Second Chance, Chapter 25
Warning:
This story is copyrighted by the author known as David Lee and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without explicit permission.
This story contains descriptions of love and sexual fulfillment between people of the same gender. If possessing or reading this kind of material is illegal where you live, please leave this site at once.
My previous stories may be quickly accessed by searching for my name under the "Stories by Prolific Net Authors" heading which is found under the "Information for Readers" spot.
You may write to me at dlee169@hotmail.com. I'll do my best to answer promptly. Please put the title of this story in the "subject" line when you email.
For the full disclaimer and additional info, please read the statement that precedes Chapter 1.
As always, I thank my editors Tom and David for their proofing my work and giving me suggestions and lots of positive feedback. They're an integral part of this effort.
Chapter 25
"So, you're really not superstitious about having your first opening on Friday the 13th?" Norm Hadley asked. "I think that's part of the reason that the other artist withdrew. He was really spooked when he looked at the schedule."
"No, that's the least of my worries," Josh said. "I'm gonna have butterflies until the morning after. Do you really think I'll sell anything?"
"I do, but I wish that you would consider selling this latest painting because I know we could get a good price for it. It's on a par with the first one you did of Eric because it radiates love. The theme of Father and Child' is so timely. Our new President is telling men that fatherhood is more than planting the seed and this picture certainly says caring' loud and clear!"
"I know that I'm going to have to learn to part with my best work, but honestly those are the only two that I'm holding in reserve. I'm keeping this one for the baby's father. There are a few others of the bambino and several of Eric that I have up for sale -- the ones where people can't positively identify him."
"I have a feeling that if anyone saw Eric nude, they couldn't miss who the model was in spite of the fact that some paintings have his face in shadow and in others it's turned away. I'm sure you captured every nuance of the rest of his body -- and beautifully, I might add."
Josh blushed knowing that Norm was right about every detail. He suspected that he had figured out their relationship and that was cool.
"I'd love to call this exhibit: Landscapes and Boyscapes' by Joshua." Norm continued. "I think we should bill you as a one-name artist. It has a nice ring. I think we'll use that; however, I don't believe I could get away with the boyscapes' thing without raising too many eyebrows considering that a number of my clients would know that `manscaping' means trimming and shaving one's body hair -- especially pubes."
"How about `Nature and Her Bare-assed Boys' for the title?" Eric suggested with a smirk.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Boy! There's only room for one of us in there at a time. But a title like Bare-assed Boys' would bring out all the rich old perverts who collect paintings of young men to inspire' them. We might boost the sales."
"Eew!" Josh groaned. "I don't want Eric used for that no matter how much I could make!
"Since Josh's landscapes show nature pure and unspoiled with few signs of civilization, and the figures are mostly unclothed like Adam and Eve, why not call it: `Genesis'?" Eric said.
"That's inspired! `Genesis by Joshua' has a great ring to it. It's simple and direct, but arcane enough to have the local literati scratching their heads trying to figure out its significance while it's right there in front of them. Eric, you're a genius!"
"That's why I keep him around," Josh giggled as he planted a playful kiss on his boyfriend's cheek. "I'm the picture guy, he's the wordsmith. We complement each other."
"I can understand why you work so well together. You do make a perfect pair!" Norm agreed.
To Josh's thinking, the school week dragged. He was eager for Friday night to arrive so that he would know whether or not his exhibit was a success. At the same time, he was dreading the experience of having to schmooze with lots of people if they were excited about his work. He wasn't antisocial, but he hated being in the spotlight unless he was in front of an audience in a darkened theater.
The exhibit was all set up, swimming practices and meets were over, so his schedule wasn't packed for a change. Of course some of that time had to be spent catching up on school work before it became overdue. He had let a few things pile up in all the busyness of the past few weeks.
He and Eric were back to sleeping with their bedroom door open so that they could tend to Robbie in the wee hours if necessary, but the little boy was now sleeping through the night regularly since learning to eat a little semi-solid food.
Rob had recently introduced strained pears into Robbie's diet now that he'd gotten the hang of ingesting rice cereal without leaving more on his face than in his stomach. Robbie loved pears! Once he tasted them, he spit the cereal out on purpose, so Rob mixed them together as his dads suggested. Rob noticed that each new thing Robbie ate caused a different diaper odor. Fatherhood did have its negative aspects at times!
