T H E E X C H A N G E
by Dean Lidster =======================================================================
PART SIX
(Chapters twenty-four to twenty-seven)
DISCLAIMER ~~~~~~~~~~
This story contains sexual acts between boys. If this is not to your tastes, then why in God's name are you reading this in the first place, huh? If you're curious, then that's fine by me - just remember: an open mind and an open heart is the secret to a good and happy life. If you are UNDER the age of concent for state / geographical location / planet that you're in / on etc, please leave now (unless you want to be educated and have an open mind that is!)
I spose this story is copyrighted. By this, I mean that I wrote it and would not particularly want anyone to subtly alter it and pretend it is their own. However, you MAY post it to any newsgroups, archives etc, print it, give it to friends without my prior permission PROVIDED THAT I STAY ACCREDITED AS THE AUTHOR AND YOU DO NOT CHARGE FOR DOING SO. Easy :-)
The story is fiction, and whilst there are references to real live people in here, none of this took place outside of my hormone-driven mind...
If you like this story, mail me at dean@deans-domain.nu. If you don't like it, mail me anyway and tell me why!
The latest version of this saga may be found at my web site: http://www.deans-domain.nu/ourplace/stories
Cheers, Dean
Dedicated to Lee - I will love you forever.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"Dean? DEAN!?"
"Yes Mum?" I answered, looking up through the stairs to the floor above.
"Do you want these mittens packing?"
"Mittens?!" blurted out Zac just before bursting out into fits of laughter. "What kind of a dumb question is that?!"
Tay twatted Zac round the head with the atlas that was sat on the table in front of us.
"Zac Hanson, IF you ever have kids of your own, you'll soon realise that these 'dumb questions' are very important to a worried parent."
"Sorry mommy," giggled Zac.
I heard my mum walk from the landing into my room, then walk back out again and proceed down the stairs, armed with my SuperSoaker.
"Run."
"Huh?"
"Better do what she says, Zac," I smiled. I had been subjected to this routine many times before.
Zac cautiously pulled his chair back and edged towards the front door.
"Five."
"Umm, Mrs. Lidster..."
"That's Fran to you. Four."
"I was just joking!"
"Not funny. Three."
"Can we talk about this?" asked Zac, getting distinctly nervous. An adult with a SuperSoaker simply didn't add up in his mind. Surely she wasn't serious...
"Too late. Two."
"Sorry?" said Zac in desperation.
"Better run... One."
My mum raised the gun to eye level and took aim. Having had many years of practice at getting me out of bed on a Sunday morning with that blasted thing, Zac would be no problem at all. He opened the door and dashed through it, a jet of water narrowly missing his head.
Problem is, my mum ain't a quitter either. In a calm, Terminator- like fashion, she walked to the door and jogged up the path after Zac.
"Will she really do it?" asked Tay.
"Oh yeah. Even if it takes her all day to catch him, he'll get it good and proper."
I turned my attention back to the map in front of me. There was Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mile upon mile of grid like streets, all intersecting at regular intervals at a near precise ninety degrees. Roads (sorry, streets) that ended in boulevard, highways with perfectly symmetrical flyovers... This street layout put our roads to shame...
The only thing that upset the geometrical precision was the Arkansas river, meandering aimlessly down the left hand side of the city, surrounded by a large band of greenery that seemed like a blissful oasis compared to the urban jungle so close to it.
It was just so different, so far away - AND WE'D BE THERE TOMORROW! It was almost unbelievable!
"You'd better believe it!" grinned Tay as if he'd just read my thoughts.
"So where do you live, then?"
"That'd bet telling!"
"TAYLOR!"
"No - not until we get there. If I told you now, I'd have to kill you!"
We heard the back door open and my mum walked through, nonchalantly handing me an empty SuperSoaker. "Taylor, Isaac: Your little brother may need a towel - would you go and fetch one for him so he doesn't drip all over my carpets."
We all looked at each other. "How wet can you get with a single SuperSoaker?" asked Ike.
"Who says it was JUST the SuperSoaker she used?" I grinned back.
The back door opened for a second time, and we all crowded from the dining room into the kitchen.
The monster from the black lagoon had just walked through the door. It was dripping light brown water in copious quantities over the tiles and came complete with pond weed accessories.
"SHE SHOT ME IN COLD BLOOD! I tried to reason with her, but she just didn't listen!"
"So what's with the vegetation?"
"I stopped in front of the pond, and when she shot me, I stepped back and, uh, fell into it..."
"Your mom rules, Dean!"
"And BE GOOD!"
"Mrs. Lidster, he'll be with me!"
"That's exactly what I'm worried about, Taylor," she smiled and, true to form, grabbed me and smacked a huge kiss on my cheek.
"MUM!"
"You love it really," She was absolutely right.
I buckled and hugged her, then hugged my dad. "I'll see you in a fortnight, then,"
"Keep in touch,"
"I will, don't worry!"
"Dean, it's in our job description! Have fun you lot!"
"We will!" Chorused Gareth, Spider and I.
"Hey, is that Kevin? KEVIN!" I yelled over the British Midland foyer. As ever, Kev looked up and loafed over to us.
"Ey Dean! They're not kidnapping you are they? You got to watch this wun," he grinned, shooting a glance at Tay.
Tay smiled and unclipped his phone from his belt, the other two Hansons doing the same and relinquishing them to Kevin.
"They don't work in the states, so Kev looks after them for us," Tay explained.
"Do you have our tickets?" I asked, realising I was stood here, ready to go, passport in hand, but had seen absolutely no evidence that we had passage booked on any flight to anywhere.
"Yeah, Kevin does."
Once again, I was gobsmacked. Kev produced from his inside pocket six white glossy ticket booklets, the word "Concorde" printed in red next to the British Airways logo. As Kev handed them out, Gareth and Spider also fell silent.
"This is a joke, right?"
"What?"
"THIS!" I said, running my finger repeatedly under the embossed lettering.
"Oh, no - we decided we'd never been on Concorde before, so now is as good a time as any!"
I was not going to argue!
Leather seats. COMFY leather seats. WIDE comfy leather seats WITH LEGROOM! This was not a plane - it was a flying Rolls Royce!
I couldn't help but grin inanely at Tay as I sunk into the capacious sofa that called itself a seat. I leaned over and kissed him.
"What was that for?"
"Just for being you," I smiled.
We somehow had managed to get an entire sixteen-seat compartment to ourselves, complete with multi-channel video suite and all the toys distinctly lacking on "standard" planes. My excitement was unbelievable and boy did it show - I couldn't sit still!
The video screens then flickered into life as the safety video began to play, and the standard issue gay steward ponsed his way to the front of our cabin, armed with an unattached seatbelt, a safety instruction card and a life jacket.
It there it is one thing that makes me laugh, it is the stereotypical gay male. Effeminate, delicate, lispy speech and an oh- so-perfect hair do. HAHAHAHAHAH!!!! I looked over at Tay, and immediately decided he was thinking the same thing. We watched, almost entranced, as he waved his hands around in a wildly exaggerated manner indicating our nearest exits and the position of the lifejackets under our seats. It was all we could do not to crack up.
The video finished and he cordially smiled at us for behaving like good little boys, and walked back down the aisle - past Zac. Bad move. Quick as a flash, he had tugged the red pull on the life jacket and with the hissing of escaping compressed air, the red life jacket inflated, the little strobe light doing its best to attract attention.
The steward stopped momentarily, uttered a feeble "huh!" and strutted off down the aisle.
"That was cruel, Zac,"
"What can I say? It needed yanking!"
