A New Life

That Sunday night, the four of us had a lot of questions to ask Doug and Brian. Prez and I wanted to be able to duplicate those visualizations because they really helped both of us. What my parents said, about us becoming stressed out because of our prom worries, made perfect sense too. We didn’t want to argue about the prom or anything else for at least the next week and the visualizations really seemed like they could help us. Once Doug and Brian described how to do it, we felt confident that we could do it whenever we wanted.

It’s really not that difficult. The most important thing is to stay relaxed. The person guiding the visualization must use positive language. It’s simple enough where a person could guide his or her own journey, as long as you pay attention to the two rules.

Mike and Derrick listened to the instructions as well. Then they went off again, wondering about the coffee table drawer, TV and electricity! I’m certain my parents heard some of what we were talking about and it didn’t phase them one way or the other. When it began getting dark the rest of my family went into the house. Once we were alone, Doug explained, "The intent was to get your undivided attention and to get you to realize that you can do anything you set your mind to."

Brian then said, "Look up at the moon for a minute." We did as he asked. The moon was almost full, just above the hills on the horizon. "Keep watching," he softly said and closed his eyes.

We all watched the sky and Doug said, "Clouds are nothing more than water vapor." Before our eyes, a small wispy cloud formed in front of the moon!

Shivers ran up and down my spine! I thought; Omigod, Mike and Derrick weren’t exaggerating!

Doug then said, "Creating clouds, changing channels on a TV, turning off the lights, these are all relatively simple things. They’re nothing more than party tricks really when you compare them to what other people can do." He paused for a moment, looking at each of the four of us. I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling so I can’t describe what he saw on our faces. Doug then continued; "We’re showing you this for a reason; to prove that what limits your success is what you think, what you believe is possible. If you want success, first define what success means to you. Then see a series of smaller, intermediate successes in your mind’s eye. Finally, take the steps to make each a reality."

Brian breathed deeply then said, "Other people can do much more amazing things. There are documented cases of people appearing in two places at once. And we’ve all heard about how one person walked on water. Scattered throughout history, there have been others that could do the same amazing things Jesus, Mohammad and Buddha did. The reason they’re not as famous is because they chose not to be."

"Look at how people treated Jesus," Doug said, "They followed him, they talked about his miracles, some called him the son of God, other’s persecuted and eventually had him killed. Some people want a quick fix for their problems. Rather than learn to do for themselves, they push their troubles off on someone they believed could help. Jesus didn’t know how to say no, it seems. And they crucified him for it."

Brian said, "All we want you dudes to know is that there are endless possibilities in life. If you want to be called Messiah, then there are teachers that will help you get there. We’re assuming you’d be happy just getting past life’s challenges without too much pain and suffering. So we showed you the ways we know to help accomplish that. It starts internally, learning to forgive others and equally importantly, how to forgive yourself."

After a few silent moments, Mike giggled, "Show me how to make a cloud."

Doug shook his head and laughed, "Not yet." Before Mike could ask why not, Doug said, "If you can’t control it, we’ll wind up getting rain or worse, causing a flood somewhere!"

"Please, no more El Nino storms!" Prez nervously chuckled.

Brian glanced at Mike and then Derrick saying, "You know how we’re always talking about mastery of one sort or another?" Both of them nodded. Then Brian said, "You didn’t learn to play guitar or drums over night. It took time. You had to learn what could be done and how before trying to do it. You’re at that same point now, the beginning slope of the learning curve."

"I promise, someday we’ll show you a few more things but for now, let’s stick to the basics of getting past each day’s challenges," Doug said.

Brian added, "Your fears and worries, all the negative emotions we each build up during our lives, those are the things you need to control before you can make a cloud appear or disappear."

"You can make it disappear too?" Derrick excitedly asked.

Doug nodded, looked up at the sky and then, within about a minute, the cloud stretched, broke into pieces and vanished!

Unable to control myself, I giggled, "This is too much!"

"It’s a step along the path," Brian reminded. "We’ve chosen not to take it any further. It’s made our life simple and that’s enough for us."

Prez grinned, "So what’s the deal with your doorbell?"

Doug rolled his eyes, shook his head and said, "I wish I knew!" sounding very confused and disgusted. Prez laughed hysterically.

"The doorbell is fine!" Brian playfully argued, "If too many people pushed your button all day long, you’d get tired too!" We all chuckled and laughed.

Then Doug said, "We’re on our own pathway. I don’t feel like a master or a messiah, partly because I don’t want to be either of those things."

"We’re not hoping to be perfect," Brian said. "Everything has its price. The last time someone attempted to be a perfect person, he was crucified for his efforts."

Doug agreed saying, "Sadly, the human race didn’t learn much from him or any of the other masters and sages."

"How many were there?" Derrick asked.

Doug answered, "It’s said that every generation has seven sages. There isn’t like a United Nations or a roster but what about Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa? There’s no doubt they’ve done extraordinary things, helping entire populations with words and deeds. I have to wonder if maybe they’re sages. Every religion in the world has their own messiah. Not too many have reached that extreme level but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been others, slightly less advanced."

Brian reminded, "You dudes are musicians. Your decision to practice led to a certain level of mastery." He paused for a moment then grinned at me saying, "Yes Keith, you’ve reached a level of mastery too!"

"How did you know what I was thinking?" I asked.

"By the look of doubt on your face," Doug answered.

Mike smirked, "He’s always been that way."

"We could’ve had a kick-ass band last summer," Derrick joked, "but nooooo! He can’t sing in front of people!"

I shook my head at them thinking, if they kept busting my chops; there wouldn’t be a kick-ass band this summer either!

"To each his own and in his own time," Brian reminded.

Another few moments of silence passed between us. Then Derrick said, "You dudes must’ve studied lots of different things."

Brain shrugged, "There’s always someone else that knows more."

"Self defense wouldn’t happen to be one of those things?" Mike asked. Then he quickly said, "If I have to defend myself, I don’t want my hands and fingers all bruised and scraped to hell again."

Brian nodded, "Six years of karate. We made it to brown belts."

Both men stood up, took off their shirts and walked over to the middle of the yard. We turned our chairs around and watched. About ten feet away from each other, they faced off, bowed and started sparring!

Doug is shorter and stockier than Brian is. It would take some effort just to knock him off balance, I thought. But Brian has a substantial height and reach advantage.

Taking a defensive role, Doug quickly shifted his weight, avoiding two lightning fast jabs by Brian. They circled, grinning and giggling at each other the whole time! Then Doug performed some kind of forward leg kick but Brian stepped aside, grabbed Doug’s leg and pushed up, sending Doug flailing to the ground. He bounced up and said, "Damn, that’s hard grass!"

I guess Brian thought Doug was unprepared and took a single jab. But Doug grabbed Brian’s hand, twisted it and Brian dropped to his knees yelling, "I give!"

Mike laughed, "That’s what I want to learn!"

"Hell yeah!" Prez enthusiastically bellowed.

We all stood up and took our shirts off. My dad and uncle came back outside, sat at the table and watched us take our first self-defense lesson. Obviously joking with my uncle, my dad was smiling and chuckling, so I was sure he approved of what he was seeing.

For the next hour or so, we learned how to avoid getting hammered and, more importantly, how to grab a fist, flip it and where to press to bring anyone to their knees! When I took my first playful jab at Brian and he grabbed my hand, the pain was excruciating! My knees buckled, tears flooded my eyes and it was all over! He then showed me how to do it. The six of us practiced that move repeatedly. I began to realize that we had all the bases covered and no one was going to mess with us at the prom. If they did, they’d either be verbally slammed or brought to their knees! As if I didn’t feel good enough already, another exciting chill ran up my spine.

Doug glanced at his watch then grabbed his shirt saying; "You all know what to do?"

Derrick and I nodded. Prez said, "Yeah, it’s easy," and Mike said, "Sure, no problem."

Brian said, "We’ve got to go. Call us if there’s any questions at all."

"I’ve got a 5AM conference call to deal with," Doug said. Then both he and Brian walked towards the patio table.

Derrick yelled, "Work on a holiday?"

Mike shook his head saying, "That sucks!"

"It’s all in how you look at it," Doug reminded, "It’s just a means to an end." We then said goodnight and he walked with Brian, my dad and uncle into the house.

As soon as the door closed, Mike and Derrick turned and grinned at each other for a few long moments. Prez and I shook our heads very slightly, wondering what they were thinking. Then Derrick asked, "Can you dudes keep a secret?"

I grinned and nodded, knowing that I had enough secrets of Mike’s stored away to last a lifetime already!

"You bet," Prez said.

"Seriously, my mom can not find out about this yet," Mike insisted.

"We won’t say a word bro," I said, but my gears were already spinning.

"Don’t tell me," Prez grinned insanely, "one of you is pregnant!" We both cracked up laughing.

Mike frowned, "Very funny. Just for that, we won’t invite you over."

"Invite us where?" I giggled.

After glancing at each other again, Derrick softly said, "When school is out, we’re hoping to move in with Doug and Brian for the summer."

"Really?" Prez excitedly asked.

Mike nodded and said, "For most of July they’ll be on vacation and we’re house-sitting."

"We hope to be house-sitting," Derrick corrected. "We’ve got to ask first."

"On the last day of school, assuming everything else stays cool, we’ll ask then," Mike said.

