Kevin's Perspective

That first day in Montana we did things close to home so Betty could go with us. She insisted that only the guys go camping, and we didn't argue. Maybe she wanted the peace and quiet of her home without the men folk there. Who knew?

It was a Monday morning, and our plan was to camp later that week at the Glacier National Park, which was about three hours north of Missoula. That day we were going to do some local stuff, though.

Missoula was the headquarters for the Western Division of the National Forest Service, probably because the University was there, and they had one of their nine smokejumper bases in Missoula. In fact, the Missoula Smokejumper Base was the first of its kind, where they used airplanes to first locate and, later, to get firefighters into the heart of a forest fire. Jumping in with parachutes was the most practical way to do it since there are too many mountains to make regular landings.

We went to the Smokejumper Base and took the tour. They had some pretty amazing video of forest fires and of people fighting them. There was a sort of museum with firefighting equipment, clothing, and other stuff they used to fight fires. There were 85 smokejumpers assigned to the Missoula Base, we were told, and they ranged in age from early twenties to mid-fifties. Fire season was from mid-June to mid-September, and we were there right in the middle of it. We saw a map of the area, and they had markers to show where fires were going on and how many smokejumpers were at each area.

"I'd love to jump with a parachute," Kyle said.

"I know. That would be really cool. I'm surprised you haven't already done it," Justin said.

"Don't make me have to jump on you, buddy," Kyle said.

"Don't jump on, but you can jump up me," Justin said.

Ralph and Betty were laughing at their antics.

"Sometimes the guys get hung up in trees," Dave said. "I'll bet that's pretty scary, if there's a fire down below coming your way."

"Last summer they lost some equipment and supplies when parachutes didn't open properly," Ralph said. "There was something in the news lately about them solving that problem, though."

We went on a tour of the hanger and saw some of the planes they used. We also saw the dormitory the people live in on the base. Evidently, they don't have to live there, but housing is available. The tour guide told us a lot about what that base was all about, and I knew it was an eye-opener for all of us.

We went to a place called the Garnet Ghost Town. It had been a mining town in the 1880's and onward into the middle of the twentieth century. It was really well preserved.

We had Trixie on a leash at that place, and she was very obedient. Brian got her to do some tricks for us when we stopped for a rest, and Chris loved it.

"She sits up better than I do," Chris said.

We laughed, but it was a sort of nervous laugh.

Our next stop was Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. It was a working cattle ranch, and we all enjoyed seeing that place.

"Would you say this is a museum," Tim asked.

"Sort of," I replied.

"This is the kind of museum I like," he said.

"I wish we could get on some horses and round up some cattle," Kyle said. "Did y'all know there's a place just north of Emerald Beach where you can ride horses and rope real cattle?"

"We need to do that one of these days," Rick said.

"I know. We haven't ridden horses in a long time," Kyle said.

That night we went to a Missoula Osprey baseball game. It was great. Very small-town America, and the kids had a good time. Betty begged off the baseball, though. The minor leagues definitely have a place in the American spirit, maybe more than the Majors.

* * *

The next day we packed up the van for our first camping adventure. We got an early start, and the boys were clearly quite excited.

"Boys, you're going to see proof today," Ralph said, as we pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

"Proof of what," Kyle said.

"Proof of the existence of God, Kyle. Nobody but God could ever have made what we're going to see," Ralph said.

The drive to the park was absolutely spectacular. The mountains we were used to in North Carolina were mere hills compared to what we saw. I had never really understood the concept of "purple mountains' majesty" until that day, but they truly did look purple. They were magnificent.

"Would y'all mind if we stopped a few times so I can get some pictures? I'm afraid the ones I've been taking are going to be blurred," Kyle said.

Ralph was driving the first leg of the trip, and he was happy to stop. Kyle was at his hyperactive best, and there was no telling how many pictures he shot. He was using his digital camera, mostly.

"Why are you using that one," Tim asked him.

"Because I can get the color so precise with PhotoShop, Babe," he said. "This may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Tim, so if I don't pay real close attention to you, please don't be mad at me."

"You're really excited, aren't you," Tim asked.

"Tim, I'm so excited, I'm about to you-know-what," Kyle said.

"I don't know what. What are you talking about, Kyle," Chris asked.

"He's so excited, he's about to cream his jeans," Justin said.

Chris had a confused look on his face.

"He's about to shoot cum, Chris," Justin said emphatically. "You know what that means?"

Chris got a really bright look on his face, and we all laughed.

