The Novel

Drew and I found ourselves standing in front of the venue that was once an Irish Catholic Church which was converted into an event space.  Flanking the gothic entrance hung two large fabric banners ornamented with the crest of the organization that was honoring me tonight.  There was a large poster with my picture and my name along with the name of the award I was to receive.  I did feel a little bit of pride for all of the work that I put into my writing over the years.  But I still did not think myself to be deserving of an award.  Not on this caliper, and not for what I have enjoyed doing these past years.

I was having a hard time trying to convince myself to put one foot in front of the other and start the walk up the red carpeted stairs.  Why could I not be doing this with Brent by my side?  I knew why.  It didn’t make it any easier.  I was comforted by the fact that there were faces in that building that I knew I would find solace in.

Before we completely passed through the vestibule, I took a deep breath and knew I was going to have to put on the mask of my alter ego and face a room full of people.  I normally do not use that mask that often, yet it was needed tonight. 

Just as we stepped into the meet-n-greet, there was a loud round of applause.  I tipped my head to everyone in a show of appreciation.  A four-piece string quartet was playing from a loft somewhere overhead.  I was soon surrounded by everyone wishing to shake my hand, pat my back, give me a hug as we made our way around the room.  Drew had slipped to grab me something to drink while I made my rounds thanking and greeting the other guest.

After a few moments, Drew arrived with a cocktail for me, he had both Marcus and Andy in tow.  I don’t think I have every been as elated in all of my life to see them.  It has been a couple of months sense I locked myself away from physical contact with them while I pounded out the final parts of the last book.  I embraced both of them tight, thanking god to have them both in my life. 

I have really missed seeing Andy.  He gave me a gentle peck on my check, “It is so nice to see you after all of this time.  Talking with you though e-mail and text is one thing, but to see you in person finally is a joy.”

“I have missed you too Andy.  How are things going with you?”  I asked, looking into his beautiful eyes.

“Well, between working at the foundation and looking after this big lug, I have been kept on my toes and enjoying every moment of it.”  He was leaning into Marcus.  They were a stelar team.  I found myself reveling in the outcome of their solid relationship.  With the book being finished, I would be able to start spending more time with them.

I raised my glass with them and Drew joining in.  “I raise a toast to this occasion to actually celebrate the final journey of Ethan.”

Marcus looked at my face the second that I just realized what I had done.  We both looked around to see if anyone picked up what I just said.  Just the four of us knew about the final book until later on.  Luck was on my side, no one picked up on it. 

The meet-n-greet was supposed to last for an hour, it seemed like we had been standing there for more than three.  It had only been twenty minutes. 

Marcus started introducing some of his co-workers from the foundation to our small group.  When they realized that I was “That Marion”, their ears all perked up and the smiles and compliments grew. 

Andy slipped his had around my waist as a reminder that he was there to support me. 

To say that the week that followed after the Fourth of July was hectic would have been an understatement.  The first thing that was tackled was mine and Brents trip to France.  I had contacted a cousin of mine who’s name was Louis.  His father did not speak English that well and my French was that of a first grader.  Louis was able to translate.  They were very excited to host both of us on our visit.  Louis was in his early thirties and would probably be our main point of contact while we were there.

Next on our list, Brent was heading off for a two-week strength training and conditioning summer camp at Indiana University for football.  I just had a few one-on-one practice sessions with the dive coaches at Ball State. 

I was able to meet Eric for lunch one day and we seemed to hit it off pretty quickly.  We had a ton of things in common.  Rooming with him was going to be a breeze.  I found out that his mother was Vietnamese, and his father was South African.  He was about 5’6”.  His hair was sandy brown that he wore in a foe-hawk style.  He had piercing green eyes.  His voice was on a whole different scale.  Out of this tiny body came a booming deep voice with a heavy African/English accent.  He was one of the lucky ones, his girlfriend was also attending Ball State.  She was going for their education program.  We made plans for all four of us to meet up sometime over the weekend before Brent goes off to camp.

That week, I also had my eyes opened a little about what was involved with my trust should I take it.  Ed had me meet with a team of lawyers at an office building in downtown Indianapolis.  Ed was conferenced in via phone and I was surrounded by eight other professional people giving me the run down.  There were two parts to this trust.  First was my personal trust fund that was set up by the trust foundation, then there was the trust foundation that was a generational trust fund.  Of course, none of this was covered in my Highschool Economics class.

After the meeting was over, Ed called me to tell me to take a couple of weeks to think things through.  When I got home, I shared some of what I had learned with Grandma.  I couldn’t quite tell her everything, I was still grappling with things myself.  I was sent home with a file box full of paperwork to mull over.  One thing I knew, grandma was not going to be living in this apartment all by herself.

I grabbed my phone and called Mrs. Lucas.  “Mom, do you have a sec?”

“Sure Nicky, what can I do for you?”  I could hear the sun beaming through her voice.

“I am going to need to move fast, and I want it to be a surprise to Grandma.  Sense I am leaving for school in about six weeks, I would like to find a new place for Grandma to live.  I want someplace where she won’t be left alone, which is my biggest fear.  Can you help me find a place for her?”

“I am on it, just let me know your budget and where you are looking.  I do know that there is a Senior Village not far from us that she might be interested in.  We looked into it a few weeks ago when Grandma Lucas was up from Texas.”

“Mom, from what I learned today, there is no budget.  I just have to turn all paperwork over to the family trust.  I finally get to take care of my Grandmother.”  I started crying.  A big ole ball of joy caught in the back of my throat. 

“Leave it to me honey, we will take care of her.”  I could hear an audible waver in her voice that told me I was doing the right thing.  Grandma deserved it after taking care of me for almost my whole life.

I was waiting outside of the employee locker rooms on Friday keeping a watch out for Andy.  He was going to ride with me to meet up with Brent and Domnick for our double date at Pizza Hut.  He was so excited for us to meet him.  All I could think about as he went on and on was the scene from “Father of the Bride” when Annie was telling her parents about her fiancé. He had it hard for Domnick.

When we got into the restaurant, Brent and Domnick had already introduced themselves and were already sitting at a table.  Domnick stood up as we approached, and he pulled out the seat for Andy to sit.  Sense Brent and I had been best friends before becoming boyfriends, pulling out a chair or opening a car door was lost on us.  But I did notice, and a chuckle come out.  Brent gave me a side eye.

Domnick shook my hand as we greeted each other.  I would describe him for you, but all I can say is my height, my hair color, my complexion, my eye color and even the same small clef on his chin.  The only major difference, he had a deep scar over his right eyebrow which later we found out came from an accident he had when he was kid.  He fell out of a tree. 

I don’t think that Andy said one word all through dinner.  I kept watching Andy watch Dom while Dom was talking up a storm with Brent.  I had to even bite my lower lip a few times to keep from laughing with some of the love struck looks that Andy was giving Dom.  I though I was going to piss my pants when Dom reached over under the table and must have grabbed Andy’s leg, Andy smiled the cutest grin while his eyes rolled up.  I was going into sugar shock it was too sweet.