"I wouldn't say that too loudly or someone may get the wrong idea!"
A look of panic flashed across Zac's face as he imagined a thirty- five year old stuard... well, we'll just leave it there...
A couple of minutes later, we taxied out onto the runway and stopped as we waited for authorisation for take off. I looked over at Tay and he seemed distinctly uncomfortable, He suddenly realised I was looking and grinned sheepishly at me.
"It doesn't matter how many times I do this," he said, "but the take-off's and landing's still scare the crap outta me..."
I reached over and took his hand in mine and squeezed it tight, him squeezing back. A second later, the engines fired up, then opened full throttle and catapulted the plane along the runway, forcing us back into the seats. Having never flown before, I was astonished by the ferocity of the acceleration, having imagined that plane just lumbered up into the air. Instead, it felt as it we had been loaded into a slingshot and quite literally thrown heavenwards. As our speed picked up, the nose suddenly lifted off the ground and the noise halved, the wheels no longer touching the runway. We were flying.
I looked out of the window and saw the East Midlands international airport rapidly vanishing beneath us. This was SERIOUSLY good fun!
"Tay? Taylor?"
"Are we flying yet?"
"Umm, yeah, you can open your eyes now!"
"PUSSY!" yelled Zac from behind us.
"SHUT UP, DILWEED!"
"Taylor's scared of fly-ing, Taylor's scared of fly-ing," chanted Zac.
"You are so fucking dead it's unfunny!"
"OOOOOOOoooooooooh! I'm really scared,"
Then the seatbelt lights went out. Tay got out of his seat, and calmly walked back to Zac.
"Shame you're not a big boy, Zac..."
"Huh?"
"If you were, this may actually hurt some!" Tay grabbed Zac's boxers and tugged them as hard upwards as he could
"ARRGH! You cunt!" yelled Zac as he tried to lever the cotton out of his arse crack.
"Champagne?" The stuard was back, pushing his little trolley in front of him. We all grabbed a glass, and Tay was just about to sip his when I stopped him.
"I saw this on a film once," I explained, and linked my arm with his. "Cheers!"
"Dean, I feel so shitty about having to ask you this, but when we're out in public, do you think we could just act like regular friends? Man I feel so guilty askin' you to do that..."
"Don't worry - as long as you make up for it at night I'm sure I can behave..."
"Oh and Dean?"
"Mmm?"
"Brace yourself."
We stepped out on to the boarding passage and began the short walk into the terminal. About half way down, the guy who was quite obviously Kevin's stateside counterpart met us. However, whereas Kevin gave you the "I'm friendly but if you even THINK of messin'" impression, this bloke looked more like the "you think it and I'll drop you where you stand. Period." type. In short, he was a man in black, complete with ray-bans and sidearm. I could've sworn I saw Chris Carter and a film crew just round the corner...
"Ike, Tay, Zac, welcome home," he droned.
"Hey Will! How's it hangin', man?"
"I am fine, thankyou. Stay close, there's already a crowed formed. Dean, Gareth, Tony - that goes for you too. You are now celebrities."
"How do..."
"Best just to do and not ask," grinned Tay. I shrugged and got next to Tay as Will turned round and strode back up the gantry. We cleared customs and were hurriedly ushered to the front exit. Parked in the red zone was a dark blue Chrysler minivan, three sides of which were surrounded by a small army of Hansonites. The moment we cleared the doors, all hell broke loose. Tay, Ike and Zac, being used to this, dived for the van leaving us three looking rather overwhelmed by the whole situation. My ears were being battered by an incessant "TAYLORILOVEYOUOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!" from all sides and, much to my horror, I suddenly realised I was being grabbed at. Tay swooped to the rescue and dragged us into the van, isolating us from the bedlam outside with a pronounced slam of the sliding door.
"Welcome to Oklahoma," he grinned.
Chapter Twenty-Five
We turned left out of the airport onto interstate eleven, and then right onto the Keystone expressway, skirting the top of the city and heading east out of Tulsa itself into the surrounding countryside. At first, I could not understand what didn't feel right about the journey, and felt distinctly uncomfortable until I realised we were driving on the wrong side of the road! I smiled to myself and put my arm around Tay. He smiled back and hugged me to him, obviously happy to be back home.
In a relaxed silence, we traveled the ten or so miles to the Hanson's abode, eventually pulling off the expressway and into a sleepy little green suburb.
"Well, here we are," announced Tay as we pulled into the driveway of the houses. I guess I knew what to expect, but even so the house seemed surprisingly, well, ordinary...
As we stepped out of the car, a group of kids rode by on their biked, happily chatting to each other as they went. I'm not quite sure what it was, but that combined with the car and the style of the housing suddenly summed up everything I considered as American - films like "Stand By Me" suddenly taking on a new depth as I tasted for the first time the environment they were set in.
"Are you coming, or do you intend to stay out on the pavement all day?"
"Huh? Oh," Tay grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house.
"...And of course, Dean," smiled Diane as the six of us filed through the door, Gareth and Tony making their introductions to their boyfriends' mum. "How's my fifth son?" she smiled, giving me a tight hug.
"He's very well, thankyou," I smiled back.
"Now guys, I really don't know where you're all gonna sleep, but we'll manage... It's a squash enough as it is."
"I'm sure we'll manage," smiled Zac, shooting a glance at Gareth who was still in the "meeting parent" mode, smiling sweetly and acting the good boy.
"Well, Jessie's sleeping over at a friends across town for a few days, so if I can persuade Mackie to sleep in Jessie's bed, that'd free up Mack's room... Ike, would you and..."
"Tony,"
"Tony, like to sleep in his room, then the rest of you can sleep in the bomb site. It'll be a squash, but it'll have to do."
"That'd be great, Mrs. Hanson,"
"Dean - you're practically family! Would you quit with the Mrs. Hanson thing already? Makes me feel old..."
"But you are old, mom," grinned Zac, then legged it off towards the garage with Gareth in tow.
"I think you need to have a word with Dean's mom, mom - she came up with a rather cool method of Zac control... I may as well give you the ten dollar tour, Dean - c'mon..." he smiled, taking my hand and pulling me into the family room.
I suddenly had the feeling I had been here before, and then it clicked. "Wow - you really filmed the MMMBop video here?"
"Yeah - we couldn't think of anywhere better - the garage would've been good, but its too dark down there. Kitchen's through here, den's just over there," he continued, aimlessly waving in their general direction. We reached the stairs and he legged it up them in the way he had obviously done for many years. "And up here, we have mom and dad's room, Jessie and Avie are through there next to them, Mackie's there on the other side, and we got the bombsite down the hall."
He wasn't kidding. Posters, bedclothes, underwear, a pack of assorted felt tip pens, CDs, a gameboy and God knows what else was randomly strewn across the room. "Mom's actually scared of coming in here I think," he smiled, shoving a pile of clothes and a baseball bat off his bunk and onto the floor then casually back-heeling them under the bed. "Zac's on top and Ike gets the single."
I sat down next to him and, even though I knew in my heart that they were just "regular kids" as he'd put it the miraculous sight of a bedroom in a worse condition than mine brought the realisation well and truly home. I pounced on Tay, pushing him back and pinning him with the weight of my body. I brushed the stray hair out of his eyes, and gently moved my lips towards his. Tay closed his eyes in anticipation of the seemingly inevitable kiss that was to follow, but as soon as he did, I dived for his neck and gave him a hickey he wasn't likely to forget, biting hard at his delicate skin. Tay howled and arched his back and hugged me to him with every available limb, determined to get a couple more square inches of contact surface out of the embrace, both our hearts beating like it was going out of fashion.
