New to This State

HARD AT WORK ============

Striving every day to bring you another chapter of New to this State. And, more importantly, striving to get the damned thing finished so I can do something else! I realize that Chapter 11 did little or nothing to advance the plot, and arguably left off at an inappropriate juncture, but as I said in the introduction I had to dash out, so I rounded it out as well as I could, knowing I'd be back at work on 12 within a few hours. So, this is really the rest of Chapter 11 and then Chapter 12, but it needed an unique part number for the archive, so here it is, the antepenultimate chapter (and, for what it's worth, we're up to 70,000 words now)...

DISCLAIMER ==========

This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. The author asserts all legal and moral rights (copyright (c) 2000 - ardveche@hotmail.com) to this work and you may not copy it or transmit it in any way except in its entirety and with this disclaimer. This story features descriptions of sex between consenting (all over the legal age, at least in my jurisdiction they are) males:

• if such material is prohibited in your jurisdiction, please DO NOT READ ON, - if you're under the legal age to read such material, please DO NOT READ ON, - if you don't like, or are offended by such material, please DO NOT READ ON.

Now, if everyone who is still here is meant to be here, let's get on with it. All comments are welcome and gratefully received (email them to ardveche@hotmail.com or look me up on MSN Messenger).

NEW TO THIS STATE =================

Chapter 12 - Sunday Best (II)

"Let's go in, it's Baltic out here." I finally said, stepping back from him.

"Funny, I thought it was just starting to heat up!" I could only shake my head and mutter 'sad' under my breath at that crack as we began to thread our way cautiously back to the house, and the blessed warmth within. Halfway there, though, I was tackled from behind and sent crashing to the ground, all of the air pushed out of me in one whoosh. Curtis quickly straddled me and began to tickle my ribcage as I squirmed and squealed for mercy. He let up briefly, and pinning my arms above my head looked down into my arms, a wicked grin on his face.

"Apologize." He demanded.

"Never!" I bucked wildly under him and was able to flip him off, and over to one side, he grunted, but recovered quickly, rolling away before I could pin him and scrambling to his feet. He stood, tensed for my attack a few feet away from me and I feinted from side to side a couple of times, him matching my movements. Finally, I pounced and caught him round the waist, he staggered, and toppled backwards. I crashed down, half atop him, meaning to tickle him into submission. Instead, I found our lips meeting and a long, tender kiss developing. I sighed contentedly, and rolled off him, so we were lying side by side, holding hands. I gazed up at the few stars that were visible and turned to look at him. His eyes were dark pools, his face barely visible, but our gazes locked and I felt more complete than ever, lying with him under the infinity above.

"I win." He said.

"Bullshit, I could've taken you. I was just being nice. Besides, you're meant to be injured, you were only starting something you couldn't finish." I joked.

"You think so?"

"Yup. And you should be more careful of that rib."

"It's not so bad now. And anyway, marijuana deadens the pain a little."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. So you can be rough with me tonight!" He waggled his eyebrows at me, and I burst out laughing at him.

"Come on, let's go inside - and no horseplay this time, okay?"

"Whatever you want, Mr. Quinn, whatever you want." We both struggled to our feet, and brushed off some of the dirt on our clothing. Lois's flowers appeared to have survived the attack, for the most part, but I had a feeling we'd be hearing about it in the morning. Oh well, young love, what can you say? Back in the kitchen, we shucked our jackets and perched on stools on the opposite side of the island from one another. All the better to be able to gaze into one another's eyes! I took his hands in mine, keeping half an eye on the door, just in case my mother came in. "Well, this is nice." He said.

"Wanna go upstairs? Watch some TV or something?"

"Sure. Grab some chips, though. I'm ravenous."

"I know!" I replied, raising my eyebrows suggestively.

"Ha ha." He headed for the fridge and pulled out a couple of drinks. "Ready?"

"Always!"

"You are a shameless flirt! I'm gonna have to watch you."

"Watch me do what?" I took one look at the expression on his face and bolted from the kitchen, Curtis hot on my heels. I maintained a comfortable lead the whole way and was dimly aware of my mother calling to us to be quiet as I crashed through the door of my room, and that's where he caught up with me. Barreling both of us into my bed where he subjected me to the same punishment I had subjected him to moments ago in the flower beds! A thorough kissing. God! Was it possible for me to be happier?