We found out a couple of cool things that night.  Andy was assigned the dorm room across the hall from me this fall, Domnick was on the next floor up.  I called Eric to see if we could add two more people to our double date tomorrow.  To which he had no issues.  So that was set in place.

That was the night that for the very first time, I picked up the full check.  Tip included.  We decided to wind things down for the night.  I knew that Andy was wanting some alone time with Dom.

I was planning to spend the night at Brents on Saturday, so, after a quick make out session in the parking lot we headed out.  Brent should have just stayed at my house; we ended up spending two hours on the phone once each of us got to our places.  The fact is, we spend a lot of time on the phone with one another.

“Can you believe that he actually pulled out his chair?”  Brent asked giggling.

“What?  I think that was very romantic.”  He didn’t respond right away.  “I was thinking earlier, we never went through that stage, but we were friends first.”

“Are you saying that you want me to hold the door open for you when you are getting in and of the car?”

“That’s not what I am saying, We never went through the “new” relationship bliss thing.  We just fell in love.”

“That is true.  Not to change the subject, and I don’t want to sound out of place, did you use the card that mom and dad gave you to pay for dinner tonight?”

“Thanks for reminding me, no, I have that card here in my bedroom.  I actually have a card that was set up for me through my trust.  I get an allowance once a month.”

“No prob.  I was just asking.  I forgot all about mine till I seen you pull yours out.”

“Honestly, I’ll get it back to dad tomorrow when I see him.  I don’t think I will be needed it any longer.”

“Are you rich now?”  I heard something a little off in his voice.  Almost distant.

I took a second before I answered him, “all I know at this time is that I don’t need to worry about finances any longer.”  I really did not know what was in my trust at this time.  All I knew was that I would receive an allowance of five thousand dollars a month in an account for me to use as was needed, if anything else came along, I was to let Edward know. 

“Now, just don’t go getting all rich on me and start looking at all of the hot celebrity guys.”

“I am in love with the hottest celebrity I know.”  I started putting two and two together.  “You know that I only have eyes for you!”

“So, what are your plans for the morning?”  He asked, in a way that suggested a subject change was needed.  I was kind of glad.  He did after all bring up something I don’t think either one of us had thought about.

“I was planning on doing a ten-mile run.  You up to join?”  I did not want to bulk up too much more.  Whenever I changed my body mass, I had to work that much harder on my dive technique to maintain my quality of standards for my skills.

“Sure, what time are you wanting to head out?”

“Probably six thirty.  Grandma will have breakfast ready by nine.  Gives us time to get cleaned up beforehand.” 

We chatted a few more minutes before calling it a night.  Something was gnawing at my heartstrings that night.  I was going to have to make sure that I would not let the money thing change me.  It was something that I really never thought about.  I was aware growing up when I was told no that there was a good reason behind it, but I never dwelt on the fact that it was because funds were not there.  I was raised to be thankful for what I had.  And I was.  Just needed to make sure that I did not lose that mentality.

The next morning, bright and early, we took a nice pace.  I used that run for cardio and stamina.  With both of us running with ear buds in and play list playing, we didn’t really talk other than which direction we were going.  Most of the run, he followed me.  I did make a slight detour on the way back to cross through a subdivision near our apartment complex.  The sidewalks were wider, and we could run side by side.  Sometimes I would use this route as a cool down.  I would slow way down to a jog or brisk walk. 

Today, I slowed way down to a regular walk.  Brent followed suite.  After a few minutes I popped out my ear buds and shut off my iPod. 

“I meant what I said last night” I said stretching at a stop sign.  “You are everything I want.”

“I know, I just feel like you are going to be gone one day and I feel like there is nothing I can do.”  The look on his face scared the shit out of me.  I have only seen that look on his face once.  Our junior year.  After a car accident took one of his good friends.  A large hole opened up in the pit of my stomach and I did not care who seen me at that moment.  I just reached out for him and held him in a tight embrace.

“I am scared shitless that I am going to lose you.  I overheard Dad telling Mom about a discussion that he had with Edward.  They were talking about how much your life is going to change.”  He was really sobbing.  Standing in the middle of Irving St. was the two-thousand ten Prom King holding the Homecoming King and we both had tears flowing down our checks. 

“My handsome prince.  My life is going to change with or without that money.  Just like your life is going to change.  While we are going to be a couple of hours away from each other while going to school, we will still be there for each other.”  I was trying my best to comfort him.  At the same time, I started to think about what he just said.  What did Mr. and Mrs. Lucas know about all of this? 

I figured that I would just make the best of the next couple of days before Brent leaves for football camp.  While he was away, I would make sure to schedule some alone time with Dad.  While I did not know the scope of his role for his family business, I did know I could trust him.

Brent and I don’t do a lot of PDA, not that we have that much of an opportunity, but that day, we walked back to the apartment hand in hand.  Everyday that I know this man, the stronger my bond with him grows.  While I don’t know what our future holds, I cannot see a future without him by my side.

Grandma made her French Toast with a Jack Daniels Crème Brulé sauce and sausage links for breakfast.  It was so good; we took our time to enjoy her culinary talents.  Grandma told us how she learned of this recipe, for me it was the umpteenth time I had overheard her regale this story, Brandon had yet to be told.  I was paying more attention to the flavors than the story.  It went something like Pain Perdu had a fight with Bananas Foster.

After we were finished eating, I started clearing dishes off of the table while Grandma and Brent started talking.  Before I knew it, Brent was wrapped into a tight hug in Grandmas arms, he had the water works going again.  I looked at Grandma, I gave her a little wink and rubbed her shoulder as I passed by.  I did not hear what they were talking about and decided to give my boyfriend some alone time with Granny.

I was in my room folding laundry and putting things away when Brent walked in a while later.  He stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear, “I love you with every ounce of my being.”

I turned around to face him and put my arms around him to look deep in his eyes.  “My love for you is just as strong.  And one day, I look forward to meeting you at the end of an isle to pledge ourselves to each other, forever.”

We stood there in our embrace for a few moments longer when all of a sudden, I had to pull away.  I had a raging hardon and I knew we could not do anything about it at that time.  At least, not in the apartment, in the middle of the day, with Grandma here and awake.  Brent gave me a puzzling look.  “Sorry, teenage hormones.”  Was all I could muster to answer him back.  We both broke out laughing.

We spend most of the day killing time by playing X-box and chatting.  He was very excited about the football camp; he was chatting about some of his itinerary.  I told to him about some of the upcoming practice sessions I was scheduled for.  With as busy as both of our next two weeks seemed to be, hopefully, they would fly by fast.  We would face time each night after eight p.m.

It was around six thirty when we took off to meet everyone at Steak-n-Shake.  We were the first to arrive.  I knew the others would be there shortly, so I ordered a bunch of appetizers.  Andy and Dom were the next to arrive followed by Eric and his girlfriend Jennifer. 

Everyone was getting along and having a blast.  I was excited for the fall.  It was going to be a great experience.  I was glad that Brent was there with us, but I could tell he was somewhere else from time to time. 

At one point, I excused myself to make a trip to the rest room.  Once I was done and washing my hands, Dom stepped in.  “Nick, can I ask a personal question?”

