Kyle woke up Christmas morning with a headache. In the time I had known Kyle, he had never been sick a single day. In fact, he told me he had only missed five days for sickness in the whole time he had been in school. It was five consecutive days when he was in the third grade, and he had had chicken pox. "I think you've got a hangover, Babe," I said. "I guess I had a lot to drink last night," he said. "You had a good bit, Kyle," I said. "Did I embarrass you, Babe? I'm so sorry if I did, Tim. Please forgive me," he said. "Kyle, you didn't embarrass me one bit. In fact, you didn't even act drunk. I knew you were drunk, but you didn't even slur your words," I said. "Tim, I'm not a lush. I don't know what got into me, man. I'm not a drunkard, Tim, so please don't think that I am. I'm not. Okay?" I couldn't exactly tell if he was teasing me or not. "Kyle, we've been together for almost three years. I know you're not a lush. I know you're not a drunkard. And last night was Christmas Eve. And it was also the rehearsal dinner for our brothers. Don't beat yourself up about this, Babe. Let's get in the shower, and I'll make that headache go away," I said. "We know each other pretty good, don't we?" Kyle said. "I'd say we do, Kyle," I said. "You know me, and you still love me? You still want to be with me?" he asked. "Kyle, let me tell you a little secret, okay? I'm never leaving you. In a few years, I expect us to be standing right where those guys will be standing tomorrow, saying the same vows of commitment. And Justin and Brian are going to be at our side, doing the same thing. That's the way it's going to be, Kyle." "Tim, if you left me, I would die. I couldn't function. Imagine Jeff losing Clay? They were like us, you know?" "I do know. I can't imagine that, Kyle. I refuse to think about it," Tim said. "Let's get in the shower. I want to wash your hair for you and take care of you." He took a couple of aspirins from a bottle that was in the bathroom. I knew he wasn't feeling all that bad, but I wanted to treat him like a baby. My baby. I made him sit down on the floor of the shower, and I sat down behind him with my legs straddling him. I pampered him and rubbed him and shampooed his hair. When I was finished doing that, I turned him around and impaled myself on his penis. "Oh, Tim. I love you so much," he said directly into my ear. "I could eat you up." After a few minutes of gently rocking back and forth, I felt Kyle climax inside me. That usually makes me come, and he usually wants to get out of me right away. I started to get up, but he held me down. "Not yet," he said. "Keep rocking," he said, so I did. In another five or six minutes I was as close as I've ever been in my life, but he hadn't pushed me over the edge yet. He put his hand on my penis, though, and that did it for me. He came again at the same instant. That had to rank as one of the truly spectacular orgasms of my life. "Was it good, Babe?" he asked. "It was unbelievable," I said. "For me, too. But get off now, okay?" He did the same thing for me that I had done for him, only the second time around we each only came once. "Merry Christmas," he said, after we were finished our shower and were getting dressed. "That's right. I forgot. Merry Christmas to you, too. Kyle, about what we just did in the shower . . . I don't know that it's ever been any better. Thank you for loving me," I said. "I'm the one who's thankful for you," he said. "I definitely got the better half of this bargain." We wrapped our arms around each other and kissed long and tenderly. "Oh, ain't that sweet, Brian. The two little Christmas love birds." It was Justin, of course, and he just barged in because we had forgotten to lock the door. We really don't mind when he and Brian do stuff like that, and we do it to them, too. I think by this point the two couples have seen each other doing just about everything either couple does in bed. Had any of the others done it, it would have been a different story, but with Justin and Brian it really wasn't a problem. "Hey. Merry Christmas, guys," Kyle said, and he actually gave each of them a friendly kiss on the lips. What the hell, I thought, and I kissed both of them, too. I didn't see any reason not to, and that's certainly how I feel about them. "Where's the mistletoe?" Justin asked, looking around for it, to be comical. "How you feeling?" Kyle asked him. "Tell you the truth, I got me a little headache this