DAVID & TRISTAN-BOYS IN SCHOOL is a continuation of the story, Boys on the Farm, about David and Tristan. If sex between male teenagers is offensive to you or if you are underage then you should move on to something else. DAVID & TRISTAN- BOYS IN SCHOOL is a work of pure fiction -- the characters and the events do not represent any person or situation. Copyright (c)2000 by D.Z., all rights reserved. Please do not post in any other forum, newsgroup, or publication.
I have been remiss by not giving the acknowledgement and applause due Eric Case, an author who has a huge following of his own in this genre. I have tremendously enjoyed collaborating with Eric as we weave his After the Dance series and this series together. Saying "Thanks Eric Buddy" just doesn't seem to be sufficient! The flippant Jason is an incredible character to work with and I appreciate to no end the fact that Eric has allowed me to include him and Jason's partner Chris in my Boys in School series! I have also been remiss in not mentioning that you can visit Eric's web site, named the BookCASE, where you can find all of Eric's writings as well as those of other authors (including mine). The address to the BookCASE is http://thebookcase.tripod.com.
Another person needs to be recognized as well. I also want to credit the contributions by a steadfast fan of mine, Jason from Boston. Jason helped me recover from a bout of writer's block and helped me get going on the plot in this chapter! If you don't like it, we'll blame Jason. Hehe. Just kidding Jason, really!
OK, enough of my yakking. Here's what you have been waiting to read: Chapter 5!
DAVID & TRISTAN-BOYS IN SCHOOL. by D.Z.
Chapter 5.
It had been a night that Tristan would never forget. It was significant for many reasons, all of which had a lasting effect in his life. First, the motel that he and his dad were staying in was severely damaged in a tornado which had struck with scant seconds of warning. Once the tornado had passed there was no electricity so they had decided to stay in their room - actually the bathroom because the windows to their room were broken out - and wait for daylight or for someone to come with a light so they could leave. From that time on, Tristan had a fear of severe storms.
The second reason he would never forget that night was because it was the night he came out to his dad that he was gay and in love with David. When he had blurted out his feelings for David in the midst of his terror of the tornado Tristan not only faced his fear of the forces of nature, but his fear of rejection from his dad. It was an agonizing choice because Randy was the parent who raised him. Tristan didn't see his mother very often, as she was an alcoholic and he didn't like having to cope with her unstable moods. To Tristan's immense surprise and relief, his dad, Randy, calmly accepted Tristan's coming out and they had a father-son talk the likes of which they hadn't had since the divorce.
The third and final reason was that it was then they agreed that moving to Lubbock was not the thing that either of them really wanted to do. Tristan never wanted to move there, but it took the first hand experience of the local climate plus the realization of the severity of the consequences the move would play in Tristan's life that made Randy decide to pass up the promotion.
Father and son dozed fitfully on the bathroom floor in an uncomfortable heap of blankets torn from the beds in their haste to find shelter from the tornado. Damp, cold air spilled into their room through the broken windows and it prompted them to keep the bathroom door closed in order to conserve warmth so thus they passed the remainder of the night, waiting for daylight so they could see enough to gather their belongings and abandon the once luxurious motel suite. The closed door prevented them from seeing the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles that arrived on the opposite side of the motel in a agonizingly slow response to the collapsed portion of the very same building they occupied.
Dawn had finally arrived. Randy checked his watch after waking up, sore and stiff from sleeping on the hard floor at 6:30 a.m. "Rise and shine there Tristan. It's 6:30 and its dawn. Let's get our luggage together and get out of here."
Tristan slowly and silently rose from the floor, grabbing at the blankets when his skin hit the cold, clammy air invading their bathroom sanctuary. He followed his dad out into the bedroom and what they saw jolted them wide awake. Most obvious was the way their room was trashed by the winds entering through the broken windows. Furnishings, papers, and their clothes were strewn throughout the room along with other storm debris. It was a total mess! When they looked up and outside in the dim light of dawn, the landscape had been altered from that of a thriving city to the devastation a person would expect to see in a war zone. Not a single building in sight was undamaged and most of them were completely ruined.
They stared at the scene before them and then looked at each other in consternation. "That tornado must have been really bad--it's trashed this city!" Tristan exclaimed.
