Cheddar's, chapter 10
On Friday, Adam demonstrated to Coach Benson that he was good as new, and could participate in Saturday's event. Benson was relieved that he'd bounced back so quickly. He hadn't pushed Adam, but had feared the outcome of the meet without his contributions.
Adam walked on air for the rest of the morning.
Heading for lunch, a scruffy-looking boy, whom Adam didn't know, sidled up to him to ask about the pain pills he'd been given.
"If you have any of your prescription left, I'll buy them off you. I can make it worth your while, oxycodone is in demand, even if it's low-dose. I know you've been on free lunch. This could be a good deal."
"Dude, I'm not on charity anymore, and I wouldn't deal in drugs if I were!" Adam exclaimed vehemently.
Like a startled rabbit, the kid disappeared into the herd before Adam could get a good look at him. Given the epidemic of prescription drug abuse, he would have turned the boy in if could be sure who he was.
"Didn't I see you driving a little red car?" Darrin asked when they were seated in the cafeteria.
"Yup, that's my new ride. It's a Honda Fit."
"Is your boyfriend's too cheap to buy you a car as good as his?" Dave scoffed.
"Nope, it's curtesy of Baxter Motors. I can have anything I want from the current stock, or have something ordered, but that was what I wanted."
"Jeez," Rob exclaimed. "Do you own the place? I never associated you with that Baxter family."
"In a way I do," Adam admitted. "It's sorta in a trust right now, until I'm in my 20's."
"That's gotta be cool," Darrin said. "You were barely surviving, and now you're rich."
"Not really rich; just not poor," Adam downplayed his prosperity. "Oh, that reminds me, I have an errand to do before lunch period is over."
"Ms. Anselm, may I have a moment?"
"Of course, could you talk to me on the way to lunch, or do you need an appointment? How are you doing, by the way?"
"I'm doing great! Parker asked me to be his boyfriend, and I've inherited quite a bit of money."
"I saw that your parents had passed, but I didn't know how you'd feel about discussing it, given the circumstances of how you left home."
"I'm fine. They made it clear last fall that I was dead to them, so I guess it works both ways. I want to make a donation to the emergency meal ticket fund."
"That's nice of you! If it's a check, make it payable to the school and put `emergency meal fund' in the memo line. If it's cash, I'll write you a receipt."
"Please go ahead and get your lunch, I'll poke my head in the faculty lunchroom after I write the check, if it's okay."
"Yes, that will be fine."
A couple of minutes later, Adam handed her a check for $500. She raised her eyebrows on seeing the amount.
"Wow! That's a lot more than you received."
"Isn't that the way it should work? I want to pay forward as well as pay back."
"Thanks," she smiled. "You're a thoughtful young man. Several kids are really going to benefit from your generosity!"
Saturday's swim meet was awesome for Adam because he was in his zone. He not only outswam all of the competition in the breaststroke, but also helped the relay team to win their event by making up the lead they'd lost earlier when Paul got off the block late.
At the end, he went over to where Parker was sitting in the first row of bleachers and the two hugged.
"Sorry, I think I may have gotten you a little wet! I thought I'd dried off completely."
"No problem," Parker insisted. "I'm so proud of you I could burst."
"Oh, my dear Adam, you did wonderfully!" his Grandmother Baxter exclaimed, as both sets of grandparents descended upon him. "We're all so thrilled for you."
"Why?" an astonished Adam responded.
"Because we're so proud of our only grandson."
"No, I mean why are you here? Who invited you? My parents were dead and buried, and none of you told me! You didn't reach out to me at all. You had my contact info, but you chose to exclude me. You've had nothing to do with me for months! Ah, I see what you're up to. You were barely mentioned in the will, which, I understand, you tried to destroy, and now you're hoping I'll share the estate with you if you fawn over me. Guess what; it won't work!
"By the way, you'd better return the things you took from the house. I know what's missing."
"We only took a few things that we wanted to have stay in the family, you know, in the Baxter line."
"I'm the last of the line, so why would you take things like my great-great grandfather's gold watch? That's mine, to pass on to my son."
