Life is Full of Surprises
GRADUATION PRESENT
© 2003-2005 Josh Brandon
All Rights Reserved
THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHT © 2003-2005 BY JOSH BRANDON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISTRIBUTION FOR COMMERCIAL GAIN, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, POSTING ON SITES WHICH REQUIRE PAYMENT TO ACCESS THE SITE, DISTRIBUTION IN BOOK FORM (EITHER AS A WHOLE OR PART OF A COMPILATION) FOR A FEE, OR DISTRIBUTION ON CD, DVD, OR ANY OTHER ELECTRONIC MEDIA FOR A FEE, IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S WRITTEN CONSENT.
This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The sexuality of all characters is entirely a figment of the author's imagination, and does not reflect on any celebrities used in this story. For those of you that are NOT of legal age, please find other material to read. If you are offended by male/male material, or it is illegal to view such materials in your area, you should be leaving at this time.
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This is a story of friendship and love. I have read some other stories on the Nifty Archives and I wanted to try my hand at writing, so here I am. Any questions or comments can be emailed to me at spacecowboy_josh@yahoo.com I would like to hear what you the readers have to say about my story. But please, don't send me flames. I would never do that to other people.
Thank you.
CHAPTER 1
Kellen Bradley was your average high school graduate. He was eighteen years old and preparing to start college after the summer break. Kellen was a very prominent young man. He had long, thick, straight brown hair that reached his shoulders. His deep blue eyes shined so bright one could just look in them and see straight into his soul. His five feet, eleven inch stature made his body ideal. Kellen grew up in central Oklahoma in a very stable household. His parents, Anthony and Kate Bradley, were very good parents. His dad owned and operated the chain of sporting good stores known as Bradley's. Even though his dad was busy, he always made time to spend with his family. Kellen's mom worked as a member of the Board of Regents at the local college. His two sisters, Jordan and Nicole, were a handful, but they were still his wonderful sisters. Nicole was twenty and in college. Jordan was seventeen, getting ready to start her senior year of high school. Camden, Kellen's twenty-two-year old brother, was living in New York managing the New York branch of Bradley's.
Kellen laid in his bed one night thinking about everything in his life. He had recently broken up with his girlfriend. He and Ashley had been together for two and a half years before she decided that she didn't love him. She came over on a Monday and broke the news to him, then jumped into the car of some guy and they drove off together, leaving him standing at the front door very devastated. "Why, why..." he cried out over and over. He finally decided to go into the house. He shut and locked the front door, then retreated to his room to bring about another line of tears. He cried all night that night. It was like someone had reached inside him and pulled out his heart, and cut it up into a million pieces.
Here he lay three days later thinking about it. He started to cry again. Suddenly there was a knock at his door and in walked his mom. She always knew when something was wrong with any of her children. Though Kellen hadn't told her about him and Ashley yet, she still knew something was up to that effect. "What's wrong Sweetheart?"
"Mom, Ashley and I broke up." Saying it just brought another round of tears. He slumped into his mom's embrace and cried hard. She just held onto him saying, "It's gonna be alright Honey. Let it out, just let it all out." After crying for about ten minutes, Kellen stopped crying and sat up to look at his mom. "Do you feel any better Kellen?" she asked.
"Yeah Momma I do. I know it sounds weird, but I actually feel better now that I've told someone. I've been sitting up here for days thinking about nothing else. It helps to be able to vent."
"I know sweetheart." she said.
"You knew about me and Ashley?" Kellen asked.
"No, Honey. I knew that you've stayed in here all day, everyday for the past three days. And I know that you haven't been eating anything." Kellen opened his mouth to say something but his mom beat him to it. "This may be a big house Kellen, but I still know when you're in your room or not. You haven't been in your studio for days. The dust in there proves that. And your Cherokee hasn't left its spot in the garage. Also I had a conversation with Aisha." she said laughing. Aisha was the maid, but Kellen didn't consider her to be that. To him, she was a friend who he always talked to when something was bothering him; even if she was in her late forties.