"We're really lucky to be alive by the looks of things out there," Randy said in a low voice. "Find your stuff and we'll get out of here and wrap up our business so we can go home."
"YES! Yes, Yes Yes!" Tristan exclaimed and started to hurriedly dig through the mess in their room, looking for his things. It wasn't as easy as you would think! He found his duffel bag in the corner of the room, but it was mostly empty! The raging winds swirling through the room took most of his clothes as an offering to the god of Chaos. Draped over a lamp was one of his shirts, and he found one of his boxer shorts in a sodden pile near the window. Randy was faring somewhat better since his suitcase was closed and latched at the time. Even it had been disturbed by the high winds and was found in another corner.
Finally they had salvaged what they could find of their belongings and were ready to leave. Randy opened to the door to their room. They were trapped! The ceiling had fallen down and the hallway was full of splintered wall debris from the opposite side of the building, which had collapsed as a result of the tornado. "Oh my God! Look at that! That screeching, booming noise we heard last night was the other side of this building going down! We are so lucky to have been on this side of the building!" Randy turned around in the doorway and stared at Tristan with an incredulous, stunned look.
"Now what are we gonna do, Dad?" Tristan asked.
"We're going to have to get some help to get out of here, that's what. Try the phone first, see if it's working."
Tristan picked up the phone and listened for a dial tone. There was none. "There's no dial tone, Dad. Now what do we do?"
Randy stood there and looked around for a minute before answering, "We'll have to clean up the broken glass around a window so we can watch for someone outside we can holler to. Then maybe we'll get help to get out of here. Let's use that bedspread to protect our hands from cutting them on the glass. You scrape up the loose glass on the floor while I try pulling the broken shards out of the window frame."
The two Cochrans went to work, removing the broken glass so they could safely use the window to watch for a potential rescuer. Before long Randy had the longer splinters of glass pulled out of the frame and was breaking the stubs too short for his fingers to pull out with a heavy ashtray. When he was done with that they covered the bottom window frame with the folded bedspread so they could lean out the window without cutting themselves.
The sun had risen well above the horizon and the temperature was coming up rapidly. Combined with the steamy humidity it was becoming quite warm outdoors compared to the drier heat of the northern climate they came from. Randy watched out the window for half an hour only seeing a few emergency vehicles weaving their way around mounds of wreckage. He shouted and waved his arms to no avail. Turning from the window, sweat droplets running freely down his face Randy motioned to Tristan, "Come and take a turn at this, Tristan. We'll take turns watching about every half hour or so."
"Kay, Dad. You look pretty hot alright. What are we going to do for water? It looks like you could use some."
"Welllllll, what do we have for drinks? I have a small bottle of water that I didn't drink last night. Do you have any sodas left?" Randy asked as he was stripping off his shirt, showing his chest hair matted down with sweat and wet trickles running down his flat stomach. That was one thing Tristan liked about his dad, that he didn't let himself get overweight and out of shape.
"Only one and its warm."
"Even so, its liquid. I doubt there is running water in the bathroom, but I'll check it." Randy went into the bathroom and immediately reported, "Nope, no water coming out of the pipes. About the only water there would be is in the toilet tank. If you use the toilet, don't flush it! We're gonna have to use the water in the tank if we are trapped here for a while."
"Ewwwww, that's gross Dad! Drinking water out of the toilet? No way!"
"It won't seem so gross to you, Tristan, when you are so thirsty that you would kill for a drink of water. Besides, that water is as clean as the water that comes out of the tap - germs from the toilet bowl don't get into the storage tank."
Tristan grimaced as he shook his head 'no' while replying, "Still, I'd have to be pretty darn thirsty before I'd do it."
The morning passed slowly, Randy and Tristan took turns watching for someone to look up their way so - they tried waving and shouting several times but no one looked and no one heard them. Without air conditioning and in the still air of the morning that trashed room was a sweat box. Their shirts came off soon and helped them stay in some degree of comfort. Tristan and Randy each tried several times to attract the attention of vehicles which drove by, but no one saw them, trapped as they were up on the 9th floor of the ruined building. By morning's end they had drank their bottled liquids.