"But you're gay..."
"That doesn't mean I won't have children. I'll give you my lawyer's number. He'll set up a time when you can return the items you took. In the meantime, the locks at the house have been changed, and I'm going to obtain a no-contact order to prevent you from coming to any more of my school events. And if the things you took aren't returned, I'll press charges for theft! Is that understood?"
"But wait," Grandma Hinson interjected. "We have our rights too!"
"No you don't. I inherited nearly everything. I'm an adult, and I don't want to be harassed by you people. Your very existence annoys me. I WILL get that court order!"
With that, he turned on his heal and headed for the locker room. His four grandparents began to discuss his attitude among themselves, while Parker quietly stood by making mental notes.
"It's all the fault of that boy who turned him gay!" Cynthia Baxter grumbled. "He used to be a sweet child."
Then it dawned on her that Adam had hugged the young man who was still standing nearby.
"It's you, isn't it? You're his lover!"
"I sincerely hope so," Parker smiled. "I do love him a lot, but I didn't have anything to do with determining his orientation. I didn't know he was gay until after I invited him to live with me, and I came out to him a few months later. I gave him a safe place to stay after his parents put him out on the street. I don't believe that any of you offered him shelter."
"You're insulant as well as disgusting!" Cynthia sneered. "You're life-style is an abomination to the Lord!"
"God bless you, and have a pleasant evening," Parker said with a slight bow and a saccharine smile before he turned to go find Adam.
"Oh there you are," Adam said. "I should have gone back in to rescue you, but I was too pissed to control my anger. I peeked in a minute ago and saw that they had you in their clutches."
"It's okay. I can hold my own against people like that. Uncle Ralph is worse! Do you want to go home, or should we have an early dinner at Cheddar's?"
"Food! I need food!" Adam giggled. "You know how ravenous I am after I swim that hard."
"I hope you'll also be real hard tonight after you swam that hard this afternoon," Parker attempted an innuendo.
"I'm always hard for you."
On Monday, Adam texted Mr. Novotny about the confrontation with his grandparents, asking him if he could help with the recovery of the keepsakes, and also get a no-contact order issued.
He received a message within the hour from his lawyer saying that he would be happy to see to those details. He had phone numbers for Adam's grandparents, and would contact them before the day was over. He thought it best to put pressure on them immediately, while they were still a bit off balance from what Adam had said to them on Saturday. If he waited too long, they might figure out that they could get away with having taken a few items from the house because it would be difficult to prove it was,
indeed, they who had taken them.
Because of Saturday's victory, the swim team had Monday morning off from practice, and that meant time for a leisurely breakfast at school. Several of them came to eat together and celebrate.
"Next weekend is state, and then our hair can go back to normal after all the chlorine it's been subjected to," Paul sighed.
"Are you guys shaving your heads?" Cory asked.
"Probably our heads and our bodies," Jim snickered.
"As in totally, including your pubes?" Paul wondered.
"Yup! Do you want to have the traditional senior shaving party at my house? I know the `rents will be cool with it. Dad will take Mom out on Friday night so we'll have privacy. She knows what's going on, but she tends to ignore it.
"In the old days, the guys did it in the locker room, but some meddling bitch complained to the schoolboard. I guess she thought her precious baby was being humiliated. Hell, everyone got their balls shaved. It's kinda like a bonding ritual."
"I'll probably do that at home," Adam said.
"Yeah, you have a personal groomer to do your balls and everything," Jim grinned.
Adam didn't say anything, but did grin and blush in return.
"You could still come to my house tonight for the haircut part with the rest of the team. Bring your boyfriend along if you want; he's always at our meets; like he's our most faithful supporter."
"Thanks, I'll ask him if he has time to come."
Adam couldn't wait to tell Parker about the hair buzzing that night, and that he'd have an intimate shaving session in private with him on Friday night. So, he sent a text with the info immediately.
Parker responded by saying he would accompany him to Jim's home if he wouldn't be intruding on the team's bonding ritual. He agreed that it would be sexy to share the personal shaving on Friday night. He was looking forward to using his tongue to check for stubble. He would like Adam to shave his crotch too so it would be a shared experience.