morning," Jus said. "You want some aspirins? I got some in the bathroom," Kyle said. "Yeah. Let me have a couple," he said. "Go get 'em. They're on the counter," Kyle said. Justin took a couple of aspirins, and the four of us went downstairs. We would be having brunch in the clubhouse later on, but we got cups of coffee and some pastries to tide us over. Craig and Grandpa were in the den, and Grandpa was holding Rob. "Where are Grandma and Cherie?" Kyle asked. "They went to Mass," Craig said. He wasn't looking too good. "Why didn't you go?" Kyle asked him. "Because I feel like shit, Kyle. I drank too much last night," Craig said. "Did you take some aspirins?" "No. I didn't know where they were. Do you have some?" "Yeah, there should be a bottle of them in the kitchen. Come on. Let's go," Kyle said. He and Craig went out to the kitchen. "Merry Christmas, boys," Grandpa said. We wished him Merry Christmas, too. "Are all of you feeling okay?" Brian and I said we were fine, but Justin kind of moaned. Grandpa grinned at him. "You'll learn your limits, Jus," Grandpa said. "I dunno. Maybe the Baptists got it right, and you shouldn't drink firewater," Justin said. "It makes you feel good when you're doing it, but the next day . . . Whoa!" Grandpa was chuckling at him. Craig and Kyle came back into the room, and Kyle got his camera to take pictures of Grandpa and the baby. The baby made a fart, and Kyle giggled at it. "Craig," Grandpa said, and sort of reached Rob out to give him to Craig. "Shit," Craig said. "I'm afraid you're exactly right, Son," Grandpa said, and we all laughed. Craig took Rob upstairs to change his diaper, and, of course, Kyle was right behind him with his camera. "That's one of the joys of being a grandparent. You can just hand them over to their parents when they're messy," Grandpa said. * * * The rest of the family gradually drifted in, and it got to a point where we decided to go out to the clubhouse so everybody could sit on furniture. The den is big, but it isn't big enough for twenty-some-odd people to sit on furniture. Besides, the playpen for Rob was out there, and they wanted to put him in it. We opened gifts, and the big surprise from the grownups was four jet skis for the family. I had ridden on one of those one time in California, and I knew they were fun. I gave Kyle a spear gun for SCUBA diving, and he gave me a new Seiko watch. I had broken my watch about a month before, so that would come in real handy. Christmas was kind of upstaged by the wedding the next day, and I had a much better time at that than I thought I would have. The food was excellent, and I danced a good bit, too. Kyle took a lot of pictures, even though they had a professional photographer there doing it, too. After the wedding, we partied some more back at the house, but Kyle and Justin were careful not to drink too much. I don't know how much Sean had to drink, but he didn't act like he was really drunk. It was a busy holiday season, but we had lots of fun.
The day after the wedding we were hanging around the house resting from the incredible pace of the last three days. We had seen my relatives off that morning, and I was sitting quietly, reading a book I had gotten as a Christmas present. Rick was out with the kids checking out the jet skis. My cell phone rang, and I answered it. "Hello," I said. "Hello. Mr. Foley? or Mr. Mashburn?" It was a woman's voice that I didn't recognize. "It's Kevin Foley," I said. Rick never answers my cell phone. I wondered why she thought I might be him. "Mr. Foley, this is Cathy Griffin. You don't know me, but you know my mother, Rose Martinez," she said. Rose Martinez? Who the hell was that, I wondered. If I knew her, I didn't know her well. "She spent Thanksgiving at your house," she said. "Oh! Miss Rose! Of course! Is something the matter with her?" I was kind of worried. "Oh, she's fine. But thanks for your concern. I believe she told you about my son? Todd?" "Yeah. She did. I thought he was going to call me, but he never did. She said he and his dad don't get along," I said. "Well, that's sort of an understatement, but, yes, basically," she said. "Todd's fourteen, and he's a freshman in high school. He came out to us as being gay last August, and it's been very stressful at home ever since. They argue constantly. My husband won't let Todd do anything with his friends because he's afraid Todd is going to find a boyfriend or something. I don't really