“Sure, what can I help you with?”  I was drying my hands.

“Is everything ok with Brent?  I mean, I don’t really know him, but he seems kind of heart broken for some reason.  Are you two breaking up?” 

I stopped in my tracks.  “No, we are not breaking up.  I think he is second guessing his choice of college.”

“Is it the separation thing between the two of you then?”

I took a deep breath, “Yeah, I think it has him pretty worried.  There is something else he is worried about too.  You will probably figure it out sooner or later.  I recently found out that I have a trust fund, from a couple of things he has said over the past few days, I think that is part of it too.”

“So, you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth?”

“Not really.  I was born and raised poor.  In fact, I was raised by my Grandmother on her social security income.”  I was not ashamed on how I was raised.  I never went without.  I may not have gotten everything I wanted, but I always had everything I needed.  “Not to change the subject, I am glad that Andy found you.  You both look good together.”

“Thanks Nick, Andy is a true ace.  I am lucky he approached me.  I was petrified when he walked up to me.”

Knowing that Andy was a really shy person, he seemed to be coming out of his shell.

“We better head back out there, or we will have two boyfriends on a hunting expedition.”  I said as he finished drying his hands.

Right around nine o’clock, we figured we had spent enough time at the restaurant and decided to play nice teenagers.  I grabbed the check to pay and left the tip.  Once we were out in the parking lot, everyone made sure that each of us had each other’s contact info before parting ways.

The wall that Brent put up immediately when he closed the door was so unmistakably solid, I thought that I was sitting in the car with someone all together different.  “Hey Brent, what’s going on?”

“Just take me home and drop me off please!”  His voice was very somber. 

Not wanting to fight him, I figured he might say something within the next twenty minutes.  I was wrong.  That was the longest trip I have ever drove in my life.  I didn’t loose it till we got to his house.

I had to get out of the car to open the trunk for him.  Once he had the bags, he just turned around and ran up the stairs and in the house without saying one word to me, not even looking at me.  He left me standing there dumbfounded.  I didn’t know if I should run in and follow after him, I didn’t know if I should leave.  I was thinking of pulling out my phone and trying to send him a text.  I was at a loss, and I started to cry.

Just as I was going to turn around and get back in the car, I seen dad running down the steps to garb me.  Why was this day so god damn emotional?  What the fuck was I screwing up?  I just let go of my body and fell into dads arms.

He pulled me over to a bench that was next to the garage.  He just held me as I cried.  I had no idea why I was crying other than the fact I had hurt Brent.  “I don’t know what I did.  I am so sorry.  He wont talk to me.”  My eyes were pleading for an answer looking at Dad.

“I know this will not make sense.  But he is in so much love with you, he is in pain.”  He was looking deep in my heart now, like a father would talk to his own son.  “We have to let him find his answers.  There is no amount of assurance from the three of us that will get him past his own insecurities.  You need to stay strong for him.  I know my boy; I understand what he is going through.  I went through something similar with his Mom at about your guy’s age.  I had tons of fears when I knew she would not be around for long stretches of time when I worked on the oil rigs with my father.  That was back before we had phones to call the mainland.”

“Tell you what, why don’t you head on home.  Meet us at the county club in the morning for a round to golf.  I will talk Mom and Brent into it, and we can have a family day.  Just remember.  He is feeling all kinds of pressure about next week too.”  I never thought of that.   I agreed to golf in the morning, I asked if he would pass on a message to Brent for me.  To make sure that he knew I was here for him and that I loved him.  Dad said he would pass it along.

Grandma and I had a long discussion about the day before I headed off to bed.   It was about midnight, and I received just a simple heart emoji from Brent, I just simply sent him one back too.  I was hoping that was his way of saying that he loved me, and he just needed some alone time.

The next morning was way more relaxed between Brent and myself.  We had brunch in the club house before we set out to play a round.  Brent had his hand in my lap most of the way through brunch.  He was even holding my hand on the golf course when either of were not playing.  When we finished off the sixteenth hole and were walking over to the t-off spot for the seventeenth hole, Brent stopped me.

He stood in front of me and held me at elbow length.  Staring into my eyes, “Nick I really love to so much.  I have to apologize.  When I think about the amount of time I am going to be apart from you, I over think it and let it take me to a dark place.  I don’t like it.  I hurt when I think about you not being there.”

“Brent, I feel the same way.  I don’t know how many times I have thought about taking up my scholarship IU and heading there in the fall instead.  But we have to be honest with each other.  Yes it would be awesome if we both went to the same school, however, at the end of the day, one of us would not be happy.  Either I would be going to a school that is not the environment that I was looking for from college or you would be doing the same at Ball State.”

“Yeah, buy you have a ton of friends there already.”

“AAAHHH, I think you need to look at us more as the nerd squad.  Wait till after these next two weeks.  You have four of your fellow players going with you to IU.  Not to mention, you will probably become one of the frat boys for next year.”  That got a smile out of him.

“Look Nick, I can’t make you any promises right now, but I have for you.  I would ask that you wear it ever day.”  He handed me a little red paper envelope.

When I opened it up, there was a small silver medallion on a silver chain.  In the middle of the medallion was a pattern of the night sky and what looked like map coordinates engraved on one side, on the back, it said, “My heart will find your eyes here.”  And under that was engraved “Polaris”.

“I found the one star that we can both see every night here in Indiana.  Our star.”  He leaned in and kissed me before helping me to put it on.  He stepped back and showed me the one he was wearing.

“Thank you Brent.  I will make sure to find it every night.”  I gave him a kiss back.

“Come on you two love birds.  Two more holes to go.”  Soon as that came out of Moms mouth, we doubled over laughing.

After were made it back to their house after golf, Mom said that she was going to run and grab stuff to make dinner, she wanted me to call Grandma and see if she up for joining us.  I got ahold of Grandma, and she said she was on board.  I told mom that she was in, and I would run home and grab her when I went to get cleaned up.

“Listen Nicky, I have a great idea, but I believe I have a solution about a place for Grandma.  But I want to keep it a surprise till we can talk about it tonight.  Is that O.K.?”  She had such a sweet smile on her face.

“Sure.  I am actually excited.  Did you find a really cool place that is not just going to let her be by herself?”

“Trust me.  She would only be left alone at her own will, and maybe not even then!” 

I was geeked.  I was feeling guilty about leaving Grandma by herself when I went to college.  In fact, I even looked into attending Butler University because it was even closer, but Grandma didn’t want that.  Soon as I got home, Grandma was ready, I told her I just needed to run through the shower and change clothes.

We made it back to the house about six thirty.  Mom was still busy in the kitchen working on dinner, Grandma jumped right in to give her a hand.  Brent was downstairs packing up some of his gear.  Dad pulled me into his study. 

Soon as he shut the door, he asked me if I would like a drink before dinner.  I said sure.  He poured us both a glass of Scotch.  In stead of sitting at his desk, we took seats in club chairs facing each other.  Made me feel like an adult.  Then he started with, “I have been in talks with Edward.  He said that he had a feeling they overwhelmed you the other day at the office.”  He took a sip from his glass.

