Rainbow Road by Alex Sanchez Read Free Book Online Page B

dad? Kyle had heard the disease ran in families. And he knew how violent and abusive Jason’s dad had been. What if Jason became like that?
    Kyle hugged Jason tighter, trying to quel the troubling thoughts, and Jason gripped Kyle’s arm around his chest, reassuring him. The fact was Jason hadn’t gotten drunk, or violent, or abusive tonight. He lay gently beside Kyle, the quiet thumping of his heart guiding Kyle to peaceful sleep amid the patter of raindrops.
    Sometime later in the night, the rain subsided. In the ensuing calm, Kyle learned something new and unexpected about the boy he loved: Jason snored. Very. Loud.
    In fact, so thunderously loud that at first Kyle thought surely Jason must be awake and kidding around. But Jason gave no sign of joking. He lay on his back sound asleep.
    Kyle’s dreams about spending every night of his future life together with Jason had failed to include this detail. And he felt clueless as to what to do about it.
    On the other side of Kyle, Nelson tossed and roled in his sleeping bag. Finaly he groaned, “Kyle!” Even though Kyle clearly heard him, he lay silent, feigning sleep, while Jason rumbled and wheezed.
    “Kyle!” Nelson insisted, his hand landing on Kyle’s shoulder, shaking him. “I know you’re awake. No one could sleep through that racket, so stop pretending.”
    “What do you expect me to do about it?” Kyle whispered. “It’s probably ’cause of your rum.”
    “Do some thing!” Nelson brought his hands to his ears. “My head feels like a truck is roaring though it. How can anyone sleep like that? Shake him awake.”
    “I’m not going to wake him.”
    Even though Kyle said it in a whisper, Jason’s cacophony abruptly stopped as he raised his head toward Kyle and Nelson. “Wha’s up?”
    “Nothing.” Kyle gently patted his arm, not wanting Jason to feel bad for waking them. But Nelson sat up and shouted, “You’re snoring! Like, realy, really loud.”
    “Oh,” Jason mumbled. As if he’d been through this before, he roled face down onto his stomach and returned to sleep.
    Kyle waited, and he could tel that Nelson was listening too. But Jason’s snoring was now replaced by soft rhythmic breathing.
    “Thank God!” Nelson exclaimed. “He’d better not do that the whole trip.”
    Kyle’s annoyance at Nelson returned, but, too exhausted to pursue it, he drifted once again to sleep til awakened by Nelson newly complaining, “Now what the hel is that noise?”
    Kyle blinked his eyes open. Morning sunlight streamed through the mesh tent door, piercing the fog of Kyle’s sleepy brain, as he tried to identify the pounding outside.
    “Basketbal,” he told Nelson and sat up, putting on his glasses to peer out the door.
    Kyle watched as Jason dribbled up and down the court, dodging sunlit pools of rainwater, his tanned skin glowing in the early morning sun.
    “Do you ever have days,” Nelson muttered, “when you wake up and just want to kil someone?” Kyle ignored him and climbed from the tent, gazing admiringly at Jason’s leaps and sprints. “Good morning!” He waved happily as he walked past Jason to the bathhouse to wash up and put his contacts in.
    When he returned, Nelson was crawling out from the tent, scowling and puling the hood of his pocketed red sweatshirt over his head. Grumbling something about murder, he puled his cel phone out from the car charger and started toward the bathhouse.
    “Hey, sorry about my snoring,” Jason shouted as he dribbled across the court. “At basketbal camp my roomie mentioned it. You just have to tel me to rol over.”
    “Whatever.” Nelson waved his hand, dismissing the apology.
    “Hey, you want to shoot a few with me?” Jason asked.
    Nelson stopped, put his hands on his hips, and glared from beneath his sweatshirt hood at Jason. “I do not play basketbal.”
    “That’s okay, I’l teach you.” Jason gave an encouraging smile. “Hey, Kyle! Tel Nelson how I taught you to shoot!” Kyle recaled