Austin drove my Jeep to the party. If there's anything sexier then a tanned athletic hunk in a tank wearing a backwards hat driving a Jeep, I don't think I could take the shock of it.
We had agreed that since so many people there knew about "us," we'd just take one vehicle and walk in together. Austin shot me a stern look when I suggested he carry me in, newlywed-style.
We walked in about 7:30, and the party was already jumping. After a few hellos to the regulars, I saw Phil making a funny face at me and mouthing something. The next thing I knew, a guy walked up and shook Austin's hand.
"Nathan? Uhhh, Hi" Austin said with a surprise.
"Hey there, ya asshole," Nathan said in a deep Southern accent.
"Called ya yesterday, and yur roommate said you was coming back here for the weekend. But yur mom didn't know nothin' about it. So ah came here cause ah knew ya couldn't pass up a party," he laughed and slapped a visibly shaken Austin on the back.
As much as I wanted to stay and watch, I was swept toward the backyard. I wasn't even wielding my guitar yet. I finally mumbled that I needed my guitar and made a break for the front room. As I approached, I heard Nathan very clearly.
"Dude, why the hell are ya hanging around with that fag?" Nathan joked with a very pale Austin.
"He's not a fag, Nathan." Austin protested half-heartedly.
The denial stung like a wasp. I turned, went in the kitchen and left through the side door. I walked over to my Jeep, grabbed my guitar, returned through the side door and walked directly out back. Regardless of our plan, I started to drink, and I was on my third beer when Austin came over and nudged me. I ignored him and took another swig.
"What the hell's with you?" Austin asked as he nudged me harder.
I turned and took another swig before catching his eyes and saying, in as bitchy a tone as I could muster, "Nothing you need to worry about!" Then I turned around and left. Austin however wasn't going to let it drop.
"Hey, I don't know what I did," he said. "If it was Nathan, I think he's got a better idea now of what's going on."
"Yeah, You're straight. I'm straight. What? I just happen to make a better breakfast than your mother?" I stated as I walked towards the backyard.
Austin simultaneously took my beer away and lifted me up. I struggled and threatened him as he carried me through a crowded living room, down a hallway and into the guest room, where he asked Glen and Jennifer to let us speak privately for a few minutes.
She smoothed out her dress, and he went all blushes and said hi to each of us as he slipped past.
Austin set me down he said rather firmly, "Goddamnit now! Listen to me. I don't want to hurt you!"
"You already have, Sunshine!" I said to his face.
"How?" he demanded. "I don't know what I did. Christ, you're as bad as a damned girl!!!" He spun around, looking up at the ceiling.
"When your friend asked why you were hanging out with the fag, you told him I wasn't gay. Like you're ashamed of me. OK, deny it about yourself because maybe you aren't. But I am, and I am not going to go back in the closet, even for you."
"I never said you were straight. Who told you that?" Austin asked.
"I heard you with my very own ears. You said, 'He isn't gay.'" I mocked his voice.
His face was quizzical for a second before he finally broke into a big grin. "And you walked out as soon as you heard that?"
I just held his gaze, then finally said "Yeah!" It had begun to dawn on me that I might be wrong about something. That there was a chance I didn't have all the facts yet.
"Baby, what I said was, 'He isn't a fag' Then I grabbed his shirt to let him know I meant business and added, 'He's gay. Learn the difference!'"
Austin continued to grin while I turned different shades of red and stammered for something to say.
"I'm waiting," he taunted.
"I-I-I'm so sorry" I pleaded as I looked at our feet.
"And???" he asked.
I looked up at him, still blushing and feeling ashamed. "And ... I should have trusted you... You gave me a chance last night when you thought I'd told people about you."
I went over and hugged him tightly. A few seconds later, I was lifted to his face. My head moved to the side instinctively for the kiss I knew was coming. When it didn't, I opened my eyes to see a huge grin on his face as he looked down his nose at me.
"God you're an easy bitch ..." he teased me.
"Sue me. I have a thing for a big, badly dressed doofus. Now are you gonna kiss me or what?" I asked as I tried to move my head toward his to catch his lips.
