You know the drill: The story below is a work of fiction, set in the format of reality. Any resemblances to real people, alive or in the hereafter, is entirely coincidental in nature. It is not meant to accurately reflect upon persons, of continents or islands, in countries, counties, cities, towns, villages, neighborhoods, streets, cul-de-sacs, nor governmental or non-governmental areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then why are you here? Seriously, if guy-to-guy sex stuff makes you barf or is going to screw up your mind, you should not read this story. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age, in most states and countries, you are not allowed to read this story, by law. Check with your local laws regarding such.
% Sexual safety matters. Remember guys, this is fiction. In real life, use protection.
FOR SALE BY OWNER ~ Life On The Drawing Board 03 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee
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"You have quite a number of messages left while on your shopping trip?" Ellis informed Alex and Kyle as they walked into the lobby of the upright condo residence.
"When it rains it pours!" Kyle says of it.
"Anybody we know?" Alex hinted for Ellis to get on with it.
"An envelope addressed to both," Ellis ferried the first offering across the counter.
"Aellert Photography?" Kyle reads off of the envelope.
Opening it, Alex sums up, "Troy Aellert, from the Stud Muffin Party. His uncle's made him a partner in the business and," he reads it right from the letter, "If you ever need a photographer, look me up, Love Troy."
"Love?" Kyle questions. "We spoke like once at the party!"
Laughing, Alex says, "Networking. So what. Says here he gives discounts for close friends?"
And even though Kyle could afford ten photographers, he says, "I love him already!"
Pouty, Alex replies, "More than me?"
Smirking, Kyle 'ignores' Alex and asks, "Who else Ellis?"
"A.... Carlos Guerra stopped by..."
"Carlos!" Kyle and Alex shout to each other, Alex saying, "Now that's a person we haven't seen in a very long time!"
Kyle says, "Yeah and too bad we missed him."
Ellis, showing impatience, "You can catch up with him tonight. His band," he reads it off the paper, expertly in a Spanish dialect, "Los Gatos Fresco, is playing in the Village at eight. Here's the address he left," slipping another note, Ellis gives them, "Then there's a 'Lance Hawk'?"
"Lance? OMG!" Alex exclaims, hearing the name of his swimming buddy from Pennsylvania. "I can't believe we missed him!"
This is where Ellis Sinkler chilled out, not minding at all to inform, "Such a nice looking young man, too." He smiles.
"Forget about that!" Alex badgers. "What'd he have to say?"
"Small world," Ellis leaves them hanging for a sec. Their looks made him continue, "He's got himself a job working as a house manager for Stephen Braddock!"
"Stephen?" Alex questions. "Why didn't Stephen tell us?" he picks on Kyle.
Kyle defends, "Could be he didn't make the connection yet?"
"Probably," Alex shucks it off.
"And oh!" Ellis calls their to their attention expectance of immediate response, "A call from a 'Sargeant Joseph Nouguet'?"
Over-reacting, Alex charges, "Shit Ellis! Joey should have been the first message you gave us!"
"I know," Ellis replies in a glum manner.
Placing his hand on Ellis' hand, Kyle says, "It's okay. You know.... family?"
"Right," Ellis accepts the improvised apology, "but he's right... I shoulda!"
"Like OMG! OMG! Like OMG!" Alex raved out loud in typical banter. "Like, O.. M.. G..!"
"Whatsammatter?" Kyle asks.
Same time Alex twirls around and sinks his butt into a lobby chair, the letter falls out of his hand.
Sure, Kyle had thoughts, squatting over to catch the letter as it fell between Alex's legs, but more important his curiosity won out as he scooped the letter up, fearing the worst. He read, "Dear Alex... Remember how we talked about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'? I didn't make any mention at the time, but...." The reality of Joey's letter stifled even Kyle at this moment, him reiterating Alex's response, "OMG!"
"Yeah, right?" Alex says of it.
"Joey's gay and they're kicking him out of the military?"
Dwelling on 'the mail', both had neglected Peter, whom stood in front of a lobby chair, taking his shirt off, putting on another, comparing it to the one he had on before. About the fourth shirt, instead of talking fashion he blurts out, "I miss Michael!"
"What?" Alex asks, knocked out of deep thought.
Walking over to where Alex is seated, the ten year old takes up residence benching himself on Alex's thigh, asking, "How come Michael didn't want to shop with me anymore?"
