Quarterback: From the Inside Chapter 5
This story describes sexual relationships between young men and women (possibly). If you find this offensive, stop now and go visit someone else. If you continue and find this story entertaining, let me know. Your feedback encourages and inspires this story's development. Include positive criticisms in your feedback when you respond to bayoudreamn@yahoo.com.
Chapter 5: DECISIONS
Late in the afternoon, Matt finally wandered to the place he'd been "going" since hours before. He sat quietly on the front step awaiting release from whatever haunts of his mind held him in place but refused to let him choose to continue with his journey into the comfort of his best friends embrace. Matt felt confident that this was the right place to be at this time. Vicky would accept him when no one else would, no matter what fears chased him and threatened his typical contentment. "She would understand, wouldn't she?" he thought in quiet trepidation.
As is often the case, he didn't have to decide for himself. Some minutes after sitting quietly in thoughtful discontent, the front door opened and Vicky's dad stepped out. "Matt?!", he exclaimed with some measure of worry, "are you ok? Did you knock?"
Regaining his bearings and composure, Matt answered with his usual confident swagger "Mr. Darling, no... I didn't as a matter of fact. I was just taking a moment to think about something that had been on my mind earlier before I decided to see Vicky. I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to get lost in my thoughts."
"That's no problem, Matt. I hope everything is ok. Do you need anything or need any help with anything?"
"No, Mr Darling..." Matt continued with hesitation "....It's nothing. Is Vicky at home?"
"Yes, I think she is. Come on in and you can go on down to her room. I'm not sure what she's doing, she was talking to her uncle earlier. There's no telling what those two are up to", he continued with a chuckle. "I'm so happy they have each other. Sometimes, it seems her mother and I aren't as atuned to her as he is so his influence is welcome and encouraged, I might add. They've been so good for each other and she's helped him through tough times herself. I can see how much he loves her and how doting. I dare say that he feels indebted to her. She was the first to accept him, you know."
Mr. Darling never noticed the slight quiver in the strong jawline of the athlete he addressed, or if he did he gave no outward sign.
"Thanks, Mr. Darling, and I think you are right....and.....well, thanks for asking about me too," Matt answered sincerely and with respect. Mr. Darling had always been encouraging and supportive of Matt and his relationship with his daughter. Though he wondered what hidden feelings always lay suppressed just under the surface of their friendly facade. Did his daughter feel more for this handsome young athlete? Did he share those feelings? Mr. Darling would never interfere but he wondered and hoped that whatever feelings they shared they would be able to understand them and sort them out amicably, protecting the supportive relationship they'd developed over the past year. He and his wife would do everything in their power to help them keep the wonderful friendship they had established, he'd be sure of that. He turned again to continue out as Matt moved to the open doorway and his friend somewhere within......
it was time??
Vicky lounged quietly on her bed, staring up at the ceiling of her solitary abode. She'd played back her conversation with her uncle, reflected on his kind care and concern and the quiet compassion with which he'd responded to but avoided answering her questions and concerns. He was right, she knew, there were no answers for him to give. This would be a dilemma only she could unravel. Whatever feelings she had and however much of that was shared with Matt was up to her to understand and communicate. Together, they would talk and work this out together....just like they did everything they ever faced in their friendship and in anything that applied to their friendship. They were good for each other, always had been. And their friendship had never faltered, regardless of the storms they faced. This would be no different.......she would find a way......
SOME HOURS EARLIER....
Diego's musings were interrupted this morning by muffled noises nearby. This time there was no second guessing. He was sure that someone else had entered this quiet reserve. He sat up from his rest and quietly dusted off his T-shirt before rising to his feet and moving steathily toward the sounds. Something was odd and he wanted to see what was going on before he gave away his hidden presence. The area he was in was remote. Though it wasn't heavily covered in undergrowth, it did offer some measure of privacy. This was why he and Shawn had picked this place. They liked the opportunity to get away. They enjoyed being able to escape the concerns of life and come here and take advantage of the cool waters and the escape. Here they could play in the waters, talk about where they were in their lives and dream about their future with the umbrella of friendship and solitude to protect them. Here Diego had no fear of his father's next voyage into a life of crime that always threatened him, always threatened to take his freedom and his very life away....just like it had done to his mother. A single tear eased along his cheek as he moved quietly along in his quest. Who had invaded his hideaway?
