Movin’ On

June 23, 1987

Hazzard County, Georgia

Bo took a last look around Hazzard as he sat on the shoulder of the highway, the fight that he had with Luke only hours ago weighing heavily on his mind. He had thought that things were going well up until that point. They had been ‘in love’ for nearly two years, though the physical part of their relationship had only been going on for about a year and a half. They had so much in common, that Bo had thought that their one difference of opinion could be worked out. He realized again how wrong he was as the events of the past few hours played once again in his mind.

“Hey, Luke,” Bo said, walking into the room they had shared since they were children.

“Hey, Bo, what’s up?” Luke asked, looking up from where he sat on his bed, once again astonished to realize how lucky he was.

“Daisy just came in from the meeting for the dance next week and asked who I was taking.”

“You didn’t tell her we were going together, did you?” Luke asked in a panic.

“You should know better than that, Luke! I would never do that to you!” Bo said, angry that his love could even think that.

“I’m sorry, Bo, I just worry, this is such a small town, folks talk, and I don’t want them to find out about us.”

“I know, Luke, I know,” Bo said with a resigned sigh. They had been having the same conversation every time a social event came up for the past two years and he was getting tired of it.

“Who did you tell her you were taking?”

“I told her I didn’t know if I was going yet.”

“Oh, great, why don’t you just blow it all to bits!” Luke asked, his voice tinged with barely controlled anger.

“I can’t keep doing this!” Bo shot back, his anger even closer to the surface than Luke’s.

“Can’t keep doing what?” Luke shot back.

“Loving you but having to date girls just because you ain’t ready to admit to a relationship with me!”

“You know that we agreed that this was the way our relationship was going to work!”

“NO! You said that this was the only way a relationship between us could work! I’m sick of it! I want more than this!” Bo was practically shouting.

“Shush, you want someone to hear you?!” Luke hissed.

“Quite frankly I don’t care if the whole damn town hears me! I love you! And I thought you loved me!”

“I do love you, Bo, you know I do.”

“Then why are you so damned ashamed to admit it?” Bo asked, clearly hurt.

“I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” Luke answered, trying to remain calm and reasonable.

“Well I do! I don’t give a damn what anybody thinks about it! What the hell is so wrong with us loving each other! It ain’t like we’re the first cousin’s in these parts to fall in love!”

“No, but we are the first men in the area to love each other!”

“I’m starting to wonder just how much you do love me, Luke! Last month when we went to San Francisco you wouldn’t act like you loved me, shoot, I saw 20 or more same sex couples walking around, but you hardly even acknowledged that you were with me! Or are you just ashamed of loving me? Is that it? Are you ashamed because you think it makes you less of a man? Well, I got news for you, Luke Duke, what is making you less of a man in my eyes is that you won’t admit it! You hide behind dates with Lila and Suzy and Melissa, but you won’t admit that the one you really want to be with is Beauregard!” Bo’s voice had risen in pitch again, causing Jesse to pound on the boy’s bedroom door.

“What’s going on in here!?” Jesse exclaimed opening the door without waiting to be invited.

Bo pointed a finger at Luke, glaring at the person he loved more than any other “He won’t admit that he’s in love with me!” Bo nearly shouted.

Luke hauled back and slapped Bo, hard, causing his lip to start bleeding. “You had no right to tell Jesse any such thing!”

“Go to hell!” Bo shouted, pressing the back of his hand to his lip to stop the bleeding.

“Both of you boys sit down this instant!” Jesse ordered.

“With all due respect sir, this is between Bo and I and I’d like to keep it that way,” Luke said, with more calm than he thought he could muster.

“I don’t give a damn what you want, I want some answers, and I want them now. What the hell is going on?” Jesse looked pointedly at his oldest nephew for the explanation.

“Luke-“ Bo started before Jesse cut him off “You’ll have your turn in a minute,” he turned back to Luke, “now talk.”

“About two years ago, Bo and I discovered that the closeness we had always shared had taken on a new depth, we realized we were in love.”

”Two years! TWO YEARS! How the hell can you keep something like that a secret for two years!?” Jesse bellowed.

