Love Behind Closed Doors

Once upon a time, Jason had been more than just a mere despised existence on the planet. Loving parents, a sports scholarship, and a bright future but all was shattered with just a single self- realization. It was still 1861 and the people of ‘HOMER’ weren’t keen on accepting gay people. Jason had put it out in the open on his 18th birthday and things just never remained the same.

Jason found himself relying on just one person after such a major decision of coming out, after he was oppressed and silenced by his family, he had found himself sitting in front of a therapist. Jason’s family believed that this was just a phase of their son's life and with therapy and time, he would go back to a supposed ''normal''. Even though it was something that started forcefully, Jason found a genuine friend in Dr. Brian (the therapist), who didn’t tell him to stop or oppress what he was feeling, rather embrace it.

 HE had always been a wanderer. If today he was here, in a small beach town, surfing the waves, then tomorrow, he was down the roads of another town, amidst the wilderness, camping in thick woods. He just never found a reason to stay anywhere for too long, never found himself feeling at “HOME”. Ranger with his gorgeous grey eyes, muscled physique, and honey-smooth voice did make himself a home in every woman’s heart that he came across.

This time around, the summer heat was smoldering and Ranger couldn’t help but want to be in a place of higher altitudes. So, the ranger found himself entering a small, peaceful town of “HOMER”. Set among the mountains, the town was everything beautiful and euphoric. After an all-nighter, the ranger was not only at the brink of falling to a dead sleep but was also starving.

As he entered the small diner, which was occupied by one other this early in the morning, he looked around the diner in awe of the interior of the homey place. Within seconds, he was presented with a menu. Ranger had never been in a town for more than a week, but this time, he couldn’t help but want to stay a little longer. As he looked up to order, he was met with a fascinating sight. A storm of emotions was brewing, something big loomed ahead.

Jason had never seen such an exotic beauty in his life before. As the second customer of the day looked up to order, Jason couldn’t help but get lost in the grey hues of the newcomer's eyes. With palms sweating, he cleared his throat and asked the beautiful stranger his order. Even his voice was pure heaven. After taking the order, as Jason turned back and headed behind the counter, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing back at the stranger who was seated so casually and staring back at him.

 Jason had no idea that God had already written his destiny, and that his life was about to change. By the evening, the small town of Homer was abuzz with the news of a beautiful stranger who had entered the town early in the morning. As Jason made his way back home, even amidst the buzzing energy, he was thrown glances of disgust. He knew then that life was never going to be how it used to be. After dinner, he couldn’t help but visualize the gorgeous man in the diner whose name he came to know as Ranger as he got ready for bed.

 The next day with Jason’s car bashed in by hooligans, he had to walk to the diner in the cold. Halfway through the journey, he could hear the roar of a rover in the silence of the dawn. He couldn’t help but fear that whoever this would be would want to hurt him because of his sexuality. Jason shrank within himself a little more with fear as the sound got closer. The rumble stopped as the rover halted beside him. He was directed to get in by a very familiar voice, one that made his heart beat a little faster and made his figure freeze in place.

 The interior had been intricately designed, right to the details, and all according to a ranger. As he continued his drive towards his new favorite place, the diner, he glanced every few seconds at the figure huddled in the passenger seat, sitting as far as he could from the ranger. Ranger couldn’t glance at the boy’s face as Jason had his head firmly turned towards the window. Within a few seconds of sitting inside to till now, the boy had only uttered one word, his name.

As they reached the diner, Jason bolted out the rover even before the vehicle skidded to a stop. As more days passed, Ranger found this to be his everyday routine- get up, go to the diner, pick Jason from the middle of the street, have coffee and breakfast while staring at him, and then giving Jason a ride home. Ranger didn’t know what he was feeling but he wasn’t one to deny anything, he knew Jason intrigued him in a way no one ever had. Before Ranger’s father had taken his last breath, towards the end of his days, he had always taught Ranger to never deny his feelings and he was doing just that.

Ranger had never thought of the prospect of him being attracted to a guy but again he wasn’t one to run from his feelings. Everyone knew the word for people like him but he wasn’t a problem to them as long as he kept his attraction for Jason to himself. As days passed, he noticed the change in Jason, now he wouldn’t sit huddled and attached to the door, he would speak a little more and seeing this, Ranger felt elated that Jason was finally coming out of his shell.

 Days in the diner were always hectic which made Jason unable to be near the grey-eyed beauty for too long to seem suspicious. From behind the counter, Jason noticed all the girls of the town trying to grab Ranger’s attention and failing miserably. Jason found the piercing grey eyes, the tanned skin, the bulging muscles and the pitch-black hair to be the most attractive traits of Ranger and this seemed to always draw his gaze towards the godlike man sitting at the diner for hours on no end. He wondered where Ranger was from or what he did to financially support himself, but Jason kept these questions to himself, afraid of talking or saying the wrong thing.

Somehow, Jason riding in the rover every morning and going back to his house in the rover had become an everyday ritual. Slowly but surely, a month later, Jason could talk more and act like himself in front of Ranger, and he found himself falling, really really fast.

 Love by definition is “An intense feeling of deep affection”. If you read it again, you will find that love isn’t defined with respect to a particular gender, age, religion or class/status. In very simple words, love knows no bounds, it is irrespective of any social or biological boundaries, and it is an emotion, shared by humans.

 

This is a fact, if literally taken, a fact that is very vast and deep. Jason, ranger, all the people of the town, all the people across the globe know what love is, but when something isn’t according to a majority of people, these people deny facts. Jason knew that after three months of constantly being around ranger, he had finally found someone he could spend the rest of his life with, but he also knew that a future together with the ranger as a romantic partner wouldn’t be acceptable to anyone.

 

From meeting the beautiful grey-eyed man on 24th of November, 1861 to elope with the man he was in love with on 2nd March, 1862, Jason believed to have lived the best time of his life and knew in his heart that he would always be happy as long as he had ranger beside him. Not being able to hold hands in public or kiss or just stare at each other was a sacrifice both were willing to make if it meant that they would still be able to be together.

 

In front of the world, the narrow minded people, in the year of 1862, ranger and Jason were two friends constantly on a move, having the time of their life as young bachelors. But behind closed doors, within four walls, away from people, ranger and Jason were lovers, partners, and each others backbones.

 

As the piercing grey eyes met the warm brown, ranger and Jason fell more deeply in love with each other. Thus, you complete reading the story of “LOVE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS”, “LOVE WITHIN FOUR WALLS.”

 

Ranger – “Love you to the moon and back.”

Jason – “I love you more.”