===== Disclaimer -- This is a work of fiction depicting a situation involving homosexual men. If you are offended or are under the legal age to view such matierials, please do not read further. By continuing, you agree that neither the author nor nifty are responsible for any actions that occur as a result of this story or an individual's interpretation. Also, if you are a "bible thumper," please email me any comments you have. I will rebuke every claim that you make. If you have other comments, feel free to email me if you wish. The address is boricuaholandes@hotmail.com. DISFRUTENLA! =====
Part 1 -- "Kissing you..."
Of all the people in the world that I've had the chance to meet, from former President Clinton to future President Clinton, Joshua Moretti has to be classified as the most interesting, the smartest, the hottest, and the least understood person among his fellow humans.
When I met him in 1997, he was a student at Middle Tennessee State University. He was tall. His skin seemed to have a permanent tan that beautifully set up against his muscular body. His hair was naturally brown, but he had highlighted parts. His eyes were greener than any of the emeralds in the Queen's collection. His smile was so captivating that from the first time I met him, I was unable to say no to him if he flashed the smile.
He was also a truly brilliant person. He majored in biology, with the intention of going on to medical school after finishing his bachelor's degree. He didn't stop there, though, choosing to minor in his family's native language, Italian. His first semester, he was courted by several fraternities, but he felt that rushing would take away from his studies. He confessed later that the one that really wanted him ended up becoming known as one of the most homophobic group's on the University's campus. It was during that first semester that he and I met at a party being thrown by mutual friends.
For the first few months we were together, he and I were forced to carry out most of our courting over the telephone, spending many weekends together at either his parents' or my parents' house. By the end of his second semester at MTSU, he said that he was miserable. It was then that we made the decision to take our relationship to the next level, as living closer would give us more time to see and get to know each other. After some investigation, he found that he would only have to take a couple of different classes in order to complete his matriculation at my school, the University of Alabama at Birmingham. When he first informed me of his plans, I was nervous. He was, too, though. We were nervous because neither of us knew what to expect would happen by him moving closer.
The month before we were both supposed to start the first semester of our sophomore year of college, he began spending more and more time in Birmingham. I realized that any apprehension that I'd had about our relationship were really pointless. We looked at apartments in all parts of town. He finally decided on one that was just eight blocks from the parts of campus he'd be in more often than others. It was also only three blocks from the dorm where I planned on living, before he informed me that I could move in with him.
In the two weeks before school started, he and I made several trips to his parents' house in Tennessee. By the last weekend of our summer vacation, he'd finally gotten settled into his apartment.
"Dave," he said as he handed me a bottle of water, "I love you."
"I love you, too, Josh," I answered back. As he sat on the couch beside me, he put his arm around my shoulder. I snuggled into him as he started a movie. That Saturday night went by quietly, as we refused to do anything other than simply enjoy each other's company.
It was in his arms that I fell asleep that night. When I awoke the next morning, we were still sitting on the couch, and he had fallen asleep with his arms around me. I untangled myself from his arms and stood. He looked almost angelic as he half lay and half sit in the couch. He snored lightly.
Until I met him, I wondered what my future would bear in terms of love. Before I met Josh, I'd been with two men, but only to exchange handjobs or quick blow jobs. Neither of them were anything that I could have seen myself with. Josh was an experiment of sorts that evolved into a passion and then into my life. I looked over every inch of his body. He was, in my eyes, perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more or less from a man than him. I wanted to kiss every part of his body. I walked over to the couch and quietly puffed a pillow.
"Josh," I said only loud enough to slightly rustle him. "Lay down baby."
"Are you gonna lay down with me?" he asked, though he didn't reopen his eyes.
"Maybe in a few minutes. Just lay down for now. I'll get you a cover."
"Alright," he said as he reshuffled the pillow and began to hug it. "Dave?"
"Yeah."
"I used to hold my pillow like this when I lived in Tennessee. I even named my pillow Little David."
