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, in towns, cities, countries, nor governmental areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then you should not read this story. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age, in most state 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.
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"For Sale By Owner" 30 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee
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As Alex treaded the stairway downwards, he thought he heard voices in the kitchen. He made a beeline for the cafe doors, when he heard what he thought to be Devon's voice. Slicing the crowd in half, Kyle to his right, Dom to his left, he grabbed Devon in his arms.
"Bro!" Devon called out, hugging, kissing Alex on the lips.
Alex reciprocated, Dom complaining, good-naturedly, "You wanna save some of that for me?"
After breaking up the show of affection, Alex does the same, hugging Dom, adding a friendly kiss to the cheek.
"What's to eat?" Devon asks.
Kyle sketches out the menu for them, ending with, "And as soon as Dustin and Raj get here, we can eat."
Alex offers, "Wine?"
From the fridge, Kyle brings out a ball of cheese, encrusted with walnut pieces, then two other varieties, one that slices with a little knife and a creamy spread. Alex uncovers the plastic wrap from a tray of assorted crackers.
"Elegant!" Dom remarks.
"It's all Kyle's doings," Alex mentions.
"A meal and this too? Where am I going to put it all?" Dom tells them.
Devon pounces on Dominic's belly, saying, "Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way!"
Just then they hear the doorbell ring.
"I bet that's Dustin and Raj," Kyle, the perfect host says, leaving them for the front door.
In seconds, the three end up in the kitchen. Unlike the affection between Alex and Devon, Dustin and Raj, also from the Lake Quinn area, receive a quick buddy-hug. Kyle has their wine all poured out, handing it to them.
"Good wine," Dominic tells him, holding his empty glass towards the pouring out.
Alex warns, "Be careful... on an empty stomach."
"Dominic?" Devon questions, "Why he can guzzle down a gallon before he's feeling it!"
"Yes," Dominic reels off with, "Remember us Italians... from the old wine country!"
It was also a good tactic for leading on of the conversation, about Dominic's past, his life in Italy, moving to America when he was a toddler. Of his family life, Domenic wasn't too dramatic. In no time his story brought everyone up to the future.
"So, here I am now, got a good man, good job and good friends. What could be better?"
The gang hooted when Dominic turned, did a one arm hug and kissed Devon on the mouth.
"I'm not sure if I liked that," the kiss, "or the wine better!" Devon joked.
Then they all wanted to make comparisons, but Dominic rebuked them, knowing they joked.
Breaking off into little cliches, Alex found himself chatting with Devon.
"So, what are you going to be doing while you're waiting to get into FIT?" Alex inquires.
"Waiting? `Not'!"
Perplexed, Alex asks, "What? I thought you didn't make it, Dev?"
"True. However, Dominic's former lover works there and owed him a favor."
Running it over in his mind, Alex ran quickly through the rank of male professors, trying to think of which one could be gay. His pause in their conversation gave Devon impressions of Alex's thinking.
"Give up?" Devon asked.
"I can't even think of who?"
"Afon Hasteras?"
"Afon Hasteras?" Alex questions. "He was at the cafe with Stephen Braddock the other day!"
"Really? Then it all makes sense."
Alex was confused and Devon knew it.
"When Dominic was eighteen and in high school, he met Afon in the city. Dom's dad never used the townhouse, always telling Dominic it was a place where he could go a crash."
"Nice," Alex comments.
"Yeah, but then he met Afon, who at the time was in his early twenties, not even affiliated with FIT. They had an affair, Afon taking Dominic to shows, etcetera. Of course, the sex was there and Afon made the most of it."
"So, when did it turn sour?"
Devon continued, "A year later, after Dominic was admitted to NYU, Afon secured the position at the fashion institute. Over dinner, he explained to Dominic he couldn't be seen fratinizing with a teenager."
"But Dom was a freshman in college and a presitigious one at that!"
"I know, but Afon didn't see it all that way. All he cared about is how it looked for him."
"Selfish," Alex said, drinking the last spot of wine in his glass.
