Chapter Eight: Namaste

“No, he didn’t,” Jake laughed in a raised voice.

I walked out the front door and saw Jake and Landen in deep laughter mode. I shooed Shoned off one of the Adirondack chairs that she wasn’t suppose to be curled up on. It still baffled me how she was able to get into the chairs in the first place, much less adjust herself comfortably into them.

“Who didn’t do what?” I asked them.

“Landen was telling me about the time that you two were in Paris and you asked the waiter in your most serious French accent if he knew the way to San Jose,” Jake replied, through laughter.

“Are you even old enough to appreciate that song?” I asked.

“Are you?” he responded laughing. “You aren’t that much older than I am.”

“I…I have ten years on you,” I said, taken aback.

“Ten years isn’t that long,” Jake replied.

“When you’re 27,” I started, “you’re going to be mad at the world.”

“You aren’t.”

“No…well…” I was struggling to find the perfect come back. Landen was merely leaning up against the rake, smiling. “Well…that’s because my boyfriend’s hot.” I drank my coffee as Landen and Jake laughed. “Jake, about last week…”

“It’s cool,” he assured me. “I told you that last week, remember?”

“Yeah, but,” I started. Landen looked at me and then averted his eyes with a slight head shaking.

“It’s really cool,” Jake repeated. “We’re cool.”

“You’re referring to…” I gestured between us.

“Yes,” he laughed. “Don’t worry.”

“Ok…cool. So what’s he making you do today?” I asked, nodding at Landen as I leaned over the porch railing.

“Clean the house naked,” Jake quickly replied. He and Landen laughed.

“Ew,” was all I could muster.

“He’s going to have lunch with us,” Landen said, smiling at me.

“Alright, cool,” I responded. There was a little pause as they started working again. “Are we having lunch?” I finally asked after taking a drink of coffee. Landen smiled up at me. I responded, slightly shocked. “Oh, I’m making it?”

“Please?” Landen asked, smiling even brighter. “Or you could finish raking the leaves.” Jake looked up at me.

“Lunch it is.” I boldly gesticulated with my free hand. “What time will you boys be ready for this lunch I seem to be making?”

“Noonish?” I think that Landen was more asking Jake than me.

“That’ll work,” he replied.

“Well, then I’m going to go,” I started, “and make the most spectacular…”

“Sandwiches will be fine,” Landen interrupted.

“…sandwiches you’ve ever seen,” I changed mid-sentence. “I think I’m going to grade some papers until lunch.”

"Ok,” Landen said.

“Hey, Bannon,” Jake called.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Do you have a student named Tom Pollack?”

“Mid-height? Football player? Beefy? Kinda grunts his sentences?”

“Shit for brains?” Jake finished. Landen and I were both shocked by his language. “That’s the one.”

“Yes,” I said, shaking my head with a smile. “I have him.”

“Fail him,” Jake replied frankly. “He’s a bastard.” Landen laughed. I looked at him, my eyes wide.

“On that note,” I replied, not quite knowing what else to say. “I’m going to go. I’ll have lunch ready around noon.” I turned on my heels, whistled a quick whistle, and walked through the front door. Shoned bounded behind me.

“I love you,” Landen called after me.

I sounded two kisses and waved back with both hands as I walked through the door, letting it close behind me.

The couple hours before lunch were rather uneventful. The occasional laughter or other assorted noise from the front lawn had distracted Shoned, forcing me to finally let her out again. I watched her zip between Landen and Jake’s legs as they tried to do yard work. My eyes then drifted up Landen’s body since he had taken his shirt off after about an hour of work. They had both been inside the house numerous times to go to the bathroom or get a drink or something of that nature. Landen had informed me the last time he’d come in to get some water that he really like Jake. Jake’s conversations with me were rather short, in duration, not in attitude. He seemed like a nice enough boy, and didn’t seem to hold any hard feelings towards last week’s episode. But we also didn’t really talk about that incident. As I was creating a beautiful spread of bread, meat, cheeses, vegetables and condiments, Jake and Landen came into the kitchen chattering about trimming the tree or cutting branches or something like that.

“You two are early,” I said.

“We reached a breaking point,” Landen replied. I swatted his hand as he reached for a piece of turkey.

“I don’t think so,” I said, grimacing at the sweat and dirt that got on my fingers. “Are you guys working anymore today?”

Jake looked at Landen.

“I doubt it,” Landen decided on the spot.