understand it. He refuses to accept the fact that Todd is gay, and he says that he went through the same phase when he was Todd's age. He insists that Todd will get over it, just as he did." "I see." I said that because I didn't know what else to say, and she had stopped talking, like it was my turn to say something. I wondered just how "over" being gay Mr. Griffin really was. "My mother believes that Todd would be very happy in your home. Yesterday, Todd and Larry--Larry's my husband--got into a huge fight, and I thought there was a real possibility of violence. Todd ran out of the house, and he was gone for five hours. I was worried sick, but my husband wasn't. In fact, he and his two brothers went out and shot pool. "Mr. Foley, I love my husband very much. I know that in time he'll accept Todd for who he is, or for who he thinks he is, but in the meantime, we need a break. We have two other children younger than Todd, and the constant bickering and fighting and screaming between Larry and Todd have the two little ones scared to death. Todd is very big for his age. He was an early bloomer, and, frankly, in a fistfight between the two of them, my money would be on Todd. I can't have that happen, Mr. Foley. That would destroy our family." "Please call me Kevin," I said. "You're in Texas, right?" "We live in Houston, but actually we're in Pensacola right now. Larry and I are both from here, and we came here for Christmas because this is where both our families are," she said. "We're staying at my in-laws' house right now." "You could be here pretty quick, couldn't you?" "Yes. We could," she said. "How does Todd feel about living here?" I asked. "He asked me to call you," she said. "I feel like Todd is family already," I said. "I think Miss Rose had a good time when she was here, and we certainly consider her extended family. Why don't you bring Todd over. We've got plenty of room for him, and there are some other boys living here who'll take him under their wings." "My mother loves you and Rick, and she seems especially to love Kyle and Justin. I'm not sure who they are, but she adores them," she said. "They're two of our sons. They're both nineteen, and they have a very special fondness for Miss Rose. One of our other sons, Murray Shultz, is the grandson of your mother's roommate. They've taken Murray to Pensacola several times to see his grandmother, and they always take Miss Rose out for a day on the town with them when they do that," I said. "I know. How nice of them! At first I couldn't believe that two young men were willing to do that. It's extraordinary," she said. "Yeah, I know. They're incredible, but this is a house full of incredible kids," I said. "And incredible adults, as well, it sounds like. What's the fee?" she asked. "Fee? There's no fee," I said. I thought for a second. "Yes, on second thought, there is a fee, and here's what it is. You and your husband have to help some kid out, when and if you have the opportunity. And Todd's going to have to help some kid out in his lifetime, when and if he has the chance." "We can afford to help out financially, too," she said. "What do you and your husband do for a living?" I asked. "Jerry's a plastic surgeon, and I'm a pediatrician," she said. Oh, shit!! I thought. These people are my parents, and this kid is me! Yes! Oh, yes! Bring his ass on! "Well, er, . . ." "We can afford to help out, Kevin," she said. "Cathy, my. . . my parents are both doctors, and my mom's a pediatrician. My dad's a heart surgeon," I said. "You know the type, then, don't you?" "Yeah. Pretty much," I said. "My dad's not like that, though." "Good," she said, but I detected skepticism in her voice. I had trouble believing that my dad could ever be arrogant and overbearing, the way some of his friends and colleagues are. "The foster boys get $80 a week in allowance. The State of Florida gives us $500 a month for each foster child we have. You can decide from that what you want to send us, but this isn't a money-making scheme for Rick and me," I said. "If I thought it was, I wouldn't be talking to you. We're paying eleven hundred dollars a month in tuition for his school. We'll send that to you, instead. Kevin, I have to be truthful with you. I knew your parents are both doctors. My mother met them, remember? Besides, the name Edward Foley isn't exactly unknown in medical circles in this part of the country. When I told my husband I was calling you and