"Are we here to watch TV, or so you can have your wicked way with me?" A muffled voice said against my neck. I took a moment to consider before I answered.

"Both. But let's start with TV and move on to carnality later. Okay?"

"Works for me. Wait here." He got up and headed for the door to my room. "I'm going to go slip into something more comfortable." He grinned and disappeared round the door frame. I heard him going down the stairs, and turned my attention to arranging the room a bit better for viewing, pulling the table my TV and video were on out of the corner and putting it a few feet from the foot of my bed. I piled all the pillows and cushions I could lay my hands on at the head of the bed and sprawled in what I hoped was a languorous pose, and I waited. After a while, I heard him coming back up the stairs.

"Woah! You look good enough to eat." He said as he popped back into the room. I had to smile at his 'something more comfortable'; it was a T-shirt, a pair of full-length checkered pajama bottoms and some thick socks. "What? What are you laughing at?"

"You. Of course."

"I should make you hurt for that." He said easing himself onto the bed beside me. "But instead, I'm gonna make you strip for me!"

"Oh you are, are you?"

"Yup. Get ready for bed now, Andrew!" He did a fair impersonation of my mother and I couldn't contain my laughter.

"If she ever hears you doing that, your life won't be worth living, buddy!"

"I know." He grinned. "I like your mom."

"She likes you too." I was suddenly serious, acutely aware that I did not want the subject of his moving out coming up again. I wanted him to feel welcome in our house, and knew that I was doing a good job on my account! But I worried about what he thought my mother made of him.

"So, are you going to dance for me or not?" He changed the subject.

"I feel so cheap!"

"You are." He socked me with a pillow.

"So, let me see if I understand this, I have to leave MY room when you're changing, but you get to stay and watch me, AND I have to dance for you?" I tried to inject as much righteous indignation into my voice as possible, but was finding it hard. He looked so utterly adorable lying there, looking up at me. Dressed as he was, he looked more boyish than normal, more cute. His beautiful green eyes were locked on mine and his hair was all mussed up. I just wanted to seize hold of him and, as he said, 'have my wicked way'.

"Yeah, that's about it. Shake your booty!" He hit me with the pillow again.

"I think not." I said firmly.

"Prude!" He shot back.

"You're saying this to a man who's sucked you off?" I asked quietly as I rose to my feet, allowing my shirt to fall to the floor as I did so.

"Man? Don't flatter yourself, boy!" Was there no winning this argument? I sighed and pulled my T-shirt off over my head, clumsily snagging one arm in the process. "Woo hoo! Work that body!" He laughed, and I creased up, clambering back onto the bed to hit him a couple of times with a pillow.

"I'm only an object to you!" I complained.

"Listen, go into the bathroom and change, I don't want to make you uncomfortable." His tone was serious, and it surprised me a little. Why would he think he was embarrassing me? There was nothing here he hadn't seen before, after all. I stood up again, and with a flourish pulled my belt free and let the pants fall to the floor along with my shirt. I shucked my shorts and socks in one fluid, well-practiced move - it may take me half an hour to get dressed, but it's only ever taken about three seconds to get undressed! My mom is always complaining that I fold nothing. There was a look of astonishment on his face. Mentally, I performed a victory jig (never perform victory jigs while naked, that's my motto), I had finally gained the advantage.

"Now," I said, standing naked before him, "You have to move your fat ass, so I can get my PJs from under the pillow."

"Hmm, let me think about that..." He responded with a grin.

"Shift. Now. Before my mom comes in and discovers this little tableau. Or we have a helluva lot of explaining to do!" Seeing the truth of this, he swung his legs off the bed and gave me access to my own sleep wear. As I bent over to retrieve shorts and T-short though, he swatted me on the ass, causing me to yelp and spin round. He doubled up with laughter, and I made an exasperated noise, as I pulled my shorts on. I complemented the whole outfit with a pair of white socks and resumed my place on the bed. He joined me moments later, once his laughter had subsided.

"Hey, you know what?" He prodded me as he spoke.

"What?"

"I have to kick your butt."

"Why?" I was curious.

"For calling my ass fat, you bastard."

"Oh, that. Well, you know, you could stand to lose a few pounds." I jibed.