"Exactly how I described it to Dominic, but he said no."
"No?"
"Dominic had his own theory. He blamed himself, saying he was a teenager with repressed hormones, that he involved himself with Afon purposefully to experience the gay lifestyle, something he never had done, because he was afraid of his father finding out."
"His father eh?"
"This is the ironic part. When Dominic finally told his family, nobody could care a switch what style of life he chose."
"Wow! So he worried for nothing!" Alex exclaimed, setting his glass down, standing there, his arms folded across his chest.
"Apparently. But getting back to Afon, they wound up parting as friends. Afon had plenty of money because his line of fashions started to become more popular and he secured the position at FIT."
"So, they were on good enough terms for you to get into FIT?"
"It was there all the time," Devon hinted.
"Huh?"
"Yeah. The committee was undecided. It was a tossup between two other applicants and myself. So, Afon, after hearing from Dominic, went to the committee and bragged their ears off, as if trying to save his own scalp."
"Awesome!" Alex said, dropping his arms, then positioning them along the counter edge.
"Only one problem," Devon down-keyed the conversation.
"What's that?"
"Now I've gotta prove myself."
"It shouldn't be so hard to do."
"Thanks," Devon replied, looking into Alex's eyes, looking for something no longer there. Then, placing his hands on Alex's waist, he tenderly said, "Thanks for my last two years of high school!"
Alex, knowing what he meant, smiled, saying, "That's what friends are for."
"Yeah? Well I owe ya... big time," Devon told him.
Kyle appeared, while Devon's hands still encompassed Alex's narrow waist. Joking, he said to Devon, "Get any closer and I'll consider it a moving violation!"
Laughing the three headed for the dining room. The table, laid out in fine china, white clothed napkins, silver flatware with matching candlestick holders looked stately enough to serve royalty.
"What's the occasion?" Dominic asked.
Kyle made up in a hurry, "Good friends deserve good things!"
"I'll drink to that!" Dominic said, woofing down the last of his third glass of wine.
"I'll take that," Kyle told him, removing it to a buffet table behind him.
Seeing the reason, Dominic eyed up the blush wine and new wine glasses set out at every place setting. Just then the door bell rings.
"Oh my Lord!" Kyle exclaims.
"I don't believe we forgot!" Alex says.
Kyle adds, "You would figure we would notice the extra place setting."
As Kyle attended to the guests, Alex went to the front door. "Welcome!" he blurted out, opening it to Carlos.
After they hugged, Carlos retrieved his hand from behind his back, saying, "Here, I brought you some flowers!"
"They look awesome!" Alex said in exchange for the colorful bouquet, tilting them to smell their frangrance.
Entering the dining room, those that sat, rose up for the occasion of meeting the five feet, nine inch tall latino.
Devon turned to Dominic, in regards to their association, whispering in his ear, "Are we still on a trial basis? I think I changed my mind!"
Giggling, Dominic reaches over, his right hand squeezing Devon's left, a signal of affection.
"Everybody, this is Carlos Guerra. You can introduce yourselves."
At the same time, Alex ushered Carlos around the side of the table, to his place at the end, next to Devon. Along the way, he did the honors of introductions, pointing out Dustin and Raj, on the other side of the table, which Dustin set the score straight, reminding Carlos of their meeting at the food market.
"Right," Carlos made the connection, "the guy with the mangos," pointing to Dustin.
Dustin smiled his toothiest grin. Raj giggled.
The dinner went along right nicely, Kyle finding he made more than needed to fill up his guests, but better more than running out. Of course, everybody made fun of Dominic, having three helpings of veal parmesan.
"Best Italian food I've tasted in a long time," He complimented Kyle. "Finer than most Italian restaurants I've eaten at!"
"Maybe you should change your major again?" Alex teased him, across the wide length of the table.
Picking up on it, Dominic inquires, "Oh, you have an interest in cooking?"
"My brother, Knapp. He wanted me to go to the CIA, to keep an eye on me. I know it was coming from my dad. To keep me out of trouble," Kyle explained, in a nutshell.