As noon passed and the sun swung around to their side of the building, the sunlight poured in, raising the temperature inside to a highly uncomfortable level....the thermostat on the wall pegged out at 100 degrees. Sweating profusely in the still air, their pants and shorts became extremely uncomfortable. Father and son were reduced to their underwear to have any kind of bearable comfort. Tristan was embarrassed and shy at first to be mostly naked like that in front of his dad since he only had briefs to wear. He knew his dad could mostly see how much he had grown into a young man, because Tristan could also see exactly what his dad packed into his briefs - which was a great plenty!
Tristan tried shielding his groin with his hands as he would move to the window and back into the small spot of shade along one wall until Randy finally had to say, "Tristan, there is no need for you to do that. You are a healthy young man and you have no reason to be ashamed of your body. I have always known you were built like me so you don't have to hide yourself, OK? It's not like we're totally naked and lacking in civilized behavior...so don't worry about it."
"Ummmmm, well, OK Dad," Tristan kind of mumbled while looking away. Then he looked up directly at his dad the first time since they took their pants off. "Like what did you mean you've always known I was built like you?"
"Remember the pictures of me in that old album when I was growing up? We look a lot the same at the various stages of growth for one thing. And, I can see how you've grown to have pretty much the same body structure I do...I bet we wear mostly the same size clothes by now. And the last thing is that I used to give you a bath, remember? So I knew what's between your legs too. Last time I looked you were a male, still are, right?"
"Uh, yeah." Tristan didn't really know what else to say so he just accepted the fact that it didn't bother his dad that they were practically nude together. And, as the sweat poured from their bodies they soon felt its effects and both of them dipped water out of the toilet tank to drink. Tristan held out longer but finally gave in to the demands of his dehydrated body.
Late in the afternoon, and without warning, their room shook and they heard the remaining structure give off a groan of protest. "This place is slowly collapsing!" Randy instantly concluded and he snatched a pillowcase to wave out the window. "We're gonna have to get really serious about getting out of here before it falls down around our heads."
Tristan leapt up and looked around before opening the door to the hallway to check if he could see what was shifting. To his utter amazement the hallway was open to the world since the disaster recovery teams had begun shifting wreckage looking for trapped people. He could see some fire engines and heavy equipment gathered around the rubble of the collapsed motel.
"Dad, quick look here! There's all kinds of people on this side that has fallen.!" Tristan had forgotten by now that he was clad only in his briefs as he began to shout and wave his arms. "UP HERE, LOOK UP HERE! WE CAN'T GET OUT!"
Immediately heads looked up at him and several were pointing. Arms were not the only thing pointing at Tristan - he had attracted the attention of Roberta Day and the camera person still covering the rescue effort. The camera zoomed in to fill the picture with the image of Tristan standing in the doorway wearing only his underwear and outlined with the light shining from behind.
The timing of Tristan's appearance was most fortunate, or inopportune, depending on how you look at it. At that very moment Roberta Day was giving a live update on the rescue efforts and the rehearsed quality of her voice changed as she described the sight which greeted them nine floors up. "...as the dust from the shifting wreckage of the motel has cleared we have had a very welcome surprise nine floors up. A young man has appeared in the doorway of an apparently undamaged room on the opposite side of this wing. He's shouting for help but appears to be uninjured...he's wearing a minimum of clothing. Oh, another person briefly has made an appearance....he looked to be older in the short glimpse we had of him. Now the young man has disappeared from view. We will keep you posted on the rescue efforts and exactly how the rescue team here will get those people trapped on the ninth floor to safety. Roberta Day, CNN News, reporting."
This live news report appeared on every television set in the nation that was tuned into the natural disaster scenes at Lubbock. At is happened, Jason and Chris, who were now at Chris' house, had the television set tuned in to CNN in order to stay informed about the events there. They had interrupted their activities when the live update from Roberta Day had come on. Though his face was shadowed from direct sunlight, it was obvious who that young man was to Jason. It was Tristan and he was OK! Jason fell over laughing as he realized who and what he was seeing. "Hahahahaha! Ohmygosh Chris, it's Tristan on TV! The porno star's not even wearing any clothes!! Hahahahahahaha, geeez! Millions of people are watching, all worried about the people in the hotel, so Tris decides to put on a peep show for em! YAAAAAAAAYY TRISTAN!! Here I was thinkin DAVID is the one who likes to flaunt himself HAHA ohhhh man!"