"Gimme a break," Kyle said, and that made us laugh even more.

I checked out Kyle, and he was as hard as a rock.

We ate lunch at the Apgar Visitors Center near the southern entry to the park, and we made arrangements for the three nights we were going to be there. We had a ton of camping equipment on the roof of the van, but we rented four canoes and a trailer to carry them on for the time we were going to be there.

Our first excursion was Logging Lake, and it was magnificent. We heard what sounded like a pack of dogs howling in the distance, and Trixie's ears perked right up. It was like that sound struck some primal chord in her nervous system.

"Those are wolves," Ralph said. "They've been coming down from Canada for about the last fifteen years or so, and now we have several native-born wolf packs in the park."

Kyle got down close to Trixie.

"You want you a wolf?" Only he said it "woof," just like he talked about the Guff of Mexico and the game of goff. He didn't quite say "hep" instead of "help," as many natives of Emerald Beach did, but it was pretty close. The "L" after a vowel was a real problem for him.

"She doesn't want a wolf, do you girl," Brian said.

All Brian had to do was open his mouth around her, and all of her attention was focused on him. The boys knew Trixie was really Brian's dog, and they respected that because they respected him and all the time he spent working with her.

"That woof's gonna come get you and bite your ass off," Kyle said, grabbing her playfully on the rump.

"We'll put Kyle out for bait," Justin said. "That'll poison anything."

"Very funny," Kyle said. "But that's a GML."

"What's a GML," Justin asked.

"Got Me Last," Kyle said.

"I know what you're talking about. GCL, right?"

Kyle nodded, and he and Jus laughed. None of the others showed any sign of recognition, so I figured it was something between the two of them.

Our next stop was Bowman Lake, and that's where we were scheduled to spend the night. You had to go on narrow gravel roads to get to it, and we were just about the only people around. It was the clearest, bluest body of water I had ever seen.

The three Eagle Scouts and Rick pitched camp for us in less than a half hour. We had three tents, each one for three people. Rick and I were going to share with Ralph, and the six boys were going to divide up in the two tents for them. To my surprise, the tent roster for the boys was Kyle, Justin, and Chris in one tent, and Tim, Brian, and Dave in the other one.

We had bought two fishing licenses at Apgar, and we had fishing gear enough for two to fish at one time. We put the canoes in the water, and some of them went for a canoe ride. Ralph and I were left behind at the camp.

"Kevin, I can't believe your boys," Ralph said, after he and I had settled down with drinks.

"I know. They're something, aren't they?"

"They're more than something, son. They're incredible. Chris talked about them constantly, but I took it all with a grain of salt, more or less. But he was right," he said.

"You've got two fine boys, too," I said.

"Thanks, and I agree with you. Kevin, I want you to know I didn't abandon my handicapped son," he said. "His mother and I just couldn't make it, and we divorced when he was eight months old. We didn't find out for sure about the Cerebral Palsy until he was three. That had nothing to do with our incompatibility. By the time we knew about that, Betty and I were married and we already had Dave."

"Ralph, Rick and I would never presume to judge you, man. I can see you're devoted to Betty and to the boys. I'm just glad we've been able to get to know you," I said.

"I have gay friends, you know?"

"Yes, I do know," I said.

"How did you know that," he asked.

"Because you have us. We're all gay, and we're all your friends," I said.

"That's not what I meant," he said.

"I know, but I wanted to make a point. We love Chris, and we love David. How can we not be friends?"

"You're a pretty perceptive guy," he said.

"I have to be to keep up with our brood," I said.

"Somehow, I got the impression there were more kids in the family," he said.

"There are. Two more, at least," I said.

"Help me so I can sort this out," he said.

"Okay. Here goes. At the moment, Brian is our only official foster child. Justin was for a year, but he turned eighteen on July 4th, so he's no longer officially a foster kid. He's one of our foster adults.

"Then there's Jeff. He's twenty and will soon be twenty-one. He's with us because his parents basically disowned him when he told them he was gay. He was the partner of Kyle's older brother, Clay. Only Clay's dead now. He died last October. Jeff has been our honorary foster son ever since. He doesn't have anyplace else to go."

"You know you're blowing my mind, don't you," Ralph asked.

"Well, there's more," I said. "We have another honorary foster son by the name of Alex. He's eighteen and, therefore, legally an adult. He ran away from a terribly abusive situation in New York earlier in the summer, and he's been with us since the twenty-first of June, when Kyle and Tim found him in a parking lot. He had to have emergency surgery the day he came to our house as the result of the abuse his step-father did to him, and he's been with us ever since. He has no place to go, and he's too old for the state to take care of."

