I sat on the beach watching the tide ebb in and out. The beach wasn’t necessarily a private beach but it was supposed to be for the residents of the homes that were spotted along this strip of the coast.

I’ve been sitting here for the last couple of hours just thinking. My toes were buried in the sand and every once in a while the tide would make it far enough in that it would rush across my feet and soak the shorts I was wearing.

I must have been sitting there for a while in the same position when I heard a voice from down the beach.

It was quiet, almost as if the owner was afraid to disturb me, “Is it always this tranquil out here?”

I guess he thought I hadn’t heard him because he came a bit closer and restated, “Hey, is it always this quiet here? It’s amazing.”

I slowly turn to see who had joined me, “You know this is a residents only beach?”

“Yeah, well I know the owner of that house up on the point.”

“Nobody lives there. That place has been empty for months.”

“Yeah, I know. This is the first chance they’ve had to move in. You wouldn’t know a good place to pick up some furniture would you?”

“Depends on what they’re looking for.”

“Cool, mind if I join you for a while? It’s been a long time since I’ve been anywhere this quiet.”

“I hear ya man. Have a seat.” When the tide came in and soaked the slacks he was wearing I couldn’t help but laugh at the look on his face.

“Dude, you could have warned me.” He laughed.

“Sorry man.” I finally choked out. “But the look on your face was priceless.”

“I’m sure it was. That water’s cold. So…If this beach is for residents only which one of these is yours?”

“I don’t know if it’s such a great…” I started.

“Oh, please. You don’t honestly think I’d tell anyone do you?” He smiles, “Like I want anyone to know where I’m spending my vacation. No thanks.”

“So you’re staying up there with your friends?” I asked.

He grins again, “Naw man. I was just yankin your chain. I bought it. I’ve been looking for a place like this for a while and when my real estate agent sent me the pictures to this place I wasn’t too sure. The pictures weren’t very good and the price they were asking, I just wasn’t too impressed.”

“Like that’s a big deal for you man.” I teased.

“Hey, watch it. Just because I have a lot of money doesn’t mean I have to waist it on money pits.”

“I heard that about you. So you really are a penny pincher huh?”

“Just because I don’t have a car for every day for the month doesn’t mean I don’t spend my money. I just like to make sure I’m getting my money’s worth.”

“That’s cool man. So what made you change your mind about the house then?”

“My agent insisted that I come out and see it. When I saw there was nobody on the beach except for two kids and it was mid-afternoon on a Saturday, I knew it was perfect. I’ll put the money into the house, just for the peace and quiet.”

“But don’t you already have a place in Orlando and LA? What do you need a third house for?”

“I gave the house in Orlando to TJ and my folks are living in the one in LA.”

“I can sympathize with you there man. First house I bought, my entire family moved in. This one is for me only. I love it. I’m finally free here.”

We sat in silence for a while then he got up, “Hey Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“You wanna come up and have a drink or something? I don’t have much other than coffee and water but…”

“Sure, but I thought you said you needed furniture?”

“I got a couch, TV, radio, my coffee maker and my piano. That’s all I need. My mom keeps insisting I need more though. I can’t for the life of me figure out why.” He smirks and heads off towards the house.

When I got closer to the house I could see exactly what he meant about having to sink money into the place. The paint on the porch, door and front of the house were in various stages of peeling. The first two steps up to the porch were missing and the top one was well on it’s way to rotting away. He opened the door and the screen door almost hit me before he caught it and set it off to the side.

By the time I reached the kitchen I was laughing so hard I could barely stand up, “Man I don’t know what you spent on this place but you got ripped off dude.” I managed to choke out between my laughs.

His blue eyes were shining with amusement when he replied, “Yeah, you laugh it up. By the time I’m done with this place it’ll be back to it’s original glorious Colonial state. This place had to be amazing when it was built.”

I looked up at him and took in his serious demeanor and immediately stopped laughing, “What you got planned for her?”

“I’m gonna start on the inside and work my way out man. Except for the steps. They’re first on my list. I got three months, what I can’t get done myself I’ll pass off to an achetect friend of mine, but I want to get the majority of it done myself. That way it’ll be the way I want it. I’ve already drawn up the plans and purchased most of the equipment, paint and other stuff.”

“There is no way you, by yourself are gonna get this place in any kind of shape in three months man. This place is a wreck.”