"Oh." was all Kellen could think to say. "Why don't you go ahead and go back to bed Mom. I'll be ok."
"I'll go to bed if you make me a promise to leave your room tomorrow and get out of the house for a while."
"What?" Kellen asked.
"You have to promise me that you will come out of your room tomorrow and do something productive. It isn't healthy for you to stay up here all the time and not come out. I've allowed it for three days, but I won't any longer." she said.
"But Mom," Kellen whined.
"Did I hear a but?" she laughed. "Kellen, you are leaving your room tomorrow or your dad and I won't give you the rest of your graduation present. And believe me; you'll want what we got for you."
"Okay Mom. I'll leave my room tomorrow." Kellen thought it best not to say anything to the contrary. He knew his mom and dad hadn't given him all of his graduation present yet. They had told him at his party that they would give him the rest of it in June, and he was beginning to get antsy thinking about it.
"Get some sleep baby. And remember tomorrow your going to do something besides stay in here and be depressed." she said sternly.
"Goodnight Mom." Kellen said as he shifted to lie down in his bed.
"Goodnight Sweetheart." his mom said as she gave him a kiss on his forehead. She got up and walked out of the room shutting his door. Kellen just rolled over and fell asleep into a peaceful dream; something he hadn't done in three days.
The next morning dawned bright and sunny for Kellen. This was a pleasant change for him. The past three days had seemed dark, gloomy, and damp. He was on a high though. What his mom had said about his graduation gift had really set his spirits high. He got out of bed and walked over to his window. Looking out of his window towards the pastures, he saw his sister Jordan riding her horse back to the stables. No doubt she was going to be on her way back to the main house soon. He walked across his room to his bathroom and put on his robe. Then he made his way to the bedroom door. As he walked through the halls, he could hear the distant talking of his family downstairs in the dining room. He walked down the spiral staircase feeling the dark oak railing as he went. As he stepped into the dining room, he heard his dad start talking. "Well if it isn't my youngest son. I thought you moved out on us Kellen. I haven't seen you in three days. Are you feeling better, son?" his dad asked with genuine concern. Mr. Bradley was a very respectable man. He was tall and skinny with brown hair that was starting to gray some and he had blue eyes. He was wearing a business suit. Mrs. Bradley was very regal looking. She was about 5'8 and slender. Her shoulder length blond hair and deep emerald green eyes demanded respect. She was wearing navy blue high heels and a skirt that matched her jacket with a white blouse underneath. Mrs. Bradley looked up from her breakfast as Kellen spoke.
"Actually, yes I am Dad." Kellen said. It was the truth too. He did feel better.
"That's good Sweetheart." his mom said. "Oh, Anthony?" she asked as she sat her coffee cup down.
"Yes Kate."
"I told Kellen that if he came out of his room today we would give him the rest of his graduation present." she said. At the mention of his name and then graduation present, Kellen's attention was suddenly off of the food cart and directed to his mom and his dad.
"You mean your going to give me the rest of it now?" Kellen asked wide-eyed.
"Who is going to give you the rest of what now?" Jordan asked as she walked into the dining room from the kitchen. She looked at Kellen then at their parents, and then she turned back to Kellen. "What did I miss, and when did Kellen finally decide to grace us with his presence?" Jordan was an odd girl who loved Kellen, but even more so, she like to tease him. She was 5'8 and very skinny. She had long blond hair and blue eyes. Her attire consisted of a white T-shirt, light blue jeans complete with brown Doc Martin's.
"Well if you can close your mouth for a second, Mom and Dad are going to give me the rest of my graduation present." Kellen said as he looked at his sister. She stuck her tongue out at him and mumbled something to herself, and then she started to walk out of the dining room to go upstairs.
