He Glows

Over the rest of the day on Saturday and that Sunday, we got to know each other and it was almost too easy. He cooks. Fuck, I'm seriously the luckiest man on this planet. He made grilled cheese and some macaroni salad for lunch on Sunday. I may never let him leave.

Sage is taller than he appeared in the coffee box. He's a few inches over six foot. He's thin, but has lean muscles everywhere. His giant baggy clothing hid it so well. He came back one morning from a run, and he had on a pair of normal shorts and nothing else. I almost attacked him when he walked into the kitchen because I thought he was an intruder. Luckily he was still the familiar Sage from the neck up, so I didn't have to go full ninja on his ass. Okay, I was going to hit him with a broom and scream like a little baby, truthfully. But I digress. Always, I digress.

He has green eyes. I asked if that's how he got the name Sage. But he assured me his mother had named him. His eyes had no say in it. His name was supposed to be Gage but the nurse at the hospital listened with a lisp, and wrote down Sage. At least that's the story he's sticking with. For now. I plan to see if I can get him to crack.

Sage talked about his early childhood easily. He talked about work, and other hippy activities, as well as some scruffy hipster activities, which, I assure you, are different than the hippy ones. He had a few friends that he would go hang out with a few times a week. He'd tell me all about them. They had a cat that he was in love with.

But it was becoming obvious that the time between, maybe, junior high and his current adulthood, was a huge time period that was off limits. He didn't ever bring it up and if I asked a simple question about what high school he went to, as an example, I'd get the shortest, most to the point answer possible and the topic got changed. I was curious, but it's none of my damn business.

He was bi and had an ex that was non-binary and I wanted to learn more but I couldn't figure out how to ask. He would mention an ex girlfriend sometimes, but he always remained vague about her too. He clearly had comfort zones and no-go zones and I respected that.

Less than two weeks after he moved in, I was sitting on the couch smoking weed with my brother Drake, when Sage came home from the coffee hut, bearing cinnamon rolls!!! God, I'm so in love. Sugar!!!!

Drake was harassing me about our upcoming camping trip. "Fuck, Leo, now that you broke up with the bogey man, what are you going to do on our camping trip?"

"Have fun, duh! Julia was the antithesis of fun, Drake. Besides, she was never going to come with us, even if you begged her. Camping was a hard no. Glamping was a hard no for her. Five star hotels barely met her standards."

"Remind me why she dated you then?" he was squinting at me through his high, but he continued "you never met her high standards, I don't understand."

"Fuck off Drake. I've told you, she was a slave to this D" and I gestured to my crotch.

"Oh okay, right. Anyway, we have an odd number now. You need to invite someone else." He's not going to let this go.

"I was never bringing anyone at all. I know you know this. I'll just stay home and then you'll have your perfect even number. How about that?" He needs to shut up before he harshes my mellow.

"No! The only reason we're camping instead of going to some place cool, is because you could afford camping, ass hole! Invite someone!" He was right, this whole trip was designed around my current financial situation.

"Fine, Drake!" I shouted back. "Hey, Sage, wanna go camping?" I knew he'd say no, he worked all the time, but I'd technically satisfied Drake's request and invited someone.

"Yeah, that sounds fun" Sage said as he came from the kitchen, into the living to join me and my brother. He was carrying three little paper plates with freshly warmed up cinnamon rolls on them, one for each of us. Who was this guy? He seems heaven sent. Wait! Did he just say yes to camping? I was high and distracted by the smell of those sexy free cinnamon rolls.

"Awesome dude, thanks!" Drake said to him as he took the offered plate of gooey, melty goodness from him. "You must be the new roomie. Sage, right?"

"Sage, you'd don't really have to go camping with us" I tried to give him an out, "Drake's just being neurotic."

"No, I'd like to go, if you don't mind, I mean." He looked a little sheepish and I mentally kicked myself.

"Of course you can come! Leo's an ass hole." Drake jumped in while I had about three quarters of a cinnamon roll jammed into my gaping pie hole.

I furiously nodded at Sage while I tried to chew and swallow. With way too much pastry still in my mouth I say "ehta be faaa". That means 'it'll be fun" for those of you who don't speak high, free dessert filled face language. It would be fun and I really didn't want to make him feel bad.