"Hehehe.. are you sure that's him?" Chris asked giggling at his boyfriend's glee and usual sense of humor.
"Almost positive, plus who else would show up mostly naked at the scene of a tornado?! Oh, I gotta call David and tell him Tristan's a bigger nudist than he is! Can I use your phone?" Jason asked breathlessly while trying to control his mirth momentarily.
"Course you can use my phone. There it is right there," Chris indicated with a wave of his hand.
Jason giggled continuously as he jumped over to the phone and dialed David's number.
Meanwhile at the Brandt house David was dreaming again. No matter whether he was awake or sleeping Tristan was the focus of his heart and mind. David was so worried about what had happened to Tristan it was making him physically ill. He couldn't eat and the little his mother had made him eat for their evening dinner came right back up almost as soon as he left the table. His head ached something fierce and the only thing he could do was lay on his bed, hoping and praying and wishing that Tristan would call so David would know he was OK. The call hadn't come and by now the day was mostly gone. David became more and more depressed and deeply grieved the absence of the boy who was his best friend and during the past two weeks had been his lover.
With his pillow over his head to shut out the world, David retreated to the solace of his memories and dreams of Tristan. In his dream state David saw the door open slowly and silently. He peeked his eyes open and he could see the indistinct outline of Tristan standing there, his features dark and hidden but his body and curly hair outlined with bright light. Tristan just stood there looking back at him, silently waiting and watching David.
David held his breath. Was it really Tristan? Then his heart nearly stopped with sudden fear. "What if it was Tristan coming to see him before leaving him forever?" Paralyzed with apprehension, David fearfully waited to see what fate had ordained for his lover. The pounding of his heart filled his ears and his lungs, starved for oxygen, sucked in a long, shuddering breath.
Tristan's dark brown eyes, full of love and concern, gazed into David's face. Without speaking Tristan began shedding his clothes until he stood there with only his briefs on and then finally, he spoke, "Davie-babe, why aren't you saying anything? Don't you want me here?"
"Tris, is it really you? Are you here for real, you're home and not dead?" All of David's pent-up anxiety poured into those words as he spoke aloud from within his dream state.
Tristan sat on the bed, reached over and shook him.
"David. David, wake up, you're dreaming." It was his mother shaking him. "Jason is on the phone and says he has to talk to you. Hurry up now and answer the phone."
"What does he want? Tell him I don't want to."
"David, go talk to him. I mean it. Now." Her tone of voice was the one that didn't take no for an answer.
David, still groggy and disoriented from his dream of Tristan, stumbled out into the hallway and answered the phone. "Jase, what's so important that my mom would wake me up and make me talk on the phone?" he asked grumpily.
"David, you should be watching CNN! How can you SLEEP at a time like this, when your boyfriend's putting on a strip tease for all of North America?!"
"Jason what the hell are you talkin about?" David asked a little confused and still grumpy over being woken up.
"I swear I just saw Tristan, your boyfriend, on NATIONAL television dude! They showed someone trapped way up in that wrecked hotel! I told ya to just think positive, didn't I? And aren't you glad now that I called?"
Afraid to believe Jason's boundless optimism David questioned, "Like how sure are you that it was Tristan?"
"Pretty sure. I couldn't see his face real clear because of the shadow, but it was his profile I could see....just about the whooole profile too since he wasn't wearing any clothes! Hahahahaha. He's just as bad as you David! Man, I think there's something in the water up at that farm of your grandparents' HAHA! Turns you all into horny gay nudists! Hahahaha," Jason giggled with his usual unrestrained mirth.
"Did he look like he was ok and everything?" David was still worried that his Tris was hurt because of the dream he was having before getting woken up.
"He looked okay to me dude, but I couldn't really tell! Hehe, it's pretty hot, and it looks like they're trapped up there right now, so he's probably bored and all, so I guess that's where the whole 'disrobing' came from! When in doubt...take off ALL your clothes! HAHA damn I love you guys, y'all are the best!" Jason said maintaining the same high energy. "You gotta see it though, David, cause they're trapped and all..." Jason trailed off, and started giggling again as he replayed the memory of Tristan in the doorway.