“Yeah, that’s an understatement.  I have so many questions to ask, but I am quite sure, I am not asking the right questions.”  I was fidgeting with my glass.

“You know, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.”

“I do have one.  How do I keep from letting the money make me something I’m not?”  I thought that was a good question.

“That is not as simple to answer, however, I will give you a very simple response.  Be true to yourself and remember who you are.  Don’t be what you feel others want you be or become.  Just be you.”  He smiled at me.

That actually was not a simple response.  That was some deep stuff.  If anything, it was the truth.  “Dad, will you help me?  I’m scared to make any mistakes.”  That was the truth.  I wanted to make sure I could take care of my Grandmother.  I wanted to pay it forward.  I had yet to think about something that I could plan as a “Thank You” gift for both Him and Mom for their support over the years.  Shoot, almost right out of the gate, they were supporters of mine.

“We are always here for you.  Just a phone call away.  Just one piece of advice for you right now, make sure to get some finance, advanced economics, and basic law classes into your schedule over the next four years.  Maybe look into a minor in finance.”

“I will take that under advisement.  I don’t know if I can change anything with my classes at this point for the first year, but that does make perfect sense.”  I was quite sure that I had till my sophomore year to lock in my major but would check as soon as I had the opportunity.

Dad asked me if I would like another round while we were chatting.  Just as he stood up to refresh our glasses, Brent joined us.  “Room for one more?”

The three of us toasted each other before taking our seats.  “I have some cool news; I just got a phone with Jennifers Dad.”

“You mean Erics Girlfriend?”  I asked him.

“Yeah, well, get this, her dad is one of the coaches for IU’s special teams.”  He was beaming.

“Well, that is totally awesome, wonder why she did not mention that last night?”  I asked.

Brent took a sip of his Scotch, “She had told him that she was not sure she could mention it.  He let her know it was ok.  But get this, he has been following our team since junior year.  He said that he was excited to meet me tomorrow and welcome aboard.”

All happy news.  I was truly excited for him.  I leaned over and gave him a peck on his check.

Dad went over a list of stuff to see where Brent was in getting things ready for the morning.  He had to leave around five thirty.  Before long, Mom called us into the dining room for dinner.

The five of us enjoyed an amazing Italian meal.  I don’t think I have had Veal Piccata before, but it was really good.  Grandma made some smashed brussels sprouts to go along with it.  After dinner, Mom brought out a fresh lemon meringue pie for our desert.  While she was dishing it out, she cleared her throat to grab our attention.  I was excited to hear what she had come up with.  Grandma had no idea at this point.

“Eva, Nicky, I have a proposition for the both of you, but before I can do that, I have to bring someone else into this conversation. Hang on a second.”  She stepped out of the dining room and returned right away with her laptop open and was talking to someone on a video call.

“Here we go,” she sat the laptop down and faced it towards all of us.  “Can you see us Mom, are you there?”

On the screen was Grandma Lucas.  “Yes dear, I can see everyone.  Hi boy’s and hello Miss Eva, how is everyone?”

We all greeted her back.  “Mom, while we have Eva and Nick here, we figured we would get the ball rolling so that we have time to get all of the details ironed out before the boys leave for college.”

“Ok Dear.  Let’s get this show on the road.”  She was such a sweet lady.

“Ok, here is our idea.  Because we have the room, we would love to know if we can both Grandmas move into our house?” 

I was speechless.  Of course, this was not my decision to make, but, neither one of them would be alone.  They would have lots to do with Mom around keeping them active with something she was always planning.  They have a lot in common and whenever they have been together at any function over the past years, they were like little schoolgirl best friends. 

Grandma looked at me with a funny look on her face.  “And what brought this on can I ask?”  She was looking at me, but the question was for Mom.

Mom grabbed Grandma’s hand before she spoke, “Well, this past week, Nick asked me about finding you a better place for you to live.  He wanted a place that would offer you tons of options for things to do.  He did not wish to see you stay at home all by yourself while he was at school.” 

“Grandma, I this is all up to you.  I just wanted to make sure you are taken care of while I am away.”  I grabbed her hand.

“Well, this is a very nice offer.  I will have to think it over.  Now are you sure Sarah, it won’t be a problem for you or Tony?”

“It will be no problem at all, and since the Boys are practically joined at the hip, when they come home, they wont have to keep jumping from apartment to the house.”   As Mom was making her claim, I was starting to the see the good in this too. 

“I will tell you what, if Mary is moving up here from Texas, I am pretty sure you can count me in.” Grandma was grinning.  We all shouted for joy.  I was so happy.  Grandma made another good point too, her lease on the apartment was up at end of August, perfect time to get out of Dodge. 

With the kitchen and dining room all cleaned up, I ran Grandma home.  “Thank you son for looking out for me, but you don’t have to worry about me.  Honestly.  I was thinking about going and staying with your Aunt Mary down in Tennessee.”

“No Grandma, you know that is like mixing water and oil.”  I knew she was thinking about it, however, my aunt would have treated her like an antique tea pot and would have put up museum roping around her and treated her with kid gloves.  Grandma would have been bored in less than one week.

“I know, I love my daughter, but your right, one of us would likely kill the other.”  She cackled. 

I had informed Grandma that she would not have to worry about how she needed to budget herself, I had already worked things out with Edward, and we would work with Mr. and Mrs. Lucas with any and all arrangements.  This also helps with keeping things under wraps about the trust fund.  I am quite sure that there are some not so good reasons to have that common knowledge hidden from some family members.

After I dropped off Grandma, Andy called me and asked if I could pick him up in the morning for work.  I told him I could do that, but I was going in early to swim some laps before the pool opened.  He asked if he would be able to join me.  Told him to bring his swim gear and what time I would pick him up.

When I got to the house, Mom was sitting in the kitchen with Brent.  They were both drinking a cup of hot chocolate, Mom asked me if I would like one.  It’s her homemade hot chocolate, no way I was passing up on that.  I thanked her for the generosity of her offer and made sure to let her know that Edward would take care of everything.  They just needed to communicate that to him.  Not much longer, we said good night to mom and headed up to bed.

Before I knew it, I found myself naked underneath my boyfriend.  His scent was filling my nose with such an aroma that made me become water in his hands.  Tonight, it had a hint of something extra.  Couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  But it was a little spicy.

With his hands on the bed just under each of my armpits, he was in a pushup position.  He was staring down at me with a fire that was new.  It felt kind of like a desire added with a little lust and a whole lot of animal magnetism.  He leaned down, growled slowly and kissed me gently.  Once his tongue made contact with mine, hunger took over, entangling them, and searching out each other’s souls.

I reached up and grabbed him close to me holding him tight.  I rolled us over on our sides.  Our hands roaming over each other, our legs wrapping around each other.  I don’t know what came over me, but I slapped his pec a little harder than I anticipated.  I grabbed his nipple twisting it and pinching it at the same time.  He arched his back thrusting his hard cock straight up my thigh.  I reached down with my other reaching for his ass.  The muscles that made up that perfect cleft were a work in motion.  I flipped us around again so that I was on top of him in a sixty-nine position.