He sat back in the chair and smiled while eating his cinnamon like a more civilized human being than either of us. But we were high. He wasn't. Yet. I passed him the bowl.

I moved towards the front door with a couple of duffles and a pile of pillows. I placed them with the growing supply of camping trip gear and tried not to regret being up this early in the morning.

Sage appeared beside me with a hippy patchwork backpack slung over one shoulder and a steaming travel cup of amazing smelling coffee in each hand. He handed one to me like he'd read my mind. I've lived with this guy for ten days and he's amazing like that. He cooks and cleans up after himself, and me, which makes me feel grateful and ashamed. He's quiet unless it's appropriate to be loud. And best of all, he laughs at all my jokes and he doesn't slam doors.

He shrugs his bag off and sets it on top of the large cooler. He raises his coffee cup to his mouth and he looks relaxed and calm and happy.

"Where's the rest of your stuff?" I ask in a mumble as I start to sip the ambrosia he had just given me. Shit, this was good coffee. I mean he worked at a coffee place, but he'd made this here, just now, in our kitchen. I was in awe.

"That's everything" he says as he motions towards his small bag "I'm all ready to go."

"Sage, do you know what camping is?" and he giggles, because he laughs at all my jokes, but I'm not really joking, "it's going to get cold, especially after dark. And we'll be sitting around a bon fire at night. You'll want to bring your coat."

"Oh, uh, I think I left it at my friends house a couple months ago before it got so nice out" he said, but it seemed like a weird excuse. But why would that be the case? I'm chalking it up to the early hour and my overactive little brain factory.

"I have an extra, grab it out of the hall closet, it's dark red."

"Are you sure, Leo?" He clearly doesn't want to be a burden, or needy or whatever.

So I joke back, "of course I'm sure. I can't have you freezing to death before you pay your second month's rent, now can I?" And I smile at him to reassure him that it's totally fine to grab my extra jacket. And he finally does. "What about layers? That bag is like, really small. Are you sure you have everything you need?" He suddenly looks super uncomfortable, so I'm going to drop it and change subjects. Now.

"Drake and Jen should be here in a few minutes. I'm going to use the can one more time before we leave. Drake has an SUV and the others are taking a different car, so we have room to spread out." He nods and looks normal again. Bullet successfully dodged.

"Is Drake married to Jen?" he asks after I come back from the bathroom. "What's she's like?"

"No, not married, but they might as well be. They've been together almost constantly since they were in high school. They've taken a few breaks to explore their options, but they always come back together. But neither of them are big on official commitments. I doubt there will ever be a wedding."

We both look at the door as we hear honking outside. Honk. Honk. Hoooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk! I'm going to murder him. I have fucking neighbors. It's the ass crack of dawn. Now I'm pissed. Great start to the trip Drake! I don't even have to see the vehicle to know what's happening in my driveway. I pull the door open with a dramatic angry flair and stomp out on to the stoop. Jen is already out of the SUV and walking up the sidewalk towards me.

"Sorry, I told him to stop." Jen is clearly that man's soulmate and she's just saved his ass, again. "Are you guys ready? I can't wait to get on the road. We're going to have so much fun. Where's your new friend?" She says all that as she hugs me and moves into the house, starting to grab stuff from inside the door.

"Are Drake's legs broken? Why isn't he helping?" I pick up Sage's bag as he comes from the hall with a pair of jeans in hand, and I hand it to him as he walks towards us. He takes it from me and shoves the pants in it. I turn back to Jen, to introduce Sage, but she's already grabbed the cooler and gone back out the door. Of course she took the heaviest thing.

Sage and I gather up most everything else and head out behind her. Drake is still sitting in the driver's seat, looking at his phone, while the love of his life hefts the massive cooler into the back. "Drake, get the fuck out and help us you dillweed!" I say through the vehicle, to the back of his head, as I shove bags and supplies in around the cooler.

"What?!? You guys already got everything, you don't need my help" and he never looks up from his phone. I can feel brotherly rage bubbling up inside me. Sage and Jen seem to sense it and they both act.

"Leo, let's go grab the last few things and lock up. C'mon." Sage gently pulls on my arm to get me to follow him and walk away from this anger inducing situation.

Jen closes the hatch to shut off my direct line of sight to Drake. She walks around to the passenger side and climbs in.

