My brother Max and I grew up in one of the most liberal places on Earth: New York City. We're those typical New York guys who loved to go to the ball games and enjoyed hanging out riding the train anywhere in to the city that we wanted. We spent most of our lives chasing after women, which was especially shocking when he came out of the closet a year ago. It was a week before a Thanksgiving family gathering and Max took it upon himself to call me, his big brother Rusty and his parents and confess to them that he was Gay. He'd been dating a man named Charles for the last year and a half and they were incredibly passionate with one another.
As I said, we did grow up in a very liberal city, so we all embraced his coming out with hugs and understandings, and of course there were the unusual questions from Max, including when we'd get to meet his boyfriend and possible fiancé. I of course loved Max and didn't mind that he was strictly in to men, even greeting Charles with an enthusiastic hug when he appeared mid-way through Thanksgiving. I guess it was fine we couldn't go scamming on girls anymore in Times Square, but he was happy and I was happy for him. That next year was smooth sailing up until around spring time when Charles dumped Max, prompting him to not only sink in to a depression, but also recede in to isolation.
He was hesitant to go out there and date again and socialize and we all encouraged him. That year he'd been invited by his friends to go to Fire Island for a weekend to hang out with people in his crowd and party his woes away. Max turned them down cold, but all I could do was insist that he go and give it a shot. Max was a nice looking guy, a bit thinner than I was and seemed kind of smaller beside me. I fancied myself a jock and worked out as much as I could, while Max always laid low. But I was convinced he'd find someone to connect with. Despite his repeated insistence I told him that I'd be happy to drive him over there myself to ease his tensions since I was always better at socializing than he was.
I was confident that with me by his side he could relax. Despite his hesitation he budged and I gave every bit of enthusiasm that I could to make the weekend great for him. The ride there was long but entertaining and before long we'd finally made it to the house where his friend Patrick and eight other men were staying to party and lodge for the whole time there. Playing his chauffeur and bag boy I helped carry his bags in to the house as he was greeted by a group of men, all of whom were partying and drinking well in to the late afternoon. I showed him how open minded and comfortable he could be by introducing myself enthusiastically, and carrying his bags to his room while he met the others.
Max seemed very appreciative with how casually I approached the situation, and didn't mind showing him that I was secure with his social circle. Truth be told I hoped it would rub off on him for a bit, as he was very pensive when he first arrived. We were there for a half hour before he begged me to stay for a bit longer in case he wanted to high tail it out of there, and for him I stuck it out, sitting mainly in the background and sipping a few beers here and there. It wasn't long before I was sitting down with Alex talking sports. He was one of the many guests that weekend who a lot of the other guys were chasing after, despite his boyfriend Keith fending them off as best as he could. Alex was a very good looking guy and even then I could understand why he was the most hunted after, as he looked like he lifted, and was often jokingly called the black Vin Diesel by the others.
He was charismatic despite being a lot more humble than his boyfriend and the other guys. When we first met he was coming down from unpacking his bags and was one of the last to get in to the pool in the back yard. Before long we started up a conversation about baseball and spent what seemed like four hours debating our favorite teams. Before long we went up to the second floor where he begged to show me his prize foul ball he'd had signed as a kid. It wasn't long before Max was following behind asking for me. "Where'd you go?" he asked with a frown.
"I'm just getting away from the noise," I huffed annoyed.
"I was showing him this," Alex scoffed tossing it to Max.
"You're doing good just go down and keep socializing."
"Told you it was fun here," he replied.
"You got twenty more minutes of me before I head out," I explained.
"Here I go," he sighed rushing off.
"Throwing the boyfriend in to the deep end?" Alex chuckled.
"He's my brother," I replied, "He's reluctant to fit in."