Adam blushed a deeper shade of red while reading his response. The guys at the table noticed, and teased him because they suspected some naughty conversation was going on between his boyfriend and him.
At Jim's house, the team members who showed up got their heads shorn. Paul went for the shaved look, but Adam asked Jim to use a number 2 guard to leave him with at least enough length that he could probably spike it after a couple of weeks' growth. Parker thought he looked adorable – like a fuzzy hamster or something - much cuter than if he'd had it all shaved off. It reminded him of a guy nicknamed "Hamster" in a tale he'd read on an erotic story site.
When Adam and Parker got home later, Parker suggested that they should do trial run on body shaving. He said they could touch up everything on Friday night, but that it would be good to perfect their technique earlier to avoid razor-burn that might prove irritating for Adam when he had to compete the following day. That sounded like a good idea to Adam!
Parker had Adam stand naked in the bathroom on an old sheet which would catch most of the hair. Using the trimmer on his electric shaver, he soon depilated Adam's entire body. With the head of his Braun, he removed the slight stubble which remained in the crotch area, paying special attention to Adam's ball sac. When he thought he'd made it totally smooth, he stuck out his tongue to check for spots he might have missed. Of course, Adam was soon about as hard as he could be.
Finding a little rough patch on the left side of Adam's scrotum, he removed what remained. Then, he applied a light coating of scented body lotion.
"Okay, what do you think?" he asked as Adam felt his smooth skin.
"Wow! It feels like I'm a little boy again!"
"Let me have a feel, Baby Boy."
Parker rubbed his cheek over the area to confirm its smoothness. It felt quite sexy to both of them.
"Now it's my turn," Parker grinned, as he stripped and handed the shaver to his lover.
Adam proceeded as Parker had done. It wasn't long before he had tongue-tested for smoothness as well. Now both of them were fully erect and leaking precum.
"Someone should go out on the fire escape and shake off the sheet," Parker suggested.
"Okay, I'll put my boxers on and do it while you start the shower."
After making sure there weren't any stray hairs on either of them, they retired to their bed to kiss, lick, and suck. For several seconds at a time, they gently held each other's smooth balls in their mouths. It didn't take long for them to receive their rewards.
"That was possibly the most intimate feeling I've ever had," Adam exclaimed. "just lovely skin, and nary a hair, in my mouth!"
"It was truly awesome," Parker agreed. "We might consider keeping our balls hair-free all the time."
"Yeah, it's almost as if we're two 13-year-olds just discovering sex."
"It's a way of feeling like I'm a pure boy again, back before Celeste."
"As far as I'm concerned, Celeste never existed," Adam insisted. "It's only been you and me forever. We're soul-mates!"
The following Friday at school, the swimmers got to show off their hairdo's to the whole school when they paraded onto the gym floor to participate in a pep rally. The wrestlers and basketball team members were honored at the same event, and all teams were recognized for their accomplishments thus far in the season.
Obviously a part of the day that could have been devoted to learning was spent in celebration of sports, but most of the athletes who participated were pleased to be the center of attention, even for a short amount of time. This, perhaps, applied to the swim-team most of all because they never seemed to garner as great a following as most of the other sports. Perhaps golf and tennis had fewer.
The state swimming meet was held at Iowa State University's pool in Ames because it was the most centrally located facility which could handle a competition of that size. Adam would be staying overnight on Friday and Saturday. He wasn't thrilled about being away from Parker for so long a period of time.
Since Parker wasn't a student at City High, he wasn't eligible to ride the pep bus. Adam had to ride the school bus, and stay in a room with other teammates, so it looked like a lonely weekend for both of them until Parker came up with at least a partial solution.
He would drive to Ames on Friday evening and stay in the same hotel where the team was being put up. He wouldn't get much of a break on the cost of his room, but there was a slight discount for fans, like friends and relatives, of the high school teams. So, he booked a room with a king sized bed two floors above where the team was staying.