Before he knew what was happening, I pulled his legs up and back and zeroed in on his beautiful hole.  It was just the perfect shape and color.  I ran my thumb a crossed it just as I felt him start to work on my cock.  I drove my tongue across it next causing him to let out a muffled moan.  I must have been French kissing his hole for at least twenty minutes when he had enough and cried out, “Fuck me now.”

Not wishing to keep him waiting any longer, I readied both of us up with lube.  Tonight, I put him on all fours at the end of the bed.  I had myself positioned just outside of his entrance and was teasing him by sliding myself up and down his ass crack.  “Please fuck me Nick.”

That was all he needed to say.  I slowly but methodically plunged myself all of the way in to till I bottomed out.  I held still for a short moment.  I could feel his heart throbbing through all of the vessels that were wrapped around my dick.  It was amazing how connected I felt to him in this position.  In fact, I could just live here.  But Brent had other ideas.

I placed my hands on either side of his hips and started moving in a out.  His hole and tunnel felt like warm velvet sliding over the glands.  I started picking up pace a little more and pausing each time I hit bottom.  I would pull out halfway, push back in and hold hard and deep.  I would chance length; speed and I started changing up depth.  I wanted to make sure that I sent him off remembering I was there.

I wanted to try something that I just found out from a porn not to long ago, so I flipped him over.  I got both of his legs over my shoulders, once I was back inside of him, I barred down, making sure to hit his prostrate every time I moved.  Once I found the right angle, I kept moving slightly till I could see a straight line to his cock.  I they started to fuck the hell out of him.  When he reached up to grab his cock, I pushed his hands out of the way and told him to let me take care of that.  I told him to hang on tight and enjoy the ride.

That is what I did.  I knew I was not going to last a whole lot longer, so I started working my hardest to get him to the edge.  It didn’t take more than a few minutes when I noticed all of the signs that I had come to know.  I leaned down and took the first couple of inches of him in my mouth just before he blasted off.  While his body was spasming and coming in my mouth, it set me off and I shoved in as far as I could.  This caused him to let out another voile of spurts.

After we had calmed down and cleaned up, we found ourselves back in bed cuddled up facing each other.

“Damn, this is the part that scares me the most.  Missing this when I might need it the most.”  He was tracing his fingers across my chest.

I had my fingers running through his hair at the nape of his neck.  “If it gets that bad, we will have time on weekends.  Crap, we drive two hours one way all the time around this huge city.  We are going to be fine.  I trust you and me.”

“I can’t wait till we have the day that we are no longer separated.”  He looked up at my eyes.

“I love you Brent.”

“I love you too Nick.” With that, he gave me a kiss and turned into the little spoon.  I put my arm around his waist and pulled him into me.  We were out in no time.

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of fresh coffee wafting up the stairs and a note on the bedside table.  I looked at the clock.  It was eight A.M.  I pulled on some shorts and a tee shirt, grabbed the note, and made my way downstairs.  Mom was sitting in the kitchen with her cup of coffee reading over some e-mails.  I made a cup and joined her.

“Good morning Sunshine, how did you sleep?”  She smiled at me.

“Pretty good, I didn’t hear Brent leave this morning.”  I took a sip of my coffee and opened up the folded note that Brent left for me.

“Yeah, he said you were out of it, and he decided to just let you sleep.”  I smiled at her.

“Yeah, his a keeper.”  I threw out there.

I started reading his note.  He said that he already missed me and that he was sorry for not waking me up.  He was afraid that he would find himself crying if he seen me standing outside while they drove off. 

Mom asked me if I was hungry, I told her thanks, but I had planned on a swimming a few laps for a workout this morning and that food in my stomach was not a good idea.  She offered to pack me something to eat for lunch, I told her I would not say no to that.  I ran upstairs to get ready to head to work and figured I would take a good shower after my workout since we took care of our crusties last night.

Mom gave me a kiss and handed me a hot-n-cold lunch box and said to enjoy.  She informed me that she was going to be meeting with Edward and Grandma today and that she was glad that she was not going to be left here in this big house all by herself.  She did come at that situation with everyone taken into consideration.  I knew deep down in my heart that Grandma was going to be in great hands.

I called Andy soon as I pulled out of the driveway.  He sounded uber excited from what I had gathered.  A text came through just as I finished with Andy, it was just a simple heart emoji.  It was Brent.  I sent him one back along with a “Thank You” emoji.

Soon as Andy jumped in the car and shut the door, he let out a squeal.  “O.M.G., Nick, I am in love.”

“Dom seems like a great catch.  I am so proud for you.”  I was trying to keep my eyes on the road as we were pulling out of his subdivision.

“I don’t know why I was afraid of being gay.  Thank you for being a great friend.”

“So, everything is going great for you two then?”

“Yes, and between you and me, the sex is better with guy’s too.”

I almost lost control of my car whipping my head around to look at him, “Are you serious?  Good for you.”

I thought I was going to have to pull over.  His smile said everything.  “Yeah, we went back to his place after we left everyone and just started playing video games.  He was sitting on the floor in front of me and started by rubbing one of my feet when I had control of a game.  Before I knew it, I was sucking my first every cock.  I can now say that I love sucking cock.”  That just fell out of his mouth like a simple fact.

“Wow.  Congratulations.”  He proceeded to tell me how things happened but did not fill in all of the details.  But it did sound like he still had his anal V-card intact.  Now who sounds like schoolgirl?

Once we got to the country club, we signed into the pool, no one was there thank goodness.  I went down to the employee break room and put my lunch away and headed to the locker room to change into my speedo.  I ran through the water and headed to the pool deck to get some stretching in.  Andy was ahead of me and stretching in his swim trunks.

“Dude, I have never seen you in speedos.”  His mouth was agape.

“We wear trunks as lifeguards, but I wear speedos when I mean business in the water.  The other reason that I have no hair on my body it’s for swimming.  Brent has already told me that once my competition days are over, he want’s me to grow it out.”  I remembered that conversation a few months back.   Andy just gulped again.  I knew what caught his attention.  I just knew I needed to just play it off.

After I was warmed up, I dove in and started swimming laps.  I had my nose guard on and just got into a rhythm and started doing laps.  I lost count, was just glancing at the clock every so often.  I was approaching an hour when I noticed that Andy was on the deck of the pool waiting on me watching.

I started to move around the pool doing my cool down.  When I was finished, I pulled up out of the pool near him.

“I am sorry for staring but watching you in the water is mesmerizing.  It’s like watching something silky and beautiful in a fluid motion.”

“Thanks Andy, I don’t think anyone has ever said that to me before.”  I completely took that as a compliment. 

Even though Andy and I have a newer friendship, we have had quite a few conversations the past few weeks.  “Nick, what got you started in swimming?”

I wrapped a towel around me drying off a little.  “Well, the neighborhood that I grew up in was kind of old fashioned.  We lived near a lake called Ford Lake in Ypsilanti.  There was a group of about nine boys that were around the same age give a year or two.  We grew up together.  Where one was, the rest followed.  Most of the people in our neighborhood were middle-lower class.  We made things work with what we had.  Us boys had each other.  So, when we were not in school, we were in the woods, fields or the lake entertaining ourselves.  I grew up thinking that the only bath I would ever need in the summer was the one I got from the lake every day.  That lake was our world.  The trails around the lake were a treasure to our dreams. 