Eric suggested that Josh and he should take advantage of their slightly lighter schedules by spending time in the studio. Josh agreed. It would be a good idea to have a backlog of paintings in case his work caught on. And even if it didn't, he found that painting relaxed him. Eric was a perfect model and he also proved to be a welcome distraction on a number of occasions. That too soothed Josh mentally and physically. Things were going great!
On Thursday afternoon, Josh was especially restless with anticipation. His school work was caught up for the moment and without swimming to drain his excess energy, he was antsy.
"You're gonna make me crazy if you don't settle down," Eric joked. "Robbie's really zonked out and Dad can look after him if he wakes up. Why don't you and I go upstairs and I'll figure out some way to work the stress out of you."
With a smirk on his face, Josh walked over to where his boyfriend was seated and thrust his hips forward so that the tent in his sweats nearly touched Eric's nose.
"What makes you think I'd be interested in your relaxation techniques?" Josh asked.
Eric grinned as he tugged on the legs of Josh's sweats enough to free the beast trapped inside. The fact that Josh was going commando was quite obvious as his dick bounced upward. Eric kissed the tip of Josh's cock before pulling his sweatpants back in place.
"This is pretty strong evidence that you're interested, but we'd better go upstairs to get you `relaxed' in private if we don't want to get caught doing what our dads know we're doing," he suggested.
They went up to the attic to enjoy the sunlight that flooded the small room that had once been the maid's bedroom. Unlike the sitting room that was their studio, this room had a southern exposure. They pulled the area rug in from the studio to give them a soft place to lie in the pool of warm sunshine. It wasn't quite like the beach in summer, but it was as close as they could reproduce the experience in Minnesota during February.
It took only a few minutes of playful wrestling to get them both bare-assed naked. They stopped long enough for Josh to go into the studio to retrieve their digital camera so that they could photograph each other in their horny state. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with the photos, but thought it would be fun to have them for their private memory book. Besides, pretending to be porn stars was really arousing.
Their erotic photo-shoot made them hotter by the minute. They talked about making a series with jocks and Speedos sometime, but at present they didn't want to waste time looking for items to wear.
Their wrestling brought to mind the pleasures of something that they hadn't done in a while, namely frottage. Eric lay on top of Josh, rubbing their bodies together by digging his toes into the rug and flexing his feet as if he were doing calf-raises. Their throbbing cocks lay side by side trapped between their abs receiving nearly equal stimulation with each thrust.
After a few minutes, Josh rolled them over so that he was on top. By this time there was a trail of precum between them mixed with sweat. Josh took hold of Eric's shoulders for leverage and humped against his body. That created even more friction and both responded vocally in a steady stream of pleasurable moans.
Josh erupted first, but not by much. Both guys spent several seconds writhing and gasping as they emptied their loins of pent up cum. It was a good thing that they had closed both the door at the bottom of the stairs and the bedroom one too because they probably could have been heard in spite of the thick walls of the solidly constructed house.
After they cleaned up a bit and dressed, they went to the foot of the attic stairs to listen for Robbie. They heard him babbling in his crib. He was awake, but not crying. He seemed to be happily entertaining himself. That was a plus.
Josh fretted over what he should wear to the gallery opening. Norm had told him to dress casually because most of the clients would be. A number of businesses had relaxed their dress codes for Friday and people weren't likely to go home to change into something more formal -- especially for a young, unknown artist. If it were a grand reception at the museum, it might be different.
Eric picked out everything for his boyfriend including a pair of bikini briefs in a camouflage print. He chose tan khakis and a cream colored T with a long sleeved suede-cloth shirt in olive drab to wear unbuttoned over it. The colors were perfect with Josh's eyes and hair color.
Eric chose similar attire which would make them look more like brothers than usual. The rumor that they were cousins would be reinforced. He laid the clothes on his bed so that they would be handy for dressing quickly after dinner.
Eric thought that they should call the salon to see if they could possibly get in. Their usual stylist was on vacation, so they asked for Corray. He had only one slot open, but offered to work them both in.
Their hair hadn't grown out a lot since it had been shaved, but Corray was sure there was enough to do something with. He trimmed it up in a few places and gelled it so that it looked quite cute.
"God I'm good," he boasted. "I've saved the day after that disastrous shearing they gave you. You both look good enough to eat! All the people at the show are going to buy lots of paintings just because you're so adorable."
"Are you coming to see it?" Josh asked.
"I didn't get an invitation," Corray pouted.