"Taylor you wannabe hippie where the hell ar..." said a voice that I did not recognise as it walked into the room and saw the two of us wrapped in each other.
I released Tay's neck from my mouth and whispered into his ear "Do I get off you or do I just hope that I'm invisible?"
"Can't you knock, Kieran?"
"I... uh... sorry, man... I'll come back in a while when you're through..."
"Stay RIGHT where you are! Kieran, this is Dean Lidster, Dean, meet Kieran Haynes, long time friend, next-door neighbor and homo-sceptic! Do you actually BELIEVE me now?"
I rolled off Tay and looked up into the face of a tall lad with brown hair that was trimmed at ear length and centre-parted. As my eyes traveled down his torso, I suddenly realised just how well built he was - he wasn't exactly square jawed, but the lines to his face were very pronounced giving what's best described as a streamlined look. Moving on down, his shoulders had broadened in correlation with his deep baritone voice, and the sweater he was wearing just lightly hinted at the immense set of pectoral muscles that were concealed behind it. Just peaking from below the sweater was the bottom of his basket encased in tight blue denim that, if my mental extrapolation of the curve was accurate, meant most of the stallions in the local stud farm would've been put to shame. The tight jeans continued down an appropriately powerful pair of legs to his CAT boots. Woah...
"I guess so... Man, you really dig that queer shit don't you?" he said, looking at the damp bulge in Tay's trousers.
"Well what did you expect, Einstein? I am queer, ergo I like 'queer shit'! See Dean - typical jock: Strong as an ox but twice as thick..."
"Pleased to meet you," I grinned, extending my hand. Kieran tentatively grasped it, and was visibly shocked by the pressure of my grip. "Just 'coz I'm gay doesn't mean I'm a wuss,"
"I, uh, guess not,"
"So whatcha want K?"
"Just to say hullo,"
Tay and I looked at each other. "HELLO!" we both yelled, waving violently at him.
"Sit down, Kieran. I told you that I was gay like ages ago - don't look so shocked!"
"I guess I didn't want to believe it, man," he said, slumping down on the edge of Ike's bed, not maintaining eye contact with either of us for more than a couple of seconds at a go.
"Why not?"
"I dunno... It's... I dunno... Tay?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"Freakin' out like that - I guess you guys just took me off guard, that's all. I'll be OK. Oh, and you might want to get that looked at..."
"Huh?"
"Your neck - looks like some wild animal's been at it!"
"It has," I grinned.
We chatted on for a bit and Kieran became progressively more at ease with us until he became what I assumed was his ordinary, exuberant self. By this time, the conversation had turned to sport, and the time-honored 'Football vs. Rugby' debate. In this case, I was hopelessly outnumbered, and was forced to resign to the fact that Football was by far the most superior, vicious and enjoyable sport - "period."
Having lost on that count, I decided to suggest something that I was half-decent at - Football. I got a strange look from both Tay and Kieran, and hastily corrected the suggestion to Soccer. Jesus this could get confusing. As you may or may not know, all of the Hansons are quite keen soccer players, Football being a little on the dangerous side for their insurer's liking!
Tay suggested we go and have a kick around for a while, so off we set towards the back yard (I'd have called it a garden, but what do I know?) and found Ike, Zac, Tony and Gareth already knocking the ball about. Tay, Kieran and I joined in, and inevitably the game very quickly turned to United States versus United Kingdom.
There was no denying that the States were good, but we were better, all three players on the UK team being in the appropriate First football team.
As the twelfth UK goal ricocheted off the back of the garage marking a convincing five goal lead, Diane yelled for us to come in and eat. Having been late for the plane this morning, we had all completely forgotten about the small issue of food, and as a consequence we were all ravenous. As we walked back into the house, an exquisite smell of freshly cooked food wafted into my nostrils, causing my mouth to water uncontrollably. This is where the fact I was now in an American household really came home: never in my entire life had I seen such a gargantuan breakfast laid out - melon, orange juice, coffee by the gallon, toast, hash browns, breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, pancakes and maple syrup, the infamous Eggo waffles and various cereals.
Zac's eyes visibly widened and he dived for a chair and promptly began stacking his plate with anything he could balance on it.
"Didn't they feed you over there?" asked Diane, perpetually amazed by the sheer volume of food #3 son could shovel into his mouth, and then ask for more.
"Kinda, but not properly," he mumbled, sending a shower of partially chewed waffle over the tabletop.
Diane shook her head and suggested that we all had better start eating before the "garbage disposal on legs" ate it all.
The conversation took the form of the typical "getting to know you" style, each of us having been talked about, but Diane never having had much of a chance to talk back to us. Diane had had very mixed feelings when Taylor came out to her. She wasn't disappointed - far from it - she was just slightly concerned that perhaps she and Walker had done something wrong in his upbringing... Had they paid him enough attention? Had they paid him too much attention even... However, as Tay talked to her, she soon realised that this was no snap decision, and he had obviously been thinking about it long and hard.
It had been difficult for all of the kids to lead a 'normal' life - if there was such a thing - in their younger years: Living in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a record player for company really couldn't be healthy. The decision to home-school came from necessity rather than choice, as there really were no schools in the area to speak of. As it turned out, when they moved back to Tulsa, the level of their schooling was ahead of their peers and, not wanting to throw that advantage away, decided to continue.
The thing that most concerned Diane about her son's choice of lifestyle were the dangers - homosexuals weren't renowned for being treated well in general and as one, he would be in the highest risk category for STDs. However, Tay had assured her that he was all too aware of the dangers that he may well be faced with, and had already considered as many consequences as he could think of.
An hour or so later, we were all feeling terribly full, bar of course Zac who was still happily packing away the calories.
Gareth, Tony and myself cordially thanked Diane for the meal, and were told not to be silly - just eat and enjoy. Zac was collared to help with the washing up, and the rest of us decided to get out of the way before some other menial task was allocated to us. Gareth being the loyal friend he was dutifully stayed behind with Zac and offered to help with the washing up. Ike and Spider bounded off into the garden again, Leaving Tay, Kieran and myself.
"So, whaddya wanna do?" Asked Tay, swinging my hand back and forth between us.
"Well, seeing as I know absolutely jack all about the States in general, why don't you take me to one of your 'malls' then?"
"That'd be cool - I need to get some shit anyway," chipped in Kieran, glancing uneasily at us holding hands every once in a while. "You know what'll happen if you're seen in public like that," he said, glancing down at our joined limbs.
"I know," said Tay, looking exceedingly annoyed. "Why can't I just go out and be myself?"
"Because you'll go and break the hearts of a few hundred thousand adoring girls, cutiepie," he laughed, pinching Tay's cheek.
Tay laughed and batted his hand away. "Fuck you!"
"TAYLOR!" yelled Diane from the kitchen.
"Sorry, mom!"
"You'd better be, young man. I won't have that kind of language in this house, you hear me?"
"Yes, ma'am,"
Kieran suggested we go over to his house, as his folks were out for the day. We all agreed, as the last thing Tay wanted to happen was to be grounded while I was over. Kieran was on a roll, though, and continued his taunting.
"Just think, Tay - every night I bet there are thousands of little girls pumping themselves and yelling your name..."
"You're gonna have your ass kicked so badly in a minute..."
"'Oh Taylor, unnngh, Taylor, TAYLORRRRR'!" he screamed in a high pitch voice, throwing his head back in a feigned orgasm.