"It's not the case at all, Peter," Alex lovingly allowed him to fall in, using Alex's bod as the chair. "You have to understand, like I have Kyle, Michael has Darryl."
Peter puts it, "And who do I got?"
Leaning with his head against Alex's shoulder, he looks up at him for an answer.
Kyle picks up the slack, "Y'know Peter, in a couple of weeks we'll all be back to the fall swing. You'll be back to school and making plenty of new friends?"
It was on Kyle's mind, saying it, but Peter beat him to it, "School? What school am I going to?"
"Good question," Alex said, for now folding up Joey's letter. In a chance the letter could've said something contrary, Alex unfolded it, skimmed it and refolded it, stuffing it back in the envelope.
"I wonder if Chad had any plans for Peter?"
"Chad said if he liked Areezon-ee-ah we could go there." At the time mentioned, Peter thought it fine, but now he had two 'nice' adult friends in his life, "But I want to stay with you'n'Kyle'n'Michael," he put it to Alex.
To look at the situation, it seemed glum. Even Alex and Kyle felt remorse, not only for their own reasons, but for Peter who seemed to be the one left up in the air.
"Wait!" Peter exclaims with joy all of a sudden, brushing Kyle's arm to the side. And mimicking Alex bursts out with, "OMG!" he mimciks the two. With a blast of energy, he hops out of Alex's lap and rushes for the door, yelling, "Cha-a-a-a-addy! You're home!"
Well, Chad didn't think of this as home. Matter of fact, it's been so long since he's been in one place long enough, every place he's lived has been a temporary lodging. Now all he could think of, as he dropped his gym bag, the smaller one falling from his shoulder is, "Pe-e-e-e-e-eter!" He stooped to one knee and scooped his running brother up in both arms.
"I almost missed you so much!"
"Almost?" Chad giggled as he peered beyond Peter at Alex and Kyle, both shrugging their shoulders.
Short reunion, Peter leading Chad by the hand to the pile of clothing, half in and out of the bags, on the lobby chair.
"Where did this come from?" Of course, Chad's concern had been registered in dollar signs.
Kyle says of it, "Um, whether you want it or not, you now are the owner of an expense account at Braddock's Uptown."
"What?" Chad's happy face bottoms out.
"Oh but don't worry," Alex jumps in with, "what Kyle forgot to mention is, your account is in the green!"
"Huh?"
Leave it to Peter to lend a hand, "Stephen gave me these clothes for my birthday," adding, "and we're going to have my birthday party at Garth's horse farm and Stephen's gonna have food for us and Garth is gonna rent some kids!"
"Rent some kids?" Chad smiled. "Horse farm?" And looking back at the chair loaded with shirts, pants and accessories, "Who's Stephen and Garth?"
Before answer could be had, Peter is asking, "Hey, where's Carman?"
And then it took precedent, Kyle and Alex wondering the same.
Smiling, Chad took a relaxed pose, shaking his head back and forth, saying, "Carman is the reason I cut my trip short."
Figuring it in a demeaning way, Alex asks with concern, "Why? What happened?"
Kyle assumes, "You didn't get fired?"
Adult stuff, Peter went back to checking out his 'birthday presents'.
"Oh no! Nothing like that," Chad is happy to report. "On the contrary, things couldn't have gone better!"
As Chad gathers his luggage, Ellis giving a hand to Peter to collect up his mostly unwrapped clothes, the four hear out Chad as they elevate themselves to the top floor.
Peter asks, "How come you didn't take 'your' shirt off Chad?"
Chad, discussing how Carman made heads turn, taking his shirt off to point out what muscle groups their product worked for, made his brother curious as to why he didn't!
"Because Carman is more, um..." he didn't want to go into how daring and uninhibited Carman had been. In fact, Chad didn't bring up the part when Carman got to the lower body workout, opening his pants and stepping out of them.
"I think what Chad is trying to say is maybe Carman has the build of a muscleman and maybe that's why he felt he could show how the equipment worked better?" Alex got him off the hook, even though he didn't really offer much in the way of a concrete explanation.
"That's it," Chad replies. He smiled though, thinking how Kyle and Alex would react if he did mention of how Carman stood there at the sales meeting, in only his lowrise Aussie Bums!
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"Nah, I haven't eaten much fish, except tuna," Michael said of the lobster on the plate in front of him.
