By the Campfire Light

As we neared the fire, Jed turned off his flashlight.  We walked side by side to the area where food was being served.  No one paid any attention to us.  People were gathered into groups of two, a male and a female, or into random numbers of various sexes.  I noticed that no one was alone, and Jed and I were the only same-sex group of two.

“Hey, Benjamin.  This is my friend Ethan.  We’re both starving,” said Jed.

“Yeah, you both look emaciated.  Nice to meet you, Ethan.  I guess that means you want one of each, huh?”

“Yeah.”  I saw Jed grin widely.

“What an oinker.  Where do you put it?”

“I mail it to the orphan javelinas in West Texas.  Where do you think I put it?  My brain uses a lot of energy because I’m always thinking.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Benjamin.  “I thought it was from running away from hard work.”  He put a hot dog and a hamburger on each of our plates.  “How did you get out of serving?”

“I served the last two times.”

I just smiled.

“Let’s get some chips.”

I followed Jed to the condiment table where I put cheese and pickles on my burger and added nothing to the hot dog.  I piled some ridged potato chips on my plate and grabbed a bottle of water.  I figured that the Catholics weren’t into sugary sodas for their kids, but I would have loved an orange soda with my hot dog.  The Lutherans would have served coffee if they could get away with it.

Jed put his plates on the table and asked the girl named Monica to watch them for him.  He grabbed his backpack and headed toward an area that didn’t have many people.  He spread out a sleeping bag that he had unzipped.  “Have a seat,” he told me, and then he headed off to retrieve his food.

I sat on one end of the ‘blanket’ facing the fire.  I could still feel its warmth.  Jed joined me a few moments later and sat so that our knees touched.  “There’s going to be pumpkin pie put out a little later.”

“Pumpkin?”

“Well, it’s fall.  Don’t you like pumpkin pie?”

“Sometimes.  Depends on the number of spices that are put in it.  I prefer for it not to be overly spiced.”

“Bland pumpkin pie.  I’ll make a note.”

I laughed.  “So, you’re going to keep a list?”

“Maybe,” he chuckled.  “Let’s see, things I know about Ethan Briggs.  He prefers his pumpkin pie without too much spice.  He likes looking at the sky.  He has soft hands and soft lips.  Tell me a secret.”

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat.  “When  you held my hand before, it made me get hard.”

Jed stared at me for several moments.  “It made me hard, too.”

I wet my lips as I looked at him.

He shoved a potato chip between them.  “Be careful.”

I nodded and noticed someone coming toward us.  It was Benjamin.  “Benjamin’s coming.”

Jed turned.  He nodded as Benjamin got closer.

“Can I join you?”

“Of course,” laughed Jed.  “The more the merrier, right?”

I smiled and nodded.

“Hey, Ben, I was about to tell Ethan about the haunted shed,” said Jed.

“Oh, fuck, that place is creepy.”

“Benjamin, it’s a church outing.”

“It’s just you two,” he replied.

Jed turned to me.  “This bastard has the filthiest mouth.”

“That’s not fair.  You know the bishop would have married my mother if the pope had let him.”

“That’s blasphemy,” said Jed.

“I’m not really a bastard,” said Benjamin, “I just act like one.  My mother is one of the unhappiest married ladies in our church.  But she’ll be better when I leave home and she can leave my father.  Anyway, what were you going to tell him?”

“I was actually going to take him there.  You want to come?”

“Fuck that, Jed baby.  I went there last summer, and my balls still haven’t come back out.”

Jed turned to me.  “I guess we’ll go by ourselves then.”  He winked at me.

“You two are crazy.”  Benjamin stuffed the last of his hot dog into his mouth.

“Bring us each some pie when you get up to get yours,” said Jed.

Benjamin shook his head.  “Friends.”  He blew out a deep breath.  “What won’t I do to keep them?”

“Well, if you had money, you could pay us, but until then, bring us some pie.”

Benjamin stood up.  “Three pieces of pie, one heavy on the arsenic sprinkles.”  He laughed as he walked away.

“He’s a good guy,” Jed assured me.

“I like him.  Too bad he doesn’t want to go with us.”  I smiled in false disappointment.

“Yeah,” Jed laughed as he said it.  “It’s just too bad.”

The pumpkin pie was good, and we had a few more laughs.  Benjamin mentioned more than once that we were crazy to visit the shed in the dark.  Spiders and snakes were the least of it, he told us.

We both laughed as we started off toward the shed.  Once we were away from the campfire light, Jed reached for my hand.  I felt safe, secure.  It was strange as I had never felt unsafe before.  In those moments of finding a new friend, a someone special, more than someone to lust over, my mind had thoughts of running away with him.  I wondered whether we could survive away from everyone, just the two of us, like the mountain men of old, but together.

The warmth of his hand and the crazy thoughts in my head made the trip to the shed seem to take but an instant.  Jed stopped near a large fence post; he shut off the light.  I noticed that the moon was barely visible, just rising in the east; we were no longer in complete darkness.

“I think someone’s in there.”  I could barely hear him.

“Ghosts?”

“People,” he scoffed as he moved closer to the grayish shadow that was the building.

“Mmmm, yes, Jeff.”  A female voice from inside the shed.

“Oh, fuck, Rose, your pussy is so warm and soft.”

“Pull it out before you come, baby.  I don’t trust the condom.”

Jed pulled me back to the fence post.  “I know them,” he whispered.  “Come on.”  He led me to the far side of the shed where there was still darkness and the voices were barely audible mumbles.  “I’m sorry, I thought we could go inside.”