Austin deftly moved his head further back. Try as I might, all I did was arch my neck. He giggled as he teased me.
"Doofus huh???" he said, wiggling his fingers on my sides slightly causing me to spaz out.
"And wait a second, you picked all my clothing out. So if I'm dressed bad, it's your fault, my little faggy friend."
Seeing the look in my eyes he quickly added, "Wait a second. Before you knee me like a bitch in heat, listen. If I'm bisexual, that makes me half fag, and since I'm twice as big as you, that means we have the same amount of fag in us, so I can use the word 'fag' anytime I want now. Fag, Fag," he then moved his face in and kissed me briefly.
Then he added "Fag," followed by a kiss. "Fag," followed by another kiss. "Faggot," followed by a long kiss.
Neither of us realized the had door opened and someone had walked into the room.
"Jesus fucking Christ, I wouldn'ta believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Austin Camble's a fucking fag," Nathan almost hissed at us.
Austin quickly moved our faces apart, but he made no attempt to hide what we'd been doing.
"As usual Nathan, you're only half right. Alex is gay. You already knew that. I'm bisexual. So that only makes me half gay. And if you keep calling us fags, I'm gunna hold you down and let Alex fuck you till your eyes bug out."
As funny as that thought was, I was more worried about Nathan spreading this news about Austin. Austin was dealing with this like an old pro. I was incredibly proud of him, so I wiggled my way down and took a step toward Nathan.
"Listen. No one is gonna do anything to you, but I would like to talk to you," I said as sincerely as I could.
"Fuck that!" Nathan spat out. He was making for the door when Glen and Dan came in and blocked his way out.
"What the hell's going on in here?" Dan asked as Glen looked from Austin to me to Nathan.
Nathan was very much a redneck. Maybe he came from more money then the average redneck, but his politics and views firmly held him to that camp. Unfortunately for him, he was my height (5-foot-7) and only outweighed me by 20 pounds... Not nearly as big as any of the 6-foot monsters in this room.
He tried walking out when I said, "Wait Nathan, please. I really need to talk To you."'
Glen grabbed Nathan and spun him around quickly. "He asked you 'please.'"
"Very nicely, too," Dan added as he moved to block the doorway.
"All you fucking faggots better get out of my way now. I mean it!" Nathan snarled.
With all the yelling, more and more people gathered in the doorway, Finally, I looked at Austin, and he nodded to me.
"All right. Would everyone who knows about Austin and I please come in the room," I said loudly as Nathan tried once again to swim against the crowd.
Dennis finally walked in and stood directly in his way. He was a big bodybuilder who found out he liked going to gay bars because he could dance and be himself without getting in fights all the time.
Dennis had been in so many fights that his cousin, a paramedic, had given him his own suture gun for all the little cuts. He was a wonderful guy, funny and pretty good looking. We'd always gotten along great. At 6-2 and 240 pounds, with a chest like a tank and massive arms that were too big for sleeves, not even a homophobic redneck was going to argue with him.
"Yeah, waddaya want?" Dennis asked in his friendly baritone voice.
"OK. Apparently last night, Austin and I were overheard in some conversation, and then people started to gossip about us after we left." I said, taking out the papers that I had folded in my pocket and passing them out.
I'd made 20 copies of each of the three pages and stapled them together. When people started to open them, a wave of shock and revulsion swept over the room.
"The first picture is a gay man from Alabama who'd been in a weekend baseball league. When his teammates discovered that he was gay, that's what they did to him with baseball bats. He died within minutes of having his head cracked open. After he was dead, some of his teammates pissed all over his body. The other pictures show what happens in the military if a homosexual is unlucky enough to be discovered by his bunkmates before he's discharged. Some of them are dead, and some are maimed for life. All of them were bashed for no other reason then being gay."
The room was deadly silent. Some people, like Nathan, looked at me. Most simply stared at the horrible pictures.
"Not everyone is as open and accepting as this group. This is a very, very rare group. If this secret gets out about Austin, there is a chance that it will get to his family and or his teammates. Either way, it's a dangerous thing. So unless anyone here wants to see Austin's picture passed around like this because of silly gossip, I suggest we all agree to keep this secret here."