"Your mom and I bought you and Jordan tickets to see the Nsync concert in Denver next week." His dad said casually while reading the newspaper. He looked up from it to see Jordan stop in her tracks, turn around to look at Kellen with her eyes bulging. The next thing he saw was Jordan running across the dining room and flinging into her brother's arms, both of them jumping up and down wildly screaming.
"Are you serious Dad? You and Mom got us tickets to see Nsync?" Kellen asked bewildered.
"Yes we did." his dad replied.
"But how will we get there?" Kellen asked.
"Oh, we also got you guys airline tickets." his mom said casually as she took a sip from her coffee cup.
"Let me get this straight. You and Dad are going to let me and Jordan fly to Denver alone?" Kellen asked.
"It's Jordan and I." Mrs. Bradley said, correcting him. "And no, you two aren't going alone. Your dad wants someone to check on the Denver store so Nicole is going with you two."
"Yeah, which means you have to do what I tell you." Nicole said coyly. His older sister was 5'10 and slender. She had curly brown hair and green eyes. She was wearing a white T-shirt, khaki caprees and woven flip flops she had bought from Banana Republic..
"Yeah right, I'm the man on this trip which means I'm in charge." Kellen said triumphantly.
"You a man? Ha! Yeah right little boy. You may be eighteen, but you most certainly aren't a man yet." Nicole said laughing. Kellen just stuck out his tongue at her; which caused her laugh and say, "You just proved my point."
Aisha came into the dining room to start cleaning things up. Aisha was very colorful. She was medium height with medium build. She had brown eyes and black dreadlocks that flowed freely down from her head tie hat. There were colorful beads around her neck and she was wearing a beautifully colored African gown that was adorned with all manner of color ranging from a deep blue, dark red, deep yellow, almost a gold colored yellow, all of it outlined in black. As she cleaned up the breakfast, Anthony looked at his watch and said he had to get to the Office. Kate said she had to get to the college. Jordan and Nicole said they were going into town to go shopping for the trip. Before Kellen knew it, he was sitting alone at the table. He got up and walked into the kitchen where Aisha was washing dishes. "It's good to see ya Kellen. I was jus wondrin when you was gonna come down from dat room of yos." she said.
"Yeah I was having some problems. But I talked to Mom about them last night and I feel so much better now that I got some of it out of my system."
"Well dats good Child. If you wanna talk about it or anyting, you knows I'm a good lisner. Why don't you jus sit here and tell ole Aisha bout it" she said as she put a plate in the dishwasher.
"Thanks Aisha. I would, but I think I'm just going to grab an apple and go upstairs and make myself more presentable."
"Now jus you remember bout dat promise you made to yo momma. Don't stay up der all day now."
"I know." Kellen said as he walked back into the dining room, through the foyer, up the stairs and down the hall to his room. Once in, he closed the door and went over to his computer. He logged on to messenger and found out that he had a lot of offline messages waiting for him.
fishin4bass: Where are you boy. lol. Well I guess I will talk to you later. Bye.
fishin4bass: You better be in the hospital or something. lol. I hope your okay.
fishin4bass: Are you dead?
Kellyn started to reply to them when he got an IM from a friend.
fishin4bass: Finally, I thought you had died or something. What happened?
Kis4kool: My girlfriend broke with me after two and a half years. I was kind of upset about it. I haven't left my room since.
fishin4bass: I'm sorry Dude. That's rough. Want to talk about it?
Kis4kool: No not really. How are you doing?
fishin4bass: Nice subject change. lol. Things are going good on my end. My posse and I are on our way to Portland. We have a gig there.
Kis4kool: Good luck. I hope it goes well. Or should I say break a leg?
fishin4bass: Man, don't jinx me like that. My paycheck depends on two things, my voice and my dancing ability. lol.
Kis4kool: well good luck then. I just got tickets to go to the Nsync concert in Denver next week. They were a graduation present from my mom and dad.
fishin4bass: uh, that's cool. You like Nsync?