I stand inside the door, looking into the house, staring into space really. I'm trying to think if I have everything. Did I remember to shut everything off? Am I ready for this? Will Drake live you see Monday? Tune in next week to find out.

Sage stands beside me, seeming to understand all the thoughts I'm having. He reaches up and rubs his hand on my mid back a few times. "Don't let Drake bother you. We're going to have fun. You and I will make our own fun if we have to." It instantly calms me. We pick up the last few items and our coffee cups and head out.

We stop at a gas station a few hours later and Jen and Sage head inside to use the bathroom and grab snacks. Drake looks down at his phone and I just stare at the back of his head from the backseat. "Are you seriously not going to get out and pump you own damn gas?" I say to him, exasperated.

"Jen will do it when she comes back" and he never looks up. Holy fuck, what it wrong with him?

I am getting so pissed so I'm jump out and head inside the building. I find Jen and Sage in line, waiting to check out. Everything in Jen's hands is something Drake likes. That's it! I'm so not having this bullshit right now. "You're not going out there" I say to Jen, "he's going to make you pump gas when you do, and I'm over his shit." After they check out we head to the side of the interior of the store where there's a few tables and we sit.

"How long are we going to wait?" Jen asks me.

"As fucking long as it takes." I know Jen and I left our phones in the car and Drake doesn't have Sage's number, so at some point, he's going to realize we're not coming back and he's going to have to come find us. I'm prepared to sit here, and hold Sage and Jen hostage all fucking day if I need to.

"What's his deal?" Sage asks very politely, but to the point. I know he's asking Jen more than me so I bite my tongue and don't blurt out that he's a fucking dick, that's his deal.

Jen sighs and drops her shoulders. "He's waiting to hear about a contract thing from his boss. It's some big customer, I guess." She looks are her items on the table and rather absent mindedly rips open a package of bright pink snowballs and bites into one.

"He could have let one of us drive if he needed to work. It's so rude. Jen, I don't know how you put up with him sometimes. He takes you for granted and it pisses me off to no end." I say it calmly, but I'm so frustrated with my brother. He has this amazing woman and he can't even be bothered to treat her like she's the best thing in his life, which she is, by a million miles. No contest.

She keeps chewing her snack cake and I see tears welling up in her eyes. Oh holy fuck, what is wrong with me? I'm creating a fight between the two of them where one didn't exist. I'm feeling like a complete jerk and I want to fix it. "I'm sorry Jen, I shouldn't have said anything at all. I'm fact, I'll go pump the gas so we can keep going." I stand to go back to the car.

Sage is watching us both and absorbing it all. He stays seated with Jen who's now trying to dry her eyes. I go to turn and leave when Drake bursts through the door of the gas station, looking panicked. He frantically searches the room and then he sees us and rushes over. "Oh my God, is everything okay?!?! What do you need? What happened?" He looks and sounds freaked out. His hands reach out and take Jen's.

I want to say something but they've both been acting a little weird and I've already butted in too much. Drake leans closer to her and says something too softly for me to hear. Sage senses it's time to give them a moment and he stands and comes over to me. I look back and Jen and Drake leaning close and talking quietly in the very intimate space between them.

"Can I have your card Drake, so I can get the gas, please?" I ask with as little inflection as I can manage. Without even looking at me, Drake reaches into his back pocket and grabs his wallet and holds the whole thing out to me. I take it and Sage and I leave and head back to car.

"Do you know what that was all about?" Sage asks me as he leans on the car and I pay at the pump and start to get the gas. I just shake my head no. I don't know what that was all about. I hope they're not coming to another period in their relationship where they need a break from each other. I'm pretty sure I didn't actually cause this drama. Something else was already going on with them before they picked us up. That much is clear.

We finish with the gas and climb in the backseat together. It's gotten warm in here without the AC on. The windows are all up and we can't open them so we sit with the two back doors open. Soon we see Jen and Drake coming back to the car. He's got all the snacks in his one hand and he is holding hands with Jen with the other. She looks upset, but better than before. I think she's okay. I hope they're both okay.

