I had half the wall built by the time that Jake came walking out of the house and up to me. So I asked. "How did the phone call go?"
"Well... after she yelled at me for at least fifteen minutes.. she finally calmed down enough to talk to me. She's really happy to hear that I'm here with you.. she said she would call you within the next couple days."
"Yeah I heard her yelling as I left the house. But you know what, she had every reason to yell at you Jake. You should have let them know where you were. I'm sure they all were scared to death."
"That's pretty much what she said also. She told me that she would call mom and dad and let them know where I am and that I'm okay." He started chuckling and added "And that you haven't killed me yet."
I turned and looked at him asking "Is that what she said or what you said"
"She said it.. She asked if I had a black eye or any bruises." he responded laughing.
"She knows better than that." it "Yeah.. but she knows how pissed you are at me."
"True.. but I have every reason to be don't I."
"You do." He said looking down.
I threw some cement mortar at him and asked "Are you going to help or stand around? We need to get the wall done before the snow starts falling."
We didn't talk much except when I was showing him what needed to be done. He would pick up the rocks and hand them to me and I would place them where I thought they would go best and mortar them in. We switched places a couple of times when my hands would get tired of holding the trowel . We had the wall done within three hours, but that was only because I ran out of rocks. We cleaned up the mess and carried all the tools back to the shed and put them away. We walked back into the house and I noticed that it was close to noon. I turned and looked at Jake asking "Did you want some lunch?"
"Sure.. I am getting kinda hungry."
"Yeah me too." I responded. I walked over to the fridge opened the door realizing that I really needed to go grocery shopping. "Jake?" I yelled from behind the door.
"Yeah?" He said scaring the hell out of me since he was standing right behind me.
"It looks like I need to go get some groceries, did you want to go with me or hang out here?"
"With you of course." he answered looking at me like I was an idiot.
"Okay.." I walked over to the front door and whistled for the dog's since they were still out front playing. They came charging into the house. I turned to Jake and asked "Could you go downstairs and make sure the doggie door is open so they can go out into the fenced yard?"
"Sure." he said heading downstairs.
I started a list of the essentials that I was running out of and that we would need such as Ketchup, Bread, Lettuce, fruit and so on. Jake came walking back into the kitchen and I told Him "If there is anything you need or want from the store write it down on the list otherwise I will forget it."
He walked over to the list picked it up and started writing. I went into the bathroom washed my face and grabbed my wallet out of my bedroom. I walked back into the kitchen and asked "You ready?"
"Sure..whenever you are " he replied.
"I'm ready.. let's go." I said as I walked over and picked up the list. I read what he had added and started laughing. "If you think I'm going to pick up condoms and lube from the store in town your crazy. I could just imagine everyone burning up the phone lines with that news." I folded it and stuck it in my pocket. I walked to the back door and grabbed my keys off the key rack and headed out the door. I walked over to the Jeep not realizing that Jake wasn't behind me. I turned as I opened the jeep door and looked back at the house and saw Jake laying on the ground at the bottom of the steps. I ran back over to him asking "What the hell did you do? Are you okay?" He rolled over and sat up saying "I guess I wasn't paying any attention and misjudged the last step."
"Are you hurt? Can you get up? What were you doing that you missed the last step?"
"I think I'm fine" he said as he stood up. He looked at me and blushed.
I narrowed my eyes and asked "What?? where does it hurt Jake."
"It doesn't... I'm okay.. I was ummm.. well.. I was looking at your ass when I missed the last step." He said looking down as his face turned red.
I really tried hard not to start laughing when he said it. but I couldn't help it. He tried to give me an angry look but it didn't work. He started laughing also.
Shaking my head at him I asked "So are you ready to go now?"
"If I can make it to the Jeep without hurting myself...Yes." He responded.
We walked over to the Jeep and got in. On the way to the store I pointed out where my aunt and uncle lived and told Jake that they had horses and that we could go riding while he was here. We made it to the store with no problems, but then again I didn't expect any since the population of the town is only around fifteen hundred people. We walked around the store picking up the things that we needed. I heard someone scream so I turned to see what the commotion was. My cousin Ravin saw me and came running up saying. "Holy shit Chance thats Jake Gyllenhaal standing over there,"
"Really?? what would Jake Gyllenhaal be doing doing here.. and watch the language young lady."