Mike and Derrick had told us about their restrictions at home. I was happy for them but had to create a scene for Mike’s sake. Purposefully acting like a spoiled brat, I said, "That’s not fair! My dad introduced us to them!"

"Yeah, but we visited them more than you dudes did," Mike chuckled.

"We’ll just see about this!" I grinned. Then I started towards the house mumbling, "Where’s the phone? Hello, Mrs. Gibbons? Mike’s gonna move out with Derrick so they can fuck like bunnies all summer long!"

Mike hollered, "Bastard!"

Turning around, I saw Mike running after me! Laughing my ass off, I took off for the gate, jumped the fence and headed down the driveway with Mike chasing after me! Dashing between the cars in the street slowed me down. Mike pushed me from behind and I stumbled but didn’t fall. Then I took off down the driveway again and into the backyard.

Prez and Derrick were sparring, throwing playful punches at each other. I ran past them, stopped and then Mike walked into the backyard.

"Your such a fucking tease!" he huffed. "Prez, how do you put up with his shit?

"Huh?" Prez giggled. "How do I get it up? It’s easy!"

Derrick and I laughed but Mike just grinned and shook his head sadly.

From the backdoor, my mom said, "Boys, it’s after eleven. Come in the house please. Let the neighbors and yourselves unwind."

I grabbed the pile of shirts and started handing them out but we never bothered putting them on. We went in the house and Prez went to the fridge then started pouring glasses of iced tea. My aunt and uncle were getting ready to leave. While I was saying goodbye to them, Prez led Derrick, Mike, Drew and Corey back to our bedroom. Sorted from tallest to shortest, they looked like a freaking parade and I had to laugh! My aunt giggled at me then kissed my cheek and my uncle shook my hand.

Before heading to my room, I noticed John sitting alone in the living room watching TV. I wished he wouldn’t separate himself like that and sighed. My mom walked outside with my aunt and uncle. As I stepped in front of John saying, "Come on bro, let’s go hang out for a while," my dad watched from the entryway.

"I’m watching Sportscenter on ESPN," John said, "I’ll probably crash after this."

Prez had turned on the stereo, I noticed, then turned and looked at my dad. He nodded his head.

"There’s not any kind of a problem or anything, is there John?" I asked.

He shook his head but seemed involved with the TV and didn’t really hear what I asked.

My dad signaled for me to head back to my room. He would talk with John. There was no reason for my dad to get into this, I figured. Shaking my head, I stepped between John and the TV.

Shifting to look around me, John loudly asked, "Dude, what are you doing’?"

Moving my ass from side to side to block his view, I smiled, "Just trying to get your attention bro."

John smirked then yelled, "You’ve got it! Now move your butt out of the way!"

Staying put, I giggled, "Make me!"

Smiling widely, John softly chuckled, "You scare me when you’re like this!"

Wide-eyed, I chuckled, "You’d best get used to it ‘cause I like feeling this way!" Seeing that no major scene would play out, my dad headed for the kitchen.

Shaking his head, John said, "They’re talking about the All Star game tonight. Let me watch that. Then I’ll come hang out for a few before I crash."

I nodded and stepped aside saying; "You’d better." Heading towards my room, I joked, "Don’t make me and Prez pay you a nighttime visit!"

My mom walked in the house and closed the door just as John giggled, "I’m still trying to stretch my dick out from the last time!" Slowly closing her eyes and reopening them, my mom looked at me like she wanted to run back out of the house! She walked beyond the small entryway wall, stood there and stared at John. I busted up laughing as John’s face turned bright red! I laughed loudly thinking, mommy’s baby is growing up, acting like one of those strange grown men and she does not like this at all! I also considered John’s perspective; she heard me talking’ about my dick again – shit! Laughing my ass off, I went back to our room.

Stepping in my room, I found Mike and Derrick hanging off each other; slow dancing to fast dance tunes on the stereo. Prez and Corey were trying to show Drew how to dance.

"It’s about damn time!" Mike yelled over the music.

Prez shuffled over to me and began really dancing, like he does while we’re alone, shaking and shimmying, leaning closer to me then back again.

"We thought you had a better offer someplace else," Derrick grinned.

I began dancing with Prez and asked, "What started this?"

"Talking about the prom," Drew chuckled as he stumbled around, watching Corey’s feet.

"Move your upper body too dude," Corey reminded Drew.

I couldn’t help but start laughing again at the way Derrick and Mike were dancing! The radio was on one of the preset dance stations and the song was fast but they hung off each other, slowly wobbling!

Prez started laughing too then he looked deep into my eyes. I looked in his eyes and scanned his face. It had been, without a doubt, one of the fullest, happiest days of my life. No situation or conversation tuned sour. The day started good and kept getting better. Now I was dancing, shirtless with my sexy boyfriend and our friends.

The song ended and Prez said, "I have an idea," then went to the stereo. I was certain that I knew what his idea was and grinned. First switching to CD, he then scanned the rack. Quickly reading the back cover, he then dropped the CD in and programmed it.

"What’s the disk dude?" Derrick asked.

"It’s the Top Gun movie soundtrack," Prez answered, handing him the cover.

Playing With The Boys started playing and Prez glanced at me, his eyebrows bouncing playfully. I got the hint and reached for Mike’s shoulder. Prez then shuffled over to Derrick.

Mike turned around and I chuckled, "Time to learn how to dance right, bro."

Quickly, he turned back and saw Derrick chuckling at Prez, who was enticing him to dance. Mike turned around saying, "Show me your best moves dude, I’ll out grind ya!" and started dancing. He was pretty good too! Prez seemed to be cracking Derrick up! Derrick could barely hold the beat of the music! I started really emphasizing every other beat with some vicious hip moves and Mike kept up with no problem. He laughed and moved closer to me, leaned in and said, "We’re gonna knock around people’s ideas at the prom bro."

"It’s gonna be awesome dude," I agreed. Then I asked, "Which tux did you finally pick?"

He winked, "I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?"

Nodding, I chuckled, "Mine’s light blue, dark blue shirt and a white bow tie."

"Tails?" he asked. I shook my head, and he asked, "What about Prez?"

I shook my head then answered, "His is white with a light blue shirt and a white bow tie."

"Sweet!" Mike excitedly said, "We’re doing tails. Mine’s all white with a little black trim. Derrick’s is black, white shirt and a dark red tie."

"You’re not wearing a shirt or tie?" I half joked. Knowing Mike, he’d consider something like that!

He grinned and nodded, "White shirt and white bow tie, a little black trim on everything."

"Like the ice cream man!" I laughed, and he shoved me! I cracked up remembering the ice cream man that Mike thought was real cute a few years ago.

The dude was young, blonde, good looking and sometimes didn’t have a shirt on. The summer before we started high school, Mike would never intentionally miss a chance to see the ice cream man! It didn’t matter if we had money or not. Once those ice cream bells were heard jingling, he’d dash in that direction! Mike grinned and shook his head slowly while I stopped laughing.

The song ended and Prez changed over to one of my favorite soft hits radio stations. "I guess the lesson wasn’t really necessary," he said.

"We just like to hang dude," Derrick said.

I glanced over at my brother and Corey. They were just holding each other close and whispering, swaying to the music.

Mike’s eyes got wide and he shot some message across the room to Derrick then they both grinned evilly. "One more slow dance then were gonna jet dudes," Mike said.

I smirked and nodded, wondering what antics they were planning for later in the night.

Derrick browsed through our CD collection and picked one of Mrs. O’Brian’s disks. I knew it because Prez had separated her favorite CD’s from the rest. Handing the disk to Prez, Derrick said, "This one bro, Night’s In White Satin please."

Prez nodded and said, "That’s a good slow dance tune, cool."

He didn’t seem phased at all as he switched the CD player on again then dropped in the disk. Before the song started playing, he came over to me smiling. We embraced, the music started and we swayed slowly.

"Dancing’s okay?" Prez whispered in my ear.

"No problem baby," I said. "He called you bro. Did you hear that?" Prez nodded then I asked, "Is this song really alright?"

"Course, there’s other’s that have better words but this is nice and slow."

I nodded and said, "I love you Prez," then kissed his ear lightly. He squeezed me tightly to return the feeling.

After a few seconds, he asked, "What was so funny before?"

I grinned and told him all about the ice cream man. Mike caught me smiling and whispering in Prez’s ear. He fired nuclear weapons at me from his eyes!

Slowly, Prez turned us around so he could see Mike. His giggles soon turned into laughter. I turned us around again. Glaring at me, with the fires of hell burning his eyes, Mike smirked and looked down. Hanging on Derrick’s ass, from both hands, Mike shot us the bird! Fully expecting that he’d get me back somehow, I crumbled against Prez laughing hysterically.

Drew and Corey said goodnight after the song ended. Derrick then walked up to Prez and took his hand. Standing beside me, Mike forcefully grabbed my arm, sliding a cloth gay flag bracelet onto my wrist! The bastard got me back already! Surprised, I stared at Mike like he was insane.

Prez giggled "Thanks dude," and hugged Derrick.

"Let’s wear them to school on Tuesday," Mike suggested.

"Where’s yours?" I smirked.

"Look at my right ankle dude," Mike smiled. I looked down and sure enough, there it was, right above his sandals. "It’s been there all day, how could you miss it?" he grinned.