Damn, psychic Sage reads my mind again and says to me, while we're still alone in the vehicle "They're okay" and that's it. I look over at him and stare at his green eyes for a second. But then Jen is climbing in and I look at her instead. Drake gets in and asks in his typical jovial voice, "we all good with gas?" as he places the key in the ignition and thankfully starts the engine and the AC starts blowing immediately.

"Yeah" I say and pass his wallet back to him.

"Great, let's go" and he shifts into drive and we get back on the road.

I want to ask so many things right now, but I will not. I'm trying to get better at reading the room and this room is telling me to shut the fuck up. And just like that, the trip continues and Sage starts to talk to me. He's the best thing I brought on this trip already.

"What kind of stuff are we going to do while camping?" he asks, sounding completely normal, not like a hero stepping up to diffuse the situation, which is what he really is. "Are we swimming and hiking and stuff like that?"

"We will definitely be swimming, we reserved a place near the water. We might fish, or drown worms as our dad used to say. And I'm sure there will be places to hike if you want to do that." I say, kind of thinking about the fact I don't actually know what we're going to do. Camping isn't the usual for us anymore. We did it a ton as kids, but not since then.

"You said your sister and her friend were coming, right? Anyone else besides them?"

"Two of my sister's other friends were supposed to come too, but they had a flood in their basement from a burst waterline, so they had to cancel just a few days ago. It's just the six of us, instead of eight, as originally planned" Drake pipes up and explains. "I'm glad they cancelled. They are......... not my kind of people."

I know what Drake is talking about but Sage doesn't, so I feel like I need to explain that last statement. "They are anti-marijuana. And anti-drinking." Before I can say more, Jen adds her two cents too.

"What Leo actually means is, they are anti-fun. I get along with everyone and even I don't like them. But Ava wanted to invite them, so we had to let her."

"I sabotaged their plumbing to make sure they wouldn't come." I say and smile to myself about my own joke. I don't even know where those ass holes live. No one questions me, because they all know me, even Sage gets it. Fucking Julia would have started shit with me for saying that. My God she's a bitch.

"Ava is bringing her bestie, Riley. Sage, he's gay, are you okay with that?" Drake asks.

Sage goes to answer but I snap "Drake, for fucks sake! Do you think I would have subjected Sage to something he's uncomfortable with? I'm not a dumbass like you. And I wouldn't have invited Sage if I thought it would have any effect on Riley, either." I know Drake means well, but he's about two decades behind in his societal norms knowledge.

"Geez Leo, I was just asking? Sage, you're not offended, are you?"

"No, not at all. I'm bisexual. And I've dated a non-binary person as well as all kinds of other people."

"See Leo, he's fine. Maybe you can hook up with Riley. Or Ava. Or both." Drake thinks he's woke. He's a moron, is what he is. And Jen comes to the rescue.

"Okay, Drake, that enough. Leave everyone's potential hook ups to themselves to worry about, especially your little sister. You sound like a creep and none of us want to think about Ava having sex with anyone. Okay?" She is looking at a magazine in her lap but she reaches over and puts her hand on Drake's arm.

"Yeah Drake, if you bring up hook ups again, I'll bring up......"

"Don't you fucking dare!" Drake screams. Jen giggles. I smile a big shit eating grin and Sage tries to figure out what's happening.

"Don't worry Sage, I'll tell you later." I say that mostly to further piss off Drake. Sage probably doesn't care. So I'll save the story of Drake's period of hooking up with cougars, or saber toothed tigers, based on their extremely advanced age, for another time. Jen had dropped his ass for a few months a bunch of years ago, and Drake had a hard time dating girls his own age because he only wanted Jen. So he'd picked up an older lady at a bar and then it spiraled from there for a while. I had to organize an intervention and help Drake get a new phone number. It was hilarious.

Ava and Riley showed up hours later than they were supposed to. Typical. And then they whined until Sage and I helped them set up their tent in relative darkness. And then they complained they were hungry so Jen fed them. Drake helped by staying out of that way, which was his excuse for everything. Lazy bastard. I blame Julia.

Sage was quiet as he observed me and my siblings and our interactions with each other. Everyone included him and he seemed to be having a good time. He went to our tent and came back in my loaner coat. I'm so glad I made him borrow it. Ever the mind-reader, he leaned over in his folding camp chair and said to me quietly "Thanks for making me bring this" and he smiled such a genuine smile, it almost caught me off guard.