She looked up at me saying "Sorry.. I was just excited."
"No biggie Ravin just keep the language in check." Then I bent over so that I was eye level with her and asked "did you want to meet him?"
"Oh my god.. yes Chance.. Wait??? you know him?"
"yeah, hey Jake could you come over here for a minute." He walked over and I said "Jake I would like you to meet my little cousin Ravin, Ravin this is Jake."
He stuck out his hand saying "Hi Ravin its nice to meet you." She backed away from him but still said "Hi Jake, why are you in Dixon?"
"I came to see Chance."
She looked amazed and said "Wow.. that's so cool that Chance knows you.. I can't wait to tell all my friends." Jake just looked at her and started laughing.
I looked at her and said "Ravin.. Jake will be around for a little while. So I'm sure eventually your friends will end up meeting him okay. Plus you need to remember that Jake is just like you and I. The only difference is that he does acting for a living, but other than that you treat him just like you would any other adult. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
"Yeah I do. I shouldn't go around telling everyone."
I smiled at her and said "Thats why I love you... your so damn smart." I gave her a hug and asked "Where is your mom and dad?"
"Moms down in the frozen section."
"Okay" I said "We will see you on Sunday then at the family dinner."
Her eyes lit up and asked "Jakes gonna be there too???"
"Of course he is.. he's staying with me."
She smiled from ear to ear "Thats so cool. Okay see you guys on Sunday." She said as she ran off to find her mom.
"She's a cute little thing Chance."
"Yeah she is.. but like any kid she can be a handful." We finally finished our shopping and headed out to the Jeep, loaded it up and headed home. We got about five miles from home when I hear "Holy shit Chance is that snow?"
"Yep it sure is. I wonder how much we will end up with."
"Do you guys usually get a lot of snow?"
"We can and do sometimes.. we also get sleet and freezing rain. The freezing rain is what can be really bad."
"Because of the road's? He asked.
"That and it accumulates on everything trees, power lines everything. A few years back it was so bad that I was without power for almost a week. I had to take everything out of the fridge and put outside to keep it either frozen or cold. I learned my lesson that year, the next summer I went out and bought a huge generator that will run the necessities."
We pulled up to the house and started carrying the groceries into the house as I was going up the stairs I told Jake "Watch the stairs Jake.. wouldn't want you to fall down them again."
The response I received was "Haha very funny. I forgot that I was living with Ellen."
I turned and looked at him asking "Are you getting grumpy? And living with me?? you may wanna explain that one a little better to me."
"Sorry.. I didn't mean to seem grumpy.. and I would love to live with you, that is if you will have me."
"Right now Jake the only thing that I can tell you is your welcome to stay.. but I cannot answer or consider living together."
"I know.. and I probably shouldn't have even said it. I'm sorry. I just so bad want us to be and get back to what we were." he said in a a really sad tone.
"I understand that Jake, but right now I'm not sure I will ever get back to that point. So many things have changed." I answered as I put the groceries away.
"Yeah I know I fucked everything up." He said with a lot of emotion in his voice.
I walked over and hugged him saying "We fucked things up Jake. You were not alone in the whole fucking mess." I kissed him on the cheek and pulled away and went and made us turkey sandwiches for lunch. As we were sitting at the table eating I asked "So what are your plans Jake?. Why arnt you making films? I cannot believe your agent and everyone else just let you take off like that."
"They didn't have a choice.. I told them I was taking some time off and had them push everything back for three months. They are not happy with me.. but they can just get over it." He said.
"Three months? Wow, why so much time Jake?"
"Like I told you.. I'm not leaving here until I know what is happening with us and where we are going in the relationship. Thats why I told them three months."
"Okay.. I understand. I just wasn't sure what your plans were." "Chance my only plan is to be with you for the rest of my life, and I'm hoping you're going to feel the same way, or start feeling the same way."