"You're crazy, Josh," I whispered as I put the cover on top of him. He fell right back asleep, clutching onto the pillow for dear life.
I went into the kitchen and fixed a pot of coffee. As it brew, I thought about how this was the first Sunday that we'd spent together that one of us wouldn't have to get ready to go home. It was a comfort knowing that we were both home. I went back into the dining area of the new apartment and sat at the small table that Maya and Daddy had given Josh to start the apartment. I watched him for what seemed like hours as he slept peacefully on the couch. I enjoyed just watching him sleep. I guess I found comfort in knowing that we were in love with each other. It wasn't a thing about lust for us. It was genuine feelings and genuine emotional attraction.
As I sat there, my thoughts wandered. I remember the first time we met. It was at Isabel's party. She and her sister (who attended MTSU with Josh), decided that they would gather a large group of their friends at their parents' house in the middle of the woods in Tennessee. By the time the evening was in full swing, at least 300 people packed the house that was surrounded by miles and miles of fields. I first spotted Josh as I stood at the bar area. As the night, we caught each other giving the eye. For me, I knew he could have his way as soon as I saw the smile. He was dancing with some tragic girls that Isabel's sister knew. When I thought I'd worn out my welcome, I tried to stealthily remove myself from the party. I made my way to Isabel's room and sat there for a few minutes to relax. Before I knew it, he was in the room with me. The first thing the man ever said to me was "You doing OK, dude?"
We talked for a few minutes after he was sure that I was OK. When I knew for certain that he was gay, I was at ease. For about a half hour, we sat in Isabel's room and just chatted about random things.
As the party wound down, we found ourselves dancing. I don't remember the song that played. I just remembered being close to him and making him laugh with what I consider my stale sense of humor. When the party officially ended and the final people in the crowd began to leave, I found out that Josh wasn't ready for the evening to be over. Together, we crammed into his beat up 4x4 and made our way to Spring Hill, a town a few miles away from where Isabel's family lived. We went into the local Waffle House and sat down. The dancing and getting to know Josh had sobered me significantly. As we talked, we must have had a lot of coffee because I wasn't able to sleep for hours after getting back to Isabel's. It could have been that or the fact that in the span of a few hours, I knew that Josh was different from every other boy I'd talked to. He would be a formidable character in the play that was the life of David Jansen, son of the Member of the US House of Representatives for the Alabama 4th District and a Puerto Rican woman who was made of both love and fire. I'm not gonna say I fell in love with him that night, but I was very much intrigued at the prospects of getting to know this man.
For the next two weeks, he and I talked on the phone every night. My roommate grew increasingly tired of hearing us talking for hours on end. Two weeks later, he surprised me by showing up at my dorm with flowers. It's cliché, I know, but it was so adorable. We climbed into his truck, and I showed him around town before he surprised me with dinner at a restaurant that I loved: Nabeel's, a small Mediterranean restaurant in Birmingham's Homewood neighborhood. (I found out later that he'd talked to Isabel, and she was the one who gave him such detailed information about my culinary likes and dislikes.) The night was amazing as we drove to Vulcan and looked out over the city.
Our next meeting was a little more planned, as I was the one responsible for travel to him. I found Murfreesboro to be an interesting town full of incredibly hot men. By the time I got to Josh's apartment, I'd seen more hot men than I could remember. When I saw Josh as he came to his apartment door, I realized though that he was far more amazing and breathtaking than any of the other men I'd seen in the town. From Friday night until Sunday afternoon, he took me around Murfreesboro and Nashville. My biggest memory of that night was standing in front of the Parthenon, then sitting on the large lawn in front of the building where Josh explained that on any given Sunday, one could find a swath of hot guys playing volleyball or touch football. He hadn't offended me with his comments, but felt the need to correct himself by explaining that I should one day play touch football out there, because I would be the hottest guy in Nashville. That was the first time that we kissed. It was the kind of kiss that could have very well influenced the song "Kissing You" from the Romeo and Juliet movie soundtrack.