Austin walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around me protectively and lovingly.
"And just so y'all understand, I never did anything like this before I met Alex. I'm not really a full-blown homosexual. I'm bisexual, I guess. But anyways, I really would appreciate it if you'd keep our secret. Please." Austin asked in true sincerity.
"So why don't you just stop being fucking fags if ya don't wanna land up like that damn picture... An awful lot of folk down here think that's the only way to deal with a faggo ... homosexual," Nathan said with slow-burning contempt.
"Why the hell don't you grow up and stop being ignorant. Seems like that would make everyone happier," Cynthia added with more edge to her voice than I'd ever heard. "And when y'all talk about 'down here,' I hope you mean the backwoods of Florida and not the South, because even the bigots I know are more civilized then the monsters who did that," she added pointing to the picture.
Audra had a tear in her eye when she looked up and asked me where I'd gotten these awful pictures.
"I used to teach courses in sensitivity training to the staff, resident advisers and faculty at college. I also used to speak to classes and even some civic groups about gay, lesbian and bisexual issues. These pictures were just some of the material I had," I said.
"So if you talked to all them people at school, and they all knew about you, how come you didn't land up like that damned picture?" Nathan asked seriously.
When I smiled, many of the people in the room started to laugh and giggle. Austin didn't know this secret any more than Nathan did. I didn't want to say anything so I just put my hands up and said, "Because it was a small very expensive school, and I was very lucky."
"Yeah, and captain of the judo team," Steve bellowed out to a round of laughter.
"Hell, even I know not to fuck with him!" Dennis offered.
I blushed a little as I added, "Like I said, I was very lucky. Even judo won't protect you from a team wielding baseball bats or an idiot with a gun. It probably did offer me some protection, but more than that, it made people who might have dismissed me otherwise stop and listen to what I had to say."
"If yer done with yer speech, can ah leave now?" Nathan asked like a man held against his will.
"Not so fast sport," Dennis said. "Give me your wallet'"
"Fuck you!" Nathan replied bravely.
"I'm not going to keep it or take any of your damned money. Now give me your wallet, dickhead!" Dennis stated in low, even tones. His threat was implied even if he didn't say it in so many words.
Glaring at Dennis with uncontested hatred, Nathan reluctantly handed over his wallet. Dennis opened it up and took out his ID, handed it to a girl named Trina and asked her to copy all the information on it to a piece of paper.
When she had finished, she handed everything back to Dennis. Dennis folded up the paper and stuck it in one of his pockets, then replaced the ID card and handed the wallet back to Nathan.
"You know why I took that information?" Dennis asked Nathan, who said nothing as he glared. "That might be the smartest thing you've said all night buddy boy. I took that information because if anyone finds out, I mean anyone, here or at Austin's school, you are going to suffer. I don't mean beat-you-up kind of suffering. I mean twisted fucking shit. The kinds of things Pacino likes to do in his movies. Capiche?"
Dennis's voice had become so low and monotone, that it even scared us. He was usually so nice that no one thought much about it. But his past was a mystery, and there had been rumors that he'd done work for drug dealers in south Florida. Hard to believe till you saw his gold jewelry, muscles and moments like this, when a terrifying cold pallor came over him.
This was one guy you didn't want to get angry. I was certain that his muscles were the least scary thing in his arsenal.
"You believe what I'm telling you Nathan?" Dennis asked tauntingly.
Nathan had lost some of his anger. It had slowly been replaced by an element of fear.
"Yeah, I won't say shit. To me he's dead anyways." Nathan said in an attempt to regain his bravado.
Phil finally spoke up as he pushed into the room.
"Nathan, get out now. And if we hear anything about this getting out, Dennis will just be the first wave, jerkwad. You got me?"
As Nathan pushed out he gave a feeble, "Fuck all y'all, anyways."
To everyone's surprise, Jennifer blocked his way and said to him, "I have been keeping your secret for years now. If this gets out, I will make sure the police get all the information they need. Now get out of this house. No one wants a hateful person like you around."
And then he was gone. A moment of dead silence came over the room.
Finally Austin squeezed me and said, "I told you capping their asses would have been easier!"