There was this one cliff that was eroded away over the years that had a tall tree that grew out of the side.  It went far enough over the lake that it was deep enough to dive from.  It was around twenty feet from the water.  I was the first one to start jumping from it.  Soon, I would watch sports with my dad some nights and he would watch diving on ESPN.  I would watch closely.  Soon I caught on to what they were doing.  The sad part was, I would have to wait till I got to high school to see my first diving board.  Our middle school did not have a pool.”

“So, my freshman year was at Arlington HS.  On the first day of gym class, I was messing around and did a dive.  The coach seen me land the dive and had me do a couple of more, then he had me dive from the ten-meter platform.  It was a little higher than I was actually used to, but I knew how to enter the water without getting hurt.  Thus, my diving career was started.”

“So, Andy, what passion do you have?”  I felt like I was just talking aimlessly and needed to pass the baton to him.

“Other than Lacross, I really enjoy working on setting up banquets.  Following Jackie around as her mini me this summer has been fun.  I really enjoyed helping with that wedding a couple of weeks ago.  Must be a gay trait.”  Andy was such a sweetheart.  “There was this guy that planned Oprah Winfrey’s fiftieth birthday party, what he did inspired me to see what options are out there in a field like what he did.  I can see myself doing that one day.”

“You know Andy, I can also see you doing that.”  I almost said that if I win a million dollars, I would hire him to plan a party for me.  I thought it was best to keep my mouth shut on that one. 

We chatted a little more before we had to go get cleaned up for work.  I checked my phone before I clocked in one last time.  There was a quick message from Brent letting me know that it was pretty boring so far, everyone getting assigned to everything.  I texted him that I did my laps and was heading to work for the day.

The rest of the day went pretty uneventful.  I grabbed my lunch box and decided to have lunch out on the picnic table.  Mom had packed me some of the leftovers from last night.  I swear I could eat that for lunch every day.  I checked with Andy real fast to make sure I knew about getting him home after work today.  He informed me they asked him to stay later so he reached out to Dom who is going to pick him up. 

At the end of my shift, I headed back to the apartment.  I grabbed some boxes.  I figured that I would start going through some stuff and seeing what I can get rid of.  Mom was still there with Grandma when I arrived.

“Thank you for lunch, I felt spoiled today.”  I gave Mom a kiss on her check.  Grandma asked if I was hungry, I said I was good for now.

They proceeded to let me know all about their arrangements.  They were going to make sure that the two of us boys were settled in at school then they would move both Grandma Marion and Grandma Lucas in.  Grandma said she did not want me here to see where some of the stuff I grew up with was going.  Bless her heart, I knew that she bought all of our furniture new with the proceeds from the sale of the old house.  Most of it came from the Value city furniture.  If you know, you know.  But it was the first time that Grandma had all new stuff, and she was proud of it.

I was missing Brent, and it was going to be a couple more hours before I would be able to chat with him.  So, I started going through my room.  I made about three tips to the dumpster with stuff that I had accumulated from projects and crafts over the past few years.  I boxed up most of my trophies and plaques, I kept a few out for me to take to college to decorate my dorm room.  I started on my desk when a call came through about nine.  It was Brent.

He said he could not talk that long; he was doing a sleeping bag party with the guys in some large room where they were going to watch reels from past games.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy football, but watching re-runs, not my cup of tea.  We chatted a few more minutes before he headed out.  I got bored.  I pulled out a book I had started reading a few weeks ago that I hadn’t picked up in a while.  It was called “The Lord won’t mind”, Author was Gordon Merrick.  I decided to start it over from the beginning.  Before I knew it, it was three A.M.  I put the book down. 

I have not gotten lost in a book in a while.  In fact, the last book I read like that was “Blood and Gold” from Anne Rice.  I was going to have to see what else he had written.

I was soon asleep once I turned off my lamp. 

Tuesday was pretty much just the same ole same ole.  However, I took my book to work with me.  I figured I could read it after my kids class that day sitting in the tower.  I was so glad that my boss was not there that day, I read past my lunch break and almost clocked out late from getting lost in reading.  I was becoming a huge fan of this author. 

I was going to be heading up to Ball State the next day, so I figured I would stop at the mall and check out Borders and see if they had any other titles from Mr. Merrick.  “An Idol for Others” was the only other title they had on the shelf. 

After I had my book, I headed back out to my car.  I called Grandma to see what she was doing for dinner.  She said that she already ate, so I figured I would just grab something on my way home.  I opted for a Frisco burger from Hardee’s along with a salad.  I decided to just pick a booth and eat my meal.  I had my unfinished book with me, I dove in while I ate.  Not paying attention to anyone. 

“Excuse me bud, do I know you?”  Someone was standing just off to my said. 

I looked up and I swallowed a bite of food that I was chewing.  “Yeah, I believe we met a couple of weeks ago, I am Shannon’s Ex.”

It was the guy that she was dating the last time we met, the one that was decked out and laying on the floor the last time I seen him.

“What can I do for you?”  I really was not looking for any trouble.

“Yeah, I am sorry about that.”  I couldn’t tell what his game plan was.

“What brings you down this way?”  I was going to at least give him the benefit of the doubt until there was none.

“I was just heading back up to Northville after dropping some parts off to one of our sister stores.  Figured I would grab a bite to eat.”  I was not going to let my guard down at all with this guy.  “May I join you if you don’t mind?”

“Sure, I was just ready, getting ready to head home and get some more packing done.”  Why did I all of the sudden have word vomit?

“Cool, where are you moving?”, simple question.

“Well, I am getting a jump on getting ready for college.  I know I have a few weeks still, but, between work, training and a major vacation coming up, I figured I would try to get as much done now as possible.”  I was going to add because I was bored with Brent down at IU for the next two weeks.

“That makes sense.  My mom had all of my stuff bought and packed the day I was accepted.”  He gave a little laugh.  I could tell I was doing a poor job at hiding my reservations.  He hit me back with, “Listen, I was a dick that day.  I was caught off guard and I really did screw my first impression up.  I know you don’t know me, but would you at least give a complete stranger a second chance?”

Against my better judgement, “Hi, my name is Nicholas, my friends call Nick or Nicky.”  I held out my hand to shake his.

He took my hand in a comfortable grip, “Nice you meet you Nick, I am Randy, Randy Busch.” 

Glad that I decided to get this out of the way, I found out that he is in the same dorm building as us this fall.  I still kept my guard up a little.  I asked if he contacted his roommate yet.  He said he did but was worried that they might not be a good fit.  He found out that his roommate was an introverted guy.  Randy said that when they met face to face, he said the poor guys mother forced him to meet making the situation uncomfortable. 

We stayed and talked to each other for about an hour.  I did bring up that he should check into a room reassignment.  If he wished, since I was heading to campus tomorrow, I could stop at the admin building and grab the paperwork.  He said it was ok, he figured it was gods way of teaching him that not all people are the same and the goal it to find a common place and get along.  Ok, so not the guy I met originally.  Still, I might not sleep with one eye open around him, I will make sure that the door is locked and double checked.

