Chance Encounter, Chapter 4
Gavin emerged from his room about 10:00 a.m. looking thin and vulnerable in a pair of ragged underwear that had once been tighty-whities, probably when he was a couple of years younger. He certainly filled them out well for a boy of 14.
"Sorry, I didn't think anyone would be home," he squeaked, holding his hands in front of his crotch.
"Nothing to be sorry about," I grinned. "Chance and I walk around in things like that, or less, most of the time."
"Yeah, but you're lovers, and I'm a stupid kid."
"Please don't refer to yourself as stupid! People who say things like that a lot are likely to start believing them.
Have a seat and tell me what sounds good for breakfast. I think I need to fatten you up a bit this summer. How about some eggs, pancakes, and sausage?"
"Cereal is okay."
"Don't you like those other things?"
"I don't want you to go to a lot of trouble."
"It's not a lot of trouble. We'll get on it right away. Here's the pancake mix," I said, pulling a box from the panty. "The oil is on the next shelf up, and the measuring cups are in the cupboard to the right. Obviously, you'll find the eggs and milk in the fridge. I'm sure you can read the direction and make the batter while I start the sausage. Oh, be careful not to over-beat the batter. Small lumps make them lighter."
Gavin pitched in and soon lost his self-consciousness about his state of undress. He seemed pleased to be trusted to help with the cooking, and smiled with satisfaction when he took the first bite a few minutes later.
"These are good!" he exclaimed. "I never got to cook much even when I was left alone. There wasn't much food in the house, and I ate a lot of cereal when we could get it from the county food bank."
"I take it that times were a bit lean." I commented.
"Awful," he responded. "We could have scraped by on what she made, but she lost a lot at the casino, and on smoking and drinking with the worthless scumbags she brought home. They'd be in her room rocking the bed half the night, but they were usually gone in the morning. I guess she earned enough on her back to help pay off some of her gambling debts."
"Not a great environment," I sighed.
"It got worse. When she figured out I was gay, she said she was going to sell mouth and my ass. I shoved my bed against the door the last few nights so she couldn't make good on her threat."
"You didn't get used did you?" I asked with concern.
"No, thank the Lord!"
"If she wanted to make money off your body, why did she try to send you to a place that said they could turn you straight?"
"That was my grandmother's idea. She promised to leave everything to my mother instead of her church if my mother would get me help to cure my `sinful' condition. Grandma isn't' loaded, but she's comfortable."
"Lord have mercy!" I exclaimed.
"I guess He has had mercy because He sent you to rescue me." Gavin grinned at his twist of phrase.
"How did your mother find Chance?"
"She didn't. I did it on the computer at the library. It was my only hope. I used White Pages and put in his full name and age. Chance Edwin Monroe, age 24 isn't a common combination."
"I'm thankful it isn't!" I agreed. "We're happy to have you."
"Can I use the washer and dryer? My clothes haven't been clean for a while since ours died," he asked, changing the subject.
"Of course, help yourself. I assume you know how to run it."
"Who do you think did the laundry when it got done? Um, don't you have to work today?"
"Sure, I'll be in my office down the hall. How about we take a trip to Walmart to replace some of your clothes after lunch? I suspect you might want to have underwear that fits."
"What you don't like seeing my dick through the holes in the cloth?" Gavin snickered.
"That's no problem; in fact, it's a pleasant sight. I'm concerned that your boys might get strangled if you sit wrong, and you certainly don't want them suffering!"
Gavin laughed heartily for the first time since I'd met him. He seemed amused that I bantered back after he'd taken a stab at embarrassing me.
Gavin put on what was evidently the best shorts and shirt he had for summer-wear before we went shopping. With a pair of ratty gym shoes and no socks, he looked like a fairly typical teenager, though a bit worse for wear. He smelled good, however. His clothes were freshly laundered and he'd applied a healthy amount of deodorant. I'd have to let him pick out a big size of whatever scent appealed to him. I would try to steer him away from the stronger scents, like Axe, which made my eyes water in the locker room when some guys hosed themselves down with it.
It was interesting to watch him choose clothes to purchase. He checked the tags, selecting only things that weren't too pricey. I had to insist on buying some things that he really wanted but thought were too expensive.
When it came to underwear, I suggested we go to Target because they had a number of fashion briefs and boxers by 2Xist – some in camo print and others with superheroes. I knew those were all the rage among the younger set at the gym.
While at Target, Gavin spied some leftover winter things on the sale racks and suggested we purchase a few because they were so cheap and would cost a lot more in the fall. I encouraged him to buy anything he thought looked good enough to be seen in, not because I couldn't afford to buy him the world, but because I wanted to let him know I appreciated his careful spending habits.
I also suggested he buy a winter coat which was roomy enough to fit a slightly larger kid because I intended to put a little more meat on his bones in the next few months. I wanted him to gain weight in the form of muscle, instead of fat, from a healthy diet and exercise. Either way, I knew he was bound to grow before cold weather. If he didn't fill out a lot, he could always wear a sweater under the coat so it didn't look too baggy.