Darryl could tell. Michael wasn't attacking it in a way a lobster eater would, tapping on it with his knife. He makes comment, "The lobster is not coming out of it's shell. You have to go in and get it Michael!"
"Poor thing," Michael replies, having seen it after Darryl picked two live lobsters out of the aquarium for them.
"The same could be said for a cow, eating a hamburger?"
"I guess," Michael says, but leaves room for speculation, "but it's not like we picked a poor, defenseless cow out of an aquarium and had him thrown into boiling hot water?"
"Here!" Darryl finally says, a clump of lobster meat presented to Michael on a small fork shaped like a trident, soaked in garlicky oil.
Still pent up on the poor, dying lobster, scalded in a kettle of hot water, Michael says as he opens his mouth, "I'll eat it, but I won't like it!"
Darryl waits as Michael chews, moves it around from cheek to cheek.
"Not bad," Michael says, reaching across the table, taking Darryl's lobster, all hacked up, relieving himself of the chore.
"Hey!" Darryl exclaims, watching him do it. He could have stopped it from happening, but chocked it up to Michael being 'cute'.
When the check came the two had had so much wine, Michael forgot to ask how much, putting in the two bucks he had in his wallet, 'thinking' it covered his portion of the meal. He did add something which set the two to thought, "I've got to get myself a job!"
"Matter of fact," Darryl said as he got up, made sure Michael could stand up straight, and head for the door, "I've been in thought about just that prospect."
"What'd ya say?" Michael asked, dropping rapidly a half step, the one he didn't know was coming up, as they left the seafood restaurant.
"How about a cup of coffee?"
"Okay." Michael questions, "Before, you were talking about some 'prospects'." Right now, Michael hadn't an idea what 'prospects' were, but it seemed key to the conversation.
Before answering, Darryl ducts into a bakery-cafe, steering Michael to a round table. "What would you like for dessert?" He asks.
"Um," Michael turns in his chair to see the elegant display of goodies, "one of each?"
Tough decision for Darryl as he approached the counter, a display of no less than at least a hundred different goodies.
"Next?" the counter man called out, staring at Darryl and not bothering to ask for his number!
"Am I next?" Darryl places his hand on his chest.
Rather than a direct answer, the guy, looking late teens or twenty says, "The 'man' with the submarine."
Joking, Darryl asks, "Have you been stalking my submarine?"
Laughing, the guy says, "I've seen you down at the dock. Nice 'set of wheels'!"
"It used to belong to me, but now Michael," Darryl tags him with his thumb over his shoulder, "is the owner."
Giggling, the guy says, "I hope he doesn't fall asleep at the wheel!"
Without even ordering, Darryl rushes back to the table, catching Michael from falling out of his chair.
"Oh-h-h... I must've dozed off... where's my cream puff?"
To both of their surprise a hand sets a plate down on the table, the counterman saying, "Will this be okay for you?"
Michael wasn't even looking at the pastry as he responded, "I think I'm dreaming!"
"He's joking," Darryl said, trying to cover up the fact they didn't even know this dude's sexual preference.
But to let Darryl and Michael know where he stands, he says, "No problem." And smiling, "I've gotten that line from guys before and," he looks back and forth between the two, thinking with desperation, wipes his right hand off and offers it up, "I'm Kellan Ackerman."
Taking his hand, Darryl says, "Any relation to Ackerman who owns this bakery?"
Michael says the first thing to come to him, "Darryl, you idiot! What d'ya think? This is their kid!"
Taking it in stride, Darryl replies, "Oh, so the guy who just gave you a history lesson on lobsters, is an idiot?"
Even though Kellan saw nobody was offended, he says, "I've got to get back to the counter."
Michael turns around and says, "Nice meetin' ya Kell!"
"So what's this about me being an idiot?" He poses to Michael, taking the Napolean to be his own.
Michael, his eyes on the goody, says all in one sentence, "I was only kidding, aren't ya gonna share?"
Smiling, the first forkful, Darryl lifts to Michael's lips, instead of his own. Since Kellan had neglected to bring two forks, Darryl fed both.
Five minutes later, Kellan's hands hold three mugs of coffee, setting them down on the table. He takes up sitting at the third chair. "Anybody thirsty?"
"For only the last five minutes!" Michael says.
"You'll get used to Michael's humor," Darryl tells him.