I leaned across the table and took Jakes hand saying "Jake I do love you.. I really do . I just really need some time to get past what has happened. I hope you understand that."
"I do Chance, I'm just really......" I held up my hand saying "Stop.. Stop saying you're sorry. God.. Jake I know you are, and you know I am too. Lets just get past all that and start living with what we have now."
He got up and came around the table and leaned down and kissed me.. and I must say I kissed him back with just as much passion. He ended the kiss and went and sat back down smiling at me. Saying with excitement "Yes.. that's a start." He was smiling that Jake smile, full of teeth and as you look into his eyes they light up and you see total love. The only thing I could do was laugh. We cleaned up the lunch mess and headed down towards the garden in the 2 inches of snow that had fallen so far. The dog's were running and playing in the snow. We threw a stick a few times to try and wear them out a little, so that they would lay down and sleep when we went back inside. I stopped at the pond trying to visualize what needed to be done to clean it up and get it to where I think it should be. Jake came walking up beside me and put his arm around my waist and asked "What are you thinking about?"
"Just trying to picture how to clean up the pond and get it looking nice."
"You don't like the way that it looks now?"
"No.. There are too many trees around it.. plus look at all of them in the pond. That all needs to be cleaned out, plus if someone wants to go fishing they cant because it's so over grown back here."
"Okay, well lets do whatever we need to do to clean it up then."
"Sounds good.. but let's wait until the snow stops okay." I said starting to laugh. Jake started laughing and bumped me with his hips. I wasn't expecting it and it knocked me to the ground. I laughed even harder because of the expression on his face. The dogs came running over to me thinking that I was going to play with them and started licking my face and jumping around, which caused me to laugh even more. Jake smiled that full Jake smile saying "I love to see you like this."
"Like what?" I asked.
"This... Happy, laughing and just being you." He held his hand out for me to grab so that he could help me up. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet and into a hug. "I really like it here Chance. It's so quiet and calm with no worries about holding your hand or hugging you. I like not having to worry about if I want to kiss you and having someone snapping a picture of it. Maybe the best thing for me to do is move out of California and have my home somewhere else."
"Wow.... you would do that? What about all the meetings you have to have with your agents and stylists and stuff? Wouldn't that be hard to do from another state?" I asked confused.
"Not at all. Web conferences and by phone. Everything else can be done by fax. If I need to fly to LA I could do that too."
I looked at him and stated "Wow I'm shocked. What state would you move to?" He released me and bent down and threw some snow at me saying "This one smart ass." I ducked away from the snow and responded with "Well I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to be moving to Texas or something."
Laughing he said "You're something else. I was thinking Missouri would be a wonderful place to settle down." We started walking back to the house as my cell phone went off. I took it out of my pocket and looked at the caller id it was Chase.
"What's up Chase?"
"Well.. I'm on my way back and the snows been pretty bad from Columbia to Jefferson City, but its let up a little. I just wanted to let you know where I'm at."
"Okay.. you be careful and call if you need us, which way are you coming home?."
"I'm going to be coming interstate 54 I figure that they will keep it clearer than any other way."
"Be careful Chase.. we will see you when you get here."
"Okay, see you guys in a little while." He said and hung up. I put my phone back in my pocket and looked at Jake "He said that the snow's been pretty bad. On a clear day it would take about an hour to get here. I'm sure with all the snow it will take him over two hours." We continued walking to the house as the dogs ran and played. I whistled for them and brought them inside so that I could shut and lock the doggie door. Jake was standing waiting for me while I struggled to get my boots off. He walked over asking "Did you need some help?"
Laughing I replied "The boot keeps slipping.. I cant get a hold of it. Would you grab it by the heel and pull? Please?" He bent down grabbed my boot and pulled. I guess the boot came off easier than he thought. He stumbled backwards and tripped and fell over his boots. I started laughing.. I couldn't help it. It was funny. I got up and walked over to him asking in between laughter "Are you okay?"
"I'm not sure.. can you break something from falling like that?"