Shaking my head, I answered, "I don’t usually look at peoples feet when I talk to them!" Then I looked down at the stripped bracelet on my wrist. It looked cool on the same wrist with the sliver bracelet that Prez gave me. "Thanks bro," I said, "I’ll wear it to the prom. I’ll think about wearing it to school but no promises." The weird thing was, I actually considered the idea favorably! But I couldn’t let Mike know that!

"We’ll wear ours, right Mike?" Derrick asked, and Mike quickly nodded.

Prez came to my side saying, "We’ll think about it."

I looked over and smiled at him. One red eyebrow raised and I chuckled but stifled it before Mike started suspecting things. Quickly I looked at Derrick and changed the subject saying, "I’ll pick you up at two tomorrow dude."

"Let’s go to the beach first," he suggested.

"Cool," Prez excitedly said.

"Where are ya taking me tomorrow dude?" Mike asked Prez.

Appearing thoughtful for a few moments, Prez then said, "Anywhere you want, as long as we can hit Guitar Center at some point."

Mike’s eyes lit up. We then all walked out of the room towards the front door. Once we were outside, Derrick turned to me asking, "Where are we going?"

"I figured we’d just hang around the mall for a while," I joked. But really, I hadn’t thought of any place at all and kind of wondered where we would go myself!

"Oh! Real exciting! Maybe I’ll go with Prez and Mike!" he quipped.

"You want exciting?" I laughed, "How about we wander around North Hollyweird, check out some of those adult stores?"

"Now you’re talkin’!" he laughed as he got in the 442.

Mike glared at me, daring me to really take Derrick to North Hollywood! That settled it in my mind! Even if we got caught and were asked to leave, it would be worth it just to see Mike’s reaction!

"Beach? Around ten tomorrow morning?" Prez suggested.

"Coolness. You’re driving?" Derrick said as he started the engine.

Prez snaked an arm around my waist saying, "Sure, goodnight dudes."

Derrick waved and pulled away. Mike held eye contact with me until his head wouldn’t turn any further! Hugging Prez, with my face buried in his shoulder, I snickered uncontrollably for a few moments.

"You’re really going to North Hollywood?" Prez chuckled.

I nodded and said, "We’ll give it a shot. If they boot us out, oh well! If not, I’ll be back there with you next weekend!"

He pulled back and looked at me then his eyes got wide. "You’re serious!" he laughed.

I nodded, "Just like sneaking into a movie, if it works, great!" Suddenly, it occurred to me that Prez might not like the idea. "It’s okay, isn’t it?" I asked then said, "I won’t go if it’s not. It was just an idea that flashed into my head, mostly to annoy Mike."

Prez hugged me tightly, inhaling deeply as his nose brushed past the side of my face. "You two would probably have the best chance getting in. It’s okay," Prez softly said.

"Mike’s gonna go bonkers!" I giggled.

Prez laughed. Then he asked, "There’s got to be a reason why you two are constantly driving each other crazy?"

"Not really," I said. Then I thought out loud, "You’d have to picture me and Mike around thirteen. Remember, we didn’t talk for most of our seventh grade year. After his dad died and Mike came back to school, we started talking again. Then the sleepovers started. By the time we were out of junior high and going into high school, it just got to this point. He suspected I was gay and I was pretty sure he was, but no one else had a clue. Sometimes, late at night we’d tease each other about Derrick, about the ice cream man, about anybody that happened to be worth mentioning. Then at school it was almost total reversal, straight friends. The joke is the denial. For a while there, I didn’t think it was too funny but lately, it just never stops being funny! And there’s so many ways to say and do things!" I laughed then held up my hand. "He knew I wouldn’t want to wear this. That’s why they got them, to dare us to wear them."

We started into the house again and Prez said, "Only if you wear yours babe."

Turning the doorknob, we tried to step inside. Rush was lying by the door again! The ceramic floor is cooler so he must really like it, I figured. We waited for the dog to move and then I pushed open the door.

"You was napping, you silly hound!" Prez giggled. Then he bent over and Rush’s whole body wagged from side to side as he went to Prez. "Go be a good boy," Prez said. The dog then galloped past Prez, onto the lawn, hiked his leg on a shrub then happily trotted back inside. "Is that it for the night?" Prez asked his dog. Rush sat down and panted.

Stepping inside, I chuckled at Prez, the way he talked to his dog and the way the dog responded, reminding me of Aldo and my dad. Rush then raced to our room. Just then I realized that John never did stop by our room. He probably would’ve felt out-of-place any way so I figured I’d just let this pass.

Locking the front door, Prez asked, "You’ll wear it to school?"

I answered, "I’m really considering it." Prez stepped up next to me then wrapped his arm over my shoulder and we went back to our room. Rush was in his crate watching us. I closed and locked the bedroom door saying, "I’ve been building a list in my mind of those big mouthed dudes calling us names."

"Do you consider any of them a threat?" Prez asked as he started to get undressed.

"I don’t know much more than names really. They were in classes I had, I never hung out with any of them." I said, pushing my shorts and boxers down.

Prez turned off the light then we slid into bed. Lying on my back, I was reviewing the list of names, counting each. On his side, Prez shuffled a little closer to me. Wrapping my arm around him, I then considered how big each of those dudes was but dismissed that idea because anyone could hide a weapon.

"There’s about five different guys that pester me from time to time," Prez whispered. "I only have one class with one of them. His name’s Tim Sheffield."

I nodded saying; "He’s a pretty big dude."

"You know him?"

"He’s on the soccer team."

Matter-of-factly, he said, "If he wasn’t such a complete jerk, I’d consider him pretty cute."

I turned and chucked at my horny boyfriend.

"What?" Prez giggled. "He keeps his hair short and neat. He’s not a radical dresser. It just seems to me that if he wasn’t such a jerk, maybe…"

"Maybe what?" I giggled.

"I just get the distinct impression that he’s gay. I can’t say why but it’s there."

Tracing little patterns around his chest and belly, I giggled, "Honing your gay-dar skills baby?"

Prez giggled, "I’m trying but the bleeps aren’t to be trusted… yet… I think!" He paused, his eyes shifting away from me and grinned, "Then again, I was right about Zach while you were completely oblivious!"

I poked his side, mercilessly tickling him! Eventually I stopped and rolled over on top of him, kissing him deeply and grabbing panted breaths. He got hard from the tickling, I immediately noticed.

Pulling back I looked in his eyes. His Irish eyes were smiling as much as his mouth. "You wanna?" I softly asked.

He nodded quickly saying, "The perfect ending to a perfect day."

I loved hearing that he felt it was a perfect day too and dove for his neck. Gobbling him up from head to toe, I really took notice of each little thing that created a vocal reaction from him. His twitches, gasps and giggles seemed so much more intense. Not like he was forcing anything, I just noticed and appreciated it more. We were both getting better at our communication, in the bedroom and out of it.

After we made love, lying silently beside him, I wondered if I had been misinterpreting my emotions, regarding what could have been excitement for fear. I really loved Prez’s interest in starting a GSA club at school but participating in it made me nervous. Coming out to Zach was scary too but had to be done if he was going to be stopping by the house. I wondered if it was fear or excitement that I had felt.

Things were happening. We were making a move from being discovered to being out and proud of our sexuality. In my dreams, I imagined Prez and I showing affection anywhere and every where; holding hands at the mall, putting sun tan lotion on each other at the beach and little kisses whenever we damn well pleased in the school halls.

I wanted to do all those things with him, not to excess with intent to stir up trouble but simply to show him that I do love him. Considering the stupid stunts I occasionally pulled, it felt like I needed to remind him a little more often. Our limits would be effected by other people’s limits to some extent. But, like Mike had said, some kids where going to have a paradigm shift at the prom.

Waking with the sun beaming in our room window, I laid on my side watching Prez sleep. That morning he was on his side facing me. He had the sheet wrapped up around his shoulders but had kicked the blanket on his side of the bed down to his feet.

It seemed to me that Prez was always the one showing affection publicly. What had I done? I reached for his hand on a few occasions. Big deal!

But it was a big deal to me. The rents always said, be happy and safe. Showing affection made us really happy but, thanks to those homophobic scumbags roaming around, I wouldn’t exactly consider it safe. During the next day, I would have to make a decision about wearing that cheap little gay flag bracelet at school. Doing so would make us both happy but was it safe? Were the loud mouths slandering us at school capable of doing anything more? I didn’t know what to do.

Prez rolled onto his back. His jaw dropped open and he snored with every inhaled breath. I giggled because he always swore that he never snored! As long as he was on his side or stomach, that was true. But when he was on his back, he could become a real window rattler! I had to get a small cassette recorder someday, I promised myself.

Carefully sliding out of bed, I noticed the time while I was searching the floor for my boxers and shorts. It was quarter to eight in the morning! What was I doing awake this early on a holiday, I wondered. My shorts and boxers should’ve been on the floor near the desk, by the corner of my side of the bed but they weren’t there. I was pretty sure I knew where they had gone. Walking around to the other side of the bed, I looked into Rush’s crate. The dog wagged his tail, making loud thumping sounds against it.

Softly, I called the dog before he woke up Prez. Rush got up, stretched and came over to me with his ears back. Looking in his crate, I found my shorts and boxers and Prez’s clothes too!

I frowned at the dog saying, "Thief!"

Rush looked up at me, ears back, tail wagging slightly as if to say, "Yeah, but I’m so cute!"