David's crushing load of worry was considerably lightened by now and he sounded much more like his usual self now. "Thanks for calling me, Jase! Sorry I was so cranky. Talk to you later, dude! I gotta go watch and see this for myself!" With that being said, David hung up the phone and dashed back into his room to turn up the sound on his TV to hear what was happening in Lubbock.
"....a man and a teenaged boy trapped on the ninth floor of the Quality Suites Inn. As of yet, there is no way to get them down. The fire department can't reach that high with their ladder trucks and both ends of the building that contain the stairways have totally collapsed. Efforts are underway to locate a helicopter and rescue team that can reach the pair in their precarious position. OK, the boy has reappeared after suddenly ducking back into the room - it looks like he has donned some clothes now. The heat has been scorchingly hot here again today along with high humidity, making it doubly difficult for the tornado survivors and rescue workers." Roberta Day pressed one hand to her ear and took on an aura of listening before looking back into the camera. "I was just told that a military rescue helicopter has been contacted and will be on the scene in half an hour. We'll be back covering this rescue scene in 20 minutes. This is Roberta Day, CNN News, reporting from Lubbock, Texas."
During her entire report the camera had been focused on the door to Tristan's room and so it was that David saw Tristan reappear. The light was not the best because of the late evening shadows but David could see that it was his Tris- dude that reappeared. David could tell Tristan had better days than this one because Tristan's hair was sweaty and his usual tight curls were sticking out all over. And it was obvious too that Tristan was not hurt. The tension evaporated suddenly in David's body, leaving him strangely giddy and now he was excited. He bounced out of his room and downstairs to find his parents watching the same scene on the television in the family room. "Did you see Tristan?" David bubbled with joy. "And did you see how he's stuck up there...I wonder how they're going to get him down with the helicopter. What a ride that will be!"
His parents just looked at him. Their son, the one that is usually so self- controlled and calm was talking a mile a minute and looked as if he would burst out of his skin he was so animated. His dad, Dan, answered, "Probably they'll use a harness to winch them up out of there with it being a military rescue helicopter. Are you feeling better now that you know how Tristan is doing?"
"Yeah Dad, I'm feeling a lot better now. Mom, is there something I can eat?" David's stomach was rumbling with the hunger than had been suppressed all day from anxiety. "I need something fast so I can watch them get Tristan down from there."
"Yes hon, I can get you a plate of the supper you didn't want. It'll be just a minute."
"Thanks Mom, I'm starved!"
David bolted down the food his body was craving and was finishing as CNN came back to the hotel scene to show the greenish military helicopter hovering over the wrecked building. A helmeted figure was being lowered on a cable and slowly was being dropped onto the small amount of hallway floor remaining outside the door to Tristan's room. There was Randy reaching out from the doorway while hanging on with one hand to assist the rescuer inside. And then he was down and in the room while the helicopter clattered above.
After a couple of minutes of waiting the helmeted figure was seen assisting Tristan out the doorway. Tristan was buckled into the harness and was clutching his suitcase. As the helicopter lifted him the helmeted guy gave Tristan a push away from the building, swinging him out as the cable was winched up. The helicopter slowly moved over to a clear zone and after slowly sinking some, lowered Tristan via the cable down to the ground where fire department personnel helped him get free of the harness. Tristan was helped off to the side while the helicopter positioned itself to rescue Randy. After a few attempts to maneuver the harness within reach of the rescuer inside the doorway, Randy had his turn at being lowered to safety. And now he was being unharnessed and led off to the side where Tristan was waiting!
David sat in front of the TV, totally engrossed in everything that was happening but was totally surprised when the camera shifted to Roberta Day standing there with Tristan, her microphone held up between them. "I have with me Tristan Cochran who was trapped in the hotel room nine stories up waiting all day for help. What was it like in your room when the tornado struck last night?"
"It was really scary. I was screaming my head off and I couldn't even hear myself because of the noise it made. We heard this terrible groaning screeching noise when the other side of the hotel fell down. Then afterwards it was totally quiet...and cold so we stayed in the bathroom with the door shut because the windows were broken out and everything and there was no electricity so we couldn't see hardly anything."
