sense almost won out and he was about to leave when Hans appeared over the other side and Virgil felt insanely happy to see him there. This was reinforced when the boy saw him and flashed a smile. Damm, he looked good.

The boy walked towards him, ignoring everyone else in the crowded quadrangle, and Virgil realised with a shock that it wasn’t Hans at all. This was his brother, the younger one, whatever his name was. He was in year 9, so he was probably only 13. He was smaller than Hans, and shorter too, but otherwise, pretty much identical. His clothes were the same too – well, they would be, it was a school uniform.

“Heya, sexy,” the boy grinned. “I’m Lars. Hans couldn’t make it, he’s stuck in the lab, so you’ve got me instead. Wanna make out?”

“Do I what?” Virgil choked. “Make out? With the whole friggin’ school watching – brilliant idea!”

“Shy, are you. Okay, maybe later then?” Lars grinned.

“You what??” Virgil choked again. Damm. Was this kid for real? No, he had to be joking, of course he was – but, what if? Damm. He was sure that a lot of people would be more than happy to go there – people who didn’t have boyfriends, that is.

(‘No! Pull yourself together, Virgil Cain. Don’t be a bitch!’)

“So Hans is stuck in the lab? I think he wanted me for something, but I don’t know what. Do you have any idea?”

“Probably for sex,” Lars grinned. “No? Okay, I think he wants you to help him learn to drive.”

“To drive a car? Why me? I haven’t even got a car. He should get Ashton to teach him.”

“He doesn’t want to ask Ashton and he probably wouldn’t do it anyway. He’s our cousin’s friend, not ours. Besides, he’s busy all the time. You’re not, you’ve got lots of time to fill in.”

“Oh yes,” Virgil sighed. “I’ve got that. Gran said I need a hobby, maybe this could be it.”

“That’d be cool. Kees is hopeless, he’s never going to drive and Hans is keen. You can get a licence at 15 in NZ, can’t you?”

“So far, yeah. There’s talk of putting the age up, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

“He’d better do it quick then. Okay, Sexy, I’ll see you later. Bye.”

Virgil smiled as he watched Lars walk away. The kid strutted like a peacock. He didn’t know about that ‘gaydar’ stuff, and the boy was only about 13, but he was sure that he was no innocent.