Diego wasn't prepared for what he saw in the clearing, just over a small rise that separated his place of rest. Still hidden by topography and a sparce stand of tall grasses that protected his advance, he crouched low and observed this unexpected wonder. Before him the small clearing lay, occupied only by two teens about his age. They were oblivious to all around them. They were students at his school he knew. One, the black youth, was a friend of Shawn's. Diego had spent some time around Jeremiah and had always respected the boastful but caring comradarie he brought to the small group of friends that Diego managed to maintain. He knew that Shawn was an excellent judge of character and that the gentle giant selected those he included in their group with utmost care. Jeremiah had always lived up to that trust and their was no doubt that he was deserving of inclusion. There was also the other part of friendship that now showed itself exposed to Diego. The hidden pain that seemingly all of Shawn's friends carried. The many times when Jeremiah reached out to Shawn to help him with something Shawn kept close. The fear that he wouldn't share with Diego, that abided in Jeremiah and completed his qualification as part of their inner circle. Diego had not been prepared to see what he witnessed at this moment, but he understood that this was the source of the pain that Jeremiah hid.
Alone near the clearing, Diego witnessed Jeremiah laying facing the other student, a white teammate Diego believed was named Grant. He was a celebrity match for Jeremiah at the school for his athletic talent and skills as well as his friendly socialization that netted a popular and beautiful girlfriend and the great respect of his classmates! He was expected to be on the homecoming court and possibly win the crown and was well liked for student government considerations as well. Diego knew him only casually and had not had many opportunities to talk to him. But as he watched now, he was spellbound as the boy lay opposite Jeremiah and the two of them enthusiastically sucked on the others cock, slurping and murmuring lovingly as they enjoyed their supposed privacy.
Diego was not one to hold judgement, and had rarely thought of homosexual activities or proclivities. He had always felt shamed by his own situation and from that foundation he gained a tolerance for others. He accepted that it was right to allow people to be themselves, to offer support like Shawn did, and to help where he could. Though theft was required of him by his father, he did not believe in stealing and did not believe in taking material or immaterial things from others. And so he watched in wonder, not disgust. He had never seen two men together like this and rarely thought of things not relative to his current situation....but it wasn't disgusting. Interesting?
As Diego watched, especially mindful of Grant as he slurped hungrily on the dark cylinder of flesh that permeated his lips as his tongue washed along its length, he was overwhelmed by the visions and sounds of their intimate coupling. He was spellbound by the motion and attention to the others response as the two boys continued in never ending endurance to bring joy and ultimate euphoria to their partner. As he watched, he was unaware for some time that he too began to respond to the visions before him. It had been some time since Diego had allowed himself to enjoy the company of a female and he did not currently have a girlfriend. Later, this would explain...at least in his mind....the reaction that grew now from his place of concealment. As it progressed, the consistent slurping, sucking, and moaning and the accompanying visions of lips and tongues sliding along ample endowments, the wet and slippery trails of desire that accompanied them and the wonder of textures and accommodations for such long and thick schlongs as they fulfilled mouths and teased the depths of eager throats that opened hungrily to contain them as the dance to tease the juice of life from the loins of the willing continued. All worked together to stimulate his own response. A response he was slow to note and even slower to admit. A response that would be excused, but would it be accepted? What would the wonder he witnessed mean as he recounted it in later musings to explain what he witnessed and what it meant about him?