Later on, I played the guitar, cradled up against Austin's chest. He held me and got drinks for me all evening. Since I'd already been drinking, he told me that he'd drive us back to my house. If I'd thought I'd fallen for him before this, I'd found out that that was just a false start. Now I found myself falling into a wonderfully deep place suspended in his arms. That he was demonstrating love for me in front of his friends meant everything. That they were so supportive meant, well, I'm not sure there is a word for this feeling, at least not in English. A bond had formed now around our group that no one could break. And for the moment, at its center, it was Austin and I.
Austin had gone back to the house to get another drink. When he came back out, he was talking to Jennifer and Glen. At one point, all three of them looked up at me. Then, with a serious look on his face, Glen came over and said rather loudly, "I can't believe that the only person you wanted to save was Dan! See if I offer to perform your civil gay marriage thing for you."
Then Glen turned to the group and said loudly, "Everyone, I think you should know that when Austin found out about the gossip," he turned around and looked right at me, barely stifling the grin that his mock indignation was trying to mask, "which, by the way, I told them about, the only person he offered to save was Dan. Because he looked cute in surfer shorts!"
I knew it was a joke, but I began to blush like a sunburned flamingo. All the guys were laughing and protesting. Finally, Dennis walked up with his arms crossed and said, "What about me? You'd take Dan over me?"
I stood up, not sure where my balls had come from, and suddenly reached down and cupped his crotch. I never did things like this. It was just the mood of the group and the spirit of the night. I squeezed as he began to laugh... I made a serious contemplative face as though I was trying to decide. Finally, I reached up and pulled his face to kiss him on the cheek.
"Sorry big guy, nice biceps don't do me as much good as a waxed long board."
Everyone started laughing hysterically. Finally, when Austin came over and handed me my drink, I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him over. "And what have we learned tonight about gossip and telling secrets?"
More laughs and hoots ensued as Austin sat behind me and pulled me up tight against him. It was entirely too hot for this, but how do you criticize the upholstery of heaven?
Without any doubts, and despite Nathan's attempt to ruin everything, this evening was one of the best I'd ever had. Even Jennifer had thrown her weight behind us. And when several members of the group tried to pry Nathan's secret out of her, she said with a steely voice that it was going to remain their secret unless Nathan broke his promise. I had suddenly developed a huge amount of respect for her.
We played love songs and easy-listening songs till late in the evening. I knew we were sending off a good vibe when Phil's next-door neighbor, Mrs. Shipman, an elderly lady who had occasionally called the police when we made too much nose, opened her window and cut off her air conditioning. I played acoustic love songs and acoustic versions of rock classics all evening. Even the electrical guitar guys opted for acoustics.
I put my guitar down for awhile and just enjoyed the feeling of Austin wrapping his arms around me and rubbing his stubbly cheek up and down my neck. When I craned my neck back for a kiss, there were quite a few "awwwwwws" from the crowd.
The mosquitoes finally got so bad that we moved back inside. About half the group had left, so there were only about 16 of us left. Just before 1 a.m., a car pulled up and really tall woman got out. As she walked up the driveway, one of the guys called out to Dan, and he raced out to meet this newcomer.
While he helped her inside, everyone turned to Cynthia and Korma for the answer to who she was.
"That's his new girlfriend," Korma whispered loudly. "Her name is Melisa, and she's 29. She works in media relations at the university, whatever that means. That's all I know so far."
Dan introduced the tall, tanned blond around the room. She seemed nice, but a little distant. I could see her trying to keep her nose down with all these "kids." But she did dote on Dan. He was an easy guy to dote on: tall, dark and handsome.
His surfer lifestyle showed in his personality every bit as much as it did in his physique. But I could see what was going on. He was her new boytoy.
As soon as they'd left the room, Korma said in a loud melodramatic whisper, "What a bitch!"
That feeling was unanimously shared. When I was certain she wouldn't come back in, I added, "I don't understand, if she hated 'kids' so much, why was she trying to dress like one and put on make up to look like one? You think she's like Jane Goodall? Trying to sneak in and make us complacent while she interacts with us and takes notes?"