“We just did, we felt it was no ones business but our own, so we didn’t tell anyone.”

“You felt it was no ones business but our own,” Bo shot at Luke, “I wanted to be open from the beginning.”

“Whatever,” Luke said, turning back to his uncle. “Now, every time there’s a dance or something, Bo here gets upset because we have to take girls.”

Jesse turned to look at his youngest nephew, “Is that true, you get upset because you have to take girls?”

“No. No, I get upset because Luke insists that we have to take girls. Frankly I think he’s ashamed to love me.”

“Bo, you know that’s not true,” Luke said, trying to keep his voice even.

“No, I don’t! You refused to even tell Jesse and Daisy! Do you know how hard it’s been for me to keep the secret all the time, unless we were in here!? Do you even care!?”

“Yes, I care!” Luke yelled, finally having lost his temper, “I also care that people are gonna call both of us all sorts of nasty names! Do you want to spend the next 20 years or more being called ‘queer’, ‘faggot’, ‘queen’ and homo!?” Bo just stared blankly at Luke “Well, do you!?”

“No! And I also don’t want to spend the next 20 years running around with every damn single girl in Hazzard, just because you can’t come clean about who you love!”

“You are so naïve.” Luke said with a shake of his head.

“Did you ever think I maybe wanted to be true to you!? Did you?!” Bo glared at Luke, then stomped to the closet and wrenched the door open, “You know what, forget it! Just forget it! I don’t have to put up with this shit! You can’t be open about the fact that you love me, it’s your problem, I’m outta here!” As he spoke he grabbed the suitcase from the top shelf of the closet, as he finished speaking he started piling clothes into it.

Luke watched in horror as his beloved packed, upset that this was happening, angry at Bo for wanting to leave him, and angry at himself, for not being able to do the one thing that Bo wanted, but he just couldn’t do it. “Bo, please, don’t leave, we’ll work something out.”

Bo ignored Luke, in too much pain to see his love’s heartache, instead he turned to his uncle. “Uncle Jesse, can I get a ride to Cooter’s, he has a car that I’m sure I can get for a good price.”

“Bo, you really don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, Uncle Jesse, I do. Luke always has an excuse for why he can’t act like he loves me, if we’re here it’s because everyone knows us and it’ll get around too quick, if we’re on vacation it’s because he wants to relax and not get stared at. If he truly loved me, none of that would matter. I’m just sorry it took me so long to realize how ashamed Luke is of this.” Bo closed the suitcase and turned to his uncle, “Actually, I need to borrow the truck for an hour or so first, if that’s okay, there are a couple things I want to do before I leave.”

“Of course, Bo,” Jesse said, hoping in that hour he could talk to Luke, make him see how little of a problem he thought their love was.

“Thanks, Uncle Jesse,” Bo said, leaving the bedroom without a backward glance.

“Bo! Good to see you, my man!” Cooter exclaimed as Bo walked into the garage.

“Hey, Cooter.”

“You don’t seem like yourself, what’s eatin’ ya?”

“Nothing,” Bo said, trying for a sense of normalcy to his voice “You still have that old Firebird for sale?”

“Sure do, you ain’t lookin’ to replace the General, are ya?” Cooter asked, really concerned because he loved the General Lee almost as much as the Dukes.

“No, but he’s staying, I’m not.”

“You sure everything’s okay?”

“Yes,” Bo said with a hard edge to his voice, “You gonna sell me the Firebird? Or not?”

“Sure, sure, I’ll sell her to ya, Bo, real good price too,” Cooter said, leading Bo to the back.

“Good, write out the papers, I’ll be back to get it in an hour.”

“Don’t you want to drive her first?”

“No.”

“Don’t you even care how much?”

“Not particularly.”

Cooter watched his friend walk out of the garage with a heavy heart, wondering what could have happened to make Bo leave his home and family.

“Bo Duke, what are you doing here in the middle of the day?” Daisy asked as her cousin walked in.

“I came to say goodbye, Daisy,” Bo said, looking his cousin straight in the eye.