"Oh, you are so going to pay for that." He glowered at me, and I smirked. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."

"Corny! So," I said ignoring his affronted look, "What do you want to watch?"

"You."

"Understandable, but I remind you again that we're on best behavior until my mom turns in." I answered him reasonably. "How about a movie? I have a few on tape."

"You choose. I don't care."

"Here we go again! Mr. Decisive is back." I slid to the foot of the bed and began pulling tapes from their boxes to read what was on them. Not that what I wrote on a video necessarily reflected what was on it, I'm too lazy for that. "Oh, hey, how about 'The Opposite of Sex', seen it?"

"Nope. But I haven't seen many movies recently. Is it any good?"

"Would it be in my collection if it wasn't?" I shot back.

"Weeeell..." He drew the word out slowly and scrunched his beautiful face up.

"Fine. We'll watch that then." I decided to ignore him. After all, he'd said he didn't care, and if I had to keep my hands off him for a few hours, I wanted something good to watch to help keep up my resolve. I slid the tape into the machine and grabbed a couple of pillows, placed them at the foot of the bed and folded my arms under my chin, so my feet were at the head of the bed. Curtis shoved the bowl of chips towards the middle of the bed, so we could both reach them, but didn't join me. His foot was resting against my ribs though and, not for the first time, I blessed that double bed!

To anyone coming in, we looked like a couple of teenage guys having a sleep-over and watching a movie. But I knew that the slight pressure against my side throughout the movie, was my boyfriend. That the movement I could feel, was my lover's laughter. How cool is that? Apart from the occasional burst of laughter at some of the priceless lines in the film, and the sound of contented munching we watched in silence. A pleasant, comfortable silence. About twenty minutes or so from the end, that scene in the log cabin where she goes into labor, my mom popped her head round the door to tell us she was going to bed.

"Well, good night, boys. And keep the noise down to a dull roar, okay?" Parents can be so funny. But more of a laugh at than a laugh with sort of funny.

"Funny, mom." I mumbled around a mouthful of chips.

"Night, Mrs. Quinn." Curtis gave her a little wave and a big smile. Oh, so cute! She smiled back at him.

"Don't stay up too late. And don't you forget to brush your teeth, Andrew." She said as she left the room.

"Aw, mo-ommmmm!" I yelled after her, Curtis snorted laughter of course. Why did she always pick moments like this to treat me like I was six? Not that there was ever a right time to treat me like I'm six! But you see what I mean, right? I flopped back down to watch the end of the movie. As the credits rolled, I set the video to rewind and rolled onto my back, putting my hands behind my head and propping it up a little so I could look at Curtis. I felt a warm, strong hand lightly stroking my leg, and a small, shy smile played on his lips.

"So." He said quietly. I made no response, just continued to look at him, committing every curve and contour to memory. "Your place or mine?"

"Hmm. Exciting though the idea is of copulating..."

"Copulating? Jeez, how clinical is that?" Curtis interrupted, with a light slap to my calf.

"As I was saying. Copulating while my mother's on the other side of the wall, I think I'm going to opt for my place." I pointedly resumed what I was saying, and more pointedly used the same word again.

"Good, 'cause I can't be bothered to move." He smiled.

"Well, I hope you can move a little."

"Yeah, probably."

"Don't put yourself out on my account."

"I won't." His gaze traveled down my body, and he pulled off my socks. I put up no fight, interested to see where this was going, and having a pretty fair idea at that! "You know, you have nice feet."

"What? How random is that?" Not what I had expected.

"No, I'm serious. Normally, you know, feet are pretty ugly, but I like yours." He mumbled.

"Well, thanks. I think." I replied sarcastically and he blushed.

"Sorry. Hey, aren't you supposed to be cleaning your teeth?" He became all bright and breezy again and I wanted to slap myself for making him feel dumb.

"Yeah. You want to come check I do it right?"

"Well, children do need constant supervision." He gave me a wink just as I was about to retort and I ended up simply shaking my head. I guess he'd earned that point. We went through to the bathroom and stood side by side, brushing our teeth. I felt very domestic, performing this simple action with another person, it was weird.