“Good,” I responded. “Then you two can go shower. Jake there are two spare towels in the guest bathroom, soap and shampoo is already there. I also laid out some clothes that I thought you would fit into. If you wear a medium, I just bought Landen some new boxer briefs that he hasn’t opened yet. You’re more than welcome to take a pair of that. I can always get him more.”

I paused and saw both Landen and Jake looking at me. I watched Shoned tilt her head, apparently questioning what I was saying. “What?” I questioned.

“Did you put anything out for me?” Landen asked.

“Not clothes related,” I responded. “Is there a problem?”

“No,” they replied in unison.

“So why are you standing here? Go shower. Landen, dear, give Jake some underwear.” Jake scowled. “It’s brand new and never been worn. Don’t get your panties bunched up over it. What? You’re getting a free pair of boxer briefs out of this. And not cheap ones, I might add.” They both stood looking at me. “We’re not eating until you two go shower. I don’t like the smell of sweat, unless it’s Landen.”

“But…” Landen started.

I raised my left index finger, covering my right ear with my hand. “Bbbbbbb. No ‘buts’. Showers. Now.” I stressed the “Now.”

Jake and Landen scrambled out of the kitchen and up the backstairs. Landen slipped on the hardwood floors and barely managed to support himself so he didn’t crash into the stair railing. I stood at the kitchen island shaking my head. “He gets that from you,” I tell Shoned as I get back to sandwich spread making. She laid down and yodeled quietly.

Jake was the first one down kind of tugging at the shirt. “It’s a little tight.”

“You could wear one of Landen’s,” I replied. “They tend to be broader in the shoulder and chest areas.”

“What do you want me to do with the dirty clothes?”

I opened the door to the basement. “If you can wait for them to get cleaned, throw them down there and I’ll wash them while you two are eating lunch.”

“You’re not eating lunch with us?” Landen said walking down the stairs, pulling a t-shirt on over his head. Jake had already thrown the clothes down the stairs.

“I can take two minutes out to start laundry since I made Jake change. Stop pulling on the shirt please.” Jake immediately stopped and looked down at the floor.

“Looks great, Ban,” Landen said nodding at the kitchen island that I had covered with the sandwich materials. “Cute shirt, Jake, Namasté.” he continued, winking and giving his Landen smile.

“Thanks,” Jake replied. “Er, thank Bannon, I guess. It’s a tad tight…” He began playing with it a little, thinking I wouldn’t notice.

“Nah,” Landen answered. “Looks fine. We wear them tight nowadays.” Jake immediately stopped fiddling with the shirt. “Do you know what it means? Namasté?”

“No, I’ve never even heard of it,” Jake said.

“It’s an Indian expression,” Landen explained. “As literal as I know, it means that I honor the spirit that is in you that is also in me. Shortened, it means that I view you as me equal.”

“That’s awesome,” Jake said, looking down at the shirt. “Thank you, Bannon.”

“No problem,” I replied. “They were actually given to us when we were in India.”

“We took it as quite an honor to receive them,” Landen added.

“Absolutely,” Jake agreed.

“Enough of this talk,” I said. “Let’s eat.”

Jake began moving to get a plate.

“Whoa, we have to pray first,” Landen said, stopping him. Jake looked at him, shocked. “Don’t you pray before a meal?”

“Usually only at dinner,” Jake responded.

“Would you like to lead our prayer?” I asked him.

“We just do a simple little prayer,” Jake replied.

“That’s alright,” Landen told him. “It’s just important that we give thanks for what we have. If you don’t want to, we’ll understand.”

“No, I can do it,” Jake said. We took each others hands and bowed our heads. “We fold our hands, and softly say, thank you God for this food today. Amen.”

“Amen,” Landen and I both said together.

“Thank you,” I continued. “Now you may eat. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start Jake’s laundry. But you two can start, I’ll be back up in a minute.”

After kissing Landen, I walked down to the basement as they began to make themselves sandwiches. Shoned got up and walked to the top of the stairs, watching me descend them. She started panting and bouncing off of her front legs when I started coming back up. Landen and Jake were already eating at the kitchen table when I came back into the kitchen. “Do either of you want a drink?”

“Milk’s fine,” Landen said. “Thanks, Love.”

“Jake? We don’t have much: water, milk, Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale and Root Beer.”

“Water’s fine,” he replied.

I poured two glasses of milk and a water and slid in next to Landen.