Everlasting Love
Chapter 5
NOTE: This is a fictional biographic love story as Macy Strickland, his family and friends navigate their way through different stages of their lives. All of the characters in this story are fictional and resemblance to any one person whether dead or alive is purely coincidental. If you liked this chapter, please send me some feed back; I have a rough mental outline for how this goes but some extra details or inspiration along the way are always welcome. If you are offended by intimate male on male emotional and physical relationships, you should be questioning yourself why you are here in the first place. As always, please consider making a donation to Nifty to maintain this website.
I tossed and turned most of Sunday night, half worried, half excited and never sure which emotion was surging through me as I waited for Mitch Humboldt to pick me up that last Monday morning of my first semester at Towson High. At breakfast I powered through my cereal and an orange before going back upstairs to double check my hair and to change into a nicer shirt. At 7:14 am there was a knock at the screened storm door as six-foot-one Mitch Humboldt announced his presence and introduced himself to my grandmother, Rita while our dog, Shelby, gave him a sniff and her lick of approval.
"Macy, Mitch is here," Rita shouted up the steps as I finished putting my books into my backpack and headed down the steps dressed in jeans, a tee shirt and a half buttoned oxford shirt.
"Hey Mitch, just a second to grab my lunch" I said as I tried not to stare at him in a snug across his pecs and around his biceps lacrosse team tee shirt from the Lutherville-Timonium Rec League and khaki shorts.
"No problem Macy," he replied as I dashed to the kitchen and jammed the containerized leftovers from Sunday supper into my backpack before giving Rita a quick kiss good bye.
Once inside the older Volvo XC90 we both blurted out something to the effect of having talked to Robbie as we headed out of the subdivision towards Joppa Road. I took a chance to take the lead and said, "So I heard you wanted to know who I was?"
He smiled, "yeah, I guess Robbie told you about that?"
I tilted my head to look at Mitch and with half a snarky smile I replied, "yeah, I didn't know I had a fan club."
Stopping for the red light at Bellona Avenue, he looked at me just enough to make eye contact before the light turned green, "Macy, I am so fucking nervous."
I nodded my acknowledgement, "I hear you, I got your back, I promised Robbie that I would not do anything to embarrass you."
Mitch nodded as we took a slightly longer way to school than the bus normally takes, eventually falling behind a slightly older red Mazda Miata with the top down and a rainbow sticker plastered in the center of the rear bumper, "great, look who we're behind."
All I could see was a backwards ball cap with some bleached blond hair poking out from around the rim, "is that what's his name, Logan?"
"Logan Stotterman, Towson's biggest homo," Mitch stated, with emphasis on biggest, "he came out at the beginning of this year but he really turned his life upside down doing so."
"Why do you say that?" I asked as I watched the Miata accelerate and weave through the morning traffic with little regard for anybody else on the road.
"All of a sudden, being gay became the most important thing in his life, he went from decent athlete to full on queer last summer," Mitch said, pausing before he added, "oh wait, sorry, am I being too offensive, too harsh?"
I smiled a bit, "Nah, not at all, I definitely hear where you are coming from and trust me, I don't want that kind of drama in my life either. Like I told Robbie, I just want to be me, find somebody like me and we live happily ever after."
"So what would somebody like you be like?" Mitch asked.
"Fit, healthy and a bit sexy; inside and out; street smart and book smart, passionate about what is important in his life and able make me laugh once in a while, is that too demanding?" I listed in generalized terms.
"Actually, that's very reasonable," Mitch replied, "it doesn't sound like you are asking anymore of anybody else than you would expect from yourself."
We pulled into the school parking lot off Aigburth Road and still scored a decent parking space, Karen and Robbie arriving a minute later. Before we got out of the car Mitch said to me, "I really like you. After I saw you at the Y with Karen I just started studying you from afar; just kind of taking you all in, watching you. Macy, you roll with a certain ease that's tempered with determination and I really like that; from what I can see on the outside, nothing really gets to you."
"Thanks Mitch, that's really swee....," I said catching myself, "kind of you, it sounds very genuine and heartfelt. Trust me, there are some days when I have my demons going 100 miles per hour all around me; it's not always roses but I don't sit around what-iffing or boo-hooing about what's happened in my life or what brought me here either. Rather, I try to live it the way I think my sister, my mom and my dad would want me to."
"I could get into being passionate about you," Mitch said before we caught up with Robbie and Karen.
"You mean I'm important to you?" I asked.
"Of course, but I am still going to pick Robbie first for basketball in gym class," Mitch said with a grin on his face.
"Oh, and now you are going for funny too?" I replied.
"Well that and he is taller than you," Mitch said as the four of us formed up to enter through the doors near the cafeteria where Stotterman was being taunted about his sexuality by a few guys. The big strong silent lacrosse player in our foursome locked eyes with the taunters and barked out, "leave him alone, guys, just leave him alone."
Logan paused to turn around, staring at the four of us, "thanks Mitch, but I don't really need you to fight my battles."
"Fine Logan, fight your own battles. I was just trying to do my part to make the hallway a little nicer for everyone," Mitch replied.
My gut went into overdrive watching Logan lock eyes with Mitch then me then back to Mitch like he knew something was going on. I didn't say anything about it when I saw Mitch in French or at lunch or during last period phys ed but that look from Logan burned in my head all day.