We crawled back into my bed and he pulled me to him immediately, urgently. I slid my arms around him and savored the sensation of being held by him. I took a deep breath and held it, wanting to add a perfect record from every other sense to my mental picture of him. He sighed and stroked my hair gently, almost absently. His mind was on something else, but these mood swings were something I was fast becoming used to and adept at spotting.

"What's up?" I asked his shoulder.

"Nothing." He replied, I said nothing, waiting for him to go on. I knew he had more to say but that we had to go through this little ritual first. "I just." He stopped.

"Just what, babe?" I murmured.

"Babe?" There was amusement in his voice.

"Just what?" I decided to not give him that route out. There was something he wanted to say, but wasn't sure if he should, and I was damned if I was going to make it easier for him to back off. I was too good at doing that myself, I could spot it a mile off in others.

"It's dumb."

"So? Like you never said anything dumb before."

"Oh, gee, thanks for the support." He replied, but there was no trace of rancor. "Asshole." He added in an undertone and I gave a short laugh.

"So, what was this dumb thing?"

"It's not important." He hesitated again. Again I waited. "I just wanted to say thank you again."

"For what?"

"For what? For everything, dumbass. For Thursday. For tonight. For being in my life. For being my life. I, um." He swallowed, and cleared his throat, but went on before I could speak. "I haven't been as happy as this in years. No. Ever. I don't want us ever to lose this, Drew. I feel so close to you, and you've been so great. And I don't have the words I want to tell you how important you are to me."

"That's not dumb." I raised my head to look into his eyes. "That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me." And I honestly meant it.

"You're so much more to me than just a lover. I want to get to know you as well as I know myself, better, to get inside your head, to be with you all the time." I could only continue to gaze at him, nothing I could actually say would be good enough. "Sorry. I told you it was dumb." He turned away from me.

"And I told you it wasn't." I whispered, I didn't trust myself to speak fully aloud.

"Just hold me tonight? Is that okay?"

"Always." I snuggled against his back and draped an arm round him, which was quickly grasped by his own. Once again, I felt him relax totally in my arms and all the tension flow from him. There was no feeling in the world as good as this, this total surrender, this quintessence of trust. We fell asleep in each other's arms.

Sunday morning came, and for the first time I was awake before Curtis. As the light streamed In I sat, propped on one elbow, stroking his hair out of his face and idly trying to count his freckles. He was dribbling slightly into my pillow, but he looked so peaceful that I couldn't bear to disturb him. Besides, I welcomed the chance just to be able to stare at him, without worrying what anyone would think, and without making him feel awkward. Finally, though, it came to an end, he drew in an especially large breath and as he let it out his eyelids flickered and opened. He blinked at me a couple of times and then a slow lazy smile spread across his face.

"Now that's a sight I could get used to waking up to." He drawled sleepily as he rolled onto his back.

"You know, I was thinking that too."

"Yeah? What else were you thinking?" He stretched lazily, and I admired the muscles in his arms, the bruises slightly faded now to a bluish-yellow.

"Wouldn't you like to know." I tried to be enigmatic.

"Yes." I suppose that's why he'd asked in the first place.

"Nothing printable."

"I'll bet."

"No, seriously. I was just lying here admiring you." He smiled gently at me. "You're so cute it hurts."

"Mm. Don't stop."

"You wish." I continued to play with his hair. "You know, you should get a haircut, get it out of your eyes."

"Mm." Curtis was being noncommittal again.

"Yeah. You have beautiful eyes." I pushed his hair back from his face completely. "And great cheekbones. You should show them off."

"Maybe I like it like it is." He flapped lazily at my hands until I let his hair fall back. "And maybe I don't want to show them off, maybe I want them to be just for you."

"You old romantic. C'mon, we should get up, 'we missed the best part of the day' already." I quoted one of my mother's favorite lines, letting the matter drop.

"I guess." He seemed disinclined to move, so I yanked the bedclothes off him and trotted through to the bathroom. I gazed at myself in the mirror for a few minutes and then got in the shower. I was toweling myself dry, when I heard voices from my room. My stomach lurched. Caught. I didn't know what to do, go out and face the music, or stay in the bathroom and hope for a meteor to hit the earth. I was still standing, frozen in terror when there was a tap at the door, and Curtis's voice snapped me back to the here and now.

"Are you decent?"

"Um. Yes?" I replied hesitantly. The door opened and he stepped in.

"Your mom just came up." He said.