From the dresser, I pulled out a pair of swimming trunks, put them on and followed the dog out of the room. "You’re not cute!" I told the dog as he happily trotted in front of me.

My dad was in the dinning room having his morning coffee when I came in the room. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully.

Letting the dog out, I said, "G’mornin’."

"What’s on your plate for today?" my dad asked.

Reaching in the fridge, I answered, "First the beach," but didn’t say anything about the afternoon plans. I pulled out a Sunny D then sat at the table. "The dog’s turning into a kleptomaniac," I joked.

My dad chuckled then said; "Aldo stole socks for a while. What’s Rush stealing?"

"Shorts and boxers," I grinned.

Grinning widely, he offered, "It might be too easy a solution, but you could pick them up off the floor."

"Thank goodness he only sleeps on them," I said. "He hasn’t turned any of our clothes to rags so far."

"You’re teaching him, I hope," my dad asked.

Nodding I said, "I left the clothes in the dog's crate so Prez can see it. He’ll take care of it." Then I smiled, "As far as the dog’s concerned, we’re all part of Prez’s pack!"

"If he steals anything of your mother’s, Rush will have a rude awakening!" my dad chuckled.

Sitting there quietly for a few minutes, I wondered if I should talk with my dad about wearing that bracelet to school. My dad got up and refilled his coffee cup then sat down again.

I asked, "If you had to choose between happy and safe, which would it be?"

Looking at me for a few long moments, he then answered, "Tricky question. I guess I’d have to consider what was threatening our safety." I looked at him curiously then he continued, "Let’s say it’s a roller coaster. They’re not always safe but they’re maintained and we assume no one will ever get seriously injured so we go for the fun."

I wondered about what he said for a good minute.

"What’s the problem, Keith?" he asked.

I sighed then said; "Mike and Derrick gave us gay flag bracelets last night. They want us to wear them at school tomorrow."

My dad shook his head slowly and grinned, "You’ve always been really self conscious, even as a toddler." He took a sip from his coffee then said, "It’s only a statement of support. I have a small gay flag pin from PFLAG, your mom has a larger one and we both wear them to work."

Surprised I asked, "You do?"

He nodded and said, "I wear mine on my shirt pocket. No one’s said a word, except Doug."

"You think I should wear it then?"

"Are your classmates that homophobic?" he asked.

"Not really, I guess. There are a handful of dudes calling us names."

"How do you react to that?"

"Most of the time I ignore it. Once in a while someone I know says something and it hurts a little bit."

"No one’s shoving you?" he asked and I shook my head no. "So what are you afraid of then?"

"Of another fight, of someone else getting hurt," I quickly answered.

"I think that’s only part of it," he said.

I thought for a while then asked, "I’m missing something then."

"Of course you are. No one can see themselves as other people perceive them. It’s about your perceptions of what you portray to the world. It’s the image you want to project that you’re probably having a tough time with."

That seemed logical and it was part of what I was considering so I nodded.

"The other night, I told you to be proud of who you are. For the most part you are acting that way, even though you don’t recognize it."

"What do you mean?"

"Here at home, you’re proud of Preston and yourself. The same holds true around Mike, Derrick and Jessy. While we were out Christmas shopping, you were calling each other pet names in every store, not even recognizing that you were doing it. Is there something about school that makes you uncomfortable?"

I though for a few seconds then giggled, "Just school, it’s always creeped me out!"

My dad chuckled, "Think about it. If you’re comfortable, you could care less who hears you calling out ‘baby’. It seems to me the issue is fifty percent other people and fifty percent self image. You’re afraid of being considered a fem, aren’t you?"

Hearing that from my dad really knocked my world for a loop! I was still thinking quickly, considering everything all at once when he stood up. Stepping behind me, my dad put his hands on my shoulders and reassuringly said, "You’re not feminine in any way. Upon first glance, people see a tall, strong, handsome young man. You’re usually well dressed. After talking with you, people almost always notice your sensitive side. After meeting you, Doug told me how much he envied you. He had a boyfriend in high school. When they were alone everything was fine but, in public, Doug ignored the guy, even humiliated him on one horrible occasion. He couldn’t cope with his own homosexuality as a teenager. Not you though. It’s obvious that Preston is your best friend everywhere you go. You could’ve treated him differently when school started, but you didn’t. When his mom died, you could’ve run in the opposite direction, but you didn’t. When you disagree, you could do what you want anyway, without any consideration for him. But that’s not you, Keith."

By this point, I was wiping my eyes constantly but my dad continued, "Your mother and I won’t take all the credit either. They were all your choices. We only backed up your decisions. Then there’s the band and two successful appearances. You did that for Preston and Mike, there’s no doubt about it in my eyes. These are the things I told you to be proud of. And if that’s not enough, ask your classmates if they’ve been living with anybody full time for the last year. Ask them how their sex life is, if they even have a sex life. Ask them if they give a fuck about anyone but themselves."

I was giggling through my tears when he mentioned sex lives, but looked up stunned when he said the word ‘fuck’. It’s very rare for him to use that word. He didn’t say it angrily so it was just a way to emphasize his statement, I figured.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead then said, "You decide when to wear it, if that means only once in a blue moon or every day of the week, wear it anytime you feel like it. Be sure to let me know if anything happens at school. Your principal is a good man but there are a few bigoted assholes on the board of education. If one more incident happens at school, I’ll sue the school district. There’s one person in particular I’d really like to get on the stand. He can use his doctorate to wipe my ass."

Wide-eyed, I chuckled at my dad. Feeling a hundred pounds lighter, I stood and hugged him. "Are you and mom doing anything today?" I asked.

He started heaving, chuckling uncontrollably. I stepped back. One look in his face and I knew where he was going. "Shopping!" he laughed.

Shaking my head and chuckling, I asked, "For anything or just shopping?"

He went back to the kitchen for more coffee and answered, "Your mom wants to organize closets. Ours is getting cluttered, yours and your brothers’ closets drive her completely bonkers!"

In my mind, I screamed, closets! It just had to be closets! My first urge was to yell, tell her to get the hell out of the closets! But I didn’t. I only giggled a little, told my dad when we were leaving then chuckled all the way back to our bedroom.

Prez had rolled over again, onto his left side, facing the dresser and the dog’s crate. The sheets were halfway down his back. It was as if I had never seen him like this before, like he never slept with me, like we didn’t make love for two hours before finally passing out. Kneeling down beside the bed, I lifted the sheet and checked his status. He was mostly flaccid, just a little bit longer than completely limp. Since Prez was usually awake before I was, it had been a long time since I’d woken him with a blowjob. The time was right, so I went for it! For the longest time, Prez didn’t move but his dick lengthened and hardened in my mouth. Then he inhaled deeply, rolled onto his back and ran his fingers through my hair. I got on the bed with him and positioned myself between his legs so I could look up into his face.

Reaching for me, he hoarsely whimpered, "I want some too!"

My only reply was shaking my head, which twisted my mouth over his cock, and he gasped loudly. Concerned that I had inadvertently scraped my teeth over his sensitive organ, I stopped sucking and asked, "Did I hurt you?"

"Oh God no! It was fabulous!" he breathlessly told me.

Giggling at the way he said "fabulous," I stroked his spit-covered erection then went after his nads and started daydreaming.

Have I mentioned before how much I love his cock and balls? Omigod! His pubes above his cock fan out perfectly and a sparse trail of dark red hairs lead up to his belly button. The front area of his sack is hairless; all the hair is around the sides and in the back. There are freckles on his scrotum too, so I often amused myself playing connect the dots with my tongue! The hair on his legs had thickened in the last year.

When I was noticing and trying to accept my homosexuality, I wondered if I’d be grossed out by pubic hair. Having only a few areas of hair-covered flesh, I could easily see myself with someone just like me. The idea of lots of body hair, on myself or anyone else, was just one of the many confusing parts of accepting my sexuality. But now that I’m with Prez and we’re both changing, I only giggle at those old thoughts. The bottom line is, to me Prez is the sexiest dude around. No one looks like him or walks like him or talks like him. I chastised myself severely once more for getting jealous and causing us a few days of confusion.

The notions and conclusions crossing my mind were exciting. Waking out of my trance, I noticed Prez was grunting and moaning almost non-stop. He was pushing his ass down into the mattress then up into the air again. His thigh muscles were so tight they appeared ready to tear through the skin.

I shouted to myself, he’s about to lose it dummy!

Just as I moved my face over his cock to take him in my mouth for the grand finale, he shot a huge load! It landed in my hair, on my forehead and pretty much all over the right side of my face before I finally got him in my mouth. That only instigated another volley, which I hungrily swallowed. Finally his cock stopped throbbing in my mouth and Prez gasped for air.

"Omigod!" Prez heaved in his best sounding valley tone yet. "You are so awesome!" he giggled, "My balls will be tingling for hours!"

Crawling up beside him with my right eye closed, I reached for the sheet to wipe my face. Nothing stings more than cum in the eyes!

Noticing my saturated face, Prez looked shocked and said, "Oops! Sorry babe."

Wiping my face, I grinned, "No problem, I was just tripping and didn’t notice how close you were till it was too late."

"Tripping? On what?"

"You mostly."

"And what else?"

"How stupid I can be," I softly admitted.