Everyone laughed, then Phil added, "I wonder if Jane ever did one of her gorillas over the hood of her Porsche?"
A few minutes later Audra, Cynthia, and Korma came over to where Austin and I were sitting. "So, since you two both have birthdays next month, what are we doing for parties? Phil suggested we do one on Friday the 22nd for both of you. Is that good, or do you have plans already?" Audra asked.
Austin and I just looked at each other in surprise. Neither of us had discussed this, as we didn't know about the other's birthday, When my eyebrows arched at him, he said, "April 29th. You?"
"20th," I grinned...
"An Aries and a Taurus. This should be a fun birthday party." Melisa stated skeptically from the kitchen as she came out.
"Don't tell me you believe that crap," Phil added with a grin.
"I don't think it runs our lives Philip, but I do believe it has some influence over our personalities," Melisa said patronizingly.
Melisa looked over at Austin and I. Her eyebrow shot up curiously as she noticed his hand on my thigh. Without realizing it, Austin withdrew his hand and moved to get comfortable. I quickly leaned against him and pulled his hand back to where it had rested.
I halfway expected her to make some homophobic remark or sneer. Instead, she laughed and said, "Relax, I'm not trying to steal your man. I was thinking that my brother, Ryan, would like to meet you. He just moved back from California."
She smiled and went back to stand by Dan. She grabbed his ass firmly and pulled him to her. This woman was all kinds of bad news. If her brother was anything like her, I was not interested in meeting him.
Finally, the party ended. Austin had stayed casually wrapped around me like a huge muscular coat all evening, making sure to step between his rival Dan and I all night. It was a joke, I think.
On the drive home, we discussed our birthday situation. He said he couldn't come home on his birthday or else he'd have to bring Phoebe with him. Even though I told him it was OK, he could tell by my hurt expression that it was not.
"Listen, I'll take the whole weekend of the party off for us. How's that, baby?" he asked, hoping I wouldn't pout too much. I sighed, reached over, put my hands on his and said I'd be glad for any Austin time that I could get.
I knew it was going to be a short night once we got back to the apartment. He had to be in Gainesville by 8 a.m., so he was going to have to leave no later than 6. It was 3:30 by the time we walked into my bedroom after brushing our teeth and getting ready.
As I led us to the bed, Austin began undressing me from behind. I couldn't help but giggle at his youthful exuberance.
When I was down to his nasty jock, he started laughing. Apparently he hadn't seen where I'd sewn it together before. I wiggled my ass for him as I ripped out the stitching and let it fall off me.
"Holy shit! You are one easy piece of ass, Alex!" Austin laughed.
"Too bad it's all wasted on you. Maybe I need to get you some Viagra since you're getting so old," I said as he walked up, wrapped his arms around me and ran his hands all over my smooth body, one hand straying to my nipple and the other fondling my crotch.
As I moaned and laid my head back against his chest, he cupped my crotch with his hairy forearm and lifted me by it so I slid up his body till I felt his stubbly chin on the back of my neck.
"Sooooooooo eaaaassssyyyyyy," Austin moaned in my ear. I arched my back into him and could feel my cock riding up his hairy arm. It surprised me that my erection didn't prompt a response from him. He stood still for a few minutes, just kissing the back of my neck and my ears.
When I finally arched my neck around, we started to kiss for real, and slowly he maneuvered me around to face him. I clamped my feet around the back of his waist as we kissed deeply.
After a while we broke the kiss and slowly Austin probed my mouth with his big digit. "I have to leave in two-and-a-half hours... You have to be to work in 4. We gonna get a few hours sleep or ..."
He slowly withdrew the finger I'd been sucking like a popsicle. I looked at him and smiled demurely. "Honey, as long as it's with you, I don't care. I can catch up on my sleep. But you have a long day ahead of you. What would you like to do?"
Slowly his wet finger began to probe my very exposed hole. I moaned and let my head fall against him...
"Goooood answer," I moaned into his shoulder.
He walked over to my nightstand. His wet finger became dry quickly, and he hadn't even gotten past the second joint. A few seconds later, his fingers were slick with lube, and my hole got prodded all the way to his manly knuckle.