"If you had read the Trib, you'd know that it's an open-invitation event. Norm sent out special notices to some of his bigger clients, but he wants me to get as much exposure as possible. I have things on there that are priced low enough that everyone can afford something."
"I just might. I'm all about exposure! I like art and Norm is such a doll from what I've seen of him in the newspaper!"
The boys left wondering if they had opened Pandora's Box.
Scott had prepared a light, easily digestible meal for supper knowing that Josh's stomach was probably in knots. Josh appreciated the gesture and actually ate a pretty good amount.
After they had dressed up, Eric drove Josh to the gallery. He wanted to be early so that Josh wouldn't be stressed about traffic or any other possible delays. He had washed the Mitsubishi despite the fact that it wouldn't stay clean long in winter. His prince needed to have a stylish ride like someone in a fairy tale.
Norm was busy overseeing the caterer's preparations when the boys came in. He looked over Josh with approval.
"My compliments; you look perfect right down to your hair."
"You need to thank Eric for picking my clothes and Corray, our stylist for saving my hair. I was too nervous to make any good choices today, so I put myself into their capable hands."
"Well, you trusted the right people."
About 30 minutes later, people began to trickle in. The initial crowd was small, but seemed to be more interested in the work on the walls than in the refreshments. That was a good sign.
In another half hour, the place was becoming crowded and the noise level was rising. Josh was surrounded by people who were interested in meeting the artist. Eric stood by his side for a while, but got bored with the repeated questions and answers, so he headed for the food.
"Hello, you cute thing!" Corray gushed. "I love this place with all these beautiful people. Look at that pair of sexy men coming in the door!"
"Uh, that's Dad and Ben. Ben is Josh's dad. I'm not used to hearing them called sexy."
"I can see where you two get your good looks. Introduce me, introduce me!"
Eric was kind of hesitant to inflict Corray on Ben and his dad, but he made the introductions politely. Since the boys had mentioned Corray's campy mannerisms, when they came home after Rob's haircut, the men were not at all surprised and took the hairdresser's flamboyance in their stride. Scott caught Eric's eye and gave him a slight wink when Corray wasn't looking. Eric grinned at his father, pleased that he understood.
When Mr. Gilbert, Josh's painting teacher arrived, Corray insisted on being introduced to him as well. The man was handsome and Corray assumed that he might be gay since he was in the arts.
Eric quickly escorted the art teacher over to where "Joshua" was holding court in order to give the poor man an escape route. Scott picked up on what he was doing and engaged Corray in further conversation to prevent him from tagging along.
Rob, accompanied by Blake, arrived a few minutes later. On seeing them, Corray immediately went to the hors d'oeuvre table where they were headed. Rob remembered Corray's name and introduced him to Blake.
Eric stood by Mr. Gilbert and Josh, watching the body language. Corray half hugged Rob as if they were boyhood friends. Blake put an arm on Rob's shoulder as if to signal that he was already spoken for. It made Eric grin as he pondered whether or not Rob picked up on the significance of the gesture. He wondered if Blake, himself, was consciously aware of what he was implying.
Although Josh's landscapes were drawing a number of admirers, it was his figure work that drew the largest and most enthusiastic crowd -- especially the two works that bore "sold" labels. One gentleman loudly insisted that Norm introduce him to "Joshua" so that he could commission a nude painting of "that handsome lad" for his den.
A lovely looking Italian lady who was standing in front of "Father and Child" gave an audible gasp and might have crumpled to the floor had not her husband caught her in time. Someone was going to call for an ambulance, but she and her husband both assured the group of concerned bystanders that she was fine. Norm's assistant ushered the couple to Norm's office where he seated them in comfortable chairs and poured each a small glass of brandy from Norm's private stock.
"Thank you very much, Charles," Roberto Mancini said. "I'm sure that Sophia will be fine once she drinks this. She's been under a lot of stress recently and the young man in the painting reminded her of a departed relative. It was quite a shock!"
"I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Mancini," Charles said. "If you don't need anything else at the moment, I'll go back to my post by the door so you can have your privacy. I won't be far, so don't hesitate to call on me if I can do anything."
Sophia Mancini nodded and gave Charles a half smile as she took a sip from the glass. When he was out of hearing range, she turned to her husband.
"Departed relative indeed!" she said harshly. "That is a picture of my firstborn son; whom you threw out on the street! I'll wager that baby is his. It has his features and looks exactly like he did when he was born. I probably have a grandchild that I'll never see."