Thoughts of this had just begun to enter his consciousness when a flicker of light in the distance caught his attention and would soon almost make him forget what lay before him. A sudden flicker of light, that drew his attention to a stand of trees on the other side of the clearing. And there, almost invisible stood someone else. Someone else who saw now what he had been watching for sometime. He didn't recognize the teen, but the guy standing beside him was VERY familiar. Matt had come to SWVH about a year ago and Diego had always admired him. Immediately after entering the school, it seemed, Matt had been "rescued" from high school social oblivion by Diego's favored fantasy from afar, Vicky. Vicky was well liked at the school and Diego had observed her from afar for some time before Matt came to their school. But after Vicky met Matt, there was no opportunity to act on his own fantasies and ask her out. Vicky was always with Matt, they were peanut butter and jelly....always together. Diego had resolved to accept the rumors that Matt and Vicky were off the market and completely exclusive in their attention to each other and to the development of their own close and probably intimate relationship.
They had just entered the threshold of the clearing, Diego realized. The flicker of light a shaft of sunlight glinting off Matt's single hoop earring as he'd moved along beside his friend when he stopped, spellbound by what he saw before him. The boys came to a stop and stood unmoving and therby virtually invisible on the edge of the small line of forest that encircled that portion of the clearing. For some moments, they continued to stand and watch in disbelief, clearly aware of what was happening but unable to reconcile their perception of their friends with this new reality so far removed from what they believed to be possible. As Diego watched, the realization began to take hold in their expressions. The stranger first came to realize what was displayed and Matt was not too far behind in coming to terms with what he was seeing as well; but the involvement of his close friend and their teammate took longer to process. Diego wondered what thoughts raced through Matt's mind in those seconds. Wondered what he felt about his friend. Then, however long thereafter, the thoughts blurring the passage of time, Diego noted a movement next to Matt. He couldn't see clearly but it appeared that the stranger had lowered his waistline and was timidly stroking in rhythm to the action in the clearing. Then, as time passed Matt looked over and saw what was happening. Diego caught a moment of indecision and a multitude of flashes passed across Matt's visage as his mind, apparently at war with conflicting emotions, raced toward a moment of decision. Then, in matching timidity, Matt reached across and grasped his friends member....stroking slowly, increasing in speed and intensity and reflected in the decisiveness of thoughts long tenured and on the cusp of realization. The shock superceded anything Diego had witnessed so far. This was Matt! This was the guy he had watched as he took a long standing desire from him and secured it in supposed exclusivity and timelessness.
Thoughts crashed as Diego tried to come to turns with what he saw. Were Matt and Vicky a couple? Were they intimate? Were they exclusive? Was Matt bisexual? Rumors and innuendos, facts and suppositions, beliefs and observations all converging and re-emerging, clouding the confines of consciousness and confusing what is and is only supposed to be. Confirmation was not to surface soon....
As his thoughts warred, a new and more unimaginable reality was yet to be observed as Matt moved once more, faintly turning his friend as he lowered his friends waisline further and descended onto his knees before him and then taking his cock in his hand again....leaning forward.....hesitating......and closing eager lips softly on the hardening member, seeking the depths of his desire. Diego noticed this was no ordinary cock...it was longer and of sizable girth as those luscious lips closed wantonly upon it and began to rise and fall to the fullness of Matt's capacity. Softly seeking the essence of the stranger's endowment. Was it seconds, minutes,...that Matt nursed hungrily upon his friends manhood?? A decision had apparently been reached in those few moments. Diego felt sure this was the first time anything like this had happened to Matt, and he wondered what that masculine mouth would feel like if he were in the strangers place!
BACK AT THE DARLING RESIDENCE, SEVERAL HOURS LATER
The sound of advancing footsteps, familiar and always welcome, broke the reverie of Vicky's thoughtfulness. A moment had passed and new opportunities were approaching. Vicky felt a time would never be more appropriate than this moment and began to breath with purpose in anticipation of the opening of a door and a life anew.
