This story will be a sort of coming-of-age High School story. All characters that engage in explicit acts will be of legal age in their state and consensual, and remember this is fiction. It will involve sports, drama, rivalries, there will be some uncomfortable topics like addiction, overdoses, and mental health issues. There will be some heavy issues that get dealt with here, and Cole and Jacob will get their own chapter too. I also will be moving forward a bit and not just going day to day. The themes will be the same. I am so grateful to all of you who are reading and commenting. It is inspiring to know how many of us have some common shared backgrounds. Thank you!
It was Saturday and I did not have any solid plans, typically I would help my dad with some chores or a project he had planned. He had not mentioned it, but I usually did not find out until breakfast. I slowly came awake; I stretched and rolled over. I was not looking straight at Hudson, who, alarmingly was staring right at me. I blinked, and kind of shook my head. Was I dreaming? Hudson, just smiled at me and said, “mornin sunshine”. This dude never ceases to amaze me. I just smiled, and replied, “hey, how did you sleep”. He replied, “naked”. Oh yeah, well I guess I was right. He then laughed at his own comment. I stretched again, he threw off his covers and hopped up and faced me and stretched. Out of the corner of my eye, I seen the most beautiful person. My already hard morning wood, throbbed. Well, if he was going to show off, I might as well too. I popped up out of bed and stretched, then began making my side of the bed. Hudson did the same. He walked to the bathroom, without closing the door began to pee. From my angle, I knew I would be able to see his reflection in the mirror, it was taking all my will power not to look. Finally, I broke and glanced at the mirror. There again Hudson was looking in the mirror right at me. Color rose in my cheeks, and I moved to the dresser, grabbed some clean shorts and a t-shirt. Hudson was coming out of the bathroom and went to the closet and grabbed his bag, threw it on the bed and pulled out some clothes. I went to the laundry room and put our stuff in the dryer, as I passed back by, he was coming out of the room, and we both made our way downstairs.
Upon arriving in the kitchen, I smelled, bacon, pancakes and other wonderful aromas. There was mom cooking up a storm. I hesitated a bit. It sort of made me sad. Usually this would have been Gram’s thing to do on the weekend, she would get up at 5 am and make everyone breakfast. As I stopped, Hudson wasn’t paying attention and ran right into me. I turned; he could see tears forming in my eyes. He looked quizzically at me, I just pasted on a smile, turned back around and went and hugged mom. I know she was probably feeling it too. As I turned, I could see the recognition oh Hudson’s face. He walked over and hugged mom too, then turned and hugged me and whispered, “I’m always here for you dude”. I just said, “thanks and same”. Just then we heard the front door and Loki bounded in followed by dad and Jimmy. Mom turned and started setting plates of food on the counter. We all filled them up and began eating. I said to dad, “what’s on tap for work today”? He replied, “well if you could actually ride the fence on the old Bruce farm, back on the south end of the hay fields and pasture, I would appreciate it, just take stuff and tack up anything, and you might need a chainsaw in case any trees fell”. I said, “absolutely”. Hudson, said, “I can go with you”. Dad then said, he and Jimmy were going to haul some hay to for the next week over to the McClaskey farm. A little explanation, we name the farms after the families that used to live there. Over the years, my grandparents bailed a lot of farmers out so they would not lose their farms. My grandpa would own them, but they lived there for as long as they wanted and could buy it back later or in some cases, he would buy them out later in life. Most of the time he ended up buying them from their heirs who did not want to farm anymore.
We finished up and Hudson and I cleaned the kitchen for mom, she had some school group thing she was doing today, I should have listened better what it was probably. I went back up to my room and grabbed some jeans and a hoodie. Hudson was standing there looking at me, and then it occurred to me, he probably didn’t have chore clothes. He was a lot leaner than me. Fortunately, I had some clothes in the back of my closet that were a few years old. I dug in the back and grabbed him a pair of jeans and hoodie, we wore the same size boots. I must admit I sure enjoyed watching him pull on the wranglers that I admittedly picked to be a bit tight for him. I know, I know. He got them on and did a squat to try to stretch them and said, “geez A did you give me your pants from 6th grade”? I said, “well it’s either that or the some of my current ones that will be like 2 sizes to big”. He said, “it’s fine you can stare at my ass in them”. Fuck, busted, he couldn’t know, or could he? Man, I really needed to deal with my feelings.