After a month of talking and the two trips we'd made to see each other, my mother decided that she wanted to meet him. Now, to put it into perspective, my mother, whom I call Maya, is a short, loud, strong, caring, painfully obsessive and sometimes intrusive Puerto Rican woman. Her mother was the same kind of person, and I only hoped that the genes that caused that didn't pass to both the straight daughters and gay sons in the family. I was hesitant at first to ask him, but once I did, he seemed almost excited about meeting my family.
The arrangements were set. I went up on Thursday night to my parents' house in the small town of Oneonta. Maya and Daddy were expected any minute at the airport in Oneonta. (That's a joke. There are only about four people in Blount County that even know where the "airport" is, but it's used often by people who don't need to high attraction of the airport in Birmingham.) I was nervous about the interaction, but my older brother Jay, who I'd admired my entire life, assured me that everything would be OK. Maya and Daddy arrived just the way they liked, with no fanfare. We had dinner and then they went to bed.
"Do you think they're gonna like him, Jay?" I remember asked my brother as we finished cleaning the kitchen after dinner.
"Do you like him, Dave?" my brother asked in response to my question. Without hesitation, I answered affirmatively. He smiled, "Then they will love him. If there's one thing I've learned since I started dating people that Maya and Daddy will like them as long as I like them and they don't treat me like shit. Even then, they probably wouldn't say or do anything unless my life were in danger."
Knowing that Jay knew my nervousness was a comfort. I went to my bedroom shortly after that and called Josh, who'd spent the night at his parents' house.
"Hello?" the little boy answered.
"Is Josh there?" I asked.
"Yeah. Can I tell him who's calling?"
"It's David."
"JOSHUA! It's your boyfriend," the kid screamed into the phone.
"Antony Moretti! Don't embarrass your brother!" a woman screamed back, scolding the child. "Now take the phone to your brother and you better learn some manners young man or you lose your internet privileges. Do you understand me?" From what I heard, I assumed that the goings on were between Josh's little brother Antony and their mother, Rose.
"Hold on one second, David. I'll run the phone up to him," Antony said. I heard him loudly walking up the stairs. "Joshua. It's for you."
"Thanks Little Bro," he said as he took the phone from his brother and moved it to his mouth. "Hello?"
"You have the most interesting sibling," I said as I smiled.
"He's an awesome kid."
"It sounds like it Josh," I said. "It wasn't too long ago that I was doing that to my brother."
"I almost forgot you were the younger kid," he said. "So are you ready for tomorrow?"
"I am more than ready to see you, Joshua Moretti."
"Good. I'm about to go crazy not seeing you. It's been almost two weeks."
"I know, babe. I can't wait."
"Good. So I'm gonna meet you where?"
"Meet me in Cullman. We'll take backroads back to Oneonta. That will be the easiest way to explain."
"OK. How far is Cullman from me?"
"About an hour and a half."
"OK. What time?"
"I was thinking as early as possible. Maya and Daddy have a party function tomorrow, and I would like to see you for a few minutes before they finish with that. Why don't we meet about 11?"
"That sounds good, sexy. What are you gonna wear?"
"Anything you fucking want, Josh," I joked with him.
"Come naked and see what everyone says."
"They'd be jealous Josh."
"Shit. I'd be smiling though. They'd be jealous of my man."
I laughed at the comment. We talked for some time after that until we were both so tired and so excited that we decided to try to sleep for at least a little while.
The next morning, I awoke in a fury of impatience. I got up, put on some shorts and went downstairs. Maya and Daddy were talking about something, but I went in and grabbed some juice from the fridge.
"So what time will Joshua be here?" Maya asked after a minute.
"I'm meeting him in Cullman at 11," I said as I sat at the kitchen table next to my father.
"OK. We will be finished with the party function at around 3 or so. You two will be here then?"
"Yes ma'am," I answered.
"OK. We will be going shortly, so I will let you drink your juice," she started as she came over and kissed me on the forehead. "And brush your teeth, morning breath is not attractive."