On the other side, hands sweating as he reached to knock and ask entrance, Matt hesitated. He wasn't sure, but he'd always been decisive. He did know that he had to talk to Vicky and it was always best to just come out and say what was on his mind. Vicky was kind-hearted and keenly perceptive and would not long tarry before noting any discomfort in her friend and following up with a dogged perseverance to discover and assist in any way in rooting the source of discontent from him. She made it a signature of character to fearlessly fight for her friends, their happiness, and a sense of satisfaction in their life. Whenever fear or disallusion were present, she would quickly intervene. It was a characteristic that was loved by all who shared that friendship with her, and only her sense of tolerance and "doing right" by them was more beloved.
Seconds of eternity passed, and the knock finally came. Vicky arose from her place of rest and went to the door, opening it slowly. Matt stood before her, sunny and stunning Matt, he was nervous today....she could sense it in his posture and she wondered if he had some sense of what she had been thinking. She smiled and he returned her greeting in gleaming white as she opened her arms and held him in a warm embrace, allowing him to lift her slightly off her feet and carry her back into the room as the door shut quietly behind them.
He was dressed in his exercise clothes and had apparently finished a long and grueling set. This was no surprise. Matt was committed to his exercise regimen with stark obsession, considering optimum athletic preparation and performance to be a duty of supreme importance in his commitment to his team and their success. She marveled at the masculine treasure before her as he breathed deeply with fleeting exhaustion as his body transitioned to a state of restfulness. His hair hung damp to his shoulders and framed the lean face and pronounced musculature that descended from them in a wide "v" from massive shoulders and arms to a narrow waist hidden under his attire and extended to the long striated legs of a runner. She envisioned the smooth chest and rippling abdominals that were hidden from view but framed impressively in the rise of mountainous pectorals and the shadowed valleys around them topping a concave midsection. As Matt lay back beside her, she noted his waistline, the narrow frame and the bulging manhood and then, falling into imagination again she thought of the muscular buttocks that were currently hidden from her view but which commanded the eyes of everyone in passing as they filled his jeans to capacity and brought eyes to attention as he moved along unawares. There was a tension in Matt today, and this was not the norm. It was the catalyst that broke her musings and brought her attention back to his face. He was lying peacefully it seemed, eyes closed, but the tell-tale pulsing in his cheeks awakened her sense of compassion and friendship and stoked the fires of protection that defined her.
"How are you, Matt?" It was a simple, typically carefree icebreaker for conversation in a normal sense. But coming from Vicky, it caused a rise of an eyebrow and a peeking eye from Matt.
"I'm fine," Matt said....almost convincingly.....it would have given pause to anyone else. Astute, is not easily shaken....and Vicky continued her course.
"I didn't expect you today. To what do I owe this nice surprise?!", she asked enthusiastically.
"Well, I've been thinking about you and I decided I wanted to spend the day with you....or the rest of the day with you, anyway. I went for a run this morning."
"Where did you run?", she asked.
"At the park, and down by the lake", Matt replied off-handedly. He didn't notice the flash of curiosity in Vicky's eye as he lay back with eyes closed and breathing more slowly as he fell into restfulness.
"So what was going on at the park today," she asked. Matt was unaware of her watchfulness, so he didn't notice that she caught the sudden catch in his breath as she observed him knowingly.
"I met one of the guys from our game last night, one of the linebackers. He crossed my path in the park and we decided to run around the lake. His name is Eric. Do you know him?"
"Is he the short linebacker that talked to you at the game?"
"We didn't talk at the game," Matt corrected, "we just shook hands in passing."
"Oh, I thought you talked to him," she opined.
"Today I did. He's a nice guy. I think we'll stay in touch." Matt noted a tightness in his throat with this last admission.
"It wasn't awkward, the way the game ended last night?"
"It might have been," Matt allowed "but I told him I thought he played a good game and acknowledged the play of my line keeping him away from me. He seemed ok with that and we talked easily as we continued from there."