We headed to the barn and got in the side-by-side, we pulled over and loaded up some fencing supplies, then headed up the road. We pulled in the gate and drove to the back of the fence. We started at the east end and began driving. There were a few places that needed tacked up and we did it. Then I see up ahead there is tree over on the fence. We pulled up and, I grabbed the chainsaw. I cut it loose and into some pieces. We began stacking the smaller ones. I said, I can cut the trunk down some, or we can just work together and set it over by the fence together. We decided to work together; Hudson jumped the fence and was on one side pushing and I lifted from the other. He pushed and we said on the count of 3 we would drop it. As we dropped Hudson’s feet got tangled in a bush and he fell forward right toward me, I instinctively grabbed him. He hit me with a thud, and now he was in my arms, feet tangled, I held him and he kicked his feet free. I decided to mess with him and just bear hugged him and hoisted him over the fence. In doing so my crotch crashed right into his thigh, he paused and looked at me and I at him. He said, “damn buddy feeling a little happy there are ya”? Oh shit, I had not even realized I was mostly hard. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I just said, “yeah I didn’t take time to um relieve myself this morning”. He replied, “yeah I feel ya”. To which we both laughed when I replied, “yeah you did feel me”.
Anyhow we cleaned up a bit more and got back in the side-by-side. He then said, “Austin can I talk to you about something”? My mind went into overdrive, oh god what. I said, hesitantly, “um yeah anything”. He asked, “do you think Cole will take Jacob to prom”? What the hell kind of question was this. I said, “uhhh what”. He said, “well after watching Cole while Jacob was on stage last night it doesn’t take a genius to figure out Cole likes him”. I said, “well, umm we don’t even know what their situation is so, I am not going to speculate”. He said, “you are right, but I just want him to know, both of them to know, if they want to do something like that they should”. I replied, “well it would be a big step, but I agree if that’s what they want they should”.
He then turned to me and said, “who are you taking”? Damn, I was not prepared for this conversation. I said, “I don’t know, I might just not go honestly, it is not a big deal to me”. He said, “bullshit”. I said, “what”. He said, “bullshit, you and I have talked about double dating to prom for years”. I thought in my head, well can we just go together, and I can kiss you on the dance floor in front of everyone. But I actually said, “well likely I will take Sara, she and I kind of have a pact”. He said, “I figured”. I said, “so I suppose we will let you and Tara tag along”. He said, “well I really doubt that will happen”. I stopped the vehicle, turned and said, “what”. He said, “I didn’t want to say anything or make a big deal about it but um Tara and I are done”. I looked at him; I could see the hurt in his eyes. I said, “dude what happened”? He said, “please don’t say anything this is so embarrassing”. I said, “anything between us is between us”. He said, well last night at the concert she had me hold her little bag thing with her phone in it when she went to the bathroom, and well she got a call, which I ignored, then they called again, I ignored it, then they texted and said, when is your stupid concert over and are you coming here after”. He then said, “I have no idea who it was from, but it was just initials JG”. I could clearly see the pain in his eyes now. I was just quiet and said, “dude, I am so sorry”. He said, “why are you sorry, you didn’t do it”. He was right. But damn that must have hurt, I was hurting for him. I then said, “what did you do”? he responded true to Hudson’s demeanor, “I just gave her, her bag back when she returned and said nothing”. Then about 5 minutes later she suddenly got a headache and wanted to leave. I just asked if she would be ok getting home and she said yeah, I should stay with my friends. I just hugged her and said good night. I said, “dude, wow”. He said, “yeah you know me I don’t want to embarrass her or make a scene, I’m going to tell her tonight I don’t think we are going to work out, and I want to break up. I said, “are you going to call her out”. He said, “I really don’t think that would do anyone any good, I really do not want to hurt her, clearly I am not want she needs or wants, and I get it she is way out of my league, I’m just white trash kid from the trailer park on the wrong side of town”. Woah! I looked at him; I could see tears in his eyes. I said, “Hud, no”. That is all I could get out. I just hugged him tight and said, “you are way more than that, you are smart, athletic, funny, handsome, and have the best friend in the whole world”. He just laughed and leaned into my embrace. We just set there for a bit and he quietly said, “thank you bud”. Then he said, “now get off me” and laughed.