Kis4Kool: Oh yeah. They are so cool. I bought their No Strings Attached album just a couple of months ago when it first came out.
fishin4bass: that's cool. I'm familiar with some of their music. You said you were going to see them in Denver?
Kis4kool: Yeah
fishin4Bass: I'm going to be in Denver next week.
Kis4kool: really? You have a gig there?
fishin4bass: uh, no, actually I'm going there to see some friends.
Kis4kool: Oh, okay. Well have a safe trip. Hey I need to go. I promised my mom I would get out of the house for a while.
fishin4bass: Ok, I need to go also, my friends Randall and Anthony want to talk to me. Talk to ya later. Bye.
Kis4Kool: bye bye bye.
Kellen signed out of messenger and shut off his computer. He grabbed the remote to his stereo and turned on his CD player to disc number 2. Then he turned up the volume and sat the remote down. He listened to the opening tune.
Hey, Hey
Bye bye bye
I'm doing this tonight
Your Probably gonna start a fight
I know this cant be right
Hey baby come on...
On a bus somewhere on its way to Portland, Oregon, Lance Bass signed out of messenger and shut off his laptop. Then he left his bunk to go see what Justin and Joey needed. He was bothered at the fact he lied to his online friend. He wasn't going be in Denver to see friends. He was going to perform a concert. But he knew he couldn't just come out and say that he was Lance Bass of Nsync to someone online either. Like they would believe him anyway. They would just think he was a poser or something. He went out to the lounge area where the guys where deciding on where to stop for breakfast. He looked over at JC, who had been depressed for the last month. They had all tried to cheer him up by telling him jokes, pulling pranks, and even letting him have extra sleep. Nothing seemed to work though. Lance thought about letting JC talk to Kis4kool because he and JC seemed to have a lot in common. Maybe that is what JC needed, someone who was more JC to talk to. Lance was determined to help his friend and fellow band mate. Suddenly he was brought out of his daze by Chris who was ruffling his blond spikes. "Dude snap out of it. What do you want for breakfast?"
"Can I have what ever I want?" Lance asked smiling
"Wait don't tell me. Let me guess, French toast with powered sugar." Justin said.
Chris, Joey and Justin started laughing at Lance's predictability, but were silenced when JC turned up the radio.
"...And for all you Nsync fans out there, the mega star singing group will be arriving later tonight in Portland to perform their concert tomorrow. After that they head to Slat Lake City, Utah and from there to Denver, Colorado for their concert on the 20th." the DJ said.
Meanwhile in Oklahoma, Kellen listened to Nsync's No Strings Attached album while he dressed. He chose to where dark blue loose fit jeans and a black T-shirt complete with some flip-flops he had ordered from Banana Republic. He brushed his hair that seemed to be getting longer all the time. It only went to his shoulders but he was wondering if something different needed done to it. He put on a necklace that was made of thin rope that resembled hemp and had shells on it. After he judged himself ready to leave the house, he walked out of his room and down stairs. He moved briskly through the dining room and into the kitchen. Aisha was still there working on some sort of casserole. "Well you sho look good child." she said.
"Yeah? I think I'm going to run into town today and get some things." he said as he moved to the key rack to get his keys. He walked across the kitchen and out the double glass doors that led to the back patio. As he walked along the patio, he looked past the pool and out towards the stables. The garage door was opened and he walked inside. He looked at the remaining vehicles. First was the Dodge Caravan. That was the family vehicle. Next to it was Jordan's 1999 mustang. Behind the Mustang was a 2000 Ford Taurus that his mom sometimes drove. Today she was driving the silver 4Runner. Next to the mustang was Kellen's beauty. The first half of his graduation present was a brand new black 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Loredo. It was fully loaded and complete with a sunroof. He got into it and drove out of the garage and around side of the house following the driveway that seemed to stretch for at least a quarter of a mile. Once he was to the highway, he turned to go east towards town.