"You're so freakin' dead!!" he yelled, lunging for Kieran who skillfully maneuvered himself out of the way, and legged off down the pavement - sorry, sidewalk - with Tay in hot pursuit.
The reason Tay was so annoyed by Kieran's taunting was that from personal experience, he knew that what he was saying was just about spot on. Some of the slogans and quotes on the banners that were waved at him he couldn't believe were actually saying what they were saying, never mind being brandished by twelve-year-old girls. Then again, Zac was twelve and he was more perverted that Dean and himself put together...
Hayley was just such a girl, but at fourteen had a far more defined idea of what she wanted to do with Tay WHEN she got her hands on him. There was no if. She WOULD have him. After all, she had managed to get everything else she wanted one way or another, so why not the object of all her fantasies?
Ordinarily, such thinking could be dismissed as sheer teen lust, however Hayley had a very distinct advantage over the rest of the Hanson fans in the world: She lived in the same street. In fact, she knew Tay rather well - one may go so far as to say personally, Tay always shooting her his killer smile and giving her a courteous - if indifferent - "Hi Haley" whenever they passed. She was ACKNOWLEDGED by him. This was far more than any of her friends could claim, and it just made her fantasies stronger; so strong, in fact, that she would often experience a small orgasm if she got within twenty feet of the guy.
Hayley was unquestionably and unhealthaly obsessed. She knew and even acknowledged the fact, but she was also blinded to reason by this obsession and so whenever she had the chance, she would tail him. Not obviously, oh no: To do so would reveal her true motives to Tay and spoil her plan - she was far more subtle than that. She was just waiting for the right moment to get him exactly where she wanted him: trapped in her bedroom. It sounded stupid and corny, but none of that mattered to her. As far as she was concerned, if she could manage that, the rest would just follow naturally.
She had heard from her parents that the Hanson boys were coming back today, so she decided to go and check for herself. She checked herself over ensuring that all the right bits were showing in just the right places, and confidently walked out of the front door.
I watched as Tay and Kieran slipped off the sidewalk and started leapfrogging over the picket fences that surrounded the front yards on either side of the street. By this time, Kieran had a good two-front- yard lead on Tay, him having stumbled on the third fence. He was determined to kick the bastard's arse, though, so he was going to be sure that escape was not an option for him. As he cleared fence number nine, someone walked straight out of the door into the front yard, directly into Tay's path.
By the time I had yelled it, I was way too late. I had to do it on principle though. "WHATCH OUT, TAY!"
Tay's "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" and Hayley's rather impressive scream echoed down the empty street, and I legged it up towards them.
Taylor's and Hayley's trajectories intersected at a text-book perfect ninety degree angle, the now combined mass having enough momentum to carry both of them a good four feet in the direction Tay had been running in.
I arrived a couple of moments later, and couldn't help but burst out laughing. There was Tay, flat on top of a girl about my age with her legs wrapped right around him, a look of utter bliss on her face. Groggily Tay opened his eyes, and found himself staring straight into Hayley's eyes, which now possessed that all too familiar misty, vacant look.
Tay hastily decided to get up, but soon found himself restrained by the very girl he had just creamed.
"Er, Hayley - I'd like to stand up now, if that's OK with you..."
It wasn't OK with Hayley. This wasn't quite in her plan, but nonetheless Taylor Hanson was in exactly the place she had wanted to get him for the last couple of years: On top of her with her legs and arms wrapped tightly around him. The thing that got to her was the things she hadn't even thought about like his smell and, perhaps more importantly, the unbelievably good feeling of the bulge between his legs pressing hard into her.
The realisation of what it was that was making her feel so good down there sent her over the edge. She squeezed herself even tighter against him and shuddered as wave after wave of orgasmic bliss traveled from her crotch, bounced off the top of her head and traveled all the way back to where it came from.
I very nearly pissed myself with laughter. It was more than obvious as to what was happening, and the mixed look of revulsion and abject horror on poor Tay's face was all that was needed to express his opinion.
By this time, Kieran had noticed the absence of his persuer, and jogged back to find out where he'd got to, and soon joined me in laughing his bollocks off
Tay pushed his arms inside of Hayley's and levered apart her vice- like grip, allowing him to breathe again.
"I need a little help here, Dean," he appealed as he could only hold one pair of limbs apart at a go. Still laughing my arse off, I grabbed Hayley's sneaker-clad feet and dragged them apart, so allowing Tay to scramble clear.
The realisation that Tay had escaped brought Hayley back to earth with a thud, and she shot me a death-stare that Russell would've been proud of. Then again, she was a girl, and that feature comes as standard across the model range...
Tay hurriedly walked round to me and stood almost half behind me, as if trying to hide from Medusa's stare which I have to admit did seem rather potent.
Methodically, Hayley picked herself up and straightened her clothing, suddenly becoming a little self-conscious when her hand encountered the small wet spot at the front of her cut-off's.
"Uh, s... sorry," said Tay, swallowing hard. I just looked at Kieran.
"Seems like I was right," he grinned, causing us both to crack up again.
Tay subtly kicked Kieran in the shins and jabbed me in the ribs, us both biting our lips to stop us from bursting out into fits of laughter again.
"Oh, Taylor, you're bleeding!" exclaimed Hayley as she did her best to eye Tay up and down. I turned to look at him and indeed, Tay had managed to gash his right knee on the rocks at the edge of the path when he fell. Without saying a word, Hayley grabbed Tay's hand and dragged him towards the house, his protests going completely unheard. In fact, the look on his face was not too dissimilar to that of a man sunk up to his neck in quicksand...
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kieran and I ambled after Tay into the recesses of Hayley's den, fully expecting to find the discarded corpses of Aaron Carter and the Moffatts littering the hall, but all was surprisingly well looked after. Not even a trace of teeth marks on any of the furniture - her parents must've been cleaning up after her...
Tay was frog-marched up the stairs and into what can only be called an American-sized bathroom, complete with Jacuzzi etc.
Hayley pirched him on the edge of said Jacuzzi and told him to sit still. Tay looked plaintively at Kieran and I, but we both just grinned inanely and shrugged our shoulders. Tay mouthed something along the lines of "Thanks a bunch, guys!" before he was set upon by Hayley, now armed with a wad of cotton wool and a family-size bottle of TCP.
"I can't do anything with these pants in the way," she stated, not having even tried. Kieran simply doubled up with laughter. Hayley spun round and strode towards us, which had a surprisingly sobering effect on him.
"Look at you, laughing at his misfortune," she scolded. "Just grow up." and with that, she slammed the door in our faces.
Kieran pushed his sleeve back and examined his watch. "Ten... Five, four, three, two, o..."
There was the unmistakable thump of the weight of a body falling against the door, then the door knob being violently fought with as Tay desperately tried to escape from Hayley's clutches. A moment later, the door was wrenched open and a panic-stricken Taylor practically hurled himself down the stairs and out into the street. A very disappointed-looking Hayley raced out onto the landing after him, but he was long gone.
"I guess we'll be going then," spluttered Kieran, still not quite believing the ludicracy of the situation. We walked out of the house and looked round for Tay, spotting him just slowing from his sprint at about the mid-point between his house and Hayley's.
"You guys are a pair of jerks," he grinned. "I can't believe you let me go through that! ESPECIALLY you, Dean," he said, grabbing me in a headlock and giving me a noogie.
"Well, we didn't want to interrupt the fun,"
"THE BITCH CAME! She had a fucking orgasm over me!"
"Well, can you blame her?" I smiled.
"But... But it's just not... well... polite! You don't just walk up to someone, hug 'em and say 'hold still so I can cum' do ya?"