"Oh, shit."

"Don't panic. I said we stayed up late watching movies and I must've fallen asleep."

"And she bought that?"

"Seemed to. I told her nothing happened." He shrugged. How could he be so casual about this? I had just been busted sleeping with another guy by my mom. Things couldn't get much worse. "You done with the shower?"

"What?"

"The shower? Can I use it?" He clapped my still damp shoulder. "Relax."

"Easy for you to say." I muttered, as I resumed drying myself and he took his shower. Why did he tell her nothing happened? Didn't that just imply that something could have happened? Oh, God, how was I going to get out of this? I was just finishing getting dressed when he emerged with a towel around his waist.

"Feeling calmer?" He asked.

"No." I said in as withering a tone as I could muster.

"Jeez! See you downstairs, I'm gonna go and get dressed." I watched him depart and stood by my dresser hyperventilating for a while before venturing downstairs. My mother and Lois were in the kitchen when I walked in.

"Hey." I said as heartily as I could.

"I have a bone to pick with you, Andrew Timothy Quinn." My mom announced.

"Oh?" I played dumb.

"Yes. I told you two not to stay up too late. Curtis still needs rest, and sleeping on your bed doesn't count. What if he catches a chill?" On? I guess that made sense, if he fell asleep watching a movie he wouldn't have been under the covers.

"Sorry." I ventured.

"I'm sure. You're always sorry. After you've done something foolish." I knew my mom well enough to know she was trying to be stern because she thought she ought more than because she was genuinely angry, and I relaxed a little.

"I know. But he looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake him, so I threw a blanket over him and tried to get some sleep."

"Okay. But next time, wake him. I'm sure he'd have appreciated his own bed."

"Frightened he might ravage me?" I asked jokingly and Lois spluttered mightily into her coffee, spraying it across the newspaper she'd been pretending to read.

"Andrew!" My mother looked appalled.

"Well?" I was suddenly enjoying this.

"Of course not! Don't be silly. Now let's drop it." Too cool, I had come down thinking I was so busted and had ended up making my mom back down. That was a first.

"Morning all." A cheerful and welcome voice from behind me said and Curtis sauntered into the room as though nothing at all could perturb him. I laughed out loud and my mother shot me a black look. Lois, busied herself with the paper again. "What?" Curtis wanted to know as he looked from one of us to the other.

"What would you like for breakfast, boys?" Lois was the first to recover. "Pancakes? I make them to my own recipe."

"Sounds great." Curtis beamed. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I'm sure there are lots of things you can do, young man!" Lois winked and set about making the pancakes.

"Mother!" My mother was appalled again. This promised to be a fun day.

We enjoyed a pleasant family breakfast together, and I again realized just how lucky I was, and how much Curtis had missed this sort of easy back-and-forth with his own family. I was beginning to think of him very much as part of the family, maybe because we were both only children? I could happily cope with him being a sort of adopted brother, provided we could go on having our more intimate relationship as well. Brother, friend and lover all in one, with none of the ickiness of incest to complicate matters. One thing was for sure, he had opened up enormously since that first day and I was glad of it, underneath his initially hostile exterior there beat a heart of gold. Trite. But true for all that.

We finished eating, and Curtis and I cleared the table and did what little washing there was to do. He then headed upstairs for his cigarettes and excused himself to go outside to smoke, with only the tiniest frown from my mother. As soon as the door closed behind him, she turned to face me and fixed me with a very serious look.

"Andrew. About this morning."

"Mom! Drop it, please." I whined, I had thought the whole conversation was dead.

"No, there's something I have to say. It was wrong of you to let him stay in your room, but only because he's still pretty badly injured. I want you to understand that I don't care that Curtis is gay, it makes no difference to me, and it doesn't change who he is."

"Mom." I tried to interrupt again.

"And I don't think it's appropriate for you to be making jokes about his sexuality. I know he's not fully comfortable with it, and you won't help him by being foolish."

"Aw. C'mon, that's not what I was doing."

"I know that, but if he had overheard you, he might not think so. Obviously you are okay with his situation, and have accepted him as a friend. But I worry that actions like those of last night might be giving the wrong signals to him. And that would be bad for him." I was struck dumb. I had no way to answer that. She was worried that I might be confusing him by giving the wrong signals! She had no idea how right and, at the same time, how wrong she was.