"My God," Ralph said.

"Of course you know about Chris being a foster son for three weeks. We were devastated when he had to leave, Ralph."

"Somehow, the trip out here let me know that, Kevin," he said.

"We had another boy living with us this summer for six weeks, but he was really a house guest, not a foster son," I said.

"Another gay kid?"

I nodded.

"Is this Seth you're talking about," he asked.

"Yeah, it was Seth," I said.

"Did Chris know him?"

"No. We met him in February, and we didn't see him again until mid-June. He's our New Orleans boy," I said. "His dad works with my sister-in-law. That's basically how we got to know him. He's as much an honorary foster son as Jus, Jeff, and Alex.

"Actually, Tim and Kyle are honorary foster sons, too. They officially live with their parents. Tim was a foster son for about six months when his dad was on a ship in the Indian Ocean because of the war in Afghanistan, but that was all done privately, not through the foster care system of the state. Our only real link to Kyle is that his parents asked Rick and me to be his guardian if they were both killed. He'll be eighteen in November, though. Oh, and we also work for his father and will ultimately work for him one day, probably."

"Kyle is the one Chris talked about the most," Ralph said. "He really loves that boy."

"I'm not surprised. We all do, and Kyle was the one of us who spent the most time on Chris's care when he was with us. Kyle is an unbelievable kid, Ralph. Do you know anything about the concept of the alpha male?"

"You mean like in a wolf pack," he asked.

"Yes. Scientists are studying the existence of human alphas, now, though, and Kyle fits the description to a tee," I said.

"I hadn't conceptualized it that way, but I can see what you mean," he said.

"He can be extremely dominant, and the rest of them yield to him as though it was his birthright. He's never obnoxious about it, fortunately, and he's got a good heart and a whole lot of character. He called me Adolph earlier this summer when I wanted to discuss an issue that he wasn't interested in discussing. The fact is, Kyle has enough power over people that he could be another Adolph Hitler."

"Whoa! That's pretty scary."

"That won't ever happen, but that's the kind of effect he can have on people," I said.

"Dave told me Kyle really scared him yesterday morning. Then he said that Kyle was really just joking and that Chris knew it all the time," Ralph said.

"What did Kyle do?"

"Evidently, he and Tim and Justin and Brian had gotten up early. They had gone down to eat breakfast. When they came into the room, Kyle kicked the bed Dave and Chris were in, and it scared Dave. He said Kyle was talking about breaking a boy's arm and wishing he had drowned him over some surfing incident. It wasn't that clear to me, but Dave also said Chris seemed to know Kyle was teasing. Kyle jumped in bed with the two of them and actually ended up kissing Dave on his forehead when Kyle realized he had scared Dave."

"That's classic Kyle, Ralph. He would die before he hurt Chris or stood by while somebody else did. This trip was Kyle's idea, and he organized every detail of it. The four boys all paid their own way, and Trixie's way, too. Rick and I only paid for ourselves. This is actually a bad time for Rick and me to be away from work, but we knew it had to be now if it was ever going to happen."

"So you guys wanted to be here just as much as they did," he said.

"Yep," I said.

The boys and Rick started coming in from their lake activities just then. Kyle got the cooking organized, and he and Chris had caught some pretty nice fish for dinner. We had steaks to eat, and they were great with grilled fish. It was just another pool party for Kyle, only the pool was one of the most magnificent lakes I had ever seen.

Justin's Perspective

I couldn't believe I was in Montana. I mean, they had already taken me on some awesome trips, but they were nothing compared to this. It was going to end up costing me about fifteen hundred bucks, but it was worth every penny of it. It was a good thing we were staying at a hotel that was the same brand as one of the ones the Goodsons had. The room was $19.95 a night because of that, divided four ways. And it wasn't one of those places where you had to hand out a tip every time you turned around. This place was much more my speed than that place in Boston had been. And you know what? I slept just as good and had just as much fun as I had had at the one in Boston. Maybe more.

The thing for me was the ride from Missoula to Glacier National Park. It was unbelievable. I couldn't wait to see the pictures Kyle was taking. It was going to be all color pictures, and I saw colors I didn't even know names for.

We camped the first night at Bowman Lake, and that was about the prettiest thing I had ever seen. We made camp around three o'clock in the afternoon, and Brian and I went out in a canoe. Of course, we had Trixie with us.