We replaced nearly his whole wardrobe for less than $400 including new sneakers and waterproof sandals from a discount shoe store in the strip mall near Target. When we got home, I set him to sorting his old things into three piles, choosing which of them to send to Goodwill, which he could wear still, and which should become cleaning rags. About half of them ended up in the latter category.
A little later in the afternoon when I suggested we might go for a short run on the local biking and jogging trail for a bit of fresh air and exercise, it hit me that we hadn't purchased any gym clothes for him. He said he could run in a pair of shorts he'd made from cutting the legs off of high-water jeans; and that is what he did.
It was great for me to have company. I occasionally ran or biked on the trail that conveniently passed about 30 yards behind the condo complex. It helped me to relax in mind and body, especially if I'd either missed going to the gym or had a particularly stressful morning.
I began to think about adding him to our "family" gym membership and finding him a bike to ride as well. It wasn't that he was in danger of becoming obese like some of his contemporaries, but it would be important for him to develop healthy habits. He could benefit from having an outlet for the extra energy which most pubescent teens seem to have.
We conversed easily as we jogged along. I had the feeling that he could have left me in the dust in a real race, but he seemed content to match his pace with mine.
It was entertaining to watch him observe others on the trail. He never missed checking out the hot guys we met, whether they were riding or on foot. I teased him after we'd encountered a cutie about his age.
"Hmm, that looks like boyfriend material to me!" I exclaimed.
He blushed, but quickly turned the teasing back on me.
"I thought you were going to marry Chance! Don't tell me you've changed your mind."
"You know he wouldn't be a boyfriend for me. He's jail-bait, but he'd be ideal for you. I'll bet you're the same age. Maybe you should plan to run every day about this time so you could meet and get acquainted."
"Jeez Matt, are you pimping for me?"
"Not really; I simply think it would be nice if you could make some friends, gay or straight, your own age so you won't be stuck with a couple of old guys all the time."
"It's okay. I don't feel like you guys are old, and I didn't have any real buds at home. The better class of kids didn't usually want to hang with us po' folk, and I didn't want to get mixed up with the dirts. Most of them were either high on weed or stupid from too much beer."
"So what did you do with your time?"
"I went to the library a lot and either read or messed around on a computer. You can travel the world with the click of a few buttons. It helps to escape..."
"Boy am I dense," I said, slapping my forehead. "I must have three old laptops that are still usable to some degree. We have wireless, of course. I can fix you up with something that will allow you to go on a world tour anytime you want to. Let's get you set up when we get home."
We turned around shortly after that because I could see he was excited about having access to the web. As we got nearly halfway there, we again met the cutie we'd seen awhile ago. This time the boy greeted us with a wave and Gavin returned his gesture. I smirked at him and earned myself a swat on the butt. When he turned around to check out the retreating figure, I looked too. To my amusement, the other boy was doing the same.
"Son, we're going back to Target to find you something sexier than these cut-offs for your run tomorrow. I think you're getting a nibble."
"M-a-a-t-t," he exclaimed.
"Just go with it, Gavin."
He grinned all the way back to the condo.
In the evening after dinner, all three of us went out shopping. Chance drove this time, and he insisted that he would buy Gavin's gym clothes. I didn't argue with him. I knew he needed to do some of those things for the sake of his masculine pride.
Gavin modeled both of his new outfits for us when we got home. He looked like a stud in them and his smile was certainly an appropriate reward for his brother's expenditure.
Then Gavin retreated to his room to play with the old laptop I'd resurrected. When I went in later to see if he wanted popcorn for a snack, he blushed and hastily turned the machine off. I realized I should have knocked before invading his privacy.
From the prominent bulge in his shorts, I suspected he'd been surfing in places that were intended for adults. I didn't inquire or give him a lecture on what kind of sites he should avoid. It's always been my contention that boys who are old enough to have a patch of pubes are old enough to use adult sites to further their education – as long as they don't get hooked by a pedophile in a chatroom.
He joined Chance and me for popcorn and opened up a bit more about what his life had been like. It was all pretty dismal and something we hated to hear, but something he needed to talk about in order to purge them from his memory, I guess.
"Why did our mother assume that I could have made you gay?" Chance frowned. "I'd been thrown out long before you hit puberty, and you know I never did anything improper with you."
"I'm sorry; I let her think that, I guess," Gavin said studying the pattern on the kitchen tile. "You see when she discovered an old magazine with pictures of naked boys in my dresser, I told her I'd found it in your closet and was curious to see if I was as mature as they were. She made the assumption that you'd left it somewhere and that it was your fault. I was afraid to admit that I'd dug it out of the trash behind the Adult Shop. Then she'd know I hung around there sometimes hoping to find a horny young guy to mess around with. I never found one, by the way. Mostly I found dirty old men who wanted to suck me off. I never let them, honest."
