Boston
Caleb stared at the two colourful, glossy tickets in his hand – weekend tickets to the Boston Museum of Creative Arts.
He breathed in deeply, then tried again. "But Sarah – "
"I'm sorry, Caleb, I really am, but Kate's parents are serious about inviting me to their home over the weekend. I can't go with you, Caleb." Sarah's voice sounded distraught over the phone, but Caleb wasn't sure if her disappointment was a tad feigned. Sarah was ecstatic about spending the weekend at Kate's ranch in Maine, and wasn't about to relinquish the holiday for a dull museum trip.
"Ask Pogue to go with you, or something."
Caleb turned the museum tickets over and over in his palm. "Yeah. Have fun at Kate's."
It was supposed to have been a simply great trip with Sarah – a long, romantic drive to Boston, an awe-inspiring day at the museum, a hearty lunch, a serene journey home, and a passionate kiss to complete the perfect day trip.
Caleb felt deserted, discarded, abandoned by Sarah for Kate's ranch.
And he had really wanted to see the newly renovated Boston Museum of Creative Arts.
He had poured his excitement, his emotions, all his soul into this one day trip, and Sarah was gone.
He had heard that Picasso's 'The Accordionist' had been shipped in from Rome, and would be displayed as one of the key pieces at the museum that weekend.
Fuck.
Fine. He would go anyway. What did Sarah know about art anyway? Sarah wouldn't appreciate it like he would, she wouldn't see the beauty like he would, wouldn't see each precise brushstroke in detail like he would. Sarah would probably make suggestive comments about how naked the sculpture figures were, and start giggling or something like that.
He would go . . . by himself. Alone.
Damn.
Maybe Pogue will go with me, Caleb thought dispiritedly. But Pogue couldn't – Pogue was at some crazy dipshit biker's convention, with his biker-dude friends.
Reid? Tyler? Caleb didn't make much friends, he knew that. Not having many friends became a bummer when you needed someone to go to an art museum with you.
Reid would probably step into a porn museum, but not an art museum. Even the naked sculptures would be too chaste for Reid's libido.
Caleb stared at the two colourful tickets, and cursed them. It would be so easy to throw them away, so easy to forget about the stupid Boston Museum of Creative Arts. But he wanted so much to go.
That left . . . Tyler.
Tyler frowned. "What?"
Caleb cleared his throat, and tried to ignore his hammering heart. Why was this becoming so hard for him? Jeez, it's just Tyler, man. Get a grip on yourself, you're beginning to sound like a girl.
"Uh, if you've got nothing much to do, d'you wanna go to an art museum?"
Tyler smiled a faint smile. "An art museum?"
"Yeah, I would've asked Sarah, but she's gonna be at Kate's ranch in Maine for the weekend."
Caleb's breath tightened uncomfortably. He was finding this very awkward. He and Tyler had never been chummy buddies. Tyler would probably cook up an excuse not to go. Who went to art museums of their own will, anyway?
But Tyler agreed.
"So you like art, huh?" Caleb asked hesitantly, throwing a sideways glance at a taciturn Tyler as he cruised on a freeway. Tyler hadn't said much ever since the journey began.
"I . . . don't really know much about art," Tyler replied sheepishly. "I've never been to an arts museum before."
Caleb smiled. "Really? Well, you're gonna like this one. They just renovated it, so it's definitely going to be cool."
"Hey, I never knew you liked art," Tyler said with a little smirk.
"You kidding me? I'm an art freak."
"I guess that makes you all the more perfect, huh, golden boy."
"Don't get me mad, baby boy."
Tyler gave a short laugh, and Caleb saw how Tyler's fingers kept fiddling incessantly with the zip of his hooded jacket. Is he nervous, too? Caleb recognised the dark-blue jacket Tyler wore – it was Reid's, and not for the first time Caleb pondered on how close Tyler was to Reid.
Tyler couldn't stop staring at the towering entrance. The sliding glass doors extended towards the top of the building. The Boston Museum of Creative Arts boasted the tallest entrance in Massachusetts.
"Not going to get anywhere just standing around like that," Caleb said into a transfixed Tyler's ear.
"It's the coolest thing I've ever seen."
"And you haven't even gone in yet. Come on."
And at Caleb's urging, Tyler walked in.