"You want to do some parking, Little Buddy," I said.

Brian's face lit up.

"I think Trixie needs to use the bathroom," he said.

We beached the canoe out of sight of everybody but God, and we went to town. None of us had gotten laid the night before or that morning because of Chris and Dave in the room with us, and that was all right. Brian and I needed each other, though, and we took advantage of the privacy we found. Ole Trixie sat sentry duty over us, but she didn't try to horn in on our play. It was like she knew.

When we were done, we were nasty.

"Let's wash off in the lake," Bri said.

"Okay," I said.

We splashed in and sort of did a belly flop into the water. I lost my breath, it was so damn cold.

"This is ice water," I gasped.

Brian laughed, but I knew he was cold, too.

"This is the coldest fucking water I've ever felt," I said.

He was laughing at me, but I noticed he jumped up out of it right away, too. His dick was the size of an acorn, a small acorn like we got in Florida, and he didn't even have any balls that you could see. I looked down, and I was the same way.

"The lake monster ate our dicks," I said.

The one thing about Brian, after he's been fucked, he thinks everything I say is hilarious. He laughed hard at my comment. I really didn't think it was all that funny. I grabbed him up in a big hug, and we kissed standing in that ice bucket.

"I love you so much," I said. "You and Tim were right. The idea Kyle and I had was stupid," I said.

"Jus, wanting to get Chris laid wasn't stupid. It was sweet. We just have to figure out another way to do it," he said.

I had my arm around his shoulders, and he was rubbing my chest and my nipples while we were standing there. Ice water or not, here came the dicks.

"At least they ain't broke," I said.

We laughed, we went to shore, and we did it again.

* * *

Kyle's idea was we would pull lots to see who slept with who in the tents. He got three little sticks and three bigger sticks and kept them in his fist. You couldn't tell which was which. We each chose one, and it ended up that me, Kyle, and Chris would bunk together. That was cool with me. It was cool with everybody.

I told the story while we ate about us going in. I didn't tell why we went in, just that we did. They all thought that was funny as hell.

"What all turned blue," Kyle asked.

"The usual," I said.

"What do you mean, 'the usual'?"

"Everything that sticks out. Ears, nose, lips. Take it from there, Kyle," I said.

"Everything?"

Everybody was laughing their ass off except me and Kyle. I wasn't going to let him get me last, and I knew he was fixing to. I just wasn't going to let him.

"Yeah, everything. You ever seen half of a blueberry Popsicle?"

They all lost it then, even Kyle.

"You got me last, you bastard," he said, and they all laughed some more.

I let it go that he was definitely right about the bastard part. He didn't mean it that way, and I knew he didn't. Plus, I didn't care.

After we got in our tents, Chris said he had to go to the bathroom. All three of us were buck naked. There were facilities at that place, but it was too rough to ride him over in his chair. Kyle picked him up--he wasn't heavy at all--and the two of us took him outside.

"Just do it here," Kyle said. "Aim that thing."

Chris started laughing.

"I have to pee, but that's not all," Chris said.

"Oh, okay," Kyle said.

Me and him marched him down to the bathroom building. It wasn't too bad, and it didn't stink like I thought it would. Kyle set him on the toilet.

"Justin, I need some help. Talk to me like you did the day of Tim's birthday party," Chris said.

That was the day he shit all over me after he fell on the floor from laughing so hard. Kyle knew what had happened, and me and him laughed hard. Chris was laughing, too.

"Kyle, be ready to catch him if he starts falling off," I said. "I've been there once. I ain't going back."

We all laughed some more.

Chris made a loud fart, and then we heard it hitting the water. I knew one of us was going to have to wipe him, and I really didn't mind doing that, and I knew Kyle didn't mind, either. To my surprise, he got him a wad of toilet paper in his left hand and went after his butt. He wiped himself.

"Dave always checks me," he said.

"Do we need to," Kyle asked.

"No. See."

He held up the last bundle of toilet paper he had used on himself, and it was clean.

"You're making so much progress, I can't even stand it," Kyle said.

Chris got really serious all of a sudden, which wasn't like him.

"Kyle and Jus, I've made an awful lot of progress since I've been here. When I was in Florida, I had PT once a week in school, and OT once every two weeks. Here I have one or the other every day except Sunday, and I'm not even in school right now. It's all through the university. If my dad didn't teach there, I wouldn't be getting it, probably. And I'm going to walk with crutches pretty soon. They've convinced me I can, and I'm not stopping till I do it. I'm not as involved as I thought I was, and I'm going to be independent one day, like you guys are."