"Oh, I dunno," I said, grabbing him from behind and kissing his neck.
"Yeah, but when you do it it FEELS right, Dean... Besides, I know you! I hardly know Hayley at all! Whoever I meet ALWAYS has the advantage 'cause they get whatever they wanna know about us from the 'Net! It pisses me off!"
"Umm, guys, esslay of the issingkay in ublicpay..."
"Huh?"
For some reason, Pig Latin seemed to stop just south of Essex, never really reaching the midlands. Tay did the courtesy of translating.
"He said we'd better quit the kissing thing,"
"Oh shit, yeah... Kinda automatic, ya know..."
"C'mon, loverboy, we'd better get you cleaned up before Hayley decides to start round two! AND you can take your pants off at my place without being attacked! Oh, then again..." he grinned, smiling at me.
Although similar in size to Hayley's house, Kieran's felt a whole lot more lived in, attention being paid to functionality as opposed to style. We drudged up to the bathroom and Kieran chucked me a near identical bottle of TCP and a wad of cotton wool.
"Uh, this brings back scary memories, guys!" grinned Tay.
"Well, wouldn't you know it, looks like I will have to take your trousers off after all! Now there's a shame,"
I grasped his zip between my thumb and first finger, allowing the other three to gently press into his bollocks as I pulled it down. Tay's reaction couldn't have been more inverted to the previous scenario, his eyes shutting tightly and his breathing stopping for an instant.
Gently, I undid the buckle of his belt and dragged the jeans from round that gorgeous arse of his until they were left in a pile round his ankles. While Tay had his eyes closed, I carefully undid the top of the TCP bottle with my left hand, placed the cotton wool on top of it and tipped it upside-down a couple of times, ensuring that a generous quantity of the evil smelling polyamine had soaked into it. Tay's 'excitement' was quite visibly growing, so to ensure his continued distraction from my true objective, I started gently chewing on the bulge, causing appropriate moans of delight from my willing captive.
Just as he started to try and push more of his cotton-encased tackle into my nibbling mouth, I ran the swab of cotton wool vigorously over the graze on his leg.
"HmmmmmmmaaaAAAAARRRGH!!!!!!" yelled Tay as the exquisite feelings from his groin were suddenly and discourteously displaced by those of the TCP seeping into the damaged flesh.
"SHIIIIT! FUCK THAT KILLS! You asshole!"
"Well, it's all done now. Wasn't that better than the wicked bitch of the west?"
"I guess so," he said, peering down at his grazed leg.
"So - you still up for this trip to the mall?"
Hell yeah. Kieran, you still coming?" Yelled Tay to Kieran who had shyly retired out of sight. He soon reappeared at the doorway.
"Well who else is going to drive you little kids around?" he teased.
"Kieran, if you weren't so much bigger than me you'd have your ass kicked on a far more regular basis."
"And that's to say you've actually managed to kick my ass at all?"
We ambled down to the garage and piled onto the bench seat of Kieran's vintage (that's probably being a bit kind) truck. It was one of those seriously old Chevy ones that looked like an upside-down rowing boat. I'd have guessed at one time that it had been blue, but the paint was so faded and the rust so prevalent that describing it as being a single colour couldn't be justified. This mattered not a jot to Kieran - it ran, and it was all HIS.
I suddenly realised that I had a steering column in front of me.
"OK, which bastard put the steering wheel on the wrong side, huh?" I grinned as I slid into the centre of the seat and out of Kieran's way. He turned the key and the geriatric vehicle hauled itself from its resting place, backing out onto the road, then chugged off back towards Tulsa.
"CATCH!" Yelled Zac as he hurled yet another of what looked like Diane's best plates not quite directly at Gareth, who was leaping around like a soccer goalie.
"I will drop one of these in a minute," he threatened, not wanting to be yelled at by his host's mother within hours of stepping into the house.
"I wouldn't - mom'll kill you!"
"You can be such a shit sometimes,"
Zac looked round to make sure no one was watching, then replied "Yeah, but can a shit do this?" and planted his lips on Gareth's, his hands groping anything that was gropable.
"Uh, I don't reckon so,"
"C'mon - we're almost through: After this I wanna show you something..."
Intrigued, Gareth caught the next two plates that were hurled at him, dried them and stowed them back in the appropriate cupboards. Even before he had a chance to dry his hands properly, Zac grabbed him and dragged him out of the back door, through the garden and out into the fields behind the houses. Both boys being so full of energy, they ran for a good six minutes before slowing to a walk, just grinning for no reason at all.
"Wh... Where are we... we going?" panted Gareth.
"It's a surprise! Just past these trees..."
Zac took Gareth's hand and led him round the only just noticeable path that skirted the spinney until they were on the far side of it, now insulated from all signs of life bar a single line of pylons that set off into the distance. Zac led Gareth about ten feet into the trees, and told him to look up.
Above them was a platform about ten feet square that had been built round the trunk of one of the larger trees, the majority of its weight being supported by a large bough and a couple of scaffolding poles that had been driven right through the tree's trunk, but had long since been adopted by the tree as its own limbs.
"Woah - cool!" said Gareth as images of Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves came flooding back to his mind.
"Neat, huh? C'mon,"
Zac took Gareth's and again and began to scramble up the trees in a well-practised routine that he had obviously done thousands of times before. Gareth managed to find enough grip points to facilitate the climb, but it was nowhere near as graceful as Zac's ascent. As they reached the bottom of the structure, Zac pushed open a trap door in its floor and then hauled himself through it, turning round a second later and helping Gareth up.
Gareth was, to say the least, astounded. How could something this cool exist outside of his mind? As he walked round the trunk, he spotted a pair of beanbags, a pile of comics, a pair of CB handsets and a whole load of other nick knacks that Zac had obviously spent a fair while collecting.
"SHIT! This is so fucking cool, Zac! How long did it take to build, man?"
"Uh, I didn't build it - my dad helped Ike build it when he was eleven, then Tay kinda took it over, and then I guess he signed it over to me last summer," he grinned. "We still use it a lot - we come up here to do the songs and shit like that, but Ike and Tay have kinda lost interest in it. I still think it's cool, though..."
"Cool? THIS IS AMAZING!!" Said Gareth, practically bouncing round the treehouse, pressing his face up at each Perspex window in turn.
"And ya know what's best about it?"
"What?" he asked, doodling in the patch of condensation his breath had caused.
Zac walked up behind him and slid his hands under Gareth's shirt, feeling his taught stomach. "My folks never come up here."
Those words sent a shiver of excitement through Gareth. In all the time he had been with Zac, They had never managed to be completely alone together: In their trailer at the NEC, Dean and Tay were there. At school, practically the entire first and second year were around them. At the Hansons' house, there was always someone around, but out here they were isolated - away from the prying eyes of siblings, parents, friends and society as a whole. Here, they could do as they wished.
Tony was astonished. He was lounging around in the garage with Ike, and could not believe how easy Ike made it look to play the guitar. His fingers of his left hand glided up and down the fretboard without effort, the fingers of his right delicately plucking at the nylon, injecting emotion and character like none he had experienced before.
He wasn't playing any tune in particular, just shaping the sound to the whim of his mind - gentle riffs, sequences of chords and solitary notes fusing to create a unique, individual piece of music that had never been heard before, and would never be heard in exactly the same way again.
Ike suddenly realised that Tony was watching him intently, so decided to do something a little more focused. He changed to a lower key, and started the fingerplay of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car, a song that matched Ike's voice rather well as ironically his and Tracy's weren't too dissimilar!
