The Pellegrine - Friendships 3 - Heath’s Secret
The Pellegrine
BY Soul Lark
Book III Friendships
Chapter 3 Heath’s Secret
© The author reserves all rights to this work.
Disclaimer:
This story is of an adult nature. It is not intended for minors nor for those whose law in their land forbids them to read this material. This story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people is purely coincidental and unintentional.
NB: Words found between asterisks (*) refer to words exchanged in psychic or telepathic communication.
Date: 29 June 2671, Thursday
Jacques waited for his friend at the pub that was agreed upon.
Heath was late. Jacques noticed that there were some tough looking guys who came in before and after Heath came. They waited until Heath was seated with me before they took their seats. The place was not very crowded and so all of them had seats.
Heath grinned at Jacques when he saw him. He came and sat down beside Jacques.
“Hi bro!”
“Hi there Heath,” said Jacques distracted by the sudden appearance of the tough looking guys.
“Guess you noticed my bodyguards, eh?” Heath asked with a grin.
“Bodyguards?”
“Yeah. They gave me quite a hard time when I was coming out. That’s why I was late.”
“I don’t understand.”
Heath asked, “Jacques, do you read the news?”
“Yes, of course!”
“What is my surname?”
“Well, its Mills.”
“That’s not my real name.”
“Uh? What?”
“My real name is Andre Heath Williams.”
“So? Why all the secrecy? Williams? Wait a minute, don’t tell me that you’re …”
“Yes, my father is George Williams, one of the members of the Sol cabinet,” said Heath.
“So, I guess that there’s a need for security. But why go to all lengths to hide your identity?”
Heath asked, “Have you read anything regarding my family recently?”
“No,” admitted Jacques. “I usually get my news from the net and even then, I don’t read all that I receive.”
“Two months ago, there was a little article regarding a little scandal in my family. It was revealed that my father’s son was gay.”
“From what I know, Williams have four children, three daughters and …” Jacques swallowed, “You mean … you mean … you’re gay?!”
Heath looked crestfallen. His little bro did not know that he was gay. Perhaps that’s why he was not uncomfortable in hanging around with him. Heath was afraid that all the friendliness was going to change. However, Jacques did something totally unexpected. He hugged Heath.
“You were trying to protect me from the scandal,” Jacques said.
A hand came and grabbed Jacques’ shoulder. Jacques gave a yell in pain and released Heath.
“Damn! Collins! What’re you doing?” growled Heath as he tried to get the bodyguard’s hand away from Jacques.
“He’s not supposed to do that. It’ll bring attention to you!”
“What do you think you’re doing now, you Neanderthal! Everyone heard the yell and the commotion,” Heath said, standing up. “In that case, Collins, you foot the bill for the drinks and we’ll have to leave.” He shook his head and turned his attention towards Jacques, “Come, let’s go.”
As the two of them walked towards the door, one of the body guards swiftly got to the door first and two others were behind. As they got out, they were led to a transport vehicle nearby. The man in front opened the door and the two of them got in. The first man got into the front.
There was another person in the front next to the guard. “Where to Master Heath?” asked an elderly voice.
“I need a quiet place to talk to my friend here without my protectors getting too protective,” said Heath.
The driver gave a sigh and said, “Yes Master Heath. I know of such a place.”
“I’m not thinking of home, Felipe.”
“I know Master Heath,” replied the elderly driver.
“Don’t worry Jacques,” said Heath, “I’ll make sure you get home. Is there a curfew?”
“No, Heath. But we’ve to be at the Academy by half past eight. I’d like to be home before eleven.”
“No problem.”
The vehicle shook a little and the elderly man said, “It’ll take about a minute to get to where we’re going.”
The guard in front cleared his throat. “Master Heath, sir?”
“Yes,” said Heath with a hint of irritation in his voice.
“I apologise on behalf of Collins.”
“What’s there to apologise? What’s done is done. Don’t worry. His job is secure. Even if I report him, I doubt my father’s going to believe me. He’d probably give me a reprimand instead.”
Jacques noticed that Heath spoke in a different way from what he was normally used to hearing. He also noticed that Heath was very formal when referring to his father. He did not say anything because he did not want Heath to get more agitated.
Almost immediately after the conversation between Heath and the guard finished, the elderly man announced their arrival, “We’re here.”
The guard left the car and after about three minutes the vehicle’s door opened and they arrived at a large wooden house.
“It’s my grandfather’s place. He died three years ago and my grandmother went to stay at my father’s. My father comes out here to meet privately with friends,” Heath explained to Jacques. Heath turned to the front to ask the driver, “Felipe, are you sure that my father is not using this place?”
“I’m positive. He’s at a conference in Tokyo.”
Jacques could not see much but he felt a cool wind blowing. The surrounding place was dark but he could hear the loud rustling of leaves.
“We’re in the mountains, Jacques. Let’s go in. It gets very chilly here.”
Once inside the house, Heath led Jacques into a large living room.
“We can speak in here. The protectors won’t disturb us so long as the door remains opened.” They sat down beside a huge fireplace which started almost immediately. “Fake fire,” explained Heath when he saw Jacques’ eyebrows raised up. “The heat comes from stored solar energy harnessed during the day. Now, where were we?” Jacques rubbed his shoulder. “Yes! You were hugging me. Why in the world did you hug me? You seem almost happy that I was gay.”