He looked in my eyes and followed them when I looked away. Sighing, he nodded slowly then grinned, "Remembering that you have a gay boyfriend?"

With a smirk, I nodded. "I really need a swift kick in the ass for all that," I whispered.

Prez only grinned at me and continued shaking his head. He kissed me then said, "If your folks still think there’s still something wrong with us, I’ll give you a good spanking later tonight!"

Before I could reach for him and start tickling, Prez swiftly rolled out of bed. From the bed, I looked up at his naked body and contentedly sighed loudly.

"Let’s shower," he playfully suggested.

I got out of the bed and he noticed me already in swim trunks. "I wasn’t planning on showering until after the beach. But now that you’ve hosed me down, I guess we’ll have to!" I playfully said.

He looked my way, bouncing his eyebrows then looked down at the floor. "Where’s my shorts and undies?" he asked.

"In the dogs crate," I giggled.

He bent over and looked inside. "Dagnabit! Where is he now?" Prez angrily said as he retrieved our clothes.

With him bent over, I answered, "Out back," then grabbed his ass! "Gotchya!" I laughed and ran out of the room, across the hall into the bathroom.

Seconds later, Prez came in, his eyes half-mast, walking that sexy deliberate stride. Backing away and giggling, I knew I was in trouble and loved it! "I’m gonna go find my mutt and teach him not to use our clothes for pillows. Then I’m coming back to deal with you!" he warned, then turned and left the room.

During the few minutes he was gone, I brushed my teeth and wondered how he would deal with me. Any way he wanted would be fine with me! I took my trunks off, hung them on the hook on the door, then stepped into the shower. Over the water, I heard Prez shout, "These are MINE! Bad Boy!" Seconds later, the bathroom door opened and Prez stepped in the shower with me. Grinning, he stood close to me and whispered, "You’re a bad boy too."

"I know, and you love it too!" I grinned.

He didn’t argue. Grabbing the soap he said, "You’re a dirty boy too," then glanced down at my hard cock. The next thing I knew, he was on his knees, jacking my bone with one soapy hand and teasing my bunghole with the other. Between his awesome technique and how great things had been since we woke up the previous day, I lost control too fast. Prez then did the most amazing thing. He leaned his forehead against my stomach and pointed my soapy bone at his mouth. Furiously, I came gallons then wearily leaned on his shoulders for a few moments. He stood up smiling, his cheeks and chin dripping with my jizz! If I could’ve cum again, believe me I would’ve! Then he opened his mouth and kissed me deeply, sharing the taste of my load.

Unbelievably, we made it to Mike’s house a few minutes before ten in the morning. We honked and waited. At exactly ten, I looked at Prez and shook my head. "He’ll be late for his own funeral," Prez giggled. I nodded my head knowing he was right but I wondered how he could keep on mentioning death without so much as a tear.

"I’ll go get them," I said and headed for the door. Mrs. Gibbons let me in and I went back to Mike’s room, noticing Derrick’s room across the hall was sparkling clean. I knocked.

Beyond the door, Derrick said, "Yeah dudes, come on in."

I stepped inside. Derrick was sitting on the bed wearing trunks but Mike was still naked. At his feet must’ve been half his clothes. Since Derrick was smiling, I had to wonder what was happening.

"What’s the hold up bro?" I innocently asked.

"My trunks from last year are too tight through the crotch," Mike explained, "it’s the Speedos, regular shorts or in the buff."

"I vote in the buff," Derrick grinned.

"I’ll do the Speedos if you do," Mike teased.

"Is this going to take all day?" I wearily asked.

Derrick nodded and suggested, "Better get Prez dude."

I went back out and retrieved Prez. Back in Mike’s room, we helped the boy wonder choose what to wear. There were three pairs of trunks, a few pairs of shorts and the Speedos to try on. Mike was right; his trunks from last year were way too tight around the ass, like something worn back in the seventies! Mike wouldn’t even consider two other pairs of shorts that he often wore to school. That left the Speedos and two older pairs of shorts that barely fit right but he said he didn’t like for swimming.

"You haven’t used your pool this season?" Prez asked.

"Late at night, a few times," Derrick answered.

"We go out wearing Speedos but they don’t stay on very long," Mike admitted. Derrick grinned and nodded.

Prez chuckled and shook his head.

"They’re so slippery!" Mike joked, "always sliding off your ass when you least expect it!"

I giggled, "Let’s not start talking about slippery stuff!"

Derrick stood, began untying his trunks and said, "Let’s just do the Speedos dude." He walked past Mike and dropped his trucks.

Derrick’s got a nice uncut dick, I briefly thought. Glancing over at Prez, I noticed he was grinning at me! I was caught copping peeks! He pulled me closer and hugged me tight. Thank goodness there was no bulge in my pants to try and explain!

"We can’t surf with them," Mike reminded.

"Don’t sweat the small shit," Derrick insisted. He then reached in the dresser and put on a pair of Speedos.

Mike sighed and put on his Speedos. "If these things fall off me, I’m staying in the water until someone brings me a towel."

Derrick snapped his fingers saying, "Towels!" as if he had forgotten all about them.

I leaned against Prez, shaking my head.

Wide-eyed, Prez searched Mike and Derrick’s faces then asked, "Did you two get wasted this morning?"

Mike looked confused and said, "No, haven’t had any for a long while now. We were with you two the last time we got high."

"This is why it takes us so long to get out of the house every morning!" Derrick giggled, "It takes us a while to find the right clothes!" He tossed a gay flag bracelet to Mike then lifted his right leg and put one on his ankle.

Mike led the way out of the house and we all followed. Once we were outside, Mike asked, "Why did you dudes ask us out today?"

"Because I haven’t spent an afternoon alone with Derrick in forever," I said.

Prez unlocked the truck then added, "Other than gym class, I’ve never spent time alone with you Mike."

We all got in and Prez started to pull away from the curb. Immediately, the whispering and giggling started in the back seat. I could only imagine what they were going on about. For a few seconds I wondered was it our afternoon dates, or the Speedo’s they were wearing publicly, or maybe they had sex before we arrived and were still high from that.

Prez said, "Stop the whispering and giggling and let us in on the joke."

"Do you really want to know?" Mike asked.

"Please," Prez said.

Derrick tapped me on the shoulder and chuckled, "You’re snagged dude!"

Turning in my seat, I loudly asked, "What did I do?"

Mike grinned insanely, leaned forward a little and said, "Copping peeks at D’s dick, huh?" Then he appeared confused and scratched the side of his head saying, "I don’t know but it seemed to me that you were just a tad jealous a few nights ago."

DOH! If only I could control my wandering eyes, I thought.

Prez exploded with laughter and quickly I faced forward.

"No comment," I giggled.

Then Mike tapped Prez on the shoulder saying; "Don’t you act all innocent either. I saw your eyes glancing down at his ass!" I grinned and knowingly nodded my head at Prez.

"You wanted us to look! You were both showing off and you know it!" Prez chuckled.

"It was all because Mikey couldn’t dress himself too!" I added and turned on the radio.

"Don’t call me Mikey! Argh! I hate that!"

Prez turned to our local heavy metal radio station then looked in the rear view mirror saying, "There ya go bud."

I reached for Prez’s hand on the gear shifter and squeezed it tightly for a second or two. He smiled at me then faced forward and started stroking my fingers in time to the music. I just needed to be sure he was cool and seeing that he was, I chilled out too.

We turned onto the 101 freeway then Prez exited at Malibu Canyon. A few songs had played then the DJ started chattering away. Derrick tapped me on the shoulder and I lowered the volume.

"Dude, you like that Gypsy Queen tune, right?" he asked me.

"Yeah it’s cool."

"Prez, learn that tune dude," Mike said. "I’ll give you a tape later."

Nodding, Prez said, "How about Crazy Little Thing Called Love? We played that yesterday with Doug and Brian."

"Let us borrow the disk and we’ll be ready by Wednesday," Derrick said.

Mike impatiently asked, "We are playing Wednesday, right?"

"Let’s check with Jessy tomorrow," Prez said. Then he quickly shouted, "Hey! Did either of you ever give her the frolics’ prize? We’re not going to want to eat at Black Angus. Let her have it." The night of the frolics, when Will and Zach handed us our prize, we couldn’t believe it was a Black Angus gift certificate!

Neither Mike nor Derrick said a word. I turned in my seat and, at first glance, they appeared guilty of something.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We’ll give it to her," Derrick started, "I just hope they’ll take it."

Quickly Prez asked, "What do you mean?"

Mike looked down and said, "It sorta got washed."

"It’s very clean now, too clean in fact, barely legible," Derrick sheepishly offered.

Glaring at Mike, I loudly asked, "You forgot it in your jeans pocket, didn’t you?"

"No, I didn’t forget!" Mike insisted. Then he softly said, "I knew exactly where it was at all times. I just didn’t know they had made it into the wash." He yelled, "It’s my mom’s fault!"

Prez and I cracked up!

I noticed Prez looking in the rearview mirror. Then he suddenly shouted, "AH HA! Got you both! Your mom didn’t wash the jeans, Derrick did!"

Turning around, I saw them looking up, lips puckered and whistling! I practically died laughing.

Malibu’s parking lot was packed with cars and Prez said, "On to Zuma! Gaily forward, never straight."

Mike and Derrick started rolling in the backseat, hysterical.

I chuckled, "Gaily forward huh?"