"Yes ma'am," I smiled at her attempt to make a joke. She knew I was nervous about them all meeting, even though I knew in my mind that I had nothing to worry about.
I showered and made my way to Cullman. The roads were scarce, as is normal during the mid-morning. I arrived at the place we'd designated about 30 minutes before Josh was supposed to arrive. I went into the gas station and bought a diet Pepsi. By the time I got there, I heard the familiar rumblings of Josh's 4x4 coming into the parking lot.
"I knew you would be here early," he said as he climbed out of his truck and came over to give me a hug.
"Am I getting that predictable?" I asked.
"Nah. I just had a feeling that you would be early," I said. The sun shone, despite the slightly chilly temperature. Josh wore his sunglasses, so I wasn't able to see his lovely green eyes.
"OK. No worries, then," I added. I wanted to kiss him, but at this point in our lives and relationships we weren't ready for public display of affection. Plus, we were in Cullman, Alabama, a town often rumored to still be run by the Klan.
"So let's go. Jay's not gonna be back until later, and I'd love to have the chance to spend a little bit of time with you before my family takes you and rips off your arms."
"My arms. I need those," he said as he grabbed his shoulders. "How am I gonna hold you without them?"
"True," I said smiling. He'd caught an opportunity to throw out one of his Josh-isms that always made me smile.
The drive was stopped by nothing, and in record time, I made it from Cullman back to my hometown.
"So how far are we from Birmingham," he asked.
"About an hour, depending on how you go."
"Cool. We might have to go down there at some point this weekend. When do you have to be back at school, by the way?"
"Not until Tuesday. I'm taking a "my dad's a Congressman" day on Monday," I explained in air quotes.
"Cool. Cause I don't have to be back in Tennessee until Tuesday," he explained, giving me a wink.
"Great. We can spend a long weekend together then," I said.
"That's what I was hoping for," he explained.
We took his things up to the bedroom that I'd occupied from childhood to young adulthood. It was as I'd had it as a teenager. Maya had only made minor alterations to the room to display my high school academic and athletic achievements. He and I stood there in the room in silence as he finished looking around.
"So what is there to do?" he asked as we walked back down the stairs into the kitchen.
"Anything you want," I responded.
"Anything?" he queried.
"Make yourself at home," I said as I opened the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water.
As I stood in the fridge, I felt him. Not physically, but the kind of feeling when you know that someone is standing close to you. I turned and found him standing extremely close to me. He put his right hand on my face softly and rubbed my freshly shaved face. He kissed me. The kiss was more than what I'd experienced with him in Nashville at the Parthenon. It was uplifting, if a kiss can be so. I dropped the bottles of water onto the floor of the kitchen and put my arms around his neck. We moved out of the way of the fridge and shut the door. Our kiss never seemed to break.
"Let's go upstairs," I suggested as we stopped momentarily for much needed breathes.
"Sounds good to me," he said. I grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs.
The curtains that I'd not opened when I got out of bed that morning darkened my room. He turned me and led me into a continuance of the kiss from the kitchen. I was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, decorated with the insignia of some club I belonged to when I was in high school. This was complimented by khaki pants and some sneakers. Josh was wearing a white button down shirt, untucked from his jeans in a very `I'm trying not to look sexy' sexy way.
We both knew what was coming. In a fury, I began unbuttoning his shirt. I was so nervous that I must have ripped off one or two. He wore a white t-shirt underneath. I pulled it up and over his head. We broke our kiss long enough for him to assist me in lifting the shirt. His body was beautiful. The hours and hours of high school athletics and his summer employment on his uncle's farm had built him into an impressively strong, muscular man.
I moved onto his neck as he pulled up my shirt far enough to sneak his hands in underneath. His breath was heavy and ragged as I lapped up his very essence. His hands slipped under the waist of my pants and underwear, touching the tops of my buttocks. I leaned into him far enough to suck, lick, flick, and tug gently at his already perky brown nipples. My hands rested on his stomach, which was almost perfectly sculpted.
