Disclaimer: This is a story about love between to men, if you are offended by this or are not of legal age to read it (18 or 21 depending on where you live) go ahead and click the little x at the top of the screen.
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A True Love Chapter One
"Babe, you ok?" I felt Chris tap my shoulder.
"Huh, yea I am fine just thinking" I said staring out the window.
"The flight attendant said we should be landing in about 20 minutes,"
Well I guess I should introduce myself, my name is Brian I am 28 years old and Chris is my partner and he is 27. We have been together for 6 years now and in the short time we have been together he has helped me overcome a lot, and has pushed me to make my dream come true. This story starts about a year after we met and are loading up to move to Asheville, North Carolina where he got a job and I am going to finish grad school.
"Why did you have to pick the hottest damn day of the year to move?" Chris said as we were putting my couch in the back of the moving truck. It ended up being on of the hottest days of the summer in Texas, but that is what you get when you move in July.
"Stop complaining, you are worse than a woman sometime you know that, and besides you are the one that wanted to move and have time to settle into the new place before you start your job." We finished putting the couch in the truck and only had to put a few more boxes in and we would be finished. We spent the next couple hours getting the rest of the boxes and clothes out of my house and loaded in to the truck. As I was finishing up walking through the house to make sure that I got everything my mom called to see what time we where going to be there, since we where staying there that night before we left the next day.
"Who was that on the phone?" Chris asks as I put my cell phone back in my pocket.
"My mom, she wanted to know what time we would get there, I told her we would be there in about an hour. She also said that there are a couple things that I have over there still that I need to get before we leave" I closed and locked the door and walked back out to the truck.
"Did we need to stop anywhere before we head to your parents" Chris asking getting into the drivers seat and starting up the moving truck.
"Nope, I told the real estate agent that I was leaving the keys with my mom and that she could go by and pick them up from her office."
We started to pull away from my old house and head to my parents house that is when I finally realized that a chapter of my life was closing and a new one was just getting ready to start. I was moving half way across the country with the man that I loved more then anything and we where starting our life together. I stared out the window for about twenty minutes before Chris said something to bring me out of the thoughts that I was having.
"You're not having second thoughts about this are you?" he said reaching across and grabbing my hand "I have kind of asked a lot of you with this move."
"No, I am just thinking about what is ahead for us," I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze." I am looking forward to moving to the mountains and starting a new adventure." In all honesty I was terrified about the move and leaving everything behind to start over in a new place where I didn't know anyone, but I didn't want Chris to know that. He was excited about the job he got and the move, plus I knew if I had asked him to do the same he would have and never thought twice about it. We made small talk to the rest of the ride to my parent's house.
When we got close to my hometown I called my mom and told her that we would be there in about fifteen minutes. When we turned into my parents drive way my little brothers came running out so met us when we got out of the truck. My brothers wanted to carry our bag in the house for us, our overnight bag was a big as they where, but the got it in the house with out dropping it, they were five at the time. When we got inside my mom called out and said that they were on the back patio. When we got out there my dad, mom, older brother and sister in law where out there. Dad was making steaks and vegetables on the grill. We all said hello and hugged each other and my little brothers went and jumped back in the pool.
"So are yall all loaded up and ready to go?" My older brother Clay asks me when he was handing me a beer out of the cooler.
" Yea guess we are as ready as we will ever be," I said sitting down next to Chris and my mom " I didn't realize that I had to much stuff left in the house to pack up, but we got it all loaded in the truck."
"Don't let me forget to give you the stuff out of the office that I found when I was going through the closet earlier." My mom said.
"What is it; I thought I got everything when I moved into the house?" I couldn't remember anything that I had left when I moved out.
"A couple boxes that I found on the top self, one had some photo albums in it and the other one had some videos and stuff in it." My dad said taking the steaks and stuff of the grill. Since the food was done we all ate a chatted for awhile. After we finished eating I excused my self and walked over to the barn were the horses where and the one place that I could be alone and think. While I was brushing one of the horses my mom walked in.
"A penny for your thoughts?" She said picking up a brush and working on the other side of the horse I was brushing.