Roberta turned to her other side as the camera followed and now Randy came into view, looking bedraggled. His shirt was wrinkled and buttoned only half ways up, his face showing dark stubble, and his hair was plastered down to his head where it wasn't sticking out. "And you are the father of this boy, is that right? And what is your name, sir?"
"My name is Randall Cochran and yes, this is my son, Tristan."
"What brought you to Lubbock and this incredible adventure you have had?"
Looking tired and exhausted Randy answered, "I was interviewing for a position at Acme Manufacturing. We certainly didn't expect to be in danger of losing our lives when we came here."
"What are your plans now?"
"Our plans are to go home and be extremely thankful for the lives we have there and for each other," Randy stated as a hint of emotion crept into his voice.
"Tristan, do you have anything to add for our viewers?"
"Yes I do. I have a friend at home named David that I can't wait to get back to and tell him all the news!"
Roberta smiled at Tristan's youthful enthusiasm as she concluded, "Well, if he's watching he knows already the good news that you are here and safe. We have seen a dramatic rescue of Randall and Tristan Cochran, two lucky survivors plucked from the wreckage of the Quality Suites Inn. This is Roberta Day reporting from Lubbock, Texas".
Those words were like bright sunlight streaming in through the windows of David's soul. The darkness of worry and despair had been dispelled by seeing Tristan alive and well on CNN no less! He couldn't help but show his feelings of relief and joy after all those hours he was silently grieving by grinning constantly and happily buzzing around the house.
At one point his dad, Dan, remarked, "I haven't seen you this excited and happy since the time you won the Little League championship. Were you that worried about Tristan?" David's highly unusual behavior lately had Dan a little concerned about David's reaction and the apparent closeness between the two boys.
David thought fast before replying so as to deflect his dad's sudden interest in his friendship with Tristan. "Well yeah, Dad, of course I was. David's my best friend. Why shouldn't I have been worried about him?"
"I didn't mean you shouldn't care what happens to Tristan, but he's not your whole world. You have other friends and your family to include in your life too."
Thinking to himself David mentally replied, "Yeah right Dad...wouldn't you freak if you knew that David WAS my whole world and that we are like having sex together." Translating that thought to something acceptable to his dad David answered, "Yeah Dad. You're right. And I have lots of other friends so you don't need to worry about that, OK?"
"That's good David. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad they weren't hurt but it seemed you were taking it too hard."
There it was, the caution flag was out to remind David that his dad would be aware of any signs of "queer" behavior and would react to it. David renewed his resolve not to let his family know anything about the depth of his relationship with Tristan before putting a smile on his face and answering, "No problem dad. Everything's fine." Thankfully that ended the conversation and David went outside to shoot some hoops. He was still pumped from the excitement of hearing about his Tris and couldn't bear the thought of having to control his energy level due to staying indoors.
David played hoops for over an hour, pushing himself hard the entire time until he was feeling tired and sweaty. He went inside and headed up to take a shower. He still wished Tristan was there to take a shower with him but at least now he knew Tristan was OK and would be coming back, at least for a little if they did move to Lubbock permanently. David refused to think about that for now, focusing rather on what he would say and do when the boy he loved was it home again with him. As David washed himself and luxuriated under the enveloping warmth of the water, he imagined Tristan's arms around him, holding him close and the two of them becoming as one in body and soul. His body responded to his memories of the lovemaking they had over the course of the past two weeks. His breathing grew short, his erection straining and yearning for the stimulation it craved. His bunghole clenched repeatedly as David discovered he had an itch that only Tristan could reach with his magnificent love rod.
Copiously lathering his body, David imagined that it was Tristan that was bathing him and giving him the sensuous attention he had grown addicted to. David never before realized how his chest and nipples could be sources of erotic pleasure, and after teasing his nipples into hardened nubs of arousal his hands dropped down his nearly hairless belly to his crotch. His manhood stood stiffly at attention, the reddish helmeted head revealed. Oh sure, what he was doing to himself felt good, but it wasn't the same as if it were Tristan. David wanted to save himself for Tristan's return, which he hoped would be soon since he could feel his sex urge becoming more and more insistent as time wore on. His glands were full of man juice and they were arousing his brain's erotic pathways with their primal erotic drums.