"You've got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we can make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere"
Tony recognised the song, and quietly started to sing along with Ike, their eyes suddenly locking together.
"Any place is better:
Starting from zero got nothin' to loose
Maybe we'll make something
Me myself: I've got nothin' to prove"
Without another word being sung, Ike put his guitar down, moved over to Tony and passionately kissed him on the lips. To Tony, he felt as if he were drunk, the same out of control / in control illusion making him go weak. Ike held the quaking Tony in his strong arms, and gradually lowered them both onto one of the head-wreckingly bright coloured bean bags.
Tony felt Ike's weight come to rest on him and simply couldn't believe that these kind of feelings were possible. He'd had girlfriends before, but now he realised that the feeling wasn't there simply because his heart wasn't there either. He was doing what was "expected" of him, and so all the emotions and feelings he showed were fabricated. Somewhere it felt good, sure, but deep down he knew that it was false.
The way he felt for guy on top of him certainly was not fabricated, the testament to that being the fact it he felt that it was going to happen to him wheather he wanted it to or not. The idea of not being able to control it scared the hell out of him, yet it also provided that guarantee that what he felt was right for him. Everything he was wanted this - needed this - and it was telling him so in no uncertain terms.
An image of his father crossed Tony's mind, making him think how ashemed he would be to find out that his son was bisexual. He looked up to and respected his Father, but over the last fortnight he had experienced a liberty of his soul that seemed to give life purpose once more. That the circumstances of that liberty were frowned upon by his family did bother him, but what bothered him more was that if he lived his life like he had been doing, he would end up such a bitter, closed, miserable person he could not justify his existance.
Tony was not a selfish person, but felt that it was unfair of his parents to deny him such a fundamental necessity. If they hated him for what the core of his being was, then so be it. He had tasted love and there was no way he was going to close himself off from the avenues it offered to him.
He reached up and wrapped his arms around Ike, simultaneously forcing his tongue back into Ike's mouth. This is what felt right for him. It was who he was.
"Go the scenic route, K..."
"The scenic route? That's like a four mile detour!"
"So?"
"Fuck it," reasoned Kieran, and cancelled his signal so we stayed on High 97. We crossed over the Arkansas River for the second time that day, then did a leisurely double back on ourselves onto a road that traveled parallel to the river itself. When we had first set out, I was very conscious of the lack of seatbelts and felt very vulnerable, but somehow the traffic on the roads seemed more relaxed than in the UK - any traffic we met, that is...
Soon, we could see central Tulsa, and crossed the river once again, quickly being immersed in the city centre. We pulled into a car park, and I had to be practically dragged through the streets to the Mall sue to the sheer volume of ooohing and ahhhhing I was doing, much to Kieran and Tay's amusement.
In a surprisingly gentle way, Zac took Gareth's hand and led him over to the beanbags. They both lay down side by side and for a few moments just stared at each other in wonder. Zac was horny no doubt, but there was something in Gareth that was special, something he thought about other than his unbelievably sexy body. It made him feel good to be around him, he made him laugh. He was shy sometimes, but that just endeared him more to Zac, who found his shyness cute. True, he wasn't the cleverest guy in the world (Zac continually helping Gareth in his Maths classes back in England) but he certainly wasn't dumb either.
Either way, Zac couldn't give a shit. Gareth's whole persona made him feel good, and from the way he acted, the feeling was well and truly reciprocated.
Slowly, the two boys drew together and embraced a tight embrace that came from the heart. Ironically, now that they were in a position to do whatever they wanted to do, all they wanted right now was be close to each other and strengthen their friendship with that closeness.
As much as Zac had taken the piss out of Tay for falling head over heals in love with me, it was only now he realised why Tay acted the way he did: Why we seemed to be able to sit together for hours and never say a word, yet speak volumes about our thoughts and feelings, our fears and desires.
Now he was beginning to comprehend the full scale of love. Sure, he had seen it at the movies a thousand times - guy meets girl, guy falls in love with girl, guy will do anything for girl. He always thought it was kinda dumb to resign your life to something as pissy as a relationship, yet here he was seeing and, more importantly, feeling the 'logic' behind those emotions.
His mind replayed the last couple of weeks, and he winced as he tried to imagine how Gareth must have felt when he and Jon Peitzmann had got it on together. How could he have done such a thing? He desperately wanted to blame Jon for the whole escapade, but he knew it was all due to his stupidity. He could have ruined all that he had now over that single hour, and that thought made him feel sick to his soul. He started to cry.
"Zac? You OK?" asked a concerned Gareth as the boy he held so dearly to him broke down into uncontrollable sobs.
"I'm so sorry," he wailed. "I can't believe I did that to you,"
"Did what, Zac?"
"Betrayed you like that, man... I... Shit Gareth I love you so much..."
A tidal wave of emotion welled up inside Gareth, a mixture of compassion and elation. He had reasoned that he may as well enjoy the feelings while they were there, but never really thought that Zac was the type to get emotionally attached. It was the physical sensations that mattered, not the foundation of love beneath it. Up until a couple of moments ago, his concept was not too far off, but the revelation that Zac now felt the same way was almost too much for him.
He gently grasped Zac's head and pulled it away from him so he could look at him. The tear-laden eyes and quivering bottom lip were just too genuine. Gareth re-opened his heart to the emotions he had been desperately trying to suppress about Zac, the release of pressure making him feel like he wanted to proclaim his love of this boy to the whole world.
He pulled Zac's lips to his and forced his tongue into his mouth with such severity it nearly scared Zac, but in a split second he understood the magnitude of the passion behind the reaction, and began to kiss back with equal vigor. Zac recognised the same good feelings he had before, but they were now supported by a concept that turned the whole situation around.
No longer was he kissing to get pleasure himself, but to give Gareth as much pleasure as he possibly could, the good feelings now coming from the knowledge that he was helping make the one he loved the most in this mortal coil experience what he knew he himself liked to experience.
Then he realised that Gareth was doing exactly the same to him for the same reasons. This realisation - the concept of giving all that you have and expecting nothing in return - completed the equation, culminating in feelings of a magnitude hitherto unencountered by either boy.
In a friensied way, Gareth and Zac pulled their trousers and rearranged themselves into a classic 69 position, the exhilarating feeling of the other's lips sucking at the physical manifestation of their love for the other being too much to comprehend. The orgasm that resulted from this coupling would be etched in their minds for the rest of their lives. Due to the enormity of it, it seemed almost alien to both of them yet strangely familiar, the action of them shooting their cum down each other's throats almost symbolic of their willingness to sacrifice everything they held dear to one another.
They had fallen in love.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Taking me shopping is usually an expensive venture and, although this time it had nothing to do with me (honestly!) a lot of money was spent. Quite an astronomical sum, in fact. Very subtly, Tay steered me into one of the jewelers in the mall, and greeted the guy behind the counter in a way that could only mean that Tay was a fairly regular patron to this place.
"Hi Paul, are they ready?"
"Yes, Mr. Hanson - one moment, please." and with that, he disappeared into the back of the shop.
"Tay, what are you up to?"
"Nothin'," he said, grinning his mischievous grin.
A moment later, the guy re-appeared carrying a tray with three small, black velved-lined boxes, and set them on the counter.
"Thanks, Paul. Can you charge them to the account?"
"Of course, sir."
Tay turned and grinned at me, beckoning me over with his finger.
"If you're gonna be my boyfriend, I guess we'd better make it kinda official." He opened the boxes to reveal three solid silver chokers with leather cords, similar to the ones he was wearing: A crucifix, a football and a tiny compact disc.