Mitch and I headed to the parking lot after the last bell, both of us having changed back into our regular clothes after a quick shower in the locker room. As much as I mentally suffered I made sure I avoided more than a quick glance at Mitch as we showered and changed before stopping at our hall lockers for our backpacks. Once the doors of the Volvo were shut, the engine and air conditioning running I asked, "so what's really up with Logan?"
A long sigh from Mitch, "he was my first."
Now it clicked all clicked in my head,"Ahhhhhh, so maybe he is connecting the dots, maybe a little jealous?"
Mitch shrugged his shoulders as we started to wheel out of the parking lot once the convoy of school buses departed, "rec league a couple of summers ago, I was in 8th grade, he was freshman here...we were putting equipment away in the shed. I guess I had a thing for him back then, back when he was more like me. Anyhow, maybe I shouldn't talk like that about Logan but stuff happened."
"What stuff?" I asked, demanding to know more but not sure how much Mitch would divulge.
"Taking turns humping against each other in our soccer shorts, I came almost instantly," Mitch volunteered.
"Bravo" I said, "not too far from my own first time experience."
"Oh yeah?" Mitch asked, now almost demanding to know more from me.
"Yeah, but let's talk about this first, is he going to be a problem for you, for us?" I continued digging to get to the root of the answer to the question that had been dogging my brain all day.
"He's been cool, like I said this morning, he just dove into the deep end of the gay pool, didn't bother wading in from the shallow end," Mitch said trying to put it into swimming terms for me, "I think he knows I would beat his brains in if he outed me."
"Would you do that to him?" I demanded to know, "to me?"
"No, that didn't come out right Mace" Mitch said with thought in his voice, "you mind if I call you Mace?"
I smiled, "no, I kind of like it but there is still a question on the floor to be answered."
"I would have to hate myself an awful lot to do that to Logan," Mitch started to explain himself, "and even hate myself more to do it to you. I'm just wrestling with how to come out to the whole world. How did you do it?"
I snorted a bit, "it was kind of done for me; in fact, Danny Engel, my first if you will, his parents called my parents and they weren't even a little discreet about the topic; they didn't care who knew or who they told. It was like the dominoes started falling after that; there was no way for me to hold them back them from falling so I just said, yep, I'm gay. And nobody got to bent up about it, I think there were plenty of suspicions and what not."
"Still talk to Danny?" Mitch asked.
I shrugged my shoulders before breaking into a smile as we went past my street and then on up to the Humboldt house on Alston Lane "once in a while, a text or on Instant Messenger; told him I'm crushing on a boy here."
"We can study here for a while if you want or just talk if you prefer but my parents want to meet you. According to them, you are my imaginary friend since I only talk about this amazing guy Macy. They have no proof that you actually walk, talk, live or breathe," Mitch said explaining the detour as we parked.
"Sure, just let me call Rita," I said, fumbling for my phone as we pulled into the driveway, a newer pick up truck in front emblazoned Humboldt Design + Build, LLC parked out on the street.
I grabbed my backpack and followed Mitch up onto the rear deck where Jim Humboldt was sitting at an outdoor dining table under the shade of an umbrella with a tablet reviewing some construction job as Mitch introduced me, "Hey Dad, how's it going, I'd like you to meet Mason Strickland."
Mr. Humboldt stood and it was easy to see why Mitch was 6'-1" as I extended my hand outward, "Good afternoon Mr. Humboldt, a pleasure to meet you finally, everybody calls me Macy."
For a tradesman, Mr. Humboldt had a firm shake from a gentle hand, "Pleasure is mine Macy, Mitch's mom and myself were worried that you were just a figment of Mitch's imagination."
"Nope, here I am, in the flesh!" I said, looking at Mitch.
"We're going to be studying at the kitchen table, okay, Dad?" Mitch stated.
"I'm just about done here if you guys want to sit outside, makes no difference to me," Mr. Humboldt offered.
"Cool, Mace, I'm gonna grab us a couple of waters, okay?" Mitch said heading inside.
"Sure," feeling a bit nervous left alone with Mitch's father.
"So, you must be Cal Strickland's son, I mean, grandson," the senior Humboldt surmised, "he owns Advanced Engineering, right?"
"Yes sir, right on both counts" I replied.
"He designed a very cool stainless steel stair rail system for a job we were doing in Ruxton, the customer raves about it any time we talk," Mitch's dad continued as Mitch returned with three bottles of water, giving one to his dad as the senior Humboldt put the tablet into sleep mode.
"Cal mentioned he did some work for you, I'll let him know the customer really likes it," I said as Jim Humboldt left us alone to study.
"Nice meeting you Macy, we hope to see you around more," Mitch's father said as he went inside.
I had already gotten my notebook book out as I watched Mitch nervously fish for his own notes from Tuckerman's French 3 class from his backpack. I smiled at Mitch, sitting next to me, "hey, before we get knee deep in this parlez-vous français stuff I just want to say how proud I was, how proud all of us were when you smacked down Logan's hallway hecklers today even if he thinks he can fight his own battles. You're going to be a good man Mitch Humboldt and I hope I am along for the ride."
And almost on reflex, Mitch's right hand reached for my left and gave it a long squeeze as we smiled into each other's eyes, "Thanks Mace, I think we are off to a good start."