I looked at Kyle, and he had huge tears running down his face.

"You're going to be a family man one day, too, aren't you," Kyle said.

"I hope so. I want to have two little boys. I'm going to name the first one Kyle Timothy Uhle, and I'm going to name the second one Justin Brian Uhle," he said. "And I want the four of you to be their godparents."

Kyle was already crying when Chris said that, but then I started, too.

"Happy tears," Chris asked.

"The happiest," Kyle said.

"Let's get back to the tent before they drink all the booze," Chris said.

Kyle and I carried that boy back to our tent over our heads, and the three of us were laughing our asses off.

Who should we find in our tent but--you guessed it--Brian, Tim, and Dave.

"Where have you all been," Brian asked.

"Getting happy," Kyle said.

"Have you guys been smoking weed," Dave asked.

"No, we don't do that," I said. "Just being good friends, Dave."

I had smoked weed many times in my past, but the subject had never even come up in a serious way since I was at Kevin and Rick's house. I figured Kyle had had a toke or two in the past, but he and Tim and Brian didn't seem to be interested in it. I would have smoked me a joint if somebody had handed it to me, but I didn't really crave it. I knew Kevin and Rick would have been super pissed off if I had bought some and brought it home, so I hadn't even pursued it. Not that it wasn't available. That just wasn't something they did, so I didn't do it, either. I had done a little cocaine, too, in the past, but I wasn't about to go there with them.

"Would anybody like a drink," Kyle asked.

The same four who wanted a drink on Sunday night wanted one on Monday night, too.

The three of us from our tent were already naked so Brian, Tim, and Dave got naked, too. Dave got a hard-on. I knew he had had one the night before, but it wasn't that noticeable and nobody commented. That night, though, he couldn't hide it, no matter what.

"This is embarrassing," Dave said.

We had a little battery-powered lantern, and we could see his face get red.

"What did we tell you about being brothers and not being embarrassed around us," Kyle asked.

"I know, but still. None of you are hard," Dave said.

"Just leave it alone. It'll go down," Tim said. "Kyle, can I see you a minute in the other tent? I need to ask you about something."

"Sure, Babe."

They took their drinks with them. The four of us started laughing as soon as they were out of hearing.

"What do you think Tim's going to ask him," Brian asked, laughing.

"Probably something like, 'Babe, my ass itches deep inside. Would you scratch it for me with your dick,'" I said.

They all screamed with laughter.

"No, I think Tim will say, 'Kyle, I didn't get enough to eat tonight. Can I have a hotdog?'" Chris said.

Dave's hard-on didn't go down any, and I guess all the sexy talk wasn't helping him with that. I thought it was pretty funny. I made another drink for the three of us who were drinking. I lit up a smoke and offered them to Dave. He took one, and Chris wanted one, too. I figured we were corrupting the Montana boys, but not any more than they wanted to be corrupted.

After about forty-five minutes, Kyle and Tim came back. Their dicks were smaller than they usually were soft, and that, to me, was a sign. Plus, Kyle's was wet on the end. You tell me! Kyle poured himself another drink.

"How was it," I asked.

"How was what," Kyle asked.

"Sex. What do you think I'm talking about," I asked.

"We didn't have sex," Kyle said.

"Will you say that on your honor, Kyle," Brian asked.

I forgot about that Scout's honor thing. I needed to remember that.

"No," Kyle said, grinning his fool head off.

"That's what I thought," I said.

"Don't you need to ask Brian something in private," Tim asked.

"Nope. We already did it. Twice," I said.

"When," Kyle demanded.

"While you and Tim were gone," I said.

"Where?"

"Right here," I said, "with them watching. Why you reckon Dave's got that boner?"

"Seriously, when did you guys do it," Kyle asked.

"This afternoon. That's why we got in the water. To clean up," I said. "Something I don't recommend doing, by the way. That lake is ice water."

"Are you guys shocked," Tim asked Chris and Dave.

"Hell, no," Chris said. "I know you guys have sex. I just wish I could."

"I'm ready any time you are, Bubba," I said.

Chris stated giggling, just like I knew he would.

"Not with you, asshole," Chris said.

"That ain't the only way to have sex with a guy," Kyle said. "With his asshole."

Chris giggled.

"How else," Dave asked.

"Well, there's oral sex. That's something we all do, right guys," Kyle asked us.

We all said yes.

"And kissing and hugging and just rubbing against one another. Just being close to one another in a sexual way," Kyle said.