Josh pulled my shirt over my head, causing a momentary separation of our bodies. What lasted only seconds seemed like an eternity. I returned to his body, though, with renewed vigor. I lowered myself to my knees and began to lick each of his abdominal muscles and began to undo his belt. I had grown more nervous than I thought, as I was fumbling with his belt. He pulled my head so that I looked up into his face. His perfect smile and luscious body made me again realize just how horny he always seemed to make me.
I was finally able to undo his belt and as I kissed the "v" made by his muscles as they led to his special area. I moved further down with each button on his jeans that I was able to undo. He was wearing skimpy briefs that always made him seem much sexier than any other kind. They were also black. They hid a barely noticeable tan line, as Josh had a naturally dark complexion. As I pulled back the edge of the briefs, I found Josh had only recently groomed his pubic hairs. The smell of the shaving gel he'd used still slightly lingered on his skin. I slowly pulled his shorts down, exposing only his pubic hair, but not his growing penis. I kissed and licked the area in an attempt to make him moan in a complex mixture of both pain and pleasure.
I finally gave in to his non-verbal begging by pulling his underwear the rest of the way down. I forced both them and his jeans past his massive thighs. His dick popped into my face as it was freed from its covering. Even though we'd slept in the same bed the last two times we saw each other, I'd never seen the boy naked. Furthermore, I'd never seen a dick as thick as his. It was also nice and long.
I pulled it out of my way and began to give his balls a good tongue bath. Pure passion had taken me over. One by one, I pulled his huge balls into my mouth. When I was satisfied with the job I'd done, I ran my tongue on the underside of his dick. He let out a blood curdling moan that I interpreted correctly when I assumed he liked what I was doing.
"You OK?" I asked. He was so deeply enthralled in the excitement of the moment that he didn't answer me verbally, choosing to nod as I looked up at his body.
I teased the head of his cock with my tongue before putting it in my mouth.
Slowly I took in as much of his cock as I could. It was far larger than either of the two that I'd sucked in high school. He put his hand on my head and ran his strong, long fingers through my brown hair.
"Dave," he said. "I'm gonna cum." His warning came only seconds before volley after volley of his man juice landed in the back of my throat. His hot liquid was sweet as it coated my throat.
He pulled me up as I swallowed the last of his juices. He kissed me again, slipping his tongue into my mouth.
"I taste sweet," he said as he pulled away from me long enough to catch a couple of breaths.
I smiled. "Yes sir, you do." I motioned us to the bed. Josh's cock was still hard as a rock as he stepped out of the jeans that had been dropped to his ankles.
He turned me around began kissing and sucking on the back of my neck, the place on my body more than any other that would get me going. From his position, he placed his large hands on my chest. I wasn't as developed as he was, but I wasn't bad, either. He was enjoying me well enough. One of his hands moved down and into the front of my pants, finding its way past the elastic band of my boxers and to my awaiting hard cock. He stroked me a couple of times from the inside of my pants and then put his firm hold on my ball sack that was so full and desperately needing release. His other hand made it's way to the front of my pants as he, with one hand, undid my belt, the latch on my pants and pulled down the zipper. He let the pants fall naturally to the ground. Now more than ever, I could feel his hard cock pushing up against my ass. My cotton boxers offered little protection from the ravaging that I knew was coming. Finally, he was ready and moved my underwear down. Instantly, the air hitting my dick made it hard as a rock. He let go of my balls and turned me to face him.
"Io ti voglio," he said in Italian. (I want you.)
"No," I answered in Spanish.
"Perchè?" (Why?)
"Porque juego dificil," I stated. (I'm playing hard to get.)
"Perchè giochi così?" (Why are you playing like that?) He moved in and kissed me on the neck.
"Nevermind," I said as felt myself being taken over by his very persona. He lay me on the bed and told me not to move. He walked over to his suitcase and pulled a small paper bag from his valise. "What's that?" I asked.