that you are Edward Foley's son, he approved," she said. "Is it a 'go?'" she asked. "Absolutely. We'd love to have Todd here, for as long or as short as he needs to be here," I said. "Thank you, Kevin. We're in Destin, and we'll be there in about a half hour. Now, where exactly do you live?" Whoa! I thought. Give me some advance warning, why don't you? "I thought you were in Pensacola," I said. "Well, I took a chance," she said. "On my mother's advice." I gave her directions to our house. We said our goodbyes. Rick was out with the boys playing with the new jet skis. I ran outside to tell him what had just transpired. "Hey, Babe. What's up?" he asked when I got to him. "Walk over here with me, would you?" We walked away from the kids to talk in private. "What's the matter?" He was in a full-body wet suit, and he actually looked very sexy in that thing. "Do you remember me telling you about my conversation with Miss Rose about her grandson at Thanksgiving?" "Vaguely, but I do remember," he said. "Well, he's going to be here in thirty minutes or so," I said. "What?" he asked. He was a little surprised, as I had been. I told him about my conversation with Cathy Griffin. "We need to get the boys out of the water," he said. "By the way, these jet skis are awesome. Justin and Kyle have been playing 'chicken,'" he said. "Look." I looked out on the lagoon to see my two oldest sons going into a head-on collision. Justin turned away in the nick of time. "Fuck you," Justin screamed at Kyle. "Only in your dreams," Kyle screamed back. "No. Unh-unh. They can't do that. We can't have that, Rick," I said. "We have to talk to them about that." He started laughing. "They're not going to crash. They're not stupid, Babe. That one was close, but most of the time they both turn off way before they're going to crash," he said. "They're high-spirited boys, Babe." "I don't give a shit how high-spirited they are. They're not doing that. Were you doing that, too?" I asked. "Yeah, I was, Kevin, and it's perfectly safe. It's an incredible rush, too," he said. "No. Nobody's doing it ever again. I refuse to be worried to death about you or about them when y'all are out here on these things. Rick, this is a bottom-line issue with me, and I mean it," I said. "Okay. I hear you. No more 'chicken.' Let me call them in so they can meet their new brother. What's his name, anyway?" "Todd. Todd Griffin," I said. Rick whistled them in, and they came in right away. I could tell Kyle and Justin both had erections in their wetsuits, and Sean had one, too. Brian was also in a wet suit, but he didn't have an erection. "What's up?" Kyle asked when he got on the dock. The boys formed a semi-circle around Rick and me. Murray looked so trim and so good that it was absolutely amazing. He and Denny were just in Speedos, and they looked a little blue from the temperature. Their teeth were chattering, in fact. It was about sixty degrees Fahrenheit, but that really isn't warm, especially if you are wet. Tim had on a beach coat, so he didn't look as cold as Denny and Murray did. "All right. First of all, no more of this 'chicken' shit. We cannot have that in this house," I said. "No more chickenshit? That's it for you, Kyle. Been nice to know you, Bubba. No more chickenshit in the house, though," Justin said. All of them laughed, and I knew I had set that up wrong. "I'm serious," I said. "No more playing 'chicken' on the jet skis. And Rick and I mean that. No more. That's way too dangerous." They were waiting for Rick to say something, and so was I. "He's right. It's dangerous," Rick finally said. "No more. I know I did it, but I'm not ever doing it again, and y'all aren't either. That's final." Kyle and Justin looked at each other like they were no more going to obey that order than fly. I know both of them have a conscience, though, and I was fully prepared to use every manipulative trick that I had learned in Catholic school to put a guilt trip on them to keep them from doing that. That "chicken" game scares me to death. "What about drag racing? I got ole 'Greased Lightning' there, and I'm ready to go," Kyle said. "Racing is fine, just no 'chicken' racing," I said. "This 'chicken' stuff almost made me forget why I came out here. Y'all are getting a new brother in about . . . " I looked at my watch. "ten minutes. Get some clothes on and come inside. Everybody." "We need showers," Rick said. "Where are your clothes?" I asked him. "In