"It's nothing just coming out here one last time before we leave tomorrow, since who knows when I will be back"
"You have been quite since I mentioned those boxes that we found in the office closet, Chris is worried about you." She was brushing the horse's mane now while I was just bushing the same spot over and over with out realizing what I was doing.
"I know, I am just nervous about the move and going somewhere new and starting over again"
"No, its about what is in those boxes up stairs and is the one part of your life that you have kept locked in a dark corner and tossed out the key, I know it still hurts for you to talk about it but you need to tell Chris" She walked around and took the brush away from me and grabbed my arm to turn me around.
"What does it matter any more, the doctors said I would probley never skate again, why bring up the past and let him know what I used to be. That part of my life is over and I need to move on." I walked away and set down on a hay bale that was sitting next to the stall.
"Its not who you used to be Brian, it's who you are. That was three years ago when they said you would most likely never skate again. The therapist has said that your knee and ankle are almost back to 100% and that you could skate again if you wanted to. Have you even tried to skate or rollerblade since then?"
"No"
"Why not?" My mom asks as she set down next to me.
"I don't know, sacred of falling again"
"You have never been scared of falling, even when you where four and we took you skating for the first time you have never been sacred of falling. What was it that your grandpa told you all the time when you where trying to learn new jumps and moves. Something about if it hurts badly enough or something."
"If it hurts bad enough the first time you fall, you will make sure you don't fall again. God I miss him" I leaned against the wall of the horse stall. My grandpa died when I was 18, he was my best friend and the one that always pushed me to be the best I could be. He helped to pay for lessons and driving me the hour each way for practice when mom and dad couldn't take me. I reached down and touched the yellow butterfly necklace that he gave me when I won my first competition.
"When was the last time you took that off?" My mom asks me when she saw the necklace.
"The day that they did the last operation on my knee, wearing it makes me think that he is always with me, even after all the years since he gave it to me, I have never understood why it's a yellow butterfly"
"He said that you where always as graceful as a butterfly when you stepped out on the ice, and yellow was his favorite color. How old where you when he gave you that?"
"Fifteen, he gave it to me the night we where in New York after I qualified for Jr. World's. He told me that was my lucky charm and that it would always remind me of all the work and sacrifice that we all made for me to make it to that point"
"What do you think he would say if he was here right now and he heard you say that the one thing that was the biggest part of your life and made you the happiest, no longer matters to you?" My mom asks me when she was getting up and heading for the door.
"That I fell once and it was time to get off my ass and get back on the ice" I said getting up and following her out the door.
"I am not telling you that you need to get back on the ice, all I am saying is that you should tell Chris about that part of your life, that way if you ever decide that you want to see if you still have what it takes he can be there to support you. I know he loves you and that you love him, I knew that the first day you brought him home. "We where walking back on the patio where everyone else was sitting. I saw Chris and leaned down and gave him a quick peck on the lips to let him know that everything was ok. I looked through the windows and saw that someone had moved the boxes down on the dinning room table. I sat down next to Chris and looked at him, I knew that I loved him more than anything and at that point I needed to tell him the one thing that I kept from him, he had every right to know the truth about the scars on my knee and the three days a week that I disappeared saying that I was having lunch with my mom.
"Everyone lets go inside and let the boys be alone for a little bit" my mom said trying to give us a little privacy.
"No everyone can stay, I need yall here when I say this" I turned to face Chris and saw that he had a look of sheer terror on his face.
"Babe is everything ok?" Chris asks me with his voice full of concern.
"Everything is fine; I just need to tell you something about my past and the truth about something that I have tried to keep hidden from everyone for a very long time. When you ask me about the scars on my knee and leg and I told you that my knee got messed up falling off a horse, I wasn't telling you the truth. Three years ago I had an accident in a sporting event and the scars are from the different surgeries that it I had to undergo to repair the torn ligaments and tendons in my knee the same goes for the ones on my ankle. The three days a week that I have been telling you I am having lunch with my mom I have been going to therapy to build the strength back up in my leg. I should have told you this along time ago but I was trying to let go of that part of my life and to move on." I had tears in my eyes knowing that I probley hurt him by lying to him and not letting him know what was really going on. I was waiting on him to walk out the door but he just wrapped his arms around me and held me.