"Something we'll need in a minute," he said. I trusted him. I was still only a bit reserved, though. I'd never done what it seemed he'd so carefully planned, despite my past experience. He returned to my side. "You nervous?"
"Yeah...A little," I said. He smiled at me. "If I'm hurting you, you can tell me, and I will stop."
"OK," I said as I lay on my back and await his penetration. The roles of the physical aspects of our relationship, it seemed, had been set. As I watched him put the condom on his dick, I thought about how bad it was going to hurt to have something as big as him deep within me.
He put the head of his dick against my hole. I relaxed and he slid his dick into me. There was a moment of unbearable pain as my ass became accustomed to having something inside it. I felt his dick go in as far as it could. He stayed there until I motioned for him to begin moving in and out of me. He was slow and accommodating at first. The pain turned to pure pleasure as passion overtook him as it had when I was giving him total pleasure. My dick became hard again. I didn't want to touch it, though, for fear that I would cum too soon. For a half hour, we rocked the bed that spent many a night coaxing, with no one's help, the juices of my loins. My body began to tense. I knew the familiarity of the feelings. With only one or two more strokes from his hard cock in my ass, I shot my first blow over my head, on the pillow beside my head, my chest, my face, and the bed beside me. He lost his load as well. It wasn't as dramatic as the load he'd lost earlier, but it allowed me to see his body tense, pull, and push as he lost drop after drop of his sweet juices.
When he pulled out of my ass, it felt empty. He went into the bathroom to throw away the condom that he'd used. When he returned, he lay on the bed beside me.
"So I just gave you something," he said as he rolled over onto his side to look at me.
"Yes. You did," I said, a large smile blanketing my face.
"No. I just gave you something that no one else can ever have."
"What are you talking about Josh?"
"You just got my virginity," he whispered in my ear.
"What?" I asked, surprised at what I was hearing.
"Yep. I was waiting to give it to first person I fell in love with." He leaned over and kissed me.
"My God. I'm in heaven."
"You're certainly an angel," he added, quickly taking advantage of an opportunity to throw out another one his Josh-isms.
The two of us lay there naked for hours. Eventually, I pulled myself up. I walked into the bathroom and washed the now grossly dried jizz off my body. As I stood there in the shower, I felt his absence. I got out of the shower, and he was standing there with a towel ready for me. "Do you need in here?" I asked as I hugged and kissed on the cheek the man with whom I'd also fallen in love.
"I used the shower down at the end of the hall. Is that OK?"
"Yeah. Maya and Daddy don't ever use that one. It used to be Jay's before he moved into the basement apartment."
"DAVID!" I heard my brother call as he came into the house from the basement.
"Speak of the devil," I said to Josh as I walked to the door. "Give us a minute," I yelled down the stairs.
"OK. Hurry your slow ass up," he said. I returned to the room to find Josh was already getting dressed again for the first introduction to my brother.
"You OK?" I asked.
"Yeah. You?"
"I'm great!" I was still beaming from the orgasm that he'd just given me. He was beaming as well. I finished dressing myself, and as we began to walk downstairs, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back into my room.
"I meant what I said," he said. "I really have fallen in love with you."
"Josh. I knew you were the one when you came to Isabel's room on the first night we met."
"Cool," he smiled at me. I grabbed his right hand, lifted it to my mouth and planted a kiss on it.
"I love you, too."
I dragged him down the stairs to my brother, who was waiting with his girlfriend, Priscilla. "Hey Jay. Hey Pru."
"Hey David," Priscilla said as she came over and hugged me.
"I didn't know you were coming," I said to her.
"Jay just invited me up this morning. Él me dijo que tú ibas a traer tu nuevo novio. ¡Que chulo es!" (He told me that you were bringing your new boyfriend. He's cute!)
"I know it, right? Pru...Jay. This is Josh."
"Nice to meet you," he said, sticking his hand out to shake my brother's hand.