the locker room, same as them," he said. "Hurry up," I said, "and get them to hurry up, too," I said. "Babe, did you expect a new boy for Christmas?" Rick said. "No, but I guess he's our New Year's Baby. He's only fourteen. I hope this isn't another Sean," I said. "Me, too, but Sean seems to be doing so well," Rick said. "Go get your shower. Now," I snapped. "Are you pissed off at me, Kevin?" Rick asked. "I'm a little rattled right now. Seeing them playing 'chicken' scared me to death, and we've got this new kid showing up virtually unannounced. I'm sorry I was short with you," I said. "And I'm sorry I didn't use better judgment about the game. Will you forgive me?" Rick asked. He knows I can never stay angry at him for very long. "Only if you'll forgive me," I said. "Then it's a done deal," he said, and he gave me a sweet kiss, one I was only too happy to return.
When I went into that shower room, it was like going into that pool of seals at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. They were slipping and sliding everywhere. One would go down on the floor, and two more would jump on him. They were having fun, and I was tempted to get into it with them. But the new boy was going to be here in a few minutes, and I knew we all had to be in the house when he got here. I learned to whistle through two fingers when I was a little kid. I know Kyle can do it, too, and he has used it more than once to get everyone's attention. I used it then. "Everybody shut up," I said. Justin and Kyle were still laughing and poking each other. "I said, shut the fuck up!" They got quiet. "You've basically got five minutes to get finished in here and to get into that house to meet your new brother. No talking whatsoever. Let's go," I said. I don't know how well they washed themselves, but they were out of there in about two minutes. There are only four shower heads, so they couldn't have washed very well, considering there were eight of us in there. Not one of them said a word, though. In five minutes they were all in the den. "So where the hell is he?" Kyle asked. "He probably stopped to jerk off," Justin said. "I know I would," Kyle said. They all laughed at their foolishness. "Are all gay guys as funny as these two?" Sean asked. "It depends on how you define 'funny,'" Justin said. Then he grabbed Sean in a headlock-hug. We all laughed. Everybody was in a great mood, but I felt bad about letting the kids play 'chicken.' I should have known that would scare Kevin. "What kind of refreshments do we have in the house?" I asked. "We've got a ton of stuff from the wedding," Kyle said. "You want me to make something up? Some trays?" "Yeah. Just a couple. One sweet and one non-sweet," I said. "Gotcha. Come help me, Tim," Kyle said. Kyle no more needed Tim's help than the man in the moon, but Kyle never wants to do anything by himself. If he had had to make those trays alone, it would have been at least ten or fifteen minutes that he was without human company. That much time alone is unacceptable to Kyle. He brought those trays out seconds before the new boy and his mother rang the doorbell. Kevin and I answered the door together. When we opened the door, I wasn't expecting anything like what I saw. Todd was a good six feet tall, blond hair and beautiful dark blue eyes. He had shoulders about three feet across, and his face should have been on the cover of XY Magazine. His body was a perfect inverted pyramid, and his waist couldn't have been more than about twenty-eight inches. I thought he was a god off Mt. Olympus. "Hi. You must be Cathy, and you must be Todd," Kevin said. "This is Rick Mashburn, my partner, and I'm Kevin Foley." We all shook hands. "Come on in. Your new brothers are in here waiting for you, Todd," Kevin said. "Thanks," Todd said. "This is a nice place. Thanks for having me." I could not believe that kid was fourteen years old. No way. That boy was self-confident and very poised. Kyle was like that when we met him, but Kyle had been sixteen, not fourteen. I wondered if Kyle had been like that at fourteen. Todd met the boys, and it took about thirty seconds for them to warm up to him. He was very masculine and attractive. It was like he had been there for months. "Come and see the clubhouse, and all the other stuff we got here," Kyle said. They dragged him outside, him petting the dogs all the while. I knew that boy was going to fit in. That one was an alpha male in the making, and