Her voice, which had started out sounding angry, broke into a choked-back sob at the end. After a moment's recovery, she spoke again in a tone that was a mixture of sadness and determination.
"At the very least, I want that painting of the baby that's on the wall next to the one of Rob and his child. I don't care what you have to pay extra to get it delivered before the show is over. Buy it for me right now if you ever want to sleep in my bed again!"
The shoulders of the forceful captain of industry sagged as he left the office to find Mr. Hadley.
Blake felt Rob's body go rigid by his side when the lady had looked like she was fainting. He was pretty certain of the answer before he asked.
"Your parents?"
"Yeah, can you get me outa here?"
Blake steered Rob toward the men's room which was about the only direction they could go without being seen by Rob's father.
"Lock yourself in a stall and I'll keep watch until the coast is clear. We can't exit now without crossing paths with them. I hope it won't be too long."
It was about 15 minutes later when Blake told Rob that his parents had left. Rob appeared shaken and had traces of tears. When Blake hugged him, he melted into his arms.
"Thanks, Blake. Could you just hold me for a minute?"
"For as long as you need me, I'll be here," Blake whispered tenderly.
The restroom door opened to admit a worried looking Ben. He had spotted the Mancini's and watched the departure of Rob and Blake. He was wondering if they had holed up in the lavatory and if they needed his help.
"It looks like everything is under control. They've gone. I'd have come more quickly, but was staying out of sight in another gallery for much the same reason as you disappeared. I wish I had thought about the fact that your parents might show up here. A number of people in their social circle deal with Mr. Hadley. I think I saw the Corelli's come in right after your parents left. Running into them could be as awkward as hell! Do you want me to ask Mr. Hadley about using the back exit? It probably has an alarm."
"Actually, I don't think that they'd recognize me. I hardly know them because they're in a different parish. I only ran into them once or twice at the club and that was a couple of years ago."
Ben gave both young men a squeeze on the back of the neck before he left. Rob turned to check his face in the mirror before he and Blake headed out too.
"I think I need to leave. Could you please take me home? And, please come back to stay with me after you drop Garret off." Rob requested.
"Of course I will. I'm here for you."
It was late when Ben and Scott reached their house. They weren't too surprised to find Rob in the kitchen feeding Robbie with Blake by his side. Rob gave them a weary smile.
"I knew that I'd probably run into my biological parents sometime. I just wasn't prepared for it to be this soon. I'm glad it happened though `cause I'll be stronger next time. But, I'm just as happy that they didn't see me tonight. I have no love for my father, but my feelings toward my mother are very mixed. I suppose that's to be expected."
"It is to be expected," Scott said. "Talk to Eric about it. It might do you both good. His mother's been a real bitch, if you'll pardon my French."
"But, she didn't go along with throwing him out!" Rob responded bitterly.
"Same as," Scott told him. "She's completely unpredictable. She coddled him one minute and disowned him the next, but I believe he still leaves the door open a crack in case she should change. You might consider doing that too. Robbie could be the bridge to forming a new relationship with her someday."
"I'm to have no contact with them! That's what they want. I think that's what I want too!"
"In truth, it was only your father who stipulated that he didn't want to see you," Ben interjected. "He did not forbid contact with your mother or siblings. Don't focus on his attitude. Keep your options open. The main thing is to give your love to this awesome little guy. He is your blood kin and has to be your main focus now."
As if on cue, Robbie gave a heartwarming smile at Ben. The infant could have melted glaciers with that look. He certainly helped his daddy's outlook.
"Are you sure that you don't want me to stay tonight?" Blake asked as he was putting on his coat reluctantly.
"I'm sure that I WOULD love you to stay and that's why you'd better go. I can't be responsible for what I might say or do."
"Then I guess I'd better leave because I wouldn't want to take advantage of you when your defenses are down."
Rob kissed Blake on the cheek and stood back. He stepped forward and kissed him again; this time on the lips. Their tentative kiss grew into a passionate one. When they broke it, both were out of breath like they'd run a Marathon.
"Rob, I..."
"Sh. I know. Come back when I'm not vulnerable. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna feel the same way then."
Blake nodded and gave Rob one last hug before leaving quickly lest he change his mind and do something rash that might mess up their budding relationship.
Author's notes: Thanks to all who wrote to me since the last posting: Ott, Rutabaga, Bill K, Mark H, Jacob T, Jim We, Bertrand, Tony N, Paul R, Jim C, Tom A, John McD, Mike DeW, Dave J, Chea, Baruch, and Rad.