"David has told me a lot about you, dude."
"Likewise."
The introductions were followed by a bonding session between Josh and my brother. They were acting as if they'd known each other for a lifetime. I was so happy. My brother liked Josh, and Josh liked Jay. Pru (my nickname for my brother's girlfriend at the time) and I caught up on a lot of things, since it'd been a while since she and I had had the chance to talk.
"Michael. I hate those women. You should have swapped parties a long time ago," my mother almost screamed as she came into the house through the garage.
"But dear, you know that they've been big supporters of the campaign, financially."
"I know, Michael. I just hate the fact that they act like they don't mind us "brown skinned folk" and then tell jokes like that. And they expected me to laugh at that shit," Maya said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Do we need to go rough some people up, Maya?" Jay asked before she noticed we were in the kitchen awaiting their arrival.
"Shit. You scared the hell out of me," Maya said after realizing they weren't alone in the kitchen. "Do that again and I will beat your ass, Juan Carlos Jansen!"
"Ouch, bro. She pulled out the full name," I joked at my brother.
"And Davíd Miguel Jansen. It goes double for you, you little shit," she said as a smile ran across her face. "Priscilla. Gracias por venir, mija."
(Thanks for coming, mija. [Mija is a term of endearment used with girls and women. It technically means "my girl, but colloquially it doesn't have translation.])
"Now who's getting the full name?" my brother said. I looked at him, and with my middle finger, wiped something from my eye.
"¿Cómo estás?" Pru asked. (How are you?)
"Bien," she answered before greeting the only remaining person in the room, Joshua. "E tu sei Joshua, verò?" (And you're Joshua, right?)
"Sì. Molto piacere, signora." (It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am.)
"Che non mi parli così formalmente," she instructed. "Sono Maya a tutti qui. Anche sono la tua. Now we will need to switch back to English." (Don't talk to me so formally. I'm Maya to everyone here. I'm yours, too.)
Maya drilled him for at least two hours and she prepared dinner for all six of us. Like a trooper, he rolled with the punches she was throwing. He was laughing. I began to think after a while that she liked him better than she had any of Jay's girlfriends before Pru. Her initial grillings even made one girl leave crying. I love my mother.
We sat down to dinner by six o'clock. Daddy said grace and we enjoyed each other's company. Josh fit so perfectly into the web of my family. By the end of the evening, Jay and Pru had retired to his room downstairs. Maya and Daddy went upstairs to go to bed after a long day of dealing with women that evidently didn't like Puerto Ricans.
For the evening, Josh and I went back up to my room. Though neither of us were ready for bed, we disrobed, knowing that a movie might just put us to sleep. The rest of the weekend I showed Josh around Oneonta. I introduced him to all the people I saw that I knew in Wal-Mart. Meredith Barclay, the bride of my first `boyfriend,' was there. Josh was equally as disgusted with her as I had always been. I showed him Palisades Park that weekend, as well. He thought it was such a beautiful place that he didn't want to ever leave. From the time we started seeing each other up until just a few weeks before he moved to Birmingham, we went up there every weekend he came down to see me.
"What are you thinking about?" Josh asked as he stirred from his sleep on the couch.
"I was thinking about the first time I told you I loved you," I responded. He was still half asleep as he tried to stay conscious enough to carry on a conversation.
"Really. Those were good times," he said almost incoherently as he rolled back over and fell asleep. Over the year prior to our cohabitation, he had become my best friend. He'd become my confidant. He had proven that we could create a lasting relationship, despite our youth. He and I had set out on a journey together. The journey of a boy had become the journey of two who were deeply in love.
For the rest of that morning, I sat watching him sleep. I drank an entire pot of coffee as I sat there and reminisced of the good times we'd shared. When he woke up at noon, we sat around, sharing each other's company in our home. It felt weird calling it that, but we were both determined to make it that.
===== Questions or comments? Send any and all messages to: boricuaholandes@hotmail.com