I knew it instinctively. "Well, he seems to have hit it off well initially with the other boys," Cathy said. "Yeah. We've got some incredible kids here, Cathy. Todd is going to do just fine. Just looking at him, I figure he doesn't have any problems fitting in at school," Kevin said. "Well, yes and no," she said. "He's bigger, and he looks older, than other freshmen, so he didn't have many friends in his class. But he had friends. Juniors and seniors, mostly. My husband just wouldn't let him do anything with them." "He's got seven boys here who are already his friends," I said. "This is truly a remarkable group of guys." "I can see that," Cathy said. "Thank you so much." "Cathy, the way we look at it is every new boy is a gift to our family. We might be a little bit different from the family he came from, but we're a real family." "I know," Cathy said. "My mother has been lobbying for Todd to come here since Thanksgiving. It's difficult, though, you know," she said, and she teared up a little. "Think of it as Todd going to boarding school," Kevin said. "I know. I have thought of that," she said. "In fact, I have thought of actually sending him to boarding school. This will be better, though, I think." "We're going to need some documents," Kevin said. "Like his birth certificate and power of attorney so we can act in loco parentis." "Yes. I have a power of attorney document right here," she said, opening her purse. "My brother-in-law drew it up for us this morning, and my husband and I both signed it. My brother-in-law is a lawyer, so it should be good." She handed it to me, and I scanned it. It looked just like the one we have for Sean. I gave it to Kevin, and he looked at it, too. "I can fax his birth certificate to you as soon as we get home," she said. "I guess you'll need his school records, too." "The school can request those. How are his grades?" Kevin asked. "He does well in school. Todd is a good kid, guys. The conflict with his father is pretty much all my husband's making. Todd has a touch of the normal adolescent rebelliousness, but it's not severe at all. He'll do just fine," she said. The kids came back inside, and Todd appeared to be quite excited. "Mom, you should see this place. They have a boat and four jet skis, and there's a pool table in the clubhouse. And they even have a weight room," Todd said. "Good," Cathy said. "It sounds like just the ticket for you." "Yeah, and you know what the best thing is? Every one of these guys is gay. Just like me," he said. "I know, Son. Grammy told me," Cathy said. "Can I offer anybody coffee or a coke or anything?" Kyle asked. "I'll have a coke," Justin said. "Get it yourself. I meant the company, not you," Kyle said. "No, thank you," Cathy said. "In fact, I really need to get back on the road." "You've got all of our phone numbers, right?" Kevin asked, as we were showing Cathy out. "Yes," she said. "Todd will have a cell phone of his own in a few days," I said. "Make sure your mother knows your number, when you get it," I said to Todd. "Okay," he said. Cathy and Todd walked out to her car. Kevin and I shut the front door to give them some privacy, and we went back into the den with the other guys. "Whoa! That boy's a stud. He said he's only fourteen years old," Justin said. "He's taller than I am," Brian said. "Do you fellows like him?" Kevin asked. "He seems real nice," Tim said. "He's going to fit right in." "Good. Thanks for opening your hearts, guys. I know it isn't easy having a steady stream of new boys in the house, but you know Rick and I love all of you. And we're going to love this boy, too," Kevin said. "I'm already in love with him," Sean said. We all laughed, but I wondered if Todd would become the object of someone's affections.
My mom and I both cried when we said goodbye in their driveway, but she and I both knew my moving away for a while was the best thing that could happen. I know my dad is a smart man, and all, but he absolutely will not accept the fact that I'm gay. At first he wanted me to see a psychologist, but he couldn't find anybody that he considered qualified who was willing to try to convert me to being straight. So his way of dealing with my situation was to basically put me under house arrest. Other than going to school, I could do absolutely nothing, not even Youth Group at church. I have known I'm gay since I was ten years old. That's when puberty started, and that's when I had my first crush