By texting back and forth, the two could coordinate their meetings. On Friday night, Adam had free time after dinner until 10:00 p.m. That was when all members were to be in bed, winding down in order to have a good night's sleep before competition on Saturday.
Instead of enjoying the indoor pool at the hotel, Adam headed up the two sets of stairs, knocking on the door of room 815. Parker answered the door, clad in nothing but a towel which looked like a small tent.
"Mmm... Someone's happy to see me," Adam giggled.
"Get in here and show me a reason to be happy," Parker grinned.
"You bet! Did you shower already?"
"Nope, I was waiting for you. I thought we could use my shaver to neaten everything up before showering so you'd be freshly shorn for tomorrow."
"I'm up for that!"
"Indeed you are," Parker agreed, caressing Adams package.
They spent the next few minutes removing any stubble that had grown since Monday, and then got into the shower together. Using washcloths and their favorite shower gel, they were soon squeaky clean.
Then came the pleasurable job of checking one another for anything they'd missed. The more they checked, the more precum they produced. None of it went to waste.
Ending up in their favorite position, they gently, slowly nursed each other to mind-shattering climaxes. In the afterglow, they cuddled and dozed. If Adam hadn't set the alarm in his phone, he would have missed curfew time. As it was, he had a very few minutes to dress and go to his room. He did so by a circuitous route, taking the stairs down to the lobby floor and riding up to 6th on the elevator with other people. That way, anyone who saw him, would assume he'd been down there all along, and not in another room in the hotel. As fate would have it, he didn't run into anyone he knew, and wouldn't have needed to use the subterfuge after all.
Adam walked in on a scene which surprised him a bit. Paul, Jim, and Cory, the other guys on the relay team, were all in the bathroom naked, removing any stray hairs from each other's body. From the traces of shaving cream on their crotches, it appeared that their balls had been done.
"Okay, Adam," Jim called, "let's check your bod to make sure it's smooth.
Adam pulled off his shirt to reveal that his torso and under arms were completely hairless.
"That looks good, now drop trou so we know you're totally bare."
Adam did so without hesitation, and Jim came over to feel his ball sac.
"Okay, you pass. We're all sleeping bare-ass tonight. Paul and I will share unless you want to flip coins to see who sleeps with who."
"Uh, I'm not sleeping nude with anyone but Parker," Adam announced. "I don't know what kind of games you have in mind, but count me out."
"It's just a little harmless bonding," Jim insisted.
"That may be, but I'm spoken for, and I'm not getting into any situation which might compromise my relationship. If that's a problem for anyone, I'll sleep on the couch."
"I don't want to do it either," Cory spoke up. "You can share a bed with me, and we'll both keep our underwear on."
"What a couple of wusses!" Jim exclaimed. "Paul, you aren't gonna wimp out on me too, are you?"
"Nope, you can cuddle up to my back if you want to," Paul teased.
When Coach Benson rapped on the door, it was Adam who got up to let him in.
"Okay guys, I want lights out in 10 minutes. We spent the extra money to come early so we'd be fresh for competition tomorrow. Make good use of the time and get plenty of sleep."
"Yes, Sir!" all four answered, crisply.
Benson left, shaking his head. He suspected they would probably be up longer, but at least he'd tried, and they would be fresher than if they'd gotten up really early to ride the buses on the first day they competed.
Cory and Adam got under the covers and put an extra pillow between them to keep from accidently bumping into each other in their sleep.
Jim turned off the light, and snuggled up to Paul. Adam wondered if they would fool around, but didn't care enough to stay awake to find out.
Author's notes: Thanks to the following who responded this week - GCD, Jim W, John L, Dam B, Dick M, Walt Sz, Mendy D, Joe W, Jeremy R, Geoff S, Ott H, Charles G, Hotrod, Wayne, Bill K, Vern, Frank K, Tom A, Seth M, Bob C, Douglas and Lawrence, JJ P, Paul F, Jude P, Bill T, Paul R, Walt S, Zero, Skip M, and KG.
Please note that there's a reason why you're not getting a response from me! I will be away from email service for a little more than a week. I'll try to get caught up by February 12th.
David