"Oh?" Dominic asks, "Are you in the habit of being a troublemaker?"
"No, it's not like that at all. It was father's interest to keep the family name pristine," Kyle said sarcastically.
"I see," Dominic replies, even though it seemed there seemed to be `ghosts' Kyle was hiding. He let it slide, saying, "well if you ever change your mind, I have some interests in the restaurant business."
"You didn't tell me," Devon brought up.
Dominic jokes, "There's no way I can unload my whole life story in the three days I've known you, Devon!"
"Oh yeah. Right." But according to Devon's own thoughts, it's like he's known Dominic for years. Almost as if childhood buds, knowing him right up to the current minute.
Alex covers for his best friend, "Oh, I'm sure there's tons of things I haven't told Kyle."
As with Devon and Dominic, it's been a little longer, by means of a few hours, that they've known each other.
All the while, Carlos has been listening in, as well as Dustin and Raj.
"What about you, Carlos?" Dominic stirs up some conversation. "I hear you run a food market over near Hunter?"
"My dad owns it. By a freak mistake, I wound up back at home." Carlos goes on to explain about the change in music conservatories, then talks about the food market, dragging Dustin and Raj into the conversation by way of mangos.
"Mangos?" Dominic says.
"Right," Kyle says, "they came to us with a shopping cart of chips and salsa...."
The highlights of their visit, originating from `mango-talk', branched out to nutrition. Soon the subject matter had switched off to talks about going to the gym.
"Gym? `Can't afford it on my salary, plus school comes first," Carlos lets on.
Before Dominic can address the situation, Raj says, "Dom has a full gym in the basement."
"Yeah," Dustin agrees, adding, "and out back there's a hot tub!"
"A hot tub? Outdoors in the city?" Carlos questions.
"Nooooo," Dustin builds, "the hot tub is all enclosed. A beautiful setup!"
"Still," Carlos says, "I would feel strange using it without paying you something."
"It's there!" Dominic speaks up. "Use it!"
Dominic goes on to say he has under-utilized the gym, but getting plenty of use out of the hot tub. Devon jumps in, telling him get ready, because, "At the crack of dawn tomorrow that gym is going to come alive!"
Dwelling on Devon's words, Dominic figures he could get used to it. After all, the benefits of sharing a hot tub afterwards, could make it all worth it.
During dessert, Dominic couldn't get over Kyle's Italian cheesecake, having three slivers, before calling it quits.
"You've got talent," Dominic went on and on about Kyle's cooking skills. "It'd be a shame to watch it all go down the drain."
Carlos gets Kyle off the hook, by asking, "How about playing us some trumpet?"
"Yeah," Alex coaxes his lover on, even though he hasn't heard him play yet.
"Not on a full stomach," Kyle replies. "Some other time."
All the others accept his excuse, excepting Carlos, the musician of the bunch, acting disappointed, as Kyle sees it.
"Well maybe one short piece," Kyle reconsiders.
Still keyed into Carlos, he sees the eighteen year old latino smile, at which he smiles back. Retiring to the other room, Kyle goes upstairs, then returns with his trumpet case in hand and a folded music stand. Quicker than Kyle opening his trumpet case and taking the instrument out, Carlos has the music stand all set up.
"Thanks," Kyle replies, with a smile.
Setting a book up on the stand, Kyle opens it, fanning through it. He settles on a piece by Haydn. He warms up with a couple of scales, then dives into the selection, announcing beforehand, "Haydn Trumpet Concerto."
A few measures into the piece, he stops, apologizes, then begins again. Two pages on, he quickly ends it, turning it into a two-page piece, which should have gone on for about twenty more.
"That's all for now," he announces, setting his trumpet in the case. The guests rave on, Dominic praising him almost as much as his cheesecake, but Kyle's main focus is on Carlos, who seems to lack the enthusiasm the others have, though he's smiling and telling him it sounded very nice.
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Copyright 2007 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author.