"Okay."

"Right, well, let's say no more about it. I'm sure when Curtis is ready to talk about his sexuality, he'll be grateful to have a friend to talk to, and I trust you to be mature and sensitive if he decides that that person is you." And so saying my mother got up and left the room. I sat and looked at Lois for a long time, who studiously ignored me. Eventually, though, she flapped her newspaper and peered over the top at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You are going to have to tell her eventually. I know it's not going to be easy, but it's easier in the long run than lying to her - which you very nearly did."

"I know. But she'll flip."

"Did she sound just now as if she had a problem with it?"

"She has no problem with Curtis being gay, but her own son is another thing."

"Perhaps." Lois resumed reading the paper.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"Andrew, how often do you need me to say 'trust your mother' or 'your mother's a lot more levelheaded than you think' or any of the other variations on that theme before you believe me?"

"Lois..." I began.

"That was rhetorical, dear." And the conversation was over. I was confused. I was uncertain about so much. I didn't know what I should do, or how I should do it. My life was not getting any easier, and though I dreaded the thought, I knew that Lois was right. The only problem was, as soon as I spoke to my mother - reasonable though she would be - I knew that Curtis and I would be under twenty-four hour surveillance. It would certainly mean an end to sleeping together, at the very least until I turned eighteen. It would make every word and gesture open to misinterpretation. In short, it would introduce every complication I had always wanted to avoid. It was beginning to look like my one-time dream of having my boyfriend under the same roof could very easily turn into a nightmare. I went outside to talk to Curtis.

"Well, that was fun." I said flatly.

"What was?"

"My mom just told me to be careful I didn't lead you on." I supplied.

"Sound advice."

"You are so not funny."

"So you tell me. What's the problem? Your heterosexuality remains unquestioned."

"Yeah, but I don't want to lie to her, and it came close just now. I gave some total non-answers. And Lois called me on it. She thinks I have to tell her, and I guess it's not fair to expect her to lie to my mom for us."

"No, probably not."

"But if I tell her, she'll stop us, you know, being together."

"Only in this house." I got the feeling, with answers like that, that he was missing my point - and possibly doing so willfully.

"Exactly!"

"But, we already established that I'm not staying here forever."

"Don't start that again."

"Look at it logically, Drew. You have to tell your mom eventually. You don't want to lie to her, but every minute I'm here and we're together that's exactly what you're doing. Solution - I should move out. I have to anyway, and I want to."

"You want to?"

"Yes. I don't want to be dependent on you guys."

"But it's not a problem, you being here." I protested.

"I didn't say it was. I said I don't want to be dependent. Not that I don't want to be a burden, though I don't. You've all made it clear, some more so than others, that you want me to stay." He grinned at me. "But I have to have my independence. I'll always be grateful to your mom and Lois for taking me in. And, if I had a place of my own, our major problem would be solved. Right?"

"Possibly. I think she might be a pain about us doing anything until I was eighteen." In fact, I knew she would be.

"And she may well have a point, it is technically a crime."

"Technically."

"Besides, your mom can't watch us all the time!" He squeezed my shoulder in what I assume he thought was a reassuring manner, but I knew my mom's abilities far better than he did, and at times they bordered on superhuman.

"I guess."

"Hey, we've managed to avoid detection in the same house, think how much easier it'd be if you could come over to my place. Real privacy, no sneaking about."

"I guess."

"You don't sound convinced. Relax, buddy, everything'll work out." He let go of my shoulder and straightened up, stubbing out the butt of his cigarette as he did so. "Let's go inside." I followed him dutifully into the kitchen.

"Did you two have a productive chat?" Lois asked archly.

"Yes." Curtis answered.

"No." I said simultaneously.

"Ah, then I think I'm more inclined to believe Mr. Reid, and to assume that Andrew's good sense will prevail in time, once he's stopped being huffy!" She smiled beatifically and, turning back to the paper, ceased to pay any attention to us.

"So what do you want to do today?" Curtis asked me.

"Nothing much."

"Excellent. Do you have a time frame for that?"

"Screw you." I was not feeling much like being fun right then. I knew that Curtis and Lois were right, but I didn't want him to leave, and I didn't want to lose him, and I didn't want to deal with my mother. Maturity sucks.