David rinsed himself off and hopped out of the shower, his aching cock bouncing slightly as David dried himself. David couldn't help but hope Tristan came home really soon so he could recapture all of the things he found he dearly missed that came with Tristan's presence; the deep love they had developed with each other and the exquisite pleasures they found with each other's bodies.
BANG BANG BANG. Wouldn't you know it, it was Jimmy pounding on the bathroom door again. "David, let me in, I gotta go pee."
"Jimmy, why is it every time I take a shower you gotta go to the bathroom?" David shouted back at him.
"I dunno, I just do. Let me in!" Jimmy shouted back.
Angrily David wrapped the towel around his waist and yanked the door open. "There, now you can go pee. I'm outa here." David snatched up his clothes and stalked into his room to dress, leaving the bathroom door wide open in revenge for Jimmy's interruption.
"David, you forgot to close the door!" Jimmy protested over the sounds of his stream hitting the water.
David firmly shutting his bedroom door was the only answer Jimmy got. David dressed in some comfortable sweat pants and a T-shirt and spent the rest of the evening in the basement working on his hobby in the workshop there. He loved electronics and building electronic devices was his idea of mental fun. He would buy the supplies and kits from Radio Shack and was presently involved in assembling complicated circuits for a remote garage door opener which could be set to respond to different radio frequencies. David really enjoyed building practical things that made life easier.
As David worked he thought about his dad, wondering why he had such an obvious dislike to gays. His dislike went beyond being a distaste for the life style to being more of an acute sensitivity for detecting and then vocally condemning people of the gay persuasion. David searched through his memories for any sign of gayness in his dad - any indication of closeness with another male - and found none. In fact, as David thought about it critically, his dad was pretty reserved in showing his emotions and expressing affection towards his sons. He knew that if his dad found out what he and Tristan had done and how they loved each other there would be an eruption that would make Mount Vesuvius seem tame. No matter how hard he tried, David couldn't figure out why his dad took such a strong dislike to gays.
Time flew by as David considered his dad's attitude and the implications it held for him. He resolved to keep his love for Tristan hidden as best he could. And, if Tristan moved away it wouldn't be so hard to do. If, and it was still an if, Tristan was able to stay then the two of them would have to be careful of what they did outside of closed doors. Almost without noticing what he was doing David had assembled the various resistors, transistors, capacitors, and wires into another miracle of electronics as his mind was preoccupied with the conflict of values between the two most important men in his life...Tristan, the boy he loved, and his dad.
"David, it's getting late. Why don't you bring up the ice cream so we can have some before bedtime," his mother called down the stairs to him.
"Sure Mom, just a minute while I finish soldering this resistor in." David soldered the ends of the resistor, a thin stream of smoke curling up and leaving small dots of solder connecting the tiny barrel-shaped electronic piece to a myriad of others on the green circuit board. David unplugged his soldering iron and diligently put his things away before snapping off the workbench light, then taking the ice cream out of the freezer and up to the kitchen for his dad to dish up.
His whole family loved ice cream and it was their usual late evening snack. Mint with chocolate pieces was his personal favorite but they had plain vanilla presently which was OK too. David could always liven it up with peanuts and chocolate syrup! So he ate his ice cream with the rest of the family, everyone talking about the everyday topics that a family shares. Tristan and the tornado were discussed as well, reminding David once more that he was lonely without his Tris and making him wonder where Tristan was and why he hadn't called yet.
The whole family followed their normal end of day routine, each of them taking their turns in the bathroom and getting ready to retire to their bedrooms for the night. David was feeling extremely lonely as this was the first night that he was going to bed entirely by himself and it was an incredibly solitary feeling. He did feel better than last night when he had no idea whether Tristan was hurt or killed by the tornado, but he was still lonely and depressed. Once and in bed and the lights off, the oblivion of sleep came slowly while David wondered why Tristan hadn't called.
Yes it has taken me a long time to get this chapter posted! It has been the most difficult one of them all to do. And I ended up having to split chapter 5 in half because it was getting way too big and I wanted to spend more time with the second half to finish it properly. Soooooo, this is chapter 5 and it won't take me too long to have chapter 6 posted since its mostly written already. The "real good stuff" is in chapter 6. Sorry to keep you waiting for it.