You really need me Mr. Donald

Can I come in? Chapter 5

Donald woke up just before noon.  He heard a lawn mower running.  He jumped into a pair of shorts and ran to the front door.  He looked out hoping to see Danny mowing the neighbors lawn, but it was Parker mowing theirs.  Parker saw him and waved.  Donald waved back and tried to smile but it was weak at best.

He sighed deeply and went back in.  He had a hard time figuring out what he wanted to do that day.  His heart wasn't into doing anything at all but he needed to get his house in order.  His business wouldn't run itself forever.  Donald owned a flower and gift shop.  It was wildly successful and he had a great crew, but he'd have to go to market soon to buy for the spring.  

He'd bought the house because it was in a great neighborhood with hills and streams, gigantic lots, and well build homes.  The house was bigger than he needed but he liked it the second he saw it.  The front yard was in fair condition, but the back yard was showing years of neglect.  He dreaded having to clean it up without Danny's help.

He'd finished all the interior painting and was pleased with it.  He figured today would be a good day for furniture shopping.  Shopping always made him feel better.  He ate breakfast and showered.  While he was getting dressed, the phone rang.  He ran to it praying it was Danny.  It was only a recorded sales pitch.  He shouted a curse into the phone and slammed it down.  Then just as he was headed for the door there was a knock.  He dared not hope it was Danny and it was a good thing.  It was two Jehovah Witnesses.  They were cute, but he politely told them he was just leaving and didn't have time to talk.

He headed for his favorite furniture store.  The owner was a friend and quite smitten with Donald.  He also had the best furniture.  He picked out a sectional sofa ottoman and chair, but he quickly realized his heart wasn't into it so he went home.  He managed to work in the back yard for a while, mostly trimming the overgrown bushes.  He called for a pizza and pigged out on it in front of the TV in his bedroom. He sort of hoped Parker would peek through the window but he didn't.  He set the pizza aside and went to sleep.

The next morning he woke up at the crack of dawn.  He sat in bed eating the left over pizza and drinking a stale beer.  "God man look at you.  You're in worse shape than when you lover left." he told himself.  At least then, he cried his eyes out then moved on.  Convinced he'd blow his chance at happiness, he got up and put on old jean and a t-shirt and started working on the back yard.  He started getting angry with his ex-lover and himself.  He hacked away at the bushes harder and harder until he exhausted himself and collapsed crying.

The door bell rang.  Donald gathered himself and went to the door.  It was his furniture.  The men brought it in and set it up for him.  They just left when Donald called the store and asked if he could send it back.  Everything was wrong about it, from the style to the color.  The store said they'd pick it up the next day.  

That certainly didn't help his mood.  He went to the kitchen and pulled out a two liter coke and a bottle of Crown Royal.  He got the biggest glass he had and opened the freezer for  ice.  There wasn't any.  The old ice maker was out.  He pitched a fit like a five year old kid.  He turned up the bottle of Crown and chucked as much as he could.  Two minutes later the threw it up in the sink.  He went back to the bottle and drank it slowly.  By the time the bottle was empty, he wasn't even able to open his eyes.

"Mr. Donald? Are you okay?" Danny said trying to pick Donald up from the hard terrazzo floor.  It was dark inside and out.  The light of the refrigerator was all the light in the room. Danny turned on the kitchen light and closed the refrigerator door.  He picked Donald up and put him in his bed.  Wisely, he got a trash pail out of the bathroom and put it by the bed.  

Donald woke up often but just babbled nonsense.  Danny took a quick shower and got in bed with him.  Finally, Donald came around long enough to throw up in the pail.  Danny helped him then cleaned him up.  He had to repeat it a couple more times. Finally, Donald went to sleep and seemed to be resting peacefully.

Danny lay beside him and slept better than he'd slept in months.

The next day around noon, the doorbell rang.   Danny got up and wrapped himself in a towel.  He went to the door.  The furniture movers were there to pick up the furniture.  Danny asked them to wait a minute and went to check with Donald.  "Oh yes, I messed up they're taking them back." Donald said barely able to open his eyes.  Danny told the men it was okay and in a few minutes the furniture was gone.  Danny went back to the bedroom.

"One of those guys was gay Mr. Donald.  He stared at me so much he got squished against the wall." Danny laughed.

"See how hot you are.  YOU'RE HERE! WHERE'D YOU COME FROM?" Donald yelled suddenly realizing Danny was laying next to him in his bed.  Danny was startled and jumped out of bed.  

"I'm sorry, I came by to talk to you and saw you on the floor.  I'll go." Danny cried running for his dirty clothes in the bathroom.