"Brian, I have known for a long time. I knew who you where the first night that I met you at the gym on campus. I do watch TV and the night that you fell in Salt Lake was the one and only time I have actually been watching the Olympics."
"Why didn't you ever say anything?"
" I wanted you to tell me when you where ready, and I didn't want you to think I was some stalker, and when I ask someone about it the first time I came out here with you I was told that I should let you tell me every thing on your on terms when you where ready." Chris looked over my shoulder at my mom and smiled.
"Wait a minute," I said as I turned to look at my mom. "You set me up didn't you, you didn't just find those boxes you have had them since I moved out and everything you said out in the barn, you already knew how he would react"
"So sue me, sometimes you need a kick in the butt to get you to say something. I think Chris wants to see what is in the boxes and get to know that part of your life and I would like to see what's in them again." She said getting up and walking inside, we all followed her in and spent the rest of the night until bedtime looking through the boxes of stuff that I had collected over the years and watching videos of me skating. That night my little brothers actually watched the videos with us and didn't move or make very much noise, they where amazed by what there big brother could do. Shortly after the little ones fell asleep my dad said that there was one more video in the box that we hadn't watched. I knew which one it was.
"Bubba do you want to watch it?" Clay asks me putting his arm around my shoulder. He knew that it would be hard for me to watch. Everyone was looking at me waiting for me to say yes or no.
"You haven't seen it and you are in a room of people that love you, I think now is the best time to watch it if there ever was one." My mom leaned over and whispered in my ear.
"Ok, its time that I see it" I said and set down on the floor between Chris's legs with my family there with me as my dad put the video in and pushed play. As the video started to play the two basset hounds that my parents had came over and put there heads in my lap, I guess even the dogs knew that I needed all the support I could get while I was watching the fall that changed my life. I actually didn't need to watch the video, I rembered everything that happened up until I hit the ice. When the moment in the video came that showed the last jump I grabbed Chris's hand and felt him wrap his arms around me tighter. Watching me move around the ice and build up speed for my last jump and seeing me make the move to leave the ice and seeing the one skate on my right foot come apart during the rotation and me falling and hitting the ice was probley the hardest 10 seconds of my life to watch. But, I did finally realize after watching the video that what happened that night was not my fault. There was nothing that I could have done to keep it from happening I also at that moment heard my grandpa's voice in my head.
"You fell once and it hurt, now get up and make sure you don't fall again"
After watching the video and hearing my grandpa's voice it put everything in perspective. Would I ever skate again, I didn't know at that point all that mattered was that I didn't let that part of me die. After we finished watching the videos and putting everything back up we all went to bed. As we where laying in bed that night I knew that if I wanted to skate again I had all the support and love that I needed and most of it came from the man who's arms I was wrapped in.
The next morning after breakfast me and Chris took off and headed to our new life and new adventure. The drive to North Carolina gave me a lot of time to think about the past and what laid a head. When we made it to Asheville and our new house I looked at Chris
"You ready to start this adventure?" I ask holding his hand.
"Yep, you?"
"As ready as I will ever be." We climbed out of the truck and walked into the house. When we got inside there was a box sitting on the counter that had a note from the realtor on it. Apparently my mom had sent a package that arrived the day before we did. I opened the box there was a note on top of whatever was in it.
Brian and Chris,
I hope yall enjoy your new place and we will be out soon to visit. I know that Brian is going to have a lot of free time for the next few months, if you ever get bored and want to do something together that both of you will enjoy you will find what is in the box useful.
Love,
Mom, Dad, Clay, Kimber, Blake and Blaine
P.S. Chris if he starts being a pain in the ass just threaten to hit him with one of them and he will behave Mom
Underneath the note where two brand new pair of ice skates.
This is my first story to post in awhile; I have had the idea for it tumbling around in my head for quite awhile though. It's going to take it awhile to devolve but I promise it will. Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated. I am planning on putting anew chapter out every couple of weeks. Please send comments and suggestions to
Djaggie04@gmail.com
AIM: dja778
YIM: djaggie04
Flyinghomo