Kellan says of it, "No problem. I think he's kind of..." he caught himself from revealing, 'cute', "Michael 'should' be upset, after all it prolly should be expected of me to... to... to read my customer's minds." Then, running his hand over his face and exhaling, "I guess I flubbed that up!"
It tickled Michael to laugh out loud, Darryl getting a jolt out of it.
"That fork for me!" Michael exclaims, stealing it out of Kellan's pocket.
Throwing his hand over the empty pocket, Kellan says a faint, "Owch! Ya stabbed my nip!"
He got them laughing from his own humor. Darryl, half-sincere, says, "Now apologize Michael!"
To the two, Michael replies, "Like how do you mean that?"
Darryl explains, "Michael, we've just met Kellan and...."
With insight, Kellan says, "No problem for me, but aren't you two like... boyfriends or partners or something?"
"We've known each other a few days, but I think you could term our relationship as boyfriends," Darryl replies.
"That's really nice," Kellan replies, getting up and pushing his chair under the table, taking his cup of coffee.
"You don't have to go," Michael says.
Kellan replies, "I should really tend to the counter."
Darryl, looking over to the counter, says, "There's no customers, but I suppose you're on the clock."
Strangely, without Kellan there, the two found themselves without conversation, until Michael brings up, "I like him."
"Kellan? I do too."
"He's cute."
"Yeah," Darryl agrees, then sips.
"Can I tell you something Darryl and promise me you won't think much of it?"
"What's that?"
"Nah," Michael gives up, "I better not say it." He sips his coffee.
Silence prevailing, the two look straight ahead, to the wall which houses a juice vending machine. It doesn't take logic for a person to know each is looking at what is behind themselves, a reflection of the glass door.
Smiling, Darryl says, "He's got a nice mouth to kiss!"
In a dreamy state, Michael replies, "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing!"
Confronting Michael, Darryl says, "You were, were you?"
Nicely accusing, Michael tells him, "Well you brought it up, Darryl!"
Glancing quickly over his shoulder, seeing Kellan had wandered away, presumably into the back, Darryl says, "Y'know, in science we process things from a hypothetical viewpoint?" He gulps some coffee.
"What's that shit mean?"
Two seconds later, Michael is pounding Darryl on the back as he chokes.
"Hey, you okay?" They hear, from towering above.
Michael says, "Darryl was talking about hyperthreadical stuff and then began choking."
"Hyper....wha..." Kellan questions. "Hold on. I'll get you some water."
Coming down from his coughing fit, Darryl, suspicious Michael might leak the reason for his coughing session, says, "Kellan doesn't have to know...."
"I don't have to know what?" Kellan says as places a glass of water on the table.
"Um," Michael offers.
Kellan presents, "Hey, if you forgot your wallets or something, no problem. You can pay the next time you're in!"
Making a corporate decision here, risking ticking Kellan off, Darryl stutters, "We were.... talking.... about... 'you'."
"What of it?" Kellan asks nonchalantly.
Michael is leaving this to Darryl, but when he doesn't react quick enough, he speaks out, "We were talking about you, like how two gay guys talk about when they see a hot guy?"
Kellan's face showed how a person looks when they are trying to contain their laughter.
They both looked up at him, smiles on their faces, Michael saying, "I hope you don't mind that we think you're cute?"
Then Kellan reveals, "You know, the thoughts you two have of me are a lot more mild than what I thought of you?"
"Really?" Darryl says, but wasn't really surprised.
Kellan further tells all, "It's the reason I had to go in the back. Fortunately the baker was on break out in the alley. It gave me time to unload my pent up thoughts of you two naked and me lying in between you!"
"Oh really?" Darryl asks.
Michael, grabbing a fingerful of creme from the remnants of the Napolean says before licking it off, "No wonder your dessert is so creamy-good!"
Suddenly, Kellan looks around and sighs, "Whew!"
Michael and Darryl had to do a double-take too. Seeing the place empty of customers and the fact they were being quite vocal and unreserved in conversation, saw it Kellan's way. Micah had been used to being out in character and conversation, Byron getting used to it, but it could be clearly seen it was all new to Kellan!
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Copyright 2010 T. Chase McPhee
`FOR SALE BY OWNER ~ Life On The Drawing Board' may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author.
The more you stretch, the more you can fit in... 'spread' happiness! TCMcP.....