But he didn't have many options that day, so he took the jeans back into the men's locker room and walked over to a bench. He removed his shoes first, and then his tuxedo slacks. Then he removed his white shirt without even realizing he didn't have to remove it. He was moving so fast he wasn't thinking straight. And he was so sorry he'd worn this underwear to the reunion. It was a bright red, see-through thong affair that rode up his ass. He'd worn them to the reunion because Jase had asked him to do it. While they were getting dressed for the reunion, Jase said he wanted Luis to wear the sexy red see-through thong because it turned him on knowing Luis would be walking around that way in front of all those people and only Jase would know it. Luis always catered to Jase's needs this way, so he put the thong on beneath his tuxedo and didn't give it a second thought.
A minute before Luis was about to put on the acid dyed women's jeans, the men's locker room door opened with a loud clank and Luis stood there frozen in place. A second after that, Jase loped into the locker room carrying a gym bag and he glanced in Luis's direction. When he saw Luis standing there, holding the jeans, wearing nothing but a see-through red thong, he gulped and said, “It's you again.”
Luis shrugged. “Ah, I was just changing.”
Jase nodded; he continued to stare at the red thong. His eyes went down and he stared at Luis's legs. “Well.” Jase was wearing peg legged jeans and high top sneakers now. And a white sweat shirt with blue sports stripes down the shoulders and arms. Luis remembered how popular high top sneakers were back then. Even his favorite uncle had worn them for awhile. And now he knew why. Jase looked hot in them, so hot Luis had to look away so Jase wouldn't think he was staring at him in a lewd way.
Luis put on the jeans and pulled them up fast. When he buttoned them and pulled up the zipper he realized there were a little tight in the seat, but not too bad. “I don't usually wear underwear like this,” he said. “It was kind of a joke, you know.”
Jase's eyes were still wide open. His lips were still slightly parted. “I see,” he said. But it was obvious he didn't see at all.
Luis put on his white shirt. While he buttoned it, he looked at Jase and said, “I heard you're the star quarterback. Everyone says you're very good and you're going to play football in college, too.” He didn't want to say too much.
Jase squared his shoulders and smiled. “I guess I'm okay,” he said. “I practice a lot.” Then he frowned and said, “You were lying to the nurse, weren't you?”
Luis stopped moving. “Huh?”
“You were lying to her about staying with relatives,” Jase said. “I could tell you were. She's an idiot. All she wanted to do was get you out of there so she could go home. But I had a feeling you were lying.”
Luis looked down at his shoes. He figured he'd better tell someone the truth, or at least part of the truth. He wasn't sure what else to do. His head went up slowly and he looked into Jase's eyes. “You're right, I'm not visiting relatives. I ran away from home after graduation. I hitched to Alaska from a small town in Tennessee called Fletcher's Bluff. I don't have any relatives here at all.” He figured this was plausible. And he couldn't tell Jase the complete truth. Jase would have thought he'd lost his mind. Running away from home was safe. Guys his age ran away all the time, especially gay men who weren't sure how to fit into their bible belt small towns. But Luis decided not to mention anything about being gay, at least not yet. Besides, why would a gay kid run away to Alaska? Gay kids run to New York or Los Angeles or Chicago, not the middle of nowhere.
“What are you going to do?” Jase asked.
Luis sat down to put his boots on. Thanks to Prada's excellent timeless designs, the boots were classic and didn't look out of style at all. “I'm not sure yet. I figured I'd get a summer job when I got to Alaska. I wanted to travel around for a while.”
Jase furrowed his eyebrows. “That's not very safe, especially for someone like you.”
Luis sent him a blank stare. “What do you mean someone like me?”
“You don't look very tough,” Jase said. “No offense, bud. You look kind of delicate and breakable. If I saw you walking down the street I wouldn't think of you as a renegade.”
“I know how to take care of myself,” Luis said. He flung Jase a sharp glance. “I'm not that delicate either.” This was the truth. Luis had always been resourceful in desperate situations and he'd always survived well. He'd been kicked out of the house after he'd graduated from high school. He'd moved in with a country doctor for a short time, hoping to build a life there. And when this didn't work out, he went to New York with no money and he'd been okay. And if he could do all that before he was thirty years old, he could certainly get by in Alaska now.
Jase laughed, almost right in Luis's face. “I guess you're not that delicate.”
“Well, I'm not. I know how to get by.”
“It's getting late,” Jase said. “I was supposed to be home an hour ago. My mom's going to kill me.”
Luis smiled. He knew Mary would be worried about Jase. “Then you'd better go home,” he said.
“What are you going to do tonight?” Jase asked.
Luis pulled his wallet out of his tuxedo slacks and looked inside. He had about four hundred dollars in cash and four major credit cars. But it was new cash, with watermarks he knew no one would accept in the year 1986. And the credit cards wouldn't work either, especially his new black card he adored. He wasn't even sure they had platinum American Express cards in l986. “I'll be okay,” Luis said. “Thanks for asking.”
Jase said, “See you later, then.” But as he turned to leave, he stopped and took a deep breath. “I feel funny leaving you here. I'm not sure why either. You seem kind of helpless and pathetic to me.”
Luis smiled. He was hoping Jase would react this way. But he didn't want to be obvious about it. From what he knew about Jase in l986, he wasn't even open to the possibility of being gay. “I'll be okay.”
Jase exhaled and ran his fingers through his long sandy blond hair. “I guess you could come home with me. Maybe my grandfather can get you a job until you figure out what you're doing.”
Luis looked at him sideways. “You'd do that for me?” He felt a sting in his eyes. But he didn't dare cry in front of Jase. “You don't even know me.”
Jase didn't look at him. He shrugged and said, “You look kind of lost and harmless.”
Luis stood up and straightened out his shirt. “If it's no trouble, I guess I could go home with you. But I don't want anything for free. I want to work for my keep for as long as I'm there.”