"If you don't stop soon, your shirt's gunna have cum all over it." I moaned as he found my prostate and began inserting a second finger.
Slowly Austin began fucking me with his fingers, withdrawing them slowly as he did so.
"Don't ruin my new shirt, baby," he rasped in my ear.
When his fingers were completely out, he leaned over the bed till I was touching the mattress and I let go. Then, with the lights still on, he locked eyes with me and began a slow, intensely erotic strip show.
When his body was no longer marred by clothing, I gasped at his familiar form made new each time I gazed upon it. His cock was so hard it looked ready to shoot off like a Roman candle.
There was no sleep that night. I swallowed his five-star cock while he practiced his new talent, analingus. We both came twice, and spent the last hour in the shower kissing and petting each other. I told him that, in truth, he had found a place I believed only fairy tales lived.
I was so happy it scared me. When we'd dried off, he told me to get back in bed and sleep. But I followed him naked to my front door and kissed him with a love I hoped would last us both two weeks.
And then he was gone.
I was so far off the ground that I couldn't cry at his departure. I only felt empty and sad that I couldn't leave with him. As I laid awake over the next few hours I went over everything that had happened that weekend.
Work was nearly hell that day, though when I told Marika and Ashtin, the two female co-workers I got along best with, they were oohing and aahing all through lunch. Even the terminally straight Ian got in on the conversation.
I didn't tell them Austin's name, but I did mention he was an athlete at a major university. They covered my ass all day as I plodded along at the bank.
At home, I went to bed without eating dinner. I awoke about 10:30 to a phone call. It was Austin, sounding exhausted.
"Hi baby, how was work today?" he asked.
"Hell. But I just had a four-hour nap. How are you feeling?"
"Like I spent an entire weekend making love and fucking instead of sleeping. Today was hell. I think I'm gonna blow off English tomorrow and sleep in," he said. He was quiet for a second before adding, "I just wanted to call and hear your voice. I don't know if you can tell, but I've really fallen for you, Mr. Johnson."
"Yeah? I think you're just punchy from lack of sleep," I said softly.
"That too, I guess. I wanted to hear your voice before I went to sleep. Hope I didn't bother too much," he said.
"Nah. Anything for you, babe. If the bill wouldn't kill us, we could sleep with the receivers up to our ears."
He laughed and told me I was delirious. We talked for a few minutes, then decided we could make more sense the next day.
We only missed one day talking to each other. He'd gotten so bold he even called me from Phoebe's room while she was in the lobby doing some sorority thing.
When we were on the computer, he was split evenly between the horny, athletic, frat boy exhibitionist and the sweet boy I'd fallen head over heels with. Which was fine, because I loved them both. Each appealed to different sides of me.
On the surprisingly chilly morning of April 20th, I arrived at work before it had even dawned on me what day it was. It wasn't till Ashtin came in and handed me a "Happy birthday" card that it dawned on me.
"Marika, Ian. Greg, Lucy and I are taking you to lunch today. Happy birthday," she said.
As I was saying thank you to her, a man walked in carrying a huge bouquet of three-dozen red roses. He asked our floor supervisor something, and she pointed to me. I almost fainted. No one had ever done anything like this for me before.
I couldn't even speak when the guy winked at me and called me a lucky bitch. It turned out he knew Austin, and that's why he was picked. I almost fell over when he handed me the roses.
Fortunately, Ashtin helped me stand and tipped the guy. Turning to my co- workers, she said, "Don't worry guys, I will tell you everything I know after lunch."
Then she turned to me and said loudly, "And you will tell me allllll about it over Lunch!!!"
TBC
Thanks guys. I am sorry about the delays. My first computer died, and this one is 8 years old. I hate to make excuses, but things really have been crazy lately. Bear with me though. My editor is rabid and is making sure I keep some kind of a schedule (editor's note: keep the chapters coming so the fans don't lose interest). Thank him profusely (Thank you, Scott!!!!) for this chapter...
If you wrote to me before Chapter 5 was published, then I don't have your addresses or e-mail any longer. So please write me, and let me have them once again. This time I am printing them out. Smart, huh? For the time being I can be reached only at BILLYTK69@hotmail.com
Thanks, Billy