We rode quietly for a bit and then seen more fence to tack up and another limb. We finished up the line and headed back in. We pulled over on top of a hill under a big oak tree. I just stopped and got out. Hudson, said, “what are we doing”. I said, “get out and come here”. He did, and said, “what am I looking at”? I said, this is the highest point pretty much in the county, you can see the barns at home from here, I’ve always loved it here, it’s quiet here”. He just stood beside me and said, “sometimes you are a bit different”. If he only knew. I leaned over and put my arm around him and said, “ok, ok I’ll tell Sara I’m taking you to prom”. Then I laughed, and he punched me hard in my ribs. Fuck that hurt, but I deserved it. Then he laughed and said, “no we can’t steal Cole’s thunder”. He then nudged me in the shoulder with his shoulder and said, “dude I appreciate you so much”. I just said, “I know bud, I’ll always be here for you”. He said, “I know”.
We made our way back to the house, it was afternoon now, the house was quiet. I went to the kitchen and grabbed some sandwich stuff and made a couple sandwiches and glasses of water and set them on the counter. I wasn’t sure where Hudson went, a few minutes later he showed back up. He said, “I called Tara, she is coming over about 6 tonight”. I said, “you are going to do it here”? He said, “well where else would I do it, I don’t want a scene in public”. He had a point. We ate our sandwiches, he then said, “you want to go workout”? I said, “sure that would be great”. We went up and changed into some gym clothes and headed to the basement gym area. My patents had put a full set up down here for me and mom does cardio and yoga some too. We turned on the music and started lifting and our routines. Out of the corner of my eye, I would keep an eye on Hud, he caught me looking once and said, “what, why do you keep looking at me”? I said, “honestly, I’m a bit worried”. He said, “I’m fine dude”. I just let it go. We ended up with cardio, I was on the treadmill and him on the bike, then we switched. Lastly, we did core. When we were done, we were both setting on the floor, backs against the wall. I was soaked with sweat, as we Hudson. I sighed and broke the silence, “Hud, why did you say those things about yourself earlier”? He said, “well it’s kinda true isn’t it”? I immediately, “blurted out fuck no, it’s not”. He said, “well tell that to most of the people in this town, they all cheer for me when I throw a gem or make a catch, but if they see me on the street some won’t even speak to me”. I honestly had never noticed this. He went on to say, “I love my mom, but she is an addict, and my dad, well the last I heard he was in prison, so Jimmy and I are what, trailer trash right”? I honestly did not know what to say, I just said, “to me you are so very much more, you were there for me when my grandparents both died, when I missed the tackle that lost the state playoff game our sophomore you were the only one that told me it was ok, heck I even remember you wrote for me in 4th grade when I broke my are falling off of my horse, you have always been there”. He just looked at me and said, “and I always will”. Would he though? What If I just said, “Hudson, I’m gay and in love with you”? I know that now was certainly not the time to do that. Instead, I said, “I know”. He then said, “enough of the feelings man”, then poked me right where he had punched me earlier, I winced, damn that kinda hurt. It was later in the day now about 4 ish, we made our way upstairs. Mom was back and so were Jimmy and dad. Mom looked at us and said you boys are sweaty and smelly, do not set on anything. We just laughed, grabbed some water and headed on up to the bedroom. We got to the room, and I pulled off my t-shirt and Hudson said, “damn dude, is that where I punched you”? His fingers gently touched my rib cage. I said, “yeah it will be fine”. He looked genuinely sorry. He pulled off his shorts, shirt, and underwear and they were puddled on the floor. He announced, “first shower”. I said, “I’ll put these in the wash, with mine and our work clothes today”. I admit I am kind of a clean freak; I do not like dirty laundry around. So, I grabbed up his clothes and my shirt. I got to the laundry room, pulled off my shorts and underwear. I had to give his a little sniff, they were damp and mmmmhmm my dick responded immediately. Stop it damn. I threw them in, set the washer and willed my dick down. Easier said than done for a teenager.