When I got back home, the first thing I did was to make sure my gear bag was ready for the morning.  I was not too worried about the drive up.  Ball State was just over an hour away.  I was scheduled to meet with the coaches for an assessment at ten thirty A.M.  As long as I was on the road no later than nine A.M., I would have more than enough time to get to the Aquatic Center. 

I was getting ready to call it a night when I got a good night text from Brent.  I sent him one right back.

The next morning went by fast, before I knew it, I was parked in front of the pool center.  I signed in and was directed to the locker rooms by an upper classmen.  I was told to get into gear and meet the coach’s out on the pool deck.  I knew I was walking into the lion’s den just by the way he talked at me.  It was all paying dues I told myself.

While I was getting ready, a guy next to me looked really nervous.  We introduced ourselves to one another.  He name was Dexter, he was from a small town down by Louisville, KY.  He was a few inches shorter then I was, probably around five foot ten or eleven inches.  And a true ginger.  Alabaster white skin covered in red freckles, brown eyes, and flame red/orange hair.  I found out he was a swimmer with a tight compact body.  You could just tell he had power behind him. 

It was everything in my power to fight back getting hard.  There was something about him.  When we got out to the pool deck, the coach’s just wanted to watch us go through warmups.  There was about fifteen of us split between six or seven coaches.  After thirty minutes or so, they called us all together explaining how the next few hours were going to go.  They were just getting a feel for us.  There were a handful of upperclassmen there watching us. 

One of the dive coach’s decided to send me up the ten-meter platform and asked me to do a two and a half forward tuck.  He told me to focus on my entrance.  He wanted to see how clean my lines could be.  The two and a half was no sweat.  But I did put all of my concentration on that entrance. 

I felt really good when I leapt from the platform, calm, breathing felt good.  The entrance felt great, however, you never know until you come out of the water.  Soon as my head came up, I could hear a bunch of people yelling, screaming, and clapping.  I looked around and seen all of the upperclassmen clapping and running towards the pool deck along with the dive coach.  They all had smiles.

“Marion, do you think you can do that again?”  The coach asked.  I nodded yes.  “Good, now let me see you do a reverse three and a half somersault in pike.”

I just nodded, it was one of the last ones I was working on last season, I was trying to get it do a comfortable four and a half before the start of competition.  I just could not manage the speed for that final rotation and to enter the water clean.  I scored higher loosing that one rotation then I would have with that rotation in. 

I climbed up the ladder going through my mantra all the way up.  Once I had my breath under control.  I just pictured every movement that my body needed to do.  I just let my training take over and whipped everything out of my thought process.

I was calm, I just pictured my entrance and keeping my body tight throughout the spins.  Breath in, breath out.  No hesitation.  I launched and before I knew it, muscle memory took over and I was coming up from the bottom of the pool.  As my head broke the surface of the water coming out.  More enthusiastic applause burst out in the center.  By that time, everyone in the place was watching me as I climbed out of the pool.

“Marion, front and center.”  I stepped up to our head coach.  He was smiling from ear to ear.  “Son, I don’t know what to say.  That was probably one of the hardest and cleanest dives outside of the Olympics I have seen in eons.  Welcome to the Ball State swim team.”

The coach that sent me up had a smirk on his face as he looked at me and said it was a great dive, just not the one he had called for.  I gave him a puzzling look.  “I asked for three and a half, not four and a half.”

“Oh fuck, did I do four?”  my hand shot to my mouth.  “I am so sorry coach, that slipped out.  Serious, it was a four and a half?”

“Yes Marion, it was probably the best one I have seen outside of competition.  Consider that one of your specialty dives.  But since you did not realize what you did, we are going to have to train it to perfection.”

“Yes Coach.”  I was shaking.  After we were all finished, we were each given a schedule over the next few weeks.  We needed to make sure that we had our physicals done withing the next couple of weeks and handed over with a ton of paperwork to be signed by parents.  Even though I was eighteen, they still wanted parents to play apart of our futures I guess.

Our head coach asked me to meet him in the coaches lounge before I headed back home.  While meeting with them, they extended once again their gratitude that I chose Ball State.  They gave me additional training they wanted me to work on at home.  I did make sure that they had me blocked out for my trim to Europe.  

As I was heading out of the Aquatic Center, I met up with Dex.  “Man, I think you gave every man on the dive team a hardon watching you dive.”

“Thanks Dex.  You were not shabby in the water either.  Great form on that butterfly stroke.  And great speed too.”  I wanted to say how sexy he looked in the water.  But then I think that might be considered taking the compliments a little to far at this time.

I found out that he is staying here near campus at a room for rent till school starts.  I asked him if he wanted to get a bite to eat before I headed back home.  He said he was up for that.  When I asked if he knew of a good place around campus, he offered at place called The Flying Tomato.  We found us a both and ordered.  I was hungry, I had not eaten since breakfast and worked through lunch. 

I called Grandma not long after we ordered to let her know how things were going.  I called my boss and told him about my schedule and everything that was coming down the pipeline.  Before I put my phone away, I called and left Brent voice mail.

The waitress came back with our drinks.  Dex and I started talking while we waited for our food.  I found out that he was the middle child of seven.  He was raised kind of like me.  A whole bunch of similarities.  He was going to major in law.  His dream job was to work for the FBI.  He said that he had a passion for finding lost children and returning them back home. 

He had a younger cousin that was taken from her home when she was still a toddler.  She was taken in the middle of the night with her parents in the room next door. 

Once our food arrived, I will admit this one, the pizza was outstanding.  I can see myself penciling in this places number on the top of my list.  In fact, as a surprise to everyone in my group, I would surprise them with a dinner the Sunday night before classes started and once we were all moved in and settled.

We spent about another hour before I headed out.  I drove Dex to his motel.  I felt a lump in the pit of my stomach.  It was a dive place.  There were probably ten units.  Standard box motel set up.  The building looked to have been built in the fifties.  It just looked like it smelled like the seventies.  I didn’t let him leave my car yet. 

“Dex, what’s the real story?”  He clammed up on me fast.  “Dex, you can trust me.  Why are you staying here?”

“Nick, I have been here since I graduated high school.”  He kept starting out of the passenger window.  “I was kicked out of the house.  I hit my father.”

I was not going to play twenty questions with him, I had a feeling that he was dealing with some personal pain that he has yet to work through.  “You have my ear.  Just know, you can use it whenever you need it.  No judgment.”

He sat their in silence.  I could tell he was fighting himself to tell me.  “I was raised in an environment that no child should be raised in.  My father is a mean drunk and my mother is subservient to him.  The night I hit him, I didn’t just knock him down, I beat the living shit out of him.  I just lost it.  When we got home after my graduation ceremony, he was high on alcohol.  He started out in a happy mood.  Before you knew it, he flew off of the handle at my mom because dinner was not ready fast enough.  When he back handed her, I lashed out.  That was the final straw, I broke and bore down on him.  I only stopped with I realized that I accidentally hit my mother when she stepped in to stop me.”