"Tay, I... I can't accept... I mean how much do... I mean they must..."
Tay grabbed my shoulders and spun me round a hundred and eighty degrees, removing the band holding my hair back and chucking it over in front of my face to give him access to my neck. He took the football and laced the leather cord through the eye in the top of it, then laid it around my neck, deftly securing it with a tight double knot.
The sensation of having something tied around my neck was a little disconcerting at first, only ever having had things that hung before, but just like wearing a watch, I reasoned that I'd get used to it pretty quick. Next came the crucifix, being tied in a slightly lower position than the football. Before he adorned me with the CD, he handed it to me for inspection. Around the circumference of the disc in miniscule engraved letters was the inscription "from the Middle of my Heart - Tay".
It was a simple inscription, but I swear I nearly broke down into tears then and there. I wanted to hug and kiss him so badly, but I knew I couldn't. From the look of frustration from Tay, I'd have said he was thinking exactly the same. Gently, he took the CD choker from me, and carefully tied it round my neck. He dragged my hair back into place, tieing it back again, then picked up a hand mirror from the counter and leant over my shoulder so we could both check the results.
The results were amazing: I thought these choker things were soooo cool! Thing was, I had always thought them as Tay's trademark, and hence just admired them on him. Now we matched.
"There ya go," he whispered into my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "You look half-trendy now!"
The joke slipped right past me as I gazed into the mirror at the three silver ornaments, twinkling as the pulse in my neck moved them ever so slightly.
My gaze moved from the chokers to Tay as he looked over my shoulder into the mirror with me, and I then realised it wasn't the things he had bought me he was staring at, it was me myself! Man did I want to kiss him bad. He was just so perfect - everything about his complection being completely flawless in my mind. His personality too was just so spot on - his off-beat sense of humor, his subdued-yet- extroverted approach to people, his morals... They were all so well founded and balanced in a way that accentuated them all, no single element of his character overshadowing another.
"Well don't you two look a picture," grinned Kieran. "Are we gonna stay here all day while you two gawk at each other?"
I grinned. "I guess we can't, much as I'd like to..."
We both took a deep breath and decided to have another meander around the mall.
It was at about this time that Hayley, as she slid back from the jeweler's window, decided that I was the devil incarnate. Who was I to come waltzing over from England and suddenly be a whole lot closer to Tay than she had ever been! Taylor must've spent the best part of four hundred dollars on me without even thinking about it, and the most he had ever given her was... well - jack shit, actually.
What was so special about this Dean character that Taylor - her Taylor - doted over him so damn much, huh? Then and there, she made a resolution that she would get to the bottom of this no matter how long it took her, or how devious she had to be to find out what was going on.
'Circles within circles,' thought the freelance journalist as he squeezed off another few frames, once again capturing Hayley on film, this time peeping round the window frame of the jewelers. He smiled to himself and stowed the camera back in his bag, and walked nonschoulantly back to the parking lot.
Tay, Kieran and I spilled out of the jewelers back into the mall and with a "You're it!" from Tay, began a movie-style chase through the crowded thoroughfare, punctuated by "'Scuse me!"s and "Sorry!"s left, right and centre. Within seventy feet, the inevitable happened and Taylor managed to cream a bloke with a fairly large bag draped over his shoulder.
The man was livid, getting up and grabbing Tay by his T-shirt. When he saw who it was, he seemed to loose pace momentarily, then continued with the retribution.
"Why don't you look where you're going, ya punk? What if I was an old guy, huh? You coulda killed me! Just watch out." and with that, he roughly swept Tay aside with his arm, sending him backing into another couple, who he courteously apologised to.
"You OK, Tay? I asked, gently straightening out his T-shirt.
"Yeah man, I'm fine... Jeez that guy was a grouch"
"I could swear I've seen that dude somewhere before," said Kieran, frowning as he tried to put a temporal reference to the vague memory. It didn't seem important, though, so he just shook his head and carried on walking up the mall with us.
After five minutes or so, I started to get a rather uncomfortable feeling. The feeling you get when you know you're alone, but you have this little itch at the back of your mind that someone is in the room with you, or that you're being watched. As subtly as I could, I pretended to be half-interested in a shop, so allowing my head to turn round as we walked by it. Quickly, I scanned behind us, but as far as I could see, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so I tried to convince myself it was just my imagination.
An hour or so later, we were back in Kieran's truck, rattling our way back to the outer suburbs of Tulsa. I could not help but smile as I let my fingers trace round the chokers Tay had given me, and kept drifting off into my own little world as I basked in the pool of love that he provided me with. So much so in fact that both Kieran and Tay had de-bussed back at Kieran's drive before I even noticed we had stopped moving. Much to the others' amusement, I shook my head and climbed out after Tay, almost falling into him as my brain scrambled to remember how to operate my less-than-cooperative body.
We said temporary farewells as Kieran had decided to wash his 'car', and from Tay's past experience, being within twenty feet of this spectacle was not advisable.
"OK, Dean - you gotta do it: Come sign our wall!"
"Huh?"
"The garage wall! You HAVE to draw a cartoon and sign it - it's part of Hanson law now."
"Umm... Tay, I can't draw for shit! I'd just mess the whole thing up..."
"Quit moaning already and get your ass down there, Lidster!"
"Sir!" I grinned.
We both rattled down the thin plywood steps into the cavern that could once feasibly have been a garage, although it had been used so damn much that life's little luxuries such as carpet, decent lighting, insulation (acoustic as well as thermal!) and a sofa that looked as if it had been used as a plaything by that three-headed dog that guards the entrance to Hades (although I was later informed most of it was attributable to Zac) had been moved in.
Scattered around were a quite astonishing number of beanbags that made it look as if someone had dropped a handful of giant Skittles, and interspersed with them were assorted bits of music kit including Tay's Wurlitzer, a couple of guitars, what looked like the conglomeration of two-and-a-half drum kits and a load of recording and mixing gear that, although looking very well used, had obviously been cared for well.
In the far corner, having what could only be called pride of place, was the dirty great sunflower from the MMMBop video and a couple of feet away was an equally imposing 50" widescreen rear-projection TV, surrounded by what could best be described as a branch of Dixons.
The thing that amazed me most, though, I could not see properly from where I was. I walked over to the centre of the room, and slowly did a 360-degree turn on the spot, that being the only way to truly appreciate the enormity of the all-encompassing panoramic cartoon that adorned the walls. It was as if Ike, Tay and Zac's entire minds had been laid down here in pictoral form, the abstract yet strangely organised layout being testament to that. The larger-than-life, bouncy doodles depicted everything from the Man from Milwaukee's flying saucer to the small wood that I could see from their back yard, and wherever there was a physical fixture in the way, it was commandeered to become part of the cartoon. Tay, Ike and Zac appeared all over the place in assorted scenarios along with a flying Eskimo, superheroes, buildings, open land, a toothpaste-powered passenger train and a couple of small solar systems. It was amazing.
Tay took me by the hand and led me over to a section of the wall that had been coloured a deep, iridescent blue and in the centre of that patch was a stylised map of the UK. I couldn't help but stare in wonder as I recognised the huge twin yellow loops of Alton Towers' Corkscrew and beneath it stood characatures of both Tay and myself, hand in hand.
I couldn't believe I'd been immortalised on the garage wall in this way: Only the most important things to Ike, Tay or Zac got scribbled here irrespective of how petty or stupid they might have seemed to adult minds, and it somehow seemed to be the ultimate memorial of our love when we were apart.