"You guys don't always butt fuck," Dave asked.

"No, Dave. We do it that way, but not always," I said.

Kyle reached over and took Dave's dick in his hand. He just held it, sort of squeezing it a little.

"Just doing this is sex, isn't it," Kyle asked.

Dave was breathing hard, and I thought he wanted to get off. I knew Kyle had done that out of impulse or something, and I knew he hadn't thought it through. Kyle turned his dick loose.

"Why'd you stop," Dave asked.

"Dave, I didn't think you minded me touching it, since you didn't knock my hand away, but I didn't know what you might want," Kyle said. "We hadn't talked about it or anything. And we're right here with everybody. I'm sorry if I led you on, but that's not what I meant to do."

"What you did felt good, Kyle," Dave said.

"I know," Kyle said. "I shouldn't have done it, though."

* * *

After the younger guys went to their tent, Kyle made the three of us a third drink. I was beginning to feel it a little bit, but I wasn't drunk or anything.

"I feel like a turd," Kyle said, once we had our drinks.

"Why? Because of what you did to Dave," Chris asked.

"Yeah, man. That was so wrong of me," he said.

"I don't think Dave minded, Bubba," Chris said.

"I know he didn't mind me touching him, but he thought I was going to jerk him off. That was never what I intended to do," Kyle said.

"Kyle, I think Dave has a crush on you," Chris said.

"What?! How can that be," Kyle asked, genuinely surprised.

"Is Dave gay," I asked.

"I don't know for sure, but I'd say the chances are pretty good," Chris said. "His two best friends are gay. Or at least they act like they are. They act like sissies."

"That doesn't mean they're gay, Chris," Kyle said.

"I know it's not proof, but I think they're gay. My two best friends are gay, only they don't act like sissies," Chris said.

"Who are they," Kyle asked.

I knew Chris was talking about him and me, but that dumbass had a thick head that night.

"He's talking about us, shit-for-brains. You and me, Kyle," I said.

"Were you really talking about us," Kyle asked.

"Of course," Chris said.

"We love you, Chris," Kyle said.

"I know you do, and I love you, too. Unlike my brother, though, I don't want to have sex with you," Chris said. "Or you, either, Jus.

"Having you guys come all the way to fucking Montana to see me has made me the happiest person in the world. When I'm at physical therapy or occupational therapy, and they're pushing my ass so hard I want to cry, I think of the two of you. That makes me work harder than even my therapists want me to work. I'm always going to have CP, guys, but I'm not always going to be the gimped up little shrimp I was in Florida. I've gained ten pounds since I've been here, and every bit of that is muscle. There's not much I can do about my right side. That's the part that isn't responding well, and it probably never will. But my left side isn't affected all that much, and that's what's going to let me walk. I won't ever run like Rick and you guys, but I'm damn sure going to walk."

"I think we should get together every six months for a progress check," Kyle said.

"I wish," Chris said.

All three of us had dicks as hard as rocks, the two queers and the straight guy.

"Christopher, I'm going to get your ass up on skis on Grand Lagoon in Emerald Beach, Florida, one of these days," Kyle said.

"Yes, you will, Kyle," Chris said. "I promise you that, my brother."

David's Perspective

When Kyle grabbed my dick, I thought I was going to heaven. I really didn't think he intended to jerk me off right there in public, but I could hope.

I had never met anybody like Kyle before. He was really good looking, really smart, and really well built. He was funny as hell, too, and most of the time he was really nice. But there was something about him that scared me.

A lot of the time, Kyle was gruff. I mean, he didn't say mean things except to tease, and a lot of the time he just talked regular, most of the time, in fact. But when he talked to Justin or Chris or Rick, he talked gruff. It was real confusing because I knew he wasn't being mean. It was like their form of humor or something. He talked to Trixie like that, too, and she lapped it up.

Kyle scared me bad when he kicked the bed Monday morning to wake me and Chris up. Chris was laughing, but he scared me. He was a much bigger boy than I was, and I knew he could whip my ass, if he wanted to. When he jumped into that bed, I thought it was all over for me. I knew I hadn't done anything to piss him off, but I was still scared of him. He ended up kissing me on the forehead, though.

All that aside, Kyle was the boy I wanted. Meeting the Florida boys and getting to know them let me know it was okay if it turned out I was gay. I don't think I had ever met a happier bunch of people in my life, and they really seemed to love one another. If I could be like them, I didn't give a shit if I was gay.