“I know it’s a lot of work but it’s not like I got anything else to do with my time right now. Since Bobbee and I broke up; the thing with Em…well lets just say that was a mistake from the beginning. I’ve got nobody to spend time traveling to visit. I got the piano just in case I get inspired and I told all the guys I don’t want to be bothered this vacation. Since Justin and Lance got……….well lets just say that I’m not worried about them calling, Joey’s got Kelly and Bri, and Chris is promoting FuMan so that takes care of all of them. Don’t have to worry about the family anymore after the bomb I dropped a couple weeks ago. Anyway, I’ve got plenty of free time right now and nowhere to be for three months. Although I’m still trying to figure out why we have three entire months off, I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth that’s for sure.” He grabbed two cups out of the cabinet that was missing it’s door and handed me one. “I can’t wait for daybreak to get started.”

“Sounds like it.” As I took the cup from him my thumb brushed against his causing a tingle to speed through my arm to my spine. “So what was this bomb you dropped that is gonna keep your family away? You tell em your gay or something?” I smile to show I was joking.

He looked me in the eyes and stated, “No, Bi actually. That bother you?”

“Nope. It’s a bit of a relief actually.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because, now I don’t have to hide the fact that I am too.” I take his smaller hand in mine, “You want help with this place just let me know. I’d be happy to.”

“Thanks but I don’t want to take you away from your vacation.”

“Oh please. I could use the distraction. Ever since….well…I could use the distraction.”

“Well…If you really want to…I’ll be starting at sun up, and I mean sun up.”

“Fine with me. You gonna provide the coffee?”

“Sure, since it is about the only appliance I have, that and my phone if you wanna call that an appliance.” I get up from my stool, walk around the counter, put the cup in the sink and turn to look at him, “JC?”

“Hmmm?”

“Are you………Nevermind.” I blush and head for the door, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“K.”

****

I can’t remember the last time I got up with the sun and the minute the alarm went off I knew why. I drug my ass out of bed and into the shower. I must have stood there quite a while because by the time I got out the water was cold.

Knowing the mornings around here were a bit chilly I grabbed a light jacket on my way out the door.

When I reached JC’s house he was already working on the top step, having already replaced the rest.

My eyes roam across the well toned back, covered only by a black wife-beater.

“Morning,” he states without even a glance in my direction. “Coffee’s in the pot, sugar’s on the counter, don’t have cream, and there are donuts on the counter as well.”

I walk through to the kitchen and notice that he must not have started on the steps after all. “Dude, how long you been up?” I ask strolling back out to the porch with two cups of coffee.

“What? Why?” He stands after pounding in the last nail.

“How long have you been up and working?” I smile at him and hand him the extra cup of coffee. “Had to have been a while. You’ve done a few things inside too.”

“Yeah, didn’t sleep too well last night. Still trying to get used to it.” He stopped talking and walked to the edge of the porch, looking out over the ocean.

Something told me he wasn’t talking about the house. I quietly joined him as we watched the sun come up. When I turned to look at him I could clearly see the unshed tears in his eyes. I glanced around the porch, moving towards the door, “So…Where would you like me to start?”

He jumped a bit and swiped at his eyes before replying, “Here, I’ll show you.” We put our cups in the kitchen and made our way to the back of the house. “You can start in here.” He hands me a couple of tools and a bucket. “We gotta get every room’s walls scrapped clean by the end of the week. They’re laying the wood flooring on Saturday and I’d like to get this done so the floors don’t get messed up.”

“Um…JC?”

“MmmmHmmm?” He had already started working on one wall.

“You do realize today is Wednesday right?”

“MmmmHmmm.”

“How many rooms do we have to scrape?”

“5 bedrooms, 2 and ½ baths, a den, living room, family room, kitchen, dining room and pantry.”

“Shit, guess I better get to work.” I peel off my jacket and get to work.

We ended up getting 2 and ½ rooms done by three o’clock when I stopped and looked over at JC again. He had been quiet all morning, hadn’t said a word since we started working. There were a couple of tear streaks down his face and his eyes looked as if he were about to lose the battle all together. Seeing this amazingly vibrant man about to break into tears about broke my heart. I had no clue what had caused him so much pain and had no idea what to do to help so I did the first thing that popped into my mind. I walked across the room, took the scrapper out of his hand and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a hug.