on a guy. He was my best friend, and I was totally in love with him. I wanted to spend every minute with him. We never did anything sexual, and I wasn't even sure back then what "sexual" meant. He moved when I was eleven, though, and we lost track of each other. I decided to come out to my parents last summer. I was getting ready to go to high school, and I figured I would probably meet guys that I wanted to date. I had never had any idea that either one of my parents might be homophobic, and, in some ways, I really don't think they are. At least, not in general. My dad just doesn't want me to be gay, but that isn't something I have any control over. My dad harped on the fact that he had gone through the same kind of phase when he was my age. Well, maybe he did, but I didn't think it was a phase, in my case. My dad and I argued a lot about his "phase theory." One time I even asked him how he knew it had been just a phase for him. I mean, I had read about gay guys who got married and had kids and all. He got so mad when I said that, I thought he was going to punch me. I never went there again. "Todd, let us show you where your room is," Kevin said. We had been eating snacks from a couple of platters they had out. "Okay," I said. I got my suitcase. My mom was going to send the rest of my clothes and stuff when they got home. "This is a really big house," I said. "Yeah, but there are quite a few people living here. You're number ten," Kevin said. He and Rick took me to my bedroom on the third floor. What was really cool about it was I had my own bathroom. It didn't have a tub in it, but it had a humongous shower, and it even had a urinal. Wow! I had never seen a urinal in a house before, but I knew that was going to be convenient when I woke up hard and had to pee. "We'll leave you to put away your clothes," Rick said. "You might want some quiet time, too." "Yeah. I'd appreciate that," I said. "Okay, Bubba. We'll be downstairs," Kevin said. "Holler if you can't find what you need." "Thank you for taking me in," I said. "We're glad to do it," Rick said. "See you later." "Okay." It didn't take me long to put my clothes away, and I put my toilet kit away in the bathroom, too. I didn't take my clothes off, but I stretched out on the bed to think about what was happening. I was only lying there about five minutes when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," I said, sitting up. "Hi, Todd. Are you busy?" "No. Come on in," I said. He was a really good-looking kid. "Do you remember my name? Sean?" "Sorry. I haven't learned all the names yet," I said. "It'll take you a few days to get to know us and all about us," he said. "I just came here in early September, so I remember how it was." "Cool. Are you from around here?" I asked. "No. I'm from Virginia," he said. "Do you remember Rose Martinez? She was here for Thanksgiving." "Miss Rose? Yeah, I remember her, and Miss Sarah, too." "Miss Rose, as you call her, is my grandmother. I don't call her that, though. I call her Grammy. Anyway, she told me about this place because I was having a lot of problems with my dad. We all thought it might be a good idea for me to come here for awhile so maybe he can get used to the idea that I'm gay," I said. "He doesn't like gay people, I take it," he said. "I don't think he cares if other people are gay. He just refuses to accept the fact that I am," I said. "He sounds like both of my parents. I was dating an older guy, and they got a restraining order to keep him away from me," he said. "When I found out about this place on the Internet, I ran away from home to come here." "Do your parents know where you are?" I asked. "Oh, yeah. They had to give their permission for me to stay here. I talked to them on the phone Christmas day," he said. "They said I was going to get a cell phone. Do you have one?" "We all do, and they expect us to use them to let them know where we are," he said. "Is it really strict here?" I asked. "Not really. The pets help Kevin and Rick keep us in line," he said. "They use the dogs on the kids?" That was a little scary to me, but he laughed hard. "Not the dogs. The four pets I'm talking about are Kyle, Tim, Justin, and Brian," he said. "Why do you call them the pets?" I asked. "Kevin and Rick treat everybody the same, more or less, but I can tell they love those boys a little more than they do the rest of us. That's all I meant by that," he said. "Are those four guys