"So, when are you going to bring him by to meet me," Vicky asked with curiosity.
" I don't know," Matt answered resignedly, "I had to take off quickly at the end of our run and I don't know for sure how to contact him."
"Men," Vicky laughed "you can't even cultivate your friendship without female assistance. It's kinda important to know how to contact somebody."
"I know," Matt answered defensively "I just had things on my mind and I'd decided to come see you and I got lost in things and didn't get it before I left."
Vicky was unsatisfied with the conversation so far. She felt that Matt was troubled and wondered if anything at the park had motivated him to come to see her. She remembered Jennifer's disclosures during the game last night. She'd wanted to discuss Jennifer's suspicions about Jeremiah and Grant. She was worried about them and thought that if the threat of trouble from Alexis remained, Matt would need to be aware of what was going on so that he could aid his friends if something came of Alexis suspicions. Matt fell asleep as she remembered her talk earlier with her Uncle Jake. She lay down beside Matt and turned to face him as she remembered, watching the rise and fall of his chest and the twitch in his cheeks as his thoughts troubled him even in sleep. She shook him softly, awakening him.
"Matt, I talked to Jennifer at the game last night?"
"emm, hmmm....you guys always talk at the games don't you? I thought that was why she went with you, to catch you up?" He smiled...Vicky echoed the smile.
"We do, but she said something that concerned me and I need your help with it?" Matt raised up and looked at her, concern beginning to etch across his features.
"ok, What do you need?
"She's worried about Grant and Alexis. They are fighting alot."
"They are always fighting," Matt stated in frustration "I've asked him why he doesn't just move on. She has some hold on him I can't understand. She's attractive, but to me she's completely different in character and personality and I just can't understand why he likes her. But, I feel like he has the right to make his own choices. I'm there for him, but I can't decide for him. What can I do about it without overstepping that?"
"It's not that. It's what they fight about, according to Jennifer. Jennifer thinks that Alexis thinks Grant has been cheating on her, and that's why she fights with him. She doesn't think Alexis has told him about her suspicions, but apparently she's talked some to Jennifer and maybe some others. Jennifer says there have been some rumors about Grant for awhile now."
Matt felt the color draining from his cheeks and beads of sweat coursing over his face. "What kind of rumors?"
Vicky was fighting her own demons. Finding it hard to share what Jennifer had so easily passed on to her. She wasn't like Jennifer, didn't like spreading hearsay and felt guilty even now as she shared with Matt even though her intentions were not to spread innuendoes but to enlist support. As such, she didn't notice the slight lift in Matt's voice or the change in his countenance.
"Well," Vicky began haltingly, "she says that it has to do with a rumor about the park that started about a year ago." Matt blanched, Vicky continued unawares, "apparently two young men, about our age, were caught in a compromising situation in the park. A deal was reached with the few witnesses to keep things quiet and keep the boys out of trouble. But someone must not have kept the secret closely and word got out, though no one knows who the young men were. There's been some supposition and Grant's name came up."
Matt jumped up angrily. "You can't believe everything you hear!!" Matt stormed.
Vicky was taken aback. Matt had always been calm and cool under pressure, never one to blow up or lose control. It was a trait she found fascinating and demanding respect. It was one of his more adorable qualities, Vicky thought. She didn't feel disappointed by this uncharacteristic outburst but she wondered about his state of mind earlier and wondered what could take him so far out of his characteristic behavior to this point of escalation.
"Matt?!" Vicky recoiled slightly in her surprise.
Matt noticed her reaction and sat back, chagrined. "I'm sorry. I'm tired and I wanted to talk to you today and I didn't expect that. I'm sorry, I don't want you to be afraid....I don't usually do that."
"No, you don't.....what's wrong? Matt."
Matt sat back......slumped quietly and stared up at the ceiling.
"Are you in love with me?"