"Never straight," he said. Then he looked over at me and softly repeated, "Never."

Omigod! It started as a tingling sensation at my shoulders and overwhelmed every millimeter of my body, enveloping me for most of the way to Zuma. As the feeling subsided I looked over at Prez. He was grinning widely! There was no doubt he knew what his words did to me and he seemed pretty damn pleased with him self about it! I reached under the seat for the sun block lotion and started tossing it in the air. He did a wide-eyed double take my way and stopped grinning.

Unfortunately, there are no places to rent surfboards at Zuma. For the next few hours we played Frisbee and swam around a little to cool off. Interestingly, two girls in bikinis, about our age, kept walking back in forth along side where the four of us were playing! They were watching us, there’s no doubt about it. We noticed them and they were plenty good looking, just the wrong gender! Since none of us really paid any attention to them, I can only wonder what they thought as they finally walked away! Then some other dudes, around college age, challenged us to a game of volleyball. They seemed cool so we played three games against them. At first, we had a hard time getting organized and lost the first game too quickly. Then we huddled together, shared some of our strengths and weaknesses and took them on again. The last two games were struggles and the cool thing was, those other dudes seemed to really enjoy themselves more. We won the second game. When Derrick’s alarm went off, reminding us it was time to leave, we forfeited the last game. After tossing ourselves in the ocean once more, we gathered up our stuff and left for home.

Stopped in front of Mike’s house, Prez said, "I’ll pick you up in about half an hour Mike."

I looked back at Derrick saying, "Same here dude."

"I’ll pick you up," he offered.

"You don’t really want to park your 442 on the streets of Hollyweird," I reminded.

He shook his head then said, "See ya in half an hour," then got out of the car and Mike followed.

I watched Prez carefully while he drove away. He’d gotten a bit too much sun again, I noticed. He didn’t seem preoccupied with anything other than the songs on the radio, singing along now and then with the classic rock tunes. At the next light, I asked, "Is everything okay baby?"

"Perfect!" he said enthusiastically and reached for my hand.

I smiled, "Just checking."

The light turned and he pulled away saying, "We’re just trying to know each other a little better."

I nodded then said, "Don’t tell Mike how freaked out I was the other night."

"I won’t. Most of my talking will be about the prom, what he’s thinking, how he reacted to Doug and Brian’s make believe attacks. We need to know how each other will react when confronted. I’m worried most about Derrick. When he gets angry, the look in his eyes says major destruction is imminent. I hope he can hold that back."

I nodded and grinned; "I’ll just tell him to watch you. You can be really obnoxious to certain kinds of people." Then I chuckled, "I’m so glad I’m not one of them!"

Smiling insanely, Prez said, "They deserve whatever they get. I’ve been thinking since yesterday, our lifestyle may not be mainstream but we don’t go forcing ourselves on any body like they do. If they consider going to the prom as us forcing something, all I can say is, they’re absolutely right." We pulled in front of the house, got out of the truck and Prez continued. "I’m forcing my right to be happy. I’m forcing them to accept me as I am; they can like it or leave me be. It’s a real cocky attitude but I save my worst for them."

Opening the front door, I said, "Last night Mike said that we would change some ideas. When Doug mentioned a paradigm shift yesterday, I thought he was talking about only me. But it’s not only me; he was talking about everybody, those homophobes at school too. Last night I dreamt some pretty cool things, hoping things work out okay instead of worrying about what could go wrong."

Rush came running to greet us. Squatting down, Prez greeted his dog but looked up at me saying, "It’s easier to do since yesterday."

"Let’s do a little visualizing tonight before we crash," I suggested.

We headed for the bathroom and Prez enthusiastically said, "It’s a date!" Then he frowned and pleaded, "Pour some Aloe on me before we go?"

"I hope I don’t get too carried away," I chuckled.

"I hope you do!" he grinned, closing and locking the door behind him. We showered and played together in the tub for a few minutes, getting ourselves all worked up, knowing we didn’t have time for it. But once we started, we had to finish! Soapy hand jobs don’t take too long, we figured. We faced each other. He did me and I did him. When were done and rinsing off Prez chuckled, "We saved at least five minutes!" as if the time really mattered! We toweled dry then I dowsed Prez in Aloe before we headed to our room to get dressed.

Our general mood was great! We had been making pretty good use of our holiday weekend, we had sex often, and the prom situation was discussed with my parents, with Doug and Brian and a little with Drew and Corey. In the next few hours, we would finish the prom conversations with Mike and Derrick. But I figured this was the calm before the storm. The chance of all our classmates being indifferent or kind to us at the prom was pretty slim. Some asshole would say something. And Prez would verbally knock him for a loop, I thought, and smiled just as I leaned over to kiss him goodbye.

Alone in my car driving to Mike’s, I noticed that it felt weird following Prez. I missed him holding my hand on the gear shifter. One last time I questioned what we were doing then started affirming the reasons why we were doing it. By the time I stopped at Mike’s house, I was pretty certain we were doing the right thing.

Mike and Derrick were sitting on their front porch. They stood and Mike grabbed Derrick’s wrist then looked at his watch as they walked towards us. Before Mike got in Prez’s truck, he glared evilly at me. I grinned and stuck my tongue out at him! Getting in my car and buckling up, Derrick grinned, "Got lucky again, huh?"

I nodded, "It was unavoidable. Prez got burned up again."

"Oh! That’s as good an excuse as any!" Derrick teased.

"Didn’t you and Mike?" I asked.

He sighed, "Lindsay’s home dude. A little teasing and fondling while we got dressed, that’s it. "

"Sorry dude," I half-heartedly said.

After a few moments, Derrick reached for the radio and turned it on. Noticing me heading onto the freeway, he asked, "We’re really going to Hollywood?"

"Sure, unless you don’t want to," I replied.

"Kewl!" Derrick giggled. "Prez is okay?"

"I asked him twice, last night and again a little while ago, while we were dressing. He’s cool."

Derrick giggled uncontrollably, "Mike wants me to check out some toys!"

"What for?" I laughed.

Sliding down in his seat, he chortled, "It’s a long story."

I didn’t press the issue but thought for a few moments. Why would they want a toy? Maybe things were worse than I imagined for them. I couldn’t imagine living in the same house with Prez and having to jack off alone every night. If that was the situation, I wondered what kind of toy would they want? Then I remembered how Prez used a candle while he sucked the life out of me the other night. That was awesome! If they weren’t too expensive, I thought, I’d try to buy us a dildo.

Soon we were driving up Lankershim Blvd. Past the railroad tracks, I noticed a free parking lot and pulled in. Walking up the street, Derrick softly asked, "You okay dude?"

I replied, "Yeah, I was just thinking."

"About?"

I giggled, "Toys I might buy for Prez and me!"

Derrick asked, "Are you still worried about me and Prez?"

I sighed then said, "I’m sorry about that dude. All I can say is, I guess it made me feel a little insecure. My imagination went off on tangents and made it worse."

Emphasizing every word, Derrick said, "I understand Keith." Then he said, "It’s weird around Prez, we treat each other like we’re completely straight most of the time. It’s like he’s got no sexual interest in me. I’m just not attracted to red heads either. Did Prez handle everything okay?"

Glancing over at him, I could see he was being totally serious. "Prez handled it great. We talked all night Thursday and again Friday night."

He smiled, "While you were out with Maria and Cathy?"

I nodded, "They went their way and we went ours as soon as we got to the mall."

"Then what?"

I shrugged, "Nothin’ much. We shopped around. He bought a book about homophobia." Then I giggled, "I bought a video."

He looked at me curiously. "What kind of video?"

"Rated G, Tom and Huck."

After a few moments, he hummed, "Mmmm… Brad and JTT, I see!"

"It was his idea!" I laughed.

Wide-eyed, Derrick chuckled, "Now I really see!"

"I was such an asshole those two days dude. But I couldn’t help myself. I still don’t really understand what he sees in me. Even though we’ve told each other enough times, it’s just not sinking in."

"Isn’t everybody like that?" Derrick asked. Then he said, "I am. Mike is. Prez is and you are. It’s just one of those things. What we see in ourselves we always want to improve or change somehow. Then somebody comes along, pointing out good things and helping with the not so good things." He paused and shrugged, "I guess you’d have to be a real snob to act any other way. I don’t know the answer, that’s just the way I see it."

"I’m not arguing dude. You could be right."

Walking up to a storefront with blackened glass windows, we smiled at each other then went inside. There was no one at the door to card us and we started looking around. Up on one of the walls I saw those inflatable fuck dolls, male and female. On the adjacent wall, behind the checkout counter, was assorted leather clothing and accessories. In the center of the store were all the book and video racks. We split up. Derrick checked the books while I checked the videos. Almost all of them were straight videos, I immediately noticed. Finally I ran across some gay titles but they were leather and looked kind of gross to me.

When I came out to my dad, one of the results of that conversation was the removal of the child guard software on my PC. Back in Texas, Prez had AOL and couldn’t access anything remotely sexual on the net. I had been looking at gay pictures on newsgroups and searching around free web sites for a few months when Prez entered my life. Once Prez got a new Internet provider in California, he started seeing some of what I had been. During our first few weeks together, we would talk and point out what pictures we considered good to each other. But as we became more active sexually, looking at porn on the net just became boring. We didn’t need any extra stimulation anyway! God knows Prez stimulates me enough!