“I packed up what stuff I could and headed to my cousins house for the night.  I had some money saved up for me to spend here for school, but I needed to stay somewhere.  I knew of my obligations with the school with training towards the end of the summer, so I figured that I would get as close to campus as possible and find a job hoping to make it till the dorms opened up and I could get on campus.”  He wiped his eyes.  He still had not looked at me.

I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder.  “Dex.  You are now stuck with me as a friend.  I do have to warn you.  This friend is coming with an army.”  He turned his head finally.  He had the waterworks turned on.

“Ok, I have to be completely honest with you.  Take a deep breath.  There has been far too much crying around me the past few days.”  Which was true.  Someone was crying somewhere I knew.  “I will be back on Friday for practice with the team.  Sense I have to be back on the following Monday, I am going to take you home with me this weekend.  Is that ok?”

“Are you sure that it will be ok?”  He had a smile start to peak out.

“I am sure.  In the meantime, do you need anything right now?”

“No, I am all set.  Thank you.”  He looked surprised.   

“Listen, I know you don’t know me hardly yet, but if you can trust me, it will get better.”  Once I knew he was going to be ok.  We said goodbye and that I would see him on Friday.  Before heading out.  I called Grandma and let her know I was on my way home.

Once I walked in the door, I told Grandma all about my day starting with the coaches.  When I told her about Dex, I was not surprised when she had no issues with me bringing him home for the weekend.  I actually figured that if I am going to be friends with him, he should get to know everyone.

I was exhausted from the day, I decided to get some reading in before crashing.  I checked my phone and there was nothing from Brent.  I just sent him a heart emoji.  It was almost midnight when I decided to turn off my light and crash.

The next morning, I woke up to a call from Brent.  He apologized profusely for not getting ahold of me last night.  He said that as soon as he got back to his room after dinner last night, he laid down for a minute.  He said the next thing he knew; his alarm clock went off this morning.  I assured him it was ok.  We spent a hot ten minutes condensing the day that each of us had before I had to get him off of the phone so I could get ready for work. 

I called Andy to see if he needed a ride.  He said he would love a ride and asked me if we could grab coffee on our way in.  I had no issue with that myself.

On our way into work, he caught me up on him and Dom.  He informed me that they both agreed to hold their V-Cards for a special occasion, which neither one knew of at this time.  I filled him in on my day on campus.  I told him about the new addition that will be joining our group at school.  I also told him that I was bringing him back down with me the following night but would like to meet up with the two of them if they were free.  No brainer, he said Dom had Saturday night off and it would sound like fun.

When we got to work, the day flew by.  I had talked to my boss and figured I would just go very part time for the rest of the summer.  To be honest, it dies down pretty fast after the Fourth of July every year for the most part.  I taught my kids classes on Tuesday and Thursday so for the next six weeks, no issues there except for when me and Brent take our trip.  But that was already on the schedule.

After dropping Andy off at his house, I had a meeting with dad.  He wanted to check in with me and see if I had any questions at this time.  We went over a few of the finical vehicles where some of my funds were located.  I handed him back the credit card he gave me.  I told him that I didn’t think I would need it any longer.  That came with a laugh.  He asked me if I was ready for the trip.  I told him I was packing very light.  As per my cousin Louis. 

Soon I was home finishing off the last of my book before Brent finally chimed me.  “I am so sorry; I am being the bad boyfriend.”  He said as soon as I picked up.  “I cracked a joke about how they had scheduled our time down to the last minute.  I said I bet they even scheduled when we can wipe after we shit.  That one got me ten laps around the field.”

I could hear the exhaustion in his voice.  “Hey, are you having a good time?”

“To be honest, they have kept us so busy that I have not had time to even think about having time to have any fun.”  He took a deep breath.  “They let us believe that first night that it was going to be all fun and games, nope, not at all. No more fun, and the only game are the not so fun type.  More like we are the pawns in their funny sadistic games.”

I tried to hold back a chuckle.  “Well, you are almost halfway there.”

I really did not have a chance to talk to him, so I figured I would let him go so that he could get himself ready for what was next on his docket.   We said our good nights and smooches.

I woke up a little earlier the next morning.  I called Dex when I was on my way and told him I would swing by and pick him up.  He tried to say no, but I didn’t let him.  I also told him to pack up everything he needed for the weekend to include any dirty laundry he might have; we would get that done here since we had a washer and dryer in our apartment.

The day went by pretty smoothly.  I was assigned to an upperclassman that was a senior this fall.  He was going to start teaching me how to use some of the equipment.  Like the platform with no water under it, just a pit filled with foam blocks.  You just did not dive into the pit.  They would put you in a three sixty completely rotational harness.  It was pretty darn cool.  It looked like something from Circ de sole.  I was also assigned one of the male gymnast coaches.  His main goal was to work on core strength and flexibility. 

Around four o’clock, we were released.  I was waiting outside of the building waiting for Dex when I got a call from Brent.  I answered it right away.

“Hey sweetie.  I was not expecting you to call till later.”  I answered.

He sounded excited, “So, I found out that there was this guy at some local college that landed his dream dive the other day.  Would you be able to guess whom this person could be?”  He was baiting me.

“Let me guess, was it some hot stud from Ball State?”  I asked.

“Congratulations, why didn’t you tell me the other night.?”  Did he forget?

“Honey, that was the night you fell asleep when you got back to your room.  And yesterday, we didn’t have the time.  I do have one more thing to tell you though.”  I went on to give him the crib notes about Dex and bringing him home this weekend.

As far as how he found out about my dive from the other day, one of the guys on our swim team has a brother on the football team at IU with Brent.   He was not sure if they were actually talking about me until my penis was brought up.  He knew it was me then.  All I could do what face palm myself and roll my eyes.  Dex seen me do that as he was walking up.  I said goodbye to Brent and that I loved him.

“So, what was that about?”  He had a grin on his face.

“Dex, before I tell you that, I have something else to tell you that slipped my mind till now.  I hope this does not make you uncomfortable, I am gay and that was my boyfriend.”

“It’s all good.  I hope it does not make you uncomfortable that I am bi.” 

“Nope, not at all, the alphabet mafia has lots of room.”  Good, that is a relief.  “Brent, who is my boyfriend, is going to be going to IU this fall.  He is down there now for football camp.  I guess he found out about my dive from Wednesday and was asking if that was actually me.  He knew I had worked on that dive before and how much work I put into it and was not able to use it last season.”

“Cool, must be exciting to know that people from other places are hearing about your talents?”

“More like surreal.”

Before long, we found ourselves pulling up in front of our apartment.   

Grandma took Dex under her wing in no time.  He had that southern hillbilly charm that just made my Grandmother shine.  Two peas in a pod.  It turned out to be a fun weekend.  Andy and Dom took to Dex right out of the gate.  On Sunday night, before we went to sleep, Dex gave me a big brother hug and thanked me.  He said that he would have probably done nothing all weekend but sit in his room and watch the broken tv with four channels.

I went to sleep that night feeling good.

 T.B.C.