The week seemed to fly by after that. Before Kellen knew it, there was only two days before the concert and he was getting packed for the next day's flight. He frantically put some of his cool clothes into the suitcase and zipped it shut. He has sat out his clothes for morning and was reedy to go to bed.
"Well aren't you all excited about the trip." Jordan said as she burst into his room.
"Don't you ever knock?" Kellen asked laughing. "I could have been changing or something. What if I hadn't had on any clothes and I was pleasuring myself?"
"Oh please Kellen." Jordan pleaded. "Don't give me bad mental images."
"If you don't like it, there's the door?" Kellen said pointing towards the door. "Don't let it kick you in the ass on your way out."
"Hey don't go getting all offensive. Nicole told me to check on you to make sure you were getting packed."
"Tell her that I'm ready to go. Goodnight Jordan." He said as he pushed her towards the door. He didn't see the small water balloon she had in her hand.
"Goodnight Stupid." Jordan said as she threw the balloon at him and laughed as it busted on his shirt. She turned and bolted from the room with Kellen hot on her tail.
"I'm so gonna get you for that. Here I was trying to be nice and you don't even appreciate it." Kellen said in mock hurt.
"Aww, Did I hurt wittle Kelwee's feelwings?" Jordan said mimicking a toddler's voice. This only caused Kellen to run faster. They both bolted down the stairs and through the house. They ran outside to the back yard and ran around the edge of the pool before Nicole jumped out from behind a bush and yelled "Boo!" Kellen and Jordan both jumped. But before they realized it, they had lost their footing and fell sideways into the pool. Nicole just stood at the edge laughing. When Kellen and Jordan surfaced, they were both laughing and screaming, "I'm gonna get you Nicole!" she just continued laughing and turned to walk inside.
The next morning everyone was up early eating a quick breakfast. Then they all piled into the van and drove out of the driveway. The drive to Oklahoma City seemed to stretch for hours. In all reality, it had only been an hour before they were at the airport checking in. Mrs. Bradley walked over to her children. She handed Nicole and Kellen a sheet of paper. "These are the receipts for your car rentals. Nicole, you will have a Chevy Blazer waiting for you at the airport. Kellen, you will have a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Jordan, you can ride with your brother since Nicole will be taking care of things at the store."
"But Mom. Why does Kellen get to drive?"
"Because Jordan. Your brother has more experience driving in big cities."
"That and because you wrecked your first mustang a week after Mom and Dad bought it for you." Kellen said finishing his mom's statement. It only served to get him a playful jab in the ribs from Jordan.
Kellen's dad walked over to the group and told them their luggage was taken care of. They all made their way to the security check and passed through the metal detectors. After that they stopped at café and ordered something to drink while they waited for the plane. "I think it's time to start heading towards the gate. It's almost 10:30. Your plane takes off in thirty minutes." Kellen's dad said. They got their things and headed towards the gate. When they got there they heard the boarding call being announced over the intercom.
"Now you three behave yourselves. And please be careful. Call us the moment you touch down. You each have your cell phones right?" Kate asked her children.
"Yes Mom." they each replied at the same time.
"Ok. Be careful. I love you. Have a safe trip. Don't talk to strangers." she said. "Look after your sisters." she said giving Kellen a hug. She gave each of them several hugs and kisses before they walked into the gate and onto the plane. Anthony and Kate stayed to watch the plane take off. Then they left.
"Well it looks like Mom and Dad got us good seats on the plane." Nicole said.
"Yeah, but I can't wait to see Nsync!" Kellen said.
"Oh I know. Can you believe it Kellen? Mom and Dad got us front row seats at the concert."
"Oh by the way, Mom and Dad wanted me to give you these." Nicole handed them an envelope. When they opened it up and took out its contents, everyone's attention was suddenly on the two as they both screamed. "BACKSTAGE PASSES! OH MY GOD!"
TO BE CONTINUED...