I moved my hands to the side of his head, and I kissed him.  I opened my mouth slightly and licked his upper lip.  I felt his body shudder.  His lips formed a seal around my tongue and he sucked it into his mouth.  The roughness of the top of his tongue moved across the bottom of mine, and at that moment, I wanted to feel his hardness inside of me.  I wanted to do what they were doing inside the shed, but I knew that we were not in a good location for that.  My hands had moved from his head to his chest.  I wanted to feel his skin.  I moved my mouth from his mouth to his neck.  I heard him make a quiet moan, and that excited me.  I realized that I’d been purposefully quiet, and maybe he needed to know that I liked what he was doing.

His hand grazed across my crotch, and I made a little gasp.  I felt him nibble on my earlobe and grasp my dick through my pants.

I was emboldened to force my hand into his pants.  I was unable to, so I began to unbutton his pants.

“I’m not sure we should, but I want to.”

“Is someone out there?”  It was the male voice from inside the shed.

I froze.

“It’s just Jed,” he shouted out.  “I came to show my friend Ethan the haunted shed.  Are you the resident ghost for tonight’s party?”

“No, but I was trying to scare Rose, and you helped.”  There was fake laughter.

“Anytime,” said Jed.

“Maybe we can go somewhere after the party’s over,” I continued to whisper.

“I have to stay until the fire goes out.  That’s my job tonight.”

“Won’t that take all night?”

“Probably.  I think Chad Payne is also staying.  We usually each set up tents on opposite sides and take turns watching it.  Everything’s cleared out by midnight, and we take three-hour shifts.”

“Maybe I can stay.  What do you think?”

“Do you think you could?” he asked.  I could tell by his tone that he wanted me to.

“I’ll text home.  My mom is supposed to pick me up at 11:00; they were afraid there’d be drinking and wouldn’t let me take my car.”  I texted that I wanted to stay until eight in the morning to help monitor the fire.  I was surprised that I got a text back so quickly telling me that she would pick me up at eight.  “I guess that I’m helping you watch the fire.”

“Sweet.”  He kissed me. 

“Mmm.  I could get used to those.”

He chuckled, and we headed back to the fire.  When we got back, we had another burger and some chips under the guise of not letting them go to waste.  We talked a little about school.  Jed planned to join the AirForce to pay for college.  I had a scholarship and some savings that I hope would see me through.  Eleven o’clock arrived before we knew it.  Jed went to help with the clean-up, and he put me in charge of setting up the tent.  The fire was still going strong, so I had no trouble setting it up.  It was definitely large enough for two people.   I shook the dust from the blanket and spread it across the floor.  I liked that it had a floor attached to the walls to keep the insects and other creatures out.

The screened entrance faced the fire, so we could watch it from within its protection.  I brought Jed’s backpack into the tent.  I zipped the screen together and sat in the center thinking about what I wanted to happen.  Of course, I wanted us to make out.  I wanted to touch his shirtless chest.  I also desperately wanted to touch his pecker.  I’d only seen a few others in real life, and those were in the gym at school.  No one gets more than a glance at those.  The ones in the movies don’t seem real.  Would Jed let me give him a handjob?  Or would I be brave enough to put it in my mouth?  I really wanted to suck a dick.  Didn’t every gay boy?  But it was a big step.

I took a deep breath and headed back out.  I noticed a little bit of a breeze, and the air seemed a little colder.  Was it colder, or was it the breeze?  The adult singles were packing the tables into the back of a pick-up truck, and most of the people were gone already.  I saw Jed and walked over to him.

“Are you sure you want to stay, Jedediah?” a man in black pants and a long-sleeved white shirt was asking him.

I was about to say that I had the tent set up, but something told me not to say anything.  I stopped where I was and turned my body slightly.  I could still hear them, but I wasn’t looking at them.

“I’ll be fine, Father.  A little rain won’t hurt me, besides, I have the tent.  Someone needs to stay and make sure it stays contained.”

“I’m going to send Matthew here to stay with you.”

“Please, don’t, Father.  People will believe that you have no confidence in me.  It’s a simple task, and the rain will make it even simpler.”

“I don’t like the idea of your being alone up here.”

I turned toward them and feigned a little surprise at seeing them.  “Jed!  Everything seems to be going smoothly.  Who’s watching the fire die out?  I’m sure it’s not safe to just leave it.”

“I am,” Jed said stiffly.

“And you are?” asked his father.

“Ethan Briggs.  Thank you for allowing me to come to the event.”

“Of course.”  He turned to Jed.  “Did you introduce him to anyone?”

“Jedediah has been a really gracious host.  I met Benjamin and Rose.”  I looked up as if trying to remember.  “There was a guy named Jeff, and a cute girl named Jennifer or Jessica.  Or were those two different people?  I’m terrible with names.  Anyway, I was hoping there might be something else I can do.  I don’t want to go home yet.  In fact, I told my mom it was an all-night event.”  I lowered my voice.  “I don’t get along with my step-father, and on weekends, well, let’s just say I’d rather sit on a log and stare into the fire all night long.”

“Well, why don’t you stay with Jedediah and make sure the fire burns out.  I’ll make sure we leave some water.”  He walked toward one of the trucks.

“Thank you, Father.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” I nodded.  I turned to face Jed.  “Are you OK?”

“I can’t believe you,” said Jed.

“I was afraid he’d get someone else to stay,” I said softly.  “It was a risk, but he sounded adamant about having someone watch with you.”

Jed handed me a plastic bag.  “Let’s search for trash.  There usually isn’t much, but just in case.”  We walked around the fire, moving farther out with each orbit.  In the end, a paper plate and one water bottle were all we found.  The last truck was about to pull away, and Jed tossed the bag in the back.

We were alone.

--to be continued--