Jacques blushed. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. I was so glad that you still treated me as a friend.”
“I thought that you’d surely reject me when I revealed my secret.”
“Why should I? You’re Heath, my friend. Whether you’re gay or not, you’re still the same person that I know. You needed to keep the secret because of your family. I understand.”
Heath looked like he was going to cry but did not. He said in a soft voice, “Thank you, Jacques.”
“You’re welcome, big bro,” Jacques replied with a smile.
Heath smiled too. “You called me big bro. I’ve never been called that before because I’m the youngest in my family.”
“Just the opposite of me. I’m the oldest and have never been called little bro before,” answered Jacques. “Tell me Heath, the Academy’s an exclusive institution. You’ve gone in with an assumed name. How’d anyone know that you’re gay that you’d need to protect me?”
“In theory, it was a situation where no reporters would get to me. In reality, it didn’t work. One of my schoolmates from elementary school recognised me. He was a year ahead. You see, I’m actually 23 but my student particulars say I’m 22. He started asking someone in Administration about me. The Academy Board took action immediately. He was advised that his grades weren’t up to par with the standards of the Academy and they advised him to leave. Before that, he’d told a few people what he’d suspected. The expulsion of that person happened so quickly that he didn’t do much damage. In fact, his grades were actually at the borderline and so people didn’t connect the expulsion to the knowledge he had. The rumours persisted except that it wasn’t about my identity, more about my sexual orientation. Most of the older students suspect that I’m gay but don’t dare to ask me in the face.”
“Why? I always feel that the best way to know the truth is to come out and ask.”
“Well, there’s a question of courage. Then there’s the question of perpetuating the rumour. The truth is seldom as exciting as the suspicion. A few students had actually tried to pick me up and I turned each of them down flat.”
“Wow! And that didn’t stop the rumours?”
“Well, the first four were men whom I knew weren’t gay, and the last was a woman.”
“So, whereas the four men would’ve squashed all the rumours the last one got it going again.”
“Right on target, Jacques. When I first got to the Academy, I was very friendly. Almost immediately, people started avoided me. I felt rejected and so I withdrew a bit. About a week later, I overheard some guys talking in the loo about a new gay guy. I knew they were talking about me because they were describing me. I guess I got so upset by it that I truly withdrew myself. Then when I had to be grouped for Fuel Chemistry, I got you and Nancy.”
“Do you think that Nancy knows about the rumours?”
“Of course. She almost called me a fag this morning.”
“Oh … and I thought she was a friend …”
“She is a friend. Actually in our second lab session, she told me about what she heard and how she felt about it.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“We were missing some equipment and we asked you to look for it while we set up the experiment, don’t you remember?”
“Yes, as I recall, one of the micro pipettes was mixed up with the fuel injectors …”
“Nancy was responsible for that. She told me she needed to talk to me about something. When you left, she told me, as we were assembling the equipment, that she heard that I was gay and that she was cool with me being gay.”
“I admitted to her that I was indeed gay. I told her that I treasured her frankness and her friendship.”
“How did you know that you were gay? How did the tabloids get a hold of the story?” asked Jacques.
Heath sighed. “Well, I had this friend. We went to elementary school together. We practically grew up together. In all practical purposes we were best friends. We kept no secrets from each other until puberty, at least. You see, we hit puberty together and we talked a lot about sex and even wanked off together. He’d tease me about my dick getting hard and that would usually end up with both of us wanking off together, though we’d never touched each other. To him, it was just what best friends do. To me it was something else. I began to have feelings for him and I assumed that he’d the same feelings for me. I didn’t tell him my feelings because I was taught that the feeling issue are for sissies and I wasn’t going to be a sissy. I did a little research about being gay and realised that I was gay. I’d often wanted to talk to him about it but always chickened out. When we managed to get places in the university together, he arranged things such that we’d the same dorm room. For me, that was one indication that he’d the same feelings for me. When we were living together, he was very comfortable around me. He’d do things like walk around naked in the room after a shower. And one thing he’d never did talk about was girls. We’d talk about what it was going to be like to have sex but we’d never talked about which girl was nice … which was unusual. I took that as a confirmation that he was also gay and so I came out to him and said that I was attracted to him. He went ballistic. He left the dorm and didn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore. We were already five months into the university term and weren’t allowed to change rooms. He got very angry and told the U paper what I was and it was published. That’s how the news that I was gay broke out.”
“Wow, that was some story,” Jacques said. He reached forward to give Heath a hug as a sign of acceptance, but Heath pulled away.
“Don’t do that when we’re alone. My father was extremely angry when he found out that I was gay. He’s one of the members of the Conservative party. They don’t like the legislation that gives rights to gays. When the news broke, he wanted me to go for treatment immediately. I refused. He gave in to me but told me that if another such incident appeared in the papers, I’d have to go. He watches me like a hawk. That’s why the guard tried to stop you from hugging me. I can’t risk being in such a relationship right now. Look Jacques, you’re a nice guy and my little bro. I’ve got to be satisfied with just that. We can have group hugs, but not single ones. My father has eyes everywhere. Do you understand?”
Jacques understood and nodded.
“Now let’s get you home; it’s a school night.”
Please don’t hesitate to write me with your comments or read my blog to see when the next part is coming out.