"Let's go for a drive."

"Where?"

"Somewhere less spooky. Out of town, get some fresh air." He answered, guessing what I was thinking straight away. At least we weren't going for another trip to the cemetery! That would just top off my depression nicely.

"I guess." I assented. Well, sort of!

"Don't bring him back until he's cheered up a bit." Lois chimed in.

"I won't. And if he's not smiling by dinner, I'll leave him to walk back." Curtis was enjoying himself, it seemed. He knew he was right, and he knew I knew. Oh well.

"No more than he deserves."

"Okay. When you two are done." I finally had enough of the two of them ganging up on me, it was beginning to get annoying. He grinned broadly and reached for his jacket, which was hanging by the door. "I'll just grab my coat from upstairs, back in a minute." I ran up the stairs and selected a jacket quickly, unwilling to leave them alone together for too long, they didn't need any more opportunities to conspire against me. And, yes, I know that sounds like paranoia. But what's the word for when everyone really IS against you?

We never seemed to talk whenever we drove anywhere, each thinking his own thoughts, and this time was no different. He took a few turns and soon we were in an unfamiliar part of town; ten minutes later, the houses thinned rapidly and we were in the great outdoors. I pretty much switched off from there, and was broken from my reverie when we left the road and headed along something that dreamt of one day being a dirt track. Maybe I exaggerate, but I am pretty much a city-boy, this much isolation made me a little uneasy. After what seemed like forever driving along this winding road, flanked by an impenetrable screen of trees, we came to a cleared area which might charitably have been a camp ground. It was utterly deserted.

"We're here."

"This is lovely." I said with all the lack of feeling I could muster.

"Okay, wise ass, we're not quite there yet. We have to walk a little way." He killed the engine and opened his door, sliding out of the car and stretching. He took a dew deep lungfuls of the air and let out a contented 'ahhhh'. Not for the first time I wondered why someone who smoked was so crazy about fresh air, but I said nothing as I climbed out to and slammed my door.

"So, where now?"

"God. Lighten up, or I will drive off and leave you here."

"Bastard."

"Good comeback." He punched my arm, and then set off up the law rise that formed one of the boundaries to the camp ground. "Follow me." I did as I was bid, if only because I had nothing better to do. I was slightly out of breath as I crested the rise and thrust my way through the tree branches, which were snapping back in my face in his wake. I was about to curse him again, but the sight beyond the trees stopped me. Curtis turned to face me. "Worth the effort?"

"It's okay." I managed. At the foot of the rise, not more than twenty yards from where we stood was a rocky shore and beyond that a broad expanse of blue, blue water, surrounded on every side by trees.

"There's a hotel way up at the northern end, and some cabins on the far bank, but this part's usually pretty quiet." He supplied. "Especially at this time of year." We certainly seemed to be the only people around, and we had passed nobody since turning off the road.

"It's lovely, Curtis. I'm sorry I was such a bitch about coming here."

"Don't worry, I'm getting used to you." I decided not to dignify this with a response, preferring to make my way down the slope to the edge of the water. Curtis followed me, and we both stood at the edge, looking out over the water. I stooped and selected a good flat stone to skip across the surface. We took turns back and forth, calling supportive or abusive comments at one another until we got bored.

"Let's sit." I suggested.

"One second." He said, reaching into his pocket. He produced the tin from the previous night and flashed me a big grin. I bit back any comment, though I was unhappy about the idea of him smoking anything out here and then driving back. So I was totally taken by surprise when he leant back and with one huge throw and a grunt he hurled the tin far out into the lake. Where it sank without trace.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him, puzzled.

"Because, despite last night I know you don't like it. And I wanted you to see that I was willing to do stuff, for no reason but that you want me to."

"Wow." Again, I didn't know what to say.

"Besides which, you're the only stimulant I need." He smiled a goofy grin at me and the seriousness of the moment was over.

"Thanks, Curtis."

"My pleasure, handsome. Now, let's sit." He slid his arm around me again as we sat together on one of the large boulders by the edge. "See, I told you your mom couldn't watch us all the time!" I kissed his cheek, a sort of tacit acknowledgment that he was right about moving out. That was the best he was going to get for the time being, I was still thinking it through.

TO BE CONTINUED... ==================