"Do you think you broke something?" I asked concerned.
"Just my ass."
I smiled down at him and stretched out my hand to help him up. He pulled me so hard that I fell down on top of him. I laughed and asked "Okay.. now why are we both laying on the floor?"
"Didn't want to be the only one laying down, and you know how much I love to have you laying with me."
"Yeah.. but not on the cold wood floor." I said leaning over and kissing him on the neck. Jake moaned and the longer I kissed him the more I could feel him start pushing his crotch into mine. I rolled off of Jake and got up extending my hand to help him up. He looked at me as if I had lost my mind and asked "Whats wrong?"
"Nothings wrong Jake."
"Then why did you stop?" he asked with a hurt look on his face.
"Well.. I'm really not ready to start having sex with you again.. Yet. And I do mean yet. I knew that if we kept going at it that's where it would have ended up. I want you just as bad as you're wanting me."
He looked down at the floor with a sad expression on his face saying "I guess that makes sense and I totally respect that decision." He looked back up at me and continued "Its not going to be easy for me. I want to hold you, kiss you and make love to you, and have you make love to me."
"Jake.. I said yet.. I don't want to have sex with you yet.. that doesn't mean in an hour or two I wont be jumping your bones."
He smiled up at me and took my hand saying "I can live with that!"
"I kinda figure you would." I said laughing at him. I walked up and hugged him to me and kissed his cheek saying "Plus if we don't have sex right away and you feel the need to jerk off... you just let me know. I would be more than happy to watch." Jake let go of me and took a step back. I gave him a confused look when he started unbuttoning his pants as he let them fall to his knees. He was staring at me with a sexy grin on his face. As I walked away I said "Have fun...."
"Where are you going?" He asked laughing at me.
"Upstairs.. I'm gonna figure out what we're going to make for dinner." I could hear some rustling behind me so I turned to see what he was doing. He had his pants around his knees shuffling behind me trying to catch up.
"You may wanna pull those up so you don't trip and fall."
"Naaaah I think I'm just gonna go upstairs and take my clothes off and lounge around in my boxer briefs."
"Whatever turns your crank sexy.. It should be interesting if someone shows up." As we neared the top of the stairs I could hear someone yelling my name. So I yelled back "I'm downstairs I will be there in a second." I turned and looked at Jake, he had a terrified look on his face and was pulling up his pants as fast as he could. The only thing that I could do was laugh. I rounded the corner of the kitchen as my aunt Barb came into view. "Hey Barbie.. what are you up to?"
"Nothing, just checking up on you and I wanted to see if you needed anymore beef."
"No, I don't need anymore beef. I still have a freezer full downstairs, plus some in the freezer up here. Why did Tom accidentally shoot another cow?"
Laughing she said "No.. We have so much left and I figured if you needed some we would give it to you."
"I don't.. but lets have a big BBQ on Sunday that way we can use some of it up." Just then Jake walked around the corner and walked up to me putting his arm around my waist. "Jake this is my aunt Barb and Barbie this is Jake."
"Nice to meet you Jake. How long are you in town?" She asked trying to make small talk.
"Forever I hope." He said looking at me with a smirk on his face.
"That's great. When did you get into town?"
"A few days ago. Chance forgot something in California so I figured I better bring it to him."
"Wow that was awful nice of you to bring it all the way here. It must have been something really important."
"It was.. Me." He said totally serious.
She started laughing and said "I didn't realize that you guys were that serious when you were in LA Chance."
"Yes we were. Then we had a misunderstanding and took a break." I said looking in Jakes eyes. He smiled and kissed me on the lips. I looked over at Barb and added "He says that he's going to move here and start a family."
"I'm already here.. and I'm not going anywhere." Jake said in all seriousness. "So as far as I'm concerned my family has already been started. I would love to have kids and I'm hoping that Chance feels the same way."
I just shook my head yes and said "It would be something that we would have to seriously discuss."
"Of course sweetie." Jake responded while smiling at me. Then added "But until then we can keep practicing to make our own."
"OOKKKK I gotta go .. It's been really good meeting you Jake. I look forward to getting to know you better." Barb said as she headed for the back door.