He remained stiff in my arms until I started rubbing his back, then he melted. He gave in to the tears he’d been holding back and just cried.

We stood together for a while then he pulled back. He turned back to the wall and returned to his work.

I was walking towards the door when he whispered, “Thank you.”

I stopped for a minute then continued into the kitchen. I remembered reading somewhere that his favorite food was sushi and there was a great little place down the road that would deliver. After ordering the food I returned to work until it arrived.

When I heard the knock I went to get the food, then returned to get JC. By now it was closing in on 4pm and I hadn’t seen him put anything into his body but water. I was pretty sure he hadn’t eaten before I arrived because the box of donuts had been full when I had taken one, although now it was almost empty.

We ate our lunch in silence then went back to work. When I left that night we had finished four of the bedrooms and one of the bathrooms.

Needless to say I was beat. I went home, took a shower and crashed.

***

The next morning I took the time to pack a cooler full of sandwiches, fruit and a few other things I thought he might like then left the house.

As yesterday he was already busy working and the box of donuts on the counter had been replaced with a brand new box. When I opened it I saw it was only the type of donuts I’d eaten yesterday, since I had left all the sprinkle ones there were none today. I smiled, sat the cooler down, and grabbed a cup of coffee. I looked around the room and that all the cabinet doors were missing. It also seemed that the room had been scrapped clean of the paint. As I wandered the house I began to worry about JC.

“JC?”

“….”

“JC? Where’d you go?” I wandered around the house and noticed that he had done two other rooms either last night or this morning while I wasn’t here. /Shit. He’s gonna kill himself./ “Where the hell did you go?” I walked into the room where he’d stashed his piano and froze. He was sitting at the piano, tears streaming down his face with a picture of Justin in his hands. I stood there for a few minutes before I turned and walked back out of the room.

I went into the room that I’d been working in the previous night and picked up my tools and bucket. I went back down the hall and started in the living room. He joined me a short time later, quietly picking up his scrapper and taking a spot on the other side of the room.

We finished the livingroom and what was left of the bathrooms by lunchtime. I drug JC by the arm down the hall to the kitchen, grabbed the cooler and then headed for the back porch. I sat it down and went back in the house for him. He ate two sandwiches, an apple, and drank two bottles of water.

He sat there for a couple of minutes before he started moving his leg to some song in his head. “Thanks,” he stated.

I looked at him for a minute and then responded, “My pleasure.” We sat in silence for a little bit longer and then I had to ask, “I know it’s none of my business, but what’s going on with you?”

“What do you mean?” He looked down at his hands which were clasped tightly in his lap.

“JC…” I sigh, “You’ve been a bundle of nerves since yesterday morning. What is going on?”

“I…Shit…” he gets up and heads into the house.

“Fuck.” I exclaim and follow him, “JC…I don’t mean to pry or anything but…Well…You’ve literally been crying since I walked in here yesterday. You’re working yourself to death and as far as I can tell you haven’t eaten anything unless I’ve made you sit down and eat. Now sit down and tell me what is going on. I’m not gonna go run to the tabloids and I’m not gonna judge you.”

“I can’t…Nick…It’s not that I don’t want to. I can’t…It hurts too much to talk about. I…”

I wrap my arms around him again and pull him to my chest, “It’s ok. When you’re ready. I’ll be here.”

We stood there for a few minutes then he pulled away and went back to work in the den. By the time I was ready to head home we had actually gotten every room in the house stripped of any traces of paint. I counted my lucky stars that none of the walls had had wallpaper under the paint, that would not have been fun.

I went home exhausted but felt a sense of accomplishment I hadn’t felt in a long time. Before I went to bed I looked out my window up to the house on the point. I saw a figure sitting at the piano and hoped he would be able to get some of the pain he was feeling out of his system and into a song.

****

I actually got up the first time the alarm went off instead of hitting snooze several times first. I had no idea what we were going to be working on but I couldn’t wait to find out.

I packed the cooler again and made my way over to JC’s place. When I reached the house I immediately got worried. The door was closed along with all the windows, usually they were all wide open when I’d gotten there.

I sat the cooler down and knocked on the door. With every passing minute I got more and more worried so I reached out and turned the knob. The door squeaked as it opened.

As soon as I shut the door I could hear the piano and JC’s voice as he sang the most haunting melody I think I’ve ever heard.