Glancing through titles on the shelves, I had a good idea what I was looking for. BelAmi pictures always had the best looking dudes. But this store didn’t have a single decent video and they were all around fifty bucks each! There was a sign above the racks that read, "Buy three, get the fourth free!" What a deal, I sarcastically thought!

Derrick walked up with a book in his hands. "Ever heard of this dude?" he asked. It was the Gay Kama Sutra!

Having heard of the Kama Sutra somewhere, I nodded and he handed me the book. "I didn’t know there was a gay one," I whispered and began leafing through the book. There weren’t too many real pictures of dudes in there, just some ancient art from everywhere around the world but there were some cool sketches. Listed in the table of contents were topics ranging from philosophy to detailed male-to-male sexuality. The word, "shaving" jumped out at me and I started chuckling!

Smiling at me, Derrick softly asked, "What?"

For a few moments I considered telling him about Prez wanting to shave us from head to toe! I pointed to the word in the table of contents, to see if Prez had already told him.

Derrick frowned thoughtfully, then he glanced at me saying, "You and Prez? Really?"

I nodded and laughed louder!

I guess Derrick felt he needed to share something too. Pointing to the word, "toys" in the book, he then flipped back to that page. He pointed at the word, "dildo". I grinned and nodded but was reading the lower half of the page, about cock rings and pointed it out to Derrick.

"You have one?" He softly asked.

Shaking my head no, I said, "But if wearing one means we’ll stay harder longer and can have more fun, I definitely want one!" Then I laughed at myself and Derrick cracked up, walking away with the book!"

I scanned the last shelf of gay videos but found more of the same crap. When I looked up again, Derrick was over at the checkout counter! Grinning, I wondered if they would ask his age or even check his ID!

As an apparently disinterested customer, I walked over in that direction and looked in the display case filled with various dildos and vibrators. Damn! They were expensive! The cheapest one was really small, it didn’t even look like a dick! Squatting down, I looked closer and found out it was a butt plug! Standing up, I thought Prez and I had no use for those things, especially with summer vacation right around the corner. Then I moved over and looked at some cock rings. They came in leather, elastic and metal. I shivered at the thought of putting a cold piece of metal around my cock and balls! It seemed to me that the elastic ones would probably cause major pubic hair loss and cringed again! Some of the leather one’s were studded, causing me to shudder! The plain leather ones seemed cool though. They had Velcro on both ends and would be adjustable. They were pretty inexpensive too! I had about thirty bucks on me and decided to get in line. Sweat started to pour from my underarms and bead on my forehead. This was not quite the same as sneaking into a movie theater, I realized.

There was a lady behind the counter; all dressed in black with lots of makeup on her face and red tinted black hair, looking very Goth. She smiled at Derrick and asked, "Can I help you?"

He smiled back and put down the book saying, "This and umm… I’d like t-t-to see one of the dildos please." I could feel his embarrassment and it only made me more nervous!

The lady walked over to the display case asking, "Which one?"

Pointing at the display case, Derrick said, "Umm… th-th-that one." He seemed pretty calm on the outside but, hearing him stutter, I knew he was just as close to pissing himself I was!

"Which one?" the lady asked again.

Derrick blinked and cleared his throat then pointed again saying, "The eight inch one."

Knowing that just so happened to be Mike’s size, I closed my eyes and struggled to keep a straight face. I screamed at myself, act like an adult! Be cool! But that only made me giggle out loud!

The lady picked out the dildo and put it on the glass counter. It looked like a real cock. The color was believable and it even had a pair of balls at the base. Derrick tried to pick it up but the flat underside of the base had stuck to glass! With a loud pop, it finally released its hold on the glass. I looked at Derrick and wondered if he was going to have a nervous breakdown! I sure was!

"How much?" Derrick asked.

The lady replied, "Twenty five dollars."

Derrick nodded, handed the dildo to the lady then went back to the register.

"Cash or charge?" she asked.

"Cash," Derrick answered.

"Can I see some ID?" she asked.

Nonchalantly, Derrick reached into his back pocket, retrieved his wallet and handed the lady his driver’s license. He wasn’t eighteen yet so I fully expected to be shown the door.

She looked at him closely then looked at the ID. She inhaled deeply, smiled then looked at me. She glanced around the store then looked at Derrick. "Are you two boys together?" she whispered.

Derrick nodded and so did I as I moved closer to him.

"This is much safer than real intercourse," she whispered. Unbelievably, she started to ring up the bill!

I wanted those cock rings too and pretended to remind Derrick, "Don’t forget cock rings too honey," I grinned.

Derrick turned and glared at me like I was insane. Soon, Derrick got the hint. "Oh, okay, yeah, umm… show the lady which ones," Derrick said.

The lady walked back down the counter and I followed then pointed out the leather ones I wanted. They were only ten bucks each so I got two and slid Derrick the cash. I really wanted a red and black one but got two black ones. I wasn’t about to specifically ask for a red one!

While the lady rang up the bill she explained, "The dildo is rubber and it must be cleaned after every use with hot water and soap." She then handed us each a pamphlet that explained cleaning for rubber and latex dildos.

Derrick paid the lady and we started to leave but he stopped at the doorway. The magazines, newspapers and pamphlets near the door were free! We each took a couple of free periodicals then got the hell out of there!

As soon as we high tailed it out of the door, we both hollered, "OMIGOD!"

"Jinx!" Derrick giggled.

"Jinx nothin’ dude! It fucking worked! I can’t believe it!"

"This is so rad dude!" Derrick yelled.

"Next weekend I’m coming back with Prez!" I laughed.

"Mike is gonna freak dude!" Derrick said loudly. He then excitedly asked, "Ya wanna look someplace else?"

"No!" I laughed. "I’ve accomplished more than I ever expected to!"

"Kewl, I’m hungry, lets get something to munch on," he suggested.

"There’s got to be a Taco Bell or Mickey Dee’s somewhere," I thought aloud.

We quickly walked along the street, over flowing with enthusiasm; chattering about our experience in the store, laughing hysterically and even started to refer to each other as honey! The lady at the store looked bizarre but she was so cool! She whispered after seeing the Gay Kama Sutra and Derrick’s ID. We both thought that was really considerate.

From behind us, someone yelled, "Yo!"

We turned and looked around. There was only one other dude in site, walking slowly towards us. He looked to be in his twenties, slim, good-looking, medium-length brown hair and was extremely well dressed. As he got closer, I recognized some of his clothes, stuff I could only dream of affording one day. The jacket was tailor made, it looked like Armani. Every stitch of clothing he wore looked like it was made just for him. The dude had to be wearing a thousand dollars worth of clothes all at once! Having never met anyone quite like that, I was immediately captivated.

"Us?" I asked.

He stopped about two paces from us and nodded. "Where are you heading?" he casually asked.

"No place special," I answered, "just looking for someplace to eat."

Looking up and down at us both, he softly said, "I’m kind of hungry too."

It struck me like lightning; this dude was definitely gay! And he was flirting with us! For me, this dude looked sharp and he wouldn’t be a threat to Derrick or me.

Confidently holding out his hand, he said, "My name’s Eric." Looking at me, he asked, "And you are?"

For a few moments I lost my voice but eventually answered, "I’m Keith."

He shook my hand firmly, glanced at Derrick then asked, "Who’s your friend, Keith?"

"This is Derrick," I said.

He released my hand and held his out in front of Derrick. Snapping out of his trance, Derrick smiled and shook Eric’s hand.

"My pleasure," Eric seductively said. Then he suggested, "There’s a café around the corner, my treat."

There was no question; this dude was hitting on us both! At the same time! Talk about gutsy!

Derrick and I glanced at each other for a long few moments. We had no idea how to handle this! Everyone knows to be careful with strangers. But if you don’t take a chance once in a while, you wind up pretty lonely, it seemed to me. Having taken a chance with a stranger before and having something really good come from it; I was willing to talk with this dude. He seemed classy and really nice but we already had boyfriends so for a few moments it was like… OMIGOD! What the fuck do we do now?

There was no reason to be rude but I had to tell him the truth. "We were going to meet our boyfriends right after we ate," I said.

"You’re not together then?" he asked.

"Not that way," Derrick softly said.

Eric nodded then smiled, "The offer still stands."

Derrick and I both knew what we were doing. It was that dude! I swear to God, as confident and good looking as he was, he could have anybody he wanted. He was beyond attractive, more like magnetic.

Derrick nodded then so did I. If this guy wanted to buy us lunch, I wasn’t going to argue. He could obviously afford it!

We started to walk with Eric between us. He slid one hand into his pants pocket and said, "Tell me about your boyfriends." I described Prez physically and then went into a fair amount of detail about his personality. In doing so, I popped a woodie. Nonchalantly, I slipped my hand into my pocket and made a fist to hide the bulge.

Eric opened the café door for us and Derrick began describing Mike. Leading us to a booth in the corner of the room, Eric waited until we were seated before sitting down across from us. Taking my hand out of my pocket, I suddenly realized that a few minutes earlier Eric had put his hand in his pocket too! OMIGOD! I wondered, did he get hard just talking with us? Suddenly, I felt this was not the best place to be anymore.

"I’ll be right with you Eric," someone shouted.

"Anytime today," Eric sighed.

While I was still trying to determine who shouted, Derrick asked, "Do you live near here?"