"You too Barb.. see you on Sunday." He said chuckling to himself.
"You are so bad." I said smacking him on the ass.
"What?? what did I do?"
"You knew that what you said would embarrass her."
"Yeah I know.. but I wanted her to leave so I could take my clothes off." He pulled his shirt off over his head and dropped and stepped out of his pants leaving them lay at his feet. I just smiled at him and shook my head.
"Don't leave that stuff laying there. Either you or I will fall or trip over it."
"Yes. Honey." He said laughing as he picked his pants and shirt up and took them into the bedroom.
"Jake put them in the hamper thats in the closet and I will wash them when I do the laundry."
I heard him say "Yes Dear." from the bedroom. I walked over to the fridge and pulled out a packet of chicken. I figured I would make chicken wraps. I threw everything else that I needed onto the counter as Chase came walking into the kitchen from the back door.
"I see you made it okay." I said
"Yep.. fuck it was bad though. You know how much I hate driving in the snow Chance."
"Yes I know. How did the Jeep handle?" I asked.
"The Jeep was awesome to drive. It handled great. At one point I started to slide a little bit so I threw it in four wheel drive and didn't have any problems from then on."
"Thats good." Jake said as he came walking out of the bedroom in his boxer briefs. "At least we know it's going to get around good in the snow."
Having Jake walk around in his boxer briefs didn't phase Chase a bit, He just said "Nope you wont have any problems at all... It's a nice vehicle Jake and thank you for letting me borrow it today."
"Not a problem buddy.. anytime you need it just give Chance or I a call or come on over. If we don't need it that is." Jake said looking over to me for my approval also. I just shook my head yes.
Chase looked at everything on the counter and asked "What are you making?"
"Were making chicken wraps. Did you want to stay and have some?"
"Sure." He answered looking at me and then asked "Can I have a couple beers with dinner also?" I gave him a look that said don't push it but relented "Yes. But that means your not leaving here tonight. Do you understand me?"
"yep I sure do." He said smiling from ear to ear.
"Give me your keys!" I said not leaving anything open for discussion.
"There on the key rack by the back door."
"Okay, and they better stay where they are Chase." I said giving him a stern look.
"I swear." He responded holding his hands up.
We made dinner and sat down to eat. I asked Chase to run downstairs and get three bottles of beer from the fridge which he gladly did. We had two bottles of beer a piece with dinner and then decided that we all needed to play some pool.
"Jake you may want to put some clothes on. Its going to be cold in the basement."
He walked up and kissed me on the lips asking "Wont you keep me warm?"
"Of course I will. But, it's still going to be cold.. at least put some socks on."
"I can do that." he said walking into the bedroom.
"Middle top drawer of the dresser you will find some socks Jake.," I could see him open the drawer and sit down on the bed putting the wool socks on. He walked back out of the bedroom straight up to me saying "thanks babe."
"No problem hun." I said kissing him and sticking my tongue in his open mouth.
"Geez guys get a fucking room." Chase said laughing.
Jake pulled away saying "We have one Chase.. Do you wanna come in and watch?"
"Thanks for the offer but I think I will pass on any gay sex or watching gay sex tonight."
"Tonight? hmmm." Jake responded. "So you've had gay sex before?" Jake and I looked at Chase.
Chase turned a crimson red and looked away. "Yeah a few times."
"Oh my god. I'm your fucking cousin. Why didn't you tell me.?" I said to him.
"I didn't want you to do this" He said raising his hands and indicating me. "Do what?" I asked confused.
Smiling at me he responded with "Go all faggy on me."
I shot him a dirty look and said "Get outta my house you little cock sucker."
"No... not yet.. but I hope some day." He said laughing at me.
"Are you gay Chase?" Jake asked.
I had never suspected that he was gay or bi for that matter. He's only had girlfriends that I knew of.
"I'm not really sure. Maybe bi. But in college I'm going to find out." He just stood there and smiled at me.