nice?" I asked. "They're very nice. I used to think Justin and Brian didn't like me, but I don't think that anymore. I think they like me now," he said. "Why did that change?" I asked. "Basically because I cleaned up my act," he said. "I was doing a lot of stupid shit, and it got me into trouble when we were on a trip. I'm seeing a counselor now, and I'm taking medicine, too. I'm much better. I feel a lot better, and I'm much nicer than I used to be." "I know everybody here is gay. Do any of the kids have, like, boyfriends?" I asked. "Kyle and Tim are boyfriends, and so are Justin and Brian. I have a boyfriend named Scott Michaels, and Denny is dating a guy named John something. I can't remember John's last name, though. You'll be going to Beachside High School, and it's a pretty cool school. Kyle's in college now, but when he was a senior, he was president of the Student Government Association, and he was out to everybody before he was elected. That was before I got here, though." "That's cool that they elected a gay guy," I said. "So I guess it's not really homophobic there." "Oh, it has its share of assholes, don't think it doesn't," he said, "but, for the most part, they don't mess with the out kids. It's kind of like the way it works here. The atmosphere is such that it would be way uncool to be homophobic, just like it would be way uncool to break rules around here." "What are the rules?" "Basically, no sex in public, or talking about sex in public, and no forced sex." "That's it? Those are the only rules?" That sounded too good to be true. "Those are the main ones, or, really, just the ones about sex. You can also talk about sex in public, just not what you and your partner do in private. And, really, we tease one another about sex a lot. It's just that Kevin and Rick don't want to know the details of our sex lives, I guess you could say," he said. "I've never had sex," I said. "You're not the only one," I said. "Murray hasn't had sex yet, either. I assume Denny and his boy have sex, but he's never said, and I've never asked." "I wouldn't mind having sex," I said. "With me?" he replied, somewhat surprised or shocked or something. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant in general," I said. "The idea of anal sex doesn't interest me, though." "I'm dying to try it, but my boyfriend won't let me," he said. "Try what? Anal sex?" "Yeah. I'd like to fuck him," he said. "Would you let him, uh, like, uh, fuck you?" I asked. That was the first time I had ever said the F-word aloud. "Hell, no," he said. "That's probably why he won't let me fuck him. I guess fucking is a two-way street." There was a knock on the door. "Come in," I said. "Hi, guys. What are y'all doing? Todd, I'm Kyle and this is Tim, just in case you didn't remember," he said. "We're just talking," Sean said. "You're not putting the make on him already, are you?" Kyle asked. "I told you the other day that I don't do that anymore," Sean said. "The only person I'm having sex with now is Scott. Don't you remember?" "I remember. I'm just pulling your dick a little bit," Kyle said. "What were you guys talking about?" Tim asked. "Sex," Sean said. "I figured that," Kyle said. He had sort of a strange way of talking sometimes. Kind of gruff, almost. "Todd, if you have questions about sex, don't be afraid to ask, you hear? We don't know much about pussy, but we know a lot about dick. No question is too dumb, either. Kevin and Rick won't ever bring it up, usually, but we've had some great talks about sex. And about being gay, too." "Okay. Just so you'll know, I'm a virgin," I said. I wanted to get that out in the open. "That's cool. I used to be one, too," Kyle said. "Y'all probably didn't cover this with all the sex talk, but we tease each other a good bit around here. But it's all in fun. We try never to hurt anybody's feelings with teasing. You're the masculine type, but if you weren't, like ole Murray, we wouldn't tease you about that, either. If there's something you don't want to be teased about, say so. By the way, it's okay to smoke cigarettes in the house, but that's all. No drugs." He looked at Sean when he said that. "I'm clean now, Bubba. It's been over a month since I smoked weed," Sean said. Wow! I thought. He's a toughie. He's cute, though, and he seems pretty smart, too. "We came up to see if y'all want to shoot some pool," Kyle said. "Sure," I said. And that's how we spent the afternoon and evening. |