Eric nodded, "I own a condo a few blocks away. It was an excellent opportunity and I’ve added some of my own personal touches to make it home." He then glanced at each of us and asked, "Where do you live?"

I answered, "With the rents and Prez, over in Woodland Hills."

"Just across town from them, with Mike," Derrick grinned.

A cute baby-faced dude, with short spiked dirty-blond hair, slid to a halt beside our table. At first, he looked at Eric only then he looked our way and cheerfully said, "Hi! I’m Lee. Can I take your order?"

Eric rolled his eyes and impatiently asked, "What took you so long?"

They obviously knew each other but Eric was being a total dick. I’m sure I frowned

Momentarily discouraged, Lee then pointed to the rest of the room, grinned at Eric and answered; "There are other customers. You don’t always have to come first at everything you know."

Derrick and I grinned. Lee had balls at least as big as Eric did!

Glancing at Lee, Eric sadly said, "I wasn’t the one that came first."

Lee turned red for a few moments then grinned; "At least mine stayed up longer." Shaking his pen at Eric, he teased, "You’re showing your age!"

Eric huffed but otherwise didn’t seem bothered. Holding out his hand, he said, "Menu’s please," as if he were dismissing the dude.

Smirking, Lee handed us each a menu. "Drinks anyone?" he pleasantly asked.

"Coffee," Eric quickly said.

"Water for me," Derrick said.

Browsing at the menu briefly, I then looked up at Lee saying, "Water please." He smiled warmly at me… for the longest time! Jotting down our orders, he kept looking at me! Suddenly interested in the table, I looked away and felt the blood rush into my face!

Leaning across the table, his eyes shifting between us, Eric grinned and seductively said, "What would you dudes say about an invitation to hang out in a Jacuzzi for a few hours after lunch? Maybe take some vitamin E? Then… we could see… what else… turns up?"

Without even looking at Derrick, I smiled and said, "Thanks, but no. We’ll pay for our lunches."

He looked at Derrick saying, "You’re sure? We could have a fabulous time together." Then he shifted his eyes between Derrick and I melodically teasing, "Your boyfriends wouldn’t have to know."

Derrick slowly shook his head saying, "Mike’s going to know everything I did today. Including meeting you, which, by the way, was really pretty cool until this point."

Grinning, I turned and stared at Derrick. It must be the Hollyweird air, I thought, everyone’s got guts and balls to spare!

Turning back to Eric, I said, "Since I’ve kinda lost my appetite, I think we’ll just go." Then I slid out of the booth. Derrick grabbed our bag of toys then quickly followed. Noticing us leaving, Lee smiled widely and we waved to him as we left the café.

As soon as we got outside, we quickly headed for the car, laughing our asses off!

Derrick cackled, "That was too easy! And way too much fun!"

"I would’ve had lunch with him but all that sex appeal went right down the toilet every time he opened his mouth!" I admitted.

"Thank you!" Derrick loudly said, "I thought he was only effecting me! After all that he turned out to be an asshole!"

Shaking my head at how incredible Eric appeared but how awful his personality was, I said, "Sex just oozed from that dude but he was so into himself. I’ll bet he thought we’d follow him anywhere."

"And Lee?" Derrick started, "he barely looked at me but he was giving you the eye!"

"I noticed but wasn’t interested."

Derrick drawled, "Uh, yeah!"

"I’d never do that to Prez."

"I know dude," Derrick giggled, "lets try and find them at Guitar Center."

Glancing at my watch, I laughed, "We’ve only been gone an hour and a half! This has got to be the shortest date in history!"

"They’re never going to believe us!" Derrick chuckled.

I nodded then said, "I was going to ask you about the prom but I guess there’s no need now."

He looked at me then softly asked; "Are you still stressin’ bud?"

Chuckling at myself, I truthfully answered, "No, not with Prez and you around." I turned and grinned at him saying, "I’ll just sit there smiling while you two tear any homophobes to shreds!"

"You did alright back there too dude," Derrick plainly said.

Realizing that I did say we’d pay for our own lunches and knew when to jet, I said, "Yeah, I did. Nobody will ever believe us!"

"Let’s stop for fries and drinks at Mickey Dee’s," Derrick suggested as I unlocked the car.

We got in and I pulled out onto the street asking, "What will you tell Mike?"

"I’ll describe the dude, tell him he seemed pretty cool at first and offered to buy us lunch. But then he turned into a complete idiot. Then you said that we’d buy our own lunches but the dude kept coming on to us, so we vamoosed." Then he asked, "What will you tell Prez?"

"Pretty much the same story. It was his clothes that really impressed me."

"Why?"

"He was wearing awesome clothes dude! Stuff I only see in GQ and wished I could afford."

After a few seconds, Derrick carefully said, "Keith?"

I grinned, "Derrick?"

"Why don’t you come work a Black Angus with Prez and me? You’d see for yourself that there’s nothing going on and you’d make lots more cash. Mike’s expecting shit from his boss and filled out an application yesterday. It would be awesome if we all worked at the same place."

I sighed, "I don’t know dude. Blockbuster’s pretty cool but I do want more money too. Car insurance, gas and maintenance is all I can afford lately."

"Prez would love it," he teased.

I nodded and joked; "Then we’ll get caught making out someplace and get fired!"

Derrick hummed thoughtfully, "Never thought of that."

I giggled, "I was kidding!"

"I know dude but I never thought about slow nights. I know someplace where maybe we could get away with that."

"Oh God," I groaned and we both cracked up.

"Fill out an application dude," Derrick said, then began leafing through the free magazines we picked up. He found a few ads for teen dance clubs in the valley then commented, "This one’s called The Wild Stallion. It’s over in Studio City. We’ll have to check it out this summer."

I nodded, "If it’s cool, I’d really like to be able to take Prez places where we could dance."

"These are all under twenty-one clubs dude. I think it’ll be way cool, just to get out of the house for a change."

I nodded them after a few moments, asked, "Have you ever gone camping?"

"Nope, never have but I’d like to."

"I’m thinking about taking Prez up into the Sierra this summer; maybe Yosemite or Mammoth."

Derrick giggled, "He’d definitely love a night under the stars. I’m sure I would too. Do you think Mike would consider it?"

I nodded, "Definitely."

"I’ll ask Mike about it."

We pulled into McDonald’s on Ventura Blvd, got some fries and sodas, then continued down the road to Guitar Center. As soon as I pulled in the parking lot, Derrick up ended his fries, devouring what was left then sucked down the last of his soda. Turning towards me, he smiled and giggled, "Mike’s gonna be really happy!"

Getting out of the car, I grinned, "With some luck, you’ll both get lucky tonight."

"I sure hope so dude. Practically zip since Saturday morning."

I shouted, "No way!"

"Seriously dude. No boinking since then."

"But you’ve done other stuff, I hope."

"Yeah, last night but we wanted to go all the way."

"I’m really glad you dudes have a chance to move in with Doug and Brian then. I didn’t know it was that way." I said, then noticed Prez’s truck and pointed it out to Derrick.

As we walked through the parking lot, Derrick grinned and tried to lower his voice. "Before you picked us up, Mike was sure that you and Prez went for it just to bug him," he cackled.

I laughed then said, "Believe me, Mike’s tantrums are the furthest thing from my mind when I’m having sex with Prez."

I opened the door and we bumped into each other in a mad rush to get inside and find our boyfriends. Immediately, over the other miscellaneous sounds, I recognized Mike’s guitar playing and Prez’s bass playing then headed in that direction. As soon as he saw me, Prez stopped playing and smiled warmly. He put down the bass he was playing. I was so tempted to pick him up and spin him around then plant a big wet one on him!

He glanced at his watch then loudly said, "Hey babe. That was a short trip. How’d you make out?"

I blushed because he called me babe in a public place. A few people turned and looked but I didn’t really care what any one thought at that point. All I wanted was to be alone with him. "We did it!" I excitedly said.

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Did you get us anything?" he softly asked.

I nodded then leaned over and whispered what I bought.

"We’re done here!" he loudly said. "Time to mossy on home!"

I cracked up!

By the time I turned around and we headed for the door, Mike and Derrick were already waiting for us there. Impatiently, Mike hollered, "Move your asses!"

I was just about to holler, "we’re coming," but decided we had made enough of a scene already and held it back. As soon as we were outside though, the insanity began. Standing around in the parking lot, Derrick and I told them all about our adventure into North Hollywood. Barely into the adult bookstore story, Mike demanded that I unlock the car so he could look in the bag of toys! I tossed him the keys, he unlocked my car and he peeked inside the sack then whipped out the dildo, right there in the parking lot! We all started laughing and yelling at him at once! I didn’t really talk about Eric just then but we told them about him too. At first, both Prez and Mike seemed really concerned until we told them how we handled the situation. Then they both started laughing hysterically. Prez beamed at me, making me shiver with anticipation. Once our stories were told, Mike and Derrick asked us to take them home.

Prez wrapped me in a warm embrace the moment we got home and out of our cars. "I’m so proud of you!" he excitedly whispered.

"Because we got stuff at the store or because of the way we dealt with Eric?"

He pulled back, smiled at me and said, "Because you’re so thoughtful and playful. Mike and I really expected you’d both come back empty handed. But you came back with much more than two cock rings, didn’t you?"

Smiling, I nodded, took his hand in mine then led him into the house.

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