I gave him a dirty look and walked away. I was pissed and I needed time to think. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wasn't so much pissed, but hurt. I thought that he and I had a closer relationship than that. Hell I'm gay and he has known that since he was young. I just couldn't wrap my head around why he wouldn't have told me, or came to talk to me about it. I walked into my bedroom and shut the door. I changed into some sleeping shorts and put on a clean t-shirt. I shut off the bedside lamp and laid down on the bed. After about a half hour the door to my room opened. I could see Jake standing in the doorway looking at me. I'm sure he was trying to judge if I was asleep or awake.
"Jake.. could you shut the door please. The lights blinding me." He walked in and shut the door. He walked over to my side of the bed and sat down. I moved over slightly making room for him.
"Chase went to bed. He said that he was going to sleep in one of the rooms downstairs."
"Okay." Was the only response I gave.
"Are you okay?" He asked laying down next to me forcing me to move over further on the bed.
"No.. Not really." I answered honestly.
"Didn't think so.. did you want to talk about it?" he asked concerned.
"I don't know. I just need time to digest the whole situation and the shocking information." I said wiping a tear away.
Jake rolled over onto his side laying right next to me asking "Are you crying?"
"No." I answered with a crack in my voice. Jake moved even closer to me and put his arm over my stomach so that he was somewhat laying on me.
"I'm sorry your upset baby. What can I do?" He asked with total sincerity.
"Nothing.. thank you though Jake." I said hugging him closer to me saying " I just need to work through how I feel."
"How do you feel?" He asked.
"Hurt, angry and kinda disappointed." I answered honestly.
"It sounds like you need to talk to Chase. When he told me goodnight it looked like he was on the verge of tears."
"I feel bad about that Jake, but right now I'm just really hurt that he didn't feel that he could share that with me."
"I know you do babe.. I could tell by the look on your face." He said kissing a tear away. "Chase knew it too. You could tell by the crushed look on his face when you walked away and shut the bedroom door."
"DAMNIT!!" I said a little too loud. Jake just held me tighter. "I don't want him to feel that way and be upset. Maybe I should go talk to him?"
"It's late.. why don't you guys talk in the morning." Jake responded with a yawn. Just then there was a knock at the bedroom door. "Come on in Chase." Jake yelled as he turned the bedside lamp on.
Chase tentatively opened the door and looked in. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" he asked.
"Nope.. I'm just consoling your cousin." He replied back. Chase walked up to the bed asking "Chance.. can I talk to you please?" his voice was cracking.
"Yes.. Chase.. I was going to come down and talk with you anyway." He came over to my side of the bed and sat down. "Jake could you shut the light off please.. its hurting my eyes." I asked. He reached over and shut them off and moved back into his position. Chase spoke first "I'm Sorry Chance.. I really am. I didn't mean to upset you, thats the last thing that I would want to do."
"I'm sorry too Chase.. I guess I was just shocked and then hurt. I couldn't understand and I still cant understand why you wouldn't have told me.. Hell you told me when you had sex with a girl for the first time. I'm just sad and hurt that you wouldn't have shared this.. something I would truly understand." I said with tears falling down my face again and my voice cracking.
Chase turned and looked at me and I could see that his cheeks were wet from the tears he was shedding also. He sucked in a jagged breath and then started sobbing and launched himself at me. He kept repeating "I'm sorry.. god Chance please don't hate me.. I'm so sorry."
I wrapped my arms around him and rubbed his back saying "Chasey I could never hate you.. I love you to much for that. I could never hate you." I said trying to reassure him. He rolled over so that he was facing me and wrapped his arms around me. I again wrapped my arms around him and just held him until he stopped crying. I could hear him sniffling so I said "You better not be getting snot all over my shirt." I could tell he was laughing since I could feel his body shake. I looked at Jake and could see him smiling at me. I leaned in and kissed him on the lips "I love you Jake."
"I love you too babe."
"Love you Chasey."
In a muffled voice I could hear "I love you too Chance."
I laid my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep with Jake on one side and Chance on the other.
OK.. thats chap 14. I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think about it.. Good, bad or otherwise at jakeschance@gmail.com