The museum was – a world of intricate wonders, a colourful maze of paintings, a giant paper plane, a twisted array of sculptures, a vast wall of dizzying graffiti, a gallery of famous caricatures imprinted in oil canvas – everything.
Tyler gaped at the ceiling – thousands, millions, of little copper wind-chimes had been hung from up above, and the clinking and chiming made a beautiful, flowing sound, like waves breaking the shore.
They had seen Russian abstract paintings, Renaissance artworks, Leonardo da Vinci's sketches, and modern avant-garde sculptures. Tyler with his hands shoved in his pockets had wandered from painting to painting, from sculpture to sculpture, with the captured air of a little child. Tyler's enthusiasm was genuine, and Caleb found himself intoxicated by it.
Caleb watched Tyler's blue eyes move excitedly as Tyler drank it all in. Caleb was finding it hard to concentrate on an abstract painting of a wolf in lamb's skin.
A breathless Tyler grabbed Caleb's hand. "Come here, I've just discovered something fucking cool."
And before Caleb could protest, he was whisked away, and found himself facing a transparent glass pyramid. But wait, the pyramid was transparent, it was weightless, see-through, without substance, hanging in the air.
"It's a hologram, Ty. A big hologram," Caleb said amusedly.
"It's floating . . . "
"Yeah. The real pyramid's down there. The mirrors reflect it so you see a hologram."
"Yeah . . . "
And Caleb noticed that Tyler's hand was still in his, and smiled to himself. Caleb leant into Tyler's ear and whispered. "But hey, let me show you something even cooler."
And Caleb led Tyler to 'The Accordionist', a masterpiece of Picasso and highlight of the Boston Museum of Creative Arts.
Caleb breathing became shallow, and he held Tyler's hand tighter in nervousness as they pressed through the crowd and saw 'The Accordionist' in all its refurbished glory.
After a lengthy interval, Tyler sighed. "Caleb, if you don't mind, I'm bored of – "
"Shut-the-fuck-up-baby-boy," interrupted Caleb fiercely, gripping Tyler's hand painfully hard, and continued gazing at 'The Accordionist' with increased fervour. "Picasso rocks."
When Caleb had stared sufficiently enough, he reluctantly allowed Tyler to lead him where the younger Son pleased.
Caleb lounged as best as he could in his chair, and took another sip of his extremely sweet latte. They were in Starbucks, a little way from the museum. Caleb watched Tyler attempt to lick a coffee beard off his mouth and chuckled softly.
"Bet you Picasso was gay," said Tyler defiantly.
"Fuck you. Picasso was a genius."
"But gay. I could tell from his paintings."
And they argued aimlessly.
"Y'know, Boston's quite a cool place," Tyler said, sighing and looking at the metropolitan surroundings.
"Yeah, if it weren't for Spenser I'd have moved here ages ago." Caleb looked into Tyler's blue eyes. "How'd you like the art museum?"
"It was . . . okay, I guess. Sure beats watching Reid bash Aaron at pool."
Caleb laughed at the mention of Reid and Aaron, and Tyler laughed along with him. And when the waiter brought them their orders of pasta they began cracking jokes about the canteen food at Spenser Academy.
Caleb looked at a serene-faced sleeping Tyler. He's cute-looking when he sleeps. Tyler had fallen into slumber on the journey home.
Caleb shook Tyler gently, and watched as Tyler gradually awoke. "We're back."
"Where?" muttered Tyler in a voice dulled from sleep.
"Nicky's."
Reid strutted out of Nicky's and towards Caleb's car. "Where the hell did you guys go to?" he began.
"We went to an art museum," replied Tyler, cocking an eyebrow while getting out of Caleb's car.
Reid could only smirk. "An art museum? Seriously?" he said incredulously while wrapping his arms round Tyler's waist and kissing Tyler on the lips. "Did Caleb kidnap you or something?"
Tyler emitted a breathy laugh. "Hey, come on man, it was fun." He turned back to Caleb. "Thanks, Caleb."
"Yeah. See you around."
And Caleb tried to ignore the jealous twinge in his heart, and drove away.
I watched 'Bridge to Terabithia' (sobs at the ending) and there was this scene where Miss Edmunds takes Jess to a museum, so I took that idea and reworked it to make a one-shot. R&R, please :D