I'm Listening

Blair hit the scan button on the radio as soon as Jim started the truck. Truck hell, this was a man's vehicle, a Chevy Avalanche. The old hayseed truck had finally bit the dust after a particularly nasty incident with a train and a semi; it could have only happened to Jim and Blair. Jim had admired the new Chevy since its introduction, and this gave him the opportunity to buy a new baby.

"Must you do that?" Jim asked, grimacing.

"Yes," Blair said, smirking, "I must do this every time."

"But you always end up on the same channel you started with."

"Not always."

Jim supposed he could agree to that, but didn't.

The radio shuffled from station to station, stopping for fifteen seconds, sometimes long seconds as the music irritated Jim. Blair was oblivious, listening with interest to each station, sometimes singing along with the slice of song they heard. Jim tried to concentrate on driving and wait for 'their' station to come back around.

"All right!" Blair jerked forward and hit the scan button again, stopping its cycling.

"What's th--" Jim tried to ask but Blair shushed him.

"I'm Dr. Fraiser Crane, and this is Mental Health Today. Before we take our first call, I'd like to welcome 93.1 KSKD, Cascade, Washington to our listening audience. And for everyone out there, our toll free number is 1-888-FRAISER, or 1-888-372-7437. I'm listening."

"What is this, Chief?" Jim finally got to ask.

"Haven't you heard the ads?" Blair asked, shoving his hair behind his ears. "He's this really popular psychiatrist who has a talk show based in Seattle, I think, and they're branching him out. They've been hyping his first show for about two weeks now."

Jim 'hmm-ed' softly but didn't say anything. Blair left the radio on that channel until they got to their destination, and when they got back in the truck later, he hit the scan button as usual and nothing more was said about Fraiser Crane.

***

"We've got J.J. on line two," Fraiser's producer, Roz said.

"Hello J.J., this is Dr. Fraiser Crane, I'm listening."

"Hi... um..."

"Go ahead, J.J., you can talk to me."

"Well, I'm... I've been thinking about... I mean, I'm straight, but..."

"Let me see if I understand, you've been straight all your life until now and suddenly you're having feelings about men. Is that right?"

"Yeah, but it's only one man in particular, my roommate and best friend, Bl..."

"And what about him? Does he have feelings for you?"

"Feelings? I think he cares about me, but not... not like I do for him."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"So, what do you want to do about these feelings?"

"That's why I'm calling you, I don't know what to do!"

"J.J., I think you need to sit down with your friend and talk to him. Explain what you're feeling."

"Yeah, right!"

"He might surprise you. And if he's your best friend, he'll listen."

***

Jim was throwing together a sandwich when he heard Blair clomping up the stairs. He was surprised because Blair had mentioned a study group meeting that evening, which was also why Jim hadn't prepared dinner.

"Hey, Chief," Jim called when he heard Blair open the door. "You're early."

"Yeah." Blair dropped his backpack by the table and slipped off his jacket, hanging it beside Jim's.

"Want a sandwich?" Jim asked, turning to look at Blair for the first time since he'd come in.

"Sure," Blair said, smiling a smile Jim had never seen before. "And then we can talk, and I'll listen."

The end.

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Acknowledgements: Muchos Gracias to Mary for the early a.m. betaing. Hugs to Patt for the cover.