Back in the room, I walked into the bathroom, he showered with me, I could him right. So, I opened the shower door and stepped in, I think it startled Hudson. He must have been zoned out, he was said, “oh damn, I didn’t hear you come in”. I said, “well at least you weren’t jacking off”. He said, “did you want me to be”? I was surprised and said in mock disgust, “no gross”. He finished up and dried off and get me a clean towel and put it on the counter. I finished up and dried off too. When I got out, he was dressed and setting on the end of the bed. He asked, “have you thought about what you want to do for your birthday, it’s the big 18”? I thought about it a second and realized, dang that is in like 2 weeks isn’t it. I couldn’t say what I wanted to, so I said, “eh maybe just a small family dinner, or something”. He said, “really”? I said, “well you know I am not exactly a party animal”. He snickered and agreed. I returned the question, “what do you want to do for yours, it’s like 2 days later”? He said, “can we just celebrate together”? I said, “somewhat, but my mom will want you to have something special, it’s kind of her thing, no one shares birthdays or birthdays on holidays”. He understood.
It was getting toward the evening now. I asked Hudson how he was going to handle Tara. He said he was going to pick her up and talk to her. I said, “I thought you were going to have her come here”. He then said, “I would worry about her driving home if she was upset”. I said, “will you be upset driving home”? He said, “he was at peace with his decision”. I nodded. I asked if he wanted to take the jeep, he said, “that would be awesome dude”. He changed and got ready. I gave him the keys and wished him good luck. Hudson drove out the driveway.
I went downstairs and suggested we order pizza for dinner. Everyone was on board. I offered to go pick it up too. Mom called and ordered it and I said, “you might want to order enough for Hud too”. Mom looked at me and just said, “ok”. I also added, “and I’ll need to take a different car, I loaned mine to Hudson”. Mom said, “no worries take mine”. I went out and jumped in mom’s SUV and headed to grab pizza, it would be done by the time I got there.
The round trip was about 40 minutes. As I returned, Hudson was already back. Dang that boy worked quick. I went in, and set the pizza down, he was not around. I said, “where did Hud go”? Dad said, “upstairs”. I hurried upstairs. I found Hudson, setting on the bed with his head down. I asked, “are you ok, what do you need”? He said, “I’m ok just pissed, you won’t believe what happened”. I said, “I’ll listen if you want”. He then told me the story. He said, “all the way there I was kinda worried what should I say, I decided I would be direct and just say, I wanted to break up, and it was not working out. If she pushed it I would, tell her I knew about JG. However, when I got there, she was waiting on the porch. I pulled up and got out and walked up, she looked at me and said, we are done, I don’t like you anymore”. He went on to say, “I looked at her kind of dumbfounded, when she said, Oh come on this can’t be a surprise, after all we just don’t really fit do we”. I asked her what she meant and she replied, “I think you know”. He then said, “honestly I was kind of lost, but relieved”. I said, “well at least it was not dramatic”. He agreed. I then said, “well let’s go eat pizza and then have a Madden ass kicking marathon”. He scoffed, “yeah your ass is getting kicked”.
We at pizza and played until well after 1 am. I finally let him win, mostly because I wanted to go to bed. Haha. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and Hud did the same. I went to put clothes in the dryer from earlier, and got back to the room in time to see him hook his thumbs in the waist of his underwear and shuck them down, pull back the covers, and crawl in. I guess this was going to be a thing. I went to my side and got down to my underwear and got in bed too. He turned on his side, looked at me and said, “good night, bud, and I hope you know how much you mean to me”. I smiled and replied, “the feeling is most certainly mutual, good night).
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