"I'm glad that she thought I was responsible," Chance said with passion. "Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have tried to call me. I'm also thankful for my somewhat unusual name, for the White Pages, and for a little bro who was smart enough to track me down!"
The brothers hugged in a display of genuine love that was awesome to see. It was also very cool that both of them hugged me as well. We were already becoming a family.
The following afternoon, I made sure that Gavin and I ran on the trail at the exact time we had the day before. As I suspected, we saw the same boy heading in our direction. There was a tiny park with benches, restrooms, and a couple of swings located nearby, so I jogged over to it, saying that I needed a break. Gavin grinned widely and lightly punched my shoulder because he knew what I was up to. He followed me, and we reached a bench about the time the cutie got to that point on the trail. He evidently used the excuse, of needing a break, to join us, stopping at the water fountain and then walking our way.
"Hi, my name is Seth, Seth Kipps. My friends call me Kip or Kipper. I don't recall seeing you in the neighborhood until yesterday."
"I'm Gavin Monroe, and this is my housemate, Matt. I just moved in a couple of days ago."
"Oh, are you two, um, like together?"
"No way!" I laughed. "I'd be put in jail if we were `together' as you phrased it. This guy is like my little brother."
"That's cool."
I walked over to the drinking fountain to leave them alone to get acquainted. While I was there, a toddler grabbed my leg and said "UP" as he reached out his arm.
"Corbin, leave the gentleman alone!" called a man with a frisky Shih Tzu on a leash.
"Is it okay if I pick him up?" I asked.
"Sure, but I don't want to get onto the habit of annoying strangers."
"Maybe I shouldn't have picked him up. Since he's so outgoing, someone might carry him off," I said as the little boy hugged me around the neck.
"My husband and I are trying to teach him not to speak to strangers when we're not around, but that's difficult to get across because we or our housekeeper or her grandsons are always with him, so he has no fear."
"So, what's it like being married to another guy, if I may ask?"
"Great!" he said without a trace of hesitancy or rancor. "Do you have a particular interest in the subject?"
"I'm nudging my boyfriend toward the altar, and I think he may give in pretty soon. We've known each other for almost a year, and lived together for a lot of it. I'm ready to make it permanent."
"We were in a similar situation, but felt we should wait until a respectful time after my wife's death."
"That must have been tough in a number of ways," I empathized.
"Yeah, it was like going on a rollercoaster ride blindfolded. My son Corbin was born, my wife Sarah died shortly after, and I had already fallen in love with Michael. So, you have joy, grief, love, and frustration all boiling in a witch's cauldron at the same time. Toss in buying and selling property and taking in a teenager and his little brother, and you have a real drama."
"But it worked out..."
"More wonderfully than I could ever tell. We're a happy family!"
"We have a teen in our mix too," I said, tilting my head toward Gavin. "He's the one in the neon green shirt and black shorts."
"He's a cute kid. Is he related to you?"
"He's my boyfriend's little brother and their mother threw him out recently because he's gay."
"That other kid must be his boyfriend then?"
"Nope, they've just met, but from the way their sizing each other up, I suspect that could become a reality in the future."
"So, if I'm not being too nosey, do you have legal guardianship of him?"
"We just got him a few days ago, and don't have papers, if that's what you mean."
"You really need to do that so you can enroll him in school and all. I'm not trying to drum up business for my husband, but you really should have a lawyer handle it."
"Do you have one on his business cards?"
"I don't, but he's Michael Day with Gladbrook and Day. He's now a senior partner,"
"I'm familiar with that firm. They handled my parents' estate. I thought his name was Thomas."
"Thomas WAS the senior partner. Michael is his son."
"Oh, I remember him! He was a really cute boy in law school when I saw him last. If he's still as hot as he was, you're a very lucky man."
"He is, and I am. By the way, my name is Landon."
"I'm Matt. Nice to meet you, Landon."
"While we're on the subject of papers Matt, you really should have documents to protect you and your boyfriend in case of an emergency if you don't already. Michael and I got those even before we were married. It couldn't hurt!"
We could have conversed longer, but Corbin and the dog were antsy to move on, so we bade each other adieu, saying that we hoped to meet again.
Author's notes: Thanks to: Wayne, Jim W, Barry J, Dick M, Jeremy R, Geoff S, Stanley B, John S, Bill K, John L, John W, Tom A, Larry S, Hotrod, Ryan H, Don S, Zero, Ott H, Roger L, Walt S, Peter M, Mendy D, and Terry A who emailed this past week. Your kind notes keep me going?
You'll notice some new names on the list. I've never kept a count of all who've responded, but I know it's a lot. Some of you have followed my stories for years.
Thanks to my editors for catching my typos, and to Nifty for providing this venue. Send them a donation once in a while if you can.
Peace and love,
David