"Danny STOP." Donald screamed.  "It's okay I want you here.  Stay, please." He tried to get out of bed but the room spun around and so did he.  He staggered and fell.  Danny caught him in his arms.

"Mr. Donald, be careful." Danny said. "You're probably still drunk." Donald tried to get his footing, but Danny slipped to and they both fell.  Donald ended up with his face in Danny's crotch. Danny busted out laughing and clamped his legs around Donald's head.  Donald nose was buried in Danny's pubes.  He started laughing but it hurt his head really bad.  Danny let go.  He helped Donald get back in bed.  "I'll make coffee, I can do that." Danny said.

While Danny was making coffee, Donald got up and went to the bathroom.  He came out and stumbled to the kitchen in just his tighty whities.  Danny was in a towel.  "I hope you get better soon." Danny said.  "I need to help you pick out furniture.  That stuff was awful." 

"I could use some help. I got left out when they were handing out the gay interior designer gene." Donald said.  "Are you hungry?"

"I'm starving.  But I want to take you to the diner I eat at."  Danny said.  "Oh, have you got something I can wear?   My clothes are all stinky."

"I wish you could go just like that.  You look hot in a towel." Donald said.  Danny smiled and dropped the  towel.  

"How about like this?" Danny said.

"There would be heart attacks, and car wrecks all over the city.  I'm about to have one now." Donald said.

"Mr. Donald, I know you are thinking about you and me.  You want to be more than just friends.  Maybe I do to, I don't know.  I like being with you abd I need someone to take care of me.  I can't do it alone anymore and I can't trust anyone else." Danny said with a tear in his eye.

Donald sat staring at the counter.  "I don't know what to do Danny.  I want you here, hell the last two days were hell without you.  That's why I got drunk.  I'm so scared I'll bring you in and you'll leave me like my ex did."

"I know you're scared, I am to.  Why would I ever leave you.  I need you I don't want to loose everything.  My relatives will take it all and make me live in a basement." Danny said.

"So it's just about keeping your house and money?" Donald said.

"NO NO DON'T THINK THAT.  I said that all wrong.  I want you to be my family." Danny said.

"I'd like that Danny.  Let's just give it a little time.  I'll help you take care of the stuff that's causing you problems.  After a while then you can move in if you still want to." Donald said, hoping that wouldn't upset Danny.

"I guess that's okay.  Yeah, I think that's what we should do.  Right now, I think we need food more than this coffee." Danny said.

"Let's get dressed." Donald said. They both grabbed cups of coffee and sipped them while they got dressed."  Danny drove them to the dinner not more than a mile away.  It was a tiny place with a line out the door.  Donald said they'd have to find another place to eat.  Danny smiled and said come on.  He took Donald to the back door.  "Hey Ma, I'm here." Danny called out. 

"Hey baby, you're late." Ma said.  She was a tiny little women who couldn't have weighed a hundred pounds.  He hugged Danny's waist.  "You brought a friend." She said taking Donald's hand.

"Yeah Ma, this is Mr. Donald." Danny said.

"This is Donald." She said.  "Hi Mr. Donald.  I've heard a lot about you.  Come in come in." She hustle them to a small table in the corner of the restaurant.  It seemed everyone in the place knew Danny, they smiled and greeted him.  The table was small but room enough for two.  It was his table and everyone knew it.  Danny ate there almost every meal, every day.  There was a constant stream of people coming in to get take out and every table was filled as soon as it emptied.

"Ma always brings me good food.  I just eat what ever she brings, like when I was a kid and my Mom cooked.  You can get a menu if you want.  I have to go to the bathroom." Danny told Donald.

  

"I'll trust her.  I'm not a picky eater." Donald said.  Danny held up two fingers to Ma as he went to the restroom.  Ma came over to the table with two big mugs of coffee, Danny's was decaf.  

"I adore that boy.  He's got a heart of gold.  It's nice to see him cheerful again.  He's been in a funk for the last two days."  Ma said.

"I have to.  I missed him."  Donald said.

"He told me about wanting to move in with you." Ma said.

"Really?  I don't want to hurt him, but I don't want to get hurt either." Donald said.

"You wouldn't have to worry about him, he's as loyal as a puppy. That's why I worry for him.  He'd be easy to take advantage of.  That's why I was glad when he told me you weren't ready for him to move in." Ma said.

"We've decided to stay like we are for now and I'd help him straighten things out.  Then we'd decide if he should move in or not." Donald said.

"That sounds like a good idea.  I better get back to the kitchen." Ma said squeezing Donald's arm. 