Tay looked at me and, then and there, I lost it. I jumped at him and sent us both flying back onto a pile of beanbags in a whirlwind of arms, legs and hair, us both loving the stupidity of it all. Tay made a break for it and legged it towards the door end of the huge garage and thumped a switch, causing the tired motor that opened the door to chug into life. Like a scene from a sci-fi movie, Taylor was silhouetted against the comparatively bright sunlight as the door gradually would up into the roof, the slight through draft causing his thin hair to wisp around, the sun highlighting its every move.
Just as suddenly as it started, the motor stopped its whining with a clunk as the door had been fully raised.
Tay stood there for a moment, his taught, curvaceous body looking good enough to eat - hell I was even drooling!
He stayed like that only for a matter of seconds before he uttered the immortal words: "Catch me if you can!" and nimbly leapt over the small boarder onto the garden path. I pegged it after him, determined to catch my "prize", and followed the trajectory I assumed he had taken. It was because of this I was surprised when Tay leapt from his flat-against-the-garage-wall position and tackled me from behind, sending us crashing down onto the lawn. We rolled over each other a few times until Tay picked himself up and stood over me. I was treated with a stunning view of his lightly muscled stomach and the prominent, soft bulge the family jewels made in his jeans. He smiled down at me, then the smile turned to that scheming grin that could mean any one of a thousand things.
"Do you trust me?" he smiled.
"Now that depends," I countered, not wanting to commit myself too early to the scheme he was quite obviously cooking up in his genius mind.
"If you trust me, you won't move a muscle."
Without giving me time to think of much else apart from 'Uh oh', Tay moved his arms together and pointed his fingers as if he was about to dive into a swimming pool, and leant forward, gravity very quickly accelerating him towards me. As if in slow motion, I watched the tips of his fingers hurtle towards my face and I was about to close my eyes when his own eyes caught mine. In them was a look that immediately put me at rest and I immediately felt bad for doubting him, even for that brief instant. I felt his hands as they quickly diverged in front of my face to land with a heavy thud on either side of my head. The muscles in his arms tensed as they absorbed the energy of the impact, slowing him so that he came to rest exquisitely gently on my chest, our faces just an inch or two apart. Throughout this, our eyes had stayed locked together and remained so until our lips met. Moments later, our tongues broke through our lips and invaded the others mouth, wrestling for who got access to which mouth.
Diane frowned out of the kitchen window as she saw her son rolling around on the lawn with his boyfriend: Secretly, she wished that this would just be a passing phase, but by the way that he looked at Dean, and the way Dean gazed back, she knew this was a very unreasonable assumption. She then felt very guilty, selfish even, for wishing her son to be something he was not, then smiled at the realisation of how Taylor felt, reasoning that it must be similar to the way she fell for Walker those many moons ago. She sighed happily, and continued busying around the house.
Hayley was frowning too. How could he? First he 'pushes her out of his house' by taking this Dean guy and making him his best friend over her, and then he goes and damn well slams the door in her face by renouncing the sexual orientation she assumed he had. Now THAT was rejection. Still not believing what she had seen, she put her eye back to the viewfinder of her father's camcorder, tracking the motion of Tay and myself as we rolled around the garden, locked in a deep embrace.
Rejected, repulsed and demoralised by what she had witnessed, she stopped the camcorder and picked it up complete with tripod and slung it over her shoulder. In a way, she felt as guilty as sin for spying on Tay through the hedge at the back of his yard, but she had to know. Now she did, however, she wished she didn't. Actually, she didn't know what she thought: If only there was some way she could get Taylor back for what he had done to her - HOW COULD HE? At that moment in time, revenge sounded very, very sweet to her.
"Now THAT is sad," grinned Zac, breaking the pleasant silence he and Gareth had shared as they walked back towards the house from their woodland abode.
"Huh? What is?"
"That!" he said, standing behind Gareth and pointing over his shoulder so he could more accurately follow Zac's gaze.
"Who's that?"
"Our next-door nightmare - I mean neighbour - Hayley. She is obsessed with Tay: You ought to see the way she drools over him..."
"Yeah, but you drool like that over me."
"You wish! You're as ugly as pig-shit with an IQ to match!"
"You're dead!" he yelled, lunging after Zac. They both ran back down to the house laughing.
Zac careered through the gate practically knocking the latch from its fixings, and promptly tripped over Tay and myself as we rolled around on the grass. Gareth soon followed and, seeing three of us already in a pile, decided that it looked like a damn good idea and threw himself on top of us, producing a unanimous "Oof!" from the pile as he landed.
"Gareth or Zac?" whispered Tay into my ear.
"I'm up for a challenge - you have Gareth..."
"Three, two, one..."
We simultaneously sprung up from our spread-eagled positions and leapt for the designated targets. Zac literally shrieked with pleasure as I landed on him, the tips of my fingers seeking each corrugation in his rib cage. To try and subdue the wild flailing, I sat on his lower chest. This had limited success in that his body was subdued, but the four free limbs that were still free took advantage of the situation and flailed harder to make up for the restricted torso.
Getting nowhere fast, I decided to cheat. I took some of my weight off Zac and shifted it to my knees, allowing me to rock forward. When my feet had sufficient clearance, I allowed one of them to drop back into the 'V' created by Zac's legs, then brought the toe of my foot up fairly sharply - not enough to cripple by any means, but certainly a good attention-getter. Zac drew breath sharply and half sat up in the well-known reflex "must protect my nads at all costs" reaction, so allowing me to grab the bottom of his T-shirt and drag it up so it was still around his neck, but inside out, covering his arms. Before he had time to recover, I hopped off him, undid his belt and dragged his trousers round his ankles doing an equally fine job of immobilising his lower half.
Now a far more workable sight was presented to me: A twelve-year- old effectively bound and blindfold, with no clothing on his body save a rather small, faded pair of boxers that had obviously been handed down from brother to brother.
"Wou bathtard!" came Zac's muffled complaint from somewhere under the T-shirt. I couldn't resist it: I leant forward, licking my lips, and blew the biggest raspberry my lips and lungs could muster on Zac's tummy. His whole body tensed then convulsed in fits of laughter as he desperately tried to disentangle himself from his inside-out clothing to escape from my rapidly vibrating lips. It was no use, though - I just continued my onslaught, allowing my lips to wonder further up his body. As I reached his left nipple, his protestations suddenly stopped, a deathly silence falling upon the back yard. Meekly, Zac asked "Please, Dean - don't do it, man," as if I were holding a gun to his head.
I extended my tongue and gently played it over the now very aroused tip of his nipple causing him to moan ever so slightly and try and push his chest towards my mouth.
"That's enough of that, you horny little sod," I grinned, drew breath, and felt myself go dizzy with the pressure I created in my lungs in blowing the raspberry of all raspberries on his nipple.
Zac shrieked once again and his arched back suddenly flexed into a curved one, trying to shield as much of his front as he could a bit like a hedgehog. Unfortunately for him, he only succeeded in trapping my head in position.
Meanwhile, Tay was having a damn good go at Gareth, the only difference being his T-shirt was completely off and tied round his wrists. Tay was manically tickling Gareth by running the tips of his fingers all over his frame, concentrating mainly on his sides and armpits - areas which Gareth obviously now wished he didn't possess.
In another moment of simultaneous thought, Tay and I looked at each other, smiled a knowing smile and on the count of three, dragged Zac and Gareth's boxers to their knees, revealing a pair of throbbing hardons. Tay and I laughed, then in good form, ran off back to the house, leaving the two as good as naked, bound, and rolling round on the lawn.