“Goodbye? Why are you leaving? Where are you going? Why? You were fine when I left for work an hour ago.”

“I’m leaving because I have to, Luke can explain more, if he wants. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’ll let you know, as long as you promise not to tell anyone.”

“I promise, only Luke, Jesse and I’ll know.”

“No! You cannot tell Luke, you have to swear.”

“But why? Did you two have a fight?”

“You could say that.”

“Bo, that’s no reason to leave,” Daisy’s eyes were pleading.

“Trust me, Daisy, in this case, it is. I can’t stay here right now, I don’t know if I ever can.”

“Please be careful.”

”I will, I promise. I love you, cousin, take care of yourself, and our family.”

“I will,” Daisy said, throwing her arms around Bo and giving him a hug.

“I’ll miss you,” Bo said, kissing Daisy’s cheek as he pulled away.

“I’ll miss you, too. Take care, and be careful.”

“I will,” Bo said, turning and walking out of the roadhouse.

“Bo please don’t leave, we’ll work something out,” Luke pleaded as Bo walked into their room.

“I have to. I can’t live like this anymore.”

“Jesse said no one will mind.”

“Does that mean you’re ready to go out in public with me on your arm?”

“No, Bo I’m sorry, I just can’t do that, not yet.”

“Then, Luke, I can’t stay. I want more than this out of a relationship. We both deserve more. Find someone you can go out with. That’s what you want.”

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“Funny, Luke, seems like you’re not willing to keep me,” Bo said as he grabbed his suitcase and headed back out to the truck. He put the suitcase in the truck bed, along with the guitar he’d picked up on his way through the living room, then went to the barn. “Uncle Jesse, I’m ready.”

Jesse joined Bo a minute later, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“No, I’m not sure, I truly don’t want to but, I’m positive that I have to. I can’t live with the shame of dating girls then coming home to the one I truly love. I love Luke enough to give him the freedom to find the type of relationship he wants, but I can’t be around to watch that happen.”

“Well, then, I guess we should go.”

“Yeah,” Bo said, climbing into the truck and looking one last time at the only home he had ever known. Bo never saw Luke looking out the kitchen window at the truck as it pulled away, tears slowly falling down his cheeks.

“That car ready for me yet?” Bo asked with false bravado as he and Jesse walked into the garage.

“All gassed up and ready to go,” Cooter said, trying to match Bo’s tone, then his voice filled with his concern “you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

“Positive, Cooter,” Bo said, taking the invoice that Cooter handed him for the car.

“You sure this is all I owe you?”

“Yep, it’s not the best car on the planet, but it’ll get ya where ya wanna go.” Cooter said, knowing that they both knew he had really undercharged Bo.

Bo made out the check, grateful that he had made some smart investments with the money he had made while he and Luke were on the racing circuit. He shook Cooter’s hand as he handed him the check, for a little over what Cooter had asked for. “Take care of yourself Crazy C.”

“You too, Bo.” Cooter said, knowing instinctively that it was the last he would see of Bo Duke for a while.

“Uncle Jesse,” Bo said, turning to shake his uncle’s hand, then he gave his uncle a long embrace, “Thank you for everything. Take care of Daisy…and Luke.”

“I will, you just take care of yourself. Keep in touch, okay?”

“I will, please promise though, that you won’t tell Luke where I am.”

“I promise.” Jesse said, hating to make a promise like that but knowing he had to.

Bo climbed into the sports car and rolled down the window, “Goodbye, Uncle Jesse, Cooter, take care of yourselves.”

Cooter and Jesse both watched as Bo drove away, Cooter unsure what was going on, and Jesse wishing that he could tell the man who had been such a good friend to all the Duke’s, but at the same time knowing that it wasn’t his place.

Bo sighed as he started the engine of the Firebird once more, he had tears in his eyes as he pulled back onto the highway. “I’ll always love you, Lukas, I hope you know that it’s because of that love that I’m doing this,” Bo’s voice was but a choked sob as he drove off toward his future, one he hoped he could survive.

End Part 1