Danny came back.  "I bet she was checking you out, wasn't she?" Danny said.

"I guess she was.  She really loves you." Donald said.

"Yeah, she helps me pay my bills and stuff." Danny said.

In a couple minutes she brought them a big omelet, grits, sausage and biscuits.  It was the best breakfast Donald had ever eaten.  "Gosh Ma, I need to learn how to cook from you." Donald said.  

"I don't know how to cook I just do it." Ma said with a giggle.

They finished up and left through the front door.  Danny's table was given to the next in line.  "Wait, we didn't pay her." Donald said.

"She won't let me.  I leave a hundred dollars for her every week.  She says that's too much but I make her take it."  She feeds me all the time." Danny said.  While they walked out, almost everyone in line greeted Danny and gave Donald suspicious looks.  

"Wow, you're like a rock star here." Donald told Danny.

"They call me 'Ma's boy'.  She has three daughters that work there to.  They treat me like their baby brother." Danny said.

"See, you aren't alone.  Everyone loves you." Donald said getting into the truck.

"I guess, but they have their own families to worry about.  I want to show you my folks house."  Danny said.

They drove a couple blocks and pulled into the driveway of a beautiful home.  The lawn, bushes and trees were flawlessly groomed and placed.  It looked like the cover of a magazine.  Inside, the house was just as perfect. It was clean and bright.  It looked like a happy family home.

"Wow, this is nice.  You're folks must have been interior designers." Donald said. 

Danny laughed. "Mom couldn't arrange anything. Dad was worse.  I did this.  Maybe I got the gay gene you missed out on." he said.

"I guess, did you arrange the silk flowers to?" Donald said admiring a dramatic arrangement in the foyer. 

"Yeah, is it okay?" Danny said.

"It's beautiful." Donald said.  I need to hire you at the shop.  My girl's good but she's getting in a rut." Donald said.  He noticed the vase it was in was very unusual.  It looked like it had started melting.  The arrangement looked like it was spilling out of the melted vase.  "Where;d you get the vase?"

"Ha, Mom used to make pottery and ceramic stuff.  I tried it and screwed it up.  She was going to have me start over but I liked the way it looked so we fired it just like that.  Then I did the arrangement in it.  She loved it." Danny said going from a cheerful chuckle to melancholy.

"You really have a talented eye." Donald said.

"Come on, I need to show you what I'm having trouble with." Danny said leading Donald into the home office.  On the desk, there was a stack of mail unopened.  "I just quite opening it cuz I can't read it.  I feel so stupid." Danny said sadly.

"You're not stupid.  There's a reason you can't read and it has nothing to do with how smart you are.  I won't have you saying that again. You understand?" Donald scolded.

"Okay" Danny said.  Donald started looking through the mail.  The majority of it was junk, but there were important things in it.  One was a letter from the DMV.  It said his licence was suspended for six months because of a seizure he'd had.  It happened at the mall and he wasn't able to get out in time.  Donald looked at the date.  It was over four months old.  "I can't drive?" Danny said in a panic.

"Not for a couple months according to this." Donald said.

"It's not fair.  I know when I'm going to have one.  I get off the road and shut off the engine.  I'm not dangerous on the road." Danny cried.

"I know, but they think you might be. You got off you meds and look what happened.  The one you had at my house came on pretty quick.  If you were on the interstate in traffic, you wouldn't have had time.  You just have to keep taking your medicine.  If they knew about that one, you'd loose your licence for another six months." Donald told him.

Danny sat down and cried.  "I can't work if I can't drive.  What am I going to do?"

"I guess you're going to pack a bag and move in with me." Donald said.

"Really Mr. Donald?" Danny said tearfully.

"Yeah, really." Donald said.  Danny jumped up and grabbed Donald.  "Thank you Mr. Donald."

"Can you help me buy furniture?" Donald asked.

"I sure can." Danny said cheerfully.  "I got something else to show you.  Come on."  He grabbed Donald's hand and dragged him out the door.  He handed Donald his keys. "You have to drive."

Donald took the keys.  "Where are we going?"

"Your house." Danny said getting in.

Back a Donald's house Danny took him out the back door into the yard.  He started telling Donald what he planned for the yard.  Donald was only half listening.  He was watching his sexy young housemate as he scurried around like a happy little kid at Christmas.  There was no denying he was in love.

"I'm being silly aren't I Mr. Donald?" Danny finally said leaning against the fence.

"Yeah, a little, but I love it.  You're having fun and I'm having fun watching you.  Our yard really needs help."   Donald